Playing Hard to Get
Chapter 6
Kate blinked and opened her eyes but couldn't seem to focus at first. That was until she saw Lilly right in front of her face. She was right there. Her first question was how Lilly had gotten onto her bed. The logistics of such an event were out of this world.
Then it hit her. Oh, yeah. Lilly had been whimpering and just wouldn't shut up, so she'd lifted her up and told Lilly this would be the last time if she peed or pooped on her bed.
"Hi!" Kate managed to smile wide easily, which seemed to be all Lilly needed since she started licking her face and didn't appear interested in stopping.
"Okay, okay. I love you too." Kate got her to stop by sitting up and holding her on her lap. "Well, since we're both awake, I suppose I need to find something to wear and take you outside. You seriously need to learn to pee and poop outside, and not on puppy pee pads anymore."
Kate got out of bed and rummaged through the closet for sweatpants, a t-shirt, and her favorite flip-flops. Ready to go outside, she scooped Lilly off her bed, went into the living room, and picked up a poop bag, leash, treats, and keys. They were all set.
She carried her outside and put her down. Lilly barely made it three steps before squatting and peeing on the sidewalk. "Good girl, Lilly!" Kate gave her positive reinforcement, followed by a treat.
They went down to the corner and around it. It was New York City. Mini parks were seemingly everywhere, but not all of them had grass. Naturally, the closest one to Kate didn't have even so much as a single blade of grass. Though it did have weeds poking out of the cracks, those didn't count. Still, Lilly managed to poop a long thin line of wet poop. Kate gave her more positive reinforcement, followed by another treat, and then scraped the poop off the concrete and into her bag. She immediately turned it inside out, tied it off, and dropped it in the trash.
That was one thing about this supposed park – it had a trash can, so she didn't need to search for a dumpster to throw away her poop bag. God knows puppy poop stank to high heaven. It even managed to escape the bag, albeit slowly. Kate had learned that lesson the hard way.
Once back inside their apartment Kate gave her fresh water and filled her food bowl with puppy food, watching her eat for a second before heading for her bedroom to strip and take a shower.
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"Let's go to work, Lilly." Kate gathered her up and carried her the entire way. And since Lilly was wide awake now and her face was pretty close, Lilly did her best to make it closer so she could lick it.
Once in the Precinct, she had to stop so the Desk Sergeant could pet Lilly, followed by everyone else who spotted her and Lilly. Once at her desk, she put Lilly on her bed and picked up her water bowl to fill it with fresh water.
However, doing that meant she had to come in close contact with Castle's fancy coffee maker that made the most incredible coffee, and if you knew how, it could make even more wonderful coffee drinks. "Will you stop mocking me," Kate told it. She filled Lilly's water bowl and returned to her desk. But Lilly was gone.
That wasn't totally unexpected. Lilly was prone to looking around to see what there was to smell.
"What do you want?" Roy looked down at Lilly. It was plain to see that she had wandered into his office and was just sitting there looking up at him. "Fine!" Roy bent down, picked her up, and planted her on his desk. "Just don't destroy my paperwork." He would have to start all over again if she did.
Kate had turned on her computer, and Lilly still wasn't back, so she decided to get up and look for her. It took her about a minute before she saw her ON Captain Montgomery's desk, and he was playing with her. Lilly was even down on her front paws showing that she wanted to play.
"I'm sorry, Sir." Kate stepped in with the intent of scooping Lilly off his desk.
"This size is fine for the top of my desk. Three months from now, probably not so much." Roy kept Lilly. Then he changed the subject. "How is Castle working out?"
"Castle is... He's being Castle. He moans and complains about the deal he agreed to, which is not all that surprising." In her mind, it was what kids did. To her, Castle was definitely a kid. "However, he can be remarkably helpful when he puts his mind to it."
She gave him credit for finding out that Mrs. Horn had all the money, and he had arranged for her to be able to talk to the prostitute. It was how he had gone about it that grated on her.
"So, how long do you plan to keep him on that SCRAM device?" Roy was curious.
"That's up to Castle," Kate told him. "He grows up a little and proves that he can be trustworthy, I'll revisit his need for the monitoring ankle bracelet. Right now, I don't trust him at all. I trust Lilly not to pee on your desk more than I trust Castle."
"You wouldn't pee on my desk, would you?" Roy was like everyone else in the Precinct. He cooed and petted Lilly freely and wasn't bashful about it.
Kate knew why she trusted Lilly not to pee on his desk. "Only because I took her out to pee this morning, Sir."
"Okay, you can have her back." Roy retreated from Lilly so Beckett could pick her up. "But you have to give Castle credit. He did find something that reached you," Roy pointed out.
"He got lucky, Sir." Kate wouldn't give Castle any credit for planning for this outcome. He was trying to buy her and get her to let him follow her around. It was just a lucky break.
Kate retreated to her desk and set Lilly on it so she could play with her before everyone else showed up.
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"Foot, Castle." Kate tapped the corner of her desk. He was here, and his monitoring device had to be attached on his ankle. That was the deal.
Rick whined about having to wear his ball and chain. "Oh, come on, Beckett. I promise."
"Foot. Castle." Kate was holding his device in her left hand and tapping her desk with her right.
Rick kept complaining. "It's uncomfortable. It hurts and chafes my skin."
Kate rolled her eyes. "You're wearing socks, Castle. It isn't even touching any skin. It's this, or you go home and stay there. You break this deal, and that's where you'll stay," she reminded him. Again.
Rick grumbled and groaned but finally put his foot on her desk. "This is so embarrassing." Kate was attaching something so she could keep track of him.
"Well, if you would grow up and become responsible and trustworthy, you wouldn't have to wear it." Kate made sure it was on tight enough and that it was active. It was all good, so she let him move his foot back down.
"I am responsible," Rick maintained. "I have a daughter, you know." He skipped over the grow up and be trustworthy parts.
"Growing up isn't so bad." Kate knew being an adult had its challenges, but it had benefits too.
Rick rolled his eyes at her. "Where's the fun in that?"
"Castle, if you're going to act like a child, people will treat you like a child. Act like an adult, and people will treat you like an adult. Not a big whining brat," Kate countered.
"You're the only one that does that," Rick pointed out
"Seriously? I really doubt that. You just haven't been paying attention." Kate changed the subject since she didn't want to be the grown-up nor have to keep scolding Castle for how he acted.
"One whole chapter." He was betting he could do better if he wasn't confined there.
"That's something, at least. So what's the name of my other half?" Kate was curious.
Rick was proud of his name choice. "Nikki Heat."
Kate's jaw dropped. "That's a stripper name, Castle!" Had he turned her into a stripper?
"It's a cop name," Rick insisted.
"It's a stripper name. I should know; I did time in Vice. Change it," Kate growled at him.
"No, it's a cop name. And it's a good one." It was perfect.
Kate glared at him. "Change. It!"
"Nope, not doin' it, Beckett. Besides, it's too late. Gina's already working on what the cover art will be. HEAT WAVE." Rick used his hands to show in marquee letters in front of him.
"HEAT WAVE!? Now I'm a dog in heat? Oh, god." Kate buried her face in her hands. She was never going to live this down. They would ridicule her for months, if not years.
"Think of the titles! Naked Heat, Heat Rises, Frozen Heat, Crashing Heat. The list is endless." Rick loved his character. She was so much better than Derek Storm ever could have been.
"I am so going to get you for this, Castle. Mark my words – for every time I get ridiculed, I swear I'll double it on you," Kate promised him.
"Why would anyone ridicule you? You'll be famous. I'll even let you have part of the royalties," Rick offered since he had just thought of it.
Her desk phone rang, and Rick exhaled a relieved breath. His hide was saved…for now. "BECKETT!" She was still furious and glared daggers at him while she listened.
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Lanie was sitting up there writing things down on her clipboard. "She's frozen solid," she told them.
"What was the temperature last night?" Kate queried. She was wearing a coat, and while it was cool outside, it wasn't that cold.
"It wasn't exposure," Lanie replied.
"Is she melting? What have you got for me?" Kate found something to stand on to get closer and didn't see how Lanie even got up there.
"There are remnants of plastic on her body. It will take some time for her to thaw before I can tell you much. I can tell you that she hasn't been here long." That was almost all Lanie could tell her. Except… "Freezing the body tells me he wanted a trophy. Dumping the body says he doesn't want reminded of the crime. Body dump." But Lanie didn't understand why she was frozen.
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"Welcome to the NYPD's Facial Recognition Database. You wanted to help, Castle." Kate dropped a pile of folders in front of him that had to be at least a foot tall. Then Ryan and even Espo dropped a stack just as tall.
He stared at all folders in front of him. "By hand!?" Rick questioned them.
"Maybe you have an app on your phone," Espo mocked him.
Rick laughed it up nervously. "There are a lot of missing people." That wasn't how it was done on TV.
"Eventually, we find them. Some end up dead, and others are found in a trailer making ends meet as a stripper," Kate said.
Just then, Kate's phone rang. "Beckett." She listened for a moment. "Lanie has an ID." Kate left the giant pile of files gladly.
"Castle, you take care of this." Espo waved his hand at it all.
"Enjoy, Castle." Ryan got up and escaped that mess, leaving a shocked Castle in his wake.
"I'll show you how it's done," Rick called after those three.
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"Based on the body, I'd say she was frozen within 24 hours of death. I was able to get her fingerprints from the system. She was arrested for a minor amount of drug possession," Lanie reported.
"A junkie?" Kate inquired.
"No, she's in pretty good shape, considering," Lanie said, then dropped one hell of a bombshell. "According to records, she's been missing for five years."
"Five years?" Stunned, Kate stared at the body. Who kept a frozen body for five years, then up and decided to dump it on a construction site, hoping the concrete would make her disappear?
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"You do know we have air conditioning," Alexis pointed out since her dad was standing in front of the freezer with the door open while she looked through the refrigerator for something.
"I'm just trying to figure out why someone would put a dead body in a freezer for five years," Rick told her.
"Is this a Nikki Heat or Detective Beckett question?" To her, it made a difference.
"Beckett."
"Ah. That's right, Nikki Heat was about incinerating a dead body." Yes, Alexis was reading what he was writing.
"Uh-huh," Rick agreed and continued to stare into the freezer.
"Why would anyone store a dead body in a freezer in a storage unit that they pay for in cash every six months?" Rick kept looking.
"Did I stop me, or did someone else stop me?" Alexis asked him.
Rick closed the freezer. "It's moments like these I'll remember forever."
Alexis huffed. "Hopefully, with enough therapy, I won't," she countered and took what she found to her bedroom.
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Kate was stuck and didn't have a good lead. "Okay, Castle, you speak guy. If Sam had a lover, would his best friend know about it?" She was still on Sam, her husband, killing her, but who killed Sam? He stopped making payments on the storage unit because he was dead.
"Of course!" Castle looked at Kate, thinking she was onto something. "Can I come?"
"You know the rules, Castle."
"How am I supposed to help when I'm trapped here in the Precinct?" Rick demanded.
"You just did, Castle, you just did." She had already spoken to Sam's best friend, and he had lied to her.
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"Elizabeth Forte is her name. She worked with Sam at the same bank," Sam's best friend told her.
Talking to Mrs. Forte wasn't all that much help. Now she was standing in front of her murder board, trying to get it to speak to her. "How did you kill her, Sam?" She was on board with her husband killing her.
She was almost all alone on the 4th floor and only noticed when she looked down at Lilly sleeping peacefully. Okay, she needed help. There was only one place to go to get it, and she couldn't believe she was even thinking that.
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"MOTHER!" He was dead, and Alexis had just killed him because she had walked in and interrupted them. Then the front door buzzed. "Anyone order food?" He was definitely hungry.
Rick shot whoever was on the other side of the door with his laser pistol. "Beckett?" He certainly wasn't expecting her.
Alexis joined him. "Who is it?"
"Richard, are we entertaining?" Martha was happy to have someone stop by.
Kate, though, wasn't sure just what to think. Castle was wearing lights, had night vision goggles and a gun, and so did Alexis, just in a different color. And she didn't know what Martha had on her face except that it was green.
"Dad, manners," Alexis reminded him.
Rick stepped aside. "Of course, come in."
"LILLY!" Alexis let her gun dangle as she took a sleeping Lilly from Kate. "Dahlia is upstairs in my room. I'll take Lilly." With that, Alexis disappeared up a set of stairs.
Kate walked in, amazed at what she saw. This place was vast, and living quarters like this didn't exist here in New York City. Even the very rich lived in narrow row houses. This apartment was very different.
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"Wow, I feel like Alfred in the Bat Cave for the first time," Kate commented as she walked around Castle's study. He had open bookshelves filled with books and a desk where she could just bet where he did all his writing.
"Nikki Heat." He had this big monitor with Nikki Heat at the top and had these electronic Post-it notes everywhere, in addition to a couple of pictures. "That's what I use to outline my books," Rick mentioned, and watched Kate look it over.
"Funny, it looks a lot like our murder board." Kate even touched a Post-it note and found that it opened another Post-it note.
"Yeah, but mine is…fake." His was make-believe, and he knew it. No one was really dead on his.
"Something wrong?" To Castle, she looked uncomfortable. He didn't see anything disturbing about his study, but Beckett did which he found worrisome.
"I can't find it," Kate finally admitted.
"Find what?" Rick's mind wasn't thinking what hers was thinking.
"The answer," Kate replied with a sigh.
"It was Sam. It was a good ending. It makes sense." Rick was happy with it.
"But I need proof, Castle. I don't write books. I need something concrete. That family, those two little kids, deserve better than just theory, and that's all we've got. Yeah, they're kids, and maybe they barely remember their mother since she's been dead five long years, but they deserve closure." It was what she did. It was the part she liked about her job, giving people closure. To know that the murderer was paying for his crime.
"You want to know how a killer killed someone? Then go to where he killed them. Face the problems he faced," Castle told her. "I wrote about having someone thrown off the Empire State Building. Go there and see what that would take. Did you know they have nets and barriers to keep people from jumping off the building? So how do you throw someone off the building?"
"Come on, let's go on a field trip. I promise to behave myself." Since he was home, he wasn't wearing his monitoring device.
"What about Lilly?" She couldn't just leave her.
"Alexis has her. She's in perfect hands. Alexis is very responsible," Rick told her and saw her glare at him. "Being this adult isn't fun, but I raised my daughter without anyone's help. I know how to be an adult, Beckett. It's just that I refuse to be an adult for longer than I have to be."
"You figure out how to grow up a little more, Castle, and you wouldn't be wearing that device. It wouldn't have been necessary in the first place," Kate pointed out.
"Point taken. …Field trip?" Rick asked her again. "I can be an adult for a little longer."
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Rick was driving around with Beckett finally, just like this was supposed to have worked.
"If you had a dead body in a freezer and needed to move it in a nice big truck, who would you call?" Rick asked Kate.
A wide smile appeared on Kate's face. "His best friend." Who knew he was having an affair with the women in the same bank.
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They were back at the loft, in Rick's office, talking. "By the way, it was my mother, not my father." Kate began to tell him her story. "We were supposed to meet at a restaurant and have dinner, but she never showed up. So, two hours later, we went home and saw a detective waiting for us. They found her body; she'd been stabbed." Kate swallowed hard. Talking about it still hurt, but Castle had been pretty likable today and actually helpful.
"Robbery?" Rick queried.
Kate shook her head. "No, she still had her money, purse, and jewelry. And it wasn't a sexual assault either. They called it a random act of violence. So just like in Melanie's case, the detective couldn't think outside the box. They just tried to package it up nicely and file it away. And he was never caught."
"What's with the watch?" That was what got Rick into his conversation.
"Dad took her death hard. He's sober now. Five years. This watch is for the life that I saved. And this ring is for the life that I lost. So I guess your Nikki Heat has a back story now, Castle." She might as well adjust to Nikki Heat. She didn't have enough power over the name.
"Beckett, I don't put real-life events in my books. I never have, and I never will. Nikki Heat may have an emotional backstory now, but it won't be yours. I would never do that to you," Rick said with the utmost sincerity.
"That's very adult of you, Castle," Kate said gratefully.
"I have my moments. Until tomorrow, Beckett."
"'Night, Castle. Come on, Lilly, let's go home. You have some peeing and pooping to do before bed." Kate scooped up Lilly, who looked sleepy.
"I am sorry for your loss, Beckett. I at least never knew who my father was." Rick shrugged, "Can't miss what you never had." He watched Beckett and Lilly go down the hallway to the elevator and he then closed and locked the door.
He was learning to like her. There was just something about her. She was a mystery and he loved a good mystery.