A/N: Hey ya'lls. Update time! Thanks to woflergirl for betaing this chapter!

Disclaimer: Yeah, right. I own things now. Like tv shows. Totally. Everything you read on the internet is true, right?


Beckett took a seat once more across from Richard Castle and his lawyer. "Okay, let's get this thing over with."

Castle shook his head vigorously. "No. First, I want to make a deal."

"Mr. Castle, you are a witness and at the moment, our prime suspect in a murder investigation. I don't think you're exactly in any position to be cutting a deal."

"Detective Beckett, my client is willing to help on this investigation. But it's going to take a little persuasion if you want to get all of the information you need. Some of the information my client is giving you is sensitive-"

"Sensitive?" Beckett blurted in outrage. "It's not sensitive, Mr. Townsend! Your client-"

"Bernie, please," he emphasized.

"Mr. Townsend. Your client is a drug addict. I don't need any more proof of that than what I already have sitting in front me. What good is his word anyways?"

"You tell me. You're the one who wants him to talk so much."

"What even makes you think that I'm on anything? I'm not an addict!"

Bernie patronizingly put a hand on Castle's arm. "Not now, Ricky."

"What? I'm not!"

"Denial is a common theme among addicts," Kate retorted.

"Let's all just cool down for a few minutes," Bernie interrupted. "Let's just be rational. You want more information on the case, to catch the real killer. We just want to make sure that Castle doesn't incriminate himself."

Beckett sat there grinding her teeth for a few minutes before sighing and standing up. "I'll have to talk to my Captain." She stormed out of the room.

"You do that!" Bernie called after her as the door shut.


"Seriously, sir?"

"You heard me," Captain Montgomery said. "This is going to be a very sensitive, high profile case. Richard Castle is good friends with the mayor. Now, the mayor's agreed to a deal where any mention of his narcotics history that may come up in the investigation can be swept under the rug - provided that he gets clean. Now, obviously, the deal's off if he starts using again or we find him to be guilty, but if not..." He shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "I mean, if we catch our killer, then what's the harm?"

Kate threw her arms up in exasperation. "He's a drug head, that's the harm! How can we even accept any of his testimony? And for that matter, nine times out of ten, the guy who woke up next to the dead body is the guy who did the killing. It just seems like a pointless deal."

"What are you gonna do, Beckett? Give him an extra few years on his 25 to life sentence if he is guilty?" She glared at him, which came across as more of a pout, and it was all Montgomery could do to keep from laughing at her. "Kate, it'll be fine. The deal's off if you do find him guilty. And I know, it doesn't look good for him. Most likely you're right, and he's our guy. But either way, we need to find out the truth."

Beckett chewed her lip as she thought it over, loathe to go back in there and tell the smug bastard he was getting exactly what he wanted.

"Come on. Rip it off, like a bandage."

She shot her captain one last glare before turning on her heel and going back to the interrogation room, steps thundering angrily.


As soon as she came inside, with Esposito trailing her, Castle was back at it, more shaky than before. "So, do we have a deal?"

Kate sighed. "Yes. Any mention of drugs while conducting this interview we'll let slide. On two conditions."

"Conditions? I never said anything about conditions!"

"Mr. Castle, if you want any sort of deal at all, then you'll have to take it. Number one: deal's off if we find you guilty. And number two: you have to sign a contract stating that you are going to get clean. No more drugs from here on out. Any future drug use you will be charged with. This is not a free pass. Do you understand that, Mr. Castle?"

Rick folded his arms tightly against his chest and jiggled his leg up and down, thinking carefully about what he was going to say next. If he agreed, he'd get to tell his whole story, get it off his chest, and not be hit by any charges. But then... he thought longingly back to the stash he had at his place, the good times he'd had at the parties, the women- and the high. God, that high. He would kill for another hit right now, just a tiny taste. And now they were telling him that he couldn't have any ever again? That was a cruel and unusual punishment. Couldn't he sue for that?

He turned wide blue eyes to Bernie, pleading with him, but his lawyer stared right back at him, unrelenting. Frazzled, Castle carded a hand through his hair.

"Ricky, it's for the best. Think about Alexis."

Bernie was right. Alexis needed him to be a good example for her. To be there for her. Heck, if this whole murder-drug business didn't get sorted out soon, the state would be likely to take her away from him. That thought nearly sent him spiralling into a panic. He couldn't handle that. She was what kept him grounded - what got him clean the first time. If he had to do this, then he would do it for her.

"Okay," he breathed, eyes closed. They flickered open after a few half seconds of silence and he met the two detective's gazes. He turned to face Bernie this time. "I'll sign that. I can do it."

"Great," Kate deadpanned as she passed over the paperwork for him to sign with his lawyer.

As he signed in the appropriate places, Rick asked, "Just out of curiosity, whose idea was it to include the clean up my act bit? You looking for a new boyfriend or something, Detective?" He waggled his eyebrows suggestively and Kate rolled her eyes.

"In your dreams, Mr. Castle."

"My dreams have a funny way of coming true."

"Well, unfortunately, I have nothing to do with this deal of yours. If it were up to me, I'd let you rot in holding," she said, pairing her comment with a smirk.

Castle folded his arms across his chest and huffed irritably. "Fine. Then who was it?"

"That would be Mayor Weldon himself," Esposito chimed in.

Rick's head snapped up at that, feeling somewhat burned. "What? Robert suggested this?"

The two detectives glanced quizzically at each other before turning back to their suspect. "Um, yeah?"

Castle groaned and put his head in his hands briefly. "Great. Just great."

"You know the mayor?" Esposito asked.

"Yeah," Rick rubbed at his eyes. "I owe him a couple hundred bucks from our last poker night."

"Let me guess, you blew it all on drug money," Beckett nudged, trying to get him to open up.

Castle returned to the task of signing forms, finishing up as he began to open up and recount his story. "Well, sort of. I guess I was a little bit high still at the last poker night, about three months ago - didn't clean up like I usually do. Anyways, I got the feeling that he thought I might be taking something then, and I quit hosting poker night after that. Makes sense that he'd want me to clean up my act."

Esposito shrugged. "Yeah, well, Mayor Weldon's a stand up guy."

"Yeah, well Judge Markaway didn't seem to think anything was amiss," Castle retorted.

That froze Kate. "You play poker with the mayor, and a judge?"

"Well, when I'm not playing poker with my writer's club."

"Oh, yeah? Who's in that? Stephenie Meyers? J.K. Rowling?" Esposito scoffed, grin widening.

"More like James Patterson, Michael Connelly, Stephen J. Cannell..."

Kate's eyebrows rose. That was quite an impressive list.

"And second of all," Castle frowned as another thought crossed his mind, "We don't knock Rowling. She is nowhere near the same category as Meyers."

Esposito was obviously out of his depths here, as he floundered for some sort of response and looked to Beckett for help. Castle passed over the paperwork and Kate took it, putting it underneath the file on the case they'd already compiled. "All right, Mr. Castle, that's enough for now. Why don't you tell us about what happened last night."

Bernie nodded to Castle, signalling that he could talk freely now. Castle scratched his head. "Truth be told, I already told you most everything. That I can remember, anyway. All that's left is the fact that you knew I was taking drugs, and I couldn't admit it."

"Look, Castle," Javier spoke up again. "You've gotta give us something. We are missing a lot of information, you were the last person to see her alive. You've gotta have more than that. What kind of drugs did you take last night?"

Richard hesitated. "You aren't going to believe me."

"Try us," Kate spoke evenly. She was already tired of him.

He fidgeted a bit more in his seat, moving to sit on his hands so they might stop shaking so badly. "I didn't take anything. Not that I'm aware of."

She blinked at him. "What?"

"I know, it sounds crazy, and you don't believe me. But it's the honest truth. Alexis just started school a couple of weeks ago... I've been trying to be good. She doesn't know about my... using problem. I'm not gonna lie and say I haven't done drugs since then, but I feel like I've scaled back a little bit. Last night was the party for my latest book launch - Storm Fall? Anyways, I was getting ready for the party, feeling a bit down because I'm not sure what to do anymore since I killed off Storm, and-"

"What?! You killed off Derrick Storm?!" Kate exclaimed, shocking the room. She flushed self consciously at her own outburst. "I mean, uh... Why?"

A grin slowly spread its way across Castle's face. "You are a fan! I knew it!"

She pinched the bridge of her nose, regretting her words immediately. "I read, Mr. Castle. Now, back to your story, please."

Rick's smile slipped away just like that. "Right. So, I was getting dressed for the party, feeling depressed, and I thought about taking something to take the edge off, make me happy before the party. My hands were shaking like crazy," he lifted one of his trembling hands up as an example, "And I couldn't get my tie on. I didn't want to take anything while Alexis was at home, though, and since both she and my mother were going to be coming by the party later on, I figured I'd wait until they bailed. I could always score some blow when I'm out and about."

"Now, when you say 'taking something' what exactly are you talking about?" Kate asked, pen at the ready.

Rick hesitated momentarily and spoke very carefully. "Does it matter?"

"Yes. It will help if we need to run tests to prove whether or not you've been telling the truth and it might help us indicate whether your symptoms are synonymous with the usual ones for that drug."

Rick swallowed thickly. This was going to be much harder than he'd thought. He took a deep breath and let it all out. "Um, well... I don't shoot up, I can tell you that. I have a... thing... with needles. So I don't do heroine. Or meth. Cocaine's mostly my drug of choice. Though occasionally I will smoke a blunt or two. I try not to smoke cigarettes."

"Because tobacco is the worst on that list of things."

"How'd you get started on that?" Kate continued, shooting Espo a glare for his inappropriately timed comment.

"Uh, college, actually. Right off my first best seller." The detectives seemed shocked by that, and Rick furrowed his brow as he thought back over what he said, when his eyes lit up. "Oh! No, I got clean as soon as I found out my girlfriend was pregnant with Alexis, and told her I wanted to marry her. I've been sober for fourteen years... It's only been in the last eight months or so since I started back up again. Some stupid kids at a party slipped me some and it set me off pretty bad. I got cocky and I thought I could handle more and, well... once an addict, always an addict, right?"

"No," Kate responded unthinkingly. She suddenly found three pairs of eyes staring at her inquisitively. "I mean... There's always hope," she floundered for the right response.

"Anyway," Espo continued. "So what happened at the party?"

Castle nodded. "Right. So, I didn't take anything, and I left for the party. Did the usual meet and greet, shook hands, posed for pictures, signed... things. Alexis and my mother showed up at something like... I wanna say eight thirty? Maybe nine? I know they were out of there by ten because Alexis had a math test tomorrow- today, I guess- and she was stressed about it and wanted to get a good night's sleep. I started drinking and flirting and when I heard my publicist, Paula, was looking for me, I bailed. She'd been nagging me all night, yelling at me, telling me I looked a wreck and... It's not important. I took off for the nearest bar I could find, Club . That was sometime around 11:30 but you could check with the people there. I think that's where I met... Carrie. That was her name. Carrie," he frowned, wrinkling his brow. "Carrie Bradshaw. Yeah. I remember now."

"Uh, I'm sorry, was this a different person? Because the woman you were sleeping next to was one Allyson Hannah Parker, age 34."

"No. This girl definitely introduced herself as Carrie Bradshaw. I remember because I asked if she liked to have Sex in the City and-"

"Smooth," Kate commented with an eye roll.

"-And she smiled and laughed and said she hadn't heard that one before... Come to think of it, that was kind of weird."

"I think it's kind of weird that you watched Sex and the City," Esposito commented.

Castle either didn't hear the detective's comment or ignored him completely. "Why would she tell me her name was Carrie Bradshaw?"

Kate shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, maybe she just wanted a night out on the town, be anonymous. It's a line. Can we move on to the rest of the story first and speculate later?"

Bernie tapped the table and called his name softly to draw him back to the conversation. Rick nodded. "Right, uh, yeah. So, we flirted a bit, drank some more. I was fairly buzzed, but I still hadn't taken a hit, but I guess I drank more than I thought or something, because my head started hurting and swirling. Before I knew it, she invited me back to her place and..." Castle threw up his hands in defeat. "That's about all I can remember. I know we got there, obviously, but the last thing I remember was making it to the couch before passing out entirely."

There was a long silence in the room as Castle's words washed over them all. Kate blanched. "Are you seriously trying to tell me that the dead woman we found you sleeping next to this morning got you to her apartment with a fake name at a sleazy bar and then you didn't even sleep together? Nothing happened?"

He nodded eagerly. "It's the truth."

"Then how do you explain getting to be in her bed?"

"Look, I don't know what happened after that! I passed out! I don't even think I had too much to drink, but for some reason, that's what happened, and that's exactly how it happened! I knew you guys wouldn't believe me!"

"Richard, calm down a sec-"

"Calm down?! Bernie, I've got my life on the line here! A woman died last night, I have no idea what the hell happened to her and I haven't had a god damn hit in nearly two days now! God!" He pulled at his hair out of frustration, standing up to pace the room, alternating between chewing his thumbnail and running his fingers through his unkempt hair. His eyes lit up with a thought. "My wallet! Where - did you guys take it?"

Beckett and Esposito watched the man fall apart right before their eyes. "We didn't recover a wallet. You didn't have one on you."

The author's shakes increased at that and he swore. "Maybe it got lost at th-the crime scene. Please, I need it."

Kate cocked her head at him. "What do you need it for, Mr. Castle?"

"There should be a full packet of... stuff in it. If I had taken anything last night I'd surely I'd have used that first, right? But I didn't."

"And this desire doesn't stem from any curiosity about whether you can get some of it for yourself right now?"

He responded with a glare in her direction.

"May I remind you, Mr. Castle, that your current bargain only works for you provided that you stay clean from this point onward. No more hits. No relapses."

Castle groaned and dropped his head on to the table as he took a seat once again. "What does it matter? You guys don't believe me anyways. Just send me on my way and I'll be out of your hair."

Esposito's eyes got big at that. "You ready to confess?"

Rick felt his gut clench up at that. He was innocent. He knew that. But how else could he convince them? "No, I'm not confessing. I didn't do it. But you guys aren't exactly jumping on my story either. I-"

Suddenly yelling was coming from outside the doors of the interrogation room, causing a commotion of some kind. Kate frowned and stood up, walking to the door and opening it slightly. "Kevin? What's going on?"

"Where is he? I want to see him, now!"

The voice carried through the precinct, settling in the room they were occupying and Castle felt himself go as white as a sheet at the voice. No, no, no, no... She was the last person he wanted to see right now, the last person he wanted to confront in his current state. He stood up in a daze and poked his head out over Beckett's shoulder, ready for the barrage of contempt and rage that was about to whirl on him.

"Alexis?"

She spun around to find him, her red hair whipping about her shoulders at the motion and her expression changed as she finally laid eyes on him. "Dad?"


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