Title: Secrets

Disclaimer: ABC has finally released a sneak peek for Monday.

Beckett sat in front of the board trying to connect everything. Lucy Hopewell was killed most likely due to her involvement with Knight and Simpson. They dragged Lucy into this situation, which led to her untimely death. She was young, too young to be involved with Johanna's murder. To young for whatever went on in Washington Heights nineteen years ago. But Simpson and Knight were old enough and Knight never specified when the firm of men hired him or how he and Simpson originally met. Somehow they were all connected to Beckett's case. All these people connected somehow.

Dick Coonan, Hal Lockwood, and Own Knight were all hired hands and trained killers. But Knight didn't kill; he was simply intelligence for these men, whoever they were all of them somehow intercepted into this odd case. Beckett couldn't help but question why now did this case come up? What happened to Lucy Hopewell that caused her death? If Knight were dismissed last May, then surely Lucy would have been released too?

Beckett sat questioning everything and doubting herself. She didn't doubt her team's work but her personal growth. That wall inside had come down thanks to Burke and Castle's joint effort, but now it seemed to slowly rebuild. It was happening slowly, Beckett could feel the bricks piling up as she sat in front of the board. Her entire world was coming back all within a day and this damn case.

The boys tried giving the detective time and space to take the news. Even Castle was acting more distant after meeting his father. Knight was nothing he imagined and he hoped that his father didn't have anything to with Beckett's case. If Knight was directly linked then the writer might never forgive himself.

"Hey Beckett," Ryan said approaching the detective. He had a stack of papers in both hands.

She turned her head but stayed pointed toward the board. The chestnut curls framed her face and her dark gray v-neck sweater was rolled up to her forearms. She sat on the desk with both hands on either side of her body. It was how the detective typically dealt with things. She waited for the board to talk and tell her all the secrets.

The male detective stood blocking her view of the board. "We've been going through all of Lucy's phone records and financials and found something." He passed her the papers, which had highlighted areas. "Lucy had been receiving weekly deposits of five thousand dollars since May."

Beckett looked up from the papers. "To the day?"

Ryan nodded folding his hands. "Yeah, the day Montgomery was killed Lucy started getting these deposits. But, they stopped two weeks ago."

"Any reason?" Beckett asked going back to the papers.

"Well, two weeks ago is when she started getting calls from a burner cell. We tried GPS but got nothing and called the manufacturer. Unfortunately, whoever bought it paid in cash so it's a dead end."

The detective sighed and put the papers down. She pushed her hair back and pursed her lips to her hands.

"It's just another dead end, it's all dead ends." Beckett said in a hushed tone and stood from the desk. Her feet carried her body toward the board and she continued to observe it and the intricate markings. "No matter what we do it's just another damn dead end."

Ryan sighed and looked back at the board. It was filled but with nothing helpful or a possible lead.

"We'll get this guy." He said back to her.

Beckett scoffed, "That's what you told me back in September and now," she pointed toward the board. "We're not closer to finding this guy."

He looked away as Beckett continued to stare at the board. It was one giant dead end that led nowhere.

Castle came up behind the detective but didn't say anything yet. He watched his partner's stature and the slight slump in her shoulders. She was tired and he could tell.

"Beckett," Castle said in a low voice. He tried easing into this so she wouldn't snap.

The detective turned away from the board with her arms crossed. "What's up?"

He opened his mouth and pointed to Lucy's apartment. "Since we picked up Knight we didn't get a good look at her place. And Knight said Lucy kept notes on everything so I was thinking—"

Beckett nodded and turned on the board completely to tune out the imagined voices. The detective went to her chair and gabbed her jacket.

"Yeah, we should go." She saw Ryan still standing by the board. "You and Espo should keep going through the money trail and try to track it down."

He nodded and headed back to the conference room with the papers. If the number didn't pan out then hopefully the money trail would lead somewhere.

The partners went for the elevator and the writer waited for the doors to close until touching the detective. He still hadn't told her that Esposito and Ryan knew they were together. That wouldn't be good especially today. He stood by the detective and pulled her close. She was tense under his fingertips and didn't mold to his frame like she had in the past. The detective tried staying strong and away from breaking down especially in front of Castle.

"You alright?" he murmured against her temple.

She nodded and broke away from his touch as the elevator dinged. They were both disheartened by this and Castle felt his chest tighten. He couldn't keep his dark secret from Beckett for much longer.

They drove to Lucy's apartment and Castle tried changing the subject. He spoke about Alexis leaving for college and her choices. How she still hoped for the acceptance from Stanford but hadn't received a letter from anywhere else yet. Beckett calmed him saying that letters didn't even come out till March for the most part. Besides, his daughter was intelligent and she was involved in to many activities to count.

It seemed like déjà vu as they took the elevator up and entered Lucy's apartment. The team was still holding Knight out of spite. They claimed that since he was somehow involved he needed to stay, but really Beckett was pissed at him. She always took things personally when it came to Castle.

The writer wore the purple latex gloves and Beckett her typical black leather ones. They entered and began going through Lucy's things. There was a small white desk in the corner of the family room. There was no computer or laptop but two notepads, and post-it notes with what appeared to be random scribbles. The desk had three drawers, all of which were locked.

"Beckett," Castle said dangling the key in front of her face. It was hidden beneath the pen holder.

She rolled her eyes and snatched the key from him. It was a small silver key with a dulled silver ring around it. She crouched down and unlocked the drawers. The detective and Castle began taking all the papers out and going over them.

Castle sat on the couch as Beckett stayed at the desk. She examined all the post-its nearly covering the entire desktop. No longer was it a pure white but the top was more yellow and pink with the stickies.

"I can't believe she took this many notes in two weeks." Castle said at the couch. "I mean, I take this many notes for a book but I have characters and plot summaries—"

"That's it." Beckett exclaimed standing from the desk. "Lucy was trying to write the story. She might not have told Knight but she was trying to piece this together."

"She was trying to follow the trail just like us, only it got her killed."

The detective chewed on her bottom lip. "Keep going over stuff, there has to be something in these papers."

The papers crinkled under his touch as he flipped them. Everything he read, or technically skimmed, was put off to the side. Anything that seemed important was put on the other side. He was saving those papers to share and go over again with his partner. It was a huge stack of papers that the writer needed to go through and Beckett's stack was equally as big.

The detective pushed hair behind her right ear as she went over the stickies. She didn't move them but simply kept note of which ones seemed more important or pertinent to the case. There were so many with questions posed on them that it was difficult to sort through the important ones.

"Bam said the lady," Castle exclaimed going over a paper.

She turned to him as she sat at the desk. "What do you got?"

He turned the page to her. "Lucy kept track of where all the money was coming from. Looks like she was trying to figure it out though they had her bank account information."

Beckett sauntered toward him and leaned down to observe Castle's findings. "Finally a lead that makes sense." She read the paper trying to find something substantial. "Who the hell are these people?"

The writer shrugged, "Looks like this is taking all the same paths as the last money trail. Whoever paid Lucy also paid off Raglan, McCallister, and Montgomery."

The detective nodded, "They're connected to the same people." She shook her head and walked back to the desk. The writer watched as she looked past the room and through the window. Her eyes looked glassy as the late afternoon sun hit them. It brought out the hazel in her eyes and the tears she fought so hard to keep back. Castle hated seeing her cry but knew she would keep it together, she always did.

He put aside all the papers and walked to the desk. Her right hand was propped up and her index finger grazed her upper lip. She was thinking hard about something, he could tell. Her brow always furrowed a certain way when she was thinking hard. But when it came to her mother's case there was more that dwelled deep down and buried all her thoughts. Though she felt enshrouded by the overwhelming amount of thoughts, the detective also felt that she was an open book.

Castle put his hands on the detective's shoulders and gave her a light squeeze. "If you want to walk away—"

"I'm not walking away, Rick. This is my case and I can't walk away, not yet at least." She gripped his left hand and peered upwards to his eyes. "Can we just focus on finding a name?"

He nodded and kissed the top of her head. Sometimes they didn't need to speak. Their actions mimicked their unspoken words and were heard clearer through their unspoken agreement that was established many moons ago.

They got back to work and going through all the files again. The writer finished his stack and began rereading the important papers. There were numbers and random notes all pointing toward one person, but he or she was never clearly stated. Whoever it was seemed high up on the food chain though.

There were a few names listed, though none had come up before and were unrecognizable to the writer. He tried searching deeper and thinking like both a writer and cop and trying to turn this into one of his stories. That's how he typically solved these cases. He would list everything out and find possible routes or scenarios that worked best until he came to a concrete conclusion. But with this, it was all a jumble of notes that seemed highly important but were more like cliff notes to this story.

"Castle," Beckett said and plucked a post-it off the desk. It was a light yellow with blue ink scribbled on it.

The writer came over still gripping his stack of papers that he deemed important. He wasn't finished reviewing them entirely, however. There was a name printed on the sticky.

"Blair McBride?" Castle questioned looking down to his stack of papers.

The detective nodded, "Yeah, she's a judge who's been plagued with a pretty bad run. One of her first cases she gave a guy that murdered his wife five years. When he got out the guy committed double homicide." She placed the sticky back down. "McBride is up for election for New York Supreme Court. Simpson said he has friends in high places,"

"And those friends need to stay in place." Castle added and held up a sheet of paper. "Lucy made a ton of notes about McBride and her competition. Whoever the Dragon is he's trying to keep his friends in place so nothing ever ties back to him."

Beckett nodded and pulled out her phone. Castle followed her lead and began taking pictures of the papers. They both knew that paperwork when related to this case had the tendency to disappear.

The two were so focused that the sound of glass exploding shocked them both. They turned and saw a man standing in the doorway with a gun. He shot again and the partners dropped behind the couch. Two more shots went out and Beckett fired her gun. She didn't have a good visual on the guy from down there.

"Castle, I don't have good angle."

He nodded and peered around the corner. From what he could see it was only one man. He had a large plastic red gas can and darkened liquid spewing out at a rapid pace. The writer pressed up against the couch.

"I think he's trying to set the place on fire." He said breathlessly as the gasoline drained from the can.

Beckett's mouth dropped and she kneeled down. She glanced over the side of the couch with her gun pointed. It was a better angle though it was still obstructed. Her left hand cradled her right hand and her finger was drawn on the trigger. She squeezed and saw the bullet fly out of the barrel. It hit the wall but startled the guy. He fired again; his last round was a bust.

Beckett turned back to Castle. "I've got two rounds left." She said looking out the window. The apartment smelled of gasoline and then they heard the muffled flick.

The fire crackled on the flooring and trailed across the room. The partners turned to each other and started crawling for Lucy's desk. The room was ablaze and spreading quickly. They didn't have much time to think or even act, they just moved.

"Door looks blocked by the fire." Beckett voiced ducking behind the kitchen counter.

Castle nodded, "Only other way out is through the window and I don't think that drop would be to pleasant."

The detective nodded and took in a gulp of burning air. Everything was turning black and becoming damaged by the fire raging inside. She tried steadying her breathing but it was useless.

"Okay, we're going to have to jump through the flames."

Castle looked at her with horror on his face. "Uh, neither of us is wearing flame retardant clothes."

"I know, but do you have a better idea, Rick?"

Even though he loved the sound of his name come from her lips, it was times like these that he hated it. Her tone was rushed and worried just as it should be as flames engulfed the apartment they were trapped in.

"What if the shooter is waiting for us?" he asked readying himself to move.

Beckett wet her lips and held up her gun. "That's why I've got two rounds." She grasped his hand in her left. "Partners?"

It wasn't a necessary question but he responded without hesitation.

"Always," and the two ran for the door hurdling over flames that scorched their clothes.

This was just another sign that the Dragon, whoever he was, was sending a message.

Author's Notes: Dun, dun, dunuh. Just imagine dramatic music and that's what was playing in my head as I wrote this. I felt that they needed to have something dangerous happen but just wait and see what that spurs on. Last time they almost died the two got together. Let's just watch for the next chapter.

KP, aka Ashley