"I didn't expect you home at all tonight…", Martha said, not bothering to disguise her surprise as she got up from the couch to meet him by the front door.

"Montgomery pretty much threw us out of the bullpen for now…", Castle answered disheartened and dropped his keys and wallet into the porcelain bowl by the kitchen island, "He wants us to sit still while he's digging into some high-end leads."

"By the looks of it, you were doing plenty of that yourself.", with a wily smile, she pointed at his tuxedo, "If I didn't know any better I'd say you were out partying, not looking for your friends."

"Actually, we were doing both, Mother. Ryan and I went to Rick Steward's fundraiser, see if we can get him to spill the beans on Beckett and Esposito."

"Rick Steward? That slimy, two-faced, condescending piece of-"

"Yep, that one…", Castle cut her off and headed for the fridge for a much-needed adult beverage.

"How did Rick Steward kidnap Beckett and Esposito? Richard, he can't even keep the press off his back, much less fool the people into believing that he will actually follow up on his campaign promises. He is overweight and unattractive and insincere and-"

"He didn't do it alone.", Castle continued and reached for a beer, "We believe he hired some secondary security firm and when Beckett and Esposito got too close to him, maybe found something that tied him directly to our murder case, he had that company take them hostage-until the election is over."

"Well, that sounds more like the Rick Steward I remember."

With the grace of a floating lily, Martha brushed past him to reach for an open bottle of Riesling in the refrigerator door.

"Do you think they're ok? Is Steward going to turn this into some sort of hostage exchange? You get your people and in exchange he goes free?"

"I wouldn't put it past him.", Castle growled and took a long sip, then cringed at the bitter taste, "That's why Montgomery is trying to call in some help. He wouldn't tell us whom yet but he was on the phone all day."

Without going into any sort of detail about the disturbing picture, he let his eyes drift to the hardwood floor, feeling utterly defeated. Martha must have sensed his downtrodden mood and gently reached for his upper arm.

"Richard, Beckett is one strong woman. I am sure her and Esposito will be just fine."

"Me too…", Castle said too fast, not believing a single word of it, "But the thought that Steward's game might allow him to walk out of a murder charge…it's nauseating. And instead of doing the dirty work himself, he hired some novelty protection agency who call themselves the Dark Shadows. It doesn't get any more cliché than that if you ask me."

"The Dark Shadows?", Martha repeated, her eyes wide, "You must be mistaken, Richard. The Dark Shadows don't do that sort of work. Jessop would never stand up for it."

"Jessop?"

"Yes, Darling, Jessop Watkins and I happen to know each other…from a very long time ago. He formed the movement. He's a good man with standup values. There's no way that his group would have anything to do with this. They stand for peace…unity."

"Just how well do you know this Jessop Watkins?", Castle pried, completely forgetting about his beer.

"Oh, he and I…let's just say he and I had a little fling going on. Way back. You weren't even born yet and I was in my wild phase."

"Your wild phase?"

"A tad wilder than I am these days, let's just leave it at that."

Swallowing the sip of beer that had gotten stuck in his throat, Castle reached for his cellphone in the back of his jean pocket, then dialed Montgomery's direct line.

"What are you doing now?", Martha interrupted, the half open bottle of wine in her hand, an empty glass in the other.

"I'm calling the Captain to tell him my mother knows the leader of a group we're trying to investigate. If you can talk to Jessop, maybe Jessop can talk to his men and we can convince them to release our people and get Rick Steward indicted."

"Huh.", she began, then poured her wine, intently watching the little bubbles rising to the surface, "Well, Richard, more power to you, but before you talk to him, just be forewarned that he knows me as Olga and that I was the one who broke off the engagement."