Chapter 3

Beckett lightly stroked Castle's jaw with her fingertip. "Castle are you awake?"

Castle groaned and pushed her hand away.

"What's the matter Castle?" Beckett asked.

Castle put his forearm over his eyes. "Headache."

"Are you kidding me, Castle, that old excuse?" Beckett teased, running her fingers through the hair falling on his forehead. Feeling the heat on her hand, she laid her palm against his face. "Castle, you have a fever," she said.

"Great!" Castle said. "I must have caught what Alexis had."

"Just relax, I'll get you a couple of ibuprofen."

Beckett brought Castle a glass of water and a couple of pills, took a shower, got dressed,

made coffee, and filled a traveling mug. Before she left for the 12th she sat beside Castle on the bed.

"You're leaving me like this?" Castle asked.

"Castle, I'm going to check out Awake. Martha's here. I'll call later and check on you."

"Fine, Castle grunted, turning away into his pillow.

Beckett drove to the address given for Awake. It was a small dingy office in a large building and it was locked up tight. She hunted down the rental agent for the building, Oscar Garcia.

"Awake Institute," Garcia said, "that's funny! They had a desk and a phone. Anyway, they moved out a couple of days ago."

"Did they leave a forwarding address?"

"Nothing, Just asked for the security deposit back and left."

"How did you pay them the security deposit?"

"Check. I have a copy of it. I can make you one."

Beckett smiled. "Thank you very much, Mr. Garcia."

Before going to the 12th, Beckett called Castle. Martha answered and told her that Castle was sleeping.

"Esposito," Beckett called coming into the bullpen, "think you can find out where this check ended up?" Beckett handed Esposito the copy that Garcia had handed her.

"On it," Esposito answered.

"Beckett, I think I've got something," Ryan called. "I checked the traffic around Maggie Burns' apartment. Showing Beckett a picture on the screen, Ryan told Beckett," This car was driving away during our kill zone. It's registered to a David Morgan. Guess who he works for?"

"Up?" Beckett answered.

"Bingo," Ryan answered. "Hey, where's Castle?"

"He wasn't feeling well this morning. I left him at the loft with Martha."

"Home with his mother, huh," Esposito put in. "That should give him a reason to get better in self defense."

"I hope so," Beckett said. "Ryan, Morgan's your catch. You want to go see him?"

"With you, boss," Ryan answered.

David Morgan was a sweaty man with a bad comb-over and the CFO of Up. He invited Beckett and Ryan to sit in his office. "Mr. Morgan, did you know Maggie Burns?"

"Of course I did," Morgan answered. "she was our accountant."

"When was the last time you saw her?"

"I'm not sure."

"Your car was seen leaving the area of her apartment, the night she was killed," Beckett told him.

"I was there," Morgan told her, "but I never saw Maggie. She called and said she had something to show me, but when I knocked on her door, she didn't answer. Her cell phone went to voice mail, so I left."

"Do you have any idea what she wanted to talk about?"

"She said something about a phoney vendor, but didn't want to talk about it until she saw me. I really don't know anything about it."

Beckett stood and Ryan followed her lead. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Morgan. If you think of anything else, please call me." Beckett handed him her card and she and Ryan left.

"What do you think?" Ryan asked as they drove back to the 12th.

"Either Morgan is lying or he's a really incompetent CFO," Beckett said.

Ryan nodded.

When she got to the 12th, Beckett called the loft again. Martha picked up the phone and told Beckett that Castle's fever was down and he was complaining about everything.

Beckett smiled. "Let me talk to him."

Martha brought Castle the phone. "How are you doing, Castle?" Beckett asked.

"My head hurts, my stomach hurts, and I miss you. When are you coming home?"

"Soon, Castle. I'll bring you some chicken soup."

'How's he doing?" Ryan asked.

"Complaining, probably a good sign. I'm going to the loft for a while, can you check out David Morgan and ask Espo to call me if he traces that check?"

"Will do," Ryan told her.

Beckett stopped at a soup place featured on an old sitcom on her way back to the loft. She put some soup and some crackers on a tray and brought them into the bedroom. Castle' s eyes were closed, but when she felt his forehead, his skin was cool.

Beckett found herself looking into twin sapphires on slightly red backgrounds. "Hi," Castle said.

"Hi yourself, Castle. Want some soup?"

"Share it with me?" Castle asked.

"OK," Beckett agreed. "I'll get another spoon."

"We can share that one," Castle said.

"Castle, I don't want to catch whatever you have."

"After last night's distraction, if you're going to, it's probably too late."

"You're probably right," Beckett agreed. "Sit up."

Castle pulled himself up and Beckett laid the tray across his lap. She dipped a spoon into the soup and put it into his mouth. Castle took the spoon from her and returned the favor. They fed each other bits of cracker, scattering crumbs across the sheets.

"We're making a mess, Castle," Beckett said brushing at the crumbs.

"You would kick me out of bed for eating crackers?" Castle quipped.

Beckett kissed the savory saltiness of the soup and crackers off his lips. "Never."

Beckett's cell phone buzzed. Esposito told her that he had traced the check to an account at Mercy Bank and was about to get a warrant. "I'll meet you there," Beckett told him.

Beckett leaned down to give Castle a fast kiss, but with hands on either side of her head, Castle made it deeper. "Come back soon," Castle told her.

Beckett smiled and flipped her hair as she left.

Beckett and Esposito talked to the manager at Mercy Bank. He was able to tell her that Awake had an account that had been opened online, but the check for the security deposit had been cashed in person. He arranged to e-mail the video from the afternoon of the transaction by the following morning.

Beckett and Esposito went back to the 12th and checked in with Ryan, who had been researching Dave Morgan's financials. The three of them gathered around the table in the conference room and distributed the printouts.

"This guy is really skating on the edge," Ryan said. "He puts out a lot of money to doctors and therapy programs. His cards are practically maxed out and he's mortgaged to the hilt. I don't see any unexpected money coming in though."

"He may be getting it in cash and hiding it somewhere," Beckett said. "I don't think we're going to get anything else until we get the video from the bank. Let's call it a day."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Ryan told her. "Tell Castle I hope he feels better."

Beckett let herself into the loft to find Castle in his robe on the couch watching a zombie movie. "You are feeling better," she said.

"I had a great nurse," Castle said, "and I don't mean my mother."

Beckett ran her finger over the skin peeking through the skin on his robe. "I thought you liked naughty nurses, Castle."

"Why Nurse Beckett, whatever do you have in mind?"

Beckett grabbed the ends of the sash of Castle's robe to lead him into the bedroom. "Mr. Castle, I'm going to nurse you back to health."