Instead of going back to the house, Beckett drives them to a little coffee shop she's seen several times while driving back and forth from Castle's to the station.

Once inside she notices that the shop is quaint and quiet. They give their orders at the counter and then easily find a seat.

Ever the gentleman, Castle stays standing until Beckett is seated. She scoots all the way over and to his obvious surprise, tugs on his cuff so that he'll sit next to her instead of in the opposite chair.

For three and a half years, she's had no problem restraining herself, resisting his charm, but now that they're doing this, she has no willpower left to keep him at arm's length, so she doesn't even try. If she wants him close, he's going to be close.

Castle's pleased. She can tell by the smile on his face… and yeah, she knows exactly what each of his smiles mean, and this one has butterflies tumbling in her stomach. He's so pleased, in fact, that he leans into her while palming her cheek, granting her a gentle kiss. It's quick, but they don't pull apart, instead bumping their noses together, caressing silently while taking one another in.

"I love you," he says as if it's something he's been doing all along.

"Mmm, love you, Castle."

And oh… it feels good to say and she can't believe how easy it is to free those words after only one other time with him.

"Here you are," the waitress says as she sets down their order and they separate just enough to thank her.

"So."

"So," Beckett repeats.

"I was thinking… isn't it weird that there were only two reports in that file?"

Thank goodness for our shared brain thing, she thinks. "Yes! That's exactly what I was thinking. Why didn't the cops talk to more people, your mom even? And as wealthy as the Gilberts were, wouldn't they have people working in or around the house?

"I'm with you, Beckett, more people should have been questioned." they both sit in silence, thinking about what should have been done. "So now what? We can't go back in time to question anyone."

Becket has her phone out and dialed when she answers. "No, but we can figure out if anyone was working at the Gilbert house at the time. Esposito, hey, I need you and Ryan to look into something for me. Yeah. Find out who worked for Randall and Susan Gilbert in nineteen seventy-six and see if any of them were out at the Hamptons at that time and let me know. Kay, thanks," she says, ending the call. "We'll figure it out, Castle. I think this is a good line to follow. Something was purposely hidden and we're going to find it."

It's not long before their first cup of coffee is gone. They order another, hoping to hear from Esposito while they wait, making small talk in the meantime.

Castle notices when Beckett trails off and goes quiet, peering out the window, at what, he's not sure. "Beckett, you okay?" he asks, letting his hand drop to her knee, thumb smoothing over her kneecap.

She flips his hand, lacing their fingers together, but doesn't meet his eyes. She studies their tangled hands with a furrowed brow, teeth sinking into her lower lip. "Are you worried?" It's then that she makes eye contact.

She can see in an instant that he understands what she means by that. He knows exactly what she's asking. Because ever since she explained that Tyson was the one to set him up, Beckett can tell that he hasn't been able to truly concentrate on anything else. "It's hard not to be." He removes his hand from hers only to bring it around to rest on her shoulders, pulling her in close as if he's sinking and she's dry land. "I imagine it'll be like the first time, worrying constantly, wondering when he'll show up again. But over time the fear and worry will fade."

"I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you last year," she whispers.

"What?" he asks, affronted. "Beckett… Kate, look at me," Castle commands as his free hand tilts her chin up to him. "You were there." She wants to protest but he doesn't let her speak. "We may not have gone home together, but you were there. You were my bright spot. Both you and Alexis. Whenever the fear tried to overtake me all I had to do was look at you or Alexis and know that it was going to be okay. I'd show up at the precinct, hand you a cup of coffee to see you smile… Kate, you have know idea what just the sight of you does for me."

She nods, leaning into the palm that's now splayed across her jaw. "I do. I do know, Rick, because you're my beacon, too."

Warm puffs of breath wash over her cheek. His eyes gleam in the truth she's just revealed. She leans further into him, brushing her lips to the jut of his jaw then letting her forehead rest against the spot she just kissed. "He can't run forever," she mumbles into his neck.

They stay like that for several minutes, lost in thought and each other, until her chirping phone brings them back to the real world. "It's Espo," she says as she turns her phone towards him to see. She accepts the call, positioning the phone between her ear and Castle's so that he can hear too. "Espo, hey, whattaya got?"

"Yo, it wasn't easy to find many of their past employees, 'cause they liked to employ illegal aliens, but we tracked one down. Guess where she lives?"

"Where?"

"Sag Harbor Village. That's in the Hamptons, Beckett." Castle and Beckett both pull back to look at one another, but Esposito is still talking.

"Her name is Rosa Peralta. She's a citizen now, but back in seventy-six she was an undocumented worker who crossed the Mexican Border illegally and made her way into Manhattan, taking housekeeping jobs for next to nothin'. The Gilberts got a hold of her and she became their head housekeeper, going with them when they'd summer in the Hamptons. How she has the means to live there now, I don't know."

Beckett listens to him finish, then jots down the address as Castle quickly clears the table. "Good work, Espo. We'll go check her out."

They're both quiet in the car. Beckett, because she just wants answers for Castle and justice for John. And Castle, because he just wants this over, she thinks.

Beckett pulls the car onto the long driveway of the secluded home. As she drives forward she takes in her surroundings, eyes always on the move. The house sits surrounded by trees in a wooded area about a mile from any large body of water. The sight is so different from Castle's beach home and the house is a little smaller, but no less inviting and beautiful.

She parks and they make their way to the front door, when it suddenly opens, an older woman appearing in the doorway. The woman's eyes find the badge that Beckett flashes. She nods and steps aside to let them in. "What can I do for you Officer?" she asks, then looks over to Castle. "Mr. Castle."

Beckett opens her mouth to speak but he beats her to it. "You know who I am?"

"Yes, of course. Please, come in and have a seat."

Once they're seated comfortably the woman speaks. "I've known who you are since you were little. I've followed you in the papers and on the news ever since, Mr. Castle."

"Your English is incredibly good, Miss Peralta, very little trace of an accent." She hasn't introduced herself but both Castle and Beckett know this is the woman they're looking for.

She smiles politely at his assertion. "Yes, well, when you live in the Hamptons, you don't want to stand out like you're the help. I learned American English very quickly. It's amazing how different people treat you when you sound like they think you should… especially when you have money."

And that's the question, isn't it, how this woman has somehow come into money?

"Miss Peralta, you were the housekeeper for Randall and Susan Gilbert in nineteen seventy-six, correct?" Beckett asks even though she already knows the answer.

"Yes, ma'am." She smiles but almost as suddenly, her face turns grim. "Up until their little John was killed."

"Why's that?" Castle jumps in.

She meets his eyes. "Were you able to stay there after he was killed, Mr. Castle?" It's not accusation, just a truth that she shares with Castle.

Beckett brings the focus back to her. "So his murder affected you?"

"Of course. I may not have been able to understand much English back then but I knew he was a sweet kid. I couldn't take the pressure once he was murdered."

Beckett frowns and turns to Castle, who's already looking at her with the same look on his face that she must be wearing. They're both confused. She turns back to Rosa. "Pressure? What pressure were you facing?"

The lady looks up to both of them. Her mouth ajar, eyes wide in shock. Beckett realizes Miss Peralta didn't mean to say that last part. "Rosa, were you there that day when John was killed?"

She nods and Beckett continues. "Did you kill him?"

"What? No! No, of course not." Miss Peralta rises from her seat, pacing back and forth in front of the sofa she was sitting on.

"Do you know who did?" Beckett and Castle both watch as the question has her halting in her tracks.

Rosa's gaze meets Beckett's. "You have to understand… I was an undocumented worker at the time. I would have been deported. At least that's what he told me."

"What who told you?" Beckett asks, irritation rising up. She wants answers and it's hard not to push.

Castle must sense the aggravation Beckett feels, so he steps in. "Rosa, just tell us what you know. You're not in trouble. We just need to know who killed John."

"Mr. Gilbert told me he'd have me deported if I didn't keep quiet." She sits back down on the sofa and takes a few seconds to gain composure. "I didn't have anything at the time and I couldn't go back to Mexico, so I did what he said. In return, Mr. Gilbert set me up nicely. He opened up an account that I had access to. Eventually, I got married to an American and became a citizen, learned English and became part of this community."

"So it was Mr. Gilbert?" Castle asks in disbelief.

"No, no. He just paid me to keep quiet. But I couldn't keep working for them after what happened." She's crying now and she gets up to grab a tissue.

She wipes her eyes and clears her throat as both Beckett and Castle wait to hear the rest of the story. "Mrs. Gilbert was known to have a bad temper. She'd yell and scream and fly off the handle at such small things. I remember that day like it was yesterday. She needed to leave the house but couldn't find John, so she had me searching for him, too. She finally saw him out on the beach and I watched out the window as she stormed out there in a rage. The boy must not have wanted to leave because I watched them argue. The next thing I knew, Mrs. Gilbert grabbed his bat and swung."

Castle sucks in a deep breath. Beckett can that his fists are clenched tight, knuckles turning white in anger. Beckett covers his hand with hers as she addresses the woman in front of them. "So you're telling me you saw Susan Gilbert kill her son, John?"

Miss Peralta sobs. "Yes."

"And Randall Gilbert paid you off to keep quiet?"

The woman nods.

After calling chief Brady to fill him in, Beckett and Castle make their way back to the house.

"I don't understand how they could live with themselves." Castle says while staring out the window of her cruiser.

She is so thankful that he finally has answers to a mystery that has plagued him most of his life, but she's not sure if these answers actually make it better or worse. "I don't either, Castle, but it's done. You don't have to wonder or worry about another killer being free."

It's not the kind of justice either of them want or hope for, but in some cruel twist of fate, Jerry Tyson inadvertently killed a killer.

The rest of the day flies by and Castle is officially cleared of any wrongdoing.

The word spreads quickly as the press gets wind of the story and Beckett is thankful that the news is no longer accusatory towards Castle in the death of John.

They both crawl into bed, exhausted and drained from the past few days of stress and strain of having to prove Castle's innocence, finding out Tyson is back, and then having to figure out who killed John.

Beckett falls into Castle's arm with a sigh. "I just got off the phone with Lanie. She was able to corroborate Rosa's story with her findings on the bat. The only other full profile of DNA on the bat was Susan's. They probably never even considered her a suspect back then, and even if they did, I'm sure the Gilbert's would have just thrown money at them to keep it quiet."

He rolls her closer so that she's now tucked perfectly into his side. "Beckett, remind me to never be accused of murder out here again."

She can't help but laugh, now that their trouble with the Hamptons PD is behind them. "You got it, stud."

Her words have him chuckling and he hums in delight, but it falls away quickly as his eyes stay on the ceiling. "What is it? What are you thinking, Castle?"

He rolls his head towards her to explain, "It was too easy."

"What was?"

"You finding Jerry's rope in the box."

Yeah. she's been thinking the same thing ever since they got Castle out of jail.

She hugs him tighter. "Yeah, well, I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth," she says as she leans in to press her mouth to his. Only a second passes when they open up to each other, his tongue meeting hers. Her hand finds its way into his hair and they simultaneously moan at the sensation their kisses invoke.

As if in mutual unspoken agreement, though, they slow the kiss, and he stretches to press a kiss to her forehead after they part. "I love you, Kate. Goodnight."

She knows they'd both rather do more than sleep but their bodies ache for rest after a week of exorcising their demons. "I love you too. Night, Castle."

Sometime in the night, Beckett wakes to find that she's no longer in Castle's arms. Reaching out, she feels that his side of the bed is cold. She pries her sleepy eyes open only to be met by a dark figure above her.

It's not Castle.

She goes to scream but is smothered with a hand covering her mouth and a pin prick in her neck instead.

This time when she wakes, she's sitting up, her head hanging forward from her shoulders, both arms screaming out in protest at the way she's tied up to the headboard. Her head jerks up, coming into full cognizance.

The room is suddenly bathed in a soft glow. The lamp on one of the nightstands has been turned on and when she cranes her neck in that direction, Beckett is met with the sight of Jerry Tyson, who's eagerly grinning at her. "There you are, Detective Beckett. We've been waiting for you."

We?

"Castle!" she cries out.

He's tied up to a wooden chair at the end of the bed, reminiscent of the one in the hotel room only a year ago. His mouth has been covered with some kind of cloth that's been tied around his head and his eyes show fury when she catches his gaze.

She vaguely hears Tyson chuckle but doesn't tear her eyes away from her helpless partner. "You two really do only have eyes for each other. It's disgusting," Jerry says as he walks closer to Beckett.

Castle bristles at his proximity to her. He's trying to free himself, but they way Jerry has him harnessed to the chair, there's no use. No way he's getting free.

Bekett tugs on her own ropes but they only dig into her wrists, scraping against the delicate skin. Her shoulders burn with the exertion. She stops pulling, knowing it's a pointless cause when it's obvious Tyson knows how to tie someone up without a chance of them breaking free. "What do you want, Jerry? You here to kill us? Well just do it! Get it out of the way," Beckett spits.

He laughs again. "Now where's the fun in that? If I kill you now, I won't have anyone to play with."

Beckett sees Castle squirming in his chair out of the corner of her eye. "You won't get away with this. I work with the best detectives in the world and they won't stop until they find you, you hear me."

Her confidence must make him mad because he swings his fist into her jaw. He lands a perfect blow, the force of impact throwing her head to the side. It takes her a few seconds before she can lift it back up off her shoulder.

When she comes fully back into awareness, she hears herself moaning. She swears she's not making anymore noise but then it hits her. Castle's the one moaning not her.

Beckett finds him across the room. His face could not be any more red. He's bucking and yanking against the restraints, screaming through his gag at Tyson, who just stands there watching him struggle.

She has to calm him down. She can't think straight with him having to witness her being tortured. "Castle, hey. Look at me. Look at me, baby. I'm right here. I'm okay. Look at me, sweetheart, please."

Her pleading works as he shifts his gaze from Tyson to her. Unable to hold back the tears any longer, they stream down his face. He grunts and she just knows with everything in her that he's saying her name.

She's trying to be brave if only to help Castle, but it's a lost cause when she sees the look he's giving her. She can read the apology in the depths of blue that shine in the lamp light, can see him begging for forgiveness over something that is absolutely not his fault. She chokes a sob back at the idea of Castle blaming himself for this.

"Well isn't this sweet. You two having a conversation with your eyes as if I'm not even in the room. Well guess what? I am!" he yells. "Listen to me very carefully. I'm not going to kill either one of you. I'm not even going to hurt your girl, here, anymore, Castle. Not yet anyways."

Tyson walks over and bends down in front of Castle who is still struggling against the ropes. He lowers his voice. "You wanna know why I made it so easy on you? Why I served Detective Beckett the evidence on a silver platter so that she could so easily prove your innocence?" He pauses, making sure they're both listening. "It's because this is just a taste, a sampling of what I have in store for the two of you. This was just the appetizer." Tyson laughs then grows serious. "The main dish doesn't come until the end… and I'm just getting started."

Standing, he walks back over to the nightstand where Beckett's phone sits. He punches the screen with his finger then tosses it onto the bed next to her leg where she can see that it's calling Ryan. "Until next time," he says.

And just as quietly as he came in, Jerry Tyson walks out of the bedroom, and into the night.

A/N: So there it is... the story I wanted to tell. Thank you all for sticking with me. This is my first COMPLETE multi chapter story and I'm pretty proud of it. Thank you to all who followed and favorited. Every single one of your reviews put a smile on my face. And the biggest thanks of all goes to Lindsey aka ipreferwestside. She Beta'd the heck out of this thing. :) Go read her stuff... she's great! And I have to give a shout out to Callie aka whatifellinlovewith. She answered questions in the beginning and encouraged me to write this. She's currently writing an advent sequel to Pulse... both are amazing! You should check those out.

Lastly, I know I'll probably get asked for a sequel with the way I ended this one, so I'll just say... if I can come up with a really good story that follows this one... I'll do it. But I make no promises ;)

Thanks again!

Andrea