'Hey honey, how was the life of crime today?'
Castle glanced up from his laptop as he finished up reading an article on lost cargo ships for his very first international Nikki Heat mystery. She looked tired, but not exhausted, which meant he knew that his spies - or as he preferred to think of them, his guardian angels undercover - made sure she behaved herself while out in the field. On the floor beside him, RJ was building some kind of block tower with Omeo overseeing his labours.
'We might have caught a break on the Helena Roland homicide. It went cold back in July thanks to all the bureaucratic red tape to jump through concerning her estate.' Beckett set down her purse, her file bag. 'I'll need to go over the notes once the young one's in bed. Hi RJ,' she added, coming over and seeing her son lost in his activity. 'No kiss for me and bumpy today?'
'Hi Mumum, hi bumpy, I gotta finch!' RJ said in a desperately impatient tone.
'You have to finish? What are you making?'
'Empy 'Tate Biddin', Mumum. Omeo wanna see it.'
'You're making the Empire State Building?' Beckett asked with an incredulous giggle. 'How do you know what that is?'
'I say, Daddy what a big biddin'. He say Empy 'Tate Biddin', he show-a pisher too. I make fo' Omeo wit' Legos.'
'A regular old-boys club, huh?'
'Sacky! Annnnnnn...da-da!'
RJ got to his feet, spread his hands with a flourish. 'Washa think, Mumum?'
'I think Omeo's very lucky to have such a caring big brother.' She turned to Castle, gave him a kiss. 'Hello, dear.'
'You're awfully giddy tonight,' Castle commented, gave her an eyebrow wiggle. 'To what might we attribute that?'
'A combination of a possible break in a cold case and the promise of some grown-up time with you tonight. Preferably in a hot Jacuzzi tub with a cold drink and lots of bubbles.'
'Mumum, I have a bubba-bat' too?' RJ asked, holding Omeo close so he could inspect the Lego structure in the living room. 'Bubba-bat' lossa fun.'
'Of course, honey,' Beckett replied. 'And then it's Mumum and bumpy's turn for bubbles when you go to bed.'
'Oh! Silly Ah-Shay!' RJ clapped his hand to his forehead, rounded the table to pat his mother's ever-growing tummy. 'Hi-hi bumpy! I no' fo-geddin' you! Mumum be-have to-day?'
He giggled when he felt the bumpity-bumpy beneath his hands. 'Mumum, bumpy gettin' so big! When we see dotta pisher 'gain?'
'Next week,' Castle informed his son, so Beckett had a chance to catch her breath. 'And do you know what's happening this weekend?'
'What?'
'We're going to a party for Kevin and Jenny, remember?'
'Oh yea!' RJ, ever a party animal, clapped his hands. 'We go dancin'? I dance wit' my Tah-rini?'
'Of course, and she'll be wearing a pretty dress. But just remember to be friendly to everyone, okay?'
'I a shennel-man, Daddy. I be nice-a all gils.'
Castle heard Beckett try to turn her laugh into a cough. 'Of course you are, RJ. Right now, you feel like a small snack?'
'Uh-huh, me an' bumpy gonna have milk an' cookies!'
'That's not a healthy supper for bumpy,' Beckett informed her son as he tugged on her hand to pull her to her feet and towards the kitchen table. 'Bumpy wants spinach salad and buffalo chicken sandwiches tonight.'
'What a buff-lo shicken?'
'It's chicken we cook with a very spicy sauce named after Buffalo New York, the city where it was invented. And bumpy likes spicy foods.'
'Oh. It okay fo' you' tummy?'
She nodded in agreement. 'It's okay for my tummy.'
'Okay. 'Mon Daddy, bumpy need suppa!'
Later, when she'd had her fill of dinner and her son, and they'd made love in their Jacuzzi tub as promised, Beckett sat in her pyjamas cross-legged on her bed with the case-file on Helena Roland spread around her.
'So what, pray tell, did you stumbled across with the Roland case?' Castle asked her, passing her a hot cup of tea so she wouldn't get a chill after being in the steaming water.
'Financial records for something called Big Apple's Bookworm Foundation. It's a charity that fund-raises for library and book-exchange programs in lower income parts of the city. Before Helena came on the board, they were under investigation for fraudulent business practices.'
'Uncovering embezzlement's a hell of a motive for murder,' Castle pointed out.
'There's a reason it's a classic,' Beckett agreed. 'Maybe I can snag Geoffs or Newman on this. They could use the practice on the cold cases for their own careers, not just in conjunction to Karpowski. For now, it's time for bumpy to have a break before bed.'
She set aside her tea, scooped up the casefile and put it on the bedside table. 'And bumpy knows just how to unwind.'
'What do you think, guys, think she'll like it?'
'Oh yeah, it's going to be a great night, Ryan.'
Beckett smiled at her fellow detective in the rear-view mirror as she, Esposito and the blushing groom to be-again talked vow-renewal shop-talk on their way to their crime-scene. 'Jenny is a wonderfully lucky lady to have such a thoughtful husband.'
'Hey, I do plenty for my wife too you know,' Esposito chipped in with a cheeky smile. 'But right now it's Kevin's turn to be in the hot seat.'
'And considering you were off for a little while, I know you want to have a chance at making up some lost time,' Ryan added.
'I know. Mere's been going through her nesting stage, and I apparently have a tendency to mess it up, whatever 'it' is.'
'You also know that it's a phase of pregnancy and that you are probably going to get laid after she's done being fussy,' Beckett reminded him; her comment had her partners' eyebrows winging up.
'Quite the statement coming from you, Beckett,' Ryan noted, not bothering to add what he and Esposito both knew - someone had gotten some sugar with her morning breakfast burrito He put it away as they stopped outside the building, switched from being fun and slightly geeky Kevin to Detective Ryan along with his fellow cops as they left the Crown Vic and went into the little hot-spot that resembled a library with a nice cafe. Outside the main entrance was the same cop from the Helena Roland scene - Officer Cruz, in her starchy looking uniform despite the end-of-August heat. Her presence had something pinging in Beckett's brain, not only the cop part of her but the mother in her too that made her put her hands on her belly and give it a protective pat for an extra second.
'Good morning Detectives,' she said in her lisping accent when she saw the trio from the Twelfth approach.
'Officer Cruz. What's the bullet?'
'Thomas Nichols, fifty-five, owner of Books and Bites.' She pulled out her scratch-pad and read off the information. 'He was found by the morning clerk, Veronica Keith, when she unlocked the store and decoded the night security system. She stepped in something slippery, thought it was the night-closer's leftover mop-water then she saw Mister Nichols lying there, so she called nine-one-one, relocked the door and waited for us out front.'
'You're getting more comfortable with your notes,' Beckett commented, rubbing her belly as the baby did loop-de-loops inside. 'Has OCME reported?'
'Yeah, it's Pearlmutter himself this morning.'
At least they had that, Beckett thought as her radar blip-blipped a little bit. 'Is your pal Brennan around?'
'Yeah, he has the clerk Veronica under wraps on the side patio. Why?'
'Because he is going to earn himself some brownie-points, that's why. Can you have him report to me?'
'Of course.'
Cruz scuttled off, which had Esposito looking at Ryan and Beckett with confusion. 'Something I missed?'
'Sort of. Ryan, can you head inside to Pearlmutter while I catch Espo up?'
Ryan nodded, sprinted inside, while Beckett stayed with his other half on the sidewalk. 'Javier,' she said in a soft voice, 'I think we need to keep an eye on Cruz.'
'On Cruz?'
'Uh-huh. This is the second home invasion where Cruz and Brennan have been first on scene. That smacks of something to me, but I just don't know yet.'
Esposito sucked in air through his nose deeply, nodded subtly. 'How do we play it?'
'We keep it to ourselves for now and do our jobs. I want you to get whatever you can from Cruz, and she's pretty shiny-eyed. She gets hero-complex crushes easily from what I saw the last crime scene.'
'Really?'
'Well, she was getting all starry-eyed when she said Shane Weaver was the last ME on-scene.' Beckett rubbed her belly protectively. 'I informed her he was not up for grabs.'
'As a detective or a mommy?'
'Zip it, Espo, and take care of it.'
'Yes ma'am,' Esposito chuckled, wondering if Beckett was aware of just how coated in mommy she was this morning.
