A/N: As a reminder, this is a work of fiction. The events and characters of this story either do not exist or have been fictionalized. I own nothing, I just like to play with the Castle characters more than with dolls. No harm is ever intended.
The moment y'all have been waiting for: The DC gang gets to meet Castle. I hope it does your expectations justice. Thanks to everyone who keeps leaving feedback, encouraging me or just venting their anger about the characters. You have to know one thing about my stories: Except for the obvious villains, I don't believe in villifying regular and recurring characters. Therefore you will never see me trashing someone like Meredith, Josh or Gina just because they once got in the way of Caskett. With regards to Beckett's character, she's on a journey in this story. A long but revealing journey for her and it's going to be a tough ride before she has her moment of clarity and everything's all sunshine and roses in this story.
"Oh this is soooo cool," Castle smiled like a five-year-old in front of a Christmas tree, as McCord handed him the visitor's badge. "Do I get to keep it?"
"No," the guard on duty shook his head, "you return it to me, when you leave the building."
"But it has my name and my picture on it," Rick protested, "who else is going to use it?"
"No one, we shred them."
"Please?" He looked from the guard to Kate, who shook her head, to McCord, who looked at him amused but with her arms crossed, then back to the guard. "Fine." He scowled.
Beckett and McCord turned on their heels and marched over to the elevator with Castle slowly trotting behind them. Kate had given him the silent treatment in the car the whole ride long, so he kept in the background the best he could. He could tell that she was anything but happy about the circumstance under which her new team would get to meet him. It irked him a little, too. He would've liked to be in a stronger position of power, when he first encountered her new colleagues so he could reprimand them for the hazing they'd put Kate through in the past few days. He had a feeling, though, that Beckett would kill him personally, if he'd brought that up now.
His heavy sigh reverberated through the quiet hall, as they waited for the elevator. The silence was starting to unnerve him.
"So you are Kate's new boss, huh?" Castle tried to make small talk.
"If you mean team leader, then yes." Rachel gave him a curt reply. "I prefer to think of my team members as equals."
"Interesting," Rick nodded. "But you're still the one who signs off on overtime and days off."
"Actually no. That would be the section chief." Rachel replied slightly confused.
"Castle!" Kate hissed and shoved her elbow into her fiancé's ribs.
McCord glanced amused at Beckett who was covering her face with her free hand. "Need to take time off to attend your own wedding or is there more house hunting on the horizon?"
Kate just rolled her eyes and cursed Castle's forwardness. She wanted to talk with Rachel first and let her request slip casually into the conversation. She had no idea how vacation requests were handled at the AG's office but she knew taking days off so early in the hire would probably be frowned upon.
"Actually," Rick piped up again, ignoring Kate's physical protest, and continued unperturbed, "we're launching the new Nikki Heat next week, so there's a small party in New York on Saturday to kick of Deadly Heat."
"You don't say," McCord snorted duly unimpressed and barged into the empty elevator as soon as the doors opened.
"Anyway, I was hoping Kate could be there since she's the inspiration for Nikki Heat." Rick followed Rachel quickly inside. "I would have invited your team to come, too, but seeing as you're all scheduled to work…" he trailed off.
Beckett just groaned and stabbed the button for their floor with a little more force than necessary.
"Not my call. And the section chief isn't Beckett's biggest fan right now after the stunt she pulled a couple days ago."
"I see. That makes absolute sense." Rick replied as silence spread around them one more time. Unable to take any more of their quiet, he changed to small talk. "So what exactly do you do as a team leader and how long have you been doing this job?"
"Does he always ask so many questions?" McCord looked at Beckett sideways.
"Yep," Kate emphasized the final consonant with a loud pop.
"Just a little research. As a writer I like to get the details right."
Rachel whirled around. "If I find myself in the next Nikki Heat, it will be the last novel you've ever written. Am I making myself clear?"
"Crystal," Castle swallowed nervously, "crystal clear." He cleared his throat. She hadn't said Derrick Storm. Federal agents working in DC fit much better into his spy novels anyway. Kate caught the smirk on his face and shook her head already no, knowing what he was thinking.
The elevator doors opened and McCord stepped out and strode down the cubicles. Rick moseyed silently behind Beckett and McCord who went over the case details provided by Metro PD. After an anonymous call, patrol checked Trevor Martins' apartment. They found the body of Jessica Flinn amidst drug paraphernalia and what seemed to be a very hung-over Trevor Martins. They arrested him immediately in spite of his protests that he was innocent. The last thing Martins could recall was that he had met Jessica Flinn in a bar and bought her a drink. Maybe two. After that things got a little hazy and his statement stopped making sense. He couldn't recall taking Flinn home to shoot up some coke but bits and pieces of naked flesh and writhing bodies flashing through his mind led him to admit that they did probably have sex. The DNA lab confirmed that the sperm found was a match to Martins, but the ME concluded the sex was probably consensual if a little rough. Martins insisted that he didn't know where the drugs came from, but when the detectives confronted him with an old arrest for possession of cocaine, he confessed to a previous addiction but insisted he was clean ever since he left rehab four years ago. He'd turned his life around and started a successful small business. Lab results eventually revealed that Martins had spoken the truth, he was clean for illegal substances but twice over the legal limit for intoxication, whereas Flinn had enough cocaine in her body to fly higher than a kite, twice the dose of what would have been needed for an accidental overdose.
Rick thought they were focusing too much on Trevor Martins and not enough on Jessica Flinn. Clearly, Martins lacked motive to murder Flinn. He didn't know the woman and the police shrink had not detected any homicidal tendencies. If Flinn had been on Beckett's radar, she must have had something to do with the Snowden case. And that opened doors to endless possibilities. Maybe she was onto Snowden and about to report him and he killed her before he left the country. He tried to spin one of his theories in the car on their way to the AG headquarters, but Kate had simply turned around in the front seat and fixed him with a death glare. He may have missed her look look when he'd allowed Meredith to stay at the loft a few months ago, but he was unfortunately all too familiar with her Shut up or I will hurt you glare.
He had never seen her so upset with him. When Beckett had opened the back door of the car for him, she had pushed him onto the seat a little bit too forcefully, as if she was handling a suspect. Castle found it oddly hot. The last time she'd arrested him, she'd let the uniforms handle him and he didn't get to enjoy this slightly arousing silent treatment she was giving him now. He was a bit baffled by her reaction. It wasn't like he killed anyone. He was just walking around the neighborhood of their potential new home and could he help it, if he townhouse next door kept calling his name? The broken police seal was a sign, and the fact that he didn't even have to pick the lock to get inside was like an open invitation to sniff around the crime scene.
0~0~0~0~0
"Dude!" Richmond shouted, jumping up from his chair and startling Hendricks. "Check this out!"
Matt turned his head into the direction the other man was pointing and saw Rachel and Kate return from their canvass, with a third person in tow. The two men looked at each other baffled for a second, then rounded their desks to welcome their new guest.
"Is that…?" Rookie asked McCord when she was within earshot and the three of them watched Kate pull up a chair from the empty cubicle diagonally across from their team's quarters and push Richard Castle nonchalantly into the chair, instructing him to sit still, not to touch anything and not to bother anyone.
"Richard Castle. Mr. Castle is a person of interest. Apparently he has information that could help solving Jessica Flinn's murder." Rachel explained. Rookie squealed when he heard the name and Rachel and Matt shot him an annoyed glare.
"You're not going to hyperventilate…" Hendricks shook his head and Richmond pulled a face at him.
"Why is he sitting over there?" Matt's curiosity wasn't fully quenched yet.
"Because he's in a time out." Kate threw out casually, breezing by her new colleagues on her way to her desk.
"You punished him?" Hendricks looked at her amused.
"Yeah," Kate gave quick nod and sat down in her chair.
"You can do that?" Rookie looked at her in awe. It was Richard freaking Castle and she just put him into a time out like a five year old on a temper tantrum. God, he might just be in love with this woman.
"Sure," Beckett shrugged her shoulders as if it was an every day occurrence to her, ignoring the slightly agape mouths of the three people watching her curiously.
"And what did he do to deserve being disciplined?" Hendricks asked more questions.
"Forced his way into a crime scene, stole some evidence and probably incurred half a dozen of other infractions I haven't been made aware of yet." Kate rattled off what she'd learned about Rick's day at the station.
Matt whistled impressed, "My, my, someone's been a busy boy today."
"First of all, I didn't break into the apartment." Castle piped up from his chair, "The seal and lock had already been broken. Second, I didn't steal the evidence. I collected it, bagged it and tagged it properly and was on my way to the next police station, when a patrol car picked me up and kindly offered me an escort. I even wore gloves." Kate raised her eyebrows surprised at the last part and Castle shrugged his shoulders sheepishly. He couldn't quite believe it himself when he found the pair of purple gloves in his back pocket. Old habits die apparently hard.
"He got arrested?" Hendricks and Richmond exclaimed in unison, not fooled by Castle's spin on words.
"Yep, and guess who his only phone call was." Rachel grinned.
The men trained their eyes on Kate and chorused, "Our very own Agent Beckett."
Kate rolled her eyes and shook her head, then turned her attention to her fiancé. "And who gave you permission to talk anyway?"
"Someone is in trouble," Hendricks sing-songed.
"Yeah well, I wouldn't have to say anything, if you told the story right." Castle explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Kate huffed exasperatedly. Right, the story. Of course.
"You realize that at some point you have to allow him to talk so I can interview him. Unless you'd rather interrogate him yourself?" McCord smiled sweetly at Kate. Hendricks snickered and Richmond looked between his colleagues as if they just shared a secret running gag he wasn't part of.
Kate rolled her eyes and watched the boys covertly. Hendricks and Richmond were staring at Castle openly in fascination, trying to figure out what he was doing in D.C. They'd obviously heard of their unorthodox partnership back at the twelfth, otherwise they wouldn't have been hazing her the past few days, but that didn't explain why he had followed her to the nation's capital. She could practically see the wheels turning in Rookie's brain as he mentally went through the list of book signings on Castle's website, double checking he hadn't missed an opportunity to meet his favorite author before. Sooner or later they'd put two and two together and figure out Castle had followed her to DC because they were in a relationship and then Hendricks would have a field day teasing the hell out of her. Rookie might just go into cardiac arrest when he found out Richard Castle and Nikki Heat were engaged. Kate looked at McCord for help, but Rachel was clearly enjoying the situation. Surprisingly McCord hadn't spilled the beans about Rick's true identity to the men…yet… Something told Kate that Rachel was saving that little tidbit of information to hold over her head and cash in at a better moment.
"Wait a moment, did you just say the seal and lock were broken?" Hendricks walked back to his desk to check his file.
"Yes, well, the seal was torn, and technically the lock wasn't broken. But when I tried to pick it, I immediately noticed someone else had tampered with it. The door was practically open."
"There's nothing about a tampered or broken lock in the report. Either CSU missed it or someone came back, broke the seal and tampered with it." Matt double-checked the file to be sure.
"Got a little friendly competition going on with Patterson?" Rookie grinned. "Maybe he stopped by over the weekend to check out the crime scene first."
"Very funny." Castle fixed his eyes on Kate. "Isn't it obvious? Trevor Martins was set up. And whoever is behind framing Martins for Jessica Flinn's murder returned to the crime scene to remove evidence he'd left behind, before police found it."
"Speaking of evidence," McCord suddenly remembered, "what did you take from the crime scene?"
Castle suddenly grew very quiet and averted his eyes from Kate. "Mbra," he mumbled.
"Excuse me?"
Castle coughed, as he repeated the word "Mbra."
"Embra?" Beckett and Rookie chorused, exchanging confused glances.
"What on earth is an embra?" Hendricks wondered out loud, already pulling his smartphone from his back pocket, ready to google the word.
"I found a bra, okay?!"
"A bra?" Hendricks frowned.
"Yes, a women's brassiere. Are we all clear now or do I need to draw you a picture?"
"How'd you end up with the victim's brassiere?" Kate looked at her fiancé amused. "She was dressed in all the crime scene photos."
Seeing his fiancée more amused than anything else, Castle breathed a sigh of relief. The last thing he wanted was irritate her further by reminding her of his philandering past.
"When I entered the room, I saw something reflect the light coming in from the window. So I went to investigate and found the bra stuffed behind the couch. I think Flinn hid it there from whoever killed her. The only reason I saw it was because it had a metallic ornament disguising the front clasp."
"Front clasp, huh?" Hendricks grinned. "Someone knows their way around lingerie."
Castle suppressed a groan. He totally got it now why Kate complained about Hendricks so much. That guy was a total jackass.
"Let me get this straight, Metro PD picked you up strolling along the streets flashing the victim's bra at the public?" McCord chuckled. "Did anyone else see you? I can just see the headlines tomorrow: Mystery writer exposed as sex offender."
Kate groaned out loud and Castle shook his head quickly, "No one saw me. I didn't flash anyone. I'd barely taken ten steps outside the townhouse when the patrol car showed up. Someone had alerted them to my presence at the crime scene."
Beckett immediately caught on to the implication of his last sentence, "Someone was watching you?"
"Or the house at least." Castle nodded. "Whoever went back didn't find what they were looking for. I couldn't make any sense of it until you connected the victim to Snowden's case. That's where you know her from, right?"
Kate nodded slowly. "You think they're connected?"
Castle nodded vigorously. "It makes total sense. Jessica Flinn and Edward Snowden were both senior analysts at Booz Allen Hamilton," his voice rose a little bit at the end of his sentence, as he looked at Kate for confirmation. She gave a quick head nod, so he continued. "The first time she notices it, she does not give it too much thought. Someone made a mistake, probably confused the names and wiretapped the wrong person. Not the first time it happens and won't be the last time. She makes a mental note to mention it to her supervisor but never gets around to doing it."
Castle looked at each member of his audience, satisfied he had their undivided attention. Rookie was practically hanging on his lips, Kate tried to unsuccessfully suppress her smile and Hendricks and McCord were listening attentively to his story. Good. He lowered his voice to increase the dramatic delivery of his story, "It is only a few weeks later, she cross-references names in a data matrix with the terror watch list, when she realizes the file contains intimate details of people's lives who are actually innocent US citizens. Conflicted, she ignores what her gut is trying to tell her. Surely, there must be a reason. But she can't shake the feeling that something is wrong, she starts digging."
Castle paused for dramatic effect. "One night, while she is out with her colleagues, alcohol loosens her tongue and she mentions what she's found out. Some of her colleagues shrug their shoulders, brushing it off as old news. Jessica Flinn realizes shocked that the NSA has been spying on US citizens for years."
Castle paused and Hendricks and McCord leaned in a little bit closer. "Her eyes fall on the only person at the table who is just as shocked as she is. Edward. Dear, sweet, idealistic Edward with his baby face and innocent eyes. She can see the fire burning in them now, as the rage over what the government is doing simmers inside him. He doesn't say anything. But she understands. Weeks pass by until one day Edward and Jessica end up alone in the break room. Edward has been a busy little squirrel, digging up the nuts the NSA has stashed away and making copies of the explosive files. This is bigger than they thought. Even international politicians were illegally wiretapped. Diplomats, heads of states… He confides into Jessica his plans to go public, hands her a thumb drive full of evidence, begging her to hold on to this spare copy to continue his work, once the government silenced him. Jessica nods numbly, Edward slips her a scrap of paper with the contact information for his Wiki leaks liaison, then he makes a beeline for his work station."
Rick lowered his voice even more, forcing Rachel, Matt and Rookie to huddle closer, so they could understand him. Beckett just rolled her eyes, watching her new team fall for her fiancé's skills as a narrator. It was the guy in 8B all over again. She caught Rick's eyes, when he glanced up and shook her head with mirth. He winked at her and finished, revealing he was just having fun with her new colleagues and didn't really put too much stock into his theory. She'd missed this: his crazy theories, the twinkle in his eyes when he spun his stories to drive her insane.
"Jessica goes home that night, anxious, paranoid that someone knows what she and Edward are up to. This was the kind of information people killed for to protect, this is the kind of information people would kill for to get their hands on. And just like that Jessica has an epiphany. This is the kind of information some people would pay a lot of money for. So Jessica starts to ask around, move around questionable social circles to find a potential buyer and before she knows it, international intelligence brokers are lining up, outbidding each other. Somehow, Snowden finds out. He threatens to expose her, reports her to their supervisor. Jessica just laughs him off, knowing he can't expose her without implicating himself. She teases him, dares him to go public before she completes the deal. Edward knows he needs more time to arrange his plans to ensure his freedom. She laughs at his idealism, taunts him. If he makes the information available to everyone, why can't she make a little money making the information available to the highest bidder a little sooner?
So one night he follows her to the bar, he sees her flirting with Trevor Martins. Snowden thinks he is the buyer, so when he sees them leave the bar together he panics. He follows them back to Martins' townhouse, trying to figure out what to do. He does some research on Martins and finds out about his drug past, figures his small business is a front for whatever criminal enterprise he's currently running. He can't let Jessica get away with it. He forces his way inside, confronts the naked couple about the business deal. Martins has no idea what's going on, he denies everything, while pulling up his pants, tumbling around drunkenly – which makes Edward only more furious. He catches Jessica scrambling for the couch, putting her clothes back on. Burning with rage he demands his thumb drive back. When Jessica claims she doesn't have it on her, he attacks her. They struggle on the couch, Edward smothers her accidentally with a cushion until he realizes she is no longer fighting back. Panic seizes him. She's dead. He just killed a woman. But he can't risk being caught. His eyes fall on Martins who lies on the floor, passed out. He remembers Martins' drug past and runs out into the night, tracking down the next best drug dealer, scoring enough cocaine to kill a small elephant. He gives him an extra grand for the dealer's own syringe and then races back to the townhouse, injecting Flinn with the cocaine, making it look like an accidental overdose after a wild night gone wrong."
Castle leaned back and crossed his arms with a triumphant grin. McCord stood there still processing Rick's tale, her eyebrows furrowing as her mind started to figure out the holes in his story.
"Nice story, Castle, there's only one problem." Kate beat her to the punch. "According to the M.E.'s report Flinn's TOD was long after Snowden had already left the country."
"And didn't the M.E.'s report also say she had twice the dose required for an accidental overdose in her system?" Hendricks reached for their copy of the medical examiner's report on his desk.
"If Snowden's never done drugs before, he wouldn't know how little it takes for an actual overdose. He'd inject her with more than necessary." Rookie defended Castle's theories.
"And didn't Jessica Flinn get fired about three months ago?" McCord tore another hole into his theory.
Beckett had to suppress a grin. Unlike a few years ago, her new colleagues weren't eating out of her boyfriend's hands straight away.
"Wouldn't the ME have found fibers in her airways if she'd been smothered?" Rookie looked from Rachel to Matt, "I mean he's no idiot? I'm sure he knows the difference between suffocation and overdose."
Castle scowled and glared at Richmond, Et tu?
"Face it, Castle, you're a little rusty. Your theory doesn't make sense. Why would Snowden send someone to watch you, if he's already leaked the information to the media?" Kate teased him.
"Yeah, well, I'm a little out of practice since I had to stop shadowing you." He volleyed back, unable to control the bite in his tone that let her know that he was still a little upset over the change of status quo. The other agents' ears perked up, picking up on the sudden tension between Kate and Rick.
"Is that why you took it upon yourself to investigate a murder all on your own?" Irritation crept back into her voice.
"You're mad, I get it." Castle nodded, "But what was I supposed to do? Stand by while an innocent man was convicted of a crime he didn't commit?"
"Castle, you don't even know if he's innocent! There's no exculpatory evidence, all you've got are a couple of holes in the lead detective's theory." Kate countered.
Before a full blown argument could develop between Kate and Rick, McCord stepped in, "Alright Mr. Castle, is there anything you'd like to add to you story?"
Castle shook his head, "No, that's all there is. I saw the broken lock, figured there's no harm in taking a quick look inside. I found the victim's bra, which was missed by CSU, bagged it, tagged it and gave it to Metro PD. And before you ask, no, I didn't see or hear anyone."
"Okay, write down your official statement and then sign it." McCord ordered. Beckett shoved Castle back into his chair and slammed a pad and pen in front of his face. Rick watched her settled in at her own desk with a grim face. One step forward, two steps backwards.
"Oh and Castle?" McCord called out, "Facts only. It's a statement, not fiction."