The Woman in the Yellow Dress

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I own neither Castle nor a yellow dress. Rating: K Time: Early season five. Others know Kate and Rick are a couple, but not Gates.

Once again, Captain Gates was not happy.

"And you say her alibi is some man you've previously been intimate with?"

"Dr, Davidson is a cardiac surgeon who does a lot of work for NGOs such as Doctor's Without Borders. I'm afraid he'd be a formidable witness, sir."

Gates growled,

"That doesn't mean this Blum woman isn't still a suspect. She wouldn't be the first woman to sneak out of a man's bed in the middle of the night." She turned and glared at Castle. "Just what are you smirking at, Mr. Castle? I know about that because I'm a police officer. Now get back to work and try to find some real evidence."

They left her office, but when Kate got back to her desk she was steaming.

"Some man I was intimate with?" She quoted. "Like I'm not the best homicide cop in the city. She acts like all I do is go out and…"

Rick took her hand, making sure their hands were under her desk where Gates couldn't see them.

"Beckett, Kate…Don't get upset. You're about to go in there and give her a piece of your mind and nothing good will come of that. Just relax. Okay? Relax."

Kate squeezed his hand.

"Thanks. What would I do without you?"

"Let's hope we never have to find out."

Rick quickly pulled his hand away as he heard the elevator coming.

"It's Ryan and Espo." Kate assured him.

"She's agreed to meet with you two. Here's the address of the bar." Ryan said, handing Beckett a Post-it.

"Good. Let's get the hell out of here." Kate snarled.

"Problem?" Espo asked as Rick was pulled towards the elevator.

"Who else?" He replied, nodding towards Gates' office.

When they got to the bar, the place emptied out very rapidly.

"See?" Castle said. "You look too much like a cop."

"Too bad you don't." Kate shot back.

Castle puzzled over that for a moment.

"Wait, did you just insult me? I think I look very much like a cop. A ruggedly handsome, extremely well dressed cop. With an expensive haircut and…..You may be right."

Kate sat down next to the only person left in the bar other than the bartender. She made sure Castle was on the other side of her.

"Thank you for agreeing to see us, Ms. Kaye."

Serena Kaye laughed.

"All things considered, I think you can call me Serena. May I call you Kate and Rick."

"Of course." Kate said, not meaning it one bit.

"And since you chased all of his customers away, you should buy the drinks, Rick. I'll have a vodka on the rocks."

Rick ordered a scotch and soda for him and an orange juice for Kate. He handed the bartender a hundred dollar bill and told him to keep the change.

"I'm surprised it took you so long to come to me about the Woman in the Yellow Dress killing."

"Ms. Blum isn't our only suspect." Kate said quickly.

Serena nodded.

"I suppose not, but Ms. Blum has been quite active in the circles that I deal with in the past few years. She's talked to every art restoration specialist, art historian, and, let's admit, every art thief and art forger she could get to talk to her. Since she isn't a cop and has money, she talked to quite a few."

"And?" Kate asked.

"Everyone believes the Woman in the Yellow Dress is a forgery, a damned near perfect forgery, but a forgery. No one knows of any way Hobbes could have changed the color of the woman's dress without making it obvious it had been changed." There was a slight pause. "But…"

"But?" Kate said.

"Hobbes has a net worth measured in the hundreds of billions of dollars, plus he's a genius, and he has tens of thousands of very smart, very well educated people working for him. If any one could do it, it would be Jack Hobbes."

"Damn!" Kate muttered.

"However, I have an interesting story to tell you that might help." Serena turned away. "Bertram, can you come here, please?"

Bertram was several inches shorter than Kate and probably weighed less. However, Castle noted that he had a very expensive bespoke suit on. His blonde hair and beard were both closely trimmed and he avoided making eye contact. He sat on the other side of Castle.

"Bartender, another drink for me." He said.

"And one for me." Serena added.

"And one for me." He looked at Kate's drink. It appeared untouched. He handed the bartender another hundred, This time he got a thank you from the bartender.

Bertram took a drink of his expensive Scotch and spoke.

"This part is true. Daisy Bell was a very beautiful woman and had no problems sharing her charms with men. One of her lovers was Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Another was the then Prince of Wales who later became King Edward VII. Edward, known as Bertie, was as far from his mother's, Queen Victoria's, conservative ways as one could be. He loved wine, women and song and he loved Paris and the Parisians."

"I'm aware of his reputation." Castle said.

"Good." Bertram said. "Now, the rest is speculation, or perhaps even lies. The story is that Bertie wanted to play a practical joke on someone. Who that someone might have been is unknown. Rumors go from the crowned heads of Europe, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany and Czar Nicholas of Russia to then well known social and political figures who are now long forgotten. They say that Bertie hired a brilliant Dutch art forger named Nicholas van Rijn to paint a copy of the painting of Daisy Bell, but with one error. The woman in the yellow dress. They supposedly stole an unused canvas and some paint from Toulouse-Lautrec and made an almost perfect copy."

"What happened?" Castle asked.

"Alas, no one knows. The practical joke was never pulled and the fake painting disappeared, only to show up years later with Mr. Hobbes."

"Assuming he has the fake." Kate added.

"Perhaps." Said Bertram, who then downed his drink and left.

"Thank you, Serena." Kate said. "I'm afraid this hasn't been much help."

"However, it is good to see the two of you are finally together." Serena replied.

"I beg your pardon?" Kate said much too quickly.

Serena laughed.

"It was painfully obvious when I first met you two that Rick was madly in love with you, and that you loved him too, but were fighting it. Probably because of his reputation."

While Kate tried to think of something to say, Rick spoke.

"It could cause trouble with the NYPD if this got put, Serena."

"You mean if a certain NYPD captain found out about it? Don't worry, I'd rather have the best two detectives in the NYPD on my side if I ever needed them than some desk bound captain."

Once back in Kate's cruiser, she didn't start the car up.

"Was it that obvious that you were madly in love with me?"

Rick nodded.

"I had no trouble at all figuring it out. I even mentioned it to you."

"God, Castle. I'm so sorry about that. I really screwed up and…"

"And it's all in the past now. We're human. We make mistakes." He checked his watch. "Time to go home. How about take out pizza tonight, with everything on it?"

"Castle, I have to go see a CI tonight."

"Oooh!" Castle said happily. "A confidential informant? Who is it? Some film noirish femme fatale? A shady jamoke who works both sides of the law?"

"Castle, you can't go with me. You know how CIs are. If the CI sees you, there'll be no meet. A CI can get killed just being seen with a cop."

"Okay." Rick said, pouting. "But the offer of pizza with everything on it still stands. I'll have it ready for the microwave when you get back."

"Okay, but no anchovies."

"No anchovies, check." He replied

Kate realized Rick had given in on the anchovies too quickly.

"And no chocolate."

"No chocolate?" Rick said. "That's hardly pizza with everything. Come on, Beckett. Try it."

"I did try it. It's gross. You can put chocolate on your half of the pizza, I just won't watch you eat."

"You don't know what you're missing." He said sadly.

Once she'd dropped Rick off at the loft, Kate drove to a secure parking garage. She took a large purse out of the trunk and headed for the subway, going away from her destination at first. She got off the subway and went into an upscale department store and headed for the ladies' room. Once inside, she tucked her hair up under a short red wig, changed into a rather baggy dress and took off her four inch heels and put on flats. Then she left, got back on the subway, then took a cab to her destination.

The upscale condominium had both a doorman and a concierge. She spoke to the concierge.

"I'm Kate Beckett. I'm here to see…"

"You're expected. Go to the end of the elevator bank on the right. That elevator will take you to the penthouse."

Once off the elevator, she walked down the hallway to the only door. Before she could knock, the door flew open and Kate was enveloped in a hug,

"Oh, Kate. It is so good to see you. I have missed you so much."

She was released from the hug and found herself looking into her own face on another person. Not just the face, but the whole body.

"I've missed you as well, Simone. How have you been?"

Simone shrugged.

"Busy with business. Some men, they see me and they think, "Simone Renoir, she is young, she is beautiful and she is rich, so she must be stupid. Now they know that Simone is many things but she is not stupid. They will spend many years making the license plates now." Simone frowned. "Oh, but I have not seen you since you were shot. When I heard, I came back to New York, but you had been released from the hospital. I found that you were at your dear papa's place in the country, but no one would tell me where it was."

"That's all right, Simone. I'm fine and I'm here."

"Did you at least get rid of that dreadful writer who brings the blonde bimbos with the big breasts to crime scenes and flaunts her to you?"

Kate looked away and blushed.

Simone smiled.

"Oh! You are together? This is wonderful. You are happy?"

"Yes. We're together and I'm very, very happy. Happier than I've been since my mother died."

"This is good. Because of what I am, I have so few friends. Each one is very precious to me."

"Simone, what you are is a good person."

Simone shrugged.

"Perhaps, but I am somewhat different, will you not agree?"

"Okay. Just a bit."

Simone laughed.

"To think that I have a friend who is an agent of the police and who knows my secret and has never told anyone."

It was Kate's turn to laugh.

"What would I have told the NYPD? "Billy Sampson got the drop on me with a .44 Magnum loaded with cop killer rounds. I was seconds away from death when all of a sudden, a woman who looks exactly like me appeared in front of me and was shot by Sampson. She didn't seem to be bothered by the bullet and said something in French,,,"

"I called him a rude name in French. I am a lady, but he ruined my suit jacket."

Kate continued.

"You took the gun away from Sampson and broke both of his arms. Then you just disappeared."

TBC