Author's note: I'd like to thank TORONTOSUN and a Guest for their reviews. Guest: This story is fairly AU, but this is only a couple years after Season 8 ended (prior to the seven years later scene). After seeing your comment, I looked up a picture of the kids to try and guesstimate how old the kids were because I'd only seen them when the episode aired and didn't research them before getting back into writing this part of the story. I would guess that Lily was born about two years after Castle and Beckett were attacked, but the kids won't show up in this story merely because of what I have planned in the story line. Sorry if that is a disappointment to you. TORONTOSUN: I've been having fun with the boys so far, so I hope I can keep it up. Thank you.

I'd like to apologize for posting late this week. Morning sickness was kicking my butt this weekend and I wasn't up to doing much of anything. I'll try to keep to a schedule. Thank you for your patience. Enjoy!

Chapter 4

Esposito had volunteered to be on the early morning shift of Ms. Green's surveillance. He'd been sitting with Officer Gannon for a couple hours now just watching the suspect's building. It was just one more example of the tedium that was stakeouts, but he couldn't complain. He loved this job, not in spite of the tedium and boredom; those things challenged him. Now paperwork, that was an "in spite of" thing, but the rest was good.

The plainclothes officer tapped his arm. "She's on the move."

"Finally." Esposito finished off the coffee he'd been nursing and stepped out of the car. "I'll follow her on foot."

"Copy that."

Rebecca Green walked briskly down the street, almost as if she was in a hurry. Esposito followed at a safe distance, his phone in hand so she wouldn't look twice at him. The undercover car passed them three times as they walked. Just as Officer Gannon was passing for the fourth time, Green headed down into the subway. Esposito quickly texted the officer and Captain Beckett what was going on and that he would keep them updated.

Ryan was waiting for Esposito at the base of the stairs. "I pretended I was reading the paper so she couldn't see my face."

"Beckett send you?"

"Yeah. This was the closest stop to Green's apartment. Beckett wanted a man down here just in case."

"Blakeshaw lives four stops away. Officer Gannon should head there." Esposito sent the text and the partners resumed the tail.

Ryan and Esposito split up, keeping in contact through texts. Green got on the first train that pulled in and the detectives followed her at a distance. They kept her in sight though. At the second stop, Green got out of the train and headed for the exit. Esposito followed her while Ryan headed for the other stairs. It wouldn't be good for them to lose one of the suspects now.

Ryan came up to Esposito once they were above ground. "Why'd she get off here?"

"No idea. Maybe she's meeting Blakeshaw nearby." Esposito texted Gannon and Beckett the suspect's location. "I'll take the other side of the street."

"Copy."

They followed Green for two blocks, Ryan behind her and Esposito on the opposite side of the street. Green suddenly crossed the street and Esposito had to turn his back to avoid her recognizing him. Another block later, she stepped into a coffee shop. Esposito was about to follow her inside, but she came out with Blakeshaw by her side. The pair went around the corner and ducked into the nearest alley.

Esposito peeked around the corner into the alley. "There they are."

Ryan had rejoined his partner. "Gannon's at the other end."

"Good." Esposito watched the pair go around a bend in the alley. "We need to get closer to them." He entered the alley and stopped just before the bend.

Green and Blakeshaw must have stopped just around the corner because they were now within earshot. "… and that means you screwed up."

"Me?" Blakeshaw scoffed. "What about you? I thought he'd given you a ring. So why hadn't he divorced his wife yet?"

"He was getting there." Green sighed. "Okay, okay. We'll just have to slow everything down. You're going to have to get 'Mel' to marry you. I don't want to have put in all this work and not get anything for it." She turned to leave.

"What happened, Becks?"

Green turned back. "What do you mean?"

"It was you, wasn't it? You're the one who killed him, right?"

"So what if I did?"

"Because it screwed everything up!" Blakeshaw started to pace. "You were getting close to marrying him. Why'd you kill him?"

"Because he was still in love with his wife!" Green was breathing heavily. "He kept talking about divorcing her and marrying me, but I could tell it wouldn't happen. He was going to go back to her. We were about to lose everything!"

Ryan bumped Esposito with his shoulder. "Sounds like a confession to me."

Esposito nodded and rolled around the corner with his gun out. "NYPD! Don't move!"

Ryan was at his partner's shoulder. "Let me see your hands!"

Green and Blakeshaw turned to flee, but Officer Gannon had come running when he heard the shouts. "Freeze!"

Green and Blakeshaw looked at each other and slowly raised their hands. Blakeshaw looked resigned, but Green's face was contorted in rage and disappointment. Esposito kept his gun on the pair while Ryan and Gannon moved forward to cuff them. He read them their rights and the pair were separated to wait for their rides. The blue and whites arrived soon after the arrest and the pair were whisked away to the Twelfth Precinct.

"Have they said anything after they were arrested?"

"Nah, we kept them apart." Esposito pointed into each interrogation room. "Green was all glares and mutters. Blakeshaw was very interested in his shoes."

Beckett nodded. "Castle and I will take Blakeshaw."

"Prisoners' dilemma?"

"Works for me." Beckett left the observation room and beckoned to Castle. "Let's go."

"What's the plan?"

Beckett paused with her hand in the door handle. "Prisoners' dilemma."

"Nice."

"Mr. Blakeshaw. I'm Captain Beckett, this is Richard Castle."

Blakeshaw looked up. "Why's the Captain talking to me?"

"I like to be more hands on." Beckett took a seat. "Do you know why you're here?"

"Mr. Smithe's murder. I didn't have anything to do with that."

"Didn't you?" Castle was leaning against the wall behind Blakeshaw. "You were involved with his wife. You knew the woman he was with. So what is it the two of you were doing?"

"I'm not saying anything without talking to Becca first."

Beckett stood up. "That's fine. I guess she'll get the special consideration."

"Wait." Blakeshaw was halfway out of his chair. "What 'special consideration'?"

"First to talk gets us to put in a good word to the judge." Beckett was standing by the door.

Castle was heading for the door. "But since you want to talk to the other suspect first, I guess she'll have the chance to blame you for everything."

"But I'm…" Blakeshaw sighed. "I'll tell you everything I know."

Beckett sat again. "Start talking."

"It was all Becca's idea. She's the one who picked Dalton Smithe. She's the one who seduced him so the wife would be lonely and need a man like me."

"What part of the plan was to kill Dalton Smithe?" Castle was standing behind Blakeshaw again.

"It was never part of the plan!" Blakeshaw started to stand, but a look from Beckett had him sinking into his seat again. "Becca's job was to get Dalton to divorce his wife and marry her. Mine was to distract Mel, maybe even get her to marry me."

"So you are pulling a long con. What was the goal?"

"To clean then out. Get all their money. And then we'd disappear to some non-extradition country and enjoy our spoils."

"So what went wrong?" Castle took a seat.

"I don't know." He rubbed his face. "Becca… I think she fell in love with him or something. Or maybe she thought everything was crumbling. I don't know."

"Who killed Dalton Smithe?"

"Becca. She says he was still in love with his wife and that's why he had to die. But it doesn't make sense. He was killed around the corner from a P.I.'s office. That means he's on his way to filing for divorce… right?"

Beckett set a pad of paper and a pen in front of him. "Write it all down and sign it."

Aaron Blakeshaw picked up the pen and started to write. It took him the better part of an hour to finish writing his confession, but he finally signed the page and pushed it to Beckett. She read through what he'd written before thanking him and leaving for room. Esposito and Ryan were still trying to talk to Rebecca Green. She was insisting that Aaron would never talk. Beckett knocked on the mirror and shock crossed Green's face.

"Sounds like your buddy cracked." Esposito stood and entered the observation room. "Did he…"

Beckett held up the notepad. "Took all of a minute to get him to crack. I'm going to let Mrs. Smithe know what happened."

"Can I use that real quick?"

Beckett handed him the notebook. "Don't let her see what's on it."

"I know how to do my job."

Beckett grinned as he went back into the room. "I know."

Castle planted himself in front of the window. "I'm gonna stay here and watch."

Beckett headed out of the observation room. "Have fun."

Castle turned to the glass as Beckett left the room. "Oh, how do you like them apples?"

Mrs. Smithe was waiting in Beckett's office. "Did you get the killer?"

"We believe so." Beckett shut the door and gestured to the couch. "And I'm afraid that Aaron Blakeshaw is involved."

"What?" She sank into the couch. "What do you mean?"

Beckett say next to the window. "He knew your husband's girlfriend. They were working together to con you and your husband out of your money."

Mrs. Smithe sank father into the cushions. "How could he do this? Why?" She shook her head in disbelief. "Did he…?"

"No. Your husband was killed by his mistress. Apparently Dalton was still in love with you and was trying to get back together with you by ending both of your… relationships."

A tear was running down Melinda's face. "Thank you for finding the truth. I just wish I'd known." She stood to leave.

"Would you like me to have an officer take you home?"

"No, thank you. I'll be alright."

Castle walked in after Mrs. Smithe walked out. "Green still won't talk. How'd Mel take it?"

"About as well as can be expected."

Vikram came in. "Hey, uh, I've just talked to Robbery, but I thought I should tell you too. I screened the footage from the law office building."

"And?"

"Nothing. There is nothing on the footage. All cameras in the elevators were down, but the rest were fine. Here."

He handed Beckett the tablet and she hit play. They watched the woman's actions in the office, but there wasn't a lot to glean from that. The woman rarely allowed her face to be visible on camera, and what was visible was only the parts that weren't covered by her high tech mask. She then walked into the elevator and disappeared. Beckett handed the tablet back to Vikram.

"She never exits the elevators." Vikram turned the screen off. "I've gone through all the footage for that day and the next. No one leaving has that bag or that outfit. And that's a lot of gear. No one leaves with anything that could hold all of that in it. I'm stumped."

"What if she had a partner? Show me the lobby footage."

Vikram pulled up the right footage and gave the tablet to Beckett again. On the screen, Ryan and Esposito darted out of the stairwell and spread out a little to look at the crowd. The elevator the woman had been in opened, but no one stepped out. Ryan stepped inside the elevator, looking up, and came out putting his gun away and shaking his head. Esposito put his gun away and then hit the nearby wall in frustration.

"Pause it." Castle was looking at the video closely. "Any chance you could enhance that woman's face?" He pointed at the screen.

"I've already tried enhancing everyone's faces. The cameras are not very good, so most faces just get pixilated."

"You recognize her, Castle?"

Castle turned to his wife. "She looks like Rita. But Mason Wood said she was dead. Or that she would be soon."

"He also told me that you already were. Maybe he lied." Beckett thanked Vikram for the update. "We'll figure out what's going on here, Castle. We always do."

A/N: Stay tuned!