AN: This chapter is based off of Season 7 episode 11 "Castle, P.I.". Thank's to everyone for following, favoriting, and reviewing this story. Here's the next chapter everybody, enjoy. Don't forget to Review. :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Castle or it's characters.

P.I.: Pesky Imp

"Richard, you're dressed," I heard Mrs. Rodgers say as I made my way towards the stairs, so I can go downstairs for breakfast.

"Well, it is morning, isn't it?" I heard Castle say.

"Well, it's just that ever since you were banned from working cases with Katherine, you and your pajamas have seen an awful lot of each other."

"She's right. It's good to see you dressed," I giggled as I made my way over to the kitchen island.

Castle glared at me before saying, "Well, I think you guys are exaggerating. I admit, I've taken the occasional day off to recharge, but hardly think it's fair…"

"Wow. Castle, you're dressed?" My aunt said as she walked into the room.

"Yes, I'm dressed! I did not think it would be such an event."

My aunt gave Mrs. Rodgers a kiss on the cheek saying, "Hey."

"Morning, babe," Mrs. Rodgers said back.

Aunt Kate put a gentle hand on my shoulder, putting her items down on the isle in front of us, and asked Castle, "Does this mean you have something special planned for today?"

"As a matter of fact, I do have something special lined up. A surprise, actually, for you," he said with a small smile.

"Really? What kind of a surprise?"

"Well, now if I told you that it wouldn't be a surprise. But trust me, you're gonna love it."

"Okay, now, why does that scare me?"

"Because you're smart," Mrs. Rodgers said.

"Hmm. Come on, Castle. Spill."

"Master interrogator like yourself, and that's the best you've got?" he asked with a smirk.

"Maybe I'm just getting started."

Aunt Kates cellphone started to ring and Castle said, "Or not."

"Beckett," she said as she answered her phone.

She spoke briefly on the phone, before hanging up and saying, "I have to go. We have a case."

"As in us?" Castle questioned with a smile.

She smiled gently and said, "No, as in me and my team. I know you want to come, but you can't Castle. I'll see you all later."

We all said our goodbyes as Aunt Kate left to go to her crime scene, and Castle continued to make some eggs for breakfast.

"I'd hate to miss all the shenanigans you'll be getting into, but I must be off. I have some business to attend to," Mrs. Rodgers said.

"What kind of business mother?" Castle asked intrigued.

"Nothing of your concern, Richard. I'll see you two later."

"Bye, mother."

"Goodbye, darling. Emily, keep an eye on him."

"Certainly, Mrs. Rodgers. See you later," I said with a smile.

"Bye," she said and left the loft.

I looked at Castle who was still scrambling eggs in a bowl, and asked, "So, what's your surprise?"

"Oh, no mini Beckett, I'm not telling you."

"What? Why Not?'

"I think you and I both know why."

"Come on, Uncle Rick. I won't tell. She's not even here."

He sighed and said, "Well, okay. It's not that big of a secret anyway. Are you ready?"

"Yeah," I said with excitement.

"I became a PI," he said with a huge grin.

My mouth fell slack and I said, "You became a private investigator!?"

"Yeah, isn't it cool," Castle said as he pulled out a piece of paper and sliding it across the kitchen isle towards me.

I looked at the paper and asked, "Did you get this out of a cereal box?"

"Make fun, but I spent a lot of time trying to become a private investigator."

"Was it like a 48-hour course?"

"It was a week. And I had some fine training with the course, not to mention all my time spent on the field with your aunt Kate."

"Huh… Do you think aunt Kate will approve of this?"

"We both can't stand being apart from each, so I think she will be thrilled."

"Do you have any cases?"

"Well, no. I mean, I just got my certificate last night, but I did get myself an office, so I'm one step closer to being a professional private investigator."

"Hmm... interesting. So, do you need a Watson to your Sherlock?"

He chuckled and said, "Sorry mini Beckett, I don't think your cut out for the job. Maybe once you finished high school, I'll give you a chance."

"Aww, that's no fair. If I can go to the precinct, I can surely go with you. And you're not even a real PI, you just got a certificate off the internet."

"It's a legitimate certificate, which makes me a real private investigator. So, are you going to insult my new job some more, or are you going to join me mini Beckett?"

"Only if I can be your Watson."

"Okay, fine. Just don't get into any trouble."

I laughed and said, "Says the man who's always ending up in some kind of mess, and Aunt Kate having to bail you out."

"I think if we compare our track records of dangerous moments, we'd be tied."

"Touché."

Castle's phone started to ring and he said, "Looks like I got my first client."

I chuckled, and he picked up the phone to see what his first case as a PI was going to be.

I had to plead with Castle to let me come with him to his first case. He wasn't very happy with the idea, but I was able make my case, and here we were at a crime scene. It was more than likely Aunt Kate and the rest of the team, so Castle was probably going to take some heat on his new profession.

We were walking into the room, when we heard Ryan say, "Someone has to provide us with out-of-the-box thinking now that Castle's not around."

"Thank you, but I'll take it from here," Castle said.

"Castle? Emily? What are you two doing? You know that you're not allowed to be here," my aunt said with confusion.

"Actually, I am. Because I'm no longer Richard Castle, ordinary citizen," he pulled out his printed certificate and said, "I am now Richard Castle, private investigator."

"You got your PI's license? Without telling me?"

"I took an online course. Finished last night. Are you surprised?"

"Can we talk for a second?"

"Excuse me," he said to the others, before walking over to where aunt Kate was.

Ryan looked down at me and asked, "So, he really got his PI license?"

"Yep, shocker right," I said.

"Mmm-hmm," he nodded.

"What are you doing here mini B?" Esposito asked.

"I just want to see how all this turns out. I'm sure it's going to be entertaining," I said with a shrug.

They nodded before Castle turned around and said loudly, "No! Instead, I'm gonna conduct my own parallel investigation alongside yours."

"Nice try, but you know that's not gonna fly," Esposito said to him.

"Actually, it will fly. You see, as a licensed PI, I'm legally entitled to investigate this case on behalf of my client."

"Ah. So who's your client?" Ryan asked.

"I'm sorry, that's confidential."

"I'm sorry, so is this investigation," Esposito said.

"I'm afraid he's right. PI's license or not, this crime scene is closed. So, you're gonna have to go," my aunt said.

"That's fine. I've already seen everything I need to here, anyway. Mini Beckett and I will conduct our investigation elsewhere," Castle said.

"Elsewhere where?"

"I'm sorry, that's confidential too."

Castle pulled me away and we left the building to head to our next place.

Castle gathered some quick intel on the victim by visiting her neighbors, and then we headed to the preschool she worked at. Castle, already anticipating Aunt Kate's arrival, bought two coffees from a street vendor and waited outside of the establishment.

We saw Aunt Kate and Esposito making their way towards the school, so we went up to greet them.

"Castle, how did you get here?" my aunt asked.

"Well, it turns out the subway really is faster than morning traffic," Castle said matter-of-factly.

"No, I mean, how did you get here? To the school where Shana worked?"

"Oh! Well, the neighbors didn't know very much. I figured her work would be your next stop," he said before handing her a cup of coffee, and continuing like this was just an ordinary case they were working on, "So, I've heard about this place. It's the feeder school in the city. The only place to be if you're three years old and connected. Isn't that Spalding Elliot over there?"

"The State's top prosecutor. He's on the short list for Attorney General."

"And behind him, James Kallman, Internet billionaire. Even spotted Diddy in the carpool lane. Well, this place is a bastion of the city's elite. Wonder what our victim did here, what foul schemes she was tangled in."

Castle was about to walk into the building, before Aunt Kate grabbed him and said, "Uh, Castle, you can't just follow me inside and sit in on my interview."

"Well, actually, um, I was here first, so, really, you're following me."

Castle started walking in and I giggled at Aunt Kates expression. She gave me a look before we walked inside, following behind Castle.

We found Shana's employer at the preschool, Doctor Matthews, and she started telling us about the victim, "Shana was our admissions director. Parents, kids, everybody loved her."

"How did she seem to you recently? Any changes in her behavior?" Castle asked.

"Actually, I don't know. She hadn't been around the past few days."

"Why not?" my aunt asked.

"She'd been working long hours to finalize admissions for our new students. She'd just sent the acceptance letters out last week, so she took the past couple of days off to recover."

"If acceptance letters went out, does that mean rejection letters went out as well?" Castle inquired.

"Look, I know what you're thinking. And, yes, parents can get a bit emotional, especially when it comes to their kids being turned down. But nothing has ever risen to the level of something like this."

"Well, maybe this year it did. There's something you guys gotta hear," Esposito said as he stood on the stairs.

We went to Shana's office, and Esposito played her answering machine.

"You think you can ruin my kid's life? Bitch, I know where you live and you'll never see me coming!" an angry father yelled.

Esposito shut of the machine and said, "This was left on Shana's voicemail a few days ago. And pretty much describes what happened to her."

"Doctor Matthews, do you recognize this voice?" my aunt asked her.

"I'm afraid I don't," she said.

"Okay, check with the rest of the staff, see if anyone else does."

"We'll also need copies of the school's phone records, as well as a list of parents that received rejection letters," Esposito said the doctor.

"Of course," she said before leading Esposito out.

"Can I get a copy of that list too?" Castle asked Esposito as he walked by, but he just gave him a glare, and Castle said, "I'm gonna take that as a "no." Can't say that I'm shocked. Group of powerful people not used to hearing the word "no.""

"Come on, Castle. You really think that rejection from preschool qualifies as motive for murder?" my aunt asked.

"With a feeder school like this one? A rejection from here could mean not getting into the "right" elementary school, which affects high school, which affects college, and Oh, my God. People do insane things for their kids. You'll see."

My aunt just gave him a smile and started to leave, "Where are you off to?"

She turned to face him and said, "Back to the precinct."

"Oh."

"Look, Castle, if it was my choice…"

"Oh, please. Why would I wanna go to the precinct? No, a PI's work is done in the field, and I've got lots of leads to follow up on."

"Okay, I'll see you tonight. You too Em."

"See you tonight."

She left the room and Castle did a childish move while saying, "So unfair."

I laughed at him and said, "You're such a dork."

"Well it isn't fair. I miss the precinct."

"I understand, but you're a PI, so your even cooler."

He scoffed before looking around again and picked up a picture of Shana with her dog. He took out his cellphone and took a picture of the dog with a semi-evil laugh.

"What's with the picture of the dog?" I asked confused.

He showed me the picture and pointed at the dog's collar, "It's a tracking collar. If I can get a hold of its coordinates, I'll be able to find her and crack this case."

"Nice going Castle."

"Why thank you mini Beckett. Let's go track down this K9."

Castle got the tracking information of the collar from the company, and we were currently following the small red dot on his phones GPS.

"Are we close?" I asked him.

He stopped at the corner and said, "She should be right around here."

Just then a guy carrying the victims dog came into view across the street and Castle said, "All right, who are you and what are you doing with a dead woman's dog?"

"I don't know, but I think we'll find out," I mumbled.

We started following the man and the man started to turn around, probably knowing someone was following him. Castle grabbed me and spun around, facing the other way. I whispered to Castle and said, "This isn't suspicious at all…"

"Just act natural… He doesn't suspect a thing," he whispered back.

I let out a sigh, and Castle looked behind his shoulder to see if the guy was gone. Castle turned me around, and we continued to look for the man, now that he was out of sight. Castle looked down the alleyway and said, "Mini Beckett stay here."

I nodded and he went down the alleyway while I stayed behind, looking around the area. I heard Castle yelp, and I shook my head. Castle's in trouble again, but I guess I'd be a hypocrite since I'm always in trouble too.

I made my way down the alleyway and found Castle getting pepper sprayed by the man we were following. I laughed at Castle trying to tell the man who he was and took a picture of him with his teary and reddened eyes.

"You're a PI? Oh, man. I'm sorry. Here, come here," The man said as he pulled Castle to his feet, "I was mugged last week, all right? You can't trail people like that."

"Sorry. I'm looking into the murder of Shana Baker," Castle said, still coughing from the pepper spray

"Whoa, hey. Shana's dead?"

"Yes."

"She was my friend. Hey, who killed her?"

Castle offered to explain the situation to the man and they got some bottled water to clean Castle's eyes out from the pepper spray. They were sitting at a bus stop and I got to hold the dog because she was super cute. I listened to their conversation as I ran my fingers through the dog's soft fur and Jeremy, her friend/dog sitter, said, "Shana was going out of town. That's why she wanted me to keep Sparkles.

"I'm assuming you're better with dogs than you are with people. Where'd she go?" Castle asked as he dabbed at his eyes with a wet paper towel.

"No idea. In fact, the whole thing was sort of weird.

"How so?"

"Well, usually when I take Sparkles, she tells me weeks in advance. But this was really sudden. I had to take him right away. And she always tells me where she's going, but she didn't tell me this time. Do you think her trip had something to do with why she was killed?"

"Well, seeing as how she dropped her dog off with you and the very next day she was murdered, my guess would be, yeah, the two were related."

"Where do you think she went?"

"I'm not sure, but I think I can find that out."

"Thanks… Will you keep me informed?"

"Sure thing."

I handed the dog over to the guy and we all said our goodbyes, before heading in opposite directions. As Castle and I were walking, I asked, "Where are we going?"

"To the morgue," he answered.

"We aren't authorized to go down there."

"Well no, not technically. But I'm a PI now and whatever they don't know won't hurt them."

"Whatever you say."

We got to the morgue and thankfully Dr. Perlmutter wasn't anywhere in sight. Castle was reading over Shana's autopsy report, while I tried to keep an eye out for Perlmutter. I didn't see anyone coming, so I looked over to Castle and asked, "Did you find anything yet?"

"Not yet… Just keep looking…"

I looked back at the door, and found Perlmutter making his way to where we were. I walked over to Castle and said, "Incoming…"

"Ah! Castle!" Perlmutter said with annoyance.

"Perlmutter," Castle said with nervousness.

"What are you… You're looking at my victim's chart!"

"Well, I'm just making sure you filled it out properly. And may I say, for a man, you have exquisite handwriting."

I mentally faced palmed myself at Castle's pathetic lines to butter up Perlmutter, and watched as the two men chased each other around the room.

"Give it back!" Perlmutter said.

"Hey, hey, hey. Look, look, look! You could make this a lot easier on me, Perlmutter," Castle said from across room.

"Oh, because that's what I live for."

"I just believe that your victim traveled somewhere before she died. Is there anything in the autopsy that indicates where?"

"I would rather switch places with her than tell you. Now, give me that! I am warning you, Castle…"

"Here it is. "Stomach contents. Two ounces of peanuts, partially digested pretzels, blood contains trace amounts of over-the-counter sedative." She was on a plane. She flew somewhere," Castle put the report down on the autopsy table and said, "Thanks for your help."

He quickly left the room and I followed after him with a giggle at their childish manor.

"This isn't over!" I heard Perlmutter yell as we continued down the hall.

Castle and I were at his office that he had bought for his PI firm, and he was in a meeting with a woman named, Nicole Morris. As I was sitting at the window in his reception area, or whatever you want to call it, Aunt Kate walked into the place. She didn't notice me as she turned the corner and said, "Nicole Morris? Uh, Detective Beckett, NYPD. I… Castle? What are you doing here?"

Castle held the chair he was getting for Miss Morris and said, "I work here. Welcome to Richard Castle Investigations."

"Isn't it cool," I said.

My aunt just looked at us confused and said, "Can we talk for a sec?"

"Sure," he put down the chair for Miss Morris and said to her, "Excuse us for a second."

The woman nodded and they both went out to the reception area. Aunt Kate shut the office door behind her and asked, "When were you gonna tell me that you had an office?"

"Uh Eventually," he said.

"No, we're married. Married people tell each other things."

"Yeah, but you weren't exactly thrilled when I got my PI license."

"'Cause you didn't tell me! And what is she doing here?"

"Oh! She had lunch with the victim, right before the victim left town."

"No, no, no, I mean, how did you find her?"

"Ah. I was checking the victim's credit card for plane ticket charges to see where she flew, and instead I found a lunch charge…"

"Wait a minute. You checked her credit card records? How?"

"Okay, we're getting into kind of a gray area here, so let's just say it involved her mother's maiden name and a serviceable falsetto."

Castle's office door opened and Miss Morris said, "Uh, I'm sorry. I have another appointment. Is this gonna take much longer?"

"Be right there, Miss Morris," Castle said to her before he turned to Aunt Kate and asked, "So, Detective, so long as you're here, would you care to sit in on my interview?"

They both went inside Castle's office, and closed the door once again. I chilled out in the reception area as I waited for them to finish their interview and decided to play games on my phone.

About ten minutes later the door opened and Castle walked Miss Morris out, "Again, thank you, Miss Morris, for your time."

"Of course. Please, call me if I can help in any way," she said.

"I will."

She left the office and Castle ran back to Aunt Kate saying, "Did you hear that? Felony law about murder. Do you know what this means?"

"Yes, that there's a hell of a lot more to Shana's trip than we know," my aunt said.

"And whatever trouble she got involved in up there, I'm betting it followed her home."

"Okay, if that's the case, then… I'm… I'm sorry, Castle, we shouldn't be doing this."

"Doing what?"

"Uh, this. You, me, theorizing together. It's not right, especially here, after this whole PI thing, I…" Castle cut her off and said, "No! Shh! Don't think about it. Just think about how it feels when we work together. Besides, we have the place to ourselves. Who's gonna know?"

"Um… Still here…" I chimed in.

Castle rolled his eyes at me and Aunt Kate's phone started to ring. She looked at it and said, "It's work."

"Don't answer it."

"No, but I have to," she picked it up and said, "Hi, Espo. What's up? No! No, you're right, that can't be a coincidence."

"What's not a coincidence?" Castle asked as he followed Aunt Kate.

"Okay, bring him in."

"Bring who in?"

She turned around to face him after hanging up and said, "I'm sorry, baby, I gotta go."

She gave him a kiss on the cheek and started to leave before placing a quick kiss to my head.

"You're not gonna tell me anything? You said married people tell each other things!" Castle yelled out to her.

Aunt Kate kept walking as Castle stood at his firm's entrance, looking defeated that Aunt Kate didn't give him the scoop. I looked up at him and said, "Cheer up Uncle Rick, maybe we can find out what's going on, now that you're a PI and all."

He sighed and looked down at me, "I don't know, Mini Beckett. Maybe they'll get to the bottom of things before me."

"I believe in you Castle."

He smiled at me and said, "Thanks, mini Beckett."

"No problem. Now let's finish this case."

It was late, and Alexis happened to drop by and bring us some Chinese food. The three of us were eating our dinner and Castle said, "Thank you for picking up dinner."

"Didn't want you to starve on that PI's salary. So, how's your first case going?" Alexis asked.

"Did I tell you I got pepper sprayed today?"

"And I have the picture to prove it," I mumbled with a short chuckle.

Alexis gave a light laugh before saying to her father, "You say that like it's a good thing."

"Yeah, I mean, now I'm kind of stuck. I know our victim took a trip to Radnor University, I just have no idea why. I hacked into her social media accounts…"

"Wait, you know how to hack into social media accounts?"

"Hacking might be overstating it. Her password for everything is "Sparkles," her dog's name. Point is, without police resources, the best I can do is go through her friends' online posts and look for some connections to Radnor University."

"Are there any?"

"Just one thing, but it happened 15 years ago. I have no idea if it's even relevant. I just wish I knew what Beckett had."

Castle's office phone started to ring and he picked it up saying, "Richard Castle Investigations."

"Hey, babe. Just checking in. What are you doing?" I heard my aunt say since Castle had it on speaker.

"Oh, just hanging out at the office. How about you?"

"He has an office?" we heard Ryan say in the background.

"Uh, just wondering how your day's going?" my aunt asked.

"Good," Castle started, but Alexis gestured that he should elaborate further, "Really good, actually. How about yours?"

"Yeah, mine's good too. Really, really good."

"That's good. Great. I should have said, "Great." Mine's great."

"Great. That's…"

"Okay, so I'll see you tonight."

"See you tonight."

They both hung up and Alexis said, "She has something."

"And I'm gonna find out what," Caste said.

Castle and I went home and when we walked in, Aunt Kate was there with two glasses of wine.

"Oh, hey, there. You're home early," Castle said.

"Hey. I couldn't wait to see you. So, I picked up a bottle of wine on the way home. It's your favorite," she said as she handed him a glass that was filled almost up to the top.

"Oh, that is such a big glass. What's the occasion?"

"No occasion. I just figured this would be a great way for you to unwind after a long day at work."

"Oh, that's so nice. And where's your glass?"

"Oh, it's over there."

Aunt Kate had a very small amount of wine in her glass and Castle said, "Well, why don't we top that off for you, shall we? Once we get all nice and relaxed, unwind."

He poured some more wine into her glass from the wine bottle and his own glass, before handing it over to her, "You can tell me all about your day."

"Yeah. Wait a minute. You're not trying to ply me with wine to find out what I know about this case, are you?" she asked suspicious of his intentions.

"Of course not. That's not what you're trying to do, is it?"

"No."

"Okay. Because if you were trying to find out what I know, that would mean you're stuck."

"I'm not stuck."

"Good. Because I'm not stuck either."

I rolled my eyes at their failed attempts to acquire the information they wanted about the case and decided to head off to bed. They didn't even notice as they continued to get the info they were looking for.

I went down stairs the next morning and found Castle working in his office. I went inside and said, "Morning Uncle Rick. How'd last night go?"

"Uh, well… We exchanged some information and stuff…" Castle said with a shrug.

"Okay… Never mind, I definitely don't want any details. But information wise, was it anything useful?"

"Yeah, I just need to do some research on it."

Alexis came in and said, "Hey guys. What did you find out dad?"

"Well, I found out that Shana was looking for files on an old boyfriend who was murdered in college. Kate already seemed to get those files from Ryan."

"And?"

"Without access to those police files, they are gonna leave me in the dust."

"I thought you became a PI to work with Beckett. When did it become a competition?"

"When she took something beautiful that we'd built together and shared it with another man."

"What?"

"Investigatively speaking," we both rolled our eyes at him before he spoke up once again, "But I may have found a way to catch up. I have been looking for any mention of Shana's boyfriend's death. Wading through newspapers, public records, and the like. And, check this out. It's from the Radnor University Daily. Do you notice anything unusual about this ad?"

We both went over to Castle's computer and Alexis said, "That people were ever actually afraid of Y2K?"

"Yes, that, and the ad is above the fold. I worked on my school paper, that's layout 101. You never place an ad above the fold on the front page, unless something changed last minute, creating a space to fill."

"Like the lead story was shortened."

"Something was pulled from it just before they published. And I bet it relates to this case."

"You could track down the reporter, see if he could tell you."

"Except the story is credited to Staff. But there is someone else who knows."

"Who?"

"The person who ordered the article shortened in the first place. The editor."

Castle left to find the Editor of the college newspaper, Frank Jackson, and Alexis left to get to a class she had. So, I was home alone and eating a plain bagel with blueberry cream cheese for breakfast. Once I finished that up, I decided to watch some mid-morning cartoons to pass some time. While watching my third episode, Castle came in and I asked, "Did you solve the case?"

"I don't know… Jackson said it was Spalding Elliot, the federal prosecutor, who may have killed Shana Baker."

"So, what has you second guessing the accusation?"

"Em, you have to stop watching those crime shows."

I shrugged and said, "It helps build my vocabulary. So, what's wrong?"

"I remember reading an article that said he was allergic to long-haired dogs."

"And he couldn't possibly stay in her apartment with Sparkles around."

"Exactly."

"Castle, you have to get to the precinct before they arrest the wrong guy."

"I have an idea. Come on mini Beckett."

Castle asked Jeremy to meet him at the 12th precinct as we made our way to the precinct, hoping that his theory was correct. When we got there, they were already interrogating Spalding for the murder of Shana. Castle burst into the interrogation room to explain his findings to everyone.

Captain Gates forced Castle out of the room with a cold glare and asked, "Was I not clear when I told you to stay away from this case?"

She backed him up against the wall and he said, "Okay, I can see you're upset. But I promise, in a moment you'll understand," he motioned Jeremy over and said, "Jeremy. This is Jeremy. He is the victim's friend and dog-sitter."

"Oh, so, Jeremy is some sort of a witness?"

"Not quite. Jeremy, if I may?" Castle asked as he reached for the dog.

"Oh, the dog? The dog is the witness? Mr. Castle…"

"Just watch," he said before walking into the interrogation room.

I went to the door with everyone else to see if Castle's theory was indeed correct.

"Castle, what are you doing?" Aunt Kate asked.

"I'm proving this man's innocence," he said.

"Castle!"

"Mr. Elliot, if I may."

"Please, no," Mr. Elliot said as he started sneezing from the dog hair.

"See, I remember reading in a profile of Mr. Elliot that he has a severe allergy to long-haired dogs."

"And the victim's apartment was covered in dog hair," Aunt Kate said understanding where Castle was going with his theory.

"Exactly. Now, does this seem like the kind of man who could wait in Shana's apartment? Let alone smoke a cigarette while he did so?"

"Please," Mr. Elliot said, still sneezing away.

"No, but I mean, he could be faking the whole thing," my aunt said.

"Please. Please, get him out of here, before the hives start!"

"I think that ship has sailed," Castle said as Mr. Elliot started getting red splotches on his face.

"Okay, yeah, definitely not faking that," my aunt said as she looked at the poor man in front of her.

We all made our way to the investigation board after the whole incident with Mr. Elliot got taken care of. Ryan came over with a photo in hand, placing it on the board, and said, "Now, here is Spalding Elliot arriving at the fundraiser, the night of Shana's death. Note the lack of red splotches on his face."

"There is no way that he came straight from her apartment looking like that," Aunt Kate said.

"Which means Ryan nailed it before. This is a conspiracy," Esposito said.

"Ryan, you played the "C" card?" Castle asked him.

"Well, I mean, you weren't around. Somebody had to step up," Ryan said with pride.

Castle gave Ryan some props for his theory and Aunt Kate said, "Okay, for this set-up to work, someone had to activate Shana, and tell her about the cover-up."

"Right, that way her death would create an investigative path that led straight to Elliot," Castle said.

"Setting him up for her murder," Esposito said before taking a sip of coffee.

"My guess is we're dealing with some kind of big-money fixer, a shadowy gun-for-hire Michael Clayton type."

"Well, whoever planted Elliot's DNA at the crime scene had to have gotten the cigarette butt from somewhere," Aunt Kate said.

"Which means they had to intersect with Elliot at some point. If we can figure out where and when…" Castle started before he was cut off by the Captain, ""We," Mr. Castle?"

"Really? But I… I brought… On a silver… Fine. I'll show myself out. Come on mini Beckett," he said as he walked away.

I waved bye to everyone and followed a once again defeated Castle to the elevator.

Castle dropped me off at home and he headed back to his PI office, so he could get some alone time after losing out on the case. That was a few hours ago, and I happened to fall asleep while I was playing on my laptop. When I woke up, I was thirsty, so I decided to go downstairs and get a bottle of water.

I didn't know Aunt Kate and Castle came home, and found them making out on the couch. I covered my eyes and said, "Oh, guys… Gross… Your rooms right over there…"

"Em, you're supposed to be sleeping," my aunt said with a raised brow.

"I got thirsty."

"Okay, then get your bottle and get to bed. You have school in the morning."

"Fine, but did you solve the case?" I asked as I grabbed a bottle from the fridge.

"We did, with the help of Castle. It turned out to be Miss Morris who was behind the whole thing."

"That's great. And nice hat Castle, you're a real Sherlock now."

"Yes, I am. And I have my magnifying glass too."

"Sweet… Welp, I'm off to bed. I'll let you two get back to your fun," I said with a giggle.

My aunt scrunched up her face with a shocked smirk and threw a pillow at me. I chuckled at her before I ran up the stairs to get back to bed.

Maybe Castle's PI gig won't be so bad after all, and it'll definitely be fun to investigate with him on his own now that he's not with Aunt Kate. I guess we'll all see how this works out.