Chapter 64

Castle spent a few minutes catching up with Kyra, mainly because he had an overwhelming desire to learn how she had arrived at this place at this moment, on the day she was to marry another man. Bullet point update was fine but he had to know. He found it difficult to believe he had bumped into his first serious girlfriend on her wedding day. Once upon a time, Kyra was a woman he would have married, until the day she had left him to go overseas. Two marriages, a good handful of women and one child later he was suddenly faced with who he'd begun with.

The conversation was easy and awkward. It was a polite bullet point update of how Kyra had ended up in a New York hotel to be married. The guy was nice, apparently wore a suit and when he did show up, Rick was surprised to see how ordinary and down to earth he was. Exactly how Kyra's description had Castle imagine the guy. While they had dated, Kyra had been the constant sensible half of their relationship. The yin to his yang. Now she seemed to have found someone at her intellectual level, her persona.

Meeting Greg, Kyra's future husband, was easy, and caused Rick to realize that he had moved on from Krya a long, long time ago. Drastically moved on. They'd been kids, young adults. Now older and wiser, he was also happier where he was now. Very happy.

"Do they think the murderer's still in the hotel?" Greg asked of Castle after they'd done the usual meet and greet routine.

Castle gave it some thought then said, "Well, that depends on whether the attack was random or someone she knew."

"Are you saying it could be one of our guests?" Kyra asked seemingly surprised.

"We have to consider every possibility."

"You'll have to excuse us." Greg said, then said mainly to Kyra, "We have people arriving downstairs."

Castle said, "Of course."

It was when Greg and Kyra left the room leaving Castle alone, that Beckett happened to enter in search of her partner. She glanced over her shoulder at the couple who walked through the entry, then looked to Castle who seemed a little taken aback. She decided immediately to act disinterested in knowing how he knew the bride. Be casual and not allow the emotions to poke their noses in on the action.

Not looking at her face, he began to speak, "Kyra Blaine. Wow." It was quietly expressed. "Can't believe it."

Like a detective, Beckett analyzed his tone, observed his pupils change size, his Adam's apple bob a little. He was emotionally reacting to the presence of the woman and she felt he'd made the comment to mainly see what sort of reaction she was going to have. She chose to remain neutral.

Beckett cautiously queried with a soft tone, "I take it she was someone very special."

She saw that Castle thought about her comment. As a couple and working partners, they had agreed early on to be honest with each other. He breathed in deeper, stared in the direction Kyra had gone with her fiancé and directly replied, "She's the one that got away."

It was like a punch to her gut. Kate exhaled suddenly. Her heart skipped a beat, she was sure of it, and her temperature flared. Her mind went blank. For a moment, she stood still, unable to move as Rick followed Kyra from the room unaware of what impact his words had made. Suddenly, before he noticed, she shook herself out of it and hurried after him. Numb. Totally numb.

His words echoed as she fell in beside him.

By the time they met with Ryan and Esposito, Beckett had pushed Castle's comment out of her conscious thoughts. The boys had managed to question all the guests to the wedding as well as those in the wedding party. The only person not checked off the list was a chap by the name of Mike Weitz who also happened to be missing. None of the guests asked had seen Mike since the night before.

With a missing man and a murdered woman, a search was promptly done of his room. The bed was made, his tux was still hanging in the closet and his key card showed his last entry was roughly at 2 am. His toothbrush and bags were still in his room. With him not in the hotel room, security started searching the premises for missing Mike. They also checked all their security cameras to see whether he had left the accommodation.

With their hands on a bunch of handy-dandy digital video cameras that had recorded the previous night's festivities Beckett and her team scrubbed footage. What they discovered in those videos was the deceased had taken a call in the rehearsal and had left the room just after 7.40 pm. Sophie's cell phone history showed the call came from hotel lobby.

When they checked some photos of the surveillance footage of the hotel lobby they recognized a lowkey drug dealer named Boyd Gamble. The man mostly weed and coke back in the day. Did a couple years for assaulting another drug dealer who was trying to muscle in on his turf. Beat him up real bad, too.

Beckett instructed the boys to bring in Gamble for a chat. Castle decided he wanted to go with them, which was okay with her. She needed a bit of time to process a few things.

A few moments after she departed for the Precinct, Beckett entered the elevator with Kyra at her side. Both turned to face the doors as they slid closed.

Beckett who was on a call with Esposito said, "Great. Go pick him up." She hung up the call then lowered her hand, and acknowledged Kyra in the elevator.

Kyra smiled pleasantly, "Was that about Mike?"

Beckett considered her answered then said, "Uh, no. Just following up on a lead." She paused, then commented, "Your dress is lovely, by the way."

"Oh," Kyra smiled, "Thank you so much." She looked at Kate, "It's Kate, right?"

Beckett nodded, "Yeah."

"I feel like I know you a little. From Nikki Heat, the dedication."

Beckett felt her cheek heat up, "Oh."

"I still read all of Rick's books."

Beckett smiled a little shyly, currently unsure whether Castle had told Kyra they were secretly dating, He shouldn't have as they had made a promise to tell no one. She shrugged her shoulders, "Yeah, well, most of that book is just a result of Castle's overactive imagination." It was something she immediately regretted saying as it projected as dumb and dismissive. Kyra's body language told Kate she didn't agree with the comment.

"It's funny that you call him that, Castle." Kyra remarked, "When I knew him, he was just Rick, fresh off his first best-seller." For a moment or two she left that comment in the air, looked over the taller woman, "Well, overactive imagination or not, I know he only dedicates his books to people he really cares for."

Kate swallowed. She was conscious of how much she meant to Castle. There had been conversations about creating a life together, having kids one day, being together forever. She imagined the same things as he did. Now Kyra was here, the one who got away.

"Well, I guess I'm lucky." Kate replied.

It was established quite quickly that Boyd Gamble was a drug dealer who supplied to a regular client base, but he wasn't a murderer. He readily admitted to meeting Sophie at the hotel and to supplying her with a specialty item. The specialty item was Flunitrazepam, more commonly known as Roofies. Learning this piece of information had Castle on a roll that Beckett was beginning to regret especially when she had him alone at the hotel.

After a mega monolog of comments from Castle about roofies, Beckett decided to wind him up a bit more. She asked as they observed a room full of wedding guests eating and drinking. "But Castle, seriously, why would a bridesmaid need roofies?"

It got Castle excited again. "I know right. You want to take advantage of a guy, knocking him unconscious kind of defeats the purpose."

"You don't need a roofie." Beckett chuckled.

"Never. Best way? Just ask. In fact, you looking at me is enough provocation." Rick suddenly sobered, stiffened and grew taller.

"Really Castle? She stopped, noticing he was suddenly distracted by a woman approaching. Beckett recognized her as the bride's mother.

"Hello, Sheila," Castle stiffly greeted.

The mother of the bride turned and her smile dropped when she recognized Castle.

"Richard." She greeted as cold as ice, "Figures you'd be at the heart of this mess."

Castle frowned, clearly not willing to conceal his distaste of Kyra's mother, and he said, "Detective Beckett, this is Sheila Blaine, mother of the bride." He paused then couldn't help but say, "So, I guess I didn't end up homeless or teaching at a third-rate college in New Hampshire after all."

Sheila glared down her nose at him, "There's still time."

Castle smirked, and with the new found realization he no longer had to be nice he replied with a good dose of sarcasm, "I've missed our special talks." He turned to Beckett and frankly explained, "Sheila didn't approve of struggling artists." He almost laughed at Beckett's perplexed expression. Back to Sheila, he suggested, "You must like Greg, though. He's from money, right?"

The elderly woman frowned with frustration, "It was never about the money, Richard. It was about character. And you would know that, if you had any."

Beckett's jaw fell open. Sheila walked away.

Beckett closed her mouth, glanced between Ms Blaine and Castle as she said, "Wow. Just imagine, if things had worked out, you'd be spending Thanksgivings with her."

Castle immediately shuddered. Beckett's cell phone rang out.

"What a bitch." She whispered as she took the call. She watched Rick pull a face of horror, smiled in amusement then greeted, "Beckett. Okay, great." She hung up and said to Castle, "They think they found Mike. Come on."

He obediently followed, glad to get out of the room.

Mike Weitz was found locked in a cleaning closet, banging on the door to be let out. His anger was directed at Sophie who had locked him in the closet the night before. He also claimed Sophie had brought him a drink, acted all flirty and he strongly suggested she had drugged him. They didn't have a history, had only met once or twice at these sort of functions with Kyra and Greg but he didn't remember that they had even talked on the previous occasions.

In summary, Mike Weitz didn't have a clue why Sophie would want to drug him. Period.

When Beckett and Castle were alone, and it was safe to speak, Beckett turned to Castle and asked in a hushed tone, "What the fuck was Sophie up to last night, Castle? Roofies on a man, locked him in a cleaner's closet? Seriously!"

"I know right. All she had to do is ask. He was useless with a Roofie under his belt." Castle said, "She went out of her way to get those drugs, she definitely had a plan."

"What kind of a bizarre plan is that?"

Castle pondered carefully before he said, "Maybe... No. I got nothing."

When they stopped in the elevator foyer, Beckett pulled out her phone and dialed, "Espo. Its me." She looked to Rick's face, settling on his eyes and watched her.

She continued, "We need information on Sophia. Can you and Ryan start investigating our victim's life. I want to know everything about Sophie Ronson from the moment that her plane landed in New York till the moment she was found dead. Who she called, what she did and where she ate. I'll make the call to obtain a warrant on financials for a Sophie Ronson." She listened to Esposito and Ryan, "Yeah. In about an hour it should take. Okay. Bye."

She pocketed the phone and said to Rick. "I'll organize the warrant. I might be an hour or so."

He nodded. I'll see you back here. I'm a bit hungry." He pointed over his shoulder, "Apparently, there is plenty of food going to waste that was for the reception."

"Mm." She nodded, "I'll find you soon."

Castle entered the reception hall where the tables were decorated and set ready for the guests to arrive, guests that would not come today. He thought he'd seen Kyra head in this direction, but he couldn't see her. He wanted to say farewell before he left the hotel with his partner. He was about to leave to catch up with Kate, when he saw a flash of movement. Kyra peeked out from the behind the enormous wedding cake with frosting on her finger. She smiled.

"Couldn't let it go to waste," Kyra began, "How did you find me?"

"I just figured, because you weren't mingling." Castle replied, "You know, asked myself, what was the one place where no one would think to look for you?"

"At a wedding?"

"At your wedding. Where's...?" He got stuck on her fiancé's name. Slipped his mind.

"Greg." Kyra finished.

Castle raised a hand with the index finger pointed upward, "Right." He approached the cake, but his eyes remained on Kyra. They'd been barely adults when they'd been together. Wild, young, a time when everything was so new. Time had caused him to forget the emotions he'd experienced with Kyra. He'd evolved and grown so much since then. He was a man, a father. She'd taught him about love, as had his two wives, but Kate had shown him what it was like to be in love.

"He's taking care of things. He's good at that." She shrugged and licked her fingertip clean of icing, "So, if you don't get married, is it just a regular old cake?"

"It's still wedding cake," Rick answered as he gazed over the impressive piece, "It's tiered, got flowers, it's in a ballroom."

"Mm." She looked over Rick's face, "If things had gone as planned today, I would be twirling around on the dance floor with my husband right about now."

Castle smiled, a fond memory returned, "Do you remember the last time we danced?"

She nodded, smiled, "Under the clock at Grand Central Station."

"You were on your way to JFK to catch a flight to London."

"You were supposed to follow me." Kyra continued.

"You said you needed space."

Kyra sighed, recollecting old moments, "I didn't mean forever, Rick." She dismissed the conversation and gazed over the cake, the reception hall, "So, you've done all of this before?"

Castle shrugged, "Twice."

"And each time, did you think that she was the one?"

Castle said, "It seemed like the right thing to do at the time."

"But it wasn't, was it?"

Castle shook his head.

"Some girls would think what happened today is a sign." Kyra commented, shyly watching Castle.

"The murder?" He could see she was thinking about how they used to be. He sure was, but the memories were not partnered with emotions. They were in the past like his relationship with Kyra now was.

She gave a slight nod, really looked into his eyes, "And you." She then turned her eyes beyond Rick at somone, which caused him to turn about.

He saw Beckett stood patiently by the doorway, her coat on, car keys in her hand.

"Castle?" Beckett called seconds later, "We're on our way. I thought you might need a ride."

Rick acknowledged but turned back to Kyra who said, "I should go upstairs. They'll be looking for me." Things had got awkward very quickly between them with Kate present. Kyra gave Castle a piece of the wedding cake sitting on a napkin.

Beckett watched Castle as he solemnly stared after Kyra, who passed by Kate and left the hall. Castle approached. Beckett tried her hardest not to be jealous, but the emotion bubbling to the surface. He held up the piece of cake Kyra had cut for him.

"Cake?" Rick asked.

Beckett said, "No, thank you." She looked away, collecting her thoughts then asked, "Shall we go? It's getting awfully late."

"Yes. I'm looking forward to seeing my pillow." He said as they walked to the foyer.

Inside the elevator, they were silent for a couple of floors descending, then Rick calmly said, "We met in college. We were together nearly three years." Castle confessed, looking straight ahead.

Beckett timidly glanced at him, and said, "I didn't ask."

"Yes." He swallowed, looked right at her, "You were not-asking very loudly."

Beckett pressed her lips together, making note that she had to work on not being obvious when she was jealous, "She's different from your ex-wives," she commented, making the decision to remove herself from the picture.

"What do you mean?"

Beckett shrugged her shoulders, "She's real, Castle. I didn't think you went for real."

He shrugged his shoulders, gave her a sideways look, and stated, "You're real."

"Touche." She relaxed a little, "Tough breakup?"

"It was a long time ago." He swallowed, turned and looked to her, "A lifetime ago."

For several moments, Kate felt awkward and embarrassed, because she knew she had spoken out of line. "I'm sorry. That was really silly of me to say."

"Mm. Well, we all make mistakes. I think I'm on the right path now. I met the right one." He smiled, which settled her.

Her voice was high, her cheeks blushed, "Maybe."

Rick found her hand and gave it a light squeeze. "You know." He confirmed, using a very soft voice.

The elevator doors opened and she stepped out ahead of him, her heart pounding, breaths shallow. She was humming, giddy with light headedness about what he'd just said.

When they were driving back to the Precinct, Rick asked, "Can you drop me off near home?"

She glanced at him, smiled, "Sure. I can swing by your place if you want."

"A few blocks down is fine. I have to pick up some groceries."

She nodded. "Sure."

They fell silent. Kate felt something wasn't right but she let it go. She had to let it go. She pulled over at the curbside a couple of minutes later when Rick pointed out where he wanted to be dropped off. As he undid his seatbelt he asked, "Will you be over tonight?"

"Umm." She stared ahead then looked at him, "Mm. I will go home then come over."

"Dinner will be served once you arrive. Seven pm?"

She nodded. "See you then, Castle."

"You gotta watch, Baby," Rick said as he sat beside her on a stool. "I had to get it on video so I didn't forget, then saw how funny it is."

Kate took the iPad, held it before her and pressed play. The video showed Rick was seated on a chair in the middle of the living room. She glanced questioningly at Castle.

"Audio is on?"

"Yes, Baby," he replied, keen for her to continue.

Kate resumed her viewing of the video. She was aware her boyfriend participated in some outrageous antics but she hadn't. as yet, seen video evidence. But here it was. The footage showed that Alexis was having a terrific time with a roll of duct-tape, a chair and her father.

"Whose idea was this?" She inquired, already betting to herself the answer was Castle's idea.

"Mine, of course. I needed Alexis to bind me there."

"Mm," she responded. "You got your daughter to duct-tape her father, being you, to a chair in the living room."

"Well, when you say it like that…." He grimaced, then whispered, "Just watch."

She saw Castle ensured his daughter roll the tape firmly about his wrists.

He also said, "Make sure it's nice and tight."

The audio clearly had Alexis respond with a playful, "Yes, sir." Evidently, she was smiling, quite amused by the whole situation.

From the left of the screen Kate saw Martha descend the stairs and stop at the platform when she saw her offspring with his offspring. "What on Earth are you two doing?"

Kate snickered, "I would have asked the same question."

"No, Honey, you would have rolled your eyes and continued on for your morning fix of caffeine and ignored us."

Video Castle answered, "Research."

"Maybe," Kate replied, "Research?"

"Of course." He paused the video, at moment when Martha was nearby. "Do you really think I would have someone tie me up for anything else other than research?" He looked at her with innocent blue eyes.

Kate's hazel eyes stared at him with disbelief. "Really, Ricky? How about sexual gratification?"

"Except that, well except you tying me up."

She turned back to the iPad, tight lipped and resumed play on the screen.

Alexis replied to her grandmother, "Dad has Nikki Heat duct-taped to a chair in his next chapter and he doesn't know how to get her out of it."

"I thought, what better way to figure it out than to get into the mind of my character?" Castle added.

"I don't know, Richard." Martha said, "I suppose you could just use your imagination."

"I want it to be authentic, Mom." He looked at Alexis, "Hands."

"Yeah, Castle, what is wrong with your imagination… you've been tied up, tormented…" Kate bit her bottom lip trying her hardest not to laugh.

"Oh yeah and you loved every second of it, dominating, tormenting me…" He defended, "But this is different."

In the footage, Martha waved a dismissive hand at Alexis and Castle, "Well, hurry taping up your father. We don't want to be late. Oh, God. I can't believe I just said that."

Curious Castle asked, "Where are you two off to?"

"Gram's got a dress rehearsal. I thought I'd go watch." Alexis replied as she continued to tie up her father.

"Watch me? Or watch the adorable delivery boy in the second act?" Martha inquired.

Alexis finished up taping his wrist to the arm, "Too tight?"

Castle tried to move his arms but couldn't, "Perfect."

"Are you sure about your mouth?"

Castle nodded, "Like I said, authentic." Alexis covered his mouth with a piece of duct tape, "Mmm."

Alexis leaned in close. "This is a dose of reality." She smiled. "Nod if you're okay."

Rick nodded.

Satisfied with her Father's position, she patted his cheek, "Okay, we're off. And after, we might go shopping. So, you don't mind, right?"

She reached for his wallet on the coffee table, opened I and stole the cash from it.

Castle gave her a dirty look.

"Oh, come on, Dad. We both know you'd have no respect for me if I didn't. Have fun, and good luck."

"Good on her," Kate muttered. "Having a Dad like you she needs some sort of compensation for her grief."

Martha said on the video, "I don't know where she gets it from. Honestly, I don't."

"Bye Daddy. Have fun." She teased.

Martha called out, "Adios."

Castle waved his duct-taped hand as they exited. Then his iPhone started to ring on the table behind him.

"That was me calling you?" Kate asked.

With a boyish grin he leaned in, "Yes. That was you. Keep watching."

In the video, he edged his way to the coffee table and tipped the chair over, slamming his face into the glass table top.

Laughter spilt from Kate. "Really, Castle?" She dismissed him with a wave as she continued to watch.

Castle muttered on the video, "Hmm..."

Moments later, having shuffled his way to the kitchen the video showed Castle struggled with the trash can to get it and the chair in the right position. He then pressed his face against the lid.

"What the-?" She muttered. "This is edited right?"

Rick leaned over to see where she was at. "Oh, keep watching. I cut the boring bits out."

Mouth agape, she watched Castle press hard on the foot pedal to raise the lid. It tugged at the duct tape but failed to shift it. He did it again, and again until the tape came unstuck from his skin. It took a few tries, but he managed. He then peered inside the trash can and seemed to find something of interest. He knocked the trash over to get it out. The next challenge was to get the item into his grasp.

He rocked from side to side until he tumbled with the chair to the floor. Kate laughed aloud. Rick smiled, pleased he could create such vivacious laughter.

"Did that hurt?"

"Not initially, but I have a couple of decent bruises."

"Oh, Castle. This has to be the funniest thing I have seen you do." She stifled the laughter to watch him wriggle about on the floor until he managed to grasp the tin can in his right hand. Manipulating the lid of the can, he worked on cutting the duct tape with focus and determination. Once his right hand was free, he rapidly released his left hand still slicing the tape, then finally released his legs. He was free. He stood up, jumped in the air a couple of times with enthusiastic whoops then paced to the camera. Wearing a boyish grin, his hair falling over his forehead, he peered into the lense.

"Did it." He smugly stated then turned off the camera.

Kate put the iPad to her lap and turned her attention to Rick, grinning. "You are hilarious."

"This is not meant to be hilarious, Kate. This is research!"

She took hold of the tumbler, gave her drink a swirl to mix the ice then took a sip. "Still funny."

"Wait till you read how I put it together in my novel."

"Please Castle. You have to keep that video. Do not delete it."

"I won't. Why?"

"One day I want to show this to our kids, show them what a goofball you are."

"Hang on." He paused, licked his lips and subtly pointed a finger, "You've brought up kids again."

"Well, yes, flippantly, I did, but its gonna take me awhile to get to that point, Rick."

"But one day you will get there." He said with some confidence.

"One day, but not today. I'm still in that lust bubble and I wanna stay here a bit longer."