Chapter 7

Someone had come into the loft at six A.M.. Castle wondered if his mother was doing a walk of shame until he heard the light rap on the bedroom door. "Dad," Alexis called softly.

Kate's eyes fluttered open with a questioning look. "Go back to sleep," Castle whispered. "It's Alexis."

Wrapping himself in a robe, Castle opened the door. "Alexis, what's going on?" he asked.

"Dad, I have a problem. Buttons is moving out of the apartment and I can't keep it by myself.'"

"Do you want to move back to the dorm?" Castle asked.

"No," Alexis told him. "We signed a lease and I need to honor it, but I don't make enough from work study to afford it."

"There are a few things we can do," Castle mused. "I can help you with the rent until you find another roommate or until you sublet it and move back to the dorm or I could buy out the lease and you could move back to the dorm now. What do you want to do?"

"I think I want to get another roommate. It would be really hard to go back to the dorm after having my own place and I don't want to put any more on you than I have to," Alexis told him.

"OK," Castle agreed. "You let me know what you need and I'll put the money in your account."

Alexis hugged him and kissed his cheek. "Thanks, Dad. Say hi to Kate for me."

"What happened?" Kate asked as Rick peeled off his robe and rejoined her under the covers.

"Alexis says hi. It was the old 'my roommate is moving out and I can't afford my apartment problem,'" Rick told her.

Kate laughed ruefully,"I've been there, although it was more break up than move out."

Rick echoed her laughter. "Me too. Pity that when my mother had a break up she had to move back in. One nice thing about a long road trip is that we can really be alone."

"Is Martha here now?" Kate asked.

"I don't know," Rick answered. "She had some kind of a date last night. I never heard her come in. But," he said grinning, "we were busy with matters of our own."

"We were," Kate agreed. "We could pick those up again before she comes in or wakes up."

Rick kissed her nose. "Good plan. Where were we?"

Kate put a hand at the back of Rick's neck, threading her fingers into his hair and brought her lips toward his. "Right about here."

Rick's response was immediate. He returned her kiss deeply, pulling her tightly against him. Kate could feel his arousal against the center of her femininity and moved against him, feeling the growth of his response. She cried out as he moved his attention to the scar, the remembrance of the first confession of his love and her survival to receive it. She needed that love and she took it, bringing him to her. Kate gave as she received, until filled to overflowing, she rested in Rick's arms.

Beckett looked up from her last phone call at her desk at the 12th. "Castle," she reported, "every one of Danae's roommates confirms that she was home Sunday night and two of them say she lent her car to someone, but they don't know who. I'm going to have to release her."

"Beckett," Ryan called. "Traffic cam shows the Elantra parked near Lois Warren's apartment."

"Lois probably borrowed Danae's car, left the hospital on her lunch break and killed Glen," Castle said. "You've got her, Beckett."

"Send some uniforms to pick her up," Beckett told Ryan.

Lois Warren looked sad and defeated as she sat across from Beckett and Castle in the box. "Mrs. Warren," Beckett began. "An Elantra belonging to your daughter Danae was found parked outside your apartment. That same car was at the murder scene. You were absent from the hospital on Sunday night for over an hour. You hired a private investigator who confirmed your suspicions that your husband had been cheating on you. You left the hospital, you drove Danae's car, you went to your husband's office and you killed him."

Lois began to weep, her tears appearing genuine. "All right. I killed Glen. I found out that he was cheating on me and I killed him."

Lois Warren was led off to holding, Castle brought in lunch and Beckett began the mounds of paperwork required to close the case. Cara Warren approached Beckett's desk. Detective Beckett," she said in a shaky voice just above a whisper, "you arrested my mother for killing my father."

Beckett rose to meet her. "I'm very sorry," she intoned softly, "I had to."

"She didn't do it." Cara said, her voice shaking even more.

Castle rose, giving Cara his chair. Beckett sat almost knee to knee with her. "She confessed, Mrs. Jones," Beckett told her as gently as she could.

"She didn't do it." Cara insisted.

"How do you know?" Castle asked.

Cara swiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. "Because I did it. I killed my father."

Beckett led Cara to interrogation to take her statement while Castle looked on. "I brought Melissa, my daughter to the city to visit with her grandparents and my sister," Cara told them. "My father was gone almost all the time. I'm not very good at parallel parking my minivan, so Danae lent me her car for driving around the city. Melissa and I were staying with my parents. I found the report from Mr. Murtry, the private investigator my mother hired. I called mother at the hospital and she came home to try to calm me down, but as soon as she got there I left to confront my father. My mother couldn't come after me because she was watching Melissa. I never meant to hurt my father. I just told him I couldn't understand how he could do all the things he was doing, especially as part of the church and with me married to Jeff. The fracking was bad enough. Almost no one I know in the church liked the project. But to push the project because he was cheating on my mother! It was too much. I grabbed the cross and I put it in his face. He just laughed at me, at the cross. I hit him with it. God help me I should have called the police, but I was afraid. I wiped the cross and left it there by my father and went back to my mother. I didn't even tell her what I did. She didn't know he was dead until the morning. She must have figured out what I did and confessed to protect me and my family."

A subdued Beckett finished the work on the case in time to accompany Castle to the event for Black Pawn. The scene was familiar. Women lined up, sometimes with shaking hands or tears in their eyes to get their books signed by Castle. Rick smiled at each person who came to him, patiently signing books and complimenting dresses or shirts or hair, making each fan feel special. Kate was transported back in time.

"This is a very special place," Kate told Rick as the event wound down.

"Yes," Rick agreed "it's where you came to see me after you came back from being shot. We talked on the swings across the street."

"More than that," Kate told him. "It's where I met you."

"No," Rick protested. "We met at a book party in a hotel, when you came to question me about our first case."

"We met way before that," Kate explained, "about eleven years ago, right here. I stood in line for an hour to get you to sign a book. I had all your books. They helped get me through my mother's murder. There were so many people I don't think you even saw my face. But you were kind and you smiled at me. I think I was already in love with you. It was really upsetting when you acted like such a jerk when I came to you about that first case we did together. It took a long time to see the man behind the class clown."

"I'm glad you finally saw him," Rick told her, cupping her face in his hand.

"So am I," Kate told him, covering his hand with her own. "And I know where I want to get married: at the swings, where I told you about my wall and where you proposed to me. I want to have the reception right here, and if it's raining, we can get married here too. The swings, this place, they're ours.

Happy tears glistened in Kate's eyes as Rick sealed their agreement with a kiss.

Finis

A/N When Beckett mentioned Aunt Theresa in Limelight I couldn't resist, so my next story will be "Aunt Theresa." Aunt Theresa will discover the body and we'll go from there. For those who never read my story, "Growth," Pi was the murder victim, which is why Alexis was living with Buttons Dutton. It looks like Pi will be gone in cannon as well now, so we may have a convergence of universes. Whether we have a full convergence or not, "Aunt Theresa" will start after Limelight and is coming soon to a computer near you. Thank you for all the reviews. They make my day.