Twenty-nine:

Shaw was speaking into her voice recorder making comments about her observations of Kate's interview. Jordan was fastidious about documentation as it helped to remove any doubts about memories being clouded or lost later. A knock at the door stopped her recording, as she called for them to enter.

Rick poked his head through the doorway to his own office and offered a small smile. "Beckett said that you wanted to speak to me?"

"Yes, I do. Please come in Mr Castle."

Rick walked into his office finding it strange to see Shaw sitting in his chair at the desk. He sits down in the same spot on the sofa that Kate had occupied only minutes earlier. Jordan could see Castle's body language and facial expression change once he was alone with her in his office. There was a predatory look that she first attributed to sitting at his desk in his office. "Would you like to trade places? After all, this is your office."

"This is fine. What do you want to know agent Shaw?"

"Right to the point. I like that." Jordan replies trying to figure out what's changed with the writer. "When did you find out agent Beckett was attending your party?"

"I didn't."

"So how does she show up with the victim at your party?" Shaw counters.

"My publicist sent her an invitation to the premiere several weeks ago – as a courtesy. I didn't expect her to show."

"Did you know the victim?"

"We, I mean Beckett had a case about eight months ago.. Someone had tried to poison Vaughn and killed his business associate by mistake.. Kate was assigned to be his bodyguard."

Jordan watched his body language as he spoke. She knew that there was more to the story. Something happened between Vaughn and Beckett that effected his relationship with her. "So did you have any direct contact with the victim?"

"No, not really. After we solved the case, he told me I was lucky to have a woman like Beckett.." There was a defeated resignation in his voice that Shaw could feel. "Didn't matter, three weeks later she took the DC job and we parted ways.."

"So you've had no contact with agent Beckett since she left for Washington seven months ago?" Rick simply nods in response. "Did you say anything to agent Beckett or the victim when you saw they were at your party?"

"No. They were busy at the time.. The first time I spoke to Beckett was after the shooting." Jordan watches as Castle's body language changes from the hunted to the hunter and predator look returns. "You and I both know that this was a professional hit and that Beckett was also a target. What are you going to do to protect her?"

Shaw was more than a little surprised by the way Castle spoke with calm assurance that this was a fact and not the way he offered theories to her in an easy going manner in the past. "I offered her protective custody or protection until she returns to DC. The AG's office can look after her then. I can't force her without more evidence Mr Castle."

"Turn off your recorder." Castle spoke in a voice that left no room for debate.

Shaw arches her eyebrows in surprise at his commanding tone, but complies with his request. "Ok Mr Castle, you have my attention. What have you got to say that you don't want a recording of?"

Castle got up from the couch and walked around the desk, opening the bottom drawer. He fumbles through the various items in the drawer, finally finding a manila envelope. He opens the envelope and places the leather wallet on the desk in front of her. She opens the wallet to see the credentials for an employee of the CIA. The picture of Rick on the ID was probably ten years old, but it was definitely him.

Thinking that it was a fake that he had made up to pick up girls, she laughed and commented. "Very funny Castle. How much did it cost for that?"

"More than you'll ever know agent Shaw." Rick replies with a sad look.

"Let me get this straight, you're telling me that you were a spy, like Derrick Storm?" Shaw asks not believing that this was even remotely possible. She profiled people for a living. She had worked with Richard Castle, the writer and police tag along. Not the spy.

"I was never a spy. Do I look like James Bond to you?"

Jordan had to laugh at the question. He might not look like James Bond, but he could move about in the same circles without drawing undue attention to himself. She squinted her eyes and mockingly replied. "I don't know. If I tilt my head and close my left eye, maybe a little.." Her smile faded as her tone turned serious. "Why are you telling me this? Are you involved in this somehow?"

"I'm telling you this because I trust you. I'm pretty good at reading people most of the time.. I'm asking that whatever I say to you never leaves this room. Can you do that?"

"Yes. What do you want to tell me Castle?"

"How much do you know about senator William H. Bracken?"

"Rising political star. Rumored to be making a serious run at the White House. Not much more."

"What if I were to tell you that he was directly involved in the murder of several people including Johanna Beckett, Kate's mother? What if I told you that he hired the assassins that tried to kill Beckett on two, now three different occasions?"

Shaw was gobsmacked. A popular US senator involved in murder? In the multiple attempts to kill agent Beckett? No, Castle had to be wrong. "These are some pretty serious allegations Castle. What proof do you have?"

A knock on the door halted their conversation. Rick called out for them to enter and Mindy shyly poked her head into the door. "Uh, Rick, Martha and Alexis was wanting to know if they should start preparing dinner?"

Rick couldn't help but to shudder at the thought of Martha cooking anything. Both women had to laugh at his exaggerated reaction to the mention of Martha cooking. Despite everyone's dislike for his beloved 'smorelette', Rick really was an accomplished chef. He had planned of preparing Christmas dinner before last night's events, but his priorities have changed. He needed to explain things to Shaw. "Come in please and take a seat. I'll go and speak to mother." He rose up from his seat and walked to the door as a puzzled Mindy entered. He gently stroked her hand as he passed giving her a look that said he would explain everything. She simply smiled and nodded her head as he left the room.

Jordan Shaw couldn't figure out why Castle would invite his 'girlfriend' to sit with them unless she was somehow connected to all of this. Mindy was a little wary of the woman sitting at Castle's desk. Rick had never mentioned her before, yet they seemed to be familiar with each other. Shaw really looked at the woman for the first time trying to figure out her story. Jordan was very much like Rick in the fact that she needed the story of a person to make an accurate profile. The more accurate the story, the better she could predict how someone would react to situations or events. The two women sat there in a somewhat tense silence as each tried to size up the other.

Jordan could see just how attractive the woman was sitting across from her. She looked the part of an athlete, yet seemed to behave in a shy, almost demure way that would belie her obvious strength. Shaw's curiosity was more than a little peaked by how these two got together. Mindy saw the way the woman was looking at her and decided to break the silence. "What would you like to know agent Shaw?"

Jordan had to grin at the directness of the question. "So you, and Castle? How'd you meet?"

Not knowing what Rick had told the agent about them she decides to tell the truth. "I work for Black Pawn, his publisher. I met him in China a couple of months ago when he was promoting his books there.. So how do you know Rick?"

"We worked together on a case a couple of years ago." Castle answered for Shaw as he walked back into the room. "It's a good thing we live in New York and there are plenty of restaurants open on Christmas or we'd starve relying on my mother." He laughed as he sat down beside Mindy and took her hand in his.

Jordan watched the interaction between the two, noticing how at ease he was with the blonde. Castle never seemed to be comfortable around Beckett when they first met. He seemed to be trying too hard to please her and Shaw saw just how annoyed Beckett became when she started working theory with the writer. She also picked up on the fact that she called Castle by his first name, not his last as Beckett still did. Wanting to get back to the subject at hand, she started to speak. "You were talking about senator Bracken?"

Mindy had a concerned look on her face at Shaw's question, but it quickly went away as Castle smiled at her and squeezed her hand again, looking directly at her. "Jordan's one of the good guys and I trust her. I was just about to explain to her how Vaughn's murder may be tied to Bracken.. I wanted to make sure that you were included in anything I said." Mindy gives him an appreciative smile and he turns to face Shaw.

"This all started nearly twenty years ago. There was a group of vigilante cops, frustrated that the mobsters seemed to be above the law. They decided to take the law into their own hands and decided to 'detain' the mobsters to extract a little justice that these men seemed to evade. Unable to detain these men indefinitely, they decided to impose 'fines' to be paid by their fellow criminals in exchange for their safe return. There were three uniformed cops at that time that made up the team, John Ragland, Gary McCalister, and Roy Montgomery."

Shaw let out a small gasp at the admission that Roy Montgomery was somehow in a kidnapping and extortion scheme involving mobsters. She remembered thinking what an honest and by the book type of cop he was.

"I can tell by the look on your face that you remember Roy Montgomery. Don't feel bad, we were all equally shocked to find out his involvement in all of this.. A young assistant district attorney somehow found out about the vigilante cops and their 'tune-ups' of the mobsters. Rather than turn them in, he wanted a percentage of their fines for his silence. Things were going well until until the crew attempted to apprehend Joe Pulgotti, a mid-level thug with the Italian mob. Joe and his bodyguard Bob Arman were leaving his club when the vigilantes tried to take Pulgotti in. Everything went sideways and Arman ended up shot. It turned out the Arman was an undercover FBI agent trying to infiltrate the mob. Knowing that the Feds would come swooping in the three decided to setup Pulgotti to take the fall. After all, who would believe him that there was a group of vigilantes roaming the streets of New York kidnapping mobsters?"

The vigilantes stopped after Arman's murder and they went their separate ways. Pulgotti was convicted of Arman's murder based upon evidence provided by McCalister and Ragland. The young assistant DA was now a state assemblyman using his percentage of the the fines imposed to finance his campaign.

"Bracken." Both women say at the same time.

Rick can't help but smile seeing the two women in sync. "Pulgotti wouldn't go away quietly. He started sending letters to every attorney and legal aid office that he could. One woman decided to see if his allegations had any merit. Her name was Johanna Beckett.. Somehow Bracken found out about her investigation.. He still had close ties to the NYPD thanks to his vigilantes. He was about to make a run at the state senate and couldn't afford to have anything that would tie him to police corruption, so he had Johanna Beckett murdered, along with a few other people that at first glance had nothing to do with the Pulgotti case. Here's the best part, guess who were the two detectives assigned to investigate Johanna Beckett's murder? John Ragland and Gary McCalister. They wrote it off as an act of random gang violence."

"How do you know this? What proof do you have?" Jordan questions.

"Oh we know he ordered the murders, the problem is any evidence has been destroyed. Bracken saw to that. I blame myself for a lot of the things that have happened since then.. If I hadn't tried to find the truth behind Johanna's murder.." Rick quits talking and looks down at the floor ashamed to make eye contact. Mindy give his hand a tug, silently telling him that it's ok.

"Kate gave up everything in her quest to bring her mother's killers to justice. She never believed the story that Ragland and McCalister offered but could find no proof. I started working with her and wanted to help her find some peace. I read the police reports and thought that it sounded like sloppy work by cops who didn't care.. I called in the best forensic pathologist in the country to look at the autopsy report. He was able to prove that it was a professional hit, and that there were four other people murdered in a similar manner, but a connection was never made."

"Did you ever talk to the medical examiner who performed the autopsies?" Shaw asks.

"By the time we found out, he was dead. About a month before we first met, there was murder that Beckett was working. A low level Irish mobster named Jackie Coonan. Our ME performed the autopsy and found he had been murdered in a similar manner.. It turned out that his brother was the killer. The problem was by the time we figured it out, he had taken me hostage and Beckett had to shoot him. He did admit that he killed Johanna, but didn't reveal who hired him."

"This is starting to sound like one of your books Castle. I mean you've got corrupt cops, politicians, and medical professionals. Something this big would be nearly impossible to keep quiet." Jordan offers.

"Not really." Castle counters. "The only people that knew everything were Bracken, McCalister, Ragland and Montgomery. It's classic honer among thieves. They all had something to lose if they broke their silence. Things stayed that way for about a year until Ragland was diagnosed with terminal cancer and decided to clear his conscience by contacting Beckett. He was murdered as he sat facing us in a diner. Somehow Bracken caught wind of Ragland's condition and decided to tie up loose ends. A hitman that went by the name Hal Lockwood killed Ragland, McCalister and Montgomery. Roy was able to kill him before he murdered Beckett also."

Rick paused and rose up from the sofa, walking to the desk and opening the drawer. He pulls out a bottle of his good scotch and three glasses from the credenza behind his desk. Pouring each a glass, he hands them to the women before returning to his seat. Castle takes a large sip from his glass before continuing as if he was bracing himself for something uncomfortable. "Bracken didn't give up just because his hitman was killed. He simply hired another one who nearly killed Beckett as she gave Montgomery's eulogy. I caught a glint of light off of his scope just before he fired. I tried to jump in front of her, but was too late.." He took another sip from his glass as the memory of Kate lying in the grass, bleeding to death replayed in his mind.

"It turns out that Montgomery had prepared a sort of insurance policy to protect Beckett in the case of his death. The problem was this information didn't make it to the right person until after she was shot. He used his connections to broker a truce with Bracken. The evidence would stay buried as long as Beckett was left alone. There was one caveat, she couldn't look into her shooting or all bets were off. That's where I came in. My job was to make sure she didn't look into her shooting."

"Beckett went along with that?" Shaw asks incredulously.

"She didn't know. I knew there was no way she'd look the other way if there was any evidence that would point to the man who hired her mother's murder. The irony was there was no proof of that. All Montgomery had was proof that Bracken had taken money from a group of corrupt cops. It was enough to end his political career, but it wouldn't put him away for murder. Things were quiet for nearly a year until there was a break-in at Montgomery's house. Someone was looking to find out who Roy had sent the evidence to. He was also back to finish the job he started in the cemetery a year earlier. He left her hanging from the ledge of a building as he went off to find the mystery man with the evidence. She nearly died because she wouldn't listen to me.."

Kate was finding it harder to contain her anger as she listened to bits and pieces of Rick's conversation through the bedroom door that connected the two rooms. She had went inside the bedroom to change while Jordan interviewed Castle in his office. She was in the shower when Rick explained his past career to the FBI profiler, but started to listen as she dressed. Placing her head against the door, Beckett listened intently as he relayed the story of the corrupt senator. She could hear the pain in his voice as he spoke of her shooting and shivered at his anger when discussing Maddox's second attempt on her life. Kate couldn't figure out why Castle's girlfriend was sitting with them discussing her life and that angered her. It was her life, her case, and she should be discussing this with Shaw, not a writer and his 'friend'.

There was a knock on Rick's bedroom door that caused Kate to nearly fall over from where she was leaning against the adjoining door. She quickly moved away from it and sat down on the chair near his bed and called for whoever was knocking to enter.

Martha poked her head through the opening and inquires. "Kate, darling, are you ok? It's been an hour and I was worried.."

Kate feigns a small smile and looks up at the woman. "I'm fine Martha. My shower took a little longer than I planned and I lost track of time."

Martha simply smiles. "That's alright dear. I wanted to let you know that dinner will be arriving very soon.. Do you need anything?"

"Thank you Martha. I'll be out in a few minutes."

"Take your time. I'll let you know when everything's ready." Martha quietly closes the door leaving Kate alone in Rick's room to brood.