A/N: It has been a bizarre few days. Hopefully the craziness is over with and I can get back to updating very other day or so. As always forgive the typos and grammatical mistakes. Enjoy!!!!

XXII
The Precinct
Kate et al

Kate entered the 12th precinct ready to start her interview with Benjamin Smythe. She was somewhat taken aback to find him in the center of the Bullpen awaiting her and not in the interrogation room. He held a box of pastries and was talking to Ryan and Esposito. She strode purposefully toward the tro. She was getting the same vibe from the group as she did when Castle was around.

"Good morning Detective." Bricks bellowed. "Pastry?"

"Good Morning Mr. Smythe." Kate returned. "No, thank you. We need to go on into the interview room." She indicated the interrogation room.

"What, have I been a bad boy?" Bricks joked moving toward the indicated room.

Kate settled into her normal chair and watched as Benny sat down before her. She tried to read his body language but was having difficulty. She was used to hardened criminals and not socialites. He did seem a bit nervous but over all had an air of a spoiled rich blue blood.

"Alright Mr. Smythe, let's start at the beginning, exactly what was your relationship to the deceased?"

"At what point in time? When were in grade school we were close friends. As were entered Junior High School he had a falling out with Ricky and we became estranged and when, as an adult, he tried to black mail me, well let's just say relations were quite strained."

"So you admit he was trying to blackmail you." Kate declared.

"There seems little point in denying it. I am sure if you did not know about it, you would not have called me in. The little snot called me up a few weeks ago told me that he had pictures of a liaison of mine. We met. He showed me the pictures and told me it would cost two million dollars for the pictures to disappear. He had me over the proverbial barrel. I was going to pay him the money. At the moment I am in some business deals with some Russian and Italian Businessmen, if the pictures got leaked it would cost me hundreds of millions of dollars, so two million dollars was a small price to pay."

"And you had no thoughts of retribution?" Kate inquired.

"Why of course there was going to be retribution. Once I obtained the evidence I was going to buy the Star and then can the bastard. I was going to rain retribution down upon him. I would also make sure he never worked in this city again." Benny declared.

"Alright, where were you at the time of Browning's death?"

Bricks looked pensive. He stared at Kate for a moment and appeared to come to a decision. He took out a business card and wrote a name and number on it. He again seemed to wrestle with some internal demons and then passed the card to Beckett.

"I trust you will be discreet. I was either in the Ballroom or in my hotel room 'chatting' with the person on the card. If word of that gets out he and I could both be ruined."

Kate looked at the name on the card and blanched. The name on the card was a well known one, a junior State Senator.

"The NYPD doesn't leak information… Well let me put it this way. My team doesn't leak information, and this will stay just between the three of us."

"I trust you Kate. Richard would not be so enamored with you if you were the type to kiss and tell. Ricky may act the buffoon, but he is a excellent judge of character. If you were not the discreet type, he probably have very little to do with you, even though you are the gorgeous creature that you are."

"Thanks. I think?"

"Oh, you can trust me Kate. There was this one girl that chased after him all of our junior year in High School. She was a senior, absolutely drop dead beautiful, and she pursued Ricky with a single mindedness that bordered on stalking"

"Really?" Kate said. She was surprised at the twinge of jealousy that twisted in her stomach.

"Oh yes, It became an amusement for Richard's friends, to see the lengths she would go to, all to catch Ricky. I don't know if he has ever told you but he was quite the swimmer in high school. He was even scouted by some Colleges. After swim team practice every day he would stay and swim laps for another hour or so. I can't remember which Academy we were at, we moved around so, but I do remember that we were at an all male school. Anyway this girl actually paid a security guard off so she could slip in to the gym and try to entice our young hero into a little risqué business. She entered the pool as naked as the day she was born. When Rick saw her he almost walked on water to get out of there. When I asked him later why he had declined her obvious invitation, he did have the reputation as a teenage Lothario at the time, he said that he not want to be the latest conquest of a rumor monger. The next year we heard that she had been kicked out of Yale for sleeping with the Dean of the Art Department. Last I heard of her she was an unwed mother living in Queens. Her parents, who were not that wealthy, but well to do, had disowned her. I think that somehow Ricky knew that she was a gold digger, and wanted no part of it. I know of only twice that his instincts failed him. Once when were in Middle School, which is a tale for another time, and again when he married His second wife, but by then I don't think he cared."

"Why wouldn't he have cared?" Kate couldn't help but ask.

"That was really a down period in his life. I don't think that he had quite gotten over the dissolution of his marriage to Meredith. I am sure you have noticed that there are times when Ricky can be overly sensitive about things. In truth Gina was ever the opportunist, she took advantage of Richard and basically corralled him into marriage. I know Ricky was very unhappy while he was married to Gina. He did everything short of being unfaithful to get her to file for Divorce. Actually I don't think he pulled out of his funk until he met you."

"He didn't seem to be depressed when I met him."

"Ah, but he was having dreadful writer's block, and Ricky only has writer's block when he is depressed. I think part of the reason he killed off Derek was because he was so blue. You've known him for almost year now, detective; you should know how well he can hide what he feels."

"Kate could think of several times since she had know Castle when she had no clue as to how the author was feeling. She realized the Bricks had effectively shifted the conversation off of his alibi and onto Rick. She bristled when she realized that she was being played.

"Look Benny, we are not here to talk about Richard. We are here to talk about Mr. Browning and whether you killed him or not."

"I know Detective, and I apologize that we got off on a tangent. It is my fault, but I did not kill Eric. Please check my alibi." Bricks pleaded.

"We will check the alibi and if we find out that you have been untruthful we will arrest you."

"I quite understand Detective. Do you have any other questions for me?"

"Not at this time…. But please don't go anywhere."

"I will not leave the City and shall make myself available to you whenever you need to talk to me."

Benjamin got up, shook Kate's hand and made his way out. Kate felt tired. She had not gotten much sleep the night before, and trying to interrogate Benny had left her feeling flat. She went into the observation room and was miffed to see that Castle had joined a recently arrived Kevin and Javier. To the Author's credit he did not try to plead Brick's case. She avoided looking at Rick but focused on the two detectives.

"So, what do you two think?" Kate asked.

"I don't think he looks good for the murder." Ryan stated. "He didn't seem to have that undercurrent of anger that a lot of killer's do. Besides he did furnish an alibi. From the look on your face it is a pretty big fish."

"Yeah, and if he is telling the truth about the Financials then two mil is just chump change, considering the business deals he says that he has in place." Esposito added

"Bricks is a financial wizard for his family. I think he has doubled his family's net worth since he took over the money aspects of the Family business." Castle added.

"I thought I told you to stay away while I interviewed Benny."

"I didn't intrude on the interview. I stayed here in the observation room and did not say a word" Castle said.

"It's true," Javier stated, "it looked like he was about to explode at any second, but he didn't say a word."

Ryan and Esposito looked at each other and then looked at Beckett and Castle. An odd expression crept across their faces. They hastily exited the observation room after getting the name and number of Bricks alibi. Both Ryan and Esposito look a trifle shocked to see the name written on Benny's card. They knew that the utmost discretion would be needed when talking to Brick's paramour. After they left Beckett moved over to the door and locked it, afterward she moved back over to Castle. He raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

"Castle I understand the urge to protect your friends and your feelings are admirable, but you shouldn't have been here while I was interviewing Bricks." Kate said softly.

"My first instinct was to make sure he got a lawyer, but I know he didn't kill Eric. My second was to be in there at your side to try and mitigate your interrogation, but I didn't do that either. Instead I chose to sit quietly in the observation room and wait to see if you needed any follow up information. Bricks is a close friend so I know a lot about him and his family…"

"Richard, wanting to protect a friend is okay but not a good thing in this case."

"Hey, I didn't do squat." Castle protested.

Kate found herself looking into Richard's face, up close, for the first time that day. When they had talked in the morning, she was too busy getting ready and thinking about her day to pay any detailed attention to the extent of his depleted physical state. She had seen the general look of fatigue that morning but had not looked any further. Now that she was looking she could see the dark circles under his eyes were deeply accentuated. His expression was gaunt and his skin had a gray tinge. She could tell that he was here and standing next to her by sheer force of will. He swayed slightly as he stood watching her. Her heart went out to him. She reminded herself that he had been on deaths door in the not too distant past and unless he began to take care of himself better he was going to land back in the hospital.

She decided to take and unorthodox approach to the problem. She reached up and pulled him down into a kiss. She could taste the slightly bitter, slightly sweet flavor of coffee. She deepened the kiss. She could fell him respond as she pulled him as close as she dared. Her kiss was full of the promise that soon their enforced celibacy would end. Despite her best intentions she lost herself in the kiss. His fatigue caught up to him and he staggered, breaking the spell.

"Rick I want you to go into the break room and stretch out on the couch until the next interview. You are about to pass out from fatigue."

"Kate, I'm good…" Castle started to object.

"No as a matter of fact you aren't. You had an exhausting day yesterday and no sleep last night. If you don't start getting rest soon you are going to end up back in the hospital. If you won't do it for yourself, will you do it for me? When I come over tonight I don't want to just watch you sleep. If we are going to couch cuddle, I would like it if you were at least cogent at the beginning. And I want you alert when I interview Max and Miles. You usually are able to catch things that I miss and I have come to depend on that."

"I just need a cup of coffee…"

"Richard… Please…." Kate begged.

"Well alright." Castle gave in.

Kate gave him another kiss and walked toward the door. When she pulled it open she Esposito and Ryan standing there. They both looked mischievous.

"You know," Ryan said," What it means when Mommy and Daddy lock the door?"

"No Bro' what does it means?' Esposito grinned

"It means that either Mommy and Daddy are arguing or they are having sex."

"Don't you two have anything better to do?" Kate shot back trying not to blush.

"We got a hold of Benny's friend, and it checks out. Bricks' alibi is solid." Ryan said.

"Oh," Kate said relieved. "Good." She looked back and saw Castle leaning up against the wall. "Can you guys get Castle into the break room and make sure he lies down on the couch?"

"Sure, Mom. You know you really shouldn't wear Dad out like that."

"Cut the crap. Make sure he lied down until our next interviewee comes in."