Chapter 33– Home is where the heart is

They actioned something on their bucket list of dates or activities they wanted to do together. It was a basic date, but one they classified as a right of passage in life. They were at the movies, on a week night, at some dive of a theatre that played old movies. What had attracted them was the movie being played, well it had attracted Becket, and Castle had been happy to tag along because he knew exactly why the date was on the list. Kate had put it there, and after a couple of wines she had shared her explanation. With dinner behind them, they bought tickets to a rerun of the movie Dirty Dancing. As predicted, the back row was their choice of seating. The theatre was at 30% capacity and they had the back four rows to themselves.

At the beginning, they sat side by side, shared a bucket of popcorn and soft drink and watched the beginning of the classic movie. When they tired of the popcorn he slid his hand over hers, which caused her to look at his eyes. She smiled, leaned towards him and gave him a kiss. His left hand raised to her face and stroked her cheek.

Kate listened to the movie. She didn't need to watch the feature she knew it so well. She was enthralled, engrossed and totally into the man she had kept a lot of company with of late. She was making out with her boyfriend at the pictures.

They were comfortable knowing they were safe, that no one would recognize them that evening. Not a chance in hell. A tucked away third rate cinema, playing dated movies. Unrestricted, Rick's hands were in her hair, around her torso, on her thighs, her hips, her cheeks, between her thighs. Likewise, she was feeling him up, playing out what she should have experienced as a teenager, at time when she'd had her head in text books.

When her phone began to vibrate with incoming texts, Rick tried to stop Kate from looking at her phone by restraint at her wrists. When the fifth text vibrated her phone, it was Rick who reached inside her back pocket and pulled out the phone. He kept it out of her reach but read the texts. That was when he showed her. She was on call. There had been a reported murder.

She frowned after she read it, disappointment evident.

"I'll bring you back tomorrow night." He said quietly, "This has been fun." He stood up, looked at the screen to see Patrick Swayze standing on the porch of a small hut. Rick gave him a wave as he led his Detective out of the theatre by her hand.

Half way across the foyer of the theatre he paused in his stride and looked at her eyes, "We going there together?"

"Why not? We can arrive together, as in at the same time." Kate said as they walked back to his car, then headed in the direction of the address she'd been texted. He parked a block down from the property ten minutes later.

The crime scene late in the evening was an apartment in a wealthy neighborhood, not far from Castle's loft. Above an impressive mantel piece a woman's deceased body was contorted and crudely stuffed inside the confined cavity of a wall safe. Her limbs untidily protruded from the box and dark blood dripped from the motionless fingers in thick blobs.

Fascination and disgust was written over Ryan's face as he inspected the female victim hanging out of the wall safe, and wondered how the hell she had been successfully stuffed into such a small space. He was also red-faced, sniffling, and his eyes were watery from sneezing. He was distracted by a sudden bout of sneezes and searched for a desperately needed tissue he found in a pocket. All present in the room quietly blessed him as another bout of sneezes took control.

Once he regained control of his allergies, Ryan asked the medical examiner on duty, "How many bones did they have to break to get her in there?

Dr Parish replied, "Won't know till I get her back to the lab."

Ryan sneezed.

Lanie gave him a look only she could muster up and warned, "Don't contaminate my crime scene."

"Sorry, it must be the feathers."

A uniformed policeman, who was holding fort near the main entrance of the apartment, called with a mildly raised voice so all present would hear, "Beckett's here."

Ryan immediately made his way to the hall way to meet his team leader.

At the end of the hall, Esposito was with a crying woman, politely consoling her and taking a statement. Ryan knew she was the victim's daughter, Joanne Delgado, who had raised the alarm about her mother. As expected, the woman in her thirties was quite distraught but calm enough to speak with the detectives. He gave a wave to Castle and Beckett who walked down the hall towards him. It passed through his thoughts they moved about each other like a couple who spent a lot of time together. He often thought they'd make a great couple but Beckett was not the slightest bit interested in the writer even though she was a big fan of his novels. Beckett didn't seem the type to fan girl either.

At the doorway, Ryan said, "No sign of forced entry. The same as the others."

Beckett said, "Looks like our home invasion crew went for a four peat."

Ryan showed his agreement with a nod, "They're stepping up their game. Becoming more violent." He sneezed.

Castle and Beckett said together, "Bless you."

Castle quickly said to Beckett, "Jinx."

Esposito who joined them, glanced from Ryan to Beckett to Castle, to Beckett.

She pointed at sneezy Ryan and asked Esposito, "What's wrong with him?"

Esposito smiled and replied, "Goose down. He's allergic."

Castle said to Beckett ignoring Esposito, "I'm sorry. Under the time honored rules of jinx, you're not allowed to speak until I release you."

Ryan sneezed violently, again.

Castle, Beckett and Esposito said, "Bless you!"

Beckett turned to Castle, serious and said, "Reverse double jinx."

Castle, caught off-guard, started to talk. "I just, I..."

Beckett waved a hand to shut him up, "Uh-uh. Castle, mouth shut, until I release you. Thank you, Ryan." She smiled and gave him a thumbs up, as Ryan nodded.

Beckett focused on the Esposito and Ryan, "So what do we have?"

Esposito pointed to Joanne, who was down the hall where he'd left her with a uniformed officer, "That's Joanne Delgado, daughter of Susan Delgado, the victim. She called to say good night to her mom, only tonight Mom didn't pick up. She called the doorman, doorman came up, finds the door ajar, and..."

Beckett's eyes widened, "And?"

Esposito smiled a little, "Well, let's just say this one's definitely Beckett-flavored."

They entered Susan's apartment, and crossed the living room to where the deceased had been found. The residence was in disarray with white feathers everywhere or floating about. Lanie and a CSU photographer are at the open wall safe. Susan Delgado's body has been stuffed inside. Gloved up, Beckett approached the safe.

Lanie smiled, "Hey."

"Hi Lanie. What happened?" Kate peered at the body jammed into the save, her face screwing up, clearly a reflection of the scrambled thoughts going on in her head as to how the hell someone had got the older woman into the same, limbs and all.

Lanie interrupted her thoughts, "Blood spatter indicates single GSW. Close range." Lanie tweezed a blood-soaked feather out of a pool of blood.

Beckett commented, "You can still smell the cordite."

Ryan said, "I'll have to take your word for it."

Castle concluded aloud, "Oh, they shot her and stuffed her in the safe."

"Better than last one. They beat the guy to death." Esposito said.

"None of the neighbors heard a gunshot?" Beckett inquired.

Esposito said, "Nada. Must be heavy sleepers."

Castle squatted over a pillow that had exploded, the cause of the feathers everywhere and he replied, "No, they used the pillow as a poor man's sound suppressor."

Beckett cleared her throat which amused Ryan mainly because his boss was usually very serious at murder scenes but tonight was relaxed, light hearted. It was refreshing to see.

Castle gazed up at her, "Yeah, yes. I broke the jinx. I will buy you a soda."

Moving on, Beckett asked, "Any shell casings?"

Lanie said, "None."

"Probably used a revolver," she suggested.

"And a bolt cutter." Lanie said pointed toward the hand of the deceased.

Beckett focused on the missing finger on the dead woman. "Her wedding ring," she said, "She didn't wanna give it up, and so they punished her for it. Husband?"

"Passed a few years ago," Esposito replied.

"In a building like this? This part of town? You'd think she'd be safe. No pun intended. How often are people killed in neighborhoods like this?" Castle asked.

Beckett replied, "Same as anywhere else, Castle. Just the once." She took a further look around, "We'll let the scientists do their work and say we meet up at the Precinct at seven. Ryan, can you organize the unies to canvass the neighbors and report back to you."

"Sure."

Kate took one last look over the scene to ensure she didn't miss anything. The photos from the scene would be on the electronic files first thing the next morning and Lanie's initial notes would be uploaded and on her way home, she would order the evidence boxes from a few previous incidents to be brought up from storage.

She glanced at Rick silently telling him it was time to leave. He acknowledged and followed her out of the apartment.

Just on a half hour later, Rick partially opened the door to the loft and poked his head around the door to find the single lamp he'd left on when he had departed earlier was still on and the living area was absent of redheads. He pushed the door fully open as he stepped inside, carrying a small pizza. Kate followed him inside, carrying the beer in one hand, a small bag in the other. She passed Rick the beer.

"I'll go change into something more comfy," Kate quietly said and pointed at her boots and jeans.

"There's a shirt at the end of the bed, Baby," Rick said. He placed the pizza on the coffee table with the beer and followed his girlfriend to the bedroom.

She was seated at the end of the bed and lifted her leg when she saw him. He smirked, took a strong grasp of the heel of her boot and pulled it off. He passed it to her, then pulled off the other once she put up her leg. She then pushed off the jeans and panties.

"Sure you want pizza?" Rick asked shamelessly watching Kate take off her clothes.

"Pervert." She laughed, "Pizza, Buddy. I'm starving."

"Skinny thing," he muttered unsympathetically.

Kate laughed, patting her flat stomach. "Empty. I'm telling you Castle, I've put on weight dating you." She wriggled out of the bra.

"I saw what you put away at dinner." He passed her the shirt he had worn that day and she threw it on. "I'm not surprised, and by the way, I have no idea where you put it but you look stunning."

She paused, looked over his face, "And you look like a happy man."

"Because I am." He watched her fight the shirt until it was over her head, her arms in the right places, her actions bringing a smile to his face that she saw once her head popped through the hold of the shirt. Dark hair was ruffled up, her eyes were glistening as she smiled up at him, humored my her own struggle with the clothing. With an amused smirk, he reached out, tugged at the sleeve until she lifted her arm up towards him. She was a little confused and watched on with intrigue as he began to roll the sleeves up her arms. "You're drowning in this."

"Yeah." She grinned, "You're a big guy."

"You're small, tall, but small. Hey, did you notice the look Ryan had tonight?" She softly asked, rather turned on by what he was doing.

"Yeah, didn't want to mention it." He glanced to her eyes, "He looked like it was crossing his mind we are dating or we should date." He started on the other sleeve.

"Castle?"

"Mmm?" He studied her face, confused by her girlish tone.

"What you're doing." She said.

"Mmm?" He glanced to her arm, then went back to her large eyes, dilated pupils.

"This is arousing."

He smiled, "What is arousing is you sitting there, on my bed, in my oversized shirt, no bra, no panties, looking beautiful, and we're going back out there to eat pizza and drink beer."

She laughed, "We could bring it in here. I'll stay like this."

Castle pointed at her, "Don't move." He hurried out of the bedroom. In under a minute he returned with the consumables, the lights out in the living area. He found Kate sitting on the bed, bare legs crossed. He passed her a beer he'd twisted the cap off, then reached for a throw rug from the armchair that he gave her. She spread it over her legs. Rick stripped himself of clothing, down to his boxers. He joined her on the bed.

With pizza disappearing fast they talked about life in general. Every time Rick was exposed to another victim, his hunger for life, to live to the fullest grew stronger. He also ensured Kate enjoyed her time she spent in his company. Montgomery had mentioned in passing on the day he'd approached the captain to follow Beckett, that she needed some serious fun in her life. Rick was pretty sure he'd brought enjoyment into her life. He'd also learned not to bring up shop talk now he had her at home.

"We need to review that bucket list," he said between bites.

"Need to cross off one." She beamed, leaned towards him and met half way for a kiss. "Best night, Castle, until my phone interrupted us."

"We can go again. I must have it noted that tonight was the best date I've had at the movies."

"Ditto." Kate replied, "I made out with Richard Castle in the back row of a theatre." She sung out, then laughed at her foolishness.

He smirked, "You're fangirling, Kate. I struggle to believe I have you here on my bed, in my clothes, eating with me."

"Don't wanna be anywhere else," she answered. "Though I will have to sneak out early."

"That is sweet." Rick picked up the empty pizza box and discarded it to the floor.