"I am pretty sure I told you to go home."
There was no patience left in Montgomery's voice as he watched Castle step off the elevator, his mother in tow, heading straight for the Captain's office.
"I tried to call you but you were on the phone. You're going to want to hear what we have to say.", Castle countered confidently, then made room for Martha to enter the office, causing Montgomery to raise his eyebrows.
"As if the situation isn't bad enough, you're dragging your mother into this now?", the Captain scoffed, before standing up to shake hands with his newest visitor.
"My mother…might actually be able to help us out here. You see, she used to date one Jessop Watkins, aka founder of the Dark Shadows."
For a brief moment, Montgomery seemed to think he was joking and froze in his spot. Then, slowly, his eyes widened.
"You have got to be kidding me?"
"No joking around in such matters, Captain. Martha Rogers at your service here.", Martha interrupted and sat down in one of the two guest chairs, "I am not proud of it but it is true. Jessop and I met after one of my theatre performances. He's big into fine arts, as you should know. So he and I spent the summer together."
"Tell him about the part where he knows you as Olga and you broke off the engagement, Mother…", Castle prodded, causing her to gesture dismissively.
"Times were different back then, Darling, and I wasn't ready for the type of commitment Jessop sought. His love was too strong, too passionate for a young and upcoming artist like myself and…is that…is that the picture Richard was talking about on the way here?"
With the shadow of deep worry clouding her features, Martha pointed at the large printout laying on Montgomery's desk, the Captain nodding somberly.
"My, this is just awful. Why would they…why would they do anything like this? Poor Beckett and Esposito."
"Let's get back to your relationship with Jessop, please…", Montgomery urged impatiently, his eyes meeting Castle's as he subtly slid the image underneath his inbox.
"Well, I lied about my name, told him it was Olga, not thinking that this…this fling was going to go anywhere. That was until he proposed one summer night…"
"And you said yes…", the Captain nudged, just to see her nod.
"I did it…more out of shock than anything at the time. And the more I thought about it, the more I knew this would never work out. By the time fall came around and my theatre schedule kept me busy, I decided to break up. Naturally, Jessop wasn't happy about it but I think he understood."
"And you think after all this time Jessop would be willing to do…what exactly?"
Upon Montgomery's deep frown, Castle shrugged, then pointed at the nearby office phone.
"Watkins is the leader of the Dark Shadows. If we can convince him that his group, his…his mission is being tarnished by Steward, he might be able to pull his people back and in turn release Beckett and Esposito. After all, Steward has them do things that go against what the Dark Shadows supposedly stand for. And Mother here might just have the inside angle it takes to pull this off. What do you say?"