Scooby Doo crossover

(Kate)

She's ready to send Castle home.

At the very least, he isn't coming into interrogation with her. He's been geeking out over the quartet of teenagers that they found snooping around their crime scene earlier that night. Even she's heard the rumors of the group of kids helping police solve cases across the Midwest. She just never thought that Mystery Inc. would end up in her interrogation room. Or that Castle would be so starstruck by high-schoolers. He's been spouting random trivia for the past hour, everything from their names to their hometown to the fact that Shaggy's name is actually Norville.

"Can I please sit in on the interrogation, Beckett?" he pleads. "I won't say a word, I promise. This is just possibly the coolest day of my entire life."

"For the last time, Castle, no," she says, sighing. "I'm sure you can get a selfie with them later, but right now, all you're going to be is a distraction."

"Fine," he mutters, and he looks so dejected that she actually feels bad. She considers letting him come with her, but something catches her eye in the break room, and an idea pops into her head.

"Hey, it looks like L.T. has his hands full with their dog," she says, smiling when he immediately perks up. "Why don't you help him while I talk to them?"

"Yeah, okay," he says, taking off for the break room before she can say another word.

She heads for Observation first, watches the kids through the glass for a few minutes. For the most part, they look calm and collected; like they've seen the inside of an interrogation room many times before. Aside from the lanky kid, who looks like he's perpetually ten seconds away from wetting himself, there's no sign of nerves whatsoever.

The girls are deep in whispered conversation, which they abruptly cut off when she finally enters Interrogation. She leans against the two-way mirror, decides to cut right to the chase. "I assume you four know why you're here."

They exchange glances before answering in unison. "Trespassing."

Beckett nods. "Sounds like you kids have experience with this."

Daphne shrugs. "Not as much as you might assume," she says. "We generally don't interact with law enforcement until after we've cracked a case."

"We have had a few run-ins with local police," Velma adds. "But, like Daphne said, far less than one might imagine."

She nods again. "And is this your first time interfering with a murder investigation?"

Their eyes all go wide. "Murder?" Daphne asks softly.

Beckett sighs. "The abandoned building that we found you in was the site of a recent homicide."

Fred swallows hard, his confident demeanor all but gone. "We had no idea," he says. "We were-we were just-"

She softens a little, moves to sit across the table from them. "You were just what?" she asks.

They all exchange glances again. "You're not going to believe us, but..." Velma starts, trailing off uncertainly.

"But..." Beckett prompts.

"Ghosts," Shaggy finally says. "We'd talked to a couple of people who were pretty sure the building was haunted, so they decided we should investigate."

She looks at them incredulously. "You kids are ghost hunters?"

"To be fair, we've never actually encountered a real ghost or monster or supernatural being of any kind," Daphne says. "They've all been weirdos in elaborate costumes, generally aided by crazy special effects."

Beckett pulls out a picture of their victim. "Have any of you seen this woman before?"

They all shake their heads. "Okay," she says. "I'm going to need the names of the people who told you that building was haunted, but after that you're free to go."

"Do you think they might have been involved in the murder?" Velma asks.

"It's a possibility," Beckett says. "They might have sent you guys in there to disturb evidence or contaminate the crime scene."

She feels awful for the guilt that shines through. That hadn't been her intention. "If we did anything to make your job harder, we're really sorry," Daphne says earnestly.

"It's okay," she assures them. "Just be more careful of where you go snooping around next time, okay?"

They all nod as she ushers them out of Interrogation. "Uh, Detective?" Shaggy pipes up.

"Yes?" she asks.

"Do you know where my dog is?" he asks. "Scoob can get pretty nervous when we're separated for too long."

She smiles, points across the bullpen. "He's in the break room with my partner." Shaggy jogs off with Fred and Daphne close behind. Velma scribbles something in a notebook and tears the page out.

"These are the people who told us that building was haunted," she explains, handing Beckett the paper, then following her friends.

(With the lead they get from those names, they solve the case in record time. And Castle finally gets his selfie with Mystery Inc.)