Chapter 10

Beckett was dreaming of boxes. They were everywhere in the precinct, piled to the ceiling, blocking the hallways, forming a claustrophobic wall around her desk. As they closed in on her, she saw Castle sitting in the familiar chair by her desk. The boxes were starting to slip, coming in to crush them both. She needed to push him out of the way. "Castle," she yelled.

Castle awoke to find Beckett on top of him, calling his name. "Beckett," he said, stroking the side of her face, "Kate, wake up!"

Beckett opened her eyes, "Oh, Castle, I was dreaming."

"I noticed. Are you OK?"

Beckett sighed, flexing her shoulders. "Yeah, it's just the prep for the Roger Cobert trial. Going through all that paper from Marchess, the more I see the dirtier it looks. Most of it doesn't have anything to do with the conspiracy to commit the bombing, but there is fraud and bribery and outright lying."

`"It offends your sense of justice, I get it, but right now all you need is the evidence for the conspiracy trial. Just concentrate on that. After you nail Cobert, we'll find a way to take care of the rest of it," Castle told her.

Beckett kissed his lips. "I love your optimism," she said continuing to trail kisses down his chin, his neck, and down to his chest, "and the rest of you."

Castle rolled her over reversing positions and blazed his own trail down her body. "Then I guess I'll just have to keep spreading the joy."

Even freshly energized, Beckett and Castle were not eager to tackle the mountains of paper they still had to go through. Castle made pancakes and they lingered over lattes, which Castle had carefully topped with milky leaves as a celebration of future ecological triumph. Martha had left to teach an early class and Alexis and Pi had gone out the door at the same time, saying they had a special project. The frothy goodness could be enjoyed in peace. "I could get used to this,"Castle said."

"Maybe you will, Castle. "Doesn't Alexis go back to school in a few days?" Beckett asked.

Castle grimaced. "Yeah, but Pi."

"Maybe she can keep him under her desk like a pet poodle." Beckett suggested.

Castle thought about it. "He's got the hair," he agreed, "but I don't like to think of him under her skirt"

"Mmmmm," Beckett acknowledged. "I'm sure you don't."

When they couldn't stall any longer, Beckett and Castle took a cab to the 12th. They had worked out a system. Castle speed read his way through a box, pulling out any documents he thought might be useful and turning them over to Beckett. Beckett tried to connect what he gave her to other facts in the case. It was slow going, but they were having success. They found a connection to the account in the Kamen Islands used to pay Meacham's gambling debt and they found evidence that Roger Cobert had access to it. They had yet to establish that he had actually transferred the funds. They also hadn't discovered the secret that Cobert had been trying to cover up at the precinct. It was possible that they never would uncover that piece of dirt, as the records were in ashes, but it wasn't really necessary to get a conviction. Of course Castle wanted to know anyway, because it was a missing piece of the story.

Beckett was rolling her shoulders to try to get the kinks out. Castle saw her discomfort and started to give her a massage. "Castle," she whispered, "workplace."

"Right," Castle agreed. "C'mon, let's take a break."

"Where are we going, Castle?"

Castle just guided Beckett with a hand at the small of her back, to the same secret nook Beckett had led the problem documentary makers who had once invaded the precinct. Castle closed the door of the maintenance closet and blocked it with a rolling cart turned sideways. "We'll relax those muscles," he told Beckett.

Beckett and Castle came out of the closet with Beckett still finger combing her hair into place, and ran straight into a smirking Esposito. "Got something, Beckett." he said handing her a folder. It was a file on the divorce between George Meacham and Lacy Cobert, not court records, but information gathered by a private investigator named Feeney. Beckett would have expected that Feeney had been trying to get dirt on Meacham for Lacy, but in fact, he was digging up dirt on Lacy for Meacham. "Let's get Feeney in here," Beckett said.

Colm Feeney was the perfect private investigator, perfectly average. He was of average height with no distinctive coloring. He could stand in the middle of a room and be totally unnoticed. That made him very good. He sat in the interview lounge with Beckett and Castle.

"Mr. Feeney," Beckett told him, "we are working on the case against Roger Cobert and George Meacham. We know that you investigated Lacy Cobert for Meacham's divorce and we believe that what you uncovered on Lacy Cobert is related to the bombing of this precinct. We really need to know your findings."

"You're probably right about that," Feeney told her, "because that bombing may have been done to cover up a murder."

"Weren't we talking about a divorce?" Castle asked.

"That's only part of it," Feeney told him."George Meacham hired me to dig up something on Lacy Cobert. He suspected that there was another man. There wasn't, but there was another woman, a Karen Coman. I had pictures of Lacy and Karen together, but before they ever made it to court, Karen was murdered. The police, actually your precinct, suspected that Roger Cobert had something to do with it, but couldn't find any evidence. It was a cold case."

"The records would have been in the basement," Beckett said.

"Bingo!" Feeney said.

"So," Castle added excitedly, "he doesn't just murder the environment, he may have committed an actual murder!"

Beckett rolled her eyes, but smiled.

Beckett started a new murder board for Karen Coman. The first person they needed to talk to was George Meacham. Unfortunately that meant yet another conversation with Larry Pick.

Arriving at Pick's office, Beckett flashed her badge and just marched in, with Castle close behind.

"Counselor, your client didn't tell us everything," Beckett told him.

"Detective, I don't know what you're talking about. George told you all about Roger Cobert."

"Except the part about Lacy Cobert's murdered lesbian lover," Castle put in.

Pick looked genuinely confused. "I still don't know what you're talking about. I need to talk to my client. I'll call you."

"Make it soon," Beckett told him and she and Castle left.

"Back to the paper?" Castle asked.

Beckett shook her head. "We should talk to Meacham first and I'm starving."

"Now that you mention it...," Castle said, "Pizza?"

"Pizza," Beckett agreed.

They brought two large sun dried tomatoes and basil pizzas back to the loft. There was enough to share with Alexis and still have leftovers, especially since Pi stuck, as always to his fruit. Over dinner, they discussed the endless boxes of evidence of Marchess' involvement in fraudulent fracking.

"I have an idea," Alexis told them. "How about if I get a group of environmental science majors from Columbia to help go through those boxes? They could probably do it for credit and I know they'd love to get those guys. School starts in a couple of days, but I could start sending out e-mails now."

Beckett let out a yell and hugged Alexis. "I'll have to clear this with Gates, but if she OK's it, that would be great!" Beckett exclaimed. Beckett pulled out her cell and made the call. Gates welcomed the help, especially if it would get the boxes out of the 12th. Alexis went to her laptop to get started.

Beckett's cell buzzed. It was Larry Pick setting up a meeting with Meacham in the morning. Meacham was out of the hospital and under guard in the infirmary at Riker's. Pick would meet Beckett and Castle there at 10:00 A.M..

"It looks like we have a free evening," Castle said, pulling Beckett to him.

"We've already eaten," Castle said. "We could watch TV."

"Or a movie," Beckett suggested.

"Or read," Castle added.

"We could do that," Beckett agreed, "but I have another idea."

"What could that be?" Castle asked.

Beckett took his hand and led him toward the bedroom. "I'll just have to show you."