Chapter Nine

Castle and Beckett once again made their way through the Macy's store. Even though it had just opened back up, there didn't seem to be too many people in the store just yet.

They walked in silence as they made their way to the back of the store, looking for Jason's department. The quiet was broken by a high-pitched squeal. The two immediately looked up and saw an elf running towards them.

"That's something you don't see everyday." Beckett joked.

Castle shook his head. "I'm pretty sure I've had nightmares that started off like this."

Beckett laughed, looking at him quizzically. Castle turned to look back at her, a serious expression on his face. "Elves are scary."

"Remind me to return that sexy elf costume I bought…" Kate replied, suggestively.

Castle fumbled for a response, getting out a tentative, "No… I…" before the elf reached them and immediately grabbed for Castle's hand.

"Rick Castle!" She exclaimed. "Rachel Mack. I'm your biggest fan!"

Castle smiled at the young woman in front of him. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Rachel." He motioned towards Beckett. "This is…"

"Detective Kate Beckett." Rachel chimed in. "Of course I know who this is! Wow, I can't believe this. Rick Castle and his muse. The inspiration for his greatest character. And quite the inspiration from what I've heard." She winked at the pair.

Castle chuckled while Beckett shot him a disapproving glare.

"Mr. Castle…. Can I call you Rick?…" Rachel didn't wait for a response. "Rick, I just wanted to tell you, I've read all of your books. I even waited in line at one of your signings for over an hour just to meet you!" With that, she looked over at Beckett. "I know, it's crazy, right?" Beckett's cheeks flushed. "I'm a mystery writer too, you know."

"Interesting choice of costume for a writer…" Beckett chimed in, sarcastically.

Rachel laughed. "I know, right? I'm actually just working here to gain some insight. You know, do some research for my current novel. The inner workings of a department store at Christmas, the height of the retail year. The drama, the intrigue, the secrets, the backstabbing. Santa kicks the bucket. Lots of suspects to pick from."

Castle nodded. "I like it."

Rachel smiled at his approval. "Yeah, it's just a little too real now, I suppose. Life imitating art and all." She paused. "But as you always say, 'write what you know'… I've lived by that mantra, thanks to you."

"Well, it's always nice to hear that." Castle smiled.

Rachel, now at least somewhat calm, looked around before she spoke again. "Listen, I've been observing these people for months now. Watching, listening, spying sometimes." She laughed. "I know everything there is to know about everyone here. Anything you need to know, anything I can do to help in your investigation, it would be an absolute honour."

Beckett nodded. "Thanks, Rachel, we appreciate that." She paused for only a moment. "What can you tell us about Jason Samuels?"

Rachel smirked, happy to be helping. "Jason's a decent guy. Great salesman. Kind of jumpy, though." She glanced around to make sure nobody could hear them. "He got in pretty deep into debt. Gambling habit gone wrong, as it usually does." Castle nodded in agreement, eliciting another smile from Rachel. "Suddenly, just a few days ago, it was all magically paid off. I haven't figured out how he did it yet, but I'm sure there was something shady behind it."

"What makes you think that?" Beckett pressed.

"Rachel!" Before she could answer, the trio was joined by a handsome young man wearing an unfortunate reindeer costume. Beckett and Castle exchanged an amused look as Rachel introduced them.

"Paul, this is Rick Castle and Detective Beckett. They're here to solve Pete's murder." Rachel stated proudly. Paul shook hands with Castle and Beckett as Rachel continued. "And this is Paul Dasher, our resident reindeer by day and fabulous dancer by night."

Paul blushed. "Come on, Rachel, they need us to get started. There's already a huge line-up waiting to see Santa." He rolled his eyes. "It was nice to meet you both."

Castle and Beckett chuckled as Paul pulled Rachel away, rather unwillingly. She turned and waved at them before following Paul and ushering the first waiting child over to see Santa.

"Well, that was odd." Castle remarked.

Beckett laughed. "Come on, Castle, you should be used to your adoring fans by now."

"No, not that." Castle replied. "Paul."

Beckett turned and looked at Castle, her brow furrowed. "What about him?"

"Paul Dasher?… Dasher is a dancer?…" He paused, waiting for Beckett to catch on. Her puzzled look told him she wasn't going to. "Come on, Beckett. Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen? Santa's reindeer? The guy's playing a reindeer?… Really?"

Beckett smirked and shook her head. "Well, when we're done questioning him because of his name, we can go question his friends too. You know, Comet, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen…"

"Actually, that's Donder and Blitzen." He corrected her, earning him a sharp glare. "If you really want to be accurate, it was originally Dunder and Blixem, the Dutch words for thunder and lightening. It was changed to Donder and Blitzen in 'Twas The Night Before Christmas. It eventually became Donner and Blitzen when they wrote the song, I suppose it sounded more musical that way…" He trailed off when he realized Beckett had walked away. He pouted. "Which you clearly don't care about…" He looked around. "And now I'm talking to myself." She shook his head, found Beckett in the crowd, and bounded off towards her.


Castle joined Beckett in the shoe department where they tracked down Jason.

"Mr. Samuels?" Beckett asked, flashing her badge as she introduced herself. "I'm Detective Kate Beckett. This is Richard Castle. We need a few minutes of your time."

Jason nodded and motioned for them to follow him to the storage area where they could speak privately. He seemed rather skittish as they questioned him.

"I understand you got yourself into some trouble a while back, Jason." Beckett began.

"Yes ma'am." Jason replied, nodding.

Castle picked up where Beckett left off. "You got yourself in pretty deep."

Jason nodded again. "I'm not proud of it, but yes, I did."

"Just a few days ago, Jason, all of your debts were paid off." Beckett added. "How did you manage that?"

Jason swallowed. "A friend loaned me the money."

"And who was this friend, Jason?" Castle asked.

Jason's eyes darted from the detective to the writer and back again.

Beckett made a conscious effort to soften her tone. "Jason, we just need to know who paid off your debts. If you haven't done anything wrong, the truth will help you here. If not, you're silence is going to make you look guilty."

The young man's eyes widened and he broke. "It was Ms. Carter. She paid them off."

Beckett and Castle exchanged a surprised look.

"Sydney Carter? Peter's ex-wife?" Castle asked.

Jason nodded. "Yes sir."

"And why would she do that?" Beckett asked, intrigued by the new information.

"I'm not entirely sure." Jason shrugged. "I guess she felt badly, that she blamed herself for the commissions I lost. Money that could have stopped me from falling into debt in the first place."

It would have been a reasonable explanation if Jason had a better poker face. Unfortunately for him, Beckett read him like a book.

"Jason, I'm going to ask you one more time and I want the truth. Why did Ms. Carter really pay off your debts?" She asked. "What did she want in return?"

The detective focused her eyes on Jason, as if silently convincing him to fess up. "She paid me off to spike Peter's drink." He cracked, tears bursting from his eyes.

"She wanted you to spike Peter's drink?" Castle asked. "With what?"

Jason's watery eyes widened in fear. "It was just vodka, I swear!" He exclaimed. "Mr. Brooks had told her that Peter had a drinking problem. He told her that if there were any signs that Peter had been drinking on the job, he would fire him on the spot."

Beckett nodded. "So she paid you to make sure that happened?"

"Yes ma'am." Jason sobbed. "I knew Ally always prepared Peter's morning coffee. He said she was the only one who could make it just the way he liked it. So I waited for her to make it that morning and I got Sydney to distract her. Just for a minute. Just long enough for me to spike it."

"And you're sure it was just vodka?" Beckett asked.

Jason nodded. "I bought it at the store that morning. Never been opened." He started to sob again. "I'm sorry, I really am. But I swear I didn't kill him."

"Thank you, Jason." Beckett nodded at Castle and they got up to leave.


It was late in the evening with the night fast approaching and the precinct nearly empty.

Castle and Beckett stood in front of Captain Gates' desk as she stared, unimpressed, at the pair.

"So you have nothing?" Gates asked.

Beckett shook her head. "Every lead we've had has some up with nothing." She replied. "Ryan and Esposito have been coming through the witness statements and Castle and I have been running through our interview notes all day and we haven't found much else to go on yet."

"Well, detective, keep at it, there must be something there that will point us in the right direction." Gates replied, turning back to the paperwork in front of her.

Beckett nodded. "Yes, Sir."

She turned to leave Gates' office with Castle in tow. Castle stopped suddenly, a smile spreading across his face as he pulled out his twig of mistletoe from his pocket and held it up.

"Mr. Castle", Gates warned, her gaze never leaving the work on her desk. "Unless hell has frozen over or a pig has learned how to fly, I suggest you put that away."

Beckett grinned as Castle hung his head, putting his mistletoe back in his pocket and slowly following her out of the office.

Gates looked up at the pair as they walked away, smiling contently and shaking her head.


"Another day and no new leads." Beckett said, frustrated as she and Castle studied the murder board at the end of an unproductive day.

Castle shared her frustration. "What did Esposito say when he called?"

"Just that he and Ryan ran the financials of the store and found out that they had been losing money for a couple of months now." Beckett stated.

"No wonder Tyler was so adamant about not shutting the store down for too long." Castle remarked.

Beckett nodded. "Yeah, if he couldn't finish the year with positive numbers, his job may have been at risk."

They sat in silence for a few minutes longer, just thinking to themselves.

"You know, I was wondering…." Castle began. Beckett looked over at him, quizzically. "What if we were right about the commissions angle?"

Beckett nodded. "You're thinking maybe it was Ally?"

"Maybe." Castle stated. "She would have lost a lot of money because of Peter and Sydney's fight, maybe she was mad enough about that to kill."

Beckett thought about it. "And she did make his coffee in the morning. She could have poisoned it herself, easily, in fact."

Castle nodded. "Back to the store in the morning?" He joked.

Beckett laughed. "Third time's a charm, right?"

"Let's call it a night, detective. Hopefully we'll break this one tomorrow." Castle said, his eyes sparkling under the dim Christmas lights. "Alexis just got home today so I'm going to spend the night at the loft."

Beckett nodded. "Of course."

"Can I walk you home first?" Castle asked as he gathered Beckett's coat and held it out for her, silently asking her to join him.

Beckett nodded and smiled, taking her coat and heading into the night with Castle once again.

As the two stepped into the elevator, Castle couldn't help but ask, "So about that sexy elf costume…"

Beckett flashed him a sultry smile as the elevator doors closed.