Sorry for the long time between updates. I am usually better than this
BUT
Another story has invaded my brain and I have been working getting it committed to paper...or rather to electrons so I can come beck here full time
Don't get too excited about this other story...it is NOT a part of my "Murder In The..." series
In fact this other story is fulled with angst and angst is something I normally don't do. We will have to see how my current story goes and if I can keep the other story at bay for a while
So for today. Here is a little more fun.
P.S. we will have murder real soon or I will have to change the title here
After Agent Fallon leaves the station Beckett is obviously upset by the recent information
"Boss, he is right" Esposito begins "There is no real crime here. At least not one we have jurisdiction over"
Rick has not seen his wife's eyes this hard in a long time. He is so glad she is not directing the frustration at him "You are so cute when you're angry"
She cuts her eyes at him
"But not when you're angry at me though"
A small softness appears on her face
"Love, he is right you know" Castle rarely uses pet names on her at the office so she knows he is truly concerned about her level of disgust and wanting to bring her back to reality
She looks back at the white board "I know. It's just this case had so many possibilities"
Kevin is trying to find a way to stay involved "Hey boss, he did damage a bridge here in the city. That is damage to public property. Someone owes the City of New York for repairs" he points at the crime scene photographs indicating several bent and broken steel beams
"Yeah but I don't think we are going to find out who owes us the money" Beckett remarks "so let's just pull this case from our active cases and drop it into the unsolved file. We can revisit it when time allows between other more serious crimes"
"Like a Zombie attack?" Castle is looking at Kate with a twinkle in his eyes so she knows he is just trying to make her laugh
She pokes his arm gently and nods her head
She then looks back to the desk phone "I will call the commissioner's office see if he has anything he wants us to work on, specifically"
Esposito takes a picture of the evidence hanging then starts pulling the documents attached to the magnetic board
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
The next morning Beckett gets a phone call from the commissioner telling her that the team has been assigned to a jewelry robbery…only problem is there is no evidence of a robbery. No break in's. There are no security camera proof of theft. No missing shipments, just a fairly large loss of diamonds over the course of several years. So they are looking at embezzlement and the jewelery store owner is a good frient of the commissioner
The lead from the robbery division is an old nemesis of Richard Castle…Tom Demming. Now in charge of the robbery unit
When Kate gets the call she has just finished breakfast with her husband who is sitting just a few feet from her. He can hear the call from the speaker as Kate takes notes
After she hangs up from the call Castle comments "So Tom Demming huh?"
Demmng had married Laura, an officer from vice, that he had worked with several years ago. They have two children very close in ages to Jimmy and Alicia. He has also reached the rank of Captain of the Robbery unit
Kate pokes her husband on the arm and smiles at him "Are you still wanting to go there?"
"No, but it is fun poking that bee's nest sometimes" he laughs back at her
"If our kids were not in the same school and we didn't see him and his wife at the parents meetings all the time it would not be so funny"
"True" Castle responds "Tell Tom I said hi"
"I will" Kate takes her gun, puts it on her hip, grabs her bag, and before she heads for the door "I hope you can come by later
"Me too"
She leans into Rick's lips and gives him a quick kiss "Love you babe"
"Back at ya"
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
At the precinct Kate walks up to the team only to find Tom Deming standing next to the desks of Ryan and Esposito. He has his phone out and pointing to pictures of his children just like Rick does
"You and Castle are both dorks" Beckett remarks as she steps up to the team
"Hey Beckett" Tom responds to her remark "your husband is proud of your kids too HUH?"
"Yeah we are" she looks at the phone in Tom's hands "Good looking family"
Thanks" he responds "I hear your group drew the short straw on this case"
"You think this case is punishment?" Beckett asks
"I think it is something other than a simple theft and having your group takeover is actually a treat for me. It this lets my team focus on real cases, you know? Robberies"
"Funny Tom" Kate remarks
Tom reaches out with a flash drive "This is everything we have digitized. The hard files will be up later"
She takes the memory stick drive from him "Thanks Tom. We will let you know how fast we solve this one for you"
"Sure Captain. I will let your team dig into this one" he steps to walk away "Oh I am supposed to tell you that Brie and Tom junior are going to the same camp next week with your two"
"I'll let Castle know" Kate responds as Deming enter the elevator
Ryan has opened the flash drive brought to them by Tom and loaded it on his computer while Esposito has the box containing the hard copies and is carrying it to the conference room.
Esposito and Beckett have just finished pulling out all the evidence and spread it out on the table in the conference room and they can now begin their investigation starting where the robbery team stopped but Beckett tells him that they will start over fresh with new eyes.
Ryan has finished sorting the files by date so they can see if the theft occurs during a progressive time line
The three have been working silently for several hours going over the exact same lines that robbery had already covered. As of this time they had not moved any farther ahead from earlier
Just as they are all quietly digging into the files the sound of the elevator bell draws Kate to look in the direction of the sound and sees an image reminiscent from times gone bye.
Richard Castle walking toward the desks carrying a cardboard box with four coffees and a sack of pastries
"Hey Castle" Ryan remarks as the man approaches the area
"Hey guys, I brought coffee" then he looks at his wife
Javier remarks "It's been awhile"
Rick smiles and gets her to smile in return "Too long actually"
Kate slides her little finger across her husband's hand as she takes her cup "Thank you"
"Always" Castle looks up at the board "What have we got here?"
Kate answers "We have a crime and you had babysitting duties…OH wait! This time you left Alicia in charge?"
"How did you know?" then he pulls back quickly protecting his ears "No. Your dad wanted to take them to Coney Island, so I got to come here and see if I can solve ant crimes for you"
As Ryan takes a large drink from the cardboard cup Esposito remarks "good luck with that" We have been staring at files and videos for hours"
Castle puts the carrier down "What kind of video?" he looks at the large wall mounted display screen
"Security video from the jewelry store" Ryan answers "We have watched hours of compressed files. There we see no customers with access to the jewelry cases without an employee within reach to stop any theft"
Beckett continues "and I have been looking for a clerk with sticky fingers pocketing any items. Everyone seems to be honest"
Looking at the multiple screen images on the computer from the front door to back door and everything in between, Castle notices that one of the cameras is located looking at the jeweler's bench
"Did you check out the jeweler?"
Esposito answer that question "We have seen no rings or necklaces being pocketed. Anyway they inventory all the items"
Rick leans in closer to the screen "They don't inventory the raw diamonds. Do they?"
Kate looks at her husband "Why?"
Castle points at the jeweler's fingers. "It appears that he is taking raw diamonds off of the bench"
Esposito and Ryan both get up and look closer to the screen "WHAT?"
All four are now crowded around the display. They watch as the jeweler is working on a new ring and as he sets diamonds into the ring mount, the raw gems are on the bench for him to select from. He seems to have something sticky on his finger and simply touches the pile of gems and several unaccounted for stones stick to his finger inside the crook of the second knuckle of his little finger
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
After arriving home and having dinner with the family and getting the children's baths and dressed for bed, Rick, Kate, and Jimmy and Alicia are all on the couch covered up with a large comforter watching 'Toy Story'
As Woody and Buzz argue about the fact that Buzz is a toy and not really with space command, Kate keeps looking across the expanse of cover toward her husband
It takes a very short time for the two little ones eye's to close and sleep takes over. Rick carries each child up to their beds and finally comes back down to find his wife has turned off the television and is waiting for him on the couch with her legs curled up under her
"You want me to pour some wine?" Castle asks
"A little…not much" she responds
When Castle brings his wife a small glass, she takes it as he places himself down beside her
After a sip she looks over at him "It was fun again having you there today"
"Fun or necessary? Being I solved your case for you?"
She pokes his arm first then puts her glass down then leans into his side
"You did do it again. We looked everywhere except his pinky finger"
"Leave it up to me to spot the tinniest deception"
There is a long pause of silence
"Rick, we are going to the reunion next weekend and I want to tell you some things. Some things from my past that I have not told you about before"
He places his class down as well and wraps his arm around her "You mean the grunge rocker you dated or you and Maddie used to sneak behind the gym to smoke?"
Her head snaps up "You knew about that?"
"I have known you over ten years and I AM your husband"
"I think after we met, I mentioned dating the grunge rocker, but I NEVER said anything about smoking…did Maddie tell you?"
"You said that Madison would never tell your secrets because you knew as much on her, so no. It was not from her?"
Looking at her husband "So how did you know about that? What, Brett Edwards…no he wasn't at the school when we did that, but anyway we didn't do it for long. I started when I dated the rocker guy. The whole band were smokers and I just joined in" she pauses again for effect "but we realized it was a nasty habit and we smelled of cigarettes and…" It suddenly occurs to her "My dad figured it out. HE knew. Didn't he? And he told you"
"He said he smelled it on you so he knew. He hoped you would grow up and stop"
"I did…grow up"
Castle just smiles at his wife then "A lot of us did things like that in high school. Fortunately most of us figured out it was not a good idea"
She puts her head back on his chest "I am glad you understand"
"I do…" he pauses "but Lexington and the police are a little different story"
Again her head snaps up
"WHAT? UH?...What do…what do you know about Lexington? How did you find out about Lexington?" Castle gets a sheepish grin across his face "Everyone knows about Lexington"