Beckett drew in a deep breath, wondering if the latest curveball had the potential to blow a gasket somewhere inside her, pushing her past the edge of her carefully crafted façade of professionalism.
And yet, she forced herself to remain positive, controlled, neutral. Under the circumstances, this could lead to the case break they had been waiting on all along.
"Mrs. Steward, can I offer you any coffee or water?"
The blonde woman sitting across from her in the interrogation room shook her head feebly, hands clenching the expensive leather purse sitting in her lap, eyes barely rising high enough to acknowledge her.
Beckett and Castle sat down in sync across from her, both of their expressions unreadable, although Kate was dying to find out why Richard Steward's wife had decided to visit the bullpen considering the peculiar situation her husband was in.
Before she could casually ask just what exactly had brought her here, the other woman cleared her throat, a thin layer of perspiration forming on her rounded cheeks and forehead.
"I want you to know that at the time…I had no idea what he was doing. Well, not no idea. I knew he saw other women. I even knew that he saw Shelley, but I had no idea that she'd been murdered. I guess…I guess I wanted to ignore that...that inconvenient truth for the sake of the elections. Rick has never been closer to a Senate seat. All those years of working for the public, all the speeches and fundraisers, all the pleas for support have finally come to fruition."
"Mrs. Steward, a young woman is dead.", Beckett reiterated, surprised when she saw her flinch, "And I have a detective in the hospital thanks to those thugs your husband hired as his undercover security detail."
"I had no idea this was going on…", she said defensively and clenched her purse tighter, "At least not until he had you guys taken away. I was there when it happened, he just didn't know. He thought I was upstairs but I came down to check on the laundry when I heard…the commotion. I apologize for what happened to you and the other officer. My heart aches for your pain and suffering."
Unsure if she heard correctly, Beckett glanced over at Castle, his surprised expression mirroring hers.
If they could manage to have her testimony held up in court, there was Strike 1.
"Excuse me, Mrs. Steward, just to clarify, you saw me and my partner getting beat up by your husband and his security guards?"
With a faint nod, she bit her lower lip for a second, then glanced back up.
"Just the end of it. The other officer was Hispanic, with short, black hair, wasn't he? Once I saw you getting dragged out of the backdoor, I ran back upstairs, pretending to fold our fitted sheets when Rick came to check on me. He acted like he wanted to feel me out, figure out if I saw or heard anything but I pretended to have been busy for the better part of an hour."
Beckett felt her palms getting sweaty, that predatorial instinct surfacing that was always there when she sensed the truth nearby.
"You do realize what you are saying here, Mrs. Steward? You are accusing your husband of assault and battery on a police officer? And kidnapping. And impending a murder investigation?"
With a sad smile, she shook her head and let out a sorrowful groan as tears began to well up in her eyes.
"You forgot to add murder, Detective Beckett. Until I learned about this girls'…Shelley's murder, I didn't make the connection to that night. I thought that her and Rick had too much to drink when he dragged her out of the bedroom with one of the guards. I was in the guestroom when I heard it so I peeked through the door. He thought I'd taken my sleeping meds but I'd been reading and wasn't ready for sleep yet. That evening I saw him drag her down the hallway is the same evening that the press said she was killed."
And there was Strike Two.
Feeling the heart in her chest hammer with excitement, Beckett leaned back, fully aware of the bombshell that had been dropped in her lap.
Next to her, Castle moved nervously, intrigued by the development and remaining stoically silent, too afraid that a question from his side might impede the free flow of valuable information coming at them.
"I begged and I prayed that I would be wrong, that this was all just one giant misunderstanding…but in the end, I just…I can't stay quiet any longer."
"Mrs. Steward, are you willing to testify in court to everything you just told me?"
Licking her dry lips, the other woman moved a shaky hand into her purse, then retrieved a small plastic bag containing the stocking strap clasp they had lost during the fight in Steward's bedroom.
Strike Three.
Unable to stop her jaw from dropping wide open, Beckett sucked in a deep breath when Mrs. Steward cleared her throat.
"I am willing to testify in court to everything I just told you, including the fact that I found this beneath the bed after the fight I witnessed. But it has to happen after the elections."