Genre: Drama, Crime, Romance, Humor

Rating: M for language, sexual situations and violence

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters featured on the show Castle, they belong to the creator of the show, ABC, and the others who do own them.

A/N #1: Again, wanna reiterate that my knowledge of guns is poor, at this point I have a caliber but not sure what kind of gun would be used for that, so going to be vague in describing it when I need to from here on in.

A/N #2: Have to say my appreciation to my reviewer for the last chapter, Unputdownable. Am very happy to see you like how this case is shaping up so far; have to admit it's sometimes hard to get that part down, so to see you saying that was very nice. Really nice to read what you thought and definitely want to say thanks for you taking the time out of your day to do that for me!

A/N #: The title of this chapter comes from the song The Long and Winding Road by The Beatles on their album Let It Be.

Leads To Your Door

"I'm surprised Detective," Black said as Beckett walked inside the interrogation room. "I didn't realize that you wanted to see me again. I'm touched."

"Don't be," Beckett said, trying to lose her urge to punch the conceited smirk on the man's face as Castle walked in behind her. She felt a brief sense of satisfaction as Black frowned at him and said, "Sit down Mr. Black, there are a few things we need to speak about."

"Look, I told you everything I know," Black said, glancing briefly at Castle before turning to Beckett.

"Not everything actually," Castle said. "Obviously she wouldn't bring you here if you had."

"What?" Black asked sharply.

"We have discovered these," Beckett said, laying out the threatening letter and the money transfer to Spain on the table, both in their own evidence bags. "And we have picked up Jaime Cruz; he's being questioned right now. So would you care to explain at all why we have a dead body, the Green Hills Stables; which you told us you want badly; up for grabs and also a sharpshooter, handy with a small caliber gun, who has sixty thousand dollars from you?"

"I'm assuming this is where I should likely call for a lawyer, what you think I would do," Black said, glancing at the two before his gaze went back to Beckett. "Since you obviously think I killed de Alba. However, I'd rather clear my name with you Detective. First, this letter? I had no choice but to threaten him in some way, and it seemed a letter was the best way to do it."

"So you did write it," Castle said, trying to get the man to look at anything else but Beckett since his gaze never wavered from her.

"My secretary did, I can't speak a word of Spanish, let alone write it," Black said simply. "Though I told her it was just a joke before she wrote it for me. But I had to get his attention off of me."

"He knew you were trying to get the stables from him by gouging him?" Beckett said.

"Most likely if he somehow got a hold of this," Black said, tapping the transfer paper.

"And what exactly is this money for?" Beckett queried.

"There something you should understand," Black said, leaning across the table. "I'm married, but my wife and I aren't exactly… seeing eye to eye these days. She decided we needed a break, claiming it would make our marriage stronger once she returned. So she decided on Spain; I mentioned to you she likes horses, well, she loves Spanish breeds, especially the Andalusians. So she went there to buy one, or so she told me."

"I still don't see where Mr. Cruz comes in," Beckett said.

"I had a feeling this was actually a vacation for her to meet her lover, or find a lover, I didn't know. But something along those lines," Black said. "And I'm pretty tired of this marriage and more than ready to get out of it. So a friend of mine suggested Cruz, who's actually a PI, specifically he investigates cheating wives. And he really could care less about being in other countries; he goes where he needs to go. He's the best. So I paid him to follow my wife, see if there was anything I could use in a divorce."

"Sixty thousand for that?" Castle asked incredulously.

"I said he's the best," Black said condescendingly. "So I had to pay. Plus with him working in another country, rates go significantly up. And it was worth every penny, turns out my wife has two lovers, flight attendants for Iberia Airlines. So I've filed for divorce and within a short amount of time I'm hoping, I'll be a free man," he said as he leaned back in his chair, gazing at Beckett. "But I didn't kill de Alba; it would be pretty stupid of me to do so when all I want is the stables."

"You told us you want to get the stables for your wife," Beckett said. "But you just said you filed for divorce."

Black frowned at that and seemed to be thinking before he finally said, "I'd like them for myself, I-"

"You realize you took a little too long to answer," Castle pointed out. "Kinda tells us you're lying."

Sneering at him, Black said, "Fine, I have a mistress, she's threatening to leave me, and she loves horses, so I figured I give her the stables, we stay together." He then said, "Where did you find this?" pointing to the transfer paper.

"With some papers of the victim's," Beckett said after a moment of hesitation.

"You should realize he had these because he's trying to blackmail me," Black replied. "He was trying to," he corrected himself. "I'm guessing he knew what I was trying to do with those loans, and it was becoming a little bit of a crisis with him. He wanted something that would allow him to get money off me scot free so he could spend on that farm."

"What farm?" Beckett asked, sharing a look with Castle.

"You didn't know about it? He must have been keeping that secret," Black said. "I eventually looked into where the money was going, just to make sure if it was something illegal and I could blackmail him for the stables. But I saw that there weren't any records of it, so I asked him about it. Went to the stables and discovered that he was arguing with another man inside his office."

"When was this?" Beckett asked.

"Two days ago," Black said. "Something about horses, so I pressured him when I went in to talk to him, ask what the hell was going on. He wouldn't talk at first, but finally when I threatened to stop the loans he mentioned the guy was Victor Lake, and he had a horse ranch upstate, at the edge of Stony Point."

"Did he say anything else?" Castle said.

"No, that was all I could get out of him, since he threatened me with going public about the fact I have a mistress," Black said. "So really, I'm not a killer, and I didn't hire Cruz for that, you can look into it. You should look into that guy though, he sounded pretty pissed off the way they argued."

"Mr. Black, I wouldn't advise leaving the city at this point," Beckett said, taking the evidence and standing up as she knew he likely wasn't their killer or had hired anyone. "You're still a person of interest until we can clear Mr. Cruz."

"You'll be doing that very quickly," Black said, reaching into his blazer and holding a business card out to her. "In case you need to contact me again, without deadweight here," he said, gesturing to Castle as she looked at him in confusion.

Beckett didn't say a word, just turned and walked out of the room, turning to Castle. "Still a jackass, but-"

"Not the killer, or who orchestrated it," Castle said with a nod when Esposito and Ryan came out of the other interrogation room.

"I don't think he's our guy," Esposito said. "Said he was looking into Black's wife and he doesn't carry a gun with that kind of caliber; that was when he was back in the army."

"Yeah, Black confirmed why he gave him sixty thousand," Beckett said. "What's his alibi for this morning?"

"He was… paying off a companion," Ryan said slowly. "Gave us the number of the escort company she's with."

"Check that out and if the woman confirms it, cut him loose," Beckett told Esposito. "Ryan, Black told us two days ago he saw our vic and a man named Victor Lake arguing about his farm in Stony Point. See what you can find on him. I'm going to call Lanie, see if she has anything."

When Beckett had walked towards her desk, Castle began to follow her when Ryan called him back. "What's wrong?" he asked, seeing the troubled look on the detective's face, and the angry expression on Esposito's.

"Can't let her talk to Cruz man," Esposito said first. "We had to bring up the murders he committed back in Spain."

"He said he was justified… he's a misogynistic bastard," Ryan said. "And if she kind of had a moment reading about a rape earlier…"

"Yeah, well, I'll try and warn you if she mentions talking with him again," Castle said as he glanced over at her as she spoke on the phone. "But there's only so much I can do."

"She listens to you a lot more than she does to us bro," Esposito said.

"And you're creative," Ryan said as his partner went to his desk. "You'll think of something."

Castle nodded before he walked to Beckett and sat down next to her as she was writing something down, still on the phone to Lanie. "Anything?" he asked.

"Nothing that we would need to go down and see the body," Beckett said. "She confirmed I was right, his ankle was broken in the fall. Bone actually would have broken through his skin if the boots he had on weren't so tight. And the shots were very quick, but after the first one our vic was dead, the two other shots were just-"

"Overkill, done out of anger," Castle said. "So a crime of passion."

"But well thought out," Beckett pointed out. "One thing though," she said, going onto her computer. "Take a look at this," she said, opening a picture before she turned the screen to him.

"The shooter was at a high angle," Castle said, seeing the picture was a diagram of the back of the victim's head and there were dotted lines from each bullet wound. "Basketball player?"

"I don't think so," Beckett said. "Lanie said he or she would have to be about nine, ten feet tall."

"A tree," Castle said quickly. "The shooter was waiting in a tree; de Alba really should not have had a routine that set in stone."

"I think it was more opportunity," Beckett said, standing up. "The horse could have thrown him anywhere in the park."

"So the killer got lucky when and where it happened," Castle said.

"Incredibly lucky," Beckett said.

"So let's say it's the farm owner," Castle said. "He wants the horse, Asturias, to use as a stud horse. And de Alba won't give it to him, so he figures the only way to get it is by killing him. Assuming Victor Lake doesn't know about Black and his attempts to get the stables, including the stallion."

"It's an interesting theory, but there are too many questions to it," Beckett said. "Unexpectedly well thought out too, I'm surprised Castle."

"Yeah, well, how about this," he said. "The killer, whoever it is, wanted the horse because he was tired of pretending to ride by hitting two halves of a coconut shell together. So he killed our vic for the horse, but things didn't go well and he's still with that coconut, riding around Manhattan."

"That sounds more like you," Beckett said, shaking her head as she rolled her eyes. "And is that a coconut carried here from Africa by a swallow?" she asked, looking at him from where she was writing their new information on the board.

"Oh, I'm impressed, you're a Monty Python fan," Castle said.

"Always have enjoyed British humor," Beckett replied, setting down the marker she had used. "Though not so much Benny Hill. But I loved their show; the dead parrot sketch is definitely a favorite, though the Holy Grail movie is as good."

"I love that sketch," Castle said. "Made me look in a thesaurus after I saw it, see if those synonyms were actual ones."

"I always preferred the Spanish Inquisition sketch," Ryan said, walking up to them.

"I have no idea what you guys are talking about," Esposito said as he followed. "But I checked on Cruz's alibi, it's solid. This morning at eight, Prism, as Cruz's 'friend' called herself, was finishing her work with him, and by eleven she was paid and left his apartment."

"Okay, so Black was telling the truth," Beckett said. "Which clears him and Cruz, they can both go." When Esposito left, she looked at Ryan questioningly.

"Victor Lake is relatively clean," he said quickly. "Some tickets for speeding-"

"So it's a dead end," Castle said.

"I said relatively clean, there's a long list of arrests for animal cruelty at his ranch in Stony Point," Ryan said. "His past farmhands that he fired went to the police and he was found to have some horses in an emaciated state in their stalls. And there's a whole lot more that's loads worse on his list of offenses."

"Then our vic could have been trying to buy his ranch for that reason," Beckett said. "I imagine he wanted to keep him from hurting more horses. But it doesn't explain the money he got from Black, what he was using it for there." She turned to Castle and said, "Looks like we're heading on a road trip." She then said to Ryan, "I was just thinking of the fact that de Alba used cash for whatever he was doing at the farm. What if he withdrew it from Black's bank?"

"You think we'd get something on the ATM footage?" Ryan asked.

"Maybe," Beckett said. "Something about these loans just doesn't really make sense to me. Especially since it's hard these days to find people paying for things in that amount in cash."

"I'll take a look, see what I can find," Ryan said.

"Tell Esposito I want him to look through the footage from the stables, see if he can find, two days ago, Victor Lake going to see our vic, and if there's anything suspicious besides the argument during his visit," Beckett said as she put on her coat. After Ryan had nodded she turned and walked with Castle to the elevators saying, "I might be sending him on a wild goose chase with that footage."

"No, Black's money is important, but I'm just not sure why exactly, what this guy's ranch has to do with anything," Castle said while they waited for the elevator. "Maybe, in trying to save those abused horses, he was going to make another ranch for horses, sell them to the mob." At Beckett's perplexed look he quickly said, "So they would have racehorses and he'd earn money he wouldn't have to repay, to expand his stables. I know, it's not my best theory, but I'm grasping, there's really not a lot that's being explained at this point."

"No, I appreciate the effort," Beckett said. "This case is question mark after question mark. Hopefully we'll get answers of some kind once we get a hold of Victor Lake."

Driving down the narrow, rutted driveway, Beckett had to hold on tightly to the steering wheel, trying to keep her car from swerving through the fences that bordered both sides. "Obviously Mr. Lake didn't use the money to keep up his place," she commented as she finally pulled up to the farmhouse and they saw it was as run down as the lane.

"He's probably more into his horses," Castle said. "Is he married or single?"

"Married," Beckett said; having taken a quick look at the information that Ryan had found as they'd gone to her car back at the 12th. "Hard to believe though his wife would just let the place go."

"She might be the same as him," Castle said. "Which makes her a possible suspect too."

"I intended to talk to both of the Lakes," Beckett said, pulling in front of the house and turning her car around, facing it back towards the driveway. She got out and went up to the front door, ringing the doorbell. She could hear the commonplace chime inside the house, echoing, and looked over to see Castle trying to peer into the window on their right. "Anything?" she asked as she rang again.

"No, I don't see anyone," Castle said, trying to see around the blinds.

"Mr. Lake, Mrs. Lake?" Beckett yelled as she opened the screen door and pounded on the front door. "This is the NYPD!" There was no indication that anyone was moving around inside, so she went down the steps from the porch and walked around to the back.

"Think they're home?" Castle asked as he followed her.

"It's likely, there are two cars parked in front of the garage," Beckett said. When she reached the back door she knocked on it before looking through the windows in it. "Oh god," she said in surprise as her eyes caught on something.

"What is it?" Castle said as she pulled out her gun. He didn't get an answer though; as Beckett kicked open the door and he hurried to follow her as she went in first.

"Mr. Lake!" Beckett yelled as she looked around the kitchen they had entered. When she got no answer, she hurried to the body that was in the doorway between the room and dining room and knelt next to it, seeing what she couldn't through the back door.

"Shot," Castle said, kneeling next to her and looking at the middle aged woman who was bleeding from the back of her head.

"Yeah, Mrs. Lake," Beckett said. "And if we tilted her head it'll likely be another three shots." She stood up and said, "We need to call the local PD, and see if Mr. Lake is in the same condition." She grabbed her phone and started to dial when there was the sound of a car starting, and she looked at Castle before they ran out to the side of the house, where they saw a small black car heading down the driveway.

Before they could run to Beckett's car, Castle and Beckett skidded to a stop in the grass as a group of horses ran around from the font of the house and headed towards them. They didn't hesitate, as there was no other way to go but the way they'd come. Turning, they ran to the back of the house, when Beckett nearly ran into a horse that was at the back door. She ran back into Castle as it reared up, neighing wildly and kicking its front legs. Grabbing her hand, he pulled her to the lane that went through two corrals through the back of the property. They had no chance to go in any other direction but a straight line, more horses right behind them, coming from the other side of the house; where the barn was; seeming to be spooked as they were galloping fast, eyes wild.

Running as fast they could, Beckett stopped as Castle ran into the end of the lane, a dead end. At the same time, they turned around, facing the horses as they galloped nearer, the sound of so many hooves striking the ground at so fast a speed filling the air with the sound of muffled thunder. They both froze as they watched the powerful animals getting closer, and closer.