Shattered Lies

Chapter 3

"You've got a little…," Rick points to the corner of his mouth.

Kate dabs at her lips with a napkin. "Did I get it?"

Rick reaches across the table and touches his index finger to her cheek. "I got it. I've never seen you put that much ketchup on a burger before."

"I must have squeezed the bottle too hard. It just came out."

"Artist that you normally are in the box, you're usually in better control than that. Maddy shook you, didn't she?"

"I guess. I don't think I even realized what I was doing until Maddy threw it in my face, and I said it out loud to you."

"Introspection over excessive condiments, I suppose that's progress."

"Castle don't push it. OK?"

"All right, for now at least. So, how soon before you get Wolf's financials?'

"They should be in sometime tomorrow morning."

"And what are you going to do to while away the time in between?"

"I thought I'd sleep."

Castle's eyebrows shoot up.

"Alone, Castle. Closing my eyes. Going to dreamland."

Castle downs the last bite of his burger and pulls bills out of his wallet to cover his part of the check. "Well, in that case, Beckett, sweet dreams."

Kate punches her pillow and checks her father's watch. 2 a.m. Sweet dreams! Fat chance! "You like Castle. You want to make little Castle babies," has been barging its way around inside her mind ever since Maddy proclaimed it. Kate's pretty sure she doesn't want to make Castle babies - or anyone's - at least not right now, maybe not ever. She can't even consider it until she gets the man who paid Coonan to kill her mother. She fingers her upper arm. Her implant is taking care of that.

Wanting Castle, that's something else. She used to run her fingers over his picture on the back of his book jackets, and for the 12 seconds they talked at his book signing, she thought she'd never met a more charming man. But his feet had rapidly turned to clay when they worked that first case. He was like a man-child, impulsive, reckless, and defiant. And yet, without him, she would have sent an innocent man to jail. Castle is a walking contradiction, a brat one moment, a caring father the next. She can simultaneously adore him and want to punch his face in. No, not that face, but whacking him over the head with a case file when his theories get too annoying could be very satisfying. Smacking him on his firm, well-rounded ass could be even better. God no!

She rechecks the watch. It's two minutes later than the last time she looked. This isn't getting her anywhere. She kicks back the sheets and blanket. Maybe a hot bath will help, but she sure as hell, won't be taking "Naked Heat" into the tub with her.

Castle regards his poster of Linus, barely visible in the city lights leaking into his bedroom. "Hey, Buddy. You're king of the jungle. You're supposed to be able to handle a whole harem of lionesses. What do you think I should do about just one named Kate Beckett? She's been keeping me at a distance for almost two years and now. I don't know. Maybe I have a chance, and maybe I don't. If she doesn't even know what she wants, how can I give it to her?

"Yeah, you don't know either. She's the most remarkable, stubborn, frustrating, infuriating woman I've ever met and I think I might love her. Damn, I can't lie to my totem. I've loved her since she pushed her badge in my face at my book party. I thought maybe I just had to be patient and keep myself in the picture and she'd come around eventually. Maybe she will. Damn! Of course, she will. She has to because I don't know what I'll do if she doesn't."

Kate scans the figures on a printout. "It looks like Maddy was right. Wolf habitually maxed out his credit cards but occasionally paid them down in a chunk."

Castle taps a page. "Same with his bank account. He drains it practically to the last cent but then at seemingly random times, probably when he picks a winner, has an infusion of cash. But Beckett, he had a winner pretty recently. It doesn't look like he was in trouble. Where did he stand on his cards?"

"He had some room."

"So if he had the cash to pay, why would a bookie kill him? You can't get money from a dead man, and it's not a claim that could be made against his estate - what there is of it."

"Yeah. And that would bring us back to Maddy, except that I checked her phone. She did get a call while she was at the banquet and Ryan and Esposito interviewed her serving staff. She was in the front of the house. She couldn't have killed Wolf."

"Which leaves us back at square one."

"Except for Perlmutter. We can see what he claims in his report before we bring Dr. Murray in."

"Got a cause of death, Perlmutter?" Castle inquires.

"I would have thought that would have been obvious to you at the scene, Castle, or did you expect the victim to thaw out and wake up like some Iceman?"

"So it's conclusive that the liquid nitrogen froze him to death?" Kate presses. "No other causes?"

"Detective, is your proximity to Castle dulling your brain? That's what I said. It's in my report, along with the beginnings of damage to Wolf's liver, possibly stemming from too much appreciation of fine wine, and also the fact that his arteries were too occluded for a man of his age. If someone hadn't killed him, he was slowly killing himself." Perlmutter hands her a folder. "Here. You have it. You two can leave now, especially you, Castle."

"Even grouchier than usual, and that takes some doing," Castle notes as he and Kate climb the stairs from the morgue. "He's hiding something, something big, Beckett."

"That's still conjecture. We'll find out when Dr. Murray gets here."

"We'll find out about Wolf's COD. But what about Perlmutter? Maybe we should look at his financials."

"Castle, I can't just request the financials of a medical examiner."

"There are other ways to get them, Beckett, at least starting with a credit check. Morey, my business manager, runs them all the time on people who come to him with one proposition or another for something they want me to invest in. I could get him to run Perlmutter."

"I'm pretty sure that's not legal without permission or a good reason, Castle. Perlmutter could sue."

"Wanting to buy something is a reason, and Perlmutter wants us to buy his story."

"Castle, that's thin."

"But you didn't say you didn't want me to ask Morey to do it. Besides, I'll bet my lawyer could kick the butt of anyone Perlmutter could hire. And if Perlmutter has something to hide, he wouldn't dare make a peep, to the court or anyone else. I'm willing to take the risk. So, shall I have Morey run the check or not?"

Kate pushes her hair behind her ear. "Go ahead. And if there's a question, I'll back you up."

"Nice to know."