Dead. The guy who called himself Cole Maddox was dead. Beckett would be pleased but..well, he was the best lead they currently had, given that Smith wasn't out of the woods yet and now that lead was gone. In a way she was happy, the son of a bitch deserved nothing less than being blown up carrying out the dirty work of a man who professed himself to be too important to do it himself, but still, she would have liked the chance to have had a conversation with him, one where she was in control and had the best chance of extracting the information she wanted.

The place had already been cordoned off by the time her and Castle arrived, local uniforms securing the crime scene and a flurry of detectives and crime scene techs beginning their operation. It hadn't been long before they had conformation the body was Maddox, not only had Espo shown them CCTV footage of him entering the building with no video of him leaving, Lanie had done a quick examination of the body and confirmed that she was as certain as could be without DNA records that it was Maddox.

Castle had remained silent pretty much the whole time, standing faithfully by her side every step of the way, quietly looking out for her, observing in that way she had come to know so well. So much had happened in the past 24 hours, it was as if someone had hit the fast forward button on their lives. Had it only been yesterday that she was in LA, professing her love to Castle? And then just this morning that he had showed up at the precinct? They still had a lot to talk about but the most important three words had been exchanged and they both knew the rest could wait, at least for a few more hours.

Beckett had spotted Ryan quietly muttering to a CSU to gather up as many of the pieces of paper as possible and leave them with him, which she was grateful for. He and Espo had been amazing where her moms case was concerned and it seemed they weren't giving up now, even if it meant keeping things quiet from Gates - the less people who knew the better, just because Maddox was dead didn't mean his employer would be giving up. Oh no, Beckett was damn sure that someone else would be after her soon enough, but with Castle by her side, she was ready for anything.

An hour and a half later, after being sent home 'after a long and tiring day' by Gates, Esposito and Ryan joined Castle and Beckett at Beckett's place to piece together as much of the blown up file as possible. The table was covered with hundreds of thousands of tiny pieces and looking at it made the four of them wince in anticipation of how time consuming and possibly pointless this was going to be. Nevertheless, Beckett grabbed four beers from the fridge and handed them around as the four of them settled down to find anything that might help.

It was boring, tiring and monotonous, but they ploughed through it, fingers numb and eyes going blurry until eventually they had a breakthrough. Esposito was close to giving up, having assembled nothing but something that resembled an empty playing card, but Ryan had found something a little more interesting.

"I got "ending balance" here. I think it's some kind of bank statement," he said.

"Not just a bank statement," Beckett replied as her and Castle pieced together a few more confetti sized pieces of paper.

"Whoa. This is part of a money order made out to cash. That could be a payoff," Castle suggested.

Beckett agreed with him, which didn't happen all too often. "And whoever it went to is probably our guy."

"Well, that would make sense," Castle replied.

Apparently Ryan wasn't convinced just yet. "Yeah? In what way?"

"Well, all of this started when Montgomery and his cop buddies started kidnapping mobsters for ransom money," Castle began.

"And we know that someone found out and demanded a cut of that money," Beckett continued.

"And whoever that is, there's something in this file he does not want to get out."

Now it was Esposito's turn to find something useful. "Whoa, this-this has numbers on it. And it's machine printed. It's…an eight-digit string, so it's not a phone number.."

"Wait a minute," Castle said. "Oh, that's the-"

"This is the back of that money order. And these digits, 0-8-6-7-2-2-4-1, that's the account it was deposited in."

"If we figure out whose account that is, that should give us a name," Beckett said, trying her hardest not to get her hopes up..but they were so close..

Luckily, Ryan had a sudden bright idea. "And I think I know a way," he said. "Uh, do you remember when we were checking banking accounts for the dirty bomb investigation? We used the federal banking database."

"And I still remember the password," Espo announced. He moved to Beckett's computer and typed in the relevant information. "I'm not sure they even track accounts going back this far," he warned.

"Whoever owns that account is the person that killed my mom. Run it," Beckett said, determination laced in her voice. She had everything crossed that in less than a minute they'd have a name, somewhere new to look.

"The account was closed 19 years ago. It belonged to a guy named William H. Bracken," Esposito read when the results came back.

The name rang a bell and Beckett searched the room with her eyes, suddenly realising why it sounded familiar. "You mean Senator William Bracken?" She said, holding up a flyer with his face on it. Gotcha, she thought triumphantly, after all this time, they had a name. The name of the person who had ordered her mother to be killed - now it was time for revenge.

Shortly after they had discovered who was behind it all, Espo and Ryan called it a day. It was late and they were all tired, but they promised they wouldn't be giving up, first thing tomorrow they'd be back on the case, helping Beckett uncover any evidence they could find, simply tracing an account to back to Bracken wouldn't be enough to prove he had anything to do with her moms murder, they needed solid, concrete evidence.

Castle made no attempt to leave, but Beckett was a little confused as to what happened now. In LA, it had been simple - she spent the days trying to convince him they belonged together and that she was truly sorry for everything she'd done and the nights she spent trying to wipe his face from her mind in order for her to get some sleep. But now..now they were back on home turf and in her apartment at that. The ball was in his court, really, unless she wanted to throw him out.

"So..what's your next move?" Castle asked hesitantly, taking his beer and sinking into her couch.

"Honestly?" She said, joining him. "I have no clue. We don't have anywhere near enough proof and I can't just go running at him with what we have. It'll ruin everything we've worked for." No, in order to truly get him, they needed as much proof as possible, something even he couldn't talk or bargain his way out of.

"I'm proud of you," he stated simply with a smile.

"What for?" She laughed, dipping her head to hide her blush. It was always the same when he paid her a compliment, always a surprise that sent little butterflies fluttering in her stomach.

"For stepping back and seeing the bigger picture," he explained, "the Kate Beckett I met all those years ago..god, with this kind of information she would have run straight at him, not stopping to think about proof or evidence. But now..now you know you'll get him one day and that day will probably be sooner rather than later, you can look at it from a completely different point of view, knowing that if you just wait a little bit longer, you'll have him for sure."

Beckett was slightly shocked, after all that had happened between them, hearing him say he was proud of her was unexpected to say the least. It was the truth, though, if she had been given this opportunity a few years ago she would have screwed it all up by going straight to Bracken but now she had the strength to stay away and wait for the right time. "I couldn't have done it without you, you know," she reminded him softly. He had been an integral part of this investigation and now it looked as if they would get to close it out together.

Before she knew what was happening, Castle had her pinned down on the couch on her back as he climbed on top of her, lips attached and frantic, his thigh pressing between her legs to relieve the pressure that had been building for years. Since the moment she interrupted his book launch to bring him in for questioning there had been a hint of attraction between them, slowly simmering for almost four years until this point.

His tongue swept inside her mouth and she gasped, arching her back into his chest, desperate for more. They'd kissed before but this..this was different, this was going somewhere...but oh god it wouldn't be the bedroom if he kept that up, they'd be lucky to make it off the couch..

"Castle," she gasped, tearing her lips from his. "Bedroom..now!"

He didn't need telling twice.

Two weeks. It had been two weeks since Beckett, Castle, Esposito and Ryan had uncovered who was behind Beckett's moms murder and not a day went by that one of them wished today would be the day that they'd suddenly end up with a new piece of evidence, enough to link it back to Bracken. Realistically, they knew they weren't going to be that lucky, the chances of them discovering the answer on their desk with no input from them was highly unlikely, verging on impossible.

Beckett had left it alone, though. She had surprised not just Castle, but the boys too, when she had said that she was dropping it, that Castle was more important to her than chasing ghosts. Castle had been even more surprised when one evening in those two weeks, they had been about to go to bed at his loft - which his mother had very happily vacated for a few weeks, preferring the house in the Hamptons - when Bracken came on screen with a campaign speech. However, he had offered his hand to Kate and she had taken it, leaving her mothers murderer behind, instead choosing to curl up in his arms and lie there, listening to the soothing sound of the beat of his heart.

He wasn't just surprised, he fell more in love with her. From day one he had known there was something there, a tragedy that had shaped the woman who had stolen his heart and once he learnt of that tragedy, he could tell it was the most important thing in the world to her. And now, although he was sure it was still important to her, she had managed to work out a way to put it to the side, realising that it wasn't worth going back down that rabbit hole. Not that he'd let her, he was in this for good now and the second they had that final piece of the jigsaw, she could be damned sure that he wasn't making her go it alone.

Castle had been stuck in meetings all morning, they had been scheduled to take place over video conference as he was supposed to be in California, but Gina had somehow caught wind of the fact that he was back in New York and had demanded his presence. Beckett had waved him off, telling him she would be straight on the phone to him if she needed him, but she'd text an hour before to tell him they still had no case anyway, and that it was proving to be a very boring day at the twelfth. Apparently there was only so many times calling Ryan 'honeymilk' was actually funny. Who knew?

Despite the fact that he had spent the best part of four hours cooped up in a boardroom, the meeting had turned out to be quite productive - Black Pawn was so impressed with the sales of the latest Nikki Heat novels that they had commissioned another film and three more books. Three! Castle was on his way to the precinct now, practically bouncing like tigger along the pavement, earning himself some curious glances from passers by. Not that he cared; he got to write at least another three books about the woman he was crazy in love with - and she loved him too! Could life get any better?

Three days ago his belongings had been shipped back to New York and Alexis had called to say how pleased she was for him and for Kate. Beckett had been a little shocked to hear of the girls best wishes, but had passed on her thanks nonetheless. Castle knew Alexis had strong feelings about Beckett but he was hoping now she could put them to one side and enjoy her time here when she was back for the holidays.

Being in such a good mood was going to end well for the bored detectives, Castle had stopped by one of their favourite pizza places on the way to bring them lunch. "Afternoon," he called brightly to the officer in the lobby, before striding past and into the elevator, heading up to the right floor. How Castle proceeded to make his way around to Beckett's desk could only be called skipping. Yes, like an eight year old girl in the playground with her friends, he skipped his way across the floor, gathering a few more strange looks on his way.

"Hey guys!" He announced happily, coming to a halting stop next to his chair. Kinda cute how Beckett had never moved it. "I brought pizza!"

"Bro, have you been drinking?" Esposito asked with a frown.

"Me?" Castle replied, pretending to be offended. "How dare you suggest such a thing! I am just high on the beautiful thing that is life," he announced in a sing sing voice, spinning his way around Beckett's desk.

"Castle," she snapped. "Will you calm down please? You're like a nine year old on a sugar rush!"

"Oh but Becketttttt," he whined, leaning forwards in front of her so they were almost at eye level across her desk. "I have news - there's going to be three more Nikki Heat books, and another movie!" He resumed his spinning around the desk, much to Beckett's disapproval.

"That's great, Castle, but can you please just sit down for five minutes? You're making me dizzy."

Castle frowned at Beckett for ruining his fun, but went to do as she said anyway..well, almost. He was just about to sit down in his chair when he tripped, spinning around the desk had made him a little dizzy himself and he misjudged the leg of the chair, his foot getting caught. He flew forwards, bumping into the corner of Beckett's desk and sending it wobbling, almost knocking over her coffee..now that would be have been a disaster, that was for sure.

Her coffee didn't fall but the elephants did. The ornament that sat on her desk everyday, like a little family went scooting across the desk and onto the floor, breaking apart with a crash. That soon calmed Castle down, he knew how much she loved those elephants and now she was going to hate him forever..

"Shit, Beckett," he began, joining her on the floor to help clear them up. "I'm so sorry, it was a complete accident, I promise..perhaps we can-" he broke off, suddenly realising she was allowing him to speak without biting his head off. His gaze followed her own, landing on a spot just up from where the majority of the elephants lay.

Right there on the ground was a cassette tape, a tape that had been hidden in her mothers elephant ornament for goodness knows how long.

A/N: I apologise for the delay in updating, my temporary move to Spain has been busy but you have this chapter now and the final chapter (maybe two) will be up ASAP. Sorry that I haven't had the chance to reply to you all individually, but please know I'm ever so grateful for your support.

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