Chapter 6

When Kate stopped her car just behind the other emergency vehicles, she glanced in the rear view mirror and was only mildly surprised to see Castle exiting the taxi directly behind her. She stepped out of her car and locked it, waiting for him to catch up to her. She pointed a finger at him and on a low hiss, said "Now remember, behave yourself!" Her tone was saturated with meaning. She looked into his eyes, and he raised one eyebrow at her.

"And if I don't, will you punish me?" he whispered.

She glared at him, then turned on her heel and strode into the building. Inside the apartment, Kate asked a uniformed officer to direct her to the body. When she entered the room he had indicated, she stopped short so suddenly that Castle crashed right into her back, nearly sending her sprawling. He grabbed the doorframe with one hand and her upper arm with the other, preventing her from falling. He gave her arm a little squeeze that no one would notice, before releasing her. She nodded her thanks to him, trying to play it cool.

The doors to the bedroom closet had been removed and replaced with bricks. A few of the bricks had been removed and a corpse was visible through the hole. Cause of death wasn't hard to figure out, as there was a large hole in the victim's chest. Adjacent to the closet, a few floorboards had been removed, and a chunk of something was visible.

Kate was so intently studying the object, she never heard Castle come up behind her, and so she jumped when he spoke. "Is that...? No way, too cool…"

"Is it what? What's cool?" Kate asked impatiently.

"Don't you get it? It's the heart, the telltale heart. Apparently your suspect is a seriously freaky Poe fan. I am glad I didn't miss this." His glee was a bit over the top.

"Castle, crime scene, remember? How about a little respect?" She had to say this to him so often when they were together, it was practically becoming her mantra. Too bad she would never achieve inner peace, no matter how often she said it, because he rarely listened to her.

He had the grace to look properly repentant, if only for a moment. He turned away and started looking around the room, his hands in his pockets. Finally, she thought. Her phone chirped in her pocket, signaling an incoming text. She checked the display and stifled a smile.

You're beautiful when you're angry…

She glanced at him, but he was still not looking at her. She shook her head and put the phone back in her pocket.

Seconds later, it chirped again. Can't wait to get you alone… she looked up and he casually looked her way, before going to inspect one of the bureaus. She put her phone away.

When the phone went off for the third time, she impatiently set it to vibrate, before checking the latest incoming text from Castle. A writer with a passion for techno-gadgets sure was a dangerous combination. Wanna cuff me again? the message displayed on her screen. She started to sputter with surprise, but covered it with a cough.

She ignored the buzzing of the next text because she was talking to one of the crime scene technicians. They were strategizing as to how to take down the wall without disturbing the evidence. Methodically with a hammer and chisel was the conclusion they came to.

Her phone buzzed again, so she turned toward a wall so she could view the two new messages waiting for her. The first one read Will you wear the red negligee for me tonite? This was followed by So sexy I can barely stand it.

Kate was on the verge of a full hissy fit. She glared over at him, but the only acknowledgement was a slight twitch of his lips. To everyone else in the room, he appeared to be the complete professional, taking in details. His hands were still in his pockets, but another fit of buzzing got her attention. She glanced at the display one more time. Am I misbehaving enough yet?

Damn his hide. The sonofabitch had taught himself to text blind. She knew if she tried to reprimand him, he had a golden "I didn't do anything" ticket, complete with witnesses. To prove it, she would have to state what he was doing, and saying some of that stuff out loud would be embarrassing as hell, not to mention irrefutable confirmation of their relationship status change. The worst part of all was that she knew Castle was perfectly aware of all of it. He had cornered her, alright.

Kate wished she had been able to control herself, ignore him so he wouldn't know he was getting under her skin again. Oh well, that ship had sailed. She would love to just send him home, but that would seem weird to the others and she didn't need them asking questions. Speaking of questions, one of the uniformed officers was standing beside her, and seemed to be waiting for an answer. "Uh, sorry?" she said. Damnit, now he was distracting her. This had to stop.

"Do you need anything else, Detective Beckett?" he repeated.

"Yes, could you find Detective Esposito and ask him to come in here, please?" she requested.

The officer nodded and left the room. She pulled her phone out and began a message of her own.

Across the room, Castle was looking through a photo album. His phone buzzed and he lifted it from his pocket to check it. It was a message from Kate. Cut the crap, Kitten, or next time we go to the shooting range, I'm using YOU for target practice!"

It took a minute for the reply to come in, during which Esposito arrived at her side. "Yeah, boss?"

"Take Ryan and canvass the building, find out if anyone heard anything unusual in the last few days."

After he left, she checked her phone. Is that supposed to scare me? You threaten to shoot me at least 3 times a week. She shook her head and walked up to him. He jumped when she spoke. "What do you have there?"

"The woman in the pictures appears to be the victim. I found a lease agreement co-signed by Judy and Matthew Porier. I also found torn up letters in the trash, addressed to Judy, but not from her husband. Some guy named Bruce. My guess is Judy was about to leave poor Matt. Since she gave him her heart in marriage, he decided it was his forever, and he wasn't about to let her give it to another guy." He punctuated this last statement by pointing to the hole in the floor. He turned to look at her, clearly proud of himself. "I did well, yes?"

"Yes, but what do you want?. A pat on the head? Doggie treat maybe?" she asked.

"Just your undying gratitude," he responded, causing her to roll her eyes at him. Rather than answering,

Kate walked out of the room to check out the rest of the apartment. She was met by Esposito and Ryan coming back in. "What did you find out?" she asked

"Neighbor across the hall says she hasn't seen Judy in a week, but when she asked the husband about it he said the missus was down with a bad case of the flu. She also said she saw some other guy knocking on their door after Matt left for work two weeks ago." Esposito reported.

"Hah, see, told ya!" Castle exclaimed from behind her.

She just shot him a "shut up" look. Then she said "I saw a pay check stub on the counter in the kitchen from a construction company…"

"That explains where the bricks came from!" Castle interrupted. Evidently her shut up looks were losing their power over him.

She brought her elbow back to catch him in the ribs before continuing. "Castle and I will go over there and see if we can track down the husband."

"Do I have to go with you? You're abusing me!" he whined playfully.

"Yah, let's go. Now." She said over her shoulder as she left the apartment.

"Told you, you'd make a wonderful addition to Lady Irina's Dungeon" he called, following her.