Evening Blues Chapter Fifty Three

Castle slowly stirred awake. His curtains were pulled over the windows, so even though it may have been light out, from the inside you couldn't tell it. He sighed as he crawled out of bed, over the course of the weekend he had gotten used to having Kate beside him, and he didn't get much sleep. He looked at his alarm clock 8:15. Kate would have been at work a few minutes now doing that God awful paperwork before Montgomery closed the case. He strolled to his bathroom to freshen up a bit before heading out. He turned on the shower, and let the water run for a bit before he stepped inside. After a few minutes had passed he turned off the water, wrapped a towel around his waist and stepped out.

When he came out of his bathroom he searched for a pair of boxers in the top drawer before the blue box containing the ring caught his eye. He slipped on his boxers, followed by a pair of jeans, and carefully opened the lid. He stood there for a few minutes picturing this gorgeous ring on Kate's slender finger. He smiled as he placed the box back into its hiding spot before slipping on a shirt. After he finished tucking his shirt in and rolling up the sleeves, he grabbed a pair of loafers and his belt and quickly put them on.

He made his way into the kitchen and saw Martha sipping a glass of orange juice and eating a bagel.

"Good morning mother"

"Good morning dear, so have you thought about it?"

He grabbed a glass and poured himself some orange juice. "Thought about what?"

Martha rolled her eyes and she sat down her bagel. "How you're going to pop the question of course!"

"Oh, that, yes I have"

"Well?"

"I thought about taking her to dinner at a nice restaurant, you know suit and tie type"

"Uh huh, and what about the next idea?"

"What, come on you don't think that is good?"

"Richard, Kate is already going to faint at the size of that rock you're going to give her"

"I just want this to be extra special; I want her to be able to remember it forever"

"I'm sure she will darling" Martha patted her son on the arm and headed up the stairs. Castle finished off his orange juice, grabbed his coat and walked out the door.

Beckett was sitting at her desk, working on the paperwork when she heard the elevator chime and the doors slide open. She smiled to herself when she heard Castle exchanging 'good mornings' with the few officers and detectives that were making their rounds through the precinct. She leaned back in her chair as he approached from the back. He kissed her cheek as he sat her coffee on her desk.

"Good morning Detective" he said in a very cherry voice.

"Mornin' Castle, someone is happy today" She said as she took a sip of coffee.

He shrugged. "Oh you know, nice morning, good coffee, beautiful girlfriend."

Kate saw his smug smirk as finished the last of his sentence. She shook her head as he got back to her paperwork. He always found a way to charm her, even it was corny.

"So where are the guys?" he asked as he looked around the bullpen in search of Esposito and Ryan.

"Uh, I let them go train since we don't have anything"

"How nice"

Time passed and Beckett finally finished the last of the paperwork for the case. She rolled away from her desk, and made her way into the storage room for the banker's box. She placed the last of her notes inside and placed the box back onto the shelf. As she was walking back to her desk her phone began to buzz. She slid it open and answered.

"Beckett" there was a pause as she wrote down an address. "Alright, I'll be right there"

Beckett grabbed her leather jacket and her keys. "Come on, a body dropped"

"But what about the guys"

"Right, come on" Beckett made her way up the stairs and into the gym. When she and Castle opened the door the smell of sweat, rubber mats and metal lockers filled their noise. There were two officers sparring on the mats, a few officers were bench pressing and on tread mills. Esposito was at the punching bag and Ryan was doing pull ups.

"Hey guys, we got a body"

Esposito whirled around when he heard his boss's voice over the punches he was throwing. "You got the address?"

"I sent it to you in a text, get cleaned up and we'll meet you guys there"

Castle was taking in the gym's equipment as Beckett turned on her heels towards the door.

"Castle!"

"Coming!" he said as he jogged to catch up with her before she started down the stairs.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well you seemed pretty enthralled with the equipment in there"

Castle smiled as he flexed his arm muscles. "You don't think I got the awesome guns by just typing do you?"

Beckett smacked his arm as they stepped onto the elevator. Once the two climbed inside her car, they buckled up and Beckett quickly pulled away from the curb. Castle was pretty quiet the ride over to the crime scene, which of course was very unusual for him and this didn't go unnoticed by Beckett.

The dup stepped out of the car, and made their way up to the crime scene. The officer quickly lifted the tape and they both ducked under. One of the officers greeted them as they debriefed her on the murder.

"We have an African American male, wallet and ID was found in his back pocket. His name is Terrance Watkins. He is thirty seven, found in the home owner's pool."

The last part of the information caught Castle's ears. "Wait, he was found in some random guys pool?"

The officer nodded and continued. "Home owners say they have never seen him before, neighbors have no idea who he is, Owner is a doctor, and the wife is part of his nursing staff"

"Classic" said Castle as they finally reached the back yard.

Beckett found Lanie kneeling beside the body, examining his face. "Hey Lanie"

"Hey girl, so your boy was drowned, obviously from the state we found him in, he has a gash on the back of his head from blunt force trauma, and looks like defensive wounds on his knuckles and forearms."

"So he put up a fight, do u have a T.O.D?"

"I'd probably put it around between one and three am"

"When did the home owners find the body?"

"The wife went to let the dog out this morning around 6:00 before she got ready for work, when the dog started barking and she found him occupying her pool"

Castle scoffed. "What a wonderful think to wake up to in the morning, who needs coffee!"

Beckett rolled her eyes and Lanie continued to examine the victim. As Castle and Beckett were walking out, Ryan and Esposito were walking up.

"Glad you two decided to join us" Beckett said as she ducked under the tape.

Esposito shrugged. "So what do we have?"

"A dude drowned in a stranger's pool" Castle said as he followed Beckett to her car.

"Do we need to talk to the neighbors or anything?" Ryan asked

"Officers already did that, try the home owners" Beckett said as she climbed into her car once more.

Castle watched as Ryan and Esposito disappeared into the home as Beckett pulled out of the driveway and back towards the station. Beckett was replaying the victim's information over and over in her mind as she continued to drive, when Castle chimed in.

"I wonder what the wife did"

"Huh?"

"You know when she saw the body"

"Rick, I'm sure she freaked out"

"Yeah I'm just saying."

"When have you ever wondered that?"

"Just keeping you on your toes detective"

"Uh huh"

Beckett pulled into an empty parking spot and quickly turned off the car. The couple stepped out as walked into the precinct. They climbed into the elevator and waited for the doors to close. Castle laced his fingers through Beckett's to her surprise.

"You wanna have dinner together tomorrow night?"

Beckett gave him a confused look. "What's wrong with tonight?"

"I uh, I have to make sure they have a spot open"

"Uh huh, yeah sure"

"It's not exactly black tie, but the restaurant requires a suit jacket and tie so..."

"So where something nicer that a pair of jeans?"

Castle chuckled as they stepped off the elevator. "Yes"

Beckett smiled as she started to set up the murder board with pictures and timelines. Tomorrow night already seemed so far away.