AN: Inspiration finally struck, so I wrote 2 chapters for this story :) The next one should be out on Halloween. Thank you to everyone who followed, favorited, and reviewed this story. Here's the next chapter everybody, enjoy.

Icing on the Cake

Lacie pulled up to the small bakery that currently housed their new crime scene. It was early morning, and she was feeling tired after only getting a handful of sleep, but she was excited to have a new case. She walked into the building, and found Beckett, along with Castle, talking to a uniformed officer. By the time she made her way over to them, the uniformed officer was walking away.

"Lacie, you're here. I got you your favorite," Castle said as he handed her a cup of coffee.

She was grateful that he always brought coffee for the three of them. She rarely found enough time to get her own unless she had some downtime at the precinct to make a cup in the break room. She thanked him and asked Beckett, "So, what do we got?"

"A 55-year-old man, named Kirby Winter, was murdered. Apparently, he's owned this shop for 25 years and was well known around this part of town," Beckett said.

"Was anyone else here?"

"Not sure… A call came in around 7 from a neighbor that heard some yelling, the police came to check it out, and found Mr. Winter dead in the kitchen."

"If it was closed, then it had to be someone he knew."

"My thoughts exactly," Castle chimed in.

"I guess we should check the kitchen and see what we can find," Beckett mentioned.

The three of them walked into the back, where the murder took place, and Mr. Winter was slouched over one of the metal tables they had. His face was nestled in the cake that he was making prior to his death, and he had a large chef knife jutting out from his back. Castle looked over the man's body and said, "I'm guessing that's not red icing on that cake."

"I believe it's not," Lacie said.

"It looks like he was only stabbed once," Beckett said.

"So, maybe it wasn't a crime of passion or heated rage."

"I believe whoever may have done this wasn't planning on killing Mr. Winter. They had a small lapse in judgment after their argument and stabbed him in the back," Castle said.

"Interesting theory, Castle… I think you may be right on this one. This doesn't look premeditated and seems too simple to be one of rage," Beckett mentioned.

"DAD!" a female's voice rang out.

A woman, around Lacie's age, ran into the room, with two uniformed officers jogging behind her as they tried to stop her from entering the scene. The woman looked at her dad's lifeless body with horror on her face as she placed a hand over her mouth to stop her sobs. Beckett helped lead the woman back into the main part of the shop, while Carver and Castle followed. The girl ran a hand through her dirty blonde hair as she sat down at one of the small tables the bakery had for dine-in customers.

"We're sorry about your father," Beckett said.

She looked up at the three people in front of her with tears still streaming down her face, and said, "Thanks… This is all my fault though."

"How is this your fault?"

"I was supposed to help open up today. I should have been here with him to start baking our pastries and cakes, but I wasn't… and now… now he's gone."

"Do you know anyone who may have wanted to hurt your dad?"

"No, he was friendly to everyone. Many of our customers were always delighted when they talk to my father, and he loved mingling with them. He even takes leftover pastries to local homeless people and volunteers at the shelter every weekend. He loved the community and they loved him."

"Are there other employees who work here?" Carver asked.

"Yes, three others. Julio, our other baker. Rosaline, our cashier. And occasionally, my fiancé Daniel when he's not working at his main job."

"Would any of them want to hurt your father?" Castle asked.

"No… They loved him just as much as the customers did."

"When do they usually start work?"

"8:30… They'll probably be here soon."

"May I ask why you weren't in this morning?" Beckett asked.

The girl sighed and said, "I was out pretty late last night. I had some old friends from college swing by and we went to this club near my place. Passed out as soon as I got home and didn't have my alarm set."

"Your fiancé?"

"He works the night shift at a local packing plant. He was asleep when I left this morning."

"We'll keep in touch, Ms. Winter. An officer will take you home."

"Thanks…"

The girl left with an officer and Castle said, "Poor girl, she's probably going to be blaming herself for a while."

"That's if she didn't do it," Beckett said.

"That's true… She seemed genuine though."

"Eh, somewhat. We'll look into their alibies more thoroughly and see if they're legit."

Two people stood at the entranceway which was blocked off by crime scene tape and started asking one of the officers' questions. Beckett, Carver, and Castle walked up to them, and Carver asked, "Are you, Julio and Rosaline?"

"Yes, what happened? Is everyone all right?" Rosaline asked.

"Your boss was murdered this morning."

"My god… This is terrible."

"Do you know who did it?" Julio asked.

"This is still an open investigation, and we're currently gathering more information," Beckett said.

"Damn… This is a shame."

"Can we talk to you individually? We want to ask you some questions about what transpired here."

"Sure, we have nothing to hide."

"Okay, I'll question you over here Julio, while my partner, Detective Carver will speak to you over there, Rosaline."

They went to their respective spots, and Castle decided to tag along with Carver as she interrogated Rosaline. Lacie was surprised to have Castle tag along with her instead of Beckett, but she was happy none the less.

"Rosaline, when was the last time you saw Mr. Winter?" Carver asked.

"Last night. We all help clean up the shop at closing which is at six. Julio, Mr. Winter, and I were the last to leave, because his daughter, Amelia, left early to hang out with her friends," the woman answered.

"The three of you left together after you finished cleaning up?"

"No, Julio and I left while Mr. Winter stayed behind."

"Is it unusual for him to stay behind?" Castle asked.

"No, he's usually the last one out on most days."

"Did Mr. Winter seem different to you in the last few days?" Carver asked.

"Not really. He seemed like his normal self. Always wearing a bright smile and cracking jokes."

"So, nothing seemed out of the ordinary?"

"Nope, not at all."

"Any odd customers?"

"Most of our customers are regulars, so no. Those who are new didn't seem suspicious to me."

"If you think of anything else, don't hesitate to contact us."

"I will. So, I'm free to go?"

"Yes, you may go."

She nodded to the two before exiting the bakery. Julio left soon after and the two detectives, along with Castle, stood in the middle of the room.

"It doesn't seem like any of his employees did it," Carver mentioned.

"Agreed. Did Rosaline provide you with any helpful info?" Beckett asked.

"Nope, she pretty much reiterated what his daughter said. Julio?"

"Same."

"I guess we're going to need to dig deeper into Mr. Winter's life," Castle said.

"Yep."

The three of them went to the precinct to look further into the case they had. Beckett and Carver fixed up the investigation board, before looking into Mr. Winter's past. Nothing suspicious was popping up on Kirby Winter, so the case was currently at a standstill. The next best thing to do was to search his home for any clues that may help.

As Carver, Beckett, and Castle browsed Mr. Winter's home for anything that could point them in the right direction for why he was murdered, Carver stumbled upon some unpaid bills, including the lease to his bakery. She picked the letters up in her hand and said, "Looks like Mr. Winter fell on some hard times."

Castle looked over her shoulder as she shuffled through the letters in hand, and said, "Yeah, he's at least two months behind in all of these."

"Hmm… His daughter didn't mention that her dad was having money troubles," Beckett said.

"He probably didn't tell her. A father doesn't want to tell his child that he's having financial problems and can't pay his bills."

"That's true, but where is the money going?"

"I'm not too sure about that. Maybe we should talk to his daughter again and see if she knows anything," Carver said.

"That seems like our only bet," Beckett agreed.

They went back to the precinct and asked Amelia to meet them there, so they could ask her a few more questions. Amelia brought her fiancé, Daniel, with her as well, so they were both in the interrogation room with Beckett, Carver, and Castle.

"We found some bills in your dad's apartment, including the lease to the bakery, and they all seemed to be two months behind. Were you aware that your dad was having financial issues?" Beckett asked the woman.

"No, I had no idea. I usually manage the money, and we were profiting as far as I could tell. We were even thinking of opening another shop," Amelia said.

"Do you know where he may have put that money?"

"Not a clue. I honestly thought it was going towards the bakery and other expenses. I didn't know he was doing other things with it."

"How about you Mr. Urbing, did her father mention anything to you?"

"No, he didn't. He mostly kept to himself," Daniel said.

"When's the last time you saw Mr. Winter?" Carver asked.

"Last weekend. I had off, so I helped out at the bakery."

"And you haven't seen him since then?"

"Nope, I've been working back to back ten-hour shifts at the warehouse I work at. As soon as I'm done with my night shift I'm sleeping until 2 in the afternoon, waiting until my next shift starts."

"Amelia, was your father ever behind on rent before?" Beckett asked.

"Not that I'm aware of. He always paid it on time. Even when the landlord wanted to get us out, we were always on time."

"Your landlord wanted to get rid of you?" Castle questioned her.

"Yes… If there is one person to point a finger at, it's our landlord, Marvin Swartz. He's been wanting to turn our bakery into a pub for years, but we wouldn't budge."

"When's the last you've seen Mr. Swartz?" Beckett asked.

"A few days ago. He and my dad were talking about the other buyer again. He wanted to give part of the money from the sale to my dad, so he'd leave and find another spot, but my dad loved the corner store. He's had it for 25 years; he wouldn't get rid of it now."

"Did their conversation become heated in any way?"

"It was civil, like usual, but Mr. Swartz did seem kind of frustrated after it ended."

"Thank you both for your time."

"It's not a problem. I hope you get to the bottom of this and find who killed my dad."

"We'll do our best."

Beckett and Carver found the address of the landlord that rented out the bakery's space and headed over to his home. They knocked on his door, and his wife was the one to answer it.

"May I help you?" the woman asked.

Beckett showed the woman her badge and said, "I'm Detective Beckett, while this is my partner Detective Carver, and our shadow, Richard Castle. We're looking for Mr. Swartz to ask him some questions."

"Oh, I'm his wife, Donna. He's sleeping right now, but I guess I can wake him."

"Please, do. We really need to talk to him."

"Okay, wait here."

The woman left, and the three waited at the door for a few minutes, before a tall, burly man, was standing in front of them. He seemed to be in his late fifty's and had short thinning hair and goatee. He looked the three over questioningly and said, "What do you want? I was busy."

"We're sorry to disturb your slumber, Mr. Swartz, but we need to ask you a few questions," Carver said.

"About what? I didn't do anything."

"It's about one of your renters, Mr. Winter," Beckett explained.

"What about him?"

"He was murdered this morning."

"Oh… I wasn't aware. A shame really… He was a nice man."

"Was it true he was two months behind on rent?"

"Yes, which is unusual for him. That's why I tried to offer him a deal a few days ago."

"You want to sell the property to another owner, right?" Carver asked.

"Yeah, he wants to make it a pub. A good chunk of money too."

"He refused the deal, so you went in today to kill him?" Castle asked.

"No! I'd never kill a man to get what I want. I was frustrated with him, and I even offered him another property of mine a few blocks away, but he wouldn't budge. So, I was going to start the eviction process if his rent wasn't paid up by next month."

"Do you know where the money may have gone?" Beckett asked.

"Of course not. All I know is that it wasn't going into my pocket. It's terrible that he's dead, but now I can rent it out to my other buyer."

"A place someone has died?" Carver questioned him.

The man shrugged and said, "Well, it may be a harder sell, but people are into that kind of stuff. I'm sure if I drop it down a few grand, someone will bite."

"A couple more questions, Mr. Swartz. Where were you this morning?"

"I had an early day at one of my other properties. So, I spent most of my day showcasing the lot to four potential buyers. Then I came home to get some sleep."

"May I ask who your other buyer is? The one who wants to create the pub."

"That'd be Liam O'Rourke. Do you think he has something to do with it?"

"We're just checking all of our leads."

"Got it. Good luck to you."

The trio went back to the precinct and started learning more about Liam O'Rourke. He had a clean record, and he also had a solid alibi. Liam was currently in Tokyo on a business trip and hasn't been in the States for at least two weeks. Mr. Swartz alibi seemed to check out too, so they were back to square one with this case.

Carver let out a sigh as she looked through the information they had so far, and said, "I'm at a loss… Everyone has a solid alibi so far."

"Even I'm stumped on this," Castle said.

"We have to be missing something. He may have been loved by many, but maybe there's a disgruntled ex-employee, or customer out there who slipped by," Beckett said.

"Yo, we dug into his bank statements to see where his money was going to besides his bills, and check this out," Esposito said as he handed Beckett Mr. Winter's statements.

She scanned through them quickly and said, "Hospital bills…"

"Yeah, apparently he's been paying around 2,000 to 5,000 dollars a month to Stillwater General Hospital for several months," Ryan said.

"I guess his expenses caught up with him," Castle said.

"Think he was sick?" Carver suggested.

"Wouldn't his daughter have known if he was sick?" Beckett questioned.

"Not necessarily. He seemed like a guy who wouldn't want to worry his daughter unless it was absolutely necessary," Castle said.

"You have a point. Maybe we should go check it out and see if the hospital knows anything."

They went to Stillwater General Hospital, asking the receptionist if they had any records on Kirby Winter. The female receptionist looked through the database on her computer, and said, "Sorry, I don't see any patients going by that name."

Beckett showed her a picture of the man, and asked, "Do you recognize him at all?"

"Oh, I never knew his name, but yes, he came in here from time to time. He wasn't a patient though."

"He wasn't? Then why was he coming here and paying medical expenses?"

"It's for his wife."

"His wife's been dead for ten years…" Castle said.

The girl shrugged and said, "Well, whoever she is, he cared for her a lot. She's in room 302 if you'd like to take a look. Her son, Nathan, should be in there with her."

"Thank you," Beckett said before they headed to the room she gave.

When they got there, a woman around Mr. Winter's age was lying unconsciously in a hospital bed, hooked up to several different machines. A man in his late thirties was holding the woman's hand and whispering words that they couldn't hear from their place in the room.

"Excuse me, Nathan. We don't mean to bother you, but we have some questions to ask," Beckett said.

The man looked up at them with confusion on his face and asked, "Who're you?"

"I'm Detective Beckett, this is my partner Detective Carver, and our shadow, Mr. Castle."

Nathan stood from his seat, walking over to the three guests, and said, "What's this about?"

Beckett showed him the picture of Mr. Winter and asked, "Do you know this man?"

He looked between the three of them and said, "Yeah, why?"

"He's dead."

The look of shock crossed his face and he said, "Wow… I'm sorry to hear that."

"How well did you know him?" Castle asked.

"Not as well as I should."

"What's that mean?" Carver questioned him.

"He was my father."

"Your sister never mentioned you."

"That's because she doesn't know. Kirby and my mother had me in high school. He was adamant on giving me up for adoption, but my mom wanted to keep me. He decided to stick around for a couple of years, but then he bailed."

"When did he come back into your life?" Beckett asked.

"A couple of years ago. He said his wife died a while back and has been thinking of my mom ever since."

"Then what happened?"

Nathan shrugged and said, "She took him back after months of begging. I didn't want him back in our lives, but I didn't have a say in the matter. My mother seemed happy though."

"What happened to your mom?" Carver asked.

"A seizure. They thought she may pull through, but every day it seems less certain."

"So, your dad's been paying her bills?"

"He's not my dad, but yes… As much as I refused his help in the matter, he kept paying."

"I'm assuming you weren't close," Castle stated.

"Nope… He left us. Got a better family, and a nice little bakery, making a good chunk of money. While we were left scraping by. Living paycheck to paycheck just to make ends meet. Do you know how many times we had to sacrifice certain things, including food, while he's living a life of comfort?"

"That must have been hard, especially when he came back," Carver said.

"It was. My mom forgave him so easily, but I couldn't do it. He wouldn't even introduce me to my own sister, like he was ashamed of me or something. He'd always go on and on about her though. How proud of her he was, and her upcoming wedding. He barely asked how I was doing, or my past, growing up without him."

"Is that why you killed him?" Beckett asked.

The man scoffed and said, "I hated him, but I didn't kill him."

"Can I ask where you were this morning?"

"I was here all morning, like I always am. You can check the cameras if you want."

"We will. Thanks for your time."

He nodded before occupying the seat he was in earlier, watching over his mother's comatose body.

They retrieved the footage from the hospital and took it back to the precinct. They were watching through it and saw Nathan enter his mother's room around 8 PM the night before. As the video progressed there was no movement to be seen until 5:30 AM. Nathan entered the hall and looked to be on his phone.

"I wonder who he's on the phone with?" Castle questioned.

"I'm not sure, but whoever it is seems to be pissing him off," Beckett said.

Nathan seemed to be getting angrier as the video continued before he hung up and slid down one of the hallway's walls. He placed his hands on his faced and seemed to be crying. After a few minutes he stood, walking back into his mothers' room for only a couple of seconds before exiting again. The time stamp on the video stated that it was just after 6 when he left the hospital and Carver said, "He said he was there all morning."

"Apparently, he wasn't," Beckett said.

They fast-forwarded the video some more and Nathan didn't return until 8 AM.

"He must have gone to visit his father," Castle said.

"I wouldn't doubt that the person on the phone was him as well," Carver said.

"I agree. Why don't we go pay Nathan another visit?" Beckett said.

When they got to the hospital with a few uniformed officers, several nurses and doctors were surrounding Nathan's mothers' room. As they entered, they saw Nathan holding his mother's hand like he was doing earlier, but he was crying heavily. One of the doctors was waiting to pull the plug to end his mother's suffering and he said softly to his mom, "I'm so sorry it has to end like this. I'm sorry I disappointed you in anyway. I hope you'll be at peace now…"

He nodded his head solemnly at the doctor, and she pulled the plug on his silent demand. His mother's monitor beeped steadily for a couple of seconds before it flatlined, signifying that she was truly gone. They turned off the machine before pulling her sheet up to cover her lifeless body and started to work on wheeling her out. Once the majority of the nurses and doctors were gone, the two detectives along with the uniformed officers walked over to Nathan. He sat numbly on his chair as he stared straight ahead with tears rolling down his face.

"Nathan, I'm sorry for your loss, but we need to take you downtown," Beckett said.

All he did was nod as he stood from the chair, letting the officers escort him out of the room. The three felt bad for him, but they knew that it had to be done, and that was the job they signed up for.

They were in the interrogation room, and once Nathan calmed down enough, they started to question him once more.

"You said you didn't leave the hospital, Nathan," Beckett said.

"I may have left for a bit."

"Who were you on the phone with at 5 AM? Was it, Mr. Winter?" Carver asked him.

"Yes… He told me that he could no longer pay for my mother's expenses."

"And that made you angry."

"Of course it did. He gave me false hope for months. I was all set to say goodbye to her after her seizure, but he wanted to keep her hooked up in case of some sort of miracle. I started to believe it too."

"So, you went to confront him at his bakery?" Castle asked.

"Yeah, I did. I wasn't going to let him skip out on us again. He knew I didn't have the money to keep her on those machines. So, I went to talk to him in person."

"He told you that he couldn't afford it anymore?"

"He did. He said he was behind on some bills and whatever, and that he wouldn't be able to support her anymore. I knew he was lying though. He just wanted to get rid of us again, like we were some kind of burden."

"He wasn't lying, Nathan. He was two months behind on his lease, and some other bills. He was using all his money to keep your mother alive," Beckett explained.

"Wait, What? It was true."

"Yes, we saw the bills in his apartment. He was about to be evicted by his landlord, losing his bakery for good."

"I didn't know…" He sighed out sadly.

"So, what happened?"

"We argued for a bit. He said that we should let her go, but I couldn't except that after seven months of being strung along. He said his peace, then dismissed me, before going back to his cake. I… I noticed a knife on one of the tables I was by and stabbed him in the back. I didn't want to kill him… It just happened so fast."

"You knew you were going to get caught. That's why you had your mothers plug pulled," Castle said.

Nathan nodded and said, "I wanted to say goodbye. When the three of you showed up earlier, I knew my time was limited. I didn't want her to be alone while I was in jail, so I thought I'd get it over with. It wasn't how I planned it, but she's not suffering anymore."

"I'm sorry, Nathan."

The case was officially over, and they packed up the investigation board, so they could get it ready for whatever the next case may be.

"Poor, Nathan. It must have been rough for him to go through that," Carver said.

"I agree, losing your mother and having a rocky relationship with your dad who wasn't there for most of your life, must have been hard," Castle said.

"At least it was nothing more than that. He seems genuinely remorseful, but the whole thing could have been handled better. Now he has 15 years to life to reflect on it," Beckett said.

"I guess you're right," Carver said.

"Do you guys have any plans?"

"I think I'm going home to call my mom… After this case today, I think it'd be nice to chat for a bit."

"How's she doing after the whole Gabriel fiasco?"

"Fine, actually. She keeps asking about news on Nikki Heat… I keep telling her that I have no inside information and that she can wait until it releases next month, just like everybody else."

Castle chuckled and said, "Maybe I'll send her a signed copy."

"She'd love that."

"Beckett, have any plans?"

She looked at the two people in front of her and said, "Nope. I'm going home and resting before our next case."

"That's it?"

"Yep… Based on our last few cases, I'm going to need it."

"Fair point. I think I'll do the same and spend some time with Alexis and Mother."

They said their goodbyes before they each left individually for the night, awaiting their next case to solve.