Chapter 9

Kate sat straight up in bed. Rick rubbed his eyes and looked at her. "You OK?" he asked.

"I dreamed I was attacked by a giant turkey. It's your fault, you know. Turkey a la king, turkey burgers, turkey tetrazzini, turkey chili, what's next turkey ice cream?"

"Oooh, I saw that on 'Iron Chef' once," Rick said, "but I think it was a loser."

"Talk about losers," Kate said.

"That was the last of it," Rick promised. "Besides, you liked it. I thought we had a pretty good time last night."

"It had its moments," Kate agreed

"I could review," Rick suggested. "I think I was here," he said lightly licking her lower lip. "Then I went here," he continued kissing her chin. Then you went..."

"Here," Kate continued, kissing his bare chest, "and then..."

Rick thrust his fingers through her hair, holding her head as she moved downward, the breath expelled from his lungs. Rick pulled her upwards. "Kate, give me more of a chance to love you." He brought his lips to hers, kissing deeply, the earthy taste invading his senses. He held her to him and he could feel her breasts come to life. First with hands and then with adoring mouth, he loved them as she arched in his arms, bringing her most urgent need against him. There was a wildness to Kate as her hair whipped through the air, her body seeking, demanding, until Rick came to her, and the wildness took them both. The friction sent tingling strands of sensation through them, moving ever outward yet tied to a growing center that could no longer be contained. Bursting out it caught them both in a sublime fury of wracking shudders as they held each other through the storm.

"Wow," Rick breathed, "that reminded me of..."

"Yeah, I know," Kate agreed.

"So maybe I should make a turkey for Christmas," Rick teased.

Kate fixed him with a slit-eyed glare. "You do and I'm going to start sleeping with my other gun again."

After one of Castle's infamous scrambles as fortification, Beckett and Castle headed to the 12th. Beckett looked in on Kirby Brockman. He was sweating. His lawyer had been a no show and he had asked for a court appointed attorney. Not long after the attorney, Lew Mercer, had arrived, he asked Beckett for an audience.

Mercer and Brockman sat opposite Beckett and Castle in the box, with Ryan, Esposito and Gates watching from observation. "We're listening," Mr. Brockman," Beckett said.

"I didn't kill Judith Spicer," Brockman began. "Than was all J.B. We switched cars and I drove his range Rover to the theater district. He drove my Cherokee to Leto Labs. He had a key and the codes to get in and Paul Brown told him all about Spicer's work. J.B. Sent me to take of Brown and we were supposed to meet up in Vegas. J.B. has a lot of friends there."

"Why did J.B. kill Judith Spicer?" Beckett asked.

"He's a gambler. That's why he has so many friends in Vegas. That's where I met him. He sold shares of Sky High and told the investors that they were buying interests in Leto and LocIt. Leto got some money, but J.B. blew most of it at the tables. Leto Labs had no idea they were being used as a front. J.B. Thought Spicer was going to fail miserably and no one would ever look for the money. But Spicer's work was good. She was getting press all over the place and J.B. panicked. LocIt was a complete con. It was supposed to pay for investigators if someone's identity got stolen. There were no investigators. LocIt paid the rent for J.B.'s house. It paid for me. It was supposed to pay for a lawyer. I guess J.B. lied about that too."

Gates had seen enough. She hurried to get a warrant for Jones' arrest and to get some New Jersey troopers to deliver it. Unfortunately, Jones was long gone. Gates contacted the police in Las Vegas. J.B. Jones was considered a whale and the casinos kept track of him. The Las Vegas police had no trouble picking him up.

The N.Y.P.D. sent Beckett and Esposito to Las Vegas to pick up J.B. Jones. Castle paid for his own ticket and upgraded everyone to first class. Beckett looked around the plane suspiciously. "Jacinda better not be on this flight," she told Castle.

Castle grinned. "Beckett, is this you being jealous? I'm touched. But you don't have to worry about it. She works for another airline and you are the only woman who gives me wings."

"That is terrible, Castle!" Beckett quipped.

"I know," he agreed, "but I usually fix that kind of thing in the second draft."

The group had to change planes at O'Hare, but as is so often the case in Chicago in winter, the weather scuttled the flight schedule. Since they would not be able to continue their trip until the following day, Castle got them into a hotel. This one was leaps and bounds above the refuge Beckett and Castle took in New Jersey. Beckett and Castle got a grand suite, complete with Jaccuzi and fireplace. Esposito was in a well appointed room down the hall.

Rick and Kate left Esposito on his own for dinner while sharing a Chateaubriand and Kate's favorite red wine from room service. After leaving the cart outside the door, Rick and Kate took their glasses and climbed into the Jaccuzi. While the bubbles swirled around Kate's body, the wine gave her a pleasant bubbly sensation inside. Sitting in the vee of Rick's legs, she leaned back against his wide chest. "I've gone after suspects before," Kate said, "but never like this."

"Stick with me, kid," Rick told her, doing a very bad Bogie imitation.

"I plan on it," she told him.

"You know," Rick said. "We'll be in Vegas tomorrow. We could find a chapel with some guy who looks like Elvis and just get married. No invitations, no place cards, no insane liquor bill, just Mr. and Mrs. Castle."

"That is surprisingly tempting," Kate told him, "but we also wouldn't have your mother, or Alexis, or my dad, or Lanie, or anyone from the 12th except Javi if he wanted to be a witness. Planning the wedding could and probably will drive us crazy, but those people are our family, and I don't think I want to get married without them."

"What do you know," Rick exclaimed. "Kate Beckett, hard boiled detective, has a heart of pure mush."

"Rick, if you tell anyone..."

"You're just going to have to shut me up," Rick told her, guiding her to do it, with a deep, sweet, kiss.