AN: You guys will have to tell me how this chapter turned out because I'm not sure how I feel about it. Other than that, I don't really have anything important to say so I'll just let you read and tell me what you think.

Disclaimer: Guess what? Castle still isn't mine.

Beckett entered the interrogation room, folder in hand, ready to wrap up her case. They had enough evidence to convict Rebecca Brynn, but in order to wipe out any reasonable doubt, they needed to find what motivated her to murder Amy Dehner, and they had to make sure that Brynn didn't have an alibi. If Beckett could get her to confess, they could all go home early. Sitting down across from the woman, Beckett studied Rebecca Brynn. She seemed calm, but she gave herself away with the quiet tap of her fingers on the table. Her long, light brown hair cascaded over her shoulders, and her clothing was made to look high quality but was most likely a cheap knock-off of a more expensive brand.

"You people better be paying for my flight," Brynn said bitterly. "My boss is not going to be happy when he finds out why I'm not at that conference."

"That's interesting," Beckett commented, "because we called your boss. He said he's never heard of any conference going on in California, and even if there was you wouldn't be the one going."

Rebecca's jaw worked, and something flashed in her eyes as she realized her cover had been broken. She didn't say anything more and seemed to accept that she's been caught in a lie.

"Do you know who Amy Dehner is?" Beckett questioned, wondering just how much of a fight she would put up.

"The name sounds familiar," Brynn said carefully.

"I think it's more than just the name that's familiar," the detective challenged.

"My daughter told me about her. She said that Amy was the girl who stole Troy from her." The resentment in her voice gave away her true feelings about Dehner.

"How did your daughter take the breakup?"

"She was heartbroken, and it was all because of that brat Amy." Beckett could see the woman's calm shell breaking, and knew that it wouldn't be much longer before she broke completely.

"Are you aware that Miss Dehner was murdered early Monday morning?"

"She deserved what she got for flaunting that boy around on her arm when he should have been with my daughter!" A vein in the woman's neck started to bulge, and Beckett knew that she had finally cracked. "For weeks Hayleigh hardly spoke! All she did was go to class and come back home just as silently as she left! I did what I had to to make my little girl happy!"

"Where were you between three and five a.m. Monday morning?" Beckett half expected to hear a lie in response but was surprised by the answer she received.

"I was... taking care of her."

"What did you do?" Beckett asked forcefully. When the woman didn't answer, she asked again. "Rebecca, what did you do to Amy Dehner?"

"I went to her hotel room and tried to reason with her. When she told me she wouldn't break up with Troy, I found the cloth in my bag, but she was already running past me when I got it ready." She paused a moment, but Beckett didn't try to push her, already sure that she would admit to the crime without any more prompting. "I chased her down the hallway, got in front of her so I could block the doors, but she went towards the pool instead. I grabbed her before she could go out the emergency doors, put the cloth over her mouth, then let the pool do the rest."

Beckett took a moment process all the information that had been handed to her. Amy had been killed because Rebecca Brynn believed that she had been standing in the way of her daughter's happiness and had decided that the best way to fix the issue was to take Amy out of the picture completely. Beckett had never expected to get a confession so easily, but the guilt that was starting to surface on Brynn's face told her that the woman's conscience had finally caught up with her.

Standing from her chair, Beckett nodded to the glass behind her. A few moments later, Ryan came in through the door and asked Brynn to stand, reading her rights as tears began to stream down her face.

"I just wanted her to be happy," she breathed almost inaudibly.

As Ryan walked her out of the room, Beckett took a moment to just breathe, then exited the room and headed towards her desk. Esposito had already returned to his desk, and she stopped to briefly reflect on the case with him.

"You know it's one thing to kill for money, politics, or even because you were cheated on, but because your daughter was unhappy? I'm not sure if that's love or insanity," Beckett told him.

"If I've learned anything from cases like these, it's that people will kill for just about any reason," he offered as a means of explanation.

"I guess you're right." She sighed. "I suppose we should get a head start on paperwork before someone else drops dead."

Esposito nodded in agreement and turned in his chair, grabbing a pen and opening his desk to find the forms he needed to fill out. Beckett did the same, and it wasn't long before Ryan joined them. For an hour, they didn't speak; the only sounds coming from their pens scribbling on their forms. Their silence was briefly interrupted when Beckett got up and asked if anyone wanted coffee, returning a few minutes later juggling three mugs that were saved from being spilled when Ryan stood to take one out of her hands. She nodded her thanks, then set a mug on Espo's desk and sat back down at her own. Five o'clock rolled around and the three detectives all stood at the same time, each eager to go home. They rode the elevator down together, exchanging farewells before they headed to their respective cars.

Beckett tossed her keys onto her counter the moment she walked into her apartment, then closed and locked the door behind her. Not wanting to cook, she ordered a pizza for dinner and grabbed a book to read while she waited. When she finished eating, she started her bath and used the time she had while she waited for the tub to fill to call Castle. Their conversation was brief, only long enough for her to tell him about the case, his exhaustion all too obvious in his tone. She told him to eat and go to bed, and he was too tired to fight her, saying goodbye with his usual "until tomorrow."

She soaked in her bath until the water was lukewarm, then sat in the living only dressed in her robe and watched TV before going to bed shortly after ten. She had just barely started to doze off when her phone rang, and she groaned at the idea of going to a new crime scene this soon after finishing a case.

"Beckett," she answered drowsily.

Her heart nearly stopped when she heard the panicked voice on the other end of the line.