Chapter 8

Ryan and Esposito interrogated Patrick Lowell; Beckett and Castle took Merci Bertram. Beckett and Castle closed their questioning first and watched from outside the room as their partners finished up with Lowell. Both the young people were arrested for the murder of Marietta Bertram.

"That's one cold-blooded pair, "Castle said with a shudder as they came back to the bullpen." Did you see any remorse? I didn't."

"Nothing," Beckett agreed. "I dread having to tell Tina and her aunt. They'll be devastated. I think the aunt had caught on when she asked about the bracelet, but she didn't want to believe it."

When the boys came back, they pulled chairs over near Beckett's desk and sat down to compare notes. The two stories seemed to jibe, except that each one said the other planned the whole thing.

"We sent the gun to ballistics. They said they're backed up and they'd try to have something tomorrow morning." Ryan reported as they finished.

"Good, Beckett answered. "We should have the fingerprint results by then, too. Did we get the warrant?"

"Yep," he answered. "The captain should have it. Are we going over there now?

"Might as well." Castle answered. "It's got to be done."

xxxxx

Captain Gates appeared as soon as her team returned to the precinct. "Where are we?" she asked.

"We're good, Beckett answered. "We've arrested them. Once we presented them with what we had, they each tried to convince us that the other one made them do it. As we suspected, Merci dressed up for her mother's benefit, wore the bracelet her sister gave her, showed her mom everything a mother would want to see to make her think that she'd turned over a new leaf. She got an information packet from the college and used the letterhead message to manufacture an acceptance letter for the nursing program."

"She got her chance to look around when her mother left her alone to make a quick trip to a store," Castle continued. "She knew where her mother kept her important papers when she was younger and went straight to it to see if she was beneficiary to anything. After the withdrawal for the "college money", he added air quotes, "she already knew her mother's bank account was much bigger than it used to be. She wasn't happy that everything went to Tina, but thought she could string Tina and her aunt along and get her share one way or another. She said they would both want to believe she was who she used to be. The boyfriend said she was supposed to take her mother's purse, so she'd have all the ID's to give her access to accounts; but the gunshot was louder than she expected, and it spooked her…she forgot the purse. The girl's comment was, 'Why should goody two-shoes get everything? We figured, if they didn't want to share, I could get their ID's and get somebody to help me clean out the account before they knew anything was missing.' No feeling for her family at all."

"When Merci came back with her boyfriend and wanted to show him the apartment, it was to give Lowell a chance to see the lay of the land beforehand," Beckett chimed in. "The morning of the murder, she knocked on the door right after she saw Tina leave the building for school and charmed her mother while the boyfriend cut the window glass, unlocked the window, and slipped in from the fire escape. Mrs. Bertram saw him when he entered the living room, but she had no time to react before he shot her…once to the chest from across the room, then another to the head from close up. When she fell, she grabbed her daughter's arm, and the bracelet broke and fell on the floor."

"Merci opened the front door to run, but she saw another door opening down the hall; so she left by way of the fire escape with Lowell," Castle explained.

We're waiting for ballistics on Lowell's gun, and the lab should find Merci's prints on the documents." Beckett added.

Did the warrant turn up anything?" Gates asked

"We found the phone numbers and address Tina had given her sister…and copies of the insurance information and the will at Merci's apartment. She must have taken pictures with her phone while her mom was gone," Beckett told her. "And the blood spattered clothes Merci was wearing when Lowell shot her mother were in the trash can."

"They've apparently been supporting themselves with stolen identities," Castle reported. "Looks like when one set of credit cards petered out, they'd have another half dozen waiting in a different name and change their location and Merci's name. There were multiple ID's at the apartment, all looking a lot like Merci, and services and credit card accounts opened in those names. We found receipts for cash advances and purchases, and bills paid using those cards…just lying around in the other trash on the floors and furniture. The place was disgusting."

"Not unlike its residents." Esposito observed.

"Looks like we have enough to lock them up for a long time." Beckett concluded.

Good work detectives." Gates paused, took a deep breath and added grudgingly, "And Mr. Castle. Go home, all of you. Tomorrow should be an easier day. And the precinct can't afford more of your overtime."

"We'll go by and talk to Mrs. Addison and Tina before we head home," Beckett told her. "No sense in leaving them hanging any longer than necessary, and this one feels like something we need to do in person."

They were all trying hard not to react to Gates inclusion of Castle, but they were all in shock…especially Castle.

"I'll leave you to it, then. But all of you get some sleep tonight. You've earned it. The paperwork will still be here tomorrow, and you might as well be awake."

"Drinks later to celebrate closing the case?" Esposito asked.

The elevator dinged and the boys could see Alexis leave it, talking on her phone. Rather than coming to meet them the way she usually did, she stopped in the corner near the elevator and kept talking, looking upset.

Castle was facing the boys when Alexis left the elevator. "I'm going home after Beckett and I finish up, but you two can stop at The Old Haunt if you want. I'll call and tell them your drinks are on me tonight. You, too, Captain, if you'd like."

"Thank you, Mr. Castle," she answered, "but I need to clear a few things here before I go home." She turned and went back to her office.

"Was I hallucinating, or did she actually include me this time?" Castle whispered.

Ryan bumped fists with him and said, "Did you see anybody holding one of those 'The world ends tomorrow' signs? I'm a little worried."

The men laughed, then Castle turned in Kate's direction and asked, "You ready?"

"Let me get a couple of things organized for tomorrow before we go."

Noticing the boys' attention had wandered, Castle took in what was in their line of vision. When he saw the look on Alexis face, he went directly to where she stood looking down at her phone, leaned his head down toward her, put a hand on her shoulder, and asked "Is something wrong? Was the job too much for you today?"

"That was Ash…that phone call. He's coming home for spring break and wants to get together to talk. I just started getting over him."

"What about Brandon? How serious is that?"

"I don't know, Dad. Not very. Not yet. I don't even know what Ash wants to talk about. He could be telling me he's found somebody else…or trying to get back together. Why couldn't he just leave me alone?"

Castle wrapped her in a big, warm fatherly hug and held her for a moment. "Come on in the break room, he said, guiding her with a comforting arm around her shoulder. Beckett should be here in a minute, and we can drop you at the loft before we see Mrs. Bertram's family."

"If I'd known this would happen, I'd have planned on it," she said sadly. Buttons is picking me up here. She's taking me to the loft to change, and we're going for coffee. She wants to hear about my internship. I told Grams before I left this morning."

He pulled her into another hug and kissed her head.

"Castle's a real dad," Esposito said, sounding surprised as he watched him with his daughter in the hall.

"We knew that a long time ago, man," Ryan answered, looking at him like he'd lost his mind.

"No, I mean like a real dad. Did you see that? He was being a detective, then he came over here and turned into a bar owner, then he saw her looking all sad, and he just morphed into a real, 'What's the matter? Aww. Let Daddy help.' dad. It's one of those things that you know, but you don't know."

"Yeah. I see what you mean."

Suddenly Beckett was there asking, "Where's Castle?"

Ryan pointed toward the break room. "Esposito says he just morphed into an honest-to-goodness dad. Little Castle looked upset."

"Yeah. He does that," Kate answered absently and went straight to the break room. She walked in and stroked Alexis' hair from behind as her dad hugged her. "Are you okay?" she asked, leaning in toward her very much as Castle had done, sounding concerned and moving her hand down Alexis' hair to her shoulder.

As he and Ryan watched the scene playing out in front of them, Esposito said, "Whoa! Tell me we're not seeing Beckett morphing into Mom. They're not even together yet, and she's mothering his kid? I did not see that coming."

"Wonder if Beckett realizes yet?" Ryan questioned with a smirk. "She can be a little thick about that stuff sometimes. New round of bets?"

"I'm gonna need that round of drinks first. Dude, we're working with chameleons."

Ryan just laughed. "I'm calling Jenny. Are you and Lanie still getting along well enough to ask her, too? We can call on the way, and they can meet us there."

They both grabbed their coats and reached the elevator about the same time Beckett and the Castles did.

"You okay, Little Castle?" Ryan asked, and saw her nod a yes.

"Does Uncle Javi need to take somebody down for you?" Esposito asked with his macho face on.

"No, Uncle Javi. No need for that." She flashed him a smile.

"Esposito grinned and pointed at her smile. "Now, that's what I wanted to see," he gloated as the elevator doors opened.

They left the elevator with everybody smiling. Castle and Beckett waited a few minutes until Buttons drove up for Alexis, then they went to see Mrs. Bertram's family.

xxxxx

The couple sat with Tina and Mrs. Addison and explained what they had learned, leaving out as much as they could while still delivering the news they had to give them. Both were as heartbroken as expected, and Castle and Beckett left feeling depressed.

"I'll never understand how somebody could turn on a family who loves them. No abuse, nothing to cause it. It looks like Merci was well-loved right up to the end, and she could make brownies with her mom like old times one week and still stand there and calmly watch somebody shoot her a week later. Makes me ill," Castle said as Beckett started the car.

"This definitely isn't a pretty job," Beckett answered as she patted his knee in sympathy. He reached for her hand and held it briefly before she moved it to the wheel and pulled out in traffic. "Back to the loft?"

"I guess so."

They rode in silence, each deep in their own thoughts.

"I'll see you in the morning," Beckett said when she had stopped the car in front of Castle's building.

"Don't go. It isn't quite dark yet. Let's walk…see if we can find something happy to take our minds off this case for a while."

Kate saw the hopeful look on his face and answered, "You know, that's not a bad idea."

"There's a little park not far from here. Trees, a flower cart always set up across the corner. Why don't we walk that way? Kids playing, flowers, trees, swings…"

They left the car, and he reached for her hand, pleased when she laced her fingers through his and smiled. He knew this case had been hard for her, too. They both needed a little comfort.

A couple of blocks away they turned the corner, and there was the flower cart at the end of the block.

"Wow! Beckett said with a little laugh. All that color takes you by surprise."

"I thought you'd like it. All these years, and the color still surprises me when I turn the corner. It belongs to the florist behind it, but there's someone out here with the cart as long as the weather allows it."

"How long has it been here?"

"Longer than I have. I used to bring Alexis to play in the little park over there. A lot of times I'd buy her a flower on the way home. Usually a daisy. Sometimes a carnation. Those were her favorites."

"Esposito suddenly realized tonight that you're a real dad. I guess he hadn't seen your dad mode in action before. I think he might have been impressed."

Castle puffed a little laugh. "Doesn't take a lot to impress him."

"I don't know. I think your dad mode is kind of impressive. You have a lot to be proud of."

She got a pleased smile in return, and they strolled farther toward the park. When they reached it, they leaned on the fence rail and looked around.

"There aren't too many things happier than children playing. Look at the little guy on the slide," he said, pointing toward a little boy who looked to be about four, squealing in laughter as he went flying down the slide. "Have you ever wanted to have kids?" he asked.

Kate looked at him in surprise, then realized he didn't seem to be applying it to them, and she answered in the same matter of fact spirit, "I didn't for a long time, but now and then the thought occurs to me. I enjoy kids. I just don't know if it would be fair to a child when my job could…" Her voice trailed away at that. Neither of them needed reminders of what could happen to them. Changing the turn of the conversation, she asked, "How are things going with your mother's play? Are you over it yet?"

"Fortunately for me, she doesn't have backing yet. I could do that for her, but I'm somehow not inclined; and she's had a sudden independent streak lately. We were at the bank because she wanted to get a loan for her acting school…without my help…didn't even want me to co-sign. She wanted to fund the play without my help, too. I think maybe she's trying to prove something to herself."

"If she asked for your help, you'd back her, though? In spite of what she says about you," Beckett asked.

"Yeah. No matter what, she's my mother. It wasn't easy for her. Illegitimate children is what we were called back then, and our mothers… Well, it wasn't accepted the way it is now. But she kept me…wanted me, and did the best she could to take care of me. Until I had Alexis, I didn't realize how hard it had been for her." He motioned Kate to an empty bench just inside the park gate. "When I was little, probably about the age of the little guy on the slide, she had a lot of jobs besides acting, a lot of waiting tables for a while, but she always found time to spend with me. She'd get me to bed early when she had a late night job by promising to wake me when she got home…only if she found out I'd gone to bed when the babysitter told me to. And I always did. She had to be exhausted when she got home, but it didn't stop her. She'd wake me up and sit me in her lap and read me stories…and talk with me before she tucked me back in. I felt like the most special kid in the world. There's never been a day of my life that I didn't know I was loved, no matter how big a pain I probably was sometimes. So, yeah. Short story long…whatever she wants. We drive each other nuts, but we'll always be there for each other."

"It wasn't easy for you, either, was it?" Castle had leaned forward as he talked, his forearms resting on his knees and his hands clasped, still watching the children, and Kate reached over and rubbed her hand across his back in support.

"Not always. But times changed, and money and fame makes people forget…or not care. Fortunately for us, Mother was amassing both, and I followed in her footsteps early in my adult life. She and I made some good friends along the way."

"I don't care if you have money or not, Rick." She was still running her hand across his back. You're a good man…strong, dependable, loving, honest, talented, smart…ruggedly handsome." They both laughed. "Goofy, annoying…"

"Well, that was a mood breaker." He smiled, stood, and held out his hand. "Come back to the loft with me. We can have a glass of wine and rummage for something in the fridge so you can go home and collapse in your bed."

She stood and took his hand. "I should probably just go home."

"Come on. I'll be a perfect gentleman. The way things have been going lately, if I tried something, Alexis would come home and catch me, anyway."

"Okay," Kate agreed with a laugh, "but only a little while."

They walked back, stopping just as the flower cart was being taken in for the night, and Rick bought two dozen pink carnations. When she was leaving, he gave half of them to Kate and said he would put the others on Alexis' bed for her to find when she got home…a little show of support.

"Thanks for spending some time with me, Kate. I needed some company. Something pleasant after the rest of the day."

"Always," she answered, knowing exactly what she was saying now. And she surprised him with a kiss on the cheek before she left.