never cool down love - Chapter Four
He's not trying to snoop – okay, he is trying to snoop, but not for anything other than more information on what makes Kate Beckett tick (and that's more of an ongoing mission instead of a singular event, really). He loves a good mystery (he loves her) and even after this long, she is still a beautiful mystery – but the stack of notes he finds on her desk stops him in his tracks.
Page after page of ominous words, making thinly veiled threats. He doesn't understand them at all, but the tone alone makes the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He has read enough of his fan mail to know when a letter is empty words and when it isn't and these… these are not empty words. These are threats.
"Castle, did you fi-"
He jolts, holding the papers to his chest as he spins around. He had showed up at her apartment with thoughts on the case, pulling her into a discussion which turned into a theory building session – complete with her insistence that he look for her case notes on her desk. Instead he had found something else.
Beckett's eyes narrow. "Castle?"
"I…" he starts. "I got distracted. On the desk, you said? I was looking but I didn't see-"
"Distracted by what?"
"Um."
He looks down at the bundle in his hands. "Just… thinking. Thinking about Halloween this year. You know, I didn't even start decorating until yest-"
She strides closer, yanking the papers from his hands and reaching around him to lift the notebook off the desktop and press it to his chest. "This is what you were looking for. You've seen it a hundred times."
He nods, swiping his tongue over his lips. "What's going on, Kate?" he asks.
"You supposedly had a breakthrough and spoiled my quiet evening drinking wine and reading a book," she drawls. "And then you decided to go through my desk and my personal things."
Any other time he might let it go, but having read at least a few of the letters, he has to know. If this is about her mother's case – if she's investigating and this is someone's attempt at getting her to back off… he needs to know. "That's not what I'm talking about."
Beckett ignores him, putting the papers back into a cream-colored folder and shoving it haphazardly underneath a book of plays he'd loaned her a year and a half ago. She points to the dining room. "Food's here. Take my notebook inside and get started."
"Beckett," he tries again, following her when she turns on her heel and leaves. "Beckett, those are threats. Why are you getting threats?"
"They're not threats, Castle," she says automatically, not even looking back. "They're some stupid prank, some idiot spewing nonsense that sounds tough. Nothing to be worried about."
He doesn't believe that. If it were nothing to be worried about, she would've just thrown the notes away and never looked back. If it were just a prank, she wouldn't have kept them in a file on her desk. She's an investigator, through and through, and she knows to document everything, including the possible escalation of things like this.
"Hey," she calls after a moment, her voice softer. "It's nothing to be worried about, Castle."
Rick studies her face as he closes the distance between them, taking in the clarity in her eyes, the hint of color in her cheeks. She cocks her head, allowing her lips to lift at the corners.
"I mean it," she insists, reaching out to touch his arms. "This is… just some stupid thing."
"You'd tell me if it's not? If there were anything to worry about? If it were about a case?" he adds, trying to sound casual about the last part.
"It's not about a case," she assures. "It's…" her voice grows soft. "There's nothing to worry about."
He's not sure he believes her about that last part, not after what he'd read, but at least he's convinced that whatever this is, it's not about her mom's case.
He just isn't sure if that makes it better or worse, but it puts him on the alert, that's for sure.
There's no mistaking the look on her face when they step up to a crime scene the next day, though. The wash of horror that floods her features and drains the blood from her face.
He turns to look at the body, studying the victim for anything that would cause this reaction in his partner but all he sees is a man, pale and broken, lying sprawled on the pavement. Castle doesn't recognize him, doesn't see any reason Beckett would recognize him, but he sees her swallow hard and straighten her shoulders. Her professional mask slides back in place a moment later and she turns to her fellow detectives and Perlmutter, nodding for them to begin.
"What do you have for me?"
Castle listens with half an ear, using the time to survey the area. The alley isn't as dirty as some that he's been in for a body drop and he mostly attributes that to the fact that there are shops on either side instead of restaurants. Then again, it's not exactly a paradise either, given that there's a dead body beside the recycling bins.
Nothing that would explain Beckett's horror, though. She sees worse almost daily, in fact. But today something is different, something has her rattled.
She covers it well, but he's in tune with the Beckett tells; the way she brushes her hair behind her ear as she thinks, the thin line she has pressed her lips into while Perlmutter speaks. She's preoccupied, barely listening, and he sees the way her eyes keep skimming the victim's body, looking for something.
After a minute, she nods, thanking Perlmutter for his time. To Ryan and Esposito, she adds, "Take a ride to his place; if nobody's home, start running down a next of kin to make the notification. Castle and I will look around here."
Ryan and Esposito share a look. Their surprise isn't necessarily unwarranted; usually Beckett makes the home visit and notification. They nod, though, turning to leave.
"Meet you back at the precinct, boss."
Beckett nods in return, moving toward the far end of the alley. Castle follows, keeping his eyes on her this time.
"Do you know him?" he asks once they're far enough away from the NYPD contingent. "Beckett, do you know the guy?"
Although her body is angled away from him, he can see the hesitation in her movement, in the stutter of her steps, the quick rise of her chest.
"No," she says after a moment. It's unconvincing, and he moves closer into her space.
"What is it then?"
She shakes her head. "It's nothing."
"It isn't nothing," he argues, narrowing his eyes as she avoids looking his way. Something has her spooked and whatever it is, he's going to figure it out. "You usually do the family notifications. Why'd you send Ryan and Esposito?"
Beckett exhales. "I just wanted to look around here a little more, see if there was anything I could spot. It's a change of pace, Castle. Fresh eyes."
That would be convincing enough if not for the way she doesn't meet his gaze. The way she flits from one doorway to another, checking the concrete. Her tongue slips over her lip in absentminded thought.
"Detective Beckett?"
They turn to find one of the young Unis waiting a few feet away, holding out a folded piece of paper.
"Dr. Perlmutter found this during his examination."
Beckett slips gloves over her hands, flexing her fingers carefully before taking the paper and unfolding it. Castle watches her eyes flit over the page, watches the way her jaw clenches, and steps forward to read it, too.
A familiar nondescript message greets him. It's the same font that he'd read on the pages in Beckett's apartment, the same paper too, he'd guess.
You're going to pay. You, and everyone you've made.
That is a threat. He waits until she re-folds the paper and hands it back to the Uni with instructions to bag it before turning to her. Questions spring to the tip of his tongue, but he manages to keep them at bay while they have an audience.
"Tell me, Kate," he insists, holding up a hand when she opens her mouth to protest. "It's something, I know. Tell me everything."
Her lips purse and her eyes lift skyward in thought, weighing her options. "Not here," she says finally. "Not here."