"Have you two completely lost your minds?"
Montgomery's face was starting to take on an unhealthy shade of red as the Captain rushed toward them, his heavy footsteps echoing in the otherwise barren bullpen.
"It was his idea.", Ryan mumbled quietly, earning himself an angry glare from the man flanking him to the right, as the duo waited for Montgomery to join them.
"We just went to the ball to ask a few questions.", Castle returned matter-of-factly, never breaking eye contact with the irate man.
"You engaged with our murder suspect. I told you to stay here for a reason. What stubborn and incredibly careless part of you can't take no for an answer, Castle?"
Hesitating for a beat, the writer straightened out his tuxedo, that brilliant mind using the moment's reprieve to analyze what Montgomery had said- or more so, what he hadn't said.
"You knew it was Steward?", he then asked, causing the Captain to nod slowly, before running a hand across his mustache.
"I've been keeping an eye on that sleazy piece of work since he ran for City Council. Once I knew that you guys had been talking to him before, that there was just in iota of a chance that he had something to do with Richardson's murder, it all made sense."
"Captain, do you think he's just going to hold onto Beckett and Esposito until the elections are done with?", Ryan asked, nervously running a hand down his chest to straighten his white dress shirt, then fidgeting with his bright red bowtie, feeling thoroughly out of place in the expensive clothes.
"I was trying to figure out just what exactly had gone down while you two decided to go off on a tangent.", Montgomery countered with a frustrated sigh, "I talked to some of his former aids, people who might have been on his payroll a while ago, those who didn't…quote on quote, agree with some of his business decisions."
Castle didn't like the brief break following the Captain's explanation and he glanced up, seeing the set of worried brown eyes meeting his.
"Steward has hired an undercover third party protection agency, freelancing guys who take over where his regular nine-to-five security guys leave off."
"Soldiers of fortune? I thought that was just a cliché.", Castle said, seeing the other man shake his head.
"Not in this case. He hired guys from a post Vietnam War era splinter group who call themselves "The Dark Shadows"."
"Whoever came up with that name needs some serious help with creativity. Dark Shadows? Why not Menacing Shadows? Deadly Shadows? Something…anything would have been better."
Castle stopped himself when his thoughts trailed off, then cleared his throat against the oppressive silence.
"So what do we do next? Start to negotiate?"
Montgomery exhaled slowly, then ran a hand across the back of his neck.
"Well, your guys' trip to the fundraiser didn't help things. If anything, you triggered him, put more pressure on him. If there was any chance for a negotiation, you just singlehandedly blew it. This guy has his hands on two of our people and whatever evidence they found, so mark my words, he's going to hold onto them until the elections are over, at all cost."