Chapter 7

Castle really felt in need of a shower. Moving slowly and carefully both because of sore muscles and as to not wake Kate, he got up and headed for the bathroom. Kate immediately sensed his absence. "Rick," she called, "are you all right?"

"Fine," he answered, "just, ugh, sweaty."

"Can I help?" Kate asked.

"There might be some places I can't reach," he answered. "Just give me a minute to rinse off first."

Rick had stood for a few minutes under the gently falling water when Kate opened the door to the enclosure to join him. She noted the new splotches of blue on his skin. Rejecting the abrasiveness of a loofah or nylon puff, she grabbed a cloth of soft terry and building a gentle lather began to wash his back and shoulders. "Mmmm," Rick breathed as his muscles relaxed under her touch, "That feels so good."

Wanting to return the favor, Rick worked sparkly bubbles between his hands and began to apply them to Kate's skin. As he reached her breasts, Kate looked down and quipped, "I can see that you're feeling better."

Rick softly kissed her damp mouth. "You always make me feel better." He pulled her to him but as their passion rose, Kate pushed away.

"I don't want to climb on you this morning," she said. "I have an idea." Quickly wrapping in a towel for a moment, she went to Castle's office and returned with a small molded plastic step stool used to reach his highest bookshelves. Setting it on the floor of the shower, she mounted the two shallow steps. It was the rare occasion that she and Castle were actually eye to eye. They fit as if carved out of the same piece of wood. Rick held Kate tightly enough to keep her from slipping off the stool, but they moved together, warming each other as the water warmed them both. Whatever passion had been lost in the short pause returned and grew until the final moment. Kate would have tumbled from her perch had Rick not held her. They rested in each others' arms as the water continued to sluice off their slowly cooling bodies.

Over lattes in the kitchen, Castle asked, "Precinct?"

Beckett shook her head. "I'm not on shift today and they're not approving overtime if they don't have to. The commissioner has got to make his cuts somewhere. We can work with the info I have on my laptop. You haven't seen it yet. Or we can relax a little. Wallace still hasn't officially been ruled a homicide."

"How about," Castle proposed, "we do a little of both? I can make us a proper breakfast and we can look at the case afterward."

"Sounds good to me," Beckett agreed.

Castle was just making a smiley face of fruit for Beckett when the doorbell rang. Castle grimaced. "Goldberg! I forgot he was coming this morning."

Goldberg went through his usual routine with Castle, but seemed to put a little more emphasis on his urge to call if anything happened. "Did he seem a little off to you?" Beckett asked Castle after Goldberg was out the door.

"Maybe," Castle told her, "but I'm sure he'd tell me if there were any new developments. He's been very straight with me so far."

Beckett looked unsure and Castle gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. Beckett ate in thoughtful silence, finally depositing her plate in the dishwasher.

Castle caressed Kate's cheek. "Show me the file on Paul Winters," he told her.

Using his wi fi printer, Castle made a hard copy of all of Beckett's information on Paul Winters and stretched out on the couch to peruse it. "Beckett," he asked, "do Paul and Deborah Winters have any children?"

"I don't know, Castle. Why?" Beckett asked.

"I've seen some electronics purchases and clothing on their credit cards that might be for a teenager, but there is no savings account, no college fund, nothing that parents should have for a child that age. Mariah was worried about Deborah coming into her trust fund. I wonder if that's why."

"That's a good question, Castle." Beckett called Ryan, who was on shift that morning and asked him to find out more about the Winters family situation and any trust fund set up for Deborah Winters.

"It may be a while until we hear from Ryan, Castle, what would you like to do?" Beckett asked.

"Beckett," Castle asked, "have you ever heard of MST3K?"

"You mean the series that showed incredibly bad movies which were heckled by robots?"

"That was it," Castle affirmed. "I have DVDs. We could even throw popcorn at the screen."

Beckett smiled. Sometimes she forgot just how capable Castle was of childlike innocence. "Sure, I'd love to."

Castle put on a DVD of "This Island Earth," MST3K style. It featured a group of aliens from the planet Metaluna, all of whom had impressive heads of white hair and high foreheads but managed to convince a group prominent scientists that they were human. The aliens were trying to recruit the brightest Earth minds to help them in their war. Castle and Beckett got into the spirit of the heckling, making sarcastic comments at the screen, throwing popcorn when something seemed particularly silly, and popping fluffy white kernels into each others' mouths between heckling sessions.

When they were finished, Castle quickly cleaned up the mess with the loft's central vacuum system and lay contentedly with his head in Beckett's lap until Ryan called. Ryan told Beckett that the Winters had a daughter, a senior in high school. There was a trust fund that would come to Deborah only on her father's death.

"Sam probably wanted to make sure he couldn't take it with him," Castle commented dryly. "But we have the story, Beckett. Paul Winters wants to send his daughter to college but he can't afford it. His skinflint father-in-law won't help his only grandchild. Winters has access to contaminated cat food which he knows his father-in-law eats and he makes sure the bastard gets it. Deborah comes into her trust fund, problem solved."

"That's a great story, Castle," Beckett said. "But it's also pure conjecture. We have no proof that Sam Wallace didn't get the food himself. We need to talk to Paul Wallace."

"Now?" Castle asked.

"No," Beckett said patting her lap as she sat back on the couch. "Tomorrow is soon enough."

A/N Thank you so much for the birthday greetings. As at least one of you noticed, the universe smiled on me and I got a happy birthday tweet from Nathan Fillion, so yes, it was a great birthday.