A/N - Posting during the week definitely doesn't get the same attn as a Friday night, but I'm trying to finish before next week (work calls). So here is the next chapter, and there will be 20 all together. And thank you to the reviewers of late...keep it up!

Chapter 14 – A Dangerous Mind (Within Temptation)

"Ryan, what do you see?" Castle pointed at the background of the picture and squinted the same as Ryan. The copy was fuzzy from being old but the faces behind the two men in question looked somewhat familiar.

"We need to get ahold of the original photo if it's still somewhere we can get to it." Ryan grabbed the paper and flew out of the room. Castle watched out the glass as Ryan disappeared into Gates' office. He looked at the rest of the table with the salvageable pieces of evidence, which were very few, and the other files the boys had acquired. They needed to learn more about that senator and his trips across the world with Coonan.

Castle sat down with a clean sheet of paper and tried to map out the supposed connections. He knew that Maddox, Lockwood, and Coonan had worked apparently as assassins for the senator or someone through the senator, but he thought back to Tisdale and Pulgatti's connections. Those connections were harder to make.

Johanna was helping reopen Pulgatti's case that would have exposed Montgomery and his crew in the wrongful death of the FBI agent. An agent that Castle could still not make sense of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Possibly infiltrating the mob to collect intell before bringing the group down or maybe a dirty agent working with the mob to catch the three cops that were taking bribes.

Either way, someone wanted to quiet Pulgatti, so instead of going after the mob boss, they started offing those fighting for him, scaring him into staying quiet for many more years. Knowing it was too fragile a situation, the three cops, including Montgomery, paid their way out of the situation and quieted the dragon, who Castle thought, was getting closer to wrangle. Enter Castle's strange and oddly timed introduction to the city brass.

"Castle?" Ryan leaned around the doorway and Castle's head darted up to look at him. "Gates is working on the picture from the newspaper, but we get to join Esposito." Castle's eyes lit up. He was always in the mood for a good interrogation although he was pretty sure Esposito had this one.

Appearing in the interrogation room down in holding, Ryan put his hand on Castle's chest to signal for him to stop where he was. Castle stayed behind the glass with the additional uniform that was assigned to Trevor.

Trevor had come out of the hospital in the early morning once he woke conscious and clearly not in the mood to share any information with his former service buddy. Ryan came into the room and sat next to Esposito, across from Trevor. Ryan leaned over and spoke to Esposito as Trevor kept rubbing his head where he had hit the dashboard. Castle secretly hoped that he had left the hospital without having any medicine.

Esposito took the picture that Ryan brought in and glared at it. Leaning over the table, he wondered what the best way to gauge a reaction would be. Trevor had not cracked as much as Esposito was trying to appeal to their old working relationship, but Esposito knew that Trevor had obviously got mixed up on the wrong side of the law now for too long to come back.

Esposito lifted the picture up and laid it on the table in between them, not saying anything. Trevor's eyes glazed over as he looked at the picture and then he turned it toward him to read the caption. He turned it back around toward Esposito and stared up at the two men. "That's me."

"The man next to you?" Ryan asked.

He looked again at the picture. "Hal Lockwood as you knew him. He moved to the unit when you returned to the states and quit." Trevor annunciated 'quit' with flair to rub it in.

Esposito's face curled to a calming rage. "My time was served, and I'm not the one under arrest for trying to assassinate a cop. Now what's the story with the senator and Coonan?" The two waited as Trevor sat back in the chair and crossed his arms. The two looked at each other before Ryan finally got up to leave the room.

"Let him rot. We can put it together ourselves, especially after the amount of evidence that didn't quite burn." Ryan turned and nodded as Esposito sat back in the chair to wait him out. Ryan opened the door and shook his head in Castle's direction as he closed the door. "He's not going to talk."

"I'm not so sure," Castle eyed the man as he still had his arms crossed but was now shifting slightly in his seat. Inside the chamber Esposito sat forward and intertwined his fingers on the table in front of the picture. "The computer still upstairs?"

Ryan shook his head and watched as Castle disappeared down the hall. A feeling of success finally started coming over Ryan as he realized that Castle was going to make the man talk. A few minutes of more uncomfortable silence in the interrogation room, Castle returned with phone records and the computer. Castle raised his eyebrows in question to Ryan.

"Go on, nothing else is working." Ryan commented as Castle opened the door. They both looked behind them as they heard heels on the floor. Castle stopped with one hand on the doorknob and looked around Ryan, waiting to for her to disagree. She stopped next to Ryan and glared at Castle. Without a word, Castle pursed his lips together and went into the interrogation.

"The DA needs a confession and a witness to break this case open. I don't like it, but I can bargain for lower charges if he'll finally talk to someone," she groaned as Ryan knew that she was referring to Castle. The two watched through the window as Castle popped the computer open and pulled up the file. One thing about the writer was that after copious research, he could quickly put together the information that Trevor needed to make disappear.

Castle sat down and flipped through the electronic murder boards, slowing on the pages concerning Coonan, Lockwood, and Montgomery. Esposito kept his eyes glued to Trevor wondering if the man would ever flinch. Only those that had been trained could recognize another's flinch. They were a special breed. Ryan took a note in and handed it to Esposito. Leaving the room, Esposito leaned over toward Trevor.

"The DA is talking three attempted murder charges of police officers and one assault charge. That'll get you life for sure. You talk, captain's talking about 45 years, with possible parole at 30 years." Esposito sounded like he wanted to spit nails in anger at the prospect of the reduced sentence. Leaning closer, he glared at Trevor. "We can pursue this line with or without you, but I would take it Trevor. What do you know?"

Castle turned the computer back to Trevor and Trevor held out a hand. "Lockwood was assigned to take out Montgomery and Beckett. It would have ended the chain; I was recruited to clean up the mess." Trevor sat back in the seat and stared at the two men. He crossed his arms and glanced back at the screen. "And if I'm here, you know there's already another one out there."

The two men glanced nervously at each other. "Someone else in the picture?" Esposito asked. Trevor slightly nodded and eyed the picture silently. "Then we'll wait until you want to talk."

Castle felt a tap on his shoulder and Ryan motioned him out of the interrogation room. He closed the door and stood next to Gates, who said nothing as the men continued to wait for Trevor to fill in the gaps.

"I want you to leave," Gates said without looking at Castle. He turned toward Gates with a confused look on his face.

"I thought I was helping?"

Gates glare softened as he swore a small smile was sneaking out on her face. "I want you to go home, take care of seeing your family, talk to Beckett, and let us handle the rest of this." Castle heaved a sigh of relief.

"So I'm not banned?"

Gates nodded, "Only temporarily. I couldn't let the mayor find out I went against his wishes." She added sarcastically. Castle agreed silently and tried to figure exactly what he should say, but we better leaving it well alone. Gates turned back toward the glass as Castle headed back upstairs.

Castle texted his mother and daughter on the way back to the loft. He leaned back in the cab and moaned. He hadn't realized how tired and achy he had become from the last few days, but now that he was free of what he felt was his own responsibility, he tried to relax. He paid the cab driver and leaned against the back of the elevator and couldn't remember the time between getting in and the ding on the floor.

He walked into the loft and noticed his overnight bag from two nights ago was still sitting in the entryway. He carried it into his bedroom and threw it in the corner, pulling out his pills before walking into the office. The ash and destruction was cleaned up, but the evidence of his comfortable home being violated remained. This was only going to add to mother and Alexis' fears for him.

He looked at the wall where the smoke damage had reached and contemplated the chance to redecorate since half the work was done. He would call the decorator in the morning and see what could get done in the next week or so. He had to find a plug in or air freshener too.

He grabbed a drink and sat down on the couch, staring at his half destroyed office. He groaned as he threw back pain medication and sunk deeper into the cushions.

Alexis and Martha carefully pushed the front door open and immediately gasped at the sight of the office. Martha's 'oh my' matched the shock on Alexis' face. Martha pointed at the couch and Alexis started across the room. She stopped short of the couch eyeing the patch on the back of his head. She swallowed as she settled into the seat next to her father.

"Dad?" Alexis was quiet, not sure if she should wake him. She knew he was a heavy sleeper, but would have expected him to at least make it to the bedroom. "Dad?"

Castle turned his head and just barely opened his eyes to his daughter. Raising his hand, he took her around the shoulders and pulled her into him.

"Glad you're home." He whispered as he then looked at his mother in the chair beside them. His mother squeezed his knee and nodded her head in silence. "I'm sorry," he added as he glanced at both of his women.

"We just don't want to lose you dad, and I think it's time for you to stop playing cops and robbers," Alexis softly stated knowing that her timing wasn't the best but she couldn't hold in her feelings anymore.

Castle turned and kissed her daughter on the cheek. He saw the fear finally in her eyes. She had tried to hide it for a couple of years, but it finally showed through the tears that were welling up in her eyes. He hated his thoughts because it wasn't what anyone in the room wanted to hear. "This is the last case, I promise."

Alexis shot off the couch and huffed, "At the risk of getting shot again or maybe knocked out or blown up or burnt out of your house." Castle leaned toward her and tried to take her hand as Martha tried to silently calm her granddaughter.

"The man's in custody and the case is as close as to over as I can be involved." He grabbed her hand again and held tighter as Alexis sat down on the table in front of him. "And as much as it was for Beckett before, now I want to see this to its end, for your safety. I don't want you to fear coming home because of this." He held her hands as Alexis turned and looked at the damage to his office.

Alexis nodded silently as Castle gazed at her and then at his mother. He didn't let go of her hand as she started to move, helping him pull off the couch before finally seeing her break a smile. She picked up her bag and started upstairs. She let go of his hand at the bottom of the stairs, but sighed happily as Castle followed. He looked down the stairs at his mother who understood that his daughter needed the reassurance.

He glanced around her room as Alexis disappeared into the bathroom, finally finding his focus on the picture on her dresser of the three of them and Kate. He sat in the desk chair and contemplated his next move. He smiled as Alexis walked back into the room and turned off the light. She stopped and gazed at her dad. "You haven't tucked me in in ages."

"Maybe I should have been." He reached over and pulled the covers over on his daughter and kissed her forehead. "Maybe I will this year, my little senior." Alexis smiled before letting her father's hand go.

Castle turned and asked, "Would you be ok if I went up to see Beckett at her dad's?" Alexis' face fell.

"Could I go, unless you want me to stay with grams?" Castle could hear the desperation in her voice.

He shook his head and smirked, "I think that could be arranged, but let me check in with Beckett and Jim first." Alexis understood that it wasn't the best answer but better than no.

She watched as he turned off the light and closed the door. Saying a silent prayer to herself, she hoped what her father had said about being done with his 'research' was true. She just wanted her dad back for one more year.