Kate glances down at her phone, a small sigh slipping through her lips as her brows pull together. She reads over the address for the coffee shop he's chosen one last time before slipping her phone into the pocket of her jacket and starting up her car.
She's trying to convince herself that them becoming friends isn't a bad idea. That going for coffee isn't as scary as she thinks. They were neighbours after all, and getting along wouldn't be the worst idea. She only had a very few close friends, and they were all her colleagues. So, maybe somebody else in her life that wasn't in her line of work would be refreshing for her.
From their first meeting, she could tell that Rick was somebody who spoke so easily about how he felt and what was going on in his life – which was a change from how she is. She's closed off; finds it extremely difficult to reveal even the slightest bit of information about herself. But there was something different about being in Rick's presence. He was easy to talk too, and she felt like he wasn't judging her – or for right now, wasn't viewing her as a tragedy.
And maybe that's why she's scared of them becoming friends; scared to reveal the tragedies of her past because she's afraid that once he really gets to know her, he won't want to know her and that he'll start viewing her as some sob story, that he'll start walking on egg shells around her. She didn't want him to start looking at her in a whole new light. She hated the change in people's eyes when she revealed very deep and intimate things about herself. How a few words could make them start viewing her as somebody weak, or somebody trying too hard to be strong.
She was just lucky that with the few close friends she did have, that the line of work they were in meant they were used to such losses, so they didn't view her as some tragedy or a weak detective.
She swallows the small lump in her throat as she parks outside the coffee shop. She turns off her engine and glances at the time on her watch. 11.28am. She does her best to shake off the nerves that are beginning to bubble up inside of her before she's exiting her vehicle and heading inside the coffee shop.
The bell on the door rings; announces to everyone inside that somebody new has entered. Kate glances around the modern yet cosy place; the aroma hitting her instantly and causing the edges of her lips to twitch upwards. If there's a smell that could make her feel so at ease – it was coffee.
"Kate!"
Her head snaps in direction of the familiar voice as she sees Castle occupying a table in the corner. His arm is stretched out above him, a wide smile across his lips as he waves her over and Kate sucks in a breath before proceeding in his direction.
"Hey, Rick." She sends a slight smile in his direction as she slips into the seat opposite him.
"You came."
"I said I would, didn't I?" Her brow arches as she lets her gaze lock on his. "And I believe I may have been promised some very interesting stories." Her head cocks to the side as her hands come to tangle with one another while resting atop of the table.
"Hmm, I think I may have said that. Then again, I do have a pretty short memory." He shrugs, though a smirk is evident across his face. "Let's get the coffee's in first. How do you take yours?"
"Oh, I can get mine, it's fine."
"No, please. I did invite you, so, my treat. I insist."
She rolls her eyes, a breath of air escaping through her nostrils. "Fine. Vanilla skim latte then, please."
"Coming right up!" He taps his fingertips against the table before sliding out of his seat and approaching the counter.
It's not long before he's returning with two ceramic mugs filled to the brim with their orders.
"Thank you." Kate murmurs as the coffee is set down in front of her, and her hands quickly reach out, lifting the cup to her lips and letting her eyes fall closed as she takes in the delicious liquid. Anything was better than the stuff they served at the precinct. She's positive they only allow the bitter sludge because of how awake and buzzed everyone is after consuming it.
"So, let's hear these stories then."
"Well…" Castle pauses, putting his own cup down as he looks over at Kate. "I may have been arrested once…" He trails off, eyes tearing away from her and Kate's brows can't help but shoot up. She's surprised in only the slightest.
"You have?"
"Mhm-hmm. I may have… stolen a police horse… naked." He scratches the side of his head and Kate's brows pull together as her head leans in slightly, a laugh threatening to slip from her lips.
"I'm sorry. You what?" Her tongue slips from her mouth, head shaking in the slightest as Rick lets out an airy breath. "How in the hell did you steal a police horse and how did you even ride one – no, never mind, I don't want to know that actually." A chuckle can't help but slip from her lips as she takes another sip from her coffee.
"Quite a memorable night if I do say so myself." He waggles his brows before he's glancing down at his coffee cup. "But, enough about my crazy antics… why don't you tell me about yourself?"
"Oh, I definitely don't have any crazy stories like that." She chuckles once more, completely missing the fact that he was asking about her, not about whether or not she had any crazy stories of being arrested. "Though, one of the crazy arrests I made – what?" Kate pauses, brows pulling together as she watches Rick.
"I meant, tell me about yourself." He shrugs, can see the nervous smile playing on his lips and a lump can't help but form in Kate's throat. "I'd like to get to know my neighbour a bit more. Like, why become a homicide detective? Most smart young woman from money usually become lawyers or something like that." His arms come to rest against the table as he props himself up slightly, his brows pulling together as he watches her intently.
He's been curious about her and her story from the moment she entered his apartment a week ago to ask if he was okay. There was so much to her, and yet he didn't know any of what there was to her.
"What makes you think I'm from money?" Her brows pull together tightly, gaze drifting down to her coffee cup as she swallows the small lump in her throat.
"Well, not to pry into your… financial situation. But the building we live in, it's not cheap, and I know a cop's salary can't be… that much." He chews on the inside of his bottom lip, still watching her.
She'll give him props to being observant, and she can't be too mad about it – especially considering she'd observed him a great amount to notice the change in his mood.
"Oh, uh – well, the place is actually my cousins. I mean, she lived in it before I rented it. She put in a good word with the landlord and since I work with the law, they ended up dropping the price a bit." She shrugs, her index finger beginning to circle the rim of her cup.
She'd been evicted from her last place, and was in dire need of finding a new once. Her cousin had suggested the apartment she was moving out of, and although Kate had fallen in love with it, she also knew it was extremely out of her price range. But, after a few phone calls and meetings, she was signing a year's lease. Of course she had to do some extra over time every now and again just to make sure she could meet the monthly rent. But she'd always been good with budgeting and keeping up with her finances, so keeping up with the slightly above price range rent wasn't too hard. She also stored away a fair amount of money in the back – just in case things went south, like they usually did every now and again. Not that her life went south, no, it was more her fathers. And she wanted to make sure that if she were to take care of him again, that she'd be prepared and not forced out onto the streets.
"The perks of working in law."
"You could say." Her lips stretch out to the sides, gaze flicking up to meet with Rick's.
There's such a softness in his eyes – something that makes her feel at ease, and she chews on the bottom of her lip as she contemplates diving in more about the reasoning behind her becoming a detective – the real reasoning.
"I was actually studying pre-law at Stanford, but transferred a few months in." She swallows a little too hard, her foot tapping slightly as she tears her gaze away from Rick to glance around the coffee shop.
Rick's brows can't help but raise, lips gaping ever so slightly with the little information he's just received. "You were pre-law?" He's amazed, and also even more curious than he was before.
"Mhm. My parents were both lawyers. Wanted to be just like them." She laughs slightly, chewing on her bottom lip slightly hard.
"Why'd you transfer?"
She can't help but grip the mug as her teeth dig further into her bottom lip, and just as she's about to answer him her eyes take notice of something very familiar and she releases her bottom lip she'd held captive.
Her brows pull together; furrowing slightly as she sits back.
"Kate?" Rick pulls her from her trance and Kate blinks as she glances at Rick.
"Hmm?"
"You alright there? You disappeared on me for a second…"
"Oh, yeah. I'm – I'm fine, it's just." Kate pauses, head turning back in the direction of the woman that's standing at the counter and the familiar attire she's wearing.
"That woman over there… does she look familiar to you?"
Rick's brows pull together as he looks in the direction Kate's looking in. His eyes land on the woman at the counter and he lets his blue irises run up and down her, taking in the form fitting green jeans and the flowy white blouse with grey dots speckled across it.
"Uh… yeah? I guess? I mean her clothes look familiar." He's confused as he continues staring at her before looking back at Kate.
"That's exactly what I thought." Kate pulls her bottom lip into her mouth, gaze still glued to the woman.
"Am I… missing something here?"
Kate tears her gaze away momentarily to glance at Rick. "My victim – the one you found yesterday, she was wearing that exact outfit."
It finally clicks for him why the attire looked so familiar and he does a double before looking back at Kate. "Okay, and?"
"And? That cannot be a coincidence."
It very well could be, but Kate and the boys hadn't gotten any further in their investigation then when they first found the body yesterday morning. If she didn't act on the small hunch she had, she'd never forgive herself. Even if it didn't lead her anywhere, there was no harm in following it up.
"Just give me a second." Kate mutters as she quickly pushes herself up from her seat and carefully moves across the coffee shop.
"Hi, excuse me, miss?" Kate calls out to the woman at the counter who turns to see her.
"Hi? Can I help you?"
Kate pulls out her badge, raising it in front of her. "My name's Detective Kate Beckett, I'd ju–" Kate doesn't get to finish her sentence as the woman before her bolts out the door.
She knew the attire was no coincidence, that the fact that the woman looked freakishly similar to her victim wasn't anything.
Kate clips her badge back onto her pants before she's rushing out of the coffee shop after the woman. She glances both ways, sees the woman turning the corner and Kate quickly runs after her. "Hey, stop!" She hates it when they run – not that she's not fit, she has a very high stamina. But it just drags the process out.
She chases the woman down a dead-end alleyway, quickly pulling out her gun and raising it before her as the woman turns to face her, arms raising in defence.
He's been told to wait by her desk while she interrogates a suspect, and he doesn't mind. Is pretty content sitting in her chair while he takes in the surroundings of the precinct floor.
He's only ever been in holding, never actually seen the proper layout where detectives work. It's nothing like he would've imagined, but even better.
He likes the murder board that's propped up beside her desk with images and writings all over it. He takes in the images of the body he found and the crime scene as well as the very few and little details scattered around it and now – the image of the woman he'd watched Kate arrest.
It was a rush in a way, the scene that unfolded before him.
She'd stepped away from their table for a moment and he kept his gaze on her, but the second he saw her bolting out the door after the woman, Rick couldn't help but follow after her. He'd watched the two end up down an alleyway, watched Kate pull out her gun – which was way too hot and cool and something he'd only ever seen in the movies, and then take the girl in for questioning.
He tears his gaze away from the board, starts glancing around her desk and the edges of his lips can't help but curl upwards as he takes in the little knick-knacks she has. He reaches out, fingertips taking a hold of a family of elephants and he brushes his thumb over them.
"Put that down before you break it, Rick."
He hears Kate's voice fill the air, and he glances up, expecting to see some sort've amusement on her face, but instead it's dead serious and he swallows before quickly putting it back into its exact position.
"They're uh – very nice."
"Thanks, they were my mothers." Her lips twitch into a sad smile as Rick quickly rises to his feet, stepping away from her chair as she slips into it. "I'm sorry coffee got cut short."
Castle shakes his head, hand stretching out in front of him. "Hey, it's no big deal. Watching you chase after someone was pretty darn cool."
Kate smiles at him, shaking her head as she lets out a chuckle.
"So, is she a part of all of this? Did she murder your victim?"
Kate types a few things into her computer before tearing her gaze away from the screen briefly, her fingertips hovering above the keys. "You know I can't discuss any of that with you, Rick." Her brow arches high and he pouts, his own brows dropping and pulling together.
"That is so unfair – uncool." He huffs and Kate only smirks, turning back to her computer to type a few more things in before her partner; Esposito, is approaching.
"Got Ryan to look through Leah's messages and phone records, and she's definitely lying about not knowing who Leslie is."
"Are you sure? We went through Leslie's phone records, and there's nothing that connects her to Leah."
"Well, there's messages between her and a burner phone – which could be Leslie's. We're trying to track that down now, but there's also messages between Leah and an unnamed contact talking about making a deal with Leslie, and get this – where they planned to meet is where we found our vic."
"So, whoever this other person is, they all meet up to make this deal – it goes south and one of them kills Leah."
"Seems like it. I'm gonna go have another word from her with the new info we've got. Ryan's tracking down that unnamed contact and burner phone now. Looks like we're finally getting somewhere, chica."
He smiles down at her, and Kate feels slightly on top of the world as her teeth dig into her bottom lip, the edges of her lips curling.
Up until an hour ago they had nothing. They were at a complete dead end, and she knew that if they didn't have anything by tonight, or come tomorrow morning – then they'd have to put the case to the side, and that's the last thing Kate wanted to do.
If she couldn't find her mother's real killer and get justice for herself, she wanted to track down who killed Leslie and bring justice for her family.
"Ahem." Rick clears his throat and Kate's brought back to reality, blinking as she snaps her head in his direction.
"Rick." Crap. She'd forgotten for a moment he'd been standing right there when Esposito had approached her.
"Uh, Espo this is Rick Castle, Rick this is one of my partners Javier Esposito."
She nods between them both as Esposito shifts the folder to his other hand and extends the now vacant one in Rick's direction.
"Hey, nice to meet you man."
"Nice to meet you too." Rick takes Esposito's hand, shaking it firmly.
"So, how do you know our girl?" He pulls back his hand, head tilting to the side as he shifts his gaze from Rick to Kate.
"Oh, we're neighbours."
"Neighbours, huh? Tell me, is she a noisy neighbour?" Esposito smirks at Kate and she shoots him a look.
"Don't you have a suspect to be questioning?"
"Don't have to tell me twice." He shakes his head, a smirk still playing on his lips as he glances over to Rick and nods at him before turning and heading towards interrogation.
"He seems like a nice guy."
"He is. Anyways, I'm sorry you had to come all the way down here, but I really have to get back to work, Rick."
She sighs, turning her chair so she can face him more.
"No, I understand. Busy life of a detective. Plus, when Ryan – is he that small Irish fella? Comes back, you'll want to check up on those leads."
Her brows pull together as she shoots him a look. "Were you eavesdropping?"
"You two were standing before me, it was pretty hard not to."
She almost groans, but instead rolls her eyes. "Yes, I do have to do that. And you being here will only get in the way of that. So, please?" She tilts her head in direction of the elevator as she looks at him.
"You sure I can't stay around and help out? I mean, I can be very, very useful."
"Oh, I'm sure. This is official police business, and we don't need a naked cowboy corrupting it." She hitches her brow, a hint of amusement evident in her tone and the edges around Rick's eyes begin to crease as his face softens, a small smirk beginning to wash over his lips as he shakes his head.
"You are truly evil, detective."
She shrugs, turning her gaze back to her computer. "Goodbye now, Mr. Castle."
