Company - Chapter 20

Lanie smirks at her the second Beckett steps into the morgue.

"Well, you're looking refreshed. Must've been a good night for you."

Kate rolls her eyes. "Subtle, Lanie."

Her friend grins, not repentant in the least. Lanie loves poking and prodding about her relationship with Rick, she has ever since she'd gotten wind of Kate's "mystery man," and it has only intensified as the months have passed.

"I'm just saying, I heard that you weren't exactly thrilled with your man the other day. But looking at you now…"

"What've you got for me?" she asks, attempting to steer the ME back to the reason for her visit – a murder victim, not gossiping about Rick Castle.

Lanie narrows her eyes. "We're going to come back to this, Kate. If not right now, over a drink after work later."

Kate winces. "I… actually kind of – I can't tonight. Plans with Rick. Assuming we're not knee-deep in financials and phone records when my shift is supposed to end, of course. But after we close this case? On a night we both have off."

Her friend looks skeptical, but nods. "I'm holding you to that, Kate Beckett. Don't think you'll get out of telling me what's going on with you and lover boy these days. Or why I heard from Ryan and Esposito that you looked like you were ready to take everyone apart for two days last week."

She smiles, reaching into her pocket for her notebook to get down to business. "Those two gossip way too much, but I'll be there. Now, what can you tell me about our victim here? How close were you on your initial TOD estimate?"

"Pretty much right on the money. I sent blood work in, but barring any surprises with that, I'm confident in saying that COD was single GSW to the chest."

Beckett nods. Exactly what they'd discussed at the crime scene. "What about evidence on the body? Did you find anything in your examination?"

"A couple of things I think you're going to find interesting." Lanie pulls on a fresh set of gloves. "We found two sets of bruising on the body," she starts, lifting the sheet and motioning to their victim's rib cage. "The coloring indicates that he got these before he died, but the bruising on his wrists was made postmortem. Like our killer grabbed him and dragged him after he was shot."

Kate files that information away, making a note to have unis canvas for an alternative scene. "What about prints?" she asks, leaning over to examine the bruising. "If the killer dragged him, maybe they left prints on his wrists? Or on his watch?"

Lanie shakes her head. "I thought of that, too, but it looks like whoever did this was wearing gloves."

Damn it.

"We did find some fibers that don't match up with what he was wearing when he was brought in, so I bagged those and sent them off to be analyzed," Lanie continues. "They could be from the gloves the killer was wearing, or their clothing. I'll let you know more once I get the results."

Beckett nods. "Okay. Thanks, Lanie. Anything else you can tell me?"

"Just that whoever beat him up before he died did a number on him. Might be something to look into."

"Maybe someone had an axe to grind and came back to finish the job," she muses, letting that idea start to take shape. It's not much, but it's something to work with.

"That's your area of expertise."

She concedes that point. "Anything else?" she asks, tapping her fingers against the leather of her notebook.

Lanie shakes her head. "That's all I have for you for now. I'll let you know what the tox screen says when it comes back."

"Great. Thanks, Lanie."

Her friend smiles, peeling the gloves off her hands. "Don't forget, drinks after this case. You've been entirely too secretive about this relationship of yours. It's been months, Kate; I deserve the details."

Kate laughs, lifting her hand in a lazy wave. "See you later, Lanie. Call me if you find anything else."

Unfortunately, there are no big breaks in the case, just more questions about their victim and his life, and as six o'clock nears, she finds herself texting Rick to call off their date.

I'm sorry. Can we reschedule to tomorrow?

Her boyfriend's response comes almost immediately.

Of course. Still no luck on your case?

Kate smiles at both his easy acceptance and his genuine curiosity; he really does like knowing these things. He'd been all ears when they'd talked earlier, practically begging for details she hadn't been willing to give him, coaxing a few out of her anyway.

We're looking at the timeline again. Something's just not adding up, so we're probably going to be here a while.

She puts her phone aside, turning back to the dry erase board and letting her mind focus on the task at hand. There's something they're just not seeing, some piece that hasn't fallen into place yet. Some aspect of their victim's life that would make his actions – and his reactions – make sense.

"What were you into, Andrew?" she murmurs, narrowing her eyes at the board. The answer is there – somewhere.

"Fight club."

Beckett jumps, twisting in her chair to find the source of the suggestion. Rick grins, holding up a bag that's clearly filled with take out, though she has no idea what it is.

"Brought dinner to you," he explains before she can ask why he's standing at the edge of the bullpen after she had cancelled on him. "I got extra so we can share with Ryan and Esposito."

She glances over, wondering if his utterance of their names will be enough to summon the guys, or if the smell of food will do it just fine.

"We?" she asks, letting the smile spread across her lips. A soft flutter works its way through her belly. It's actually pretty romantic, him bringing dinner to her since she can't get away.

Rick grins like he can read her mind. "Mhmm, where can we eat?"

Kate bites her lip, looking around again. The break room is the usual choice, but there's nothing private about it. "Come on, we can grab the conference room for a while."

Her boyfriend follows her, food cradled in his arms. She has to smother a smile at the mixture of delight and childlike wonder on his face. She ignores the curious looks she gets from a few of the others in the bullpen, leaving the conference room door propped open should she be needed.

"So," Rick starts as they settle with their food, having given the boys their portion and shooed them away, "case still not going well?"

She narrows her eyes, nudging him with her elbow. "I'm sure you were lurking long enough to know we're still looking into everything."

He grins, conceding that point. He probably hadn't been waiting too long to make his grand entrance, otherwise she would have smelled the food, but he reads fast, thinks fast.

"And speaking of my case… fight club, Rick? Really?" she asks, lifting an eyebrow.

"If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. Your victim has bruises you can't explain, you haven't figured out what he does with his nights… fight club."

Kate shakes her head, taking a bite of her food. "I seriously doubt Andrew Ferdie was part of a secret, underground fight club, Rick."

"Wanna bet?" he singsongs, shoving a piece of Mongolian beef into his mouth. "A friendly wager that he's totally part of a secret, underground fight club?"

Laughter wells in her throat, but she tamps it down, purses her lips. "And what exactly would you want if you won this 'friendly wager'?"

Rick's smile turns sexy as he makes a show of looking her up and down. "I have some ideas."

"Stick to the PG ones, Castle."

"You let me come in and shadow you for a few days. For research. I want to make sure I'm doing Nikki Heat justice, and the best way to do that is to experience things first hand."

"Yes, we wouldn't want stripper cop Nikki Heat to lack authenticity, would we?" she says, but it lacks bite. The name is still awful, but the situation, the fact that he's basing a character on her, has grown on her. "And if I win?"

"I won't change her name," he warns, waggling his fork at her. "So pick a different reward. Rating of your choice."

Kate laughs. He would have no problem with a reward like that. "Breakfast in bed for a week, and a hot bath in your tub where you bring me expensive wine."

He snaps his fingers. "Done. You have a bet, Detective." His hand moves between them, taking hers and giving it a firm shake.

She squeezes his fingers, lowering her chin as the desire to tease her lips over his and seal the bargain with a kiss surges through her blood. "You're on, Mr. Castle."

Rick grins, stealing a bite of her food before he sits back in his chair. She snags some of his in return, only letting go of his hand when she needs to take more rice from one of the cartons on the table.

"So how do we figure out who's right?" he asks. Kate watches his eyes cut toward the bullpen, toward the murder board, sees his mind already working on the mystery at hand.

She nudges his foot with hers. "We'll start after dinner."

Thank you for reading! Until next chapter!