Esposito is furious as he just stares at the telephone instrument as if he is trying to throw daggers thru the device to the man he was just speaking with
Kevin Ryan looks across the desk to his partner ""What happened?"
"Castle is out of town with some woman"
"How do you know he is with someone?"
"He told me he was not in town then I heard her. She was off in the distance. She asked Castle who was on the phone. He covered the phone to muffle her voice then he said he had to go and then hung up on me. He has gone off on Beckett now!" The anger in Esposito's voice is evident
"Javi, I don't think it is right to have an affair on your spouse but it appears that Beckett went out on him too"
"So that makes it all OK then?"
"No, of course not. It is never right to cheat but it looks like she might have done it first"
"No I think he did it first! That night at the Old Haunt, he said he needed relief and went out and picked up some street walker. That was probably when she figured out that he had gone back to his old ways and decided she was nothing but a good tumble for him and she found someone new"
"So what are you are saying? He had not really changed after all the things they have been through as partners? After following her for four years and then being together as a couple for three more? He just dumped her for someone else? I don't buy it"
Javi is sitting at his desk just stewing listening to Ryan defend Castle "Yeah. That is exactly what I am saying. He never needed her. He never wanted anything from her but to have sex with her. She was just not so easy for him though. She kicked him to the curb so many times she became a challenge for him. A challenge that he had to win. It was like a ten year old being given a dare. If you are ten and someone dares you to do something, you have to do it"
"Espo, I don't think that is what happened. Maybe she stepped out on him first. It appeared she moved out of the loft before he did anything"
Esposito pauses in his conversation "OK so what do we do?" the Hispanic detective asks
Ryan thinks for a minute "This Chase guy she is seeing. Where would they have met? Is he another cop or someone where she lives now?"
"She is living at an extended hotel in uptown. Maybe he is someone there?"
"OK. Then lets' go and see if there is a man named Chase living there…or maybe of he is another cop we can see just how many officers have the name Chase"
"OK Kevin. You start the search for cops and I am driving to her apartment"
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Katherine Houghton Beckett-Castle is sitting on the couch holding a cup of coffee that her husband had just brought to her and is peering out the glass wall looking at the ocean just beyond the dock. He had gone into the home office and has connected to the network in the safe house to review his emails. This is a network that is secure and he can connect and not be back traced. He just wanted to pick up any emails he had and respond so as to not look like he is out of contact this weekend
After spending a very few minutes finishing his tasks, he has returned to the living room and has come to sit beside his wife. She still seems very distracted by the information they were just given about his back story
"Kate…" Rick speaks softly to her
Pursing her lips she also responds very quietly"Um?"
"I love you"
Her silence is deafening
"Kate…I love you"
"I love you too" she never diverts her eyes from the windows facing the ocean
He reaches out to her "Can you sound any less convincing?"
She never moves her head
"Please come here" he calmly says to her
Without another pause, she slides across the couch to join him against the armrest. Once he brings his arm around her, she finally relaxes against him as if being separated is not an option in her world right now
"Are you really that afraid I did something very horrible?"
"No…not that so much"
"Then what?"
"Back during that CIA case, when we were working with the CIA, you told me you slept with Sophia Turner and now we find out you might not have or did you?. Your memories have been altered"
"Are you still thinking my love for you is a planted memory?"
There is an ever so brief silence then she answers "Yeah. That maybe you are under mind control and at some point the control stops and you will just pack up and…"
"Do not finish that sentence. That will never happen, Kate"
"Can you be sure of that? You thought the memory of you rescuing your classmate from Al Qaeda was real too but it appears it may not have happened either"
"Kate. You know…even if my meeting you was arranged somehow by someone. And they hoped I would like you and you would like me…this" pointing between them "could not be arranged. This chemistry between us is real. The love I have for you is real. And when we get to the bottom of all this, we will laugh about how, no matter how much you tried to get rid of me the CIA made sure it didn't happen"
She leans into him then gently pokes him in the chest before settling comfortably into his side "Castle, can we go into town. I am getting a little cabin fever stuck in the house for so long"
"Sure. I will go put away the computer while you get ready"
"Will you get my phone too?"
"Your regular phone or the burner?"
"Burner. If I need to call, I don't need anyone to track me"
The couple grabs all the needed items and they head out to the car for a trip to town. When Castle hands her the phone she notices the device has no signal bars
"Hey, Rick…I have no signal"
"Must be the location. Maybe we will get signal when we get into town"
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"So there is an officer Chase Bradley in Vice?" Ryan tells Esposito as they are walking out of the extended stay motel where Beckett has been keeping herself while split from Castle
"And they say he is single but just started dating someone else in the department, but they don't know who she is" Ryan continues his information
"I still don't think she stepped out first. I think Castle did something to bring all this on"
Ryan feels that his partner is determined to blame Rick for whatever is happening "Esposito, I think we need to act like real cops and wait to see where the evidence leads us"
Not wanting to admit to the possibility Beckett did something wrong he just nods his head
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Castle has pulled into a parking space just outside a small café in a small shopping district. They are trying to stay away from the main tourist areas so no not bring attention to their presence
Rick and Kate have stepped into the front of the small eating establishment and are waiting to be seated. He has made sure to not let go of his wife as they wait for the table
A waitress, who seems to be working alone today, moves briskly in seating the couple
"Here you go. What can I get you to drink" she says as she drops two menus on the table along with paper napkin wrapped silverware
"Just water for me" Kate answers
"Same here" Rick adds
They open the menu and find a nice selection of meals. By the time the waitress returns with the water, Rick and Kate have already decided on lunch
After the waitress takes the menus away leaving the couple alone, Rick reaches over to take Kate's hand again and wraps her fingers into his own
She looks at the connected hands and Castle can see a gentle smile turn her lips up
"We still have a lot of question that need to be answered" Rick says
"Yeah, we do" she responds just as she feels her burner phone vibrate. She takes the phone from her pocket and sees it now has full bars and several messages
She reaches out and takes the phone and retrieves the messages. After she listens to the calls, she tells Rick that Ryan and Esposito have left messages for her concerning the attack at the data center that Jake had briefed them about earlier
"I better call them back" she says as she begins dialing the number
"Be sure to not give any indication where we are"
She nods her head just as she hears the ring back tone telling her the call is going through
Detective Ryan answers his desk phone with the usual salutation "Ryan!"
"Hey Ryan, it's me"
"Captain Beckett, we have been trying to get a hold of you. Where are you?" Ryan speaks loud enough for his partner to know who is on the phone
"What is happening there?" she ignores his location question
"There has been an attack at a government building. We don't have information because the feds sent us away"
"OK the feds have the case. We don't need to get involved then. Let them take care of it"
"Kate they also told us to tell you to stay away. Specifically you, by name"
"Well since I'm not there, I am not involved"
"We just thought you might want to come see what is happening" Esposito comments
"I will…when I return" Kate is trying to get off the call and not let it slip to her guys what she knows about the case
Just at that moment the waitress returns with their meals "Here you go ma'am, a grilled chicken sandwich and for the gentleman a BLT with a side of coleslaw"
Kate realizes the woman's statement might have been heard by the two detectives
"Guys, I need to go. I will call you back later" She hangs up on the call
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
The two New York detectives look across the desks toward each other "That answers my question about her "Ryan comments
Esposito sits with the obvious anger on his face "I want to find out more about this Chase Bradley guy"
He picks up his phone and dials a number
"Who are you calling: Ryan questions
"A clerk I know in the HR department. She can give me more information"
Ryan looks at his partner in disbelief, knowing if he finds out she is cheating, all it will do is make him more angry
The Irish detective returns his focus on the files on his desk. He can hear Javier talking to someone but has tried to not eavesdrop. So he opens a tracking application on his computer and begins a trace on the phone number that Kate used to call hum earlier. It indicates it was a cell phone and the system triangulates the location of the call to be somewhere on Martha's Vineyard
When the Hispanic detective hangs the phone up Ryan turns back to get the information from his partner
"This Chase guy is single, 38 years old. Tall and from what Jane said his personnel photo is ruggedly handsome"
"OK so what? That means she is with him?" Ryan is now defending his boss
"He has money. He comes from a well to do family in Boston so he is wealthy"
Ryan feels his emotions taking over "Did you say Boston?"
"Yeah…Why?"
"The phone call came from Martha's Vineyard"