Disclaimer: Still not mine, and I'm just fine with that.
Summary: More research for Castle...
A/N: Thank you so much, again, for the great reviews! I've actually held on to this one for a while, before I realized it would be an awesome addition to this series. Hope you enjoy!
Kate could tell Rick was getting restless. For the past hour, he'd been shifting around in his chair almost non-stop. "If you want something to do, I've got a stack of papers right here," she suggested.
He gave her a look like she'd gone crazy. "No thank you. Actually, I think I may go ahead and leave for the day."
"It's just paperwork, Castle. Why don't you hang around for once?" Kate teased, knowing he wouldn't stay.
"I'm sorry, Detective, I've got a bit of research to do for the next installment of Nikki, so thanks, but I have my own bit of paperwork to do." He smiled, taking her hand in his and shaking it as he mouthed, 'later.'
"You could've just said 'no,'" she smirked, "Less wordy."
Castle walked toward the elevator, and quipped over his shoulder, "But I'm a wordsmith!"
The doors closed on him, and Kate rolled her eyes. Of course he'd plan it so it appeared he got the last word. She went back to work, blowing a lungful of frustrated air out as she stared at the stack of papers she still had to go through. She'd make sure he got his payback tonight.
And with that thought in mind, she smiled and got back to work.
Several hours later, Kate had managed to get a little over halfway through the papers when there was a call in. She wrote down the details on her pad and hung up.
She tried calling Castle, but didn't get an answer. He was probably deep into writing, so she let it go.
"Espo, Ryan!" The guys looked up and she said, "We've got a body drop at Central Park. And a person tied up."
"We're right behind you," said Ryan as he got his things together. "Castle gonna meet us there?"
"He's not answering; said he needed to write when he left." Kate quirked her eyebrow up, "What, you think we can't crack this case without him?"
"I didn't say that!" Ryan's eyes widened a little, "I was just asking... you know he'd love something like this."
She smirked and rolled her eyes. "I know. To bad he's gonna miss out."
Kate took the elevator to the lobby, then to the parking garage. She tried calling Castle again, but there was still no answer.
It wasn't long before she got to the park and found the guy who'd made the call. She waved at him and introduced herself, "I'm Detective Kate Beckett."
"Hi, I'm Johnny Smith," he said, almost looking as if he were a deer caught in the headlights of a car. "I'm the guy that called this in."
"I kinda gathered," she said, and took out her notebook, "Can you tell me what you found?"
"Yeah, see, I'm with my family, and we were enjoying the day at the park. I saw these two guys go down this trail, one looked real suspicious, and the other had a rope. I didn't think about it at first, but about twenty minutes later, the suspicious guy came out alone." He shook his head, and Kate wished he would just get to the point. "I thought I should check it out, so I went down the trail and found the other dude tied up and a half-buried body close by."
"Sir, did the man give you a name?" she asked.
"No ma'am," he answered, "But he looks very familiar... I can't seem to put a finger on why."
"He could be a writer," Esposito interrupted, smiling as he pointed toward a boulder about thirty yards down the trail.
Castle was there, leaned against the boulder, only in a shirt and his boxers, tied up.
"Castle - What?" Kate asked, then quickly composed herself as she turned back to Johnny, "Excuse me sir, one moment."
"You might want this," Espo said as he handed her a pocket knife. She nodded her thanks and took it from him.
She approached Castle, her heart racing, wondering what exactly he'd gotten himself into this time. She looked around, making sure the others weren't close by, "Are you hurt? How did this happen?" she asked.
He sighed heavily and she thought it was as if he wished he could sink into the ground. "If that man had just minded his own business and walked away, this would never have happened."
Kate knelt down by Castle, "What do you mean?"
He didn't answer, and refused to make eye-contact. It was unsettling, how he was acting. "Answer my question, Castle! Who did this to you?" she demanded, and unfolded the pocket knife. "Whoever tied you up did a good job," she commented as she cut through the ropes.
"It was Alexis."
Kate stopped and stared at him, not wanting to believe the words that just fell from his mouth. "Alexis? really? Are you serious?"
"Yes," he whispered and tried to hush her, "Please, not so loud. I was... it was research..."
"By a dead body?" She helped him out of the ropes and Castle rubbed his wrists, wincing.
"Yes-NO!" he corrected. "I don't know anything about the dead body. I had Alexis tie me up out here, like the time I had her to duct tape me to a chair..."
She could hardly believe her ears. "You've had your daughter duct tape you into a chair?"
"Would you let me finish?" he asked, exasperated.
"I'm not sure how much more I can take, Castle. I thought I knew you better than this..." said Kate. It was becoming difficult to keep her voice down, but somehow, she managed. "Do you do crazy stuff like this often?"
"No," he admitted, looking very ashamed of himself. "Not very often, but when you're a writer, it's good to experience things for yourself so it's more believable to the reader."
"That opens a whole new can of worms, you know," she said, "now tell me what happened, and if you saw anyone suspicious in the area."
"Oh, I did see someone who appeared suspicious, but they weren't."
"What?" She gave him a look as if he had just sprouted and second and third head. His story was getting stranger and stranger. "What kind of an answer is that?"
"Alexis," he explained, "She didn't want to be recognized while she was with me, so she had on a jacket over a black hoodie and a pair of sunglasses on. I'm sure she's the one who caught my friend's attention."
Kate could hardly decide whether to laugh at the situation or slap him for doing something so stupid. So she just smiled and kept it in.
Castle shrugged, "Laugh if you want, but I was completely and totally unaware of the body until I was almost out of the ropes and fell on it."
She could no longer contain her laughter. "You fell on the corpse?"
"Shhhhh!" he hissed, "Not completely, it was just an arm at the time. Come on, Kate, this is bad enough, please cut me a little slack."
"You know Lanie will be able to tell that, right?"
This time, it was Castle who rolled his eyes, "Yes, I do, and I will be happy to tell her that's what happened."
"All kidding aside, why did you come all the way out here, in your underwear, to do... research..." she stopped to regain her composure, "and you didn't take your phone with you? That doesn't make any sense."
"I didn't want to cheat, and I didn't come out here in my underwear." The look in his eyes almost killed her, some weird mixture of embarrassment and innocence. "Obviously, I stripped before Alexis tied me up. And besides, do real kidnappers leave phones conveniently for their victims to access?"
"No, I guess not," she admitted. He had a good point, but still...
"And there is my case and point. Someone, please give the lady a year's supply of Rice-a-Roni, or something," he huffed.
She laughed again, then helped Rick to his feet. "Unfortunately, Castle, I still have to take you in. You were found right beside the body in the forest, and there were no witnesses to what happened here."
"I told you Alexis is the one who tied me up!"
"I know, and we'll have to bring her in as well."
"Can you at least call her first? She'll never forgive me if one of your men goes in and pulls her out of whatever kind of outing she's on." He gasped, "And if she's with Mother, I'll never hear the end of it."
"All right, Castle, I'll call her. Quit freaking out." The poor guy was really getting worked up over all this.
"Would you freak out if you found yourself in the woods tied up next to a partially buried dead body?" he asked, watching her closely, "You would, wouldn't you?"
Kate shook her head, "First of all, I wouldn't have my daughter tie me up in the woods."
"You forgot the body was partially buried. Partially buried! If either Alexis or I would have seen the thing, I wouldn't be here either. I'd be Joe Bob over there, making the 911 phone call!"
"Calm down, Castle!" Kate warned, "You're beginning to get out of hand."
"All right, all right," he conceded, "I'll calm down. Just remember what I've been through today."
"I know, it's really been rough, hasn't it?" She helped him up and guided him through the woods to her car and opened the door to the backseat. "Get in, Nature Boy."
"Hey, why don't I get to ride in the front?"
"Partners do, murder suspects don't." She turned him around and held the cuffs in front of him.
"But you know I didn't do it!" he complained.
"Actually," she smiled, and loved watching him squirm. "No, I don't. I just know you were conveniently found in the same area as a dead body." She leaned in close to him and deadpanned, "Now, get in the car, or I'll make you get in."
Castle looked like he might be frightened, then flopped into the back of the cruiser and stared out the opposite window. "You are having entirely too much fun out of this."
Kate got in the driver's seat and buckled her seat belt. "Maybe. And I think you just earned another point. That has to be the craziest stunt you've played yet."
She heard him huff out a frustrated breath, then maybe a light chuckle. "Yeah, it was pretty good wasn't it? What's the score?"
"You're ahead. Two points to my one, but don't let that go to your head." She watched him through the rear view mirror, and saw his eyes regain a little of the twinkle in them. "I'm still gonna win."
"We'll have to see about that. I still have plenty of tricks up my sleeve."
Kate smiled as she began the drive back to the precinct. She was sure what he said was true, but he still had no idea what he was up against.