4. Open & Shut Case

"Something happened between you and Castle didn't it," Lanie asked Beckett as her friend entered the morgue.

"What- what- no," Beckett said as she fumbled over her words.

"Oh girl, please don't try to deny it. The guy flies across the country just to be with you and you're gonna stand there and tell me you two didn't…"

"That's exactly what I'm going to tell you."

"Okay if that's how you want to play it then I can take a hint, for now."

"Is that why you called me down here and didn't want Castle to come along?"

"Of course it is besides the body's not going anywhere and neither is what else I found."

"Which is what?" Beckett asked as she changed the subject.

Lanie looked at her friend for a moment before she walked Beckett over to the slab that contained Sara's body.

"Sara was pregnant," said Lanie.

"Pregnant?"

"Mhm. I'd say she was at least eight weeks."

"The parents said there wasn't a boyfriend."

"Maybe they didn't know. It's very easy to cover up a pregnancy in high school. While the gunshot is certainly what caused Sara to bleed out, it was the second stab wound of the five that killed the fetus."

"So this was definitely personal."

"I'd say so."

"Thanks Lanie."

These were the cases that Beckett didn't mind so much, the ones that were easy open and shut. Sara Henderson had been a straight A soccer player who'd gotten a raw deal. She had been dating seventeen year old Bryce Hicks who was a football player at a local private school, much to the Henderson's shock.

The night Sara was killed she had met Bryce at the soccer field to give him the news and from there he had lost it. He hadn't wanted to be a father and was on the verge of getting a scholarship to a top notch university in Massachusetts. The reason he'd had the gun and the knife in the first place was because he had been mugged a week prior so he felt safe with it.

He didn't have to kill them. He could have walked away. There were so many scenarios but Bryce had made his choice and not only had he taken two lives, only one of which he would be charged for given the early stage, he had also destroyed two families in the process.

"Going home detective," Castle asked as he stood by Beckett's desk.

"Not quite. Some of us actually have paperwork."

"Even for an open and shut case?"

"Yes even for those."

"Well it's a good thing I'm not really a cop."

Beckett looked at him and smirked, "You know just one of these days I'd like to see you fill this stuff out."

"Oh you'd love that wouldn't you?"

"I would actually."

"Well maybe you could bring some copies of blank forms and we could do them together. Oh I know it would be good practice so I know what kind of paperwork Nikki Heat has to do on her job."

"Are you gonna go home or continue distracting me?"

"Distracting you actually sounds good."

Beckett glanced around the room, glad that it was pretty much empty. Ryan and Esposito had gone home two hours ago and Montgomery had left a half hour ago.

"Keep it in your pants, Castle. Save it for tomorrow."

"Oh date night, promise?"

Beckett stood up from her desk and leaned in close to him, "If you play your cards right."

"Then I will see you tomorrow, Detective."