A/N: As a reminder, this story was for the most part planned and written during the summer hiatus, so the characters, their motivations, quirks and manners don't add up to what we've seen in season six so far. Of course, there are certain tropes innate to story telling (like Kate jumping Rick when they see each other again in an earlier chapter), that I inevitably have or will hit on them, so sometimes scenes of this story will resemble things on screen but might have to be read in a different context. I thought about changing the fed characters to resemble more their screen alter egos, but that would mean compromising my story that I want to tell, and I hope that readers won't find it too confusing and tiresome that McCord, Hendricks and Richmond will say and do things in my story that wouldn't make sense on screen. I'd also like to thank everyone who's left a review, shared their thoughts about this story, etc. It means a lot to me that this fanfic is still able to capture your attention and you take time to read it. I hope you will not disappointed by what I have planned down the road.
Beckett watched Castle through the one-way mirror. He looked like a petulant little boy, running his right index finger along the edge of the desk – obviously bored out of his mind. Rachel McCord stood next to her, still recovering from the shock that Kate's nine-year-old troublemaker of a son was actually her forty-something millionaire fiancé. They were both listening to the lead detective on the homicide case Castle had been "investigating," giving them the run down.
"He's all yours, det…. Agent Beckett." Captain Miller nodded towards the mirror.
"Thank you, captain. Once again, I really appreciate the courtesy call."
"My pleasure. This isn't New York, though, agent. I don't care what kind of arrangement you've had in the past, but you don't work for me, and I can't have crime novelists playing cop on the loose in my city."
"Yessir, I am absolutely aware of that. And trust me, this won't happen again." Beckett reassured him. She took a deep breath, then brushed past the captain and McCord to face Castle in the interrogation room.
"Kate, thank god, you're here." Rick stood up from his chair. "They've got the wrong man! You need to tell them."
"Sit down, Castle." Beckett easily slipped back into cop mode, even though she hadn't been within five miles of an interrogation room in over a month.
Rick raised his eyebrows at her. "Beckett?" She was clearly unhappy with him and tempted to treat him like the rest of the low life criminals she faced every day. It was kind of hot he had to admit. It reminded him of that little role-playing they did at her apartment, from time to time, since her bed worked better with the cuffs. Oh detective, I've been a very, very bad boy…. Focus, Rick, focus. Kate. D.C. Metro PD. Wrong guy.
"Castle, what the hell were you thinking? You can't just walk around D.C. digging into open murder cases!"
Rick reached into his back pocket and pulled out a newspaper clipping he'd torn out of this morning's paper. Kate raised her eyebrows. They obviously hadn't frisked him thoroughly when they arrested him. "They got the wrong guy," he repeated and thrust the piece of paper into her face. "Read the article. It doesn't make sense."
Kate scanned the article quickly and sighed, "There may be a few holes in the story but I'm sure Detective Miller and his team are plugging them right now."
"It makes a bad story and you know it." Rick leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.
Kate shook her head, as if to brush his comments aside. "Plot holes in narratives are the least of your worries right now. You got arrested, Castle! And unlike New York, the mayor of D.C. is not a fan of yours."
"Don't worry, I told them I'm with you. I don't think they believed me at first but I got the captain to call you anyway."
Kate shook her head angrily, "You don't get it, Rick! I've got no pull whatsoever in this town. I'm not even a cop here, I got no friends to call in favors from. I'm a fed. Remember how we treated feebs back at the twelfth? You're lucky the captain of this station gave me a courtesy call, before they fully processed you. Do you hear me? This could've gone on your record and this time there's nobody here to make it go away! This isn't stealing a police horse buck naked, Castle. This is serious!"
"Borrowing. How many times do I have to tell you that? I borrowed that police horse because I couldn't get a cab home." He tried to lighten the mood, obviously still not quite understanding how serious his situation actually was. Well, had been, because once again he somehow managed to evade actual charges.
Kate closed her eyes and held her hands up to stop him from talking further. "I don't want to hear your excuses, Castle. I don't want any of your jokes. Do you have any idea how embarrassing it was to get a call about your arrest in front of my new boss?"
"I'm sorry, Beckett. It just so happens that the first townhouse I looked at yesterday morning was right next door to the crime scene. I noticed the police seal and the realtor explained that there had been a murder recently, which was why the price for the property had dropped so low. She figured me being a crime novelist, I might actually get a kick out of moving in next door to an actual crime scene. And then I read about the arraignment of that particular case in the paper this morning. It was fate, Kate."
Beckett nodded slowly, already familiar with what would come next. "It was like the universe was sending you a sign."
"Exactly. Especially when I read that the suspect pleaded not guilty, insisting on his innocence, and that the cops only had circumstantial evidence. So I did a little research on the internet, read every article I could find in every paper, and take this, Trevor Martins, the suspect, swears on his mother's grave that he didn't even know the victim. It gets better, Detective Squareface showed me pictures of the victim; she's been so disfigured, they can't put her picture out to the media to ask the public for help in identifying the victim. And there are no dental records, no medical records, no visible birthmarks, no nothing that could point them towards her identity. It's like the woman never existed. I'm telling you something's rotten in the District of Columbia and by that I don't mean this coffee, though that is even worse here than the monkey battery acid piss you served at the twelfth before I bought you the espresso machine."
"What do you want me to do, Castle?" Kate gave an exasperated sigh, "It's not my case, not my jurisdiction. I'm no longer a cop."
Rick slid the article from the paper back across the table. "Read it. For me. Don't just skim it through, actually read it. All of it. And then look me in the eye and tell me you believe they got the right guy."
"And then what? I'm not gonna interfere with another cop's case. I told you last time with Slaughter that's just not how it works. And I most definitely won't pull rank on Metro PD and have the AG take over the case."
The door burst open and McCord stormed inside, waving a folder. "Too late, already did. Kate, you gotta see this. You won't friggin' believe it."
"That's the file. She's got the file." Rick looked from the unfamiliar woman to his fiancée and then at the file in Rachel's hands, who slammed down the folder on the table in front of Beckett. She'd opened it to the page with the gruesome pictures of the victim Castle was already all too familiar with.
"That's her. That's the victim," He tapped the photograph with his fingers.
"Oh my god!" Kate gasped and looked at Rachel shocked, "That can't be!"
"What?" Castle asked excitedly, sensing they were nearing a break through.
"Hell yeah, I couldn't believe it at first either, when the captain showed me the file. But that's her. That's gotta be her. It's hard the way her face has been smashed in but the hair color, the height, the build it all fits." McCord spread out the photographs of the crime scene showing the victim from various angles.
"Who?" Rick practically salivated with curiosity, fixing Kate with a curious gaze. When he didn't get an answer immediately, he glanced back at McCord, "Richard Castle, mystery writer." He rose from his chair and held out his hand "And who are you?"
"Special Supervisory Agent Rachel McCord. Now sit down and behave, Castle, or I'll tell her to cuff you." Kate replied absent-mindedly, while she studied the pictures of the female victim. It was hard to be certain. Beckett picked up a picture to study it more carefully.
"I'm telling you, it's Jessica Flinn." McCord insisted, "I already informed the captain."
"That would explain why we couldn't find her, she was already dead and in the morgue when we started looking for her." Kate nodded. "Are we going to pull rank?"
"We're liaising for now. Until we catch our own new case that is. I've already asked Rookie to compile everything we've got on Jessica Flinn and share it with Captain Farramore."
Rick watched the exchange between the two women fascinated like a spectator at a tennis match. So this was the famous Rachel McCord, heel-foe extraordinaire. He kind of liked her. She reminded him a little bit of Beckett when they met. All hard facts, no nonsense attitude, she was practically ignoring his presence in the room.
"So what's our next move then?" Castle leaned forward and inserted himself back into the conversation.
"Your next move is to go back to the hotel and sit tight until I get home." Kate gave him a look that didn't condone any reply.
"Actually, we're taking Mr. Castle in," McCord grinned and hopped of the desk.
"What?" Kate and Rick chorused.
Rachel McCord looked at the couple sitting on opposite sides of the desk. The boys will just love it. "Do you want to cuff him or shall I do the honors?" She asked as she reached for her handcuffs.
"What?" Castle squeaked, "Beckett?" He looked at her with puppy dog eyes. Beckett in turn was eyeing the handcuffs dangling in front of her face, trying to keep a straight face.
"You're right," McCord grinned as she shoved her cuffs back in place, "he really is such an easy mark."
Castle narrowed his eyes at Kate. Apparently she had finally told someone about them, he only wished he knew which stories she'd shared with McCord on their way to get him out of jail. He had a feeling this was going to be a long day, not at least because he'd spend the rest of it groveling to make up with Kate for getting arrested. She was really upset with him this time, and not in the cute way as she was when she first arrested him. Maybe he could get on good terms with McCord, strike up a good rapport with the guys once they got to her office. He bet he could wrap that Rookie around his little finger until he let him in on their investigation. Maybe he could help them solve the case, after all it had been him who'd cracked it wide open, maybe, just maybe Kate would forgive him then.
