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As Castle and Beckett returned to the Sheriff's Office, Reynolds informed them that they had located Mr. Wayne and that he was being arrested on a warrant for not showing up to court. He told Beckett and Castle that they should go to lunch he also told them a few diners to go to. By time they got back Mr. Wayne was waiting for Castle and Beckett in a small interrogation room for them to talk to him.
Beckett walked into the room just like she would as if she was at the 12th Precinct. Castle gently shut the door behind him and sat down next to Beckett. Beckett opened her folder, "Mr. Wayne. I'm Detective Beckett. This is Mr. Castle. We're from the 12th Precinct. You've been informed of your rights correct?"
Mitchell looked between then, "Where are you from? And yes I've been informed of my rights, but you're not a sheriff. And Reynolds would never hirer a hottie like you. And he," He gestured to Castle.
"Doesn't look like a cop so... Where are you from Detective?"
Castle smirked a little at his cocky attitude and went to respond, but Kate stopped him and spoke instead, "You're right. I'm not a sheriff, and Mr. Castle isn't a cop. I'm a homicide detective from New York and Castle is my partner. So let me ask you this, do you know who this woman is?" She showed him a picture of Ava.
Mitchell looked at the picture and then back at Kate, "Are you kidding me? Of course I know who she is. That's Ava. She's my ex who disappeared way back when. You already know that don't you? Or you wouldn't actually be talking to me."
"Yeah, well, she's dead Mr. Wayne."
"So? I didn't do it."
"That's a typical story."
"I didn't do it, Detective. And I think I want my lawyer now. My girlfriend has the number."
Castle and Beckett shared a look and they got up and they left the room, "So Beckett... Where does that leave us now?"
Beckett looked Castle, then they said together, "The girlfriend."
Beckett looked at Sheriff Reynolds, "Could you bring her in please?"
"Sure Beckett."
Beckett and Castle watched as they brought Mitchell's girlfriend in and they followed them into the interrogation room, and sat down at the table, "Ms. Bailey, I'm Detective Beckett, N.Y.P.D. This is Mr. Castle. We were wondering what you could tell us about Mitchell and Ava."
"Ava Richardson? And Mitchell? All I know is that Mitchell found out about Ava having a daughter, through that Big Brother, Big Sister special on TV a few months ago and he wanted to go confront her, but being on probation he wasn't allowed to leave, plus he couldn't really afford to go wondering around New York trying to find some girl. But the last I knew he didn't even know how to get a hold of her. All I know was that he wanted to find them and meet the girl." She looked between Castle and Beckett, "Is Mitchell in some kind of trouble? Am I in trouble?"
Castle spoke up, "No Ms. Bailey you're not. But Mr. Wayne did ask for you to contact his lawyer for him."
"Lawyer? Why would he need a lawyer?"
Beckett shook his head, "We can't talk about that. It's an open investigation." Ms. Bailey sighed and called the lawyer for Mitchell.
Rick looked at Kate back at her temporary desk, "Beckett..?"
"What?" She didn't look up from her folder.
"Do you think the girlfriend killed the ex girlfriend?"
Kate looked up, "What? Are you being serious?"
"Yeah. I mean think about it. If he's spending all this time trying to track down an ex girlfriend to see a kid, don't you think that she might think that Mitchell was going to want to get back together with her to help raise their child together?"
"But Houghton isn't even Mitchell's, Castle."
"Yeah, but they don't know that remember?"
"Okay, I'll humor you for a minute, Rick. If she killed Ava because she was worried about Mitchell getting back together with Ava, then why let Houghton survive? Why not kill her too? Or why not kill her instead? Why kill the mother to have to raise the child anyway?"
Castle sighed, "Crap. Do you enjoy ruining my stories?"
Kate smirked, "Sometimes, yes."
Castle looked at her with a confound look on his face, "Seriously? Why?"
Kate smiled and kissed his cheek, "For that look right there."
Castle shook his head and chuckled a little, "That's so not nice Beckett."
"I never claimed to be nice. Whoever told you that is spreading rumors and I'll have to talk to them when we get home." She glanced up and watched Mitchell's lawyer come in, "Hopefully we can get this case solved so we can go home."
"Home sounds amazing already."
"Let's go see what Mr. Wayne has to say for himself now." She got up and they went back into the interrogation room, "Mr. Wayne." She looked at the lawyer, "Hi. Kate Beckett. This is Castle."
"Ms. Beckett, I'm.." He was cut off by Beckett.
"It's Detective Beckett."
"Sorry. Detective Beckett. I'm Mr. Zambrowski. Mitchell's lawyer. Why is my client here?"
Beckett looked at Mitchell again, "So let's talk about Houghton."
Mitchell looked at her shocked, "You know abo..." He stopped talking when his lawyer waved him off.
Castle nodded, "Oh yeah. We know all about Houghton. I think we know more about Houghton then you probably do."
"Listen." Mitchell spoke up again, "Yes. I was pissed off about finding out about the kid. And yes I wanted to confront Ava, but I didn't kill her."
Kate shook his head some, "You have motive Mr. Wayne, and if you didn't kill Ava, what's your alibi?"
Mitchell looked at his lawyer, who nodded for him to continue, so he did, "I had an emergency meeting with my counselor. I needed to get one more session in before court and she had to cancel my last appointment so that was the only appointment she had available and I didn't want to go back to jail for missing an appointment that wasn't even my fault that she had to cancel." He reached into his wallet and pulled out her card, "Here call her. She'll tell you that I was there."
Kate took the card and looked at it, "Sit tight Mr. Wayne." She and Castle left the room and she called the counselor who, unfortunately for Beckett and Castle, confirmed his alibi. She opened the door to the room, "Mr. Wayne, your counselor confirmed your alibi."
Mitchell looked up, "So I can leave?"
"Unfortunately no. You're still going to booked on the warrant you were picked up for. Also our ME confirmed that Ava wasn't Houghton's mom. They're not related at all. She's not your daughter." She shut the door and looked at Rick, "Okay so we call the boys and have them look for a new lead. Our killer might not even be here. We could have just wasted all this time for nothing."
"Not nothing Beckett. We were able to tell a missing girl's parents what happened to their daughter."
"Yeah, that's true. I couldn't imagine..." She paused and looked up at Rick, "Sorry... I didn't mean to..."
"Hey no, I know you didn't mean anything by it. Besides Alexis was brought home nice and safe."
Beckett nodded and put her jacket and scarf on as well as her gloves, "Might as well go find somewhere to stay tonight. I think there was a motel a few miles back, just past the bowling alley."
"Bowling alley? Can we go bowling please Kate?"
Beckett rolled her eyes, "Yeah okay. It's not like we have anything else to do right now anyway." They walked out of the building and went and got a motel room and then called the boys to have them look for something else, then went bowling to pass time and to have dinner there.
