Castle and Beckett have decided that they will go first to the 54th first, then afterwards go back to the 12th to finish the day with her old partners

When they get there, they are going to see what Sexton and Bryan have been able to get in the way of information from the victim's financials and then contact Ryan and Esposito to see what her other two are working on at the 12th

Then as they pull out of the loft parking garage, Beckett begins their morning theory building "Babe, I hope Sexton and Bryan are getting some good leads going on their case"

Castle waits a minute before responding "You know Kate, I think we need to get both teams to put up their murder boards and then compare them. Look for commonalities"

She looks across the car "You think the two cases are connected? You think the same killer is involved in both?"

"Yeah I think there is that definite possibility"

Beckett thinks about his statement "One was killed in a chicken shop and the other in her office at the university. One was a student who had to drop out and the other the university president. What do you think the two could possibly have in common that would get them killed?"

"Our victim Blaire was having an affair with one of the professors. What we need to do is find out if he and the university president were involved with this same professor at the same time as well"

"We already determined that Blair was sleeping with Bailey and that June did not care who her husband was doing and he had no problem moving from one student to another" Kate responds

"Right!. But what if some other cheaters spouses were not as understanding?"

She seems to think about this possibility "OK. We will get them to set up their boards and we will all compare notes to see if we can find common ground in the two murders"

"Perfect" Castle responds

A poignant silence enters the vehicle as they move thru morning traffic

Sitting in his usual passenger seat, Castle feels his fingers being wound around his wife's fingers as they travel thru the streets of New York.

Kate finally smiles across the front toward her husband "I became a little distracted when you came home last night and forgot to ask about you how your game went"

"I lost. The mayor lost and so did the commissioner"

"All three of you were in the hole? Who was the winner then?"

"The mayor brought his recently appointed campaign manager to the game. He is the new head of the mayor's re-election plans. He came from one of the major accounting firms here in town and he has contacts with all the big money people here in the city so Bob decided to bring him inside and have him run the campaign"

Rick pauses for effect "He cleaned us all out"

Beckett lets out a small chuckle "I can only imagine the three of you being taken down by a bean counter"

"He formerly worked for the IRS as an investigator. He could read all of us like an open book and he never once gave any indication as to his hand. He was totally dead pan then entire game"

"You plan on a rematch?" Kate is smiling like a cat chasing a mouse

"I have to. We cannot let him do that and then let it go unanswered. We all want a rematch"

Kate gets a gleam in her eyes "You want me to come to the next game? You know, for support…or I could come as a distraction? I can wear one of my outfits that you like so much? Flirt with everyone. Throw them off guard'

Castle gulps "OH no you don't. As much of a distraction you would be to everyone else, I would not do any better"

Her face lights at his response and he sees an eyebrow rise "Rick? You still find me a distraction?"

"Honestly Kate…If anyone had told me ten years ago that I could feel this way I would not have believed it was possible, but I do"

After a short moment he looks across to his wife "I love you Kate"

"Back at ya"

/\/\/\/\/\/\

They arrive at the 54th a little after 9:00 and head upstairs to the homicide floor to meet with the detectives there

"Hey guys Beckett announces upon her arrival

The two men see her come around the corner arrival "Good morning Captain" Allen Sexton comments

"Tell me you two have all kinds of evidence for us" She comments

"We do have some good stuff" Detective Bryan responds "We have pulled her cell phone and financial records"

"And do they tell a story?" Castle asks

"It tells the story of a woman with a lot…and I mean a LOT of men friends"

Kate looks at Rick "So a lot of men friends!" Turning back to the two detectives "Is there a pattern? I mean does she seem to favor one or another?"

Bryan answers "See seems to circle around. There is one for several weeks or months, then she moves toward another"

Allen continues "And her financials indicate she seems to not buy a lot of meals"

Beckett comments "Like a woman who is being wined and dined by these men?"

"Right"

"So if we follow the money we will find out if the men on her calling list have a number of fancy dinners around the same time" Castle fills in

"Do you have any forensics from her office?" Beckett questions

"Oh YES!" Bryan seems to chuckle "There are dozens of prints in her office. She is an administrator after all, and staff, faculty, and students would frequent the space"

"That's not unusual" Rick states

The two men look at one another and neither seems to not want to make the next statement"

"What is it?" Beckett asks sensing the men are not comfortable in whatever is on their minds

"Captain…" Allen pauses "There were a lot of prints found on her desk"

"OK?" Beckett responds "What is so unusual about that?"

"What was different is where they were found"

"Guys…Where were prints found and why is this so hard to describe?"

The two men look at each other when finally Bryan states "There were men's hand prints on the desk top where our victim was probably lying on the desk and where they probably placed their hands while they were having…"

She finally stops the description "OK I think we get the picture…how many sets of prints were there?"

"At least four…maybe more but the lab is having to sort out a lot of…" again the man is having difficulty giving a good description

"Samples?" Beckett responds with a little disgust in her voice

The two men seem honestly thankful that they did not have to give any more details

"OK guys "Beckett begins "I think we have the picture of what went on in and out of her office. Get together your list of suspects and evidence. We are going to go over to the 12th and get briefed by Ryan and Esposito. After I get their information, I want to set up a conference call between all of us to compare notes"

She looks at her husband "Castle seems to think that both the university president and the coed in the chicken shop were killed by the same person"

The two detectives then look at Castle who comments "She was having an affair with one of the professors who also had been sleeping with Dr. Sellers"

"Do you think a jealous wife did this?" Bryan asks

"There is always the possibility of a jealous woman taking out the competition "Beckett stares at Rick. She thinks she can see his ears start to glow

"But until we can tie all these loose ends together we don't know. What I hope to do is connect all these dots and see if a nice image is revealed"

"You got it boss" Allen comments just like Esposito is known for doing

As Castle and Beckett get into the elevator, he turns to his wife "Kate…you know that I never thought about…I mean I…I wouldn't…"

Kate turns to her husband "That is why you were so glad I texted you about lunch that first day when you went in to her office? You used it to make sure your palm prints did not end up on her desk?"

"Exactly" he responds just as the elevator bell sounds and the doors open in the basement garage

They walk across the floor to her car and just as she opens her door "Too bad I don't know where a storage closet is here at the 54th"

Castle looks across the roof of her cruiser "Why?"

"So I could properly thank you for your faithfulness"

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Castle's blood pressure has not settled down yet thinking about what she said wanted to do. He has noticed that she seems more in need of intimacy lately but he is not complaining

As the couple pull into the garage at the 12th, Beckett's cell phone rings "Beckett" she listens for minute "We are in the basement right now. We will be right up"

"What is it?" Castle asks

"That was Ryan. They think they have some video"

"I thought the cameras were not running at the chicken shop at night?"

"THEY weren't, but the video store next door has high resolution cameras that run 24/7. Ryan has them sending over the files right now"