Chapter 4

Beckett opened her eyes to find that she was staring straight into Castle's. "Good morning," she said, "what's on your mind?"

"Hungry," Castle told her.

"Well you didn't eat much, yesterday," Beckett replied.

Castle nibbled the lobe of her ear. "I didn't mean food." As Castle's lips descended, Beckett raised her head to meet him. Castle tasted her lips and sucked the earthy essence from her mouth. Seeking more, he tasted chin and jaw down the length of her neck to the cleft in her breasts and the scar, worshiping it with featherlight touches of his mouth. Beckett writhed under him, pushing against his body, needing more and more contact. She could feel the pressure building, too much, but not enough.

Suddenly Castle rolled so that she was above him. She pulled away anything that kept him from her and he pulled her barriers aside as well. She joined with him as they moved together, touching and kissing everything they could reach as Beckett felt the arousal growing deep inside, pushing upward and outward, until they shared the inevitable sweet explosion. Boneless, Beckett lay on Castle, resting her cheek against his broad chest.

"Castle," Beckett murmured, "I don't think I can move."

Castle stroked her hair. "So don't. You feel good where you are."

"Have to. The video from the bank is coming in this morning. We may get to see who's been sucking money out of Up."

"Much as I hate to admit it, that's a good reason. On three?"

Castle boosted Beckett off his body and they sat up together on the edge of the bed. "Castle, I'm going to get a shower. Why don't you go start the coffee," Beckett said.

"I could join you," Castle offered.

"Not if we're ever going to get out of here this morning," Beckett told him. "Go!"

When Beckett came to the kitchen, showered and dressed, Castle not only had coffee made, but juice poured, an egg mixture for omelets, and turkey bacon in the pan. They switched places as Beckett finished the cooking while Castle got ready.

Beckett and Castle arrived at the 12th just as the bank video did and they watched it with Ryan and Esposito. The time stamp for the transaction of cashing the check was eleven A.M. A woman could be seen on the black and white video wearing a knit hat with ear flaps, large sunglasses, and a shapeless dress.

"I know a TV show with a hat like that," Castle said.

"Castle," Beckett said with feigned annoyance, "you know a TV show with just about anything. Ryan can you put her through facial recognition?"

"With those sunglasses, we probably won't get much, but I can try," Ryan answered."

"Esposito, dig up everything else you can on David Morgan," Beckett ordered.

"On it," Esposito answered.

Beckett called Oscar Garcia and asked him if he had seen a woman at Awake. He said that he had. Beckett pulled a screen capture and she and Castle went to see Garcia. Garcia couldn't tell from the screen capture if the woman at the bank was the woman he had seen at Awake, but he agreed to come down to the 12th and work with a sketch artist.

"We should talk some more to Felicity." Castle said "The person at the front desk sees all and knows all and I happen to know that she'll do anything for a chocolate croissant."

"A chocolate croissant this time of day Castle?" Beckett protested. "It's almost lunchtime."

"Trust me," Castle told her.

Felicity's eyes did light up at the sight of the croissant and the chai Castle brought her to go with it.

"Felicity," Castle asked, "what do you know about Awake?"

"Not much, Mr. Castle."

"You can call me Rick," he told her.

Felicity gave a shy smile. "Rick, I have some of their brochures. I know that David Morgan was promoting them to the Board of Directors. He gave a fancy power point at the quarterly meeting. I saw it because I was there to take notes. I've never met any of their people, though. We sent checks to their office."

"Do you have any of those brochures or a copy of that power point?" Beckett asked.

"I have both," Felicity told her. "I'll get them for you."

Castle gave her his thousand Watt smile. "Thank you Felicity."

Felicity handed Beckett a stack of brochures and a USB drive.

As Beckett drove back to the 12th, Castle studied the brochures. "These are pure bull!" he exclaimed angrily. "They talk about parent training, after school care and even camp. Awake couldn't have been doing any of that. They were ripping Up off."

"It looks to me like Dave Morgan was ripping Up off," Beckett said, "and using Awake to do it. Maggie Burns figured it out..."

"And he killed her." Castle finished.

When Beckett and Castle arrived at the 12th, she sent Ryan and Esposito to bring Morgan in. While they were gone, she and Castle perused the power point presentation. It appeared that Morgan was making an all out effort to convince the Board to divert much of Up's resources to Awake. Beckett could see the anger rising in Castle. She covered his hand with hers. "We'll get the bastard," she assured him.

Beckett asked Castle to watch from observation while she handled the interrogation with Ryan, worried that his anger might get the best of him.

"Mr. Morgan," Beckett said, "you spent a lot of effort convincing the Board of Up to use the services of Awake Institute."

Morgan wiped his face with his handkerchief. "That's not a crime."

"It is when Awake Institute is nothing but a desk and a telephone. That's called fraud."

"I thought they were a wonderful organization," Morgan protested. "If they were committing fraud, I had no idea."

"I think you did, Mr. Morgan. I think that Maggie Burns thought so too and when she told you, you killed her."

"I didn't kill anyone!" Morgan protested, twisting his damp handkerchief in his hands. "I want a lawyer."

"Fine," Beckett agreed. "You can call one before we take you to holding."

"Esposito, get a warrant for Morgan's place," Beckett said. "see if you and Ryan can find the murder weapon."

"On it." Esposito told her.

Beckett saw Castle pulling out his phone. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm going to ask some Up Board members about Awake and Dave Morgan. Don't worry. I'll do it as a concerned contributor. I won't give away anything about the investigation."

"Sounds like a good idea," Beckett agreed. "I'm going to check on the sketch from Oscar Garcia."

Beckett posted the sketch on the murder board. The woman was fairly pretty with wide eyes and a full mouth. Beckett compared the mouth to the one on the screen capture from the bank. They were similar.

"How did you do with the Up Board, Castle," Beckett asked.

"There were a couple of members, parents of disabled kids, who were suspicious. Apparently they got voted down. Most of the Board, people who popped in for three hours a quarter, believed whatever Morgan told them. They hired the guy. I guess they wanted to believe they made a good decision."

Beckett's cell phone beeped with a text. "That's from Esposito," she said. "No murder weapon."

Castle brought a fist down on the desk. Beckett put a hand on his arm. "We've got a lot on Morgan even without the murder weapon, Castle. His lawyer may be able to talk him into some kind of a deal tomorrow. Let's call it a night."

In the kitchen of the loft, Castle boiled salted water for elbow macaroni and melted butter for a roux. He prepared macaroni and cheese, with bacon bits for a salty accent, while Beckett prepared a salad. Castle lit a fire, poured glasses of red wine, and they ate slowly at the counter. After a quick clean up, Castle lounged on the couch, arms around Beckett, nose buried in her cherry scented hair.

"Castle," Beckett said, tracing a pattern on his thigh, "we never had dessert."

"What would you like?" Castle asked.

Beckett twisted in his arms to sit facing him on the edge of the couch. Burying her fingers in his hair, she kissed first his top lip then his bottom lip. "Mmmmm, I think I have it."