Castle belongs to ABC. Yes, this chapter, too, is reposted, but it's almost entirely different.
The NY and PD separated on the homicide floor of precinct twelve at nine o'clock the next morning reveling Castle and Beckett standing on either side of the elevator neither talking or merely even looking at each other. Beckett was holding her own white cup of hot coffee whilst Castle had three more identical cups in a cup carrier.
As the two stepped off the elevator again neither looked at each other nor said a word as they parted to go to their respective places. Beckett walked over to her desk, took a seat, and immediately picked up her phone to check her voicemail; Whereas, Castle made his way over to the desks of Ryan and Esposito.
As the two male detectives watched Castle approach them they looked at each other in stunned silence. Never had they seen Castle and Beckett act as if the other was not in the room, in fact, the banter that usually bounced back and forth between them was much like a ping pong ball. Something had happened, that was for sure, something big.
As Rick approached the desk of his comrades he smiled. "Good morning, Detectives," he said as he placed the Styrofoam cup holder on the desk.
As Castle placed the coffee on their desk Ryan and Esposito looked up at Castle with even more shock on their face then they began with. Something strange was going on in the homicide department this morning. Not only were Castle and Beckett not acknowledging each other's presence, Castle had bought them coffee, something he had never done before.
As Javier took his coffee, and he and Ryan muttered thanks to Castle, questions began to swamp him. Why was Castle doing this? What had happened to make Castle not even glance in Beckett's direction? "Castle, what's going on?" he asked as he took a sip of his coffee.
Rick frowned, what was going on? He asked himself Esposito's question again. How was he supposed to answer that? Surely the truth wouldn't work. He could not very well tell them what happened. Not yet anyway. "With what?" he asked feigning innocence.
It was Kevin's turn to frown now. Was he serious with that question? Could he not feel the tension in the air between him and his partner? Kevin knew Castle could be oblivious but he wasn't that bad. "With you and Beckett; something happened."
Rick felt his eyes grow wide at Ryan's words. Something inside him prodded, tell them, they're going to find out sooner or later. But he wasn't ready to divulge the truth just yet; he wanted to keep it a secret for just a little while longer. "No it didn't."
Javier looked at Castle incredulously. Did the man seriously expect them to believe that nothing had happened when clearly everything was pointing to the contrary of his words? "Bro, you do know are homicide detectives. We are highly trained to be able to tell when someone is lying…"
Rick felt his mouth go dry. How was he going to get out of this one? The more he denied what happened the less they were going to believe him. "Guy's there is nothing going on between Beckett and me."
Kevin cocked an eyebrow at the man standing in front of him as he took another sip of coffee. For someone who made up stories for a living he certainly was a bad liar. "Then why is she so mad at you?"
With a wave of relief Rick realized the two did not think that the two of them had gotten together, they were simply curious why they weren't talking. Rick shook his head quickly coming up with a story. "I woke up at five o'clock this morning with intense inspiration so I went straight to my laptop and I got so carried away I lost track of time and let Beckett oversleep."
The two detectives looked at each other curiously before looking back up at Castle and shrugging. As he walked away Javier turned to Ryan. "Do you believe him?"
Kevin pondered the question for a moment before shaking his head. "No. what do you think really happened?"
Javier shook his head as he looked at Ryan. "I have no idea," he responded as he saw the little wheels turning in the back of Ryan's mind. "What do you think?"
Kevin looked around the room for a moment gathering his thoughts before he turned back to his partner. "Well, they're alone together, under the same roof, they were both late for work, and both of them are acting in a way neither of them has acted before…" he said as he watched a frown cross Esposito's face. "So you don't think…"
"No, bro, I don't," Javier answered quickly and harshly. It had been almost two years since Castle began shadowing Beckett. If there had been any chance of the two getting together it would have happened, long ago.
"So," Rick said as he walked up to the detectives again. "Any progressions in the case, we find anything new or useful?" He asked as Beckett's phone rang.
Javier swiveled in his chair to face Castle. "No, this guy is like a ghost," he said as Beckett hung up her phone, "he leaves no finger prints, no hair, no fibers, and no blood; if that DNA doesn't come back soon, we're screwed."
"Yeah, well, you can keep your pants zipped Esposito," Kate said as she walked over to the crowded desk area and stood as far away from Castle as she could. "Lanie just called, I think we caught a break."
As the word's left Beckett's mouth Rick felt his face light up. He looked at Beckett eagerly awaiting her to tell him to come along. "Are we going over to the morgue now?" he asked excitement apparent in his voice.
Kate looked up at Castle almost feeling bad, but she couldn't let anyone know what had happened. She was still trying to grasp and come to terms with it herself. "Not 'we' Castle, I'm going alone."
Rick felt his jaw drop open at Beckett's words. She was leaving him behind? She never left him behind; even when she was most upset with him- after he reopened her mother's case, against her wishes- he was allowed to tag along. "You mean I'm staying here?"
Kate looked at him and she was filled with guilt, the look that he was giving her was enough to make the most cold-hearted person feel pity. But she could not show any pity, for if she did, surely they would see her no longer repressed feelings for him written across her face. "Yup," was all she said and walked toward her desk.
At the morgue, Medical Examiner, Lanie Parish was leaning over a body when the swinging door of the examination room swung open and Kate Beckett strode inside. "Hey Lanie," she said as the door fell closed.
As Lanie looked up to smile at her friend she noticed something was different about the detective this morning. "Hey girl," she said as she stood up, ignoring the corpse, and tried to pinpoint the difference in her friend.
"You said that the lab techs were sending over the DNA results?" Kate asked hopefully as she walked over to the examination table and stood across from the M.E.
Lanie nodded. "That's what they told me. Spoke to them a little while ago, they said they're preparing the reports and they're going to have someone deliver them within the half hour."
Kate sighed in relief. "Finally," she breathed, she could not wait for the case and the whole emotional stress of it to be over with. "Any indication to what the peculiarities were?"
Lanie rolled her eyes showing her true detest for the feds. "Back logged."
Kate felt her lips part in shock. One of their own had been killed by this maniac and they still put other cases before this one. "Yes, because a serial killer isn't a threat to the community or anything like that," she said bitterly.
Lanie shrugged her shoulders. "Well, the feds have a different idea of what a threat is than we do," she said as she matched Beckett's tone. Mentally Lanie shook her head at her friend if she would just let Castle call in favors to the mayor the case might be solved all ready. As the thought of Castle crossed her mind Lanie looked around the room confused.
Noticing her friend's distraction Kate frowned at the medical examiner in front of her. "You looking for something?" she asked at a loss of what could be missing.
"Yeah," Lanie said letting the frown fade off her face and looking at Beckett. "Where is Castle?" she knew that he had returned from California but still he was not here with Beckett, where he was supposed to be.
At the mention of Castle's name Kate felt her cheeks grow red. She knew better than to lie to Lanie, she was the only person in the world that could tell when she was lying. "Back at the precinct."
"Really?" Lanie said raising her eyebrows at the detective. What had Castle done to be sentenced to stay behind?
Kate nodded her head confirming what she had just told Lanie. She knew Lanie had to be silently questioning her why Castle had not tagged along but she also knew that had she invited him to come along the car ride would turn into a discussion of "now what"s and she wasn't ready to face that yet. "Yeah. Anything else?"
Lanie shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, you tell me," she said with excitement in her voice as well as in her eyes as she willed Beckett to tell her something had happened between her and Castle.
Kate looked at Lanie for a moment deliberating whether she should tell her or not. Lanie was her best friend, she knew she wouldn't repeat it if she was told not to. Castle probably already told the boys, why not tell Lanie, her mind reasoned with her. Deciding neither was best Kate shrugged her shoulders and tried to look as innocent as possible. "What?"
The flame of excitement on Lanie's face burned down to a glimmering ember as the question left Beckett's mouth. She had been so sure that the two being forced to stay in the same empty apartment would bring them together. "Don't 'what' me. Castle."
Kate frowned keeping up her act. "What about him?" she asked as she shrugged. With each lie that came out of her mouth she felt herself be less and less convincing.
"Come on, girl," Lanie said knowing by the look on Beckett's face that she was lying. "You spend every working hour with the man by your side, flirting mercilessly, he opens up his own home for you to stay in. and now his family is halfway across the country- leaving only the two of you in his apartment- now tell me there is nothing going on between the two of you."
Kate bent her head down so her eyes were level with Lanie's. "There is nothing going on between the two of us, nothing like that anyway," she said just as her cell phone emitted a ring throughout the examination room.
At her words Lanie looked astounded at Beckett. "Okay, so you're not sleeping with him, but there is something going on?"
Kate rolled her eyes as she pulled her phone out of its holder on her belt and brought it up to her ear. "Beckett," she said waiting to hear what Ryan had to say.
"Uh, hey Beckett, I thought you said that the Feebies were going to deliver the DNA results to the morgue where you and Lanie are?"
Kate frowned. They were supposed to be delivering them here, that's why she was waiting here being interrogated by her best friend. "I did say that, why?"
"Well, because one of those brilliant agents sent them to the wrong place; I'm holding the package in my hand right now. Don't worry, we haven't opened it."
At Ryan's words Kate sighed exasperated. "Okay, well at least we have the results now. Thank you, Ryan," she said as she hung up the phone. Then looking to Lanie she said, "The results are back at the precinct, I should probably head back."
Lanie looked at Beckett from across the table. She didn't think she was getting let off the hook that easily did she? "You know, just because you think you're good at hiding things from suspects doesn't mean I can't see what's going on," she said tauntingly.
For the first time Kate looked down at the body laying on the slab right in front of her and bit her bottom lip. No, there was no escaping it; she had to tell Lanie, even if it meant allowing Castle to tell Ryan and Esposito. "It was nothing; it was just a kiss," she said cavalierly as she headed for the door.
For a brief second Lanie looked astounded at her friend, overjoyed with happiness for both her and Castle. "You know that's a pretty big nothing Beckett!" she called to her as the door swung closed.
As Kate Beckett stepped off the elevator on the homicide floor of precinct twelve she felt a hand wrap itself around her arm and pull her into an observation room nearby. By the time she realized what happened she saw Castle pulling the door closed. When he turned around she crossed her arms over her chest in annoyance and looked up at the writer. "Castle! What are you doing? I have a murder to solve."
Rick leaned up against the door and looked down at Beckett, for the first time, with authority. "Beckett, we need to talk," he said as he watched a questioning look cross her face.
Talk? What could the man want to talk about? Surely it had nothing to do with the case, for if it had he wouldn't have pulled her into an observation room. "What is this about Castle?"
Rick looked away from Beckett for a moment; much like writing a book he knew what he had wanted to say, just getting it started was the hard part. "They know something's going on, Beckett."
At Castle's words a rush of anger swept through Kate as she looked up at the man in front of her. "How?" she asked disbelief unbridled in her hazel eyes.
Rick looked at Beckett stunned for a moment; surely she knew she was acting differently around him, colder. "They're detectives, Beckett."
With realization Kate closed her eyes and shook her head. She had been so wary not to flirt with Castle in fear that it may let on that something happened that she hadn't even realized not doing just that made it even more apparent that something happened. "So what did you tell them?" she asked regret soaking her tone.
Rick looked at Beckett for a short second hurt by the regret in her voice. Had it been a mistake last night to kiss her? "I told them you were upset with me for allowing you to oversleep," he said solemnly.
Kate looked up at Castle relieved. Ryan and Esposito didn't know the two of them had gotten together? "They think I'm mad at you?" she said thrilled.
"Yeah," he said with no trace of happiness in his voice as he looked down at the linoleum floor below him.
Finally noticing the solemness of Castle's tone Kate frowned. As she looked at his face his clear blue eyes did not hold the happiness and excitement that a case usually brought. "Castle, what's wrong?"
Looking up from the observation room floor Rick met Beckett's eyes. "Is it because you're embarrassed by me that you don't want anyone finding out?"
Kate felt her jaw fall open at Castle's question. "Oh, Rick no," she said looking at him compassionately before taking a step toward him. She hadn't even thought that he may have wanted people to know. She had just been so concerned with keeping her own reputation in check. "I'm not embarrassed by you," she said as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Well good," Rick said as he wrapped his arms around her waist in return and smiled down at her. He should have known better than to have the fleeting moment of self doubt. As always they proved him wrong.
"All the annoying little things you do, but not by you." Kate said as she leaned up and kissed him gently before pulling out of the embrace.
Rick smiled to himself. He loved doing the little things that annoyed and embarrassed her. "So what did Lanie have to say?" he asked as she placed her hand on the door.
As Kate pulled the door open she pondered Castle's question for a moment before turning around and facing him. A smirk crossed her face as she thought of the answer to the question. "Well she approves," she said and walked into the bull pen.
Rick stood just beyond the doorway in utter shock. Had she meant what he thought she meant? Of course she did! "Wait a minute, you told her?" he asked as he jogged up behind Beckett.
"You told who what?" Kevin asked as he walked up to Beckett and Castle with an unopened orange packing envelope.
Kate Beckett stared down at the results as shock consumed her. The same thought kept repeating itself in her mind, no, it can't be him; he's in jail, and yet the name on the page remained. The only way it could have been him was if he was released from jail. But why would he be when not even half of his term was completed?
Rick walked up to Beckett's desk, coffees in hand; as he watched her hazel eyes go again to the top of the page. It had to be bad if she kept rereading it. He had come to know when Beckett didn't like the result of something it took her quite a while to grasp it. How many times, he wondered, in the time it took him to get coffee did she read that report?
Kate saw Castle approaching out of the corner of her eye as he approached the desk with her coffee and took his place in the chair beside her. "Thank you, Castle," she said as her hand brushed his in the process of grabbing her coffee. Kate looked up surprised by the contact to see Castle's blue eyes smiling down on her compassionately.
"You're welcome," he said as he continued to stare at her as she went back to looking over the DNA report again. He wondered how many times she was going to read it before she gave up on the fact that the name was going to change. "So what does that report say that has you so upset?"
Kate looked up at Castle surprised. "I'm not upset, Castle." How had he known that it had bothered her? He wasn't that good at reading her, was he? No, he couldn't be; or at least she didn't want to think that he knew her as well as he did. When she looked up again she caught him staring at her with his eyebrows raised in disbelief. "I'm just perplexed."
"Why, what does it say?" he asked as he leaned over the side of the desk to get a peek at the report. "Victor Marilli?" Had he heard that name before? Surely he had to, why else would it sound so familiar, but from where? "Have we arrested him before?"
Kate looked up from the page and over to Castle before she jumped. When had he gotten so close to her? She opened her mouth to say something about his proximity when he sat down normally in his chair once again. Shaking her head she looked at Castle. "No, Castle. We haven't, but I have. He was my first collar."
Rick felt his jaw drop open. That was where he heard the name before! It was on the list of known associates of Scott Dunn. No wonder the results bothered her the way it did. It was not only personal, it was revenge. "Wow, nothing like the ghosts of your past to come back and haunt you."
It was January of 2005 when Kate Beckett walked up the icy steps leading to the front door of the home of Victor Marilli. She knew he would not be home and that suited her just perfectly as she reached her arm out and knocked on the door. It was a minute before the door opened revealing a woman in her late thirties with two girls approaching their preteen years standing by her side.
As the woman took in Kate's law enforcement attire a frown of puzzlement found its way across the woman's face. As if automatically Kate reached her for her badge and held it out to the woman. "Detective Kate Beckett, NYPD. I was wondering if I could take a few minutes of your time."
Sharon Marilli nodded her head as she opened the door wider. "What's this about?" she asked and looked down to make sure the two girls were still by her side.
Kate took another breath before continuing. She was going to kill Montgomery for convincing her that she was ready to go at this on her own. "It's about your husband," she said and immediately regretted it for the look of fear that crossed the woman's face was almost unbearable. "He's fine, don't worry."
At the detective's words a look of relief crossed Sharon's face and she pushed the door open wider for her to come in out of the cold. Yes her husband was alive and safe. Call it foresight, or just plain luck, but whatever the reason the Sharon leaned down to her daughters and looked at the older of the two. "Camille can you and your sister go watch Kim Possible in Mommy's room while Detective Beckett and I talk for a little while?"
The ten year old looked up at her mother with a look of puzzlement on her face. "I thought you said you didn't want us watching TV in there anymore because we leave it a mess."
As Kate stepped through the door and closed it behind her Sharon looked down at her daughter with a pleading look. "Well, it's okay just this once. Now go up stairs and I'll get you when lunch is ready."
As Camille nodded she took her sister by the hand and ventured up the stairs and disappeared from sight. When Sharon heard her bedroom door close she led Kate into the kitchen. "I don't mean to be rude, Detective, but if my husband is alive and unharmed, why are you here?"She asked as she poured herself a mug of coffee.
Kate took a breath before she began; she was finding out very quickly that delivering this type of news was never going to get easier. "Do you by any chance know this woman?" she asked as she pulled out a picture of Libby Murray and handed it to the woman.
As Sharon took it in her hands a frown creased her face. "No," she said shaking her head. "I don't believe so. Why?"
Kate mentally shook her head. She had to give Marilli one thing he either was very good at keeping a secret or good a picking a wife who was too oblivious to see the truth. "She worked for the same company your husband works for." Sharon was quiet for a minute waiting for Kate to show her how her husband tied in directly to the story she was telling. "She was found strangled to death in her apartment last Monday."
As the words left Kate's mouth Sharon's closed lips fell apart and a look of pity crossed her face. "Oh, my god that's terrible. But what does my husband have to do with this?"
Kate looked down at the floor before she had the strength to look up at the woman again. "We have evidence to prove that the two of them were having an affair," she said and watched the color drain out of the woman's face.
"An affair? Are you sure?" she said meekly trying to grasp the concept that her beloved husband had been unfaithful.
"We think so," Kate said as she nodded her head. She opened her mouth to tell her the last part but the words would not come out. Finally with another breath she tried again. "Can you verify where he was on Monday night?"
Sharon forced her lips together as she shook her head and pushed her brown eyes toward the ceiling so as to keep them from the tears that were quickly filling up her eyes. "No, Detective, I don't remember where he was last Monday. Why, was he with her?"
Kate exhaled her breath as she watched the woman try to fend off emotion. How was she going to be able to tell her this? It was one thing to console a wife of a husband who had just died, but another matter entirely to tell her he preferred someone else. "Yes, we believe he was," she said and shook her head; this certainly was the hardest part of all. "We also have good reason to believe that he is the reason she is dead."
As the horrendous words left Kate's mouth Sharon's face became like stone, and without any warning the coffee mug, that was in her hand, crashed to the floor.
It was a month later when Kate Beckett found herself standing in the back of a packed courtroom. For as many as occupied the seats of the room it was surprisingly quiet; only few talked in hushed tones to their neighbors. As the minutes ticked by Kate ran her eyes up and down the room. At the front the judge sat next to, now, an unoccupied witness stand. As her eyes drifted down the room they fell on the back of the head of Victor Marilli. It was strange how he was conducting himself today; he had given up on denying he committed the crime but instead just sat there in silence with an anger radiating off of his determined composure. The courtroom hadn't been silent for long when a uniformed cop entered the room through a door to the left of the witness stand carrying an envelope. As the judge took it in his hands and opened it a smirk so small it was nearly nonexistent formed on his face for a heartbeat before it vanished. He stood up and looked out at the crowd before letting his eyes fall on Marilli. "Ladies and gentlemen, the jury hereby finds the accused, Victor Marilli, guilty of the murder of Libby Murray."
As the judge announced his verdict the courtroom erupted into an explosion of cheers, hugs, and tears. However, as the bailiff led Marilli away the crowd went silent. It was as if they were waiting, waiting for him to do the unthinkable.
The bailiff and Marilli had almost made it to the door when he wrenched his body out of the bailiff's grasp and turned around and looked at Kate straight in the face from one hundred feet away. "You cost me my family, you ruined my life, my future," he shouted as the bailiff took him by his shoulders and began dragging him toward the doors as he screamed. "This isn't over, Detective! One day this all will come back and then you'll be sorry you framed me!" he managed to scream out as the bailiff pushed him through the door.
"Hey, uh, Beckett," Javier called as he walked up to Beckett holding a piece of paper that he knew was going make this investigation crash around the detective. "I found something on Marilli, I think you should see."
Rick looked up at Beckett feigning insult. "You showed Esposito the results before you showed me? So much for me being your partner?" he said just to be ignored by both detectives.
Kate looked up at Esposito waiting eagerly for some hint of a clue to where Marilli was now. "Please tell me you found out where he is."
Javier regretfully nodded his head to the detective's plea. Yeah they found him all right, but that wasn't going to make it any easier to deliver to either Beckett or any of the aggrieved family members of the deceased. "Yeah, we found him, Marilli."
At Esposito's words Kate felt her face light up, if they found his location all ready that only meant a matter of time before they had him in their custody and the case would be over with. "Where is he?" Kate asked excitement beaming off her.
"There's something you're not telling us," Rick said as he looked at the solemn expression across Esposito's face. Now, Rick knew he hadn't been around for as long as any of the detectives here, but he had been around long enough to know that usually finding a suspect's whereabouts was a good thing. However, the expression on Esposito's face did not hold the joy that was certainly appropriate.
A frown crossed Kate's face as Castle spoke his words. What did he mean that Esposito wasn't telling them everything? Esposito wanted to find him just like everyone else did across the city. Then she noticed something she had disregarded before, Castle had been right something about the detective standing in front of her was troubled.
Javier nodded his head in agreement with Castle's words as he looked down at the pair in front of him. "We found him…in Albert's Garden. He's been there for two months."
Rick frowned; he had heard that name before. Albert's Garden, he couldn't think of where though. As he turned to Beckett to get some clarification he saw her mouth open in shock and a look of horror written across her face. "I don't suppose that Albert's Garden is a correctional facility of some sort?"
Javier snorted at Castle's question; leave it to him to look on the bright side of things. "No Castle, it's a cemetery," he said as he handed him a copy of his death certificate. "Right off Second Street."