Ryan and Esposito were too fixated on the whiteboard to notice that Castle and Beckett had joined them in the bullpen. The latest victim's picture hung on the corner of the board above a scarce timeline along with a couple of photos from the crime scene.

Not exactly promising, but not unusual for this early in an investigation.

Kate had received the call earlier in the morning that a body had dropped, but since she was trying to avoid crime scenes at this stage, she hadn't heard about the case details yet.

After all, there were some perks to being captain, and not having to run out to crime scenes at all hours of the night was definitely one of them.

"So what do we have?" she prompted after her detectives' silence stretched on far longer than her liking.

"Oh, hey Beckett," Ryan greeted. His eyes darted over to where they were standing, flickering between her and Castle. "And Castle. Something wrong?"

She rolled her eyes while her husband offered them an unnecessary sympathetic shrug. "Only thing that's wrong is the fact that my two detectives have yet to brief me on this homicide."

"Right," Esposito said with a sharp nod, his eyes flashing wide at Castle before returning to her. "Pop and drop found this morning outside of Evan and Associates. Vic's name is Jake Blakely. CPA working late according to the office manager."

"Tis the season," Castle muttered, drawing her attention.

Taxes.

That was the last thing on her mind. She turned toward Castle, arching her eyebrow in question.

"My accountant has everything handled." Thank God he had a person for everything. She no longer had to worry because no matter the mundane requirement, he had someone to take care of it. Maybe she was getting complacent, but at times like this, she was happy to let it slip through the cracks.

She offered him a small smile before being interrupted by a laugh from her detectives. "Care to share with the class?"

"It's just funny," Ryan stated. His jaw snapped shut as her eyes narrowed at him.

"Funny?"

"I mean, it's cute. All you have to do is look at Castle and he knows exactly what you're thinking…"

"It's kinda freaky," Esposito corrected, exaggerating a shiver down his spine.

Kate rolled her eyes at the theatrics and cleared her throat. "Once playtime is over, can we talk about any possible leads, please?" Her sight flitted toward the board and the empty space below the word Suspects. "Someone was murdered and I'm sure their family would appreciate us solving it rather than discussing my marriage."

Ryan nodded before propping himself against his desk. "Right. Leads."

They had nothing. She could tell.

"None so far," his partner confirmed. No leads and no forward movement. God, this was going to be a long day.

"Okay, well then why don't you do that investigating work that we all love so much and find me some leads. Possibly a suspect while you're at it," she barked. She folded her arms and walked toward the privacy of her office.

"Kate..." her husband called after her, but she wasn't about to turn around.

Esposito muttered, not quite out of her earshot. "I blame you for this, Castle. She wasn't this cranky before you got her pregnant."

She wasn't being unreasonable.

She wasn't.

Right?

Kate stared down at the mounting paperwork on her desk. She had signed and noted and documented for hours since they'd arrived at the precinct but she didn't feel she had even made a dent in the stack. Her eyes hurt - staring at the fine print on the triplicate forms was making her headache worse than it had been, her hand sore from overuse.

She needed a break. Maybe the criminals in the city could take a short recess until she was back to her old self again. Who would've thought a desk job would be this exhausting while pregnant? It might not be for others. She knew she shouldn't try to still be involved so much outside of her administrative duties and in the nitty-gritty details of cases, but it was in her blood.

At least it used to be.

Maybe this was a reminder. She didn't need to be Super Captain right now; she just needed to stay within the confines of her job description. It was laughable though; when had she ever stayed within her job description?

Her attention flickered around her office, almost reminiscent of Castle's avoidance techniques for when he had a chapter due. He was the best distraction for a boring day, but he wasn't around.

He'd disappeared about an hour ago, mumbling about having errands to run. Even though she missed him now that he was gone, his entire demeanor today was getting on her last nerve, making her feel even worse since all he had tried to do the whole morning was make her happy.

She groaned and dropped her head against one of the thick files. She hoped she would get out of this funk soon. Tomorrow was Valentine's Day and she'd hate if her sour mood ruined the holiday. He didn't deserve to be on the receiving end of her poor attitude.

Maybe she should surprise him.

She could do something special to make up for snapping at him all week.

If he wasn't back from his errands by lunchtime, she might be able to swing by the morgue and have Lanie help her plan something. This could work.

Kate toyed with the pen in her hand, thinking of her husband and what she could surprise him with - anything but the documents still needing her attention. It was hopeless.

An unexpected knock tore her from the procrastinating daydream. Ryan stuck his head through the door with a hesitant smile.

"Hey, Beckett. Do you have a second?" The wince etched in his features left a pang of guilt burrowed in her stomach; if he was this nervous to interrupt her with a question, what was her poor husband feeling at this point? Had she really become that miserable to be around?

With a small smile, she offered him a nod and waved him into her office. "What's up?"

"You didn't look happy with the prospect of paperwork all afternoon, so I wanted to see if you wanted to sit in with me while I talked to the co-workers of the victim? Espo is trying to track down his wife, said he'd break the news to her in person."

Easy interview with friends of the victim? Yes. Goodbye, paperwork.

"Yeah, Kev. I could use a break."

"Great, I'll meet you in the conference room."

Ryan ushered her into the room where three of Jake Blakely's co-workers were seated on the chairs around the table, each of them almost systematically looking down at their watches like they were seriously inconvenienced by their fellow accountant's untimely demise. The rudeness didn't go unnoticed, but she let it go. It took every ounce of restraint she had left to ignore their behavior, but she managed to bite her tongue and swallow the urge. Kate gave the group a quick nod of a greeting before offering her hand to each of them.

"Thanks for coming in today, I'm Captain Beckett and I'm assuming you've already met Detective Ryan," she said, motioning to her detective. "I wish this would be under better circumstances, but we're trying our best to find whoever is responsible for Mr. Blakely's death. Whatever you can tell us about him or his life would be most helpful."

It was a bit of a slow process to get the group to open up about the personal life of their friend and co-worker, but once they did, they were able to connect some dots. He was married with two children, another on the way. They painted a picture of a perfect family and career, until one of the women, Esther Smith, slipped up, earning a glare from the other two.

"They need to know," Esther snapped back at the other two, defending her statement. "His life wasn't perfect. After all, what if she did it?"

"Esther, it's just gossip," Laura Martin explained, turning to face the questioning looks. "He was in the parking lot alone before sunrise. I'm sure it was just random violence."

"Can someone please explain what you're talking about?" Kate asked, her patience wearing thin from the apparent cover-up. These three were moving from innocent character witnesses to persons of interest in a matter of seconds.

Craig Williams's eyes flickered between the two women and took a deep breath before turning back to face her and Ryan. "Jake was having an affair with someone at the office and rumor had it that his wife just found out..." The words spilled from his mouth and everything stopped. Her heart stuttered and a wave of nausea washed through her body. The victim was cheating on his pregnant wife?

The man's lips scowled at the statement. He seemed so distraught over the idea and for the victim's wife. "Anne is a good person, but I overheard a phone call between her and Jake yesterday. It was heated. It's what he deserved for having his cake and eating it too."

"Craig!" Laura reprimanded, a horrified expression mirrored on both her and Esther's faces.

"Like we said, it's all gossip," Esther explained, her head lowering to look at her hands.

Gossip or not, that was one hell of a motive.