Thanks for your reviews. Very varied and interesting as usual. Writing this story is simply fun for me and an opportunity to practice writing what I would like to read. The only rule I applied to it was outlined in the beginning. Length, time, whatever, doesn't apply. I don't really care how much it grows, because while I'm having fun doing it, I know there are people out there enjoying it too. It's read one chapter at a time and its free for you to choose whether you wish to take the time to read the work. It's my escape, my place to be creative. The chapters don't go through the stringent checks of pre-publishing. It's just me, reviewing and redrafting and line editing until the moment I decide its time I post it so readers can escape for 5 minutes into another world and I can move on to the next chapters.

I have written heaps more of this story in my spare time. If you're reading this, then I guess you're also enjoying the story enough to keep coming back. Thank you for that. So, the next chapters battle through the dilemma as life progresses. It explores how people can be in disagreement, do continue on with life although they have unresolved issues, but still can appreciate aspects each other. It also shows deliberate flaws and inconsistencies because humans do alter their thinking, their mood and their decision.

Chapter 102

The interview with Mr Te was to take place in the interrogation room. Te had been brought into the Precinct first thing by Esposito and Ryan. Beckett had him wait while she updated her paperwork and produced a list of what she wanted to ask Te. There had been a minor development overnight she needed to review, and she also held off starting before Castle arrived. He had said in a phone call earlier that he wanted in on the conversation with Te.

She received a text on the work phone from Castle that advised he was coming out of the subway. He'd be about five minutes. She continued to finalise her questions, assuming he wouldn't be carrying two cups of take-away coffee if he was going to be that quick.

When Castle arrived, he sat on his chair but didn't say anything.

Beckett finished up what she was doing but gestured to him she was aware of his presence. Her writing done, she looked at him, noted he was absent of coffee and bear claws. She chose not verbally note her findings because he carried with him a heaviness she didn't often see in him. "So?"

"Yeah." He grimaced. "No."

"No, it didn't happen? Or unsuccessful no?" She put down the pen and sat up to look at his sullen expression.

He shrugged then spoke quietly so surrounding staff didn't overhear him. "A bit of both. She wasn't interested in talking. Didn't like being pulled up for what she said to you. Overall, a big flop. She stormed out the house with some excuse she had to get to school early and that I'm biased because I'm sleeping with you. She also knows I'm not done. I'm not."

"Okay." Kate processed then said, "Just drop it, Rick. She's intelligent. I can see it from her point of view."

"You're too easy on her," he stated. "And we'll discuss that at another time."

"Maybe."

"She will change her attitude." He raised hand and rubbed his thumb and fingers together indicating money.

Kate inhaled, wondering whether restricting the teenager's pocket money would do the trick. It hadn't really worked for her parents.

He sat up, ready to move on. "You ready to chat with Cacaw Te, however the fuck we pronounce it?"

"Yes. He's waiting in interrogation." Kate smiled, gathered her file together and closed it. "I'll ask him to state his name for the record just so you can hear how it's said, how's that?"

"Perfect." He stood as she got out of her chair. "I'm so looking forward to this." He muttered, tidied his shirt and jacket and followed Beckett to interrogation one.

Once they settled at the desk for the interview, Castle toyed with how to pronounce Cacaw Te's name mainly to antagonise the Mayan man when he introduced himself to the man. He corrected himself, raised his eyes to Mr Te, to confirm he'd got it right. However, Mr Te remained silent and seemingly calm about it and kept his attention on the brunette who took a notebook from her file.

"I will commence. This conversation is being recorded. Present is Detective Kate Beckett, Mr Richard Castle and Mr Cacaw Te." She glanced to the clock, announced the date and time then looked over the table to the man before her. "Mr Te, would you please state your name and current address for the record?"

Mr Te responded, with articulated pronunciation. He stared at Castle as he spoke.

Beckett the commenced the interview with reading through the historical list of Mr Te's interactions with the law, mainly to gain a little leverage, make him feel uneasy in a building full of police. He had been arrested in 2007 for assaulting a group of tourists, that he claimed were trespassing on sacred Mayan soil. Whether, or not they were trespassers, he had landed two of them in hospital.

Beckett said, "Sending death threats through the US mail is a felony."

Castle quickly added, "Oh, and so is murder, or as your ancestors like to call it, human sacrifice."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Cacaw Te responded his eyes going between the two people opposite him. He was extremely calm, and there was nothing to show he might be guilty of murder.

This was Beckett's opinion, but she needed to make sure he wasn't bluffing them. This wasn't her first rodeo, nor was it Castle's. She could tell by Castle's posture that he wasn't sold Te was as innocent as he claimed. The written death threats were inside the file she opened. She located them amongst the paperwork, took off the paper clip and presented one of them to Cacaw who wasn't overly reactive to the sight of the two pages stapled together. In fact, she thought he was mostly nonchalant about it all. Te said he remembered, and he offered up to Beckett, that after Medina refused to talk with him on the day he had gone to the museum to raise his concerns, he regretfully sent the threats. Te also said that his actions were because Medina left him no other choice. Cacaw believed the museum staff needed to accept that the artefacts had been stolen from his people.

"But those items weren't stolen," Beckett replied. "Your government made a deal with the museum."

Cacaw finally appeared pissed off.

"But not with us," he replied. "The Mayan people are not an extinct race. There are seven million Mayans living in Mexico and Central America. We are the direct descendants of Kan-Xul. His remains and all that was buried with him belong to my people, the Mayans."

Castle took a deep breath and looked from Cacaw to Beckett, fully in agreement with Cacaw's opinion. "So, is that why you sent the death threat to Medina?"

"It wasn't a threat," Mr Te replied, "It was a reminder of the fate that awaited him if he did not return what he stole."

That was a reaction, a partial confession. Beckett jumped on the back of reaction and got straight to the point. "Where were you two nights ago between seven and eight?"

"I didn't kill him, Detective Beckett. I didn't need to. Because all who suffer from the mummy's curse are doomed to die."

For several seconds the room was silent. During that time, the reality to his curse sunk in, causing Castle to nervously clear his throat. Beckett glanced at him feeling the weight of that statement.

"There's no cure to the curse, Mr Te?" Castle's voice was a little bit shaky.

"It's not a disease, Mr Castle. It's a curse."

Beckett gave Rick a sympathetic glance then looked at Mr Te as she said, "You're free to go. Just contact us should you decide to leave town."

Cacaw Te nodded. Before he stood to leave, he provided Beckett with an alibi, a meeting uptown with a journalist. Shortly after he was gone from the Precinct, the Beckett made a call and confirmed that at the time Medina came to his untimely end, Cacaw Te was indeed at an uptown meeting with a Telemundo reporter about the injustice of the exhibit. He didn't finish until after 8:00 pm. After the call, and sharing the news with Castle, Beckett moved Te's head shot across the murder board to the cleared suspects list. The team forgot about him and momentarily moved back to the subject of the pollen.

However, what really got their engines revved were the photos that the lab emailed to them that had been stored on Medina's phone. An absolute jackpot. The team inspected the collection of photographs. Medina's phone contained naked photos of Rachel Walters, one of the women in the museum's team. A lot of intimate photographs had been taken in various rooms and places. Beckett listed the various places while Esposito arranged for a patrol car go pick Ms Walters up to be questioned by the NYPD detectives. Ryan collected the phone from the lab.

Back in their chairs inside the interrogation room, Beckett hoped that this interview would result in some sort of progress. It had been a long day and although things weren't great at home at the loft with Castle's family, she wanted to go home and take a bath. A shower would suffice, but a bath with candles and a decent book really appealed.

She held up the phone before Rachel Walters, but kept the screen off, while she considered how important it was she was professional and diplomatic going forward. "Our technicians found a lot of compromising photos of you, Rachel, on our victim's phone. Could you please explain how they got there?"

Castle gave her a glance, thinking she sounded as though she was talking tactfully to a teenage girl. Beckett lowered the phone that had got the response Beckett was aiming for. Ms Walters knew exactly what was on the phone and was clearly humiliated by the knowledge other people had viewed the images.

"Photos of me."

"You want to tell us why?" Beckett asked.

Rachel pressed her lips together, contemplated he position, then answered. "Will and I were dating. It started after we got back from Mexico."

"Why did you lie to everyone? You had to know we would eventually find these." She put the phone on the desk in front of herself.

"I didn't want to get fired."

Castle asked, "Why would Stanford fire you?"

"Because Stanford and Will hated each other."

"Why?"

Rachel kept her eyes on Castle as she answered him, "Stanford blamed Will for Nicole's death."

"The girl who was killed in Mexico?" Beckett asked.

"Yes. Nicole. Stanford put Will in charge of all the grad students. He wanted Will to teach them how to survive in a hostile environment. When Nicole died, Stanford was devastated. He felt Will had betrayed his trust, letting her go alone into the jungle at night. And ever since we got back, Stanford's been trying to get rid of Will, but he can't, because Will's the one who discovered the burial chamber."

Beckett absorbed the information. "Do you think he would've gone as far as murder to get rid of Will?"

"Stanford told me that Will should've died that night, not Nicole."

"Alright." Beckett had asked enough, and she glanced at Castle to see if he had anything he wanted to ask. He gave a slight gesture she understood as him happy with everything. She looked at Rachel. "Well, please keep this interview confidential, Rachel. You can be rest assured your pictures will not see the light of day."

She released a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Detective. Will would never had shared them, but had someone got hold of them, it would ruin my career."

"Just keep it to yourself." Beckett replied unable to think of anything to say because her brain was already in another place, fretting about her own reputation.

They all stood up and vacated the room. Rachel left, confident the photos of Will would not be released. After she disappeared in the elevator, Beckett said to Castle.

"We need to go see Dr Raynes at the museum."

Rick checked the time. "Sure."

"Are you okay? You're awfully quiet." Castle inquired as they walked between the car and the museum entrance. His gait slowed as he looked at Beckett who continued because he expected an answer from her.

"I'm okay." She replied then stopped to let him catch up.

"No. Something bothers you. You've barely said a word since we got in the car at the Precinct." He glanced at his watch. "You've been quiet for sixteen minutes and counting."

Beckett turned her head from Castle to the New York History Museum ahead of them then back to him.

"Yeah." She replied. "There is something." She appeared uncomfortable.

"What is it? You were fine before you spoke to Rachel." His face lit up while hers remained awkward.

"The photos we have."

"Our photos?" He stepped in closer to ensure they had privacy and maintained eye contact with her. "Pictures of you, you mean. Is that what it's about?"

She nodded, "You saw how humiliated Rachel was."

"Kate, I will never show anyone photos of you. They between us."

She gritted her teeth. "It's easy to put them out into the universe, Castle."

"Hey. We're careful. We use our secret phones. We don't communicate with anyone else on those phones, no social media."

Kate bit her bottom lip, scanned his face, "If anything happens to me or we break up?"

"I will protect you, I promise." He smiled reassuringly, "But don't ask me to delete them. Some of those photos are beautiful, Kate. You have nothing to be ashamed of. Like the photos of Rachel, there is nothing to be ashamed of."

"My God, Rick, she's gorgeous, every bit of her."

"See, nothing to be worried about. I won't share with anyone what we have." He touched her elbow, "C'mon. Let's go talk to Dr Raynes then get the fuck outa here. You look exhausted."

"Am. Really want a bath, Castle," she replied as they walked on to the entrance of the museum.

"And I would be more than delighted to watch you take that bath," he teased.

"You can so long as you hold the glass of bourbon."

"I will accept that condition. No worries." He chuckled with amusement. "I am so looking forward to tonight.

"Pervert." She laughed as they stepped inside the museum. She showed her police badge to the admissions office clerk who waved them through.

They found Dr Raynes in the lab and asked him to take them to a place they could converse in private. Beckett asked Dr Raynes to explain the problem he had with the late victim, Will Medina.

"The fact that Will and I didn't get along doesn't mean I killed him." Dr Raynes said in a hush tone so nobody heard their conversation.

"Not getting along with someone is a lot different than blaming him for Nicole's death," Beckett replied.

Castle said, "I imagine you thought Will should have done a better job watching over Nicole."

"No, I thought he shouldn't be sneaking into the jungle to have sex with her. That's why she was out there the night she died. Only Will stood her up, and she paid the price."

Beckett said, "And how do you know this?"

"I caught them together two days before she died. I told him to break it off, that he was her boss, but he refused to do so. Nicole had a bright future, and his carelessness took it from her."

"And where were you when Medina was killed?" Beckett asked ready to cut to the chase. She figured Raynes was jealous because Medina had been screwing a young woman that he also liked.

"Right here, working. You can check with security, ask the staff. I'm basically living here until the exhibit launches."

Beckett said "Great. Then we'll know where to find you in case your alibi doesn't check out. Thank you."

"Detective, what happened to Will wasn't the curse. It was karma."

When Castle and Beckett returned to the Precinct, Ryan had checked Stanford and Rachel's alibis with the museum security who confirmed that both had logged in at work, but he hadn't been able to find anyone who could definitively state that Stanford or Rachel were there during the hour it would've taken to kill Will and get back to the museum.

Esposito had also been poking about in Medina's bank account and had found $10,000 had been deposited into his bank account four days prior to his murder."

Beckett asked, as she watched Castle go to the breakout room, with two mugs. "Have you found where he got that kind of money?"

Esposito said. "Unknown, but he withdrew the same amount the morning he died."

Ryan said, "$10,000 in, $10,000 out. Sounds like he's laundering money to me."

Beckett said "Okay, you guys check with the bank first thing in the morning. Let's see where that money came from. Its late so, we should wrap this up."

A loud bang sounded, Castle squawked in surprise and something crashed to the floor. They all run towards the sound. Steam hissed, the cappuccino machine was blowing steam and making a lot of noise.

Beckett asked Castle, "What happened?

"I don't know. I was just gonna make a coffee, and... the cappuccino machine started shaking. And just as I hit the deck, it exploded."

Ryan who grinned with amusement said, "You could've been killed."

Castle now a little panicked replied, "I know!"

Beckett, Ryan and Esposito started to laugh.

Castle stopped trying to quieten the machine and looked at his three companions. The penny dropped. "Oh, very funny. Okay. Very funny. Yes, you got me."

Esposito mimicked. "Ooh. I'm Castle. I don't believe in curses."

Castle pointed at the coffee machine. "What, did you get bomb disposal to rig something up?"

Beckett said "Yeah, it was all flash and no damage."

Castle said, "And the chair?"

Beckett said, "I just pulled a couple of screws and let gravity do the rest." The three high fived each other as they walked from the breakout.

Castle said to himself, "I'm not cleaning this up!" He assessed the mess. "I better clean this up. I'm so gonna get you back Beckett when you least expect it." He muttered to himself.

When Castle heard the front door softly close, he checked the time. Almost 10 pm. He continued to read the novel he'd picked up when he'd gone to bed. He'd given up waiting up for Beckett who had got stuck at work. He'd left her there to spend some time with Alexis. The door near the front pushed open and Beckett appeared, carrying her boots. She locked the door to stop anyone coming in. The boots were dropped by the walk in as she approached the bed.

"Hey." She murmured, smiling.

"You decided to come home." He said, unsure of what she was doing as she came to him, pushing her jeans down as she walked. "You worked back?"

"Mm, then met Lanie for a drink. She has Espo issues."

"Issues? Do tell."

"Later."

"Okay," he carefully said, recognising the look in her eyes.

"Missed you. Missed my bath too." She lifted away her top and dropped it on the armchair. Rick watched it fall, then looked back to her body as she reached behind her to unhook her bra. She let the black brassiere fall to the floor, her breasts free. He noticed with delight her nipples hardened exposed to the air. He forgot about reading. She was out of her panties in no time and, fully naked, she reached out and removed the novel from his grasp. She discarded that on the nightstand. Castle was very happy to replace the book with Beckett's body. She raised her leg over and lowered herself straddled over his lap facing him.

His hands on her hips, he let her get comfortable. His body was already responding to her presence. Her hands to his jaw she kissed him, softly at first and when he keenly responded her body pushed against his, and her kiss became hungrier. This was the Beckett he liked. The woman who showed him exactly what she wanted.