DISCLAIMERS: No.

SUMMARY: Kate and Castle enjoy a day in town for the South Hampton Regatta while Gates and the boys start to look into one of the so-called 'lesser' players, the original medical examiner.

A/N #1: I want to thank reviewer Jmbatt for pointing out to me a glaring error in Chapter 8. Actually, the Unmuse dropped the ball. As a native New Yorker, he's the one who tries to help me with distances between destinations. He missed how quickly Martha arrived at the house from the city. He told me from now on to think of it as driving from San Antonio to Corpus Christi, something that I can relate to.

A/N #2: I don't have Internet access at home, so I have to look up stuff on my phone. Last night, I Googled 'Beckett's Murder Board' and came up with a wonderful Wiki site that has a lot of great information, plus some burning questions. I'll be utilizing this site to help me with some of the upcoming chapters.

A/N #3: I don't know if South Hampton has an annual Regatta, but it sounded good for the sake of my story. I'm from San Antonio, and right now we have Fiesta.

Chapter 9: Who was the Mysterious JKL?

Kate's eyes fluttered opened in the darkness of the bedroom. She didn't know what time it was, but the sun hadn't even begun to come up. If she had to guess, she'd guess that she'd only been asleep for a few hours. She thought about calling her doctor later in the morning to get a prescription for sleeping pills. She couldn't keep doing this.

Castle's arm was warmly draped over her stomach, the weight comforting on her skin. Her ruggedly handsome fiancé was so cute when he was asleep. His hair stuck up in all directions, giving him a sweet, rumpled look. She didn't want to wake him up, but she loved touching him. She let her fingers trail softly over his face, smiling when he huffed in his sleep and snuggled deeper into her shoulder, tightening his fingers into the fabric of her t-shirt.

He slowly opened his eyes and gave her a sleepy smile. "Stop thinking so much," his voice was rough as he reached out to cup her cheek. "Come here," he reached his arm around her back and tucked her into his warmth, his breath gently blowing through her hair. "I'm really sucking at this."

"At what?"

"I thought bringing you out here would help you to relax."

"I can't let it go, Castle," she cuddled into his chest, feeling his hands running soft circles on her back. "I love being out here and I love making plans for our wedding, but my mind is always in the city, wondering if Gates and the boys are doing their jobs. I'm wondering what I could do; what we could do, if we were there."

"Kate, we're not going back to the city. I'm not a huge fan of having my ass handed to me by Iron Gates. We could leave here and drive down the coast or we could go up to your dad's cabin. There's no rule that says we have to stay here."

"Castle, you don't have to bend over backwards to make me happy. Being here with you makes me happy. Tell me a bedtime story," she rested her head on his chest. "Tell me about the first time that we made love."

"You showed up on my doorstep, soaking wet, cold and scared—"

"I wasn't scared," she argued sleepily.

"Who's telling this story?" She didn't answer, just snuggled deeper into his chest. "You smelled like cherries and rain, which are now two of my favorite scents in the entire world. We had kissed before, but that had been as a ruse. That kiss had been . . . wow, but our first real kiss . . . the one that I knew was going to be the start of something very special was . . . words failed me. You tasted so sweet and the little moans that came out of your mouth—" He glanced down and saw that she was smiling as she listened to him.

"Keep going."

"Your skin felt like velvet under my fingers. And the second that you touched me, I thought that I was going to come completely undone. You touching me was the greatest thing ever. And then, when we finally came together that first time, I didn't want it to end."

"Me, either," she lifted her head to kiss him. "I kept trying not to come because I didn't want it to end. But at the same time, I just wanted to keep coming because it was so mind-blowing. Sometimes I ask myself why I waited so long to let you in. I wasted so much time fighting what I was feeling toward you."

"You weren't ready. Neither of us was. No regrets, Kate."

"No, no regrets," she kissed him once again before nestling against his chest and closing her eyes.

***CCC***

"Do you remember the first time you heard about Beckett's mom?" Javier was lying naked in Lanie's bed, with her head resting on his shoulder. Unable to sleep the night before, he'd called Lanie and asked to come over, which was what had led them to where they were right now.

"It was right after we'd become friends. We got together one night and she got drunk. She told me the whole story. What about you?"

"I always knew that there was something there, something that was driving her besides the job. So, one night I asked her and she told me. She told me that she always felt like the detective was dicking her around. Those were her exact words," he said as Lanie smiled. "She told me that she was going to solve it herself or die trying."

"I thought for a long time that it was going to destroy her. I was almost relieved when she let it go. Then along came Castle," Lanie sighed, remembering when the writer had first started coming around.

"Sometimes I regret handing him that file, but if I hadn't, we'd have nothing now. Can I ask you something? Did you know the original M.E.?"

"No, he retired before I started working for the M.E.'s office and then he died of a heart attack in 2005. Why?"

"Lanie; Ryan, Gates, and I have looked at the autopsy photos and we've read his reports on the murders of Johanna Beckett and the others. The murders were all committed in the same manner."

"I know. I'm the one who called Dr. Murray after the Jack Coonan homicide, remember?"

"So, did he really miss the obvious or was he being paid to discount four murders as random events?"

"Maybe you should be talking to his family. See how well they're living," she arched her eyebrows.

"You should be a detective," he grinned, grabbing her and rolling them as his lips descended on hers.

***CCC***

Kate groaned loudly. She was having the most amazingly erotic dream. She could actually feel Castle's lips on the insides of her thighs. This was definitely the best dream ever. That man could do the most amazing things with his lips and tongue, even adding his teeth to the mix sometimes just to mix things up. Sometimes, just thinking about what he would do to her would make her soaking wet in no time.

She opened her legs wider when she felt his tongue brush over her still clothed clit. This definitely wasn't a dream. Slowly opening her eyes, she looked down and saw a mound of covers, which had to be hiding her fiancé. "Castle? What're you doing under there?"

Suddenly the lump under the covers began to move as she felt Castle moving up her body, finally popping his head out from under the disheveled blankets. She smiled at how adorably rumpled he looked. "If you have to ask what I'm doing under there, then I'm not doing it right."

"Not that I didn't enjoy what you were doing, very much, but I like it better when I can be an awake and willing participant in the act. Give me a kiss and I'll let you go back to what you were doing," she gave him a bright smile as he moved up and gently covered her lips with his own.

"Good morning," he kissed her one more time. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to have you screaming my name in a matter of minutes."

"I'm looking forward to that," she teased as he once again disappeared under the blankets.

Later, she couldn't wipe the huge grin off of her face while sitting on the back porch with Castle as they enjoyed their coffee in the coolness of the March morning. After he'd made her scream his name repeatedly as promised, they had shared a shower, where they had engaged in a rather loud and boisterous round two. "Did you want me to call around and see if we can get on one of the sailboats today?"

"Castle, I was thinking, with my . . . problems with water, going out into the middle of the Atlantic might not be a good idea. I don't want to go out there and freak out."

"Someday, I'm going to take you sailing," he took her hand and squeezed it. "But, there's still plenty of other stuff to do. They have some carnival rides and every kind of carnival food that you can imagine."

"Funnel cake and caramel apples?" Her eyes lit up like a little girl's as he laughed.

"Kettle corn, funnel cake, corn dogs. Would you like to go?"

"I'd love to!"

Castle grinned, happy that Kate seemed willing to go out and have a good time. Hopefully they'd have a good day without the lingering thoughts of the investigation intruding. His plan was to give her one of the best days ever.

***CCC***

"So, tell me again why we're investigating the original M.E.?" Capt. Gates asked as she sat at a conference table with Ryan and Esposito. "The man has been dead for nine years. It's not like we can dig him up and have him convicted of falsifying his report."

"Sir, everything starts with the autopsy reports," Espo scattered the autopsy reports of the five known victims of killer Dick Coonan: Johanna Beckett, Jennifer Stewart, Diane Cavanaugh, Scott Murray, and lastly, Coonan's own brother, Jack, the death which had been the catalyst to where they were now. "With the exception of Jack Coonan, Dr. Jerry Lyle or someone from his office performed the other autopsies. But, Dr. Lyle himself was the one who wrote the reports. When Castle showed Johanna Beckett's file to Dr. Clark Murray, Dr. Murray noticed right away that Mrs. Beckett's killing was an execution. When Jack Coonan was murdered, Dr. Parish noticed the same wound pattern that had been on the other victims. Dr. Lyle's widow is living in a two million dollar home in Westchester County."

"She could've purchased that with her late husband's life insurance," Gates pointed out.

"That's what I thought, until I did some checking. The house was purchased, with cash, in October of 1999, five months after Jennifer Stewart's murder. Tori did some checking and found out that a deposit of five million dollars was deposited in Dr. Lyle's account in June of 1999, a month after Ms. Stewart's death. Sir, I don't think this is a coincidence."

"Do we know where the money came from?"

"So far, it's been untraceable. Tori's still checking into it."

"Dr. Lyle would've had a relationship with Bracken," Ryan said. "As the chief medical examiner, he probably testified at hundreds of trials. Bracken was the assistant district attorney in the early 90's."

"We still need solid proof. Where are you on Vulcan Simmons?"

"I've got a call in to his attorney. All he said was that he'd tell his client that we want to talk to him. I'm not going to hold my breath," Ryan said.

"Okay. In the meantime, contact Dr. Lyle's next of kin and tell them that we have some questions. If they become uncooperative, get a subpoena. I've got some phone calls to make."

"Bro, I don't know how Bracken sleeps at night. It's scary to think that this guy wants to make a run at the presidency," Ryan sighed, rubbing his face.

"It'll be scarier if we don't stop him. Come on; let's go talk to Lyle's widow."

***CCC***

It didn't take a rocket scientist to quickly figure out that spending the day in South Hampton for the Regatta might not have been a great idea. As he parked the car in a public beach lot, Castle could see that there was already quite a crowd, even though it was barely 10 in the morning. He knew that the crowds would only increase as the day went on. With the crowds, would come the noise. Kate was used to the hustle and bustle of the city, but due to her PTSD, she had an incredibly sensitive startle reflex. "Are we ready to do this?" He smiled over at her.

"Yeah," she gave him a bright smile back.

Castle got out of the car and walked over to open Kate's door for her. She got out and tucked her hand into his arm as he closed her door and hit the lock on his key fob. Walking toward the booths and the crowds, wonderful scents assailed Kate's nose. It was like Coney Island, but on a smaller scale. "I used to bring Alexis out here every year. We'd stuff ourselves silly and ride the carnival rides."

"I never even knew about this. Do you get mobbed by fans?" She asked, feeling slightly queasy at the prospect of her famous writer fiancé being noticed by his fans.

"No, the Hamptons are full of celebrities. I might get stopped and asked for a few autographs, but no mobs. I promise," he squeezed her hand affectionately.

They were snacking on funnel cake a couple of hours later when Castle heard someone calling his name. "Ricky?"

Castle and Kate turned to see New York Mayor Bob Wheldon approaching them with his wife and children at his side. "Big Cheese!" Castle greeted his long-time friend. "I didn't expect to see you out here today."

"I could say the same. Det. Beckett," Wheldon turned toward Kate. "Congratulations on your engagement. I hope you can keep this guy in line."

"Watch it, Bob," Castle growled as Kate grinned. "Well, I'm showing Kate around. She's never been to the Regatta before."

"Then, we'll let you two enjoy yourselves. Have a good time."

Kate could sense that Castle was trying to distance himself from his friend, but she didn't know why. "What's going on with you and the mayor?" She asked as they began walking among the rows of booths, carefully navigating their way around the crowds.

"Nothing. Why do you ask?"

"It just looked like you were trying to get away from him in a hurry."

"That's because I want to spend the day with you."

"That's sweet," she leaned her head into his shoulder.

Walking with his fiancée close by his side, Castle thought about running into the mayor. Things had been somewhat strained between the two men since the Laura Cambridge murder case, when Bob had been a suspect in the murder. The real killer had never been caught and there were times when Castle suspected that his friend knew more than he had originally let on. But, today wasn't about worrying about murder cases. Today was all about the gorgeous woman at his side.

They had barely started walking when they were stopped once again by someone calling Castle's name. This time, the culprit was a man wearing the collar of the clergy. "Mr. Castle! I was hoping that I'd see you and your fiancée here in town today. I'm Father Flynn. I understand that you and Ms. Beckett are going to be married out here in the Hamptons."

"How did you-?" Castle looked at Kate, who shrugged.

"I ran into Henri from South Hampton Bakery. He told me that you had commissioned a wedding cake from him. So, when is the big day?"

"Uh, May 12, but Father, Kate and I weren't planning on a religious ceremony. Although we appreciate the offer."

"Of course. Well, let me know if you change your mind. Have a nice day and enjoy the Regatta."

"Henri actually told other people that we were getting married out here? Castle, I don't want everybody and their brother knowing that we're going to be married here. With things the way that they are—"

"Hey, it's okay."

She took a deep breath, not understanding why she was feeling panic-stricken all of a sudden. "Sometimes I have nightmares where what happened at Roy's funeral happens again, although this time it's at our wedding."

"I know. I have those same nightmares. I'm sorry sometimes that my private life is non-existent. I know that you value your privacy."

"I knew what I was signing up for when I accepted your proposal," she reached for his hands. "We'll talk more later. But right now, show me around the Regatta."

The weather was perfect, in the mid 60's with a light breeze. Castle bought a bag of kettle corn which they shared while they continued walking, looking at the different booths. There were crafts booths, game booths, and booths featuring local artists. "Some of these pieces are really good," he looked at some of the art work. "Is there anything that you like?"

"I like this one," she pointed toward a piece which showed what looked like an angry sea during a storm, complete with rolling waves and bolts of lightning.

"What is it with your attraction to dark, angry art work?"

"I like this one," she smiled at him. "I like the way that the ocean looks before a storm."

"If I was the artist, I'd call this one 'The Wrath of God,'" he folded his arms, contemplating the piece.

"Come on, Castle, I like it. I think it would look cool in your office in the loft, right next to Linus," she kissed his neck as the artist smiled at the two of them.

"I think you have a point. It reminds me of you, sexy and tempestuous," he grinned at her.

Castle purchased the painting, giving the artist the information on where to have the painting delivered. They left the booth, Kate's arms wound tightly around Castle's waist as they continued strolling through the crowds. It was a nice day just being with him with nothing on her mind except having a good time.

***CCC***

Esposito raised the knocker on the home of former Medical Examiner Jerry Lyle and let it drop on the striker plate three times. The door was answered by a lady in her late 70's, white haired, elegantly dressed, leaning on a cane. "May I help you?"

"Mrs. Lyle?" Esposito inquired as the lady nodded. "I'm Det. Esposito and this is Det. Ryan. We're from the NYPD. We have a few questions about your late husband."

"Please come in," she stepped away from the door to allow them into her home. "Would you like something to drink?"

"No, ma'am," Ryan said.

"You said that you're from the police?" She asked as the two detectives nodded. "Jerry has been dead for nine years. What could you possibly need to know about him after so many years?"

Esposito sometimes hated this part of the job. Here they were, having to talk to a lady who seemed very nice about her husband, who had quite possibly covered up autopsy reports for money. It wasn't her fault that her husband was a snake. "Did your husband ever say how he was able to afford a home here in Westchester after years of living in Queens?" He finally opened up his line of questioning.

"Young man, my husband invested and he did quite well. It was never my place to question how my husband dealt with our finances. That wasn't my place. My place was to take care of his home and his children. When we married, he always told me that one day he wanted me to have a home where we could entertain in style."

"Did you or your husband know a man named William Bracken?"

"Bill and his wife Eileen have been friends for many years. Why do you ask?"

"You say that you've been friends for many years. How long exactly?" Ryan asked.

"Oh, since Bill was in private practice, long before he even worked in the D.A.'s office. We were godparents to his and Eileen's oldest son. May I ask again why you're asking questions about our friendship with the Bracken's?"

"What about a man named Vulcan Simmons? Are you or your late husband acquainted with him?"

"No, I don't know anybody by that name. And, I'm sure that if Jerry had known someone with a name like 'Vulcan,' I would've known about it. That's not exactly a forgettable name."

"No, ma'am. I have one more question and then we'll be on our way. In 1999, there were four murders that took place in a five-month span. Your husband signed off on them as being unrelated gang killings. Did he ever mention those murders to you?"

"Without names, I wouldn't know," she answered gently.

"The victims were Johanna Beckett, Diane Cavanaugh, Jennifer Stewart, and Scott Murray."

"I'm sorry, Jerry was the M.E. He wrote a lot of autopsy reports and performed a lot of post-mortems. The names all ran together after a while. Plus, my memory isn't what it once was," she said apologetically.

"Well, thank you for your time," Esposito said as the two detectives stood and Mrs. Lyle walked them to the door. He didn't say anything more until they were in the car. "Well, that was interesting."

"It's still circumstantial. Being friends with Bracken doesn't mean anything."

"Bro, stop being such a killjoy," Espo started the car.

"Bro, we can't even go to the D.A. until we have an ironclad case. If we go with what we have now, we're going to get laughed out of his office."

"Nobody said anything about going to the D.A.," Espo told him as he pulled into traffic. "We're not even close to that point, yet."

"All I'm saying is we had better be 100 percent positive that we've got Bracken dead to rights before we even think about it."

"And we will. Relax."

***CCC***

Kate and Castle were laughing when they walked into the house. "I had such a good time today," she turned in the doorway and threw her arms around his neck. "I don't think I've eaten so much junk food since I was a kid."

"How about a glass of wine?" He asked her.

"Later," she dropped her arms and took one of his hands, tugging him toward the stairs. "Come upstairs with me."

He began to follow her, but the house phone started ringing. "Let me grab this. It's probably mother or Alexis." He grabbed the phone from the base. "Hello?"

"May I speak to Det. Beckett, please?" An unfamiliar male voice asked.

"May I ask whose calling?"

"Just let me talk to her."

"It's for you," Castle held the receiver out toward her.

Kate frowned. Nobody knew she was here except for her team, her dad, and Castle's family. She knew that they'd call her on her cell phone. For some reason, her heart began to pound in her chest as she took the phone. "Hello?"

"You need to stop investigating your mother's murder."

"Who is this?" Kate asked as she signaled to Castle to call the precinct and have them attempt to start a trace.

"Tell your people in New York to stop. If you don't stop, the deal that you have with Senator Bracken is going to fall apart."

The line went dead. Kate looked at Castle, who was on his cell, but he shook his head. "Gates is on the line. You'd better talk to her," Castle gave Kate his cell phone.

"Sir?"

"Beckett, did you recognize the voice?"

"It sounded vaguely familiar, but I can't think of where I know it from. It was definitely male. He told me that if you don't stop the investigation, the deal that I have with Bracken is going to fall apart."

"What deal are you talking about?"

"It's a long story."

"Let me talk to Mr. Castle," Gates' voice was firm.

"She wants to talk to you," Kate gave Castle his phone.

"Sir?"

"Mr. Castle, give me directions to that house of yours in the Hamptons. I'm driving out there and you, I, and Det. Beckett are going to have a talk. I don't know what kind of games you two are playing, but they're about to come to an end."

A/N #3: The surprises are going to keep on coming. You might need a scorecard to keep track before it's all said and done.

A/N #4: The JKL in the title of this chapter refers to Johanna Beckett's autopsy report.

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