Chapter XXVI

Manhattan, NY

Once Beckett suspected that the break-in at Captain Montgomery's house could be related to her mother's murder, everything else was forgotten and her laser-like focus was devoted one-hundred and ten percent to the case.

Castle didn't mention their movie date or the Chinese take-out anymore. There was no point.

He had a hard time dragging her out of the precinct before midnight. She hadn't wanted to come to his place because it was so late, because she still didn't have a permanent change of clothes there, and that made him realize it was one more thing they needed to rectify.

So he went to spend the night at her place, and as exhausted as they were, neither of them slept much. Or talked about the elephant in the room. About what it meant if she was going to pursue this. Because so far they weren't really sure if there was a solid connection.

So Castle just held on to her, and she let him, and tonight that was enough.

In the short time that she did doze off, he stared up into the ceiling and thought of the eerie meeting they had in that underground garage all those months ago with the mysterious Mr. Smith.

The old man's words bounced around in his brain in an endless loop.

"….there's one caveat; you have to stand down. You have to stop investigating her murder."

"If you don't stop, they'll kill you. If you don't stop, the file isn't enough."

What if he was telling the truth? What if this would bring the sniper back?

They both got up at the crack of dawn. If there weren't a steady stream of tension thrumming through both their bodies, they probably wouldn't have had sex in the shower. But there was, and so they did.

And when Kate turned off the water, Castle grabbed the biggest bath towel she had and he pulled her body in close to his, wishing he could keep her in that cocoon for the rest of the day.

"Let's not go in," he whispered, feeling the pounding of her heart against his chest. "Let's draw a bath and make out all day."

Beckett's lips lifted into a smile and she kissed him with that familiar tenderness that always made him love her a little more. That soft, gentle part of her that wasn't for public consumption but reserved only for him.

"Today will be a good day," she whispered, planting a tender kiss just below his ear.

"I wish I had your certainty."

"It'll either be a big step towards getting justice for my mother, or it'll be one more case we have to solve, that's all."

Of course that wasn't all. They both knew it.

"You're different than you've been the last couple of weeks." He wouldn't let go of her just yet. He still wanted to talk about this and they were so goddamn early anyway. "Tell me what it was, because I don't want to lose this again."

Her eyes darkened, from golden grey to brown, as they always did when she went from happy to serious. "There is something I do want to talk about but not now. Not today."

"But soon. Please."

"Yeah…" She rested her head against his chest, wet hair against wet skin. How was it possible that they were both so tired when the day hadn't even started yet? "We will. We have to."

Her words sent a shiver up his spine and suddenly her body heat was not enough to keep him warm. "Are we okay?"

A pair of sleepy eyes looked up at him. "I love you, Rick. Whatever happens today won't change that."

He kissed her forehead. "Gonna hold you to that."

She closed her eyes as her lips rose in a smile. "Please do. Now can you please unwrap me so we can get this done?"

He dropped the towel and used both hands to cup her face and give her a real kiss.

Then he dried off and went to make them breakfast to go. Two croissants stuffed with cheese and turkey and tomato slices, while Kate fixed her hair and make-up.

It was his way of making up for the foreboding sense of helplessness that he couldn't shake. Things were spiralling out of control, but at least he could make sure she had enough calories to compensate for the lunch she was no doubt going to skip.

12th Precinct, NYC

For once he desperately wished that all his instincts and gut feelings were wrong. But instead they were even more accurate than he feared.

He'd been cautiously optimistic after they arrested a gang leader for Orlando Costas's murder. The guy was not only in the alley during their time-of-death window but he was also the last person Costas had called before his death.

But then forensics came back with DNA evidence that cleared the thug, and made Castle feel like he was falling back into an abyss. It was like watching her drown in the Hudson all over again, except this time his hands were tied.

The DNA evidence they found was linked to only one other crime scene and it wasn't Johanna Beckett's murder, it was Kate's shooting.

"DNA confirms that the man who killed Orlando Costas in that alley," Esposito told Beckett somberly, "was the same man who put a bullet in your heart."

Even Kate, who hadn't wanted to sit down after nearly getting run over by a car, had to find a seat after that announcement.

If Castle didn't know her as well as he did, he would have thought that she took the news with surprising calm. But appearances were deceptive. Truth was, she was barely holding it together.

"Eleven months with no leads, and now this?" she asked them. "Does Gates know?"

Esposito shook his head. "No."

"Then we don't tell her. If she finds out this is a match to my shooting, she'll take me off the case."

"Maybe you should be off the case," Castle pointed out. Of course it was more than a suggestion. Every fibre of his being wanted to drag her out of this precinct right now and lock her up in a nuclear bunker for the foreseeable future.

She looked at him incredulously. "No. I've been waiting nearly a year for this. I'll be damned if I let someone else screw it up."

She got up, pulled herself together, and walked out of the room with determination, ready for battle.

Meanwhile, Castle searched her partners' faces and it was clear where they stood with one look at them. Ryan was as apprehensive and uneasy about it all as Castle was, but Esposito was ready to follow her into battle without hesitation.

They had to find out who hired Orlando to break into Montgomery's place. It was that simple. If they found the source of the money, they'd find out who killed him and who'd tried to kill Beckett. They were all connected.

So the boys followed the money trail and Beckett went back to put pressure on the gang leader. Castle didn't like the fact that she decided to talk to him alone in his holding, with no cameras or recording devices present. But she'd decided that was her only chance of getting anything out of him.

Castle had morbid visions in his head, of the tattooed thug jumping her and breaking her neck after she asked one too many questions, but what he didn't expect was a call just as he was washing his heads in the precinct bathroom.

He pulled out his phone with his wet hands. Saw that it came from an unknown number. "Who is this?"

"We have a problem. If she doesn't stop, they will retaliate. I can't control the situation."

It was Smith. The man whose voice he'd heard only once before in an underground garage nearly six months ago.

Down in the holding cells, Beckett held a dubious five-year sentence over the gang-leader's head and that's what finally made him spill about Orlando's last call.

It led them to discover that Orlando's wife had lied about not knowing anything. She knew about the money he'd been paid for the break-in.

So they dragged her back into the precinct, just after she'd cleared out their joint account and was about to make a run for it with her young son.

Castle joined Beckett in the interrogation room, and it showed him a side of the woman he loved that he'd never seen before. A cold, steely determination that didn't care about anything but results.

Costas's wife hadn't budged in the first fifteen minutes or so. She kept denying that she knew anything about the origins of the money.

Meanwhile, Beckett was relentless, and she was starting to play dirty. Good writer, bad cop. She was shamelessly using the only leverage she had. The woman's young son.

And as soon as she saw that she'd hit the right button, she pressed it hard.

"Do you know what's gonna happen if you don't cooperate? You're gonna go to jail and your kid's gonna go to foster care. Is that what you want?"

Because he was a father, this was one tactic that rubbed him the wrong way. "Beckett…"

"Marco on the streets and enlisted by the Casadores by age ten, like his father. Dead in the gutter at nineteen!"

Costas's wife lashed back out at her, tears in her eyes. Terrified that she might be right.

Fuck. This was cruel.

"Beckett. That's enough…" He couldn't listen to this anymore.

But…it worked.

"Orlando said it was someone he knew!" His wife spat out. "Someone from the service."

She kept insisting that that's all she knew, but Beckett kept pushing and it led to the woman remembering a place where Orlando had met this contact. A church in Harlem.

It wasn't much but it was something.

While the boys were still digging into the financial trail, Castle went to the church with Beckett and they talked to the priest. He didn't remember seeing anything but then Beckett spied a broken donation box and the priest said something about catching the thieves who kept stealing from it.

Beckett saw an opportunity. "How do you catch them?"

Turned out there was a camera in the church. It was angled at the donation box, however in order to walk into some of the pews, you had to pass by it. So they took it back to the 12th and started combing through footage, until they found Orlando Costas meeting with this military buddy.

There he was, stepping from a pew, and just like that they had him! The guy Orlando was meeting with turned his head as he walked out of the church and looked straight into the camera.

"So that's what you look like," Castle heard Beckett whisper.

It made him shudder. He couldn't imagine what it must feel like, to finally put a face to the man who'd put a bullet in your heart.

Esposito wanted to run the photo in order to get an ID, but Beckett shut that down quick. She insisted that he was far too connected for that. That if they ran his photo he'd disappear for good and they'd never find him again. Much like their well-connected stalker.

Although he wanted her to stand down, Castle couldn't disagree with that.

Ryan didn't agree either, but once again he was outvoted.

Lower East Side, NYC

Beckett decided to go back to her place, not because it was getting late, which it was, but because that's where she kept her own personal murder board. That's where she had a pile of files and papers related to her mother's murder and she suspected there might be something in them that she'd missed, some connection to her own shooter, even though she'd combed through them a thousand times.

Castle figured it was a futile search, but he wasn't going to stop her. Not that anything or anyone could stop her at this point.

By the time they were back at her place, he was starving and he'd taken the liberty of ordering some Chinese food just as Beckett got a call from Esposito.

A small victory smile danced on her lips when she ended the call. "Espo caught the guy holding a keychain in the video. He was able to make out a car rental company logo on it. It's a needle in a haystack but it's a start. We're gonna get him."

Castle's stomach lurched at the thought and he suddenly lost his appetite for the delivery he'd ordered.

Maybe she wouldn't listen, but he had to at least try.

"Kate…you have to stop."

She gave him a puzzled look. "What's wrong?"

"This investigation. You have to stop."

"What are you talking about?"

"I got a call today. When you were in the holding cell with that thug."

"A call?"

"From Smith."

"Who?"

"The man who warned you in the underground garage."

She took a step towards him, looking at him in disbelief. "You got a call from this Mr. Smith today and you didn't tell me?"

Castle swallowed. This wasn't starting off well. "I was in the bathroom at the precinct, the call lasted maybe ten seconds, and you were with that gangster, grilling him in the holding cell."

"We could have traced the call!"

This time he gave her a look of disbelief. "Do you think for one second he'd have contacted me on a traceable number?"

She put her hands on her hips. "So what…he told you to tell me to back off and now you're passing on the message? Is that it?"

"You said it yourself today, these guys are well connected. There's a powerful network behind your shooter, this isn't some random lunatic you can catch and lock up. If you don't stop they will kill you."

She looked like she wanted to strangle him. "You've got to be kidding me right now. Do you really expect me to back down because some random stranger, who's too much of a coward to show his face or his real name, calls you and tells you to have me back off? You do realize he's probably working with these guys, right?'

Castle tightened his lips. "What I realize is that these guys already put a bullet in your heart. I see the scars every time we make love and I think it's a miracle that you're still here. Miracles don't happen twice. I've already watched you nearly die twice…I can't do it again."

"Castle, don't…"

But he wouldn't let her finish. "This case…it changes you. I saw that today. I saw you jeopardizing your career by keeping vital information from your captain. You don't even care that your partners are risking their jobs too. It's like I don't recognize you anymore. I watched you badger a mother in the interrogation room by threatening to take her child away from her. This isn't a case, Kate. It's a personal crusade…where you're willing to risk everything and anything and for what? Revenge? It won't bring her back, you know."

Anger flashed in her eyes. "So what exactly is it that you expect me to do?"

"I love you, Kate. And if you that means anything to you, if you care about us at all…please stop this before…"

"No," she cut him off this time, glaring at him even though her eyes were moist. "You do not get to do this. Solving this case is why I became a cop. Long before I met you. You loving me and me loving you, it doesn't mean you get to treat me like some…child. Do you think that because you've created a fictional character based on me that now you get to write my story too? I'm not Nikki Heat, Rick. You don't get to decide. This is my life and it's my decision."

"If you don't stop this, they'll decide. They'll come for you, Kate."

"Let them come. This sniper isn't the first person they've sent after me, and I'm still here. Still standing. I'm ready."

Castle shook his head incredulously, "Ready for what? This isn't a murder investigation anymore. It's a war."

"If they want a war, then I'll bring them a war. Straight to their doorsteps." She exhaled and moved to her door. Opened it. "I thought I had a partner this time, but it looks I was wrong."

Castle didn't understand.

"You need to leave, Rick."

He shook his head. "No…"

"I can't have you with me on this case, if you're going to sabotage it 'cause you can't stand to see me getting hurt."

"I'm not leaving. You're not doing this on your own…"

"Yes," her voice was ice cold. "You are. You made it very clear tonight that I am doing this on my own."

"Kate…"

"Get out, Rick." Her voice was ice cold. "I'm not gonna ask again."

He stared at her in shock. She was kicking him out and he stupidly still wanted to grab her and run off somewhere, far away. He was willing to bear all of her ire and fury if that's what it took to make sure she didn't end up six feet under.

But she was right, of course. He didn't have any say in this. No matter how much he loved her, or how much this was breaking his heart. She wasn't a child.

He turned around and walked out of her apartment without another word.

And he desperately hoped that he was wrong. That this wouldn't be the last time he saw her alive.