Okay everyone. This is all I will say. Remember to BREATHE.

Beckett and Montgomery went into Observation, and neither was surprised to see all the men, even the famously stoic Delancy, with the stains of tears on their faces. 'Guys,' Beckett said gently, and Castle looked at her.

'Kate.'

He didn't bother to protect her reputation, and pulled her tight into his arms, pressed a hard kiss to her mouth. 'I am so proud of you,' he murmured to her. 'Your mother would be so proud of you.'

'It's okay, Rick.' But Beckett stayed in his arms a little longer to make sure she wouldn't break apart. Not yet, she reminded herself. There would be time for that later, when she had every last one of them in a cage. Easing out of her husband's strong, reassuring arms she moved over to stand beside Adam. For the first time since this case had begun just five days before, she wasn't seeing the wronged cop with his quietly tough determination getting him through each sheet of paper to help them solve the case. She saw the young man still grieving for his father, who still needed the answers because those questions were still painfully fresh.

'Adam,' she said softly, touching his arm. She could see him staring into the interrogation room with the deadened eyes of a trauma victim.

'I'm okay,' he said in a hollow voice. 'I need to see this through.'

'You've seen enough, son,' Montgomery told him quietly, and flicked his eyes to Delancy. 'This is the kind of man your bureaucrats decided wasn't fit to carry a badge. He's been working the same hours as my man to get that confession and hear that sordid history.'

'That will be rectified immediately,' Delancy said, then cleared his throat before putting his wide, ruddy hand on Adam's shoulder and turned him around. 'Son, what do you say to a nice head clearing draft of Kilkenny?'

'I don't drink,' Adam started, and everyone in the room laughed.

'Bro, the Deputy Chief of Detectives wants to buy you a drink. You can damn well suck it up,' Esposito told him.

'Besides with a name like Brennan, you've got some Irish in you,' added Ryan. 'Trust me it'll be like drinking mother's milk.'

'Okay then.'

Beckett watched them walk off - tall and slight Adam with his olive complexion and ruddy and thick-muscled Delancy, like the survivors of a Hollywood disaster movie. 'Leave your phone on, Adam,' she called after him, 'so we can tell you were the case-closed party is.'

'Got it,' he called over his shoulder, and Castle gave Beckett a wry look.

'We both know that he'll know it's at our loft. Why is our space always used for parties?'

'Speak for yourself,' Esposito chimed in, a little wounded. 'Who is it that always hosts birthdays and Christmas?'

'Before we get out the rulers, gents, why don't we tell Montgomery why we interrupted his interview yet again,' Ryan suggested. 'We got the ballistics report from CSU already on Christopher Spitzer. They came up with a partial match.'

'How the hell does Ballistics get a partial match?' Castle wondered.

'The shell casings they recovered were from the same serial stock that were used in a ninety-seven homicide in a warehouse on Avenue D.' Ryan waggled the paper. 'Guess who the vic was?'

'Matthew Montrose,' the rest of them chorused and Ryan grinned widely.

'So looks like that hired muscle is on retainer.'

'Good work, boys,' Montgomery told them. 'Right now, since we're paused, you're going to copy the disc of this interview-' he ejected it from the slot '-copy it and take it to Fuqua to get an arrest warrant out for Frank Cowlan.'

'On it.' Ryan nipped the disc from Montgomery's handwhile Esposito stayed behind to clarify their marching orders.

'Sir, you don't want an APB, too?'

'APB gives him time to prepare and go underground.'

'He might already be doing that if he knows Spitzer is toasted and Attwood is in custody currently singing better than Mariah Carey in her prime.'

'It's a risk we have to take. But for now, go the route. Get the warrant, go to his apartment, start closing him in.'

Esposito nodded, saw his partner come back with the two discs; he handed Montgomery the original which was put back into the recorder and restarted. 'You got it, sir.'

Beckett watched them go, then looked at Montgomery. 'Once more, Captain?'

'Once more, Detective. Oh, wait, we need that damn Coke.'

They walked back this time with a can of Diet Coke for Attwood, which Montgomery offered with a wan smile. 'Decided to mix it up for you.'

'Thanks. What else do you want me to tell you about?'

'Let's talk about Timo Ross, Angela Doran and Mike Doran,' Beckett said, sitting down and Attwood shook his head.

'Cowlan's the expert on those poor devils. Though I have to say, had Mike been one of us originally with Julio, things would have been very different. What kind of man can order the death of his only child?'

'What kind of man pays to have a wife and mother killed?' she returned with a voice so icy she could have frozen mercury.

'That was business, Beckett. Just like when you kill in the line of duty, that's business to you isn't it? You're paid to end a life and leave behind family.'

'My mother wasn't a criminal threatening an innocent life, she was trying to free an innocent man from prison.'

'Tell us about Raglan's death, with Christine in the car and Goddard in the sniper's nest.' Montgomery jumped in because he knew however much control his detective had, it would fly out the window if she was goaded into defending her mother on a personal level. 'What precipitated that decision?'

'Mike was getting twitchy,' Attwood replied, cracking the soft-drink can open. 'He couldn't handle much more of Christine visiting and pushing pictures of Angela at him, reminding him of what he did. He kept saying it wasn't his call to make, but there was the evidence of money going from his accounts to pay off the same street gang that killed Timo Ross.'

'You said we should talk to Frank Cowlan about Timo and Angela, how do you know this?'

'Talk around the water cooler, as it were. Cowlan said he'd take care of Raglan so he got the guy to rent a car and gave him a description of Christine's car, and the rest of it you know.'

Attwood drained the Coke can, then crumpled it in his hands. 'And that's all the news that's fit to print. I'll be contacting my attorney now and would like to be processed through Booking.'

'Very well.'

Beckett and Montgomery watched as uniforms came in to escort Attwood out, left the interrogation room and looked at each other, waited for Castle to leave Observation.

'I don't know about you guys, but I could use a good belt of something.'

'I know where to find one,' Montgomery concurred and led them into his office, where he produced a bottle of Glenfiddich and three glasses from his bottom drawer. He poured them each a short drink, and raised his glass.

'To Camilla Spitzer, may she rest easy now,' Beckett said.

'To everyone who came before you and helped you build this case,' Castle added.

'To the fallen we stood for today and seeing the criminals locked up nice and tight for their misdeeds.' Montgomery tapped his glass against the others. 'Here's knowing what happens to those bad little puppies who barked up the wrong tree.'

Beckett's glass paused on the way to her mouth as her blood went cold. 'What was that, sir?'

'Oh, just some words from the wit and wisdom of Sean Delancy, he...Kate?'

The glass shattered into a thousand little pieces as it slipped from Beckett's number fingers. She'd gone deathly pale as her jaw worked but no sound came out. Panicked, as he'd never seen her like this Castle gripped her biceps and shook her gently. 'Kate? Katie, come back. Come back to us now.'

'Sir, we need to call Ryan and Esposito, get them back here now,' she breathed, eyes still fixed and staring as her brain recalled the information she'd neatly stowed. '

'What is it, Detective?'

'That saying...that...that's what Roman Moore told me he heard the guy say.'

'What guy, Kate?' Castle asked, already knowing he wouldn't like the answer.

'That night in the warehouse, when Roman Moore saw Frank Cowlan and the man in a police uniform and a ski mask with Matthew Montrose.'

'What, Kate? What did Roman see?'

'It was Delancy.'

Montgomery blinked, shook his head. 'What?'

'Sir, that's what Roman Moore said he heard the man the mask say to Matthew Montrose before he pulled the trigger, and...oh Jesus! Oh, Jesus Christ!' Beckett's eyes flew wide. 'Adam!'