I write every day. I walk around in silent conversation with my latest unfinished songs.
-Gord Downie
Back out in the hallway, Kate began to lead Castle toward the exit, but then she hesitated, looking across the corridor at Professor Ortega's door.
"What?" Castle followed her gaze, and raised his eyebrows in understanding. "You think Ortega was in on the drug ring? That would explain why she lied to us, and seemed so nervous."
"Yeah," Kate agreed. She would have liked to go back and press Ortega again, armed with the new information they had - but the professor's office was empty again, the light turned off. As Kate stood there, Professor Martinez emerged from his office with an armful of books, muttering to himself, and walked off toward the part of the building that held the classrooms. Other professors were coming out of their offices in a similar vein; it was almost time for the beginning of the next class period.
"They're all going to be in classes now," Kate observed. "We'll have to come back later if we want to talk to anyone again about this."
Castle nodded agreement, and followed her toward the exit at the opposite end of the hall. "That was out of left field, huh?" he said as they walked, keeping his voice down, even as the hallway emptied out. "Drugs? Who would have seen that coming?"
"Yeah." Kate frowned. The idea that professors would exploit their students for profit in that particular way was abhorrent - hideous, as Martinez had said - and although she knew she should keep an objective mindset, she very much wanted to believe the professor's story that the whole thing had only lasted a short time.
"It doesn't make sense, though," Castle said as they pushed through the door and out onto the sidewalk. "If Greg was part of this, he would have said something. He told us he couldn't think of anything he's done that would be blackmail-worthy, but selling drugs would definitely qualify."
"You're right," Kate said. "A lot of this doesn't make sense." She was still frowning, thinking it all over as they walked to the subway station and down the stairs.
They stepped onto a train, and just as the doors closed and the train began to pull away from the station, Castle leaned closer and said "Beckett" into her ear.
Jolted out of her musings, she looked up at him, and was surprised by the troubled look in his eyes. "What? What is it?"
Castle paused, his jaw moving silently for a moment, and finally said, "Roy probably knew about this drug ring, you know."
Kate stared at him, open-mouthed. That hadn't occurred to her, but of course Castle was completely right. Roy would have been there at the time.
"I... you don't think..." she said, shock beginning to give way to defensiveness. "Are you accusing Roy of something?"
"I'm just saying," Castle said, holding up both hands in a placating gesture. "If this Forrester asked everyone on the faculty to join his scheme, that included Roy."
Kate made a pained face. She couldn't believe that Roy would have participated in the drug-selling scheme... but Castle was right; Roy had to have known about it. Why hadn't he gone to the police?
She hated to think of it, but even more so, she hated the knowledge that she was going to have to ask Roy about it.
"I suppose it's too much to ask that we could solve this before I see him tomorrow?" she said, looking up at Castle with a wry twist of her lips. He gave her a sympathetic smile and put his arm around her shoulders as she leaned into him.
"Anything's possible," he said, and Kate felt the corners of her mouth curving upward despite herself.
"That's my eternal optimist," she said, turning her head to kiss his cheek.
The subway disgorged them outside the theater where the auditions were being held. They walked through the lobby, but instead of proceeding through the doors into the theater proper, Castle led Beckett through a side door to the small administrative area behind the box office.
"Here," he said, finding a small unoccupied conference room, which held a table and a few chairs. "Before we go in, let's check in with Greg."
Castle put his phone onto speakerphone mode and dialed Greg's number, and they listened to it ringing as they settled into the chairs.
"Hello? Castle?" came Greg's voice through the speaker. "What's up?"
"Hi, Greg. Kate's here with me," Castle said. "We just wanted to ask you about something we heard today."
"Sure. Go ahead."
"Tell us about the professors selling drugs out of Juilliard a few years ago," Kate said, opting for the direct approach. Castle raised his eyebrows, but said nothing - but they both heard Greg's startled intake of breath.
"Oh my god," he said. "I had totally forgotten about that. Oh my god. Did you - Do you think that's what all of this is about?"
"Were you part of it, Greg?" Kate asked.
"No, no. I wasn't. I knew about it, I mean, obviously I did. Bill Forrester came to me, same as he did to just about everyone, I guess. Asked if I wanted in, said he had a source, he could get the stuff for cheap. But I..." There was a pause, and Greg sighed heavily.
"Go on," Castle prompted.
Greg's voice was softer, more tentative when he resumed. "I can't say I wasn't tempted. I won't lie to you, Rick, Kate. I could have used the money, and I sure as hell knew students who would have bought. But I just, I don't know, it didn't feel right."
It wasn't right, Kate thought, but she bit down hard on her lower lip and said nothing.
"Okay," Castle said slowly, "well, that's a relief, Greg, but on the other hand, it just sort of deepens the mystery, doesn't it? If you didn't take part in the drug ring, then what are these threatening notes really about?"
"I don't know. I really don't." Greg sighed again. "I'm sorry."
"Did you ever talk to anyone else about it?" Castle tried, making eye contact with Kate and giving a little shrug to acknowledge that he was grasping at straws. "Maybe someone who was part of the whole thing, maybe you upset them by talking about it?"
"I guess it's possible." Greg sounded dubious. "I don't remember any specific conversations. I tried to stay away from it, honestly. I probably should have gone to the police, but Bill was so much higher up the food chain than me, and I was scared to rock the boat."
"Mm," Kate murmured. Much as she disliked it, she had to admit that she could understand the reasoning. The music world was so competitive, and a more senior colleague with a vendetta could easily torpedo the career of someone like Greg.
"It sounds pretty thin, doesn't it?" Greg said, sounding discouraged.
"Hey, don't give up yet, Greg," Castle put in quickly. "We're not letting this go. We'll figure it out."
"Yeah," Kate said, although she didn't share Castle's confidence. "But anything else you could remember about the drug ring would be useful. Like, any names of people who did participate, for example."
"Okay." Greg still sounded unhappy. "I'll think about it, but I wouldn't want to name any names unless I'm really sure, you know?"
"Of course. But if you think of anything else, anything at all."
"I'll let you know right away. Definitely."
"Sounds good," Castle said. "See you at the theater tomorrow."
"Right. See you then."
After they ended the call, Kate looked at Castle, and he looked back at her, both of them unsure what to say.
"This just seems so promising," Castle said, breaking the silence at last. "I mean, the notes have got to be connected to the drug ring somehow. Don't they?"
"It certainly seems like it," Kate agreed. "Even if it didn't go on for very long, like Professor Martinez claimed, it was still illegal, and we haven't come up with any other reason why someone would want to blackmail Greg."
"So what's our next move?" Castle picked up his phone from the table and slipped it into his pocket as they both stood up. "We could go back and question the professors again, now that we know about this. See if any of them act extra guilty."
"I guess," Kate said doubtfully. "It's too bad Forrester is dead. He was probably the only one who knew exactly which professors participated in selling the drugs."
"Yeah, not to mention the identity of his source." Castle's forehead creased in thought as he opened the door and ushered her out into the hallway. "Wait a minute..."
"Uh oh," Kate muttered, heading back toward the lobby. "I sense a crazy theory brewing."
"What if - hear me out, okay - what if Greg was the source of the drugs?" Castle exclaimed. He was following close behind her, speaking in a low voice, although there was almost no one around. "What if this whole thing is a scam and he's just using us to try to find out who else was in it? He only ever dealt with Forrester, so he didn't know who else was on the other end. So he gets us to investigate, dig up the dirt for him."
"Castle," she groaned. "That's just... diabolical. Greg isn't Jedediah Jones, you know."
"It would definitely be a scheme worthy of Jones," Castle mused as they crossed the lobby. "Think about it, Kate. He could-"
"Shush," she chastised as she pulled open the door to the theater. On the stage, a group of dancers were moving through a series of steps while the choreographer yelled instructions.
"Think about it," Castle said again, a whisper this time, right into Kate's ear as they started down the aisle.
"Okay, okay. I will," she whispered back, rolling her eyes.
They reached the front and found Carol Harcourt and the Rockefellers, Geoffrey and Alice, sitting in their accustomed spots at the front of the theater.
"Okay, that's great, thank you," Carol was calling out as they approached. The dancers stopped, panting. The choreographer said a few words to them, and they all listened, nodding.
"Rick, Kate, great timing," Carol said, standing up to greet them. "We're just wrapping up dancer auditions and getting ready to start on the big event." She turned to catch her assistant's eye. "I think all of our potential leads are here." Her assistant nodded acknowledgement and went backstage.
"Cool," Castle said, moving to his seat. "How'd it all go so far?"
"Fine. No surprises," said Geoffrey. "Good morning, Kate."
"Good morning," Alice echoed.
"Morning," Kate said, smiling and nodding to all of them.
As the dancers began to proceed off the stage, one of them came to the edge of the stage instead and gave Kate a wave. "Hey, girl," he said with a smile.
"Oh, hey, Javi," she exclaimed, smiling back as she looked up at him. "How've you been?"
"Awesome." He glanced over his shoulder. "I gotta run, but let's get a beer sometime soon, 'kay?"
"Sure. I'll call you-" Kate hesitated, and then took a chance, "-and Lanie, soon."
"Sounds great." He smiled widely and scurried off the stage.
Castle grinned at Kate as she took her seat next to him. "So, Lanie and Javier are back on again, huh?"
"So it seems," she agreed. "I just can't keep track with those two."
Castle was about to say something else, but he broke off as Carol's assistant came back onto the stage, leading Zachary Steele - the tenor they had chosen to play Jameson Rook - and the first of their two candidates for the role of Nikki Heat.
An audible gasp and murmur of surprise went around the theater as Natalie Rhodes emerged from the wings.
On Friday, at the first callback audition, Natalie had been dressed in casual but elegant bohemian style, her blonde hair beautifully coiffed, her makeup dramatic. But today, her hair was chestnut brown - the exact same shade as Kate's - and fell in simple waves to her shoulders; her makeup was minimal, and her clothing was an almost identical match to what Kate had worn on Friday. Dark-wash skinny jeans, a pale blue t-shirt, and she had even replicated the dark brown pumps with medium wedge heels that Kate had worn that day.
"So uncanny," murmured Alice Rockefeller from beside Kate.
"Spooky," her husband agreed.
"Sexy," Castle breathed.
Kate just gaped for a long moment, then leaned toward the others and demanded incredulously, "Is she... is she doing me?"
Onstage, Natalie stuck one hand in her rear jeans pocket and used the other to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. "Are we doing this?" she asked.
"Uh... yes," said Carol, recovering from her surprise. "Um. Is everyone ready?"
Natalie, Zachary, and the accompanist all nodded agreement. Carol glanced aside at the others, making sure there were no objections, and then called, "Okay, let's do it."
"Castle," Beckett hissed, leaning sideways again to smack her boyfriend's arm. "Stop drooling."
"Wha - I'm not - But," he protested inarticulately. Kate huffed and glared at him.
"Shut up and listen to them sing."
Castle was trying to pay attention to the performance, really he was. But as the accompanist launched into the intro, he couldn't seem to stop staring at Natalie. It was indeed uncanny how much she had made herself look like Kate; and more than that, it was clear that Natalie had managed to pick up a lot of Kate's body language in the brief time they'd interacted on Friday. Something in the way she was standing, the way she had pushed her hair behind her ear, and now the way she planted her hands on her hips, was so Kate-like and yet so subtly different that it had him completely fascinated, albeit in a train-wreck sort of way.
But then Natalie began to sing, and Castle blinked as if coming out of a dream. Natalie, of course, was an alto whereas Kate was a soprano, and their voices and singing styles were very different. He felt a twinge of relief.
For this audition, they had given Zachary and the two women the song that Castle still liked to call "The Cheeseburger Song," although it now had a real title: "You're Missing Out." It was a flirtatious song in which Jameson Rook tried to convince Nikki Heat that the night they had spent together wasn't a one-time thing. He invited her to join him for a burger, and Nikki pretended she wasn't hungry, although it was obvious that she was indeed very much interested - in both Rook and the cheeseburger.
Castle had fond memories of this song. He had composed the skeleton of it years ago, but it had been sitting dusty and forgotten in an old notebook until he met Kate and started writing his opera based on her. The same night he had kissed Kate for the first time, he'd pulled out the cheeseburger song and set about turning it into what it was now: a sweet, fun little duet for two characters who were just on the edge of beginning to admit that they might like each other.
Natalie had clearly studied the song in the few minutes she'd had it in hand. She did a reasonably good job with it, both the singing and the acting, circling toward Zachary and then away as the music brought their parts together and then apart again. In her grandiose way, she portrayed Nikki as standoffish - almost haughty - and defiantly resistant to Rook's charms, even as she was slowly being won over.
But the way Natalie had made herself look like Kate, and the way she continued trying to incorporate Kate's body language into her movements while she sang, quickly lost its appeal for Castle. Now that the initial feeling of intrigue had passed, he could see that it came off as creepy.
When Natalie tossed her hair back over her shoulder with a flick of her head for the fourth or fifth time, Kate grumbled under her breath, "Do I do that?"
"Yes," Castle whispered back, "and it's adorable."
Kate glared murderously at him. Fortunately, just then the two singers finished the song.
"Great," called Carol. "Thank you both. Natalie, thanks so much for coming back. We'll be in touch."
"Thank you all," Natalie replied, and with a final hair-flip, she strode offstage.
"Zachary, do you need a minute?" Carol asked.
"Nah, I'm good." The tenor leaned casually against the piano, running his eyes over the sheet music again. Since Zachary already knew that he had the part, he was relaxed, showing none of the tension that auditioning singers usually felt.
"Everyone ready for Chloe?" Carol asked, looking over at Rick, Kate, and the Rockefellers. They all nodded, so she signaled her assistant, and in a moment Chloe walked onto the stage.
"Good morning, everyone," she said with a pleasant smile. They all murmured greetings in response. Chloe shook Zachary's hand and gave the accompanist a nod. "I'm ready whenever you are," she said toward Carol.
"Great. Go ahead."
The accompanist began to play the song for the second time. Castle focused in on Chloe, who was dressed simply in a shift dress and leggings. Without the distraction of Natalie's Beckett-costume, he found it easier to see Chloe's personality - and Nikki's - coming through as she performed.
Chloe was on the short side, as she had pointed out the other day, but she nevertheless projected an attitude of self-confidence that fit very well with Castle's mental image of Nikki Heat - and that was completely different from Natalie's strutting and posturing. As the song progressed, Chloe made it clear that her version of Nikki Heat was not at all inclined to take any crap from Rook... yet, at the same time, she was definitely attracted to him.
Zachary, too, seemed to respond to Chloe's attitude. He portrayed Rook as thoroughly intrigued by Nikki, and unable to resist teasing her. He played up the mischievous side of the song, making it clear that Rook was deliberately pushing Nikki's buttons just for the fun of seeing her react. Castle found himself chuckling at a few points, and noticed that the others around him were laughing as well.
When the song was over, everyone was smiling, even the accompanist. Chloe and Zachary exchanged a few words, too low for the others to hear, and then turned to look at Carol again.
"Thanks very much," she told them both. "Chloe, we'll be in touch. Zachary, thanks for your help."
"No problem."
"Thank you," Chloe added, and the two singers walked offstage. The accompanist stood up to stretch.
"So?" Carol asked, turning back to the others. "Any thoughts?"
There was a pause, and finally Alice Rockefeller spoke up. "I think we're all thinking the same thing, aren't we?" she asked with a gentle smile.
"I hope so," Castle said, looking from one face to the next. "Natalie did a decent job, but Chloe is Nikki Heat."
Kate broke out into a smile as all of the others nodded, looking relieved. "Yes," Geoffrey said decisively. "I think we're all agreed."
"Great," said Carol. "So that's the entire main cast finalized. That's all we've got for today. More dancers and chorus members to audition tomorrow."
"See you then," Castle said as they all stood up. "Thanks, everyone."
"Castle, do you have some time later today to come by our place and talk about the production?" Alice asked. "We've got some planning details that need to be worked out."
"Sure. Of course," he agreed, glancing at Kate. "You have a tutoring session this afternoon, right?"
"Yep," Kate nodded. "At three."
"How's three, then?" he said to Alice and Geoffrey, who both nodded as well.
"Sounds good, Rick. See you then."
Castle turned to Kate, and took her hand as they started walking up the aisle toward the theater exit.
"The tutoring will be an hour, right?" he asked. They pushed through the doors and into the empty lobby.
"Right," Kate confirmed. "And then I have to be at the Carmina Burana rehearsal at six."
"They don't need you to be there right at the beginning, do they? All of your stuff is in part three."
"Yeah, but they're rehearsing out of order." Kate pulled open the front door, and they emerged onto the sidewalk. "They're doing the movements with the children's choir first, so the kids can get home before it gets too late."
"Ahh. Okay," he said. "So, do you want to go somewhere for lunch?"
"We could do that," Kate replied, pulling her lower lip between her teeth. She glanced sideways at him, coyly, with a twinkle in her eye. "Or we could go back to my place and get takeout."
"You have the best ideas," Castle exclaimed, and Kate chuckled, low and sweet.
A while later, Castle was drowsing on Kate's bed, watching her get dressed. She bit back a smile as she buttoned up her shirt. There was something so endearing about the soft, love-drunk expression on his face in moments like these.
"Don't fall asleep, babe," she warned, finishing the last button and turning to her closet for shoes. "You've got to be awake to meet with Geoffrey and Alice."
"I'm awake," he answered defensively. "I've got plenty of time." He ran a hand through his hair, still damp from the shower they had shared. "Maybe after I talk to them, I can do something else on the case. I could call Greg's last student back, I guess." He frowned, flopping over onto his back to stare at the ceiling. "But we need to dig into the drug angle some more. Maybe I could go back to the school and talk to the other professors again."
"Mm," Kate hummed. "By the time you're done with your meeting, the professors might have left for the day."
"That's true," he sighed, looking disappointed.
In truth, Kate wasn't sure it was such a good idea for Castle to go questioning the professors at Juilliard without her. And time was going to be short in between her tutoring session and the rehearsal. "Babe, maybe you should just leave the case alone for today," she suggested with a bit of hesitation. "After you finish with the Rockefellers, you can meet me for an early dinner."
"But we just had lunch."
"Yeah, but we barely ate any of it," she pointed out with a smirk. An answering grin began to spread across Castle's face, just as she had known it would.
"Good point. Although I did eat-"
"Castle!"
"Those appetizers," he said innocently, flashing her an angelic smile. "They were delicious."
Kate huffed and shook her head. "I bet they were. I've got to get going. Do you want to lock up here?"
"No, no." He jumped out of bed and reached for his jeans. "I'll walk you out. Just give me a minute."
Thank you again for reading! If you've seen me complaining on Twitter recently, rest assured that progress on this story continues to be good despite my occasional meltdowns. ;)
Credit for the resurrection of the cheeseburger song goes to chezjulie.
Thanks also to those of you who left kind comments on my Absentia fic earlier this week. As I said in that a/n, I don't plan to make it a regular thing, and definitely am not done with Castle fanfic! But it was fun to branch out briefly.