Chapter 6

Castle stared at the door still holding Beckett. It opened and Esposito came in followed by Ryan.

"Castle. Esposito tipped me off about the fake romance. But your going a little overboard." He obviously couldn't see the full picture.

"Dude." Esposito said turning his head back to Ryan. He lifted his hand to Beckett. "She's been knocked out."

"Seriously. How did you ever become a detective?" Castle asked.

"Guy's can you finish this later? In the meantime let's move Beckett." Esposito said.

"Hey what about me?" Jack asked.

"Stay here." Castle said. Holding Beckett's upper body steady, while he took her legs into a kind of cradle hold. He followed Esposito and Ryan to the break lounge.

"What happened?" Montgomery asked,coming in with an empty mug.

"Gina punched Beckett." Castle said. Beckett's head was on it's side, Castle turned it so it was positioned up. Montgomery placed his mug in the sink, and came to the couch looking at Beckett over the back.

"Get Lanie up here, see if Beckett's okay." Montgomery told the boys.

There was a crash from what sounded like the interrogation room. Montgomery continued, "I'll straighten this guy out."

"And I'll call Lanie." Castle offered.

"Hey Esposito. Get me a wet paper towel." Ryan said.

"Why?" Esposito asked.

"I, I read somewhere that wet paper towels on the forehead are good for you if you're knocked out?"

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"Well it won't hurt, will it?"

Esposito shook his head as he turned on the sink. In five minutes Lanie got up to homicide. She took out a jar of smelling salts and waved it under Beckett's nose. Her eyes fluttered open. The first thing she said was, "Why is my forehead wet?" She got up and threw the paper towel away. "Ugh, my head hurts." She put her hand on her wet forehead.

"Beckett. Sit down. Let me take your pulse." Lanie said, looking up from the ground where she was sitting. Beckett obeyed.

"What happened to me?" She asked looking around.

"Gina punched you. You were out for nearly fifteen minutes. Eat this. You'll feel better. "Lanie handed Beckett a chocolate bar. "Thank you Lanie." Beckett called as Lanie went through the door.

"Hey Castle. We heard a lot of screaming. What, uh, what was said?" Ryan pried.

"Oh, um, she called Beckett a slut-"

"Ohhhhhh. That's the stupidest thing she's ever done. I'm surprised Gina didn't get hurt." Esposito laughed.

"Esposito?" Beckett asked.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

"Okay." He turned back to Castle. "Then what?"

"She broke up with me." Castle said. Then changed the subject, by saying, "Beckett. How are you feeling?"

"Castle I'm sorry. It's all my fault. Do you want me to go and talk to her?

"No, I'll get over it. Besides I was meaning to break up with her anyway."

"Beckett? You'd better talk to Moore soon. He's getting frisky again."

"K. Come on Castle." Beckett opened the door to the interrogation. "Where were we, Mr. Moore?"

"I'm sorry what? I was distracted by that giant mouse on your eye."

Her jaw fell open and she whipped around to face the large mirror. Beckett's hand flew up to her face and she traced the bruise. She hurried out of the room, and grabbing her purse she headed toward the bathroom. The two men sat in silence staring at each other for a minute. "So, uh, where did we all leave off?"

Jack scratched his nose with his thumb. "Let's see. Oh. Yeah. We were just talking about Juan Sanchez."

"Okay tell me exactly what you were saying."

"Juan was our twenty third janitor this year."

"That's almost three every month."

"I'm- particular. Anyway, he was the best one we ever had. Never wanted to fire him. But when the wires were cut, I over reacted and let him go."

"Then punched three holes in the wall and almost killed your daughter."

"No. My wife just called the cops." Jack Moore shrugged.

"Just- called them? Now why would she do that?"

"Because she wanted the freedom to cheat on me with my own brother."

"So your admitting you knew about the affair."

"Yes." Jack said, knowing this would make him look even more guilty

"Do you own a pocket knife?" Castle asked folding his hands and putting them on the table.

"No. No, actually." He answered. Sounding sure of himself.

Castle looked down at Jack Moore's file. "Really. Because it says here that you're a boy scouts leader. And yet your telling me, you don't own a pocket knife?"

"That's exactly what I'm telling you."

"Thank you." Castle stood up. "Oh. How can I get hold of Juan Sanchez?"

Jack rubbed his face. "I think he lives in the apartment building a couple blocks down from the stage."

Castle wrote that down in the margin of the paper in Jack's file. He walked out and called to Ryan."Hey. You can give him back to the cops downstairs."

Beckett emerged from the girls bathroom. The bruise on her eye, barely visible. "What? No. I haven't fished questioning him."

"Oh, I finished for you." Castle said, sounding nervous.

"Let's see how well you did. Anything interesting?"

"Yep? He's a boy scout leader, but claims not to have a pocket knife."

"Really? That doesn't make sense. Did you by any chance, find out where our janitor lives?"

He flipped open the folder. "Yes, actually. He lives in the apartment building a couple blocks down from the crime scene."

"Okay, you did a good job. But your never gonna do it again." Beckett yawned. "It's late. We'll pick Sanchez up in the morning. For now, let's get some sleep."

Castle noticed Royce watching them as he left and jumped back into character. "Kate. Want to share a cab?"

Beckett seemed a little confused, but caught on quickly. "Sure. Oh, Rick. Can we stop off at my apartment on the way? Gotta change."

"Of course."