Author's Note: Apologies for the delay & thank you all for sticking with me!

Chapter 14

Kate was just setting aside her notepad, poised to add their newly-acquired information to the murder boards when L.T. arrived at her desk, extending a piece of paper with a smile before heading off in pursuit of his next task.

"What's that?" Castle asked, shifting his attention. He carefully set aside his coffee mug to avoid spillage, leaned in to read the sheet of paper in her hands. He had to tilt his neck at an awkward angle, and Kate finally took pity on him, re-angled the sheet so he could read it too.

"Huh. CSU found a vial in the dumpster outside the sports bar that tested positive for aconite residue."

"Well, now we know for certain where Annalise was poisoned," he offered. "Which probably means it was Travis and Caroline."

Kate consulted the file. "Actually, prints on the outside of the glass are a match to one Julian Mercado." She reached out to slap a picture up under the POTENTIAL SUSPECTS category. "Twenty five. Picked up last year for possession of a controlled substance."

"Okay, maybe it was a set-up," Castle conceded. "Though you'd think he wouldn't leave his own prints on the vial."

"He doesn't seem to have any connection to Jenna," Kate mused, scanning the rest of the file.

"That our guy?" Ryan questioned, nodding to the newly added photo as he stepped up beside Kate, nursing a steaming mug of coffee.

"Possibly. CSU found his prints on a vial of aconite."

He raised his eyebrows. "Sounds like a good bet."

Kate nodded in agreement, passed him the file. "You guys see what you can dig up on his arrest. Castle and are gonna go have a chat with him, see why his prints were on that vial."

Ryan tilted his head in acknowledgement. "On it."

"Mr. Mercado?" Kate called as they strode into the carwash at which records indicated Julian worked. She glanced around for anyone resembling the mug shot. "Julian?"

Off to the left, a head snapped up. Wide dark eyes locked with Kate's for just a moment before he tossed aside the towel in his hand and bolted.

"Hey, stop," Kate called out, already racing after him. "Police."

Castle took off after her, flaps of his jacket flying out to the sides as he raced out of the garage and across the parking lot. Kate was well ahead of him, catching up to Julian easily when a line of cars came to a stop at a traffic light, halting his progress. She tackled him to the ground, digging her knee into his back as she jerked his hands behind him, snapped on the cuffs.

Castle stopped a few feet away to catch his breath, beaming in pride as Kate dragged their suspect to his feet, began shuttling him towards her cruiser.

He had the most badass wife in all of New York City.

"So, Julian, why'd you run?"

"You're a cop," Julian replied, leaning forward in a gesture Castle assumed was meant to be intimidating. The creepy neck tattoo certainly added to the image, but the fact that one hand was cuffed to the table and he was bearing a scrape on the side of his head from hitting the ground negated the effect. "Been busted before."

"Generally, running from cops is a good way to get busted again," Castle pointed out. Kate shot him a withering look and he fell silent.

"Why am I here?"

"You're here because your fingerprints were found on a vial of poison," she answered, pushing a forensic photo of the tiny glassware across the table. "Poison that was used to commit a murder."

"I didn't kill nobody."

"Then you mind explaining how your fingerprints got there?"

Julian shrugged. "Dunno."

"Really?" Kate challenged. "Because no two people have identical fingerprints."

"Maybe there's some mistake."

"There's no mistake," Castle replied flatly.

He snorted. "Please. There's no way you're a cop."

"I..."

"Prior conviction for possession and a prime suspect for my murder case," Kate interrupted. "You better start talking."

Upon receiving no answer, she began to collect her things, stood to leave the room.

"Fine, I seen the vial."

She sank back into her chair, folded her hands on the table top. "Where?"

When he didn't answer, Kate's eyes narrowed in challenge. Julian sighed heftily, relented. "In my apartment."

"And what was it doing there?"

"Buddy of mine said he needed it. Said his mom was goin' through some stuff and he read somewhere it'd help with the pain."

"This buddy of yours have a name?"

"Why should I tell you?"

She opened her folder once again, fingers tapping ominously over the photo of the vial. "Look, I don't care about the drugs. What I do care about is the young woman who was poisoned. We have your fingerprints on the vial. How do you think that looks for you?"

"I didn't kill nobody. I'm telling you." Julian protested.

"Then who'd you give the poison to?"

"I didn't know he was gonna kill anyone. I swear."

"Who did you give it to?" she enunciated sharply.

Another tense silence filled the room before Julian finally shriveled under Kate's menacing stare.

"Travis Duncan."

"So he's friends with Sara, supposedly received the aconite from our boy in interrogation, and just happens to work at the place where Annalise was killed?" Ryan recited suspiciously, glancing over to his partner as they watched from the observation room.

Espo turned, already reaching for the doorknob with Ryan hot on his heels. "Let's see what else we can find."

"Boom, got something," Esposito announced a few minutes later.

Kate and Castle were on their feet right away, striding to his desk. He swiveled around his computer monitor as they approached, revealing the information on the screen.

"Travis Duncan. Grew up in Brooklyn, parents were in and out of jail on a pretty regular basis, from the looks of it. Raised by his aunt and uncle. Also living with them was their biological daughter..."

He scrolled down to reveal a name and photograph. "Carly Mathers."

"The girl who died in the car wreck?" Castle asked in surprise.

Kate folded her arms across her chest, bent forward to better read the information on the screen before straightening her shoulders. "Bring him back in."

"I already told you. I didn't kill anyone."

Travis was a twenty-something red head, dressed in jeans and a Yankees t-shirt, with a dark blue hooded sweatshirt tossed over the back of the chair. He'd been anything but truthful since Kate and Castle's arrival in the interrogation room. He'd also remained oddly calm, seemingly unfazed by this impromptu trip to the Twelfth.

Kate slapped a photo of Jenna down on the table in front of him. "So you've really never seen this woman before?"

He squinted one eye in irritation. "No. Not before you showed me her picture this morning."

A picture of Annalise. "How about her?"

"No. Who's she?"

Castle slid an additional two photos across the table, the shiny rectangles coming to rest atop the other two. "They're friends of these two."

He hesitated slightly but covered it well. "I don't know them either."

"Really? Because just this morning you claimed to know Sara."

Travis glanced at the picture again. "Oh. Yeah, I know her. Not the other guy though. Never seen him before."

"I find that hard to believe, considering that both of them were involved in the same car accident as your cousin."

"The one that killed her," Castle added.

Kate opened the file on Carly's death and Travis's eyes immediately fixated on the pictures from the scene.

"What's Carly got to do with all of this?"

"She was like a sister to you," Castle profiled.

"Course she was. We grew up together. But I had nothing to do with that accident."

"We know," Kate assured him. "But Sara and Ernesto," she indicated the photographs, "they were in the car with her. They were the ones who could've prevented it."

"Because of them, your cousin is dead," Castle continued. Sara had been cleared of all charges in the accident, but it was blatantly evident that Travis disagreed with that ruling. "And they walked away scot free."

"So?"

"So I could see how you'd be out for revenge."

"If I wanted revenge, why wouldn't I have just killed them?" Travis challenged, nodding to the photos of Sara and Ernesto.

"In that case, you won't mind me asking where you were Saturday morning between two and four am," Kate offered, changing the subject. It was obvious they weren't going to draw out a confession, but if they could disprove his alibi, they'd have a lot more leverage.

"Already told you. I was out with Sara and them."

"And what about Sunday between five and seven pm?" Kate asked.

"I was at work."

"Right, at the same sports bar where Annalise was killed," Castle recited.

"What?"

"Come on, you're telling us you didn't see the cops swarming the place?"

"I did, but I didn't know...I swear, I had nothing to do with her death. With either of them."

Castle regarded him skeptically. "So you just happened to be there? On both occasions?"

"C'mon, man. It's Manhattan. Everyone goes out on the weekends."

Kate collected the pictures and slipped them back into the folder before emphatically shutting it, rising. "Sit tight. You're gonna be here for a while."

Thoughts?