Chapter 21: More Threats

I asked you to dance with me

"Detective Beckett, how nice of you to come visit," Tyler Morrison smiles at her as she walks in. "And you brought an audience."

"What do you know about Hal Lockwood's death?" Beckett asks, completely ignoring his comments as she takes a seat across from him, Castle sitting down beside her, perhaps a little closer than usual during an interrogation but not being too overwhelmingly protective.

"New partner?" he glances at Castle.

"Yes."

"He doesn't love you, not the way I do," Morrison taunts.

"And I'm very glad he doesn't."

The criminal studies her, "Is that your natural hair? It's so much prettier than last summer."

"What do you want?" she stares at him coldly. "You have information that I need. What do you want in exchange for it?"

He smiles and holds out his cuffed hands, "For starters."

"Absolutely not," Castle breaks his silence.

She glances over at him briefly before turning back to Morrison, motioning for the guard to unlock the cuffs. As soon as he is free, he reaches for her across the table. She backs away from his hand, and Castle tenses beside her.

"That isn't going to work, Kate," he smiles. "If you want information, you have to give something up."

"You tell me what you know, and I'll consider it."

"No, it can't work that way. You see, if I tell you what I know, you'll leave. You won't hold up your end of the deal."

"And what is it you want from me?" Kate asks, leaning forward on the table again.

The writer observes the man across the table from him, thinking that with his blond hair and green eyes, he had probably been decent looking, perhaps even handsome, when he had first met Beckett. Six months in prison had made a mark on this though. He had to be only a few years older than her, and he had probably been relatively charming, the reason he had been able to kill the other two women. Rick finds himself wondering why she hadn't given him a chance, especially when they thought they had caught the guy responsible, but is immensely grateful that she hadn't.

Morrison pats the table in front of him, indicating that he wants her to come closer. She stands, and Castle must refrain from reaching out to grab her to keep her from moving. She sits down on the table, not quite directly in front of him, and crosses her legs, waiting for him to continue. The criminal places a hand on her knee and smiles as Castle winces, "Kate, I think your boyfriend is jealous."

Beckett continues to watch him, not reacting to his words or his touch as she waits for him to get to the point.

"Maybe you should send him outside."

"I'm not going anywhere," Castle declares, standing and preparing to tackle the criminal for touching her.

"Oh, he wants to watch," Morrison smiles, looking from one to the other. "We should give him a show then, shouldn't we?"

"Tell me what you know about Hal Lockwood's murder," she demands, ignoring his hand as it slowly slides up her leg.

"I can take better care of you than him. You just have to get me out of here, Kate. You do that, and I'll tell you everything I know and more." His other hand comes to rest on her shoulder.

"That doesn't even make sense," the writer protests, coming around the table. "You can't tell her more than you know, and if you don't start talking and get your hands off of her, you're going to pay."

"Castle," she warns.

"What are you going to do?" Morrison taunts him.

"I'll kill you," Rick threatens. "Leave her alone."

"No." Before any of them can react, Morrison has stood up and pressed him mouth against hers, his hands roaming her body.

Castle lunges, knocking the man to the floor. He gets one punch to the face in, and as he goes for the second, something grabs him to keep him from doing so. He looks back and sees Beckett grabbing his wrist.

"Rick, don't," she says simply.

The guard is already cuffing Morrison's hands again when he turns back to the criminal. Slowly he stands and lets the guard take care of him. He turns back to Kate, who is studying the ground intently. He wants so badly to reach out and reassure her that everything is going to be okay, but he knows she won't allow it.

"I've got an envelope for you. It's in my cell," Morrison tells them. They follow him back to his cell to get the envelope. Just to taunt Castle again, he says, "That was better than I imagined it. But it would have been better if you had kissed back. And if it hadn't been cut so short."

She takes the envelope from the guard and walks out without a word, Castle following close behind her.

"I'm sorry," he says quietly once they are seated in her car.

"I'm not mad at you," she turns to him.

"You said that last time too, and it led to us fighting."

"And it's still true."

"I shouldn't have interfered; I should have trusted your plan. But I just couldn't bear to see him touching you. And then he had the nerve to kiss you. I… I would have killed him if you hadn't stopped me."

"I know, Castle. I appreciate you trying to stop him."

"You do? I thought you'd be furious; I thought you'd be saying I told you so because you didn't want me to go in there for exactly that reason."

Kate reaches for his hand, "I felt a little more comfortable with you in there, Rick. Thanks for trying to stop him. But right now all I want to do is go take a long, hot shower and brush my teeth about ten times to get him off of me."

"I understand."

"But we should probably see if there's anything worthwhile in here," she pulls a pair of gloves on before opening the envelope.

Castle looks over her shoulder at the series of pictures that are in the envelope. All had her in them, some with his daughter, some with him, and some with the other detectives. "They're still after you, Kate. Montgomery's got to put officers on you again. You've got to be careful."

She looks into the envelope and finds a piece of paper stuck inside. She shows it to him: This is your final warning, Detective. Give up, or we will start shooting.

"Kate…" he whispers, not sure how to voice what he is thinking, about how dangerous this is going to be.

"I know, Rick. But I have to do it. I have to catch these guys."

He takes her hand in his and squeezes it, "I know you do, Kate. And I'm going to help you do it. I just want you to be careful, to not get so wrapped up in this that you make a stupid mistake and get killed for it."

"This is too dangerous. I can't put you in that position, not after our deal with Martha and Alexis. You're going to have to stay out of this."

"No. There is absolutely no way I'm going to do that. You need me."

"So do Martha and Alexis," she counters.

"You've got my back, don't you?" he asks, squeezing her hand again.

"Of course."

"And I've got yours. We're going to make it through this alive. We're going to put the bad guys behind bars and close your mother's case for good."

A/N: More Monday. Thanks for reading.