The chirp from Castle's cell phone gives him an opportunity to get out of the current uncomfortable situation and in a direction where he feels more at ease.

Castle looks at the screen and sees the image of his beautiful wife. She has sent him a message. He looks at the woman on the other end of the couch "Excuse me but I have to take this"

"Of course" Marge responds as she watches Castle stand and steps cross the room where he hits the dial button calling her back. She answers on the first ring "Hey love" he speaks softly to his wife"

He listens for a minute then comments "Let me finish doing the paperwork here and I will be there as fast as I can…OK... Bye" he punches the end button.

When he turns back around, he collides with the woman who is now standing almost against his back. The collision was not an accident. She had positioned herself so that when he turned around he would come into contact with the portion of her body closest to him at that moment.

In difference to his former life, this was embarrassing to him

She leans and presses herself into Castle "Something important?" she asks causing him obvious discomfort

"Oh, I am so, so sorry. I didn't meant to…you know…"

"Oh Rick. That is perfectly alright. Accidents do happen you know?"

"Yes. But I need to go finish checking in with the human resources department and head out to assist the police on a case. They have asked me to come to a crime scene"

He tries to step away from her contact only to have her crowd him once more "Are you positive you need to leave so soon? You just got here"

He moves back again "Yes. Positive. When a crime occurs the first few hours are the most important, so I need to get there quickly"

"Too bad Marge comments, but we will have more time later to pick up on this"

"Right?" Castle responds "Which way to the HR department?" as he is approaching the door

In a voice filled with obvious hurt "Down the hall to your left then the next right. That brings you into the HR department"

"Thank you Dr. Sellers and I am sure I will see you again"

As Castle passes the reception desk, he hears her respond "You can count on it"

Richard Castle is almost running to get out of the clutches of the University President. Right now he simply needs to get finished with human resources, get his ID badge, room and office assignment, leave the building, and to find his wife.

It takes about thirty minutes to finish the paperwork and get out of the building and out on the street where he hails a cab

Beckett asked him if he needed the address of the Chicken store, but Castle told her that he really wanted to try it and had already put it on his to do list

It takes the cab about twenty minutes to arrive and let him out. When he approaches the crime scene tape a uniformed officer stops him. This crime is in a different precinct than the 12th and the uniformed officer do not know him on site

"Excuse me sir. This is a crime scene and you cannot enter"

"I am Richard Castle and my wife is Captain Beckett. Her team is inside"

The uniformed officer looks at Castle and recognizes him from the cover of one of the Nikki Heat books

"You are the husband of Captain Beckett?"

"That's me" Rick responds

As the uniform lifts the crime scene tape Castle hears him say "Lucky dog"

He smiles at the comment made. He is lucky and he knows it

Once he enters the building he sees the usual group of Crime Scene Investigators. The Medical Examiner's office personnel. This time being led by Dr. Lanie Parish they are surrounding the gurney with a body bag and something dripping down on the floor

She looks up from her clipboard "Hey writer boy. Come to help your wife with her team's first case?"

He is looking around the front guest area "I hope so, Lanie" he points at the pool on the floor "Lanie, your vic is still bleeding"

Lanie look down "Just a little cooking grease. I will get CSU to get it"

Castle chuckles "Where is she?" referring to his wife

"She is back in the kitchen with the guys"

Castle turns toward the back "And this is one that is right up your alley" Lanie finishes

Richard Castle steps around the ME team and into the back kitchen area where he finds Ryan,

Esposito, and Kate, along with a couple of uniforms, looking into a large cooking vessel with a lid and locking clamps. There are all types of valves and gauges above the hardened metal container.

Beckett looks up from her notes when she notices someone enter the space. She speaks softly as to not bring attention to the relationship between her and her husband. They have tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to keep it down and no PDA

"Hey babe" is softly spoken

"Hi guys" he speaks but his smile is directed to one person ion the room only "What do you have?"

Ryan answers "Our victim was found inside this pressure vessel"

"Well, well. This looks like a fine kettle of fish"

This comment brings four pairs of eyes turning his was

"Not funny Rick" Beckett comments

"Sorry" he steps away from the immediate area and begins looking around the kitchen

"Lanie said that even though she head was submerged under the cooking oil, she was not breathing. Probably dead before she was put inside. She had a gash on the side of her head. Lanie believe that was the cause of death"

"Was the cooker full of oil?" Castle asks

Esposito answers the question "They have to replace the cooking oil in the vats every so often with fresh. The manager said that they have to shut down the heat the night before, and then someone comes in early to drain the old oil out since the unit has cooled down. Then they refill it with fresh. Our victim was the one scheduled to do that" He looks at his notes "Her name was Blaire Collins, twenty-two. She lived in the neighborhood and was the assist manager of the shop"

Ryan points to the floor "And judging from the empty containers on the floor" he points out several jugs of cooking oil on the floor. Some empty and some still full "Our vic was half way in the process of doing that"

Esposito continues "That one there" he points at one bottle on its side "has blood on it."

Kate finishes "CSU is checking but we believe it is the murder weapon. They will have the lab results back to us later today"

Rick looks at Kate "I thought it always took a couple of weeks for them to give you results and I promised not to use my connections with the mayor to expedite returns"

Kate walks around her husband "I have connections now. My team's cases now take top priority"

"Nice" Rick responds

Kate continues "Lanie is taking the body to the morgue to do a full post mortem. We might as well go back to the station and start working this case

In the cruiser Kate starts asking Rick about the school

"So Castle. How is the university? Is it everything you expected?"

Feeling a little uncomfortable about answering with everything that happened today "It is a definitely center of higher education"

"Did you see anything that peaked your interest particularly?"

Thinking about how much of herself the school president put out there "No not really. I met the head of the school, got my paperwork done…"

"Boring paperwork?" Kate smiles across the car

"Yes, dear. Boring paperwork. But is hurried through it so I could get back to you"

Kate smiles as her husband's hand crossed the center of the seat and reached for her

After a few moments of silence Kate asks "Do you need to go pick up Jimmy from school?"

"No. Alexis is out early today and she wanted to pick him up and take him to the park"

Kate smiles "Your daughter really loves that guy"

OUR daughter. Remember…she considers you her mom now"

"Yeah"

Castle finishes "And don't forget, you are the one who said he stole your heart and I believe he got a big piece of Lexi's as well"

Kate squeezes his fingers and smiles


Oh My! Where is this going?"
I thought this was called a Murder At The University, Not at the Chicken place