The last time Kate had heard from Rick was two weeks ago, right after he was released from the courtroom as a free man. She had left a voicemail and hoped to get a return voicemail, text, or call, but so far, he was radio silent.
"Beckett, if you keep looking at your phone expecting it to ring it won't - take it from someone who knows."
"That's just it, Lanie - he hasn't contacted me since the day in court when he was cleared. I've been leaving voicemails and text messages for him but he doesn't respond back."
"Kate, I'm afraid that you might have gone a little too far by arresting him for murder when he didn't do it. I think that even though you were only doing your job, he lost all faith in you when you sent Ryan into the interrogation room to get his alibi. It's hard to believe that you wouldn't have gone in to question him in the first place instead of Kevin. By doing this you just blew any kind of chance you had of even being his friend," Lanie said sadly.
Lanie took another sip from her wine glass and set the glass back down on the table. She looked across the table to her friend, who she could tell was torn up over what happened with Rick.
"Kate, I'm not saying that there isn't the outside chance that you might get together with him, but if I were you, I would seriously think about just being his friend for now. The romantic end of what you could have had is probably gone. Hell, I'm not even sure if he wants to be your friend after what I heard."
"Lanie, I just miss him. He made it fun to be at work. I don't know how to get through my day without him." It was then that Kate realized what Lanie had said.
"Wait, what you heard? What do you know, Lanie?" Kate asked, getting up off her knees and almost knocking over her glass of wine.
"I'm not sure, but what I heard could be just a rumor."
"Spill, girl."
"Okay, but this is just a rumor and I don't know if any of it's true."
"All right already, out with it!" Kate insisted.
"LT was down in the morgue checking on a John Doe we just got in, and we started talking about Castle. I was wondering when he was returning and asked LT if he knew anything. He told me that he didn't think that Castle was coming back because of what he overheard between Javi and Kevin."
"What did he hear?"
"He heard Ryan tell Javi that he was going to resign from the job. His reason was that what you and Javi did to Castle was unforgivable in his mind. He was your friend. Kate, you need to know that Ryan finds the integrity in everyone he meets. He is not that quick to judge someone without all the facts. Something that you seem to do without even thinking about who Rick was to you."
"Lanie, I was doing my job. What else was I supposed to do?"
"That's just it, Kate. You have trouble differentiating between what you want to do and what you need to do. LT also said that Ryan wanted to start working for Rick. And Rick agreed that he would be a good fit."
"A good fit at what? He's a cop."
"Correction - was a cop. He did what he said he would do, he resigned. I'm surprised that you weren't informed by Montgomery."
"That's impossible, Lanie! I would have been the first to know. He's on my team."
"Kate, he saw that the grass was greener on the other side. He was the low man on your team. He was working as hard or harder than you and Javi and getting a lower rate of pay and respect for it. Rick offered him a partnership in his P. I. firm. And from what I hear, he's been taking on high profile cases lately. Not the cheating wife or husband cases, or a skip trace trying to track down a bail jumper bullshit; Rick's firm handles kidnappings, high-end thefts, and recently the FBI and NYPD have been using his agency for closing unsolved cold cases. He has a very high closure rate."
"Great, now I've pushed Ryan away too."
"Kate, Ryan just wanted something better and he went for it," Lanie said.
Xx
"Beckett, my office," her captain called out into the bullpen.
Walking towards his office she could tell that whatever he had to say was going to be bad.
"Sir?"
"Come in, Beckett. Have a seat." Kate took a seat and waited.
"Now I've let you run with most of your cases in the past knowing that you'd be a top performer. But this time around I dropped the ball."
"How so, sir?"
"It seems that you had already decided Castle was guilty before you had all the facts. And that hurt us. We not only lost an accomplished investigator in Rick Castle, but we also lost Detective Ryan. He resigned yesterday to go to work for Richard Castle Investigations."
"So it's true then. I thought he was only looking to see what was out there," Kate said sadly.
"He had a better offer, Kate; he believed in someone and didn't waver from what he knew was the truth. From what I've heard through the grapevine, Ryan is pulling down over one hundred and fifty grand a year. And Castle let him buy into the company at an entry level. He owns forty percent of the company with Castle."
"Damn, I really screwed this up."
"That's the least of your problems Kate. Rick filed a wrongful arrest lawsuit against you and Esposito. And he went one step further by adding police brutality, denying him of legal counsel, and denying him medical treatment. You might be able to dismiss the legal counsel and the medical treatment, but the brutality charge won't go away. You're going to need your union rep and a good attorney."
Xx
She stood outside the door to Richard Castle Investigations in Times Square. She could hear both Rick and Kevin talking with Alexis about what must be details on a current case they were working on. At first, she wanted to turn around and leave, but her need for answers got the better of her. She knocked, and it became quiet in the office. Footsteps came closer and she waited for the door to open. Then it did.
"Detective Beckett, what a surprise. What can I do for you?" Rick said, gesturing her into the office with a sweep of his hand.
She walked in and she could see the remains of what must have been lunch sitting on a large round table.
"Am I interrupting anything, Castle?" Kate asked.
"Detective, in this office we use first names only. This is not the NYPD, where it seems that last names are the norm. So again, I ask, what can my agency do for you?"
Kate just stood there not knowing what to say. But finally, she found her voice.
"Rick, I was wondering if we could talk?"
"Kate, the time for talking has long since passed. I was serious when I said that I was done with the NYPD."
"Rick, I went to all the trouble to clear you! I tracked down the man who explained everything to the judge."
"And for that, I will be forever grateful. Thanks for stopping by, Kate." Rick reached for the doorknob to open the door to escort her out when he was interrupted by Kevin.
"Rick, I can go if you want to be alone," Ryan said knowing that they might need privacy.
"No, Kevin, that's fine. Detective Beckett was just about to leave."
"Rick…"
"What is it, Kate?" Rick asked.
"I'm serious, can we talk outside in the hall?" She asked with pleading eyes.
"Kevin, run the financials on the Roberts case while I talk with the detective."
"Okay, Rick." Kevin turned to head back to meet with Alexis to run the program on the Roberts case.
Rick gently closed the front door to the office and waited for Kate to speak.
"Wow, it sounds like you're really busy in there," Kate said, trying to start a conversation.
"Kate, we both know that's not why you're here," Rick said, cutting to the chase.
"Rick, why are you shutting me out?"
"Do you really think that I'd still want to work with someone who didn't have the decency to interview me themselves for an alibi for a murder charge? The second Ryan walked into the interrogation room, I knew right then and there that you lost all respect for our friendship. I can be a forgiving man, but that was just too over the top. You really thought that we'd still be on friendly terms after that?"
"I did. And I also wanted to take you out on a date once this all settled down."
"Kate, I'm sorry to say that will never happen. If you thought that there is any chance for a romantic relationship between us, you've been believing your own lies for way too long. You threw me under the bus, detective. I was charged with capital murder. I could have been executed. I could have left my daughter an orphan, and you want to go on a date? I've met your dates; it's not a group I want to join. The only time I've ever harmed another human was when I was defending you. You'd think that after all we've been through, that would have earned at least a minimal amount of loyalty. But no, you and detective Esposito were like two rabid hounds hot on the scent. Get the annoying, worthless playboy writer at all costs. I can't imagine the circumstances that would lead me to murder your boyfriend, let alone kill your boyfriend, and you should have known that about me."
"I did, Rick! I knew that you could have not done this."
"You have a very funny way of showing it, detective."
Kate knew that he was right, she'd had her doubts about his innocence at the beginning of this case. But did he have to dissolve their partnership?
"If there's nothing else, Detective Beckett, there are matters that I need to attend to."
Kate watched as Rick turned, opened the door, and closed it behind him. She now knew that whatever chance she had to be with him was long gone. She herself turned and left his floor and wondered where it all went wrong…