CH29

Rick got up early the next day after they got home from Turks and Caicos. Kate had come home with them even though her official 5th day had occurred while they were there. But she didn't say anything.

He had breakfast and a coffee to-go mug waiting.

Kate and Alexis meanwhile were rushing around. They were running late. They had both woke up and had just relaxed in each other's arms for just a little too long.

Kate strode down the hallway, ate her breakfast hurriedly and grabbed the coffee mug Castle had waiting for her.

Kate seemed to be in such a great hurry that Castle just gave her a quick peck on the cheek and was ready to close the door. When Kate turned and kissed him. Moaning into the kiss and with her tongue asking for entrance.

Finally breaking for air. "Bye Castle." And flew down the hallway for the elevators. Leaving a stunned Rick in her wake.

Rick had taken Alexis into school and was back to typing when Jack interrupted him. "You are receiving a phone call from Beth and Hector Simmons, they are Cole Maddox's parents in Oklahoma. You are Cpt. Johnathan Dupree." Jack reminds him.

"Captain Dupree, how may I help you?" Rick answers the phone talking thru Jack.

"Mr. Dupree this is Beth Simmons. We spoke earlier about our son."

"Of course Ms. Simmons, how may I help you?" Please do something I can work with.

"My husband and I wanted to thank you for the airfare and hotel you arranged for us. We were wondering if we could fly out tomorrow and meet with you where you requested. And could you have the person who you think is our son meet us there?" Beth sounds scared.

Rick knew she was taking a big risk. They had already been told their son is dead once. Alive or dead they were opening up old wounds.

"Would 11:00 am suit you and your husband?" Rick asks. That will give some time to find Mr. Maddox and bring him in.

"That will be fine. Thank you Mr. Dupree."

"I look forward to it Ms. Simmons and I can assure you it will be perfectly safe for everyone involved."

"11:00 tomorrow Mr. Dupree." And Beth hangs up.

"So we get to shake another tree tomorrow and maybe see who falls out of this one." Rick tells Jack.

"I have been moving the money around as you requested. So far they have found it missing from the original account and have found the account I moved it to. However they have not yet gotten any further than that." Jack tells him.

"So they have professional help with their search. Interesting. Keep moving it around Jack. Let's see if we can hold onto it long enough for Christmas." Rick tells him.

"You are going to spend the money on Christmas presents?" Jack is confused. It doesn't sound like something Rick would do.

"Yup! Let's see how many people we can help as a Secret Santa this year." Rick explains.

"I will do my best Richard." Jack responds happy about Rick's idea.

"We can do it during the 12 days of Christmas." Rick adds.

Rick goes back to typing when the house phone rings. Rick stops and gets up to answer it. "It is Gina calling." Jack tells him just as he reaches for the phone.

Rick yanks his hand back. "Eeewww. I'll let her talk to my voice mail." And goes back to typing.

Kate meanwhile has made it into work and finds a message from Lanie. She has something on that sword. However she decided to wait for Espo and Ryan to get in. The FBI is still set up on their floor so they must not be done yet either.

After Espo and Ryan make it in Kate finds they still haven't found her Mercedes. They did however find the dealer she bought it from. A trip down to see him confirmed that she had bought the car. Talking with the sales person who actually sold her the car gained them only a little.

They found out what bank she had it financed through so they worked at getting a court order for the account on the car.

Espo and Ryan had better luck at child services now that they had a name. They got all her active case files that were in the office and brought them back. There were even a few pictures with them.

Kate was going through the files with the boys when Kate came across a picture that took her breath away. It was the house. The one Jill had shown her. "This is the one." Kate told them putting the picture on the table.

"That would be this house." Ryan points to a name on the list. "And it's not that far from the lake."

"Call for some units to go with us. If they're willing to kill they may be trouble." Kate tells them.

45 minutes later they are all just a block or two down from the house. Everyone was putting on their flak vests. "Someone stay with the unit in case they make a break for it. I want two in the back, two over there by the woods. I don't want to lose them in it. We'll take the front." Kate gives marching orders.

Kate and the guys gave the officers time to get into position. They approach the front door. "NYPD open up!" Kate yells out and immediately motions for Espo to kick the door open.

Out back the two officers spot two kids run out the back door and have no trouble catching them. Kate and the boys begin clearing the first floor. Getting a clear from everyone Kate goes upstairs while Espo and Ryan take the basement.

Kate clears each room upstairs when she hears a call from Espo. "We've got a tunnel down here. Looks like it leads into the woods." Kate gives up on the second floor and flies down the stairs as fast as she can and is out the front door.

Espo and Ryan pull out their flashlights and start down the tunnel.

All three meet up at roughly the same place to find two officers sitting on a man and a woman. Kate calls for a check in from the other 3 officers. Then calls for CSU and some additional units. It was time to do some searching.

It was late in the day by the time Kate and the boys made it back to the 12th. They had found a burnt out hulk of a Mercedes. A VIN number found matched it to the one she had just recently purchased.

It was a foster home that had gone threw a lot of children. The two captured running out the back were the latest two. They had no children of their own.

Kate was going to wait until late tomorrow sometime to put them in the box and talk to them. She wanted more time to gain more evidence.

It was almost 10:00 pm when she finally decided to go home. The boys had left hours ago.

Kate dragged herself down the hallway from the elevators and put her key in the locks and opened the front door. After re-locking it she put her weapon and shield away after turning on the front light.

Kate stepped into the living room just to take a peak before heading down to the bedroom to get some sleep. And was surprised to find Castle lying down and asleep on the sofa.

He must have tried to wait up for her and fallen asleep. Kate went over and kneeled down on the floor and pushed a few loose strands of hair away.

"Castle?" Gives him a little shake. "Castle?" Shakes him a little harder. And her reward is to see him open his sleepy eyes and let her drown in the sea of blue.

"Hi." Rick barely gets out.

"Hi. … We need to get you up and into bed Castle. It's late." Kate tells him.

Castle responds by putting a hand behind her head and forcing it down so he can kiss her. Not that it took much pressure.

Castle breaks from the kiss to look into her eyes. "What time is it?" Castle asks.

"It's a little past midnight." Is the answer he gets. And Castle brings Kate's head back down for another kiss.

"Where's Alexis." Kate asks after they come up for air.

"She's at a sleep over with her friend Paige." Castle tells her. This gets him another kiss from Kate as well as her starting to remove his clothes then lying on the sofa.

They don't make it to the bedroom until 1:00 am. Where they begin round two of the evening.

Kate wakes to an empty bed and it's not Alexis's bed. With a satisfied smile on her face she makes it down to Alexis's bathroom and takes a shower and gets ready for the morning.

Walking out to the kitchen expecting to find Castle waiting for her. She is happy that she is not nearly as sore as the first time they made love. It was the best way Kate could think of describing what Castle does for her, or to her. He seemed to linger over every square inch of her. Paying attention to everything.

"Hi Castle." Kate finds him in the kitchen dressed only in boxers this time. This time she steps into the kitchen and runs her hands over his skin. And reaches down and grabs his crotch.

"Feeling frisky this morning are we? … You keep that up and you are going to be late." Castle warns her.

"Promises, promises." Kate purrs into his ear.

Castle responds by grabbing her and twists her around and slams her up against the refrigerator and kisses her, hard.

Breaking from the kiss Castle pulls back. "I should let you get to work before Roy has both our heads."

Kate chuckles. "I'll be back tonight." And takes the coffee to-go mug and heads for the elevator.

Rick heads for everyone's bedroom and takes all the dirty clothes he can find and starts his first load of wash. He doesn't stand a chance of finishing before he has to go, but at least he got started.

Come 10:30 he goes downstairs and takes a cab to his upcoming meeting with the Simmons. He had already called ahead yesterday to have Cole Maddox picked up and waiting.

Rick arrives about 15 minutes later and makes his way to the elevator. "Time for our disguise my friend." Rick tells Jack.

Rick steps out and heads for the office. Along the way he sees Kate sitting at her desk. The urge to walk over there and kiss her is proving difficult to resist. And he needs to stop starring at her. His disguise isn't perfect. She might just see his eyes and get suspicious.

"Captain Montgomery. I'm Captain Johnathan Dupree with Naval Intelligence, we talked yesterday." As Rick holds out his hand to shake that of his old friend.

"Capt. Dupree, please have a seat. I'm not sure what we can do for Naval Intelligence." Roy is still confused as to why his precinct is involved.

"Do you have the man I asked about?" Rick asks.

"Yes, some officers picked him up early this morning. He was right where you said he would be."

"Excellent. His parents should be arriving shortly. I would like for them to look threw the glass and see if they can ID the person you brought in." Rick tells him.

"May I ask why you need him ID'd?" Roy is curious.

"Some of the military records indicate that their son is dead. Killed in Afghanistan during a friendly fire incident. However he has been tentatively ID'd as being this same person. This kind of presents a problem for us." Rick explains.

"A dead guy who isn't dead running around loose." Roy surmises.

"Precisely. If they do ID him or don't as their son will tell me what I need to do next. I want to thank you for your help today." Rick offers.

"Glad to help." Roy tells him. "Looks like your possible parents have arrived."

"May I use your office for a moment?" Rick asks wanting a moment with the Simmons.

"Of course, I'll be waiting at the door to observation." Roy gets up and exits his office.

Kate along with Espo and Ryan watch Roy exit and two other people enter.

"Mr. and Mrs. Simmons, I want to thank you for coming."

"I'm not sure what this will accomplish, but Beth here seemed to want to see for herself, so …." Hector tells Rick.

"The man now known as Cole Maddox is sitting in room one and I want you to take a good look at him through the glass and see if you recognize him. He will not be able to see or hear you at any time." Rick explains.

"Like that one-way glass you see on TV cop shows and movies?"

"Yes, exactly like that. …. If you please." As Rick offers them out of the office first.

"Down this way." Rick tells them. "This is Captain Roy Montgomery of the 12th precinct. He has been kind enough to let us use his facilities."

"Mr. and Mrs. Simmons." Roy offers his hand. Only Hector shakes it. "Right thru here." As Roy opens the door.

Once inside Beth sucks in a breath and holds it for a long time.

"I'm going to go into the room and question him. You will be able to hear everything from here." Rick tells them and exits and closes the door behind them.

Both Hector and Beth stand so close their noses are almost touching the glass.

"Easy dear, let the naval officer talk to him." Hector tries to comfort his wife.

"But it's Richard. How can it be? They told us he was dead. They were in our house and told us our son was dead." Beth can't believe it.

Roy has a lot of questions now too, but remains silent.