A/N: Sorry it's taken so long to update this. I lost my papers that I had been writing the next chapter or two on, then finals, then a snowstorm, and then life... So yeah. I've got a couple of weeks off so I'll try to be better about updating. :)

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Castle. But I'm excited that new episodes are back on! XD Yay for baby Sarah Grace and that Kevin and Javi are safe and sound! Also, as a sidebar, I'm no legal expert, so anything that seems off about police procedure or law or whatever- yeah. That's on me. Please ignore. :)

Kate plopped her paperwork down heavily on her desk with an element of anger written in the motion.

"I don't get it," Ryan started as he followed Beckett, hovering around her as she anxiously searched for something on her desk. "The way he just clammed up like that? A drug test could only help his case. Why, after cooperating, after incriminating himself, would he not do anything to clear his name?"

"The only reason he wouldn't is if he had a reason to not want a drug test."

"But why?"

Ryan's obliviousness prompted a scathing brow from his partner. "Didn't you see him back there?" Kate gestured her head back to the interrogation room where their suspect stewed and shook. "Sweating, shaking, agitated? He's obviously experiencing some withdrawal symptoms and knows we'll find drugs in his system."

She saw it the moment as it clicked in his eyes. "He's an addict?"

"Obviously. Which will only make things harder for him. If he weren't, and we found drugs in his system, we could maybe think he's been set up. But now..." she shrugged. There was nothing more to say. They all knew if he faced a jury, the fact that he was on drugs alone could be enough to undo his case, no matter how solid his alibi was. Which, as of this moment, wasn't solid at all.

Esposito caught up to them out of the observation room. "Great job, Beckett. He's completely freaking out in there. It didn't even hit me that he was on something until you brought it up.

She gave him a tight-lipped smile before replying. "Yeah, but he's lawyered up now. He won't crack."

"He's facing a murder charge, Becks. Even his lawyer will press him to cooperate. By the way, how'd you know so much about him? Half that information wasn't in those files."

Kate flushed a bit and mumbled. "I may have read a few of his books or something."

Javier grinned teasingly but Kate rolled her eyes and jumped in before they could make any other comments. "Anyways. It doesn't matter any more. I just... He was so close to cracking, I know it. If I could just have one more shot at him-"

"He's not going to answer any more questions, and you know it."

"I know. It's just- I know how close he was. I could see it in his eyes. He's," a thought struck her and her eyes drifted back over to the interrogation room. She debated how they could make it work at all, considering everything.

"Beckett?"

"He's desperate," she spoke softly, the pieces suddenly coming together. "He's tired, and craving a hit, and going through heavy withdrawals. He'd do anything to end that kind of torture, right? He's an addict."

Espo snorted. "Yeah, maybe, but we can't exactly offer him some blow for information. That's illegal and-"

"But that's just it! We don't have to! We just have to wait him out. Stall. His lawyer probably won't be here for a half hour. If we get him desperate enough, then maybe he'll tell us the truth just to get out of here for a hit."

"We can't just let him go anyways," Ryan supplied. "If we prove he has drugs in his system, that's still a crime we can charge him with, maybe."

"We go in bluffing," Espo spoke slowly, understanding in his eyes. "Wait him out. Get him to think about it."

"Exactly. Then, all we'll need is a confession and then we're home free."

Kate grinned. They were in. Now they just had to wait around for the lawyer to show up.

Castle paced back and forth in the interrogation room, expelling his nervous energy in some small way.

Oh, damn. Damn, damn. He screwed up big time now.

This was bad. He should have asked for his attorney the second he realized he was under suspicion. Or was it arrest now? He wasn't sure. If he was right in the head, he would have. He'd been informed of his rights briefly before waiving them off as soon as he'd gotten in the car, and he'd been in this position too many times to deny the fact that any time he was taken into custody could not be a good thing. But they'd just wanted to talk with him, and he'd certainly needed someone to talk to. But no- hell, he'd just cooperated and let them ask him questions trying to clear his name. He incriminated himself severely, even suggesting how-to pointers for better ways to kill a person.

Dumbass.

He was lucky to think to call for his lawyer when the pretty detective started asking about a drug test. It wasn't until that moment that Castle realized exactly how deep he had stepped in it.

He heaved a sigh and sat himself in the chair once again. Bernie would be there soon and get him out of this mess. He smiled to himself at the thought. It was a small victory, but he'd take it. Rick had nothing to hide. Well, okay, so that wasn't exactly true, but he didn't kill anybody! He needed to make them understand that. He was a writer, not a murderer.

He heard a small commotion outside the room and shifted in his seat nervously. Bernie must have arrived. His lawyer had always been quite a boor. He could only imagine the commotion he was causing. A smile spread across his face. Yeah, Bernie would give them hell all right. They couldn't hold him here, not unless they charged him with something. He knew his rights- had been through this sort of thing a couple of times now. Not for murder, of course, but in any case, he'd flirted a bit with the justice system, courted it a few times, then gone his own way. One night stands and the like. He grinned at himself. Comparing being arrested to going out with women- he must really be too far gone at this point.

That brought his thoughts back around, and Rick started to jog his knee up and down. He really was desperate for something to take the edge off- he'd settle for anything at this point. Just a tiny little hit. He had no clue how to get one in a police station, locked in an empty interrogation room. Just one quick smoke.

Drugs are what got him in this position.

And with that he'd gone full circle. He groaned in frustration as the image of the bloodied, mangled woman flashed through his brain. How could this happen to him? He was a good person! Sure he slept around a bit and did some recreational drugs occasionally, but a murderer? He didn't have it in him. Well, he knew what it took to pull off a murder- wrote about it frequently in his novels- and surely if he had then he would- what was he thinking? He couldn't murder anybody. It wasn't him.

But that blank spot in his memory was sure annoying the hell out of him.

He closed his eyes, thought back to last night and... nothing. He couldn't remember anything outside of what he'd told the cops. He certainly didn't remember taking any drugs himself. And that was the only thing that explained the dryness in his mouth and the black hole in his mind.

Not remembering was killing him. Because... what if? What if he had done it, and simply couldn't remember? What if it was a side effect of something he'd taken? He hadn't heard of anyone claiming "crack made me kill someone" before. Maybe it was a form of insanity?

He heard loud conversation from the other side of the two-way mirror and his brow furrowed. "Bernie? Bernie, you out there?" He didn't hear anything in response and frowned deeper. "Bernie, I need your help if you're in there."

There was silence for a few moments before the door handle jiggled and his lawyer poked his head through. "Hey, uh, Rick. I'll be with you in just a few, okay?"

Castle felt his stomach plummet, causing a wave of nausea to rise up inside of him. He shot him a quick, half-hearted smile. "Sure thing, Bernie. Work your magic."

He looked to the floor somewhat guiltily at that, before nodding tersely and closing the door behind him.

Rick ground his teeth. Even his lawyer wasn't on his side anymore. There was no way around it- Castle was royally screwed.

Kate watched her suspect carefully through the glass, surveying him carefully. When Castle's lawyer had first arrived, guns a-blazing and ready to deny everything that had transpired today, she'd thought he'd be a tough sell. But once they'd explained to him the severity of the situation, he'd gotten very quiet, considered his words very carefully. She could practically hear the wheels in his head turning, trying to come up with some sort of way to get him out of this, and coming up empty.

He returned to the observation room somewhat abashed. "Sorry about that. He's just a little nervous. Understandably so," he added, not willing to incriminate his client anymore.

"It's all right. You should be in there talking to him right now."

He opened his mouth, hesitated, before finally speaking again. "Mr. Castle is a bit of a trouble maker, but I can say that he's an honest person. I believe he didn't do it."

"Look, I've known a lot of people whose friends and family said the same thing, and they were found guilty. I'm not saying Mr. Castle is, but either way, we're going to need him to work with us to prove he's not. You're a lawyer. You know what he's facing, don't you?"

He kept silent for a moment. "Let me go talk with him."

"Be my guest," Kate waved him off, allowing him to go back into the interrogation room and watching with interest.

"Ricky, how are you?"

Rick sighed and dropped his face into his hands. "Cut the crap, Bernie. What's going on out there?"

"Aw, is that any way to talk to the guy that's trying to get you out of here?"

"Bernie," his voice was low with warning, and the man gave a sigh of his own as he took the seat across from Castle.

"All right, all right. I know. But Ricky- this is bad. I'm not sure I can get you out of this mess, this time."

"They haven't charged me with anything yet," Rick rebuffed his friend and lawyer, tilting his nose up slightly in the air. "I'm free to go whenever I want."

"Yeah, but you don't want to push this. They might still do that. I heard briefly the cops' side of the story, but I know there's gotta be more to it than that."

Castle groaned in frustration and stood up to pace the room again. "I don't know, Bernie! God, why can't I just leave? They know where to find me if they need to contact me more about the case. They haven't charged me with anything! What can they do? Just because I came here in the back of a police car doesn't mean-"

"But it does mean, Castle! You are in police custody right now, and whether you like it or not, that's where we're at. I don't think you grasp how serious this situation is, Rick!" He took a few deep breaths to calm himself before he said anything more. "Look, Rick, I know we've been friends for a long time now. And I know I've gotten you out of your fair share of jams with the law from time to time. But this time, it's a different ball game. A woman is dead-"

"Don't you think I know that?" Castle fumed, stirring restlessly. "God, I can't get the image out of my head!"

Bernie wisely shut his mouth for a few moments, giving the man a break. When Rick calmed down a bit and took his seat once more, he started hesitantly. "Look, I'm going to do my best. Okay? I know you couldn't have killed her. That's just not you. No matter how much- or little- you happen to remember."

Castle shot him a quick, somewhat resigned smile. "Thanks, Bernie. But I need to get out of here more than anything else. I can't take it anymore in this tiny box."

"Well, that's where things are gonna get tricky," Bernie began slowly.

"Not the words I wanted to hear from you, Bernie."

"I know. But just hear me out- this is where we're at right now. Considering the evidence or lack thereof, you are suspect number one in this murder investigation. They have enough to charge you with it. You were the last person to claim to have seen her, you passed out at the scene of the crime- that alone is stuff that could sway a jury. Now, to what degree they could charge you is debatable, since you claim to not remember anything-"

"Woah, woah, woah. Bernie, slow your roll here. Let's not get into that yet- I haven't even been charged with anything."

He smiled brightly at the author. "Right. Of course. I know that. I'm just pointing out where all the roads lead. Now, barring that, you have two options from there. Number one, you cooperate with the police, do whatever they ask you to do in order to help their investigation- and that Detective Beckett impressed upon me that this would include a drug test," he raised an eyebrow up suggestively, and Castle had to swallow his fear at that thought, "and you'll have the chance to clear your name yourself."

There was a long period of silence, and it deafened Castle. "Or?"

"Or what?"

"That's what I'm asking. You said I have two options."

"Your other option is that they charge you with obstruction of justice, throw you into holding overnight, and either they get you to crack or they find a way to formalize the charges against you."

Castle's mind was spinning with the implications of it all. "What do you mean get me to crack? I'm not hiding anything!"

"Richard, you and I both know that's not exactly true," he pointed out with a soft inflection.

Castle thought it through and nodded. "Okay. Okay, so then, what do you want me to do? What's my best option?"

The way Bernie paused and looked at his hands told him right off the bat he wasn't going to like it. "I say you cooperate."

"What?!"

"You need to cut a deal. You won't last an hour in a holding cell, and charging you with murder is the exact opposite of what we want to do here."

Rick let that sink in a moment as he considered everything Bernie had said. He was right, unfortunately. As usual. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes gently.

"Fine. But I want to be absolved of any charges that may result in my helping the investigation."

Bernie inclined his head slightly and went to tap on the door.

"We're ready."

A/N: Review please! Update will hopefully be coming soon!