Author's Note: I am so sorry that this took so long to get out! I've been really busy and just haven't had time, but here's hoping you enjoy it now.

Disclaimer: Surprise, surprise, I don't own Castle…

Chapter Six

Castle whistled under his breath. "A witness reported a guy from 26 having an argument with our vic before he died. I guessing that was probably our Mr. Lin."

Ryan and Esposito nodded their affirmation.

"Saddle up. Let's go get this dirtbag," Castle added bitterly, reaching for his keys from his desk, just as the other two detectives mimicked his actions.

"Hey," Kate Beckett interrupted uncertainly, "can I come along?"

Castle stared her down, quietly assessing her. He knew it was against protocol; against procedure; against common sense, but some indescribable feeling inside of him warned him not to let this woman go. Damn it, Castle, he thought to himself. "Watch from the car only," he compromised, blue eyes flashing sternly.

Kate Beckett merely grinned.


Soon enough, the three detectives and their keen follower arrived and parked outside the apartment building. Ryan and Esposito jumped out of their car immediately, and made their way towards Castle's. "You wanna just storm the apartment?" Esposito asked Castle with a voice like cold steel. Castle nodded. "Let's do it," he replied to them, and then turned back to Kate in his passenger seat. "Stay," he commanded. She raised her palms to him mockingly; but she'd surrendered.


Outside the door to apartment 26, three detectives stood in silent anticipation. Esposito was positioned outside the door; Castle and Ryan on his flanks, guns out. Castle held up three fingers to the attentive faces of the two detectives; then two fingers; then only one.

"NYPD!" He yelled as Esposito kicked the door in.

The three men ran into a small, empty room; Parker Lin was nowhere to be seen. Esposito turned to speak, when Ryan shushed him. Castle pointed at the television, turned on to reveal three unnaturally tanned women and an obscene amount of Ks.

The other detectives nodded in recognition. Esposito crept over to the room on the right; Ryan to the one on the left. As for Castle; he made his way to the door straight ahead. Apprehensively, he placed his hand gently on the handle, and his ear to the MDF panel. A faint, ambient noise was emanating from the room ahead, and Castle took a deep breath, preparing himself.

Then he kicked the door off its hinges. "NYPD, put your hands up!" He boomed to the silhouette standing behind a bed in the middle of the room. The figure halted his actions, hesitating.

"Now!"

Intimidated by the three gun barrels in perfect position to blow a bullet straight through his brain, the Asian man lifted up his hands, palms towards the detectives.

Castle took his handcuffs out from his belt and sauntered confidently towards the trembling man. "Are you Parker Lin?"

The man nodded fervently, "Yes," he stuttered. "Why are you here?"

Castle seized his hands roughly and encased them in the cuffs. "Parker Lin, you are under arrest for the murder of Marcus Albicca. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law, so as a caring enforcer of the law, I'm going to give you a helpful hint. Shut your mouth, and leave the words to your lawyer. He's gonna need it."

Parker Lin seemed to collapse over himself, eyes drawn tightly shut. Ryan took him off Castle, and he and Esposito dragged him outside, into the backseat of their car.

Suddenly a voice resounded from the other side of the room.

The very feminine voice of one Kate Beckett. "You never told me you could be such badass." Her eyes glinted darkly with a teasing hue.

Castle raised an eyebrow. "Why do I have this startlingly distinct memory of telling you to stay in the car?"

The woman shrugged effortlessly. "Your car smells of burnt coffee."

"And a dirty bachelor pad is heaven to your nostrils?" He rebutted sarcastically, pointedly gesturing around the less-than-desirable state of the apartment.

"Well Castle, maybe I just missed your charming company," she winked at him.

For once, Richard Castle was lost for words.


When Rick Castle returned to the 12th Precinct he was greeted by the tall figure of Captain Montgomery. "Detective Castle," the Captain began, "how are you going on the case?"

"Not too badly," Castle replied, nodding. "We've just arrested one Parker Lin, who was reported having an argument with our victim, Mr. Albicca, before he was killed. Lin's also been in the system before."

"It seems like you might've caught your guy, Detective," Montgomery concluded with quiet authority.

"It would certainly seem that way, sir."

Captain Montgomery assessed him critically. "You don't think he did it."

Castle smiled. "You know me, Captain."

Captain Montgomery chuckled. "You know Castle, there is such thing as an open-shut case."

"Indeed there is, sir," Castle appeased the Captain. "I just don't think this is one of them."

"And what makes you say that, detective? Care to share?"

Now it was Castle's turn to chuckle under his breath. "Where's the fun in that, Captain?"

"Sure, sure. I trust everything's going smoothly with Ms. Beckett?"

Castle raised an eyebrow. "Ms. Beckett has shown herself to be useful in that case," he began apprehensively; a little puzzled by the knowing glint in Montgomery's dark eyes.

The Captain smiled. "Good to hear. Now solve this case."

"Roger that, sir."

Suddenly, Castle's cellphone started to ring, with a whistling tune and Esposito's name scrawled across the scratched screen. Roy Montgomery nodded towards Castle and returned to his office. "Castle."

"Yo, Ryan and I are at the ME's office. Lanie thinks she found something. Oh and Ryan did a check on her alibi – there is no way Sarah Bench is our killer."

"Figured so much, but how do you know her company wasn't lying?"

Esposito coughed down the phone. "Pictures."

"Classy."

"I know bro."

All of a sudden, Castle remembered Esposito's earlier words. "Wait, you said Lanie found something?"

"Yeah; a few hairs on Albicca's clothes, too long to belong to him."

"Thanks, Espo," Castle ended the call, and allowed his confusion to reign over his quick mind. Something told him that this one strand of hair meant something. Sure, his gut had told him that Lin didn't kill Albicca, and the long hair couldn't belong to Lin. It probably wasn't Sarah's – she had a pretty solid alibi that Castle didn't care to check. She was so not his type. But the question remained – who was the mysterious hair-malting killer?


Kate Beckett, after sending a text on her shiny new cellphone, had been watching the whole exchange. "That's some nerve, Detective. Isn't Captain Montgomery your boss?"

Castle only laughed. "Yeah, he is. A little abnormality never did anyone any harm though, did it Kate?"

She shrugged, and then took a step closer to Castle. "So Castle, you like to break the rules? Get a little dirty?"

Rick was all too aware of how raspy her voice was from her pouted lips; how her white shirt took on a translucency under the lights at the Precinct; how easily he could close that all too little gap between them. "Speaking from experience, Ms. Beckett?"

Her glossy lips curved into a smile; her hazel eyes gleaming seductively with enchanting teasing. "Oh Rick, wouldn't you like to know."


Hopefully the chapter was worth waiting for, and please let me know what you think! :)