A/N: Sorry for being tardy. I can only blame real life for intruding.
XVI
The Ball
Everyone
"Okay Rick, what do you remember?" Kate asked.
The police had commandeered one of the smaller conference rooms to use for interviewing witnesses. Castle sat across from Beckett looking lost and bewildered. He was still wearing the tux pants but he now had on a Waldorf staff shirt on. His coat and shirt had been taken by Lanie back to the ME's office along with the knife that had been in Eric Browning's back.
Kate knew that she was on thin ice. She shouldn't be interviewing Castle, since she knew him, and was in a relationship with him, but she needed to be here. She watched his hurt looks as he tried to gather his thoughts.
"Ka… Beckett, you know I am being framed right? I know that this looks bad, but you know me, I would not stab Eric in the back. I might kill him off in one of my books, but I would never hurt someone physically."
"Come on, work with me Castle, what can you remember?"
"Alright, I remember coming down to the Ball, you were there Ryan, Esposito, Lanie, Martha and Alexis, were all in the Elevator. I remember that I danced with Doctor Parrish after that things get a little fuzzy. I danced with you but then nothing, until Ryan and Esposito found me in the shower."
"There was blood on your clothes, Rick. Try to remember anything. If you don't have a solid alibi, I am going to have to interrogate you. Don't put me in that position."
"Kate I wish I could remember anything, I'm trying but there is nothing but fog. You know me Kate. You know I am not capable of such a crime."
"You've got a rap sheet, Castle, a long one."
"Granted but it is all petty stuff. Kate, why are you treating me like a murderer?"
"Because I have to! It's my job Castle. I have to find Browning's killer. You have a motive."
"What? That he spread lies about me in the press? If you will recall I got justice. The courts sided with me. He had to print a retraction, He was fired, and the Ledger made a Broadway actress very rich. If anything he had motive to kill me. Not the other way around."
Castle barked out a laugh.
"What?" Kate asked perplexed.
"I never pictured our first fight as a couple would be about me being a murderer, about me being a wise ass, yes, but about me killing someone, no. Besides I killed Eric off in my books a long time ago, Storm Front to be exact. He was the nosey journalist who got dumped into a drum of acid."
Kate chuckled, in spite of herself. She realized that she had been angry at Rick. She had blamed him for the situation they were in, when he was being framed for the murder. She admitted to herself that she could see not way that Castle could actually have murdered someone. She hoped that when this little drama was over that Richard could forgive her.
"Rick, stay in this room and think. Try to piece the night back together. I need to check with Ryan and Esposito." Kate leaned over and kissed his cheek.
"There's something I never thought you would do." Rick said.
"What, Kiss you again?"
"No, kiss me in an interrogation room."
"You just never know when or where you might get lucky." Kate grinned.
"I had a dream about you in and interrogation room, but that was the room at the station and there were a lot fewer clothes involved, and a lot more Heat."
"You never know, Richard, I have been told that Nikki and I could be sisters."
"You don't know how much that scares and excites me, on so many levels."
********
"Ok guys what do we have?"
"It looks bad for our boy." Esposito opined.
"Yeah, the CSU boys were able to determine that the blood on Castle's shirt was the same blood type as our Vic's. And nobody seems to have seen Castle around the time of our murder. Whoever did this made sure he was off grid when they struck." Ryan stated.
"Whoever? So you don't believe that Castle did this?" Kate asked, relieved.
"No way, he may write murder books for a living, but he is an ole softy." Esposito returned. "Lanie said that she was unconvinced with the blood evidence, something about spatter patterns. Anyway she has gone with the body back to the lab…"
Esposito was interrupted by Ryan's cell phone going off. After a brief conversation he looked grim and hung up.
"Strike two for Castle fans, the partial fingerprints on the knife were Castles."
"That's no surprise, that knife was the one Rick used to cut the big Get Well cake. So somebody is working hard to make sure Castle get's framed. Ryan get with Martha and Alexis, see if they can shed some light on whom Castle is enemies with. Esposito get some uniforms and find the primary crime scene. If we know where it happened maybe we can rule Castle out by proximity."
******
As Ryan went off to find Martha and Esposito went in search of some plain clothes policemen for the crime scene search, Kate pull out her phone. The number she dialed rang twice before answering.
"Doctor Simmons. Kate Beckett, I need to ask you some questions in an official capacity."
"So you are calling as Detective Kate Beckett, not Kate Beckett patient? All right what can I do for you… Detective?'
"I need to ask you some questions about Richard Castle's state of mind. Do you think that he is capable of physical violence?"
"Oh dear, Alright let me preface this by saying that all people are capable of violence, given the right set of circumstances. As for Castle, about the only time I could see him getting physically violent would be to protect a loved one he perceived to be in danger. If someone would attack Alexis or Martha or even you, then I think he might resort to violence, but under any other conditions I would say no."
"What about when in the middle of a panic attack?" Kate inquired.
"Then even less likely, when he is experiencing an attack he is looking to hide from the stresses, not attack them. He will go looking for the nearest shower, more than likely, rather that hurt someone."
"Why does he go to the shower?" Kate could not keep her curiosity at bay.
"He is literally looking to wash away his shame. He is ashamed of the panic he feels. Intellectually he knows that the panic is unwarranted and is ashamed that he can't control it. But I think we have gone a little far afield, in your questioning."
"Sorry Doctor Simmons, One last question. Do you think Richard could kill someone?"
"Oh Kate, you know the answer to that one already. Richard Castle would probably only take a like if someone were trying to kill Alexis, Martha, or You"
*****
Ryan sat down with a worried Martha and Alexis. The rumors of what had happened had run through the guests of the ball. Wild stories of a blood soaked Castle standing over a dead body, wielding a knife, with death in his eyes, had also made the rounds, leaving the pair even more worried.
"Detective," Martha started "What is going on and where is my son?"
"Mrs. R, Castle is fine, at the moment. It appears that someone is trying to frame your son for the murder of Eric Browning."
"That's preposterous, Richard wouldn't hurt a fly."
"I understand Mrs. R., but at the time Castle was having one of his attacks so he doesn't remember anything. Also he has blood on his shirt and coat; we believe it is from the victim."
"Detective Ryan, my dad wouldn't hurt anybody in real life, in his books, sure, but not in reality." Alexis defended her father.
"Take it easy, Lexi. We are going on the assumption that someone wants to frame your dad. So we need to know if Castle has any enemies that might want to see you dad thrown in jail."
"Good Lord, Detective, just about every critic that my son has proven wrong, several book publishers that my son refuses to leave Black Pawn for…"
"Not to mention other authors that dad routinely out sells, and there are the crazy fans. You've had a front row seat for those, but Dominic, unless he had escaped, is out of the picture." Alexis finished.
"Ok," Ryan sighed."I see it is going to be a long list. Let's try to limit it to the people that were here tonight."
"We got real lucky." Esposito said. "One of the Uni's found a drop of blood on a stair case. The CSU guys investigated and found out that someone tried to clean up the mess. So we have the primary crime scene. The good news is it is on the other side of the hotel from where Castle was found, the bad news it is very secluded. So finding any witnesses is going to be difficult, but if the CSU tech is correct we are going to be looking some shorter than Castle."
****
"Detective, half a moment," Bricks called out to Beckett.
"Bricks, I really don't have time to chit chat." Kate responded. She really did not have time to spend talking to Ben. She needed to stay focused on the crime scene.
"I understand Kate, but I had some information that I wanted to share. It might have some bearing on the dreadful chain of events, this evening. I am sure that you know that Ricky could not have done this terrible crime, so I got to thinking and remembered something that I saw earlier this evening. I was Miles Dixon, the owner of the Ledger, in an argument with Eric." Bricks sighed. "Such a waist of life. Poor Eric."
"Just how heated was this argument?" Kate asked
"Quite heated, I heard Miles say he wanted to kill Eric, with his bare hands." Brick assured her.
A/N: Again I will apologize for the typos and Grammar