"Rick," Beckett said.

"What?" Castle asked, turning to her in surprise from the cup of coffee that he was making for himself.

Smiling at his startled expression from her use of his name Beckett told him, "You're humming."

"I got the last song they sang stuck in my head," Castle replied. "Insanely good."

"He was in The Traveling Wilburys so he's good," Beckett said, watching him sit next to her. "I'm thinking about Black Shade," she told him.

"I have been too, you remember that small room we saw, right?" Castle asked her.

"It was almost identical," Beckett said with a nod. "And I get the feeling that was on purpose."

"Though the spiral staircase looked really out of place," Castle said.

"What else do you yourself know about Thorne Junior?" Beckett asked him as she knew he'd been looking into the man while she herself had been looking at Fletcher as Brad had been out with a few other officers to find the woman who was AWOL from her job.

"It says that his father died in 1915 and when that happened Junior moved into the palace… or manor," Castle said, recalling what he'd seen. "Whatever you want to call it. He had numerous mistresses; four of whom became wives number two through five. He had ten kids; six girls and four boys. Two girls married lesser Vanderbilts and Rockefellers but they're not important, they moved to Colorado and Michigan and the families from them are still there."

"And the other eight kids?" Beckett asked as she knew one of them was likely going to apply to their case in some way.

"One of the daughters," Castle said. "I had to make some phone calls but I discovered that Violet Thorne is the great-grandmother of our vic."

"She…" Beckett said.

"I know, I had the same reaction as you," Castle said with a nod to his wife's expression. "Violet married a local boy, wealthy of course."

"Of course," Beckett echoed.

"His name was Wallis McGale," Castle told her. "And their son had Eileen's father with his wife."

"Does she get anything from the family?" Beckett asked.

"Oh no," Castle said. "By now that money is long gone. But the interesting thing is that money went from Junior to the third Baylor Thorne and Baylor Thorne the third had a son who had a daughter."

"And from you not saying anything else I'm assuming this is big?" Beckett said. "But not dealing with case," she had to add as he didn't continue.

"Jessica Atkins," Castle said.

"Charlie's wife," Beckett said in shock as that was her married name. "She never mentioned it before," she said, recalling past conversations with the woman. She then said, "Are you sure the money's gone?"

"The money is but Black Shade is not," Castle said.

Beckett opened her mouth to speak before she then said, "So the home is no longer that, it's a tourist site but with Eileen around-"

"Jessica would have to share the profits left after they go to the conservation group," Castle finished.

"We should talk to her," Beckett said, grabbing her phone.

Castle was quiet as his wife spoke to the chief and when she hung up he said, "He was shocked?"

"Very and said that he thought coming down here from Albany there would be less… scandal," Beckett replied. "I'm guessing he's referring to the wives and hidden rooms."

"He's devoted to your friend," Castle pointed out.

"Yes," Beckett said simply. "Let's go," she added, standing up. "We need to talk to Jessica."

"And see the horses," Castle said when they were walking out. When she gave him a look he said simply, "I can read your mind; you already thought of that."

Beckett simply looked at him before she turned her attention to the door out to the parking lot. She drove them to the stables and when they were both out of the car she said to her husband, "Let me talk to her."

"I figured," Castle said. "Let's hope she's with her horse."

"I hope so," Beckett said with a nod. She walked down the path that separated the corrals from the stable buildings and called, "Lupita."

"You're here to ride?" the vet asked in surprise.

"No, is Jessica here?" Castle answered.

Nodding Lupita told them, "She is in building four."

"Anything wrong?" Beckett asked.

"She moved one of the mares that is pregnant," Lupita replied. "Snow."

"Thank you," Beckett told her. She then said to her husband, "They've tried for a while with her."
"I know, they must be glad," Castle said with a nod. They reached their horses; in Stable Two; and he said, "Good luck."

Glancing at him Beckett went down the path to the second to last building where she paused in the entrance, searching out the owner's wife in the darkness. "Jessica," she called once she spotted her near a stall.

"Kate," the woman said, turning and smiling at her. "What can I help you with?" She looked behind her and said, "Where's Rick?"

"I'm consulting on a case with Chief Davis," Beckett said instead of answering the question. "And I need to ask you something about our victim."

"Do I know them?" Jessica asked, looking startled.

"Yes, she's in fact close," Beckett said.

"Eileen," Jessica stated. When Beckett looked at her in surprise she sighed and said, "Charlie told me what had happened, Theo called him and described the woman. I know it was Eileen and… I guess I should have known you were going to want to talk to me. Come on."

Beckett was startled but followed her, making sure when Jessica was looking away from her that she had her gun on her hip still, before they made their way up to the office building; which was also home to the Atkins as they were in between homes at that moment. "How well did you know her?" she asked.

"I know she was my cousin… third removed? Second removed? Something like that," Jessica replied. "But we weren't super close. We'd have lunch once a month since we were family and I knew she was going to become Cousin Evander eventually. Oh, and she let me know last week that I'd have another cousin since her wife was pregnant. Speaking of that, Snow-"

"Lupita told us about that when we came down the path," Beckett interrupted her as they went into the office the two shared. "Congratulations."

"It was about time," Jessica replied. "Okay, what I brought you in for is this," she told Beckett after searching through a drawer of her desk.

Taking the sheaf of documents Beckett read them over before she nodded and said, "You co-owned Black Shade."

"We were, it was only fair," Jessica said.

Her eyes pausing on the date on one of the documents Beckett said, "You only started doing that a year ago."

"We weren't aware of who we were to each other before then, after I discovered some papers of my great grandfather that revealed who her family was on her father's side," Jessica said. "But I should have known, she and I have the same eyes and nose. It just never occurred to me since I knew her mother was African American… stupid of me."

"I was a friend of hers too and I was shocked when I heard about this," Beckett assured her. "I need to take pictures of some of these papers."

"I can do a little better; let me copy them for you," Jessica replied. As she was doing so she then said, "You're not going to ask my alibi?"

"I saw you at the fields," Beckett said. She then said, "I know you love to watch Charlie play so you weren't going to leave in case he played."

"Is Rick okay?" Jessica asked.

"He's fine," Beckett replied with a smile. She took the papers the woman handed her and said, "Someone from the PD might be in touch with you in the future."

"I guessed," Jessica replied, walking with her to leave the building.

After thanking the woman Beckett went over to the second building and she said to her husband, "She knew and I'm sure Wade's not going to find anything with their financials."

Looking at the papers she was holding up Castle said, "I had a feeling." He took them from her so she could pet Alex and said, "Want to lead him around? I told Brad to call us." When his wife looked at him he explained, "I was going to suggest going to the café for tea and coffee but you were set on staying."

"Come on," Beckett said after she smiled at him. She got reins on Alex and led him out to the corral, checking on the sky as it wasn't raining then. She let him go as Castle stood on the railings to watch her and walked around counter to the stallion until Alex soon fixed himself. She and her husband were quiet then until she was taking the reins and he was speaking to her while she walked with Alex.

"I still feel bad," Castle told her.

With a smile Beckett said, "I was waiting for that and this wasn't your decision alone."

"No but still…" Castle replied.

Letting Alex go to let him go around the corral on his own Beckett went to where her husband was and told him, "I knew I would have to stop and I'm okay with that. So really, don't feel bad. And after…" she began before she trailed off. "I won't need to stop riding again."

"I had a feeling you might think of it like that," Castle said in slight amusement.

"Alex," Beckett said then when she felt her horse nudging at her back. She turned to him and said, "Is breá liom tú ró ach caithfidh tú a lig dom labhairt dó."

Castle smiled and translated in his mind what she'd told the horse, 'I love you too but you have to let me talk to him.' "You think he was jealous?" he asked.

"Probably," Beckett said, turning back to him. "Does it bother you that this is taking a while?"

"Slightly but this case is just bizarre," Castle told her. "Which means I'm enjoying it. A lot."

Beckett smiled and then shook her head before she grew serious and said, "I just wish it wasn't someone we knew."

"I know," Castle said. He then studied her and asked, "You're thinking of the baby, aren't you?"

Shaking her head Beckett wasn't surprised when her husband looked like he was and explained, "I'm thinking of Eileen, losing the chance to be a parent. She would have loved it."

"We never asked who the mother was exactly," Castle commented.

"Eileen," Beckett told him.

"But-" Castle began.

"I know she didn't want to but remember all those times Whitney tried to get pregnant it was with her eggs," Beckett said. "So, I guess she decided she would be the mother and Whitney would be the birth mother." She then sighed and said, "I think she understood she would need to sacrifice what she wanted to be a mother."

"Kate-" Castle said quickly.

"I know we still have three months before we need to consider it but I've been preparing myself," Beckett told him. "Just in case," she added quickly before he could say anything.

"You shouldn't," Castle said.

"You're that optimistic?" Beckett asked.

"You shouldn't be that pessimistic," Castle returned. When she rolled her eyes he smiled and said, "Really, you said you weren't."

"It's a just in case kind of thing," Beckett said. "That reminds me, I wish we could get back to the girls."

"I know but they'd be concerned we came back home," Castle told her.

Beckett laughed softly, checking on Alex quickly before she said, "He's being very patient today, and it should worry me." When she had turned her head to look at him she suddenly found his lips on hers and she froze for a second before she wrapped her arms around his neck. After he was slowly pulling away from her some time later she smiled and said, "Now he probably is jealous."

"You never kissed him like that," Castle said. When she laughed slightly he couldn't help himself and leaned over, kissing her once more. He didn't know how long they were like that but he suddenly realized his wife's phone was ringing and he groaned saying, "He has the worst timing," while he and Beckett let go of each other.

"He does but that must mean he found Fletcher," she replied before answering the phone. "Brad?" she asked after putting it onto speaker.

"We got her," the chief replied. "We're almost back to the station so I'll see you there."

"We'll be there," Beckett replied before she hung up. Alex was on the other side of the corral and she whistled to him before he joined her. She led her husband to the stable where their horses were kept, keeping an eye on the stallion next to her. She brushed down Alex quickly as Castle was talking to Julius and once she was done they fed their horses halves of the same apple. "I'm thinking," she told her husband when they were washing their hands. "We should make something with them for dessert."

"Apple pie I'm guessing," Castle told her. When she looked at him he smiled and said, "I could tell, we still have apples from our last trip."

Nodding; since they'd gone back to Apple Canyon the Sunday before Halloween as the girls had begged to go again; Beckett said, "But that's if we can get back home in time."

"Hopefully," Castle said as they reached their car and he drove that time back to the station. "He's not back yet."

"That might mean he had to go far to find her," Beckett said.

"Should have asked where he was," Castle replied before they walked into the station. They waited in the bull pen at their desk for the chief, standing up when he appeared with Bernier and a woman in between them. He glanced at his wife and said, "Is it just me-"

"No, she looks like Yearling," Beckett replied. She walked with him over to the box where they waited for Brad to come out.

"She came willingly," the chief said when he stepped outside to them. "She left work because she heard what happened to our vic and she was upset; she still is."

"Do you want me to talk to her on my own?" Beckett asked, thinking that was the case.

"You two," Brad said. "I don't want to be there-"

"To show she's not a suspect," Castle interrupted his friend. When Brad nodded he said, "Is she?"

"It depends on what she says in there," the chief said. "Go, I'll be in observation."

With a nod Beckett led the way into the room with her husband, glad that she'd brought her pad of paper with her from the desk. "Ms. Fletcher," she said when the woman looked up at them. She schooled herself to not show her surprise at how the woman's grief was so obvious and horrible on her face. "I'm Kate Beckett and this is my husband, Richard Castle. We're consultants with the Hamptons police and Chief Davis would like us to speak with you."

"He said, I told him it was okay," Fletcher replied in a whisper. "You're helping him investigate Ellie's murder?"

"We are," Castle said, having to hide his surprise then at the nickname since he and Beckett had only ever heard Eileen's wife call her that.

"Then I didn't kill her," Fletcher said immediately, staring seriously at Castle and Beckett across from her. "I can give you an alibi for whenever she was… k-killed."

Glancing at her husband when the woman began to cry Beckett waited for her to calm down enough before she said, "This morning between eleven and twelve."

"I was at work in Sayville, I work at a florist's shop there," Fletcher replied, her voice shaking. "I-I go in at nine and then get off at three but… while I was eating lunch someone told me what had happened and… I had to, had to leave. They have cameras so you should be able to." She paused there to take a deep, shuddering breath before she said, "To see me."

"Why don't you tell us about your relationship with Eileen," Beckett said gently.

"We… we had an affair together," Fletcher began. She sighed and said, to the fact that the two across the table from here weren't surprised by her words, "You've heard already."

"We have, from Eileen's fiancé at the time," Castle said first.

"Oh… Cora," Fletcher said with a sigh.

"Did you know much about him when you were with Eileen?" Beckett asked.

"Not really, just that Ellie couldn't tell him that she was realizing she was gay," Fletcher replied. "She said he might be upset a little but she was forcing herself to go through with the wedding."

"Did he ever confront you two?" Castle then said.

"No, I never saw him before when I went to their house to talk to Ellie," Fletcher said. "But about two weeks before the wedding she ended our relationship."

"How did you feel about that?" Beckett inquired.

"I was upset but I knew the reason why," Fletcher replied. "I never let myself think that she was going to stay with me because she was in denial, so I let her go though not without regret after trying one last time to get her to come with me."

"But you knew what happened at the wedding," Castle stated.

"I did," Fletcher said slowly. "But not until she was already married to her wife."

"That long," Beckett stated.

Nodding Fletcher said, "I don't know why she did that, I thought we were close until I realized that it was just a fling for her to… test the waters you'd say."

"That didn't make you angry?" Castle asked.

"Not really, by the time I saw her and her wife I was already with my girlfriend Donatella," Fletcher replied. "We've been dating for ten years and I… I'm planning on proposing after we have Thanksgiving dinner with our families."

Waiting for a bit Beckett then said, "You seem torn up still hearing about her murder."

"Of course, I do," Fletcher said. "We weren't together for very long but… it was long enough for us to be close."

"Alright we'll check on your alibi right now and let you know if you can go," Beckett said as she had nothing to say to that and she knew they'd gotten all they could from the woman. "But I would stay in Sayville."

Castle walked out behind the women before they watched Brad leading her out of the bull pen to leave the station. He sighed and said, "I didn't really think she had much to do with this in the first place."

"With Cora cleared and her very soon after I'm sure we'll be back at square one," Beckett stated.

"What do you think we should do?" Castle asked.

"Go back to the beginning," Beckett said. "But before we try that we can look at the contents of that box better."

"It's still bothering you?" Castle said. When his wife just looked at him he said, "Me too." He followed her to Brad's office and while she was writing about Fletcher on the murder board he got the file with the copy photographs of everything in the box. "You know what's weird," he said.

"Everything in there?" Beckett replied, knowing what he was looking at.

"She's right, though what one thing did you center on?" Brad said as he walked into the office in time to hear that.

"It's just the pictures and adoption papers," Castle said. "You talked to the mother, right?"

"Yes," Brad said slowly. "I told you about her being in the city."

"No, the idea that he would be under surveillance," Castle said.

"I thought of that myself," Beckett said as Brad sat in the chair next to her husband; where she herself usually sat. "And I was wondering about the idea of just a stalker."

"But where would the vic come into this?" Brad said.

"She was the stalker," Castle and Beckett said at the same time.

"Some time ago… oh, I think I see what you mean," Brad said. "But that would mean that Cora would be involved."

"Or his wife," Beckett said.

"Or his wife," Brad echoed. He looked concerned for a moment before he nodded and said, "I can call her right now."

"What if she's with her son?" Castle asked as his friend got up to go around the table and then to his phone.

"She'll make the time," Brad said. "I'm putting this on speaker but I think it'll be better if I talk on my own." When they nodded he looked at the number for the Cora home and dialed it, setting it onto speaker.

"Hello?" Antonia Cora said.

"Mrs. Cora this is Chief Davis from the Hamptons PD," Brad told her.

"Robbie told me you might be calling me," Antonia replied.

"He told you we spoke to him," Brad said.

"Yes, and apparently that you thought he killed his gay ex," Antonia said.

Castle turned his head quickly to see his wife's reaction to that; not surprised when she rolled her eyes at the annoyance obvious in the woman's voice. He looked back at the chief, pleading his friend to let Beckett speak.

Shaking his head Brad then said, "I'm wondering if you ever knew about Mr. Cora's daughter," looking up at Beckett as he spoke.

As she had thought of doing that herself Beckett didn't reply and instead gave him a quick incline of her head. She couldn't help smiling slightly at the chief's surprise at her reaction but no one could say anything as Antonia was speaking.

"Of course I did, he told me as soon as we met, she'd just been born," Antonia said. "We weren't dating then but he had a picture of her and was showing her off."

"And you never thought to take her in?" Brad asked after he had read that question on a paper that Castle slid over to him.

"She has some mental issues," Antonia said. She sighed before saying, "And since she nearly killed her foster mother I'm glad we didn't bring her into the family."

"Did you ever meet with Eileen McGale?" Brad then asked as Beckett wrote down that on the paper.

"No," Antonia said firmly. "And if you're going to ask for an alibi I was here at home with my son. We have a gate with a video camera on it so you can check. Is there anything else chief? No? Thank you."

At the sound of the dial tone Castle said in the silence that had fallen between the three of them, "Well I guess you might as well clear her."

"I should have recalled Cora would have told her what happened," Brad said as he was leaving the office.

"And I wonder why exactly she took a defensive tone," Beckett said as she went over to the murder board. She knew her husband was looking at her so she told him, "The idea being she had an alibi yet was still mad she had to tell us, I know." She sighed and then said, "Another one down though, or she will be."

"We have to be able to find something. You're sure there was nothing from those pictures?" Castle asked.

"I'm sure," Brad said. "Hutchinson went through that with a fine-toothed comb and couldn't get a thing from it. Likely copies of the originals as I told you before."

"Nothing from CSU," Beckett said, turning to the two men after she had finished writing on the board. "And the ME-"

Looking at the ID on his phone that had interrupted her Brad commented, "Eerie," since it was the ME

"Just answer," Beckett said, rolling her eyes.

With a smile, the chief did so before he grew serious and answered the phone saying, "Thayer?"

"Chief I was able to pull some fingerprints on the abdomen of the body; on the same side as the injection so it's definitely your killer," the ME replied. "You'll get the prints in an e-mail and one weird thing about that is the print was in blacking polish. I'm also finished with her clothes as well and there were some grains of either sand or dirt on her; I sent it in to be analyzed."

"How much?" Beckett asked.

"Not a lot, just traces but I'm still having it looked into," Thayer answered.

"Thank you," Brad said. "If you find anything else then let me know."

"Finally something," Castle said as soon as his friend had hung up.

"That depends on the print, if we can't find someone to match it…" Brad replied.

Beckett watched as the chief opened the attachment with the print and then fed it into the database. She then said, "Are either of you wondering about the blacking polish?"

"Yeah, but hopefully-" Castle began to say when a sound came from the computer.

"There's a hit, Conn Sawyer and he's an employee at the Swells Bay Stables," Brad read off the screen.

"That's where Eileen keeps her horse," Castle said, his wife nodding.

"We're gone," Brad said, jumping up before he rushed out with the two into the bull pen to leave the station.