Hey all, thanks again so much for all the support - y'all rock!
Beckett sat with Michael, in the interrogation room. Castle had said he couldn't bear to be in the same room as "that creep" again, and anyway he had some writing that couldn't wait.
"We know that it was you Michael. Yes Paul Thompson gave Alana Hep C, and it was making her very sick, could've even killed her very slowly and painfully. Beckett stared Michael down. "You probably spared Alana a lot of pain Michael."
Michael squinted at her. "What are you talking about?"
Beckett continued with a daringly low tone. "Alana's tox screen came back. When you said you'd been doing a commercial, you didn't mention it was a seafood commercial and that there were pufferfish present. The studio probably had them brought in to save money. You see, pufferfish aren't often eaten because they carry high levels of tetrodotoxin. But you knew that already after studying bio-chemistry for three years right?"
She shook her head at him in pity. "Poisoning Michael? The female preferred choice of killing. Then again, they all say you're quite the drama queen."
Michael shook his head, almost robotically. "I didn't come up with the method. I just carried it out."
"Oh really then who did?" Beckett asked doubtfully.
Michael continued shaking his head, silently.
"Who planned the murder of Alana Vestig?" Beckett shouted, hitting the table.
Michael's looked up slowly and said in an unsteady voice.
"Melanie Vestig. Alana's sister."
Beckett's mouth fell open. Her voice caught in her throat. She took a few deep breaths.
"Ok. Talk to me Michael."
"No! I won't do it. I won't hurt Melanie like that, I won't do that to Tyler."
Beckett still couldn't believe it. She tried to keep as calm and understanding as possible.
"You're in love with Melanie aren't you Michael?"
Michael began to cry, for real this time.
"If she confesses, we'll have you both for conspiracy to commit murder. You'll both be out in ten years." Beckett told him.
"Did Alana know?" Beckett asked.
Michael shook his head. "When Alana told me she wanted to break up, Melanie got really angry at her. Melanie has nothing. Alana's was always the favorite, even as kids. She got to go to college, she had all the opportunities. Melanie was cast out. She was forced into the arms of scumbag after scumbag. When I met her a couple of years ago, we hit if off, but she knew I was with Alana and she was pregnant with another man's kid. When he left a few months ago, Melanie was alone. Alana had been cast in that stupid show and was all of a sudden too high and mighty for family so when she dumped me, it was me that was there for Melanie. We fell in love. We were both so mad at Alana, so we started hatching plans to get revenge on her. Started out as just talk but then Mel started getting really serious about it. I couldn't say no to her, I was so in love with her."
Beckett shook her head, growing more and more disgusted. "If you were so in love with Melanie, then why did you sleep with Alana on the night you murdered her?"
Michael shrugged. "We had so much history, I couldn't help myself, she begged me."
Totally lame excuse. Beckett had heard enough, she rose from the table and walked towards the door. She called back to Michael over her shoulder. "You know, I take a little comfort in the fact that Alana had a virus, a really bad virus. So, if you two did have one last roll in the hay... for old time's sake?" Beckett did not turn around, instead she said silkily. "You might wanna see a doctor there Michael."
...
Beckett and Castle arrived at the suspect's run-down Brooklyn house, pulling in behind a squad car.
Two uniforms went into the house and come out with a frazzled looking Melanie Vestig.
Beckett passed her and gave her a look of disappointment. She and Castle continued inside, where they found Tyler, sitting on the floor, playing with his favorite toy car, completely unaware of the fact that he wasn't going to see his mother again for many years.
Beckett knelt down to Tyler and smiled at him. Castle did the same, extending his finger to him. "Hey buddy", he said. Castle looked up and found Beckett staring at him, a grin on her face. They held their gaze for several moments, until a young cop walked into the room and spoke.
"Detective Beckett. He's here."
"Thanks." Beckett said to the cop.
"Who's here?" Castle asked her.
"You bring him out Castle, he likes you more", Beckett said, motioning toward Tyler.
Castle didn't ask anything more, he just leaned down and gently picked up the boy.
"Come on little guy", he cooed.
The three of them went outside where a man with shoulder-length blonde hair was speaking to the cop. He did a double-take toward Tyler and then beamed. "Tyler!" He shouted.
Castle took a step back, protecting the boy. The man looked affronted.
Beckett took note of how protective Castle was of the young child, and softly touched him on the arm to reassure him.
"Castle, this is Mark Dillon; Tyler's father."
Nervously, the man stepped forward and shook his son's small hand. "Hey Tyler, you remember me? I'm your dad." He looked at Castle. "Can I hold him?"
"He's your kid." Castle said, trying for ambivalence, but he sounded sad. He passed Tyler to his father.
Mark took the toddler into his arms. "Hey Ty, hey pal", he said softly, tears starting to form in his eyes.
"Where have you been for the last four months?" Castle couldn't stop himself asking.
"In Florida, helping my mom set up her Condo. She's been sick so I had to stay with her. As soon as I heard about this though, I had to come. Come and get my son." Mark didn't take his eyes off Tyler once as he said this.
"Great", Castle thought to himself. "He's a saint." He wasn't sure why that bothered him, he should be happy that Tyler was going to a genuinely good parent for the first time in his life, but he had felt a kind of connection to the boy, even just over the space of a few minutes.
Tyler began to giggle in his father's arms.
"Thank you so much. Both of you." He shook Beckett and Castle's hands.
Castle put on his best front.
"You're very welcome. Bye Tyler." Beckett waved goodbye to the toddler.
Father and son walked away. Once they were out of earshot, Beckett turned to Castle. "You ok there Sentimental Sam?"
Castle rolled his eyes at her. "Funny."
"Hey", she stroked his hand with her thumb. "I know you really had a bond going there. I'm sorry Castle."
Castle nodded solemnly. "I just hope the little guy gets the life he deserves."
They took one last look at Mark and Tyler, who were now playing on a swing set in the back yard, laughing joyfully.
"Well, at least life will be better tomorrow than it was today. For both of them." Beckett said.
Castle turned to her, suddenly realizing their hands were still touching. He captured her hand inside his and gave her a warm smile of gratitude. Discretely, they walked hand in hand to the car.