Chapter 69- -

Interrogation room

Somewhere during the hour Beckett and Castle ate a decent lunch of cheeseburgers, shakes and fries, the victim had been formally identified as a PhD student named Jessica Margolis. It had been done by Tyler Benton who was the boyfriend of the deceased. He was a first year medical doctor and had come off of a 24 hour shift at a local hospital he was employed at.

When Castle and Beckett returned to the Precinct, the full effect of their large meals had taken place. Both were calmer and their sex drives had dropped significantly, returning some sort of order to the pair.

They interviewed Tyler Benton and quickly confirmed that the hand cuffs found on the victim had been a gift from Tyler a few months back. The gift had been a joke because of the research Jessica was undertaking. Her research related to the sociology of sexual bondage and domination. As far as Tyler knew, the handcuffs were kept at Jessica's apartment. She had spent months meeting people in the world of bondage and domination trying to understand what made them tick.

By the time they finished speaking with Tyler, the team had begun to believe Jessica had been murdered by one of the people she had observed. They only needed to find the site she had been murdered. Tyler didn't seem to have a grudge big enough to kill his girlfriend. It came across to the detectives he genuinely loved his girlfriend. He was also way too busy with work at the hospital for any extracurricular activities.

As Castle also pointed out behind the scenes, the man was a doctor and dedicated his life to saving lives.

The entire team attended Jessica's old apartment where they met her flat mate and best friend, Danielle. She was a petite blond woman and was quite upset over the news her best friend was deceased.

The last time Danielle had seen Jessica was the previous morning.

She didn't know much about Jessica's research because the student pretty much kept all the research to herself.

An investigation of the apartment by Esposito and Ryan had them conclude that Jessica had been murdered somewhere else. Her cell phone wasn't in the apartment so they put a trace on the cell phone. Danielle had indicated that Jessica was at Hudson University while her boyfriend had been at work.

At Hudson University, Castle and Beckett caught up with Professor Stevenson who was the late Jessica's advisor. All he could provide them with was that she wasn't at the university last night. He did know that she was spending a lot of time with a dominatrix named Mistress Venom as part of her research.

They organized for a janitor to unlock the filing cabinet where Jessica had kept her study notes secured. While they waited, they met Jessica's co-students who were also on the PhD program. Competition between the three students was passively ruthless.

One co-student who identified herself as Kelly, informed Beckett that in the last few weeks, Jessica had received phone calls on her office line that involved heavy breathing and moaning, the kind of calls that made one want to take a hand sanitizer shower afterwards. She had reported it to their Professor.

Once the janitor had the cabinet opened, Beckett and Castle had Jessica's files boxed. They transported the evidence to the Precinct.

Back at the bullpen, they sat in the spare office with the files spread out over the table.

Castle scanned the papers with his rapid reading skills, glanced at Beckett every quarter minute and constantly dwelled on having sex with her. She was slower with the reading, played with her hair a little and generally did things that repeatedly aroused him, especially when she bit either her lips.

He cleared his throat then said, "Jessica's notes on Venom's sessions are pretty detailed. She studied these guys like lab rats." He continued to scan the notes.

"But she only identified them by nickname. Lady boy, Pin Cushion and Scared Bunny." Kate replied, tilting her head in an attempt to read handwriting that was messy at times. "She used shorthand."

"Mm. Her own," Rick agreed, "You know, Beckett," he sat up straighter, glanced over her face to see she had that cute frown of deep concentration. It sometimes appeared when… he had to stop thinking about sex. He read on a bit, thought about Jessica's subjects. "You know, Kate, if these men didn't know what Jessica was doing, and one of them found out..."

She paused from reading, "Mm. Fear of exposure would be a strong motive to kill."

Castle put down a file and rubbed his chin in thought, "I wonder what attracted her to all this."

"Well, according to her thesis proposal, she became interested in S and M after witnessing a dysfunctional relationship up close. Apparently, her dissertation compares the overt expressions of dominance in the dungeon to more subtle expressions in real-world relationships... Like who drives?"

"Hey, I would drive if you would let me." Castle responded which caused Beckett to smile. "That actually didn't prove my point like I thought it would." He pondered,

"You get to drive other times," Beckett whispered so only he heard and glanced to him which caused him to smile in understanding. She continued to read, and moments later she said louder, "You know, it says here that Mistress Venom works in a bondage club somewhere in Dungeon Alley, but it doesn't say which one."

"Dungeon Alley?" Castle queried his tone unsure.

"It's an area between Chelsea and Midtown," Beckett explained. "There's a whole slew of fetish clubs there."

Castle frowned, "Yes, I know where Dungeon Alley is. I want to know... How do you know?"

Beckett rolled her eyes, "C'mon Castle." She stared at him. He waiting for a replied. She sighed, "Vice raided a few of them looking for a reason to shut them down. But since there's no sexual contact and the acts are all consensual, it was perfectly legal."

"Hmm," his face brightened, "You know, Beckett, you should moonlight." He held up a hand to paused her from shutting him down when he read her expression, "Seriously, you would make a fortune." He leaned toward her a little, glanced suggestively between her lips and breasts, "Come on, Honey. Haven't you ever wanted to do... something with your handcuffs other than arrest criminals? Huh?"

"No." Beckett replied and cautiously glanced into the bullpen. Rick saw in her expression exactly what she was thinking. She was amused by his question, and willing to play along with his style of foreplay which they seemed to have reverted back to. She pressed her lips together momentarily, shifted a bit closer to him and switched on the charm, "But there is one … hot... wild... kinky thing that I do like doing."

Castle was totally drawn in to her promiscuous behavior. Listened and observed, responded. She made good use of her large pretty eyes.

They flickered between his eyes and mouth before she said louder and seriously, "Putting killers behind bars."

Castle's elbow suddenly slipped off the edge of the table. He promptly recovered and sat up, cleared his throat, his thoughts, and said, "See?"

She raised an eyebrow in question.

"You're already a tease. You're halfway there." He settled his sight on her, undressed her body with his eyes. She sensed it, sat up. Her cheeks blushed enough to make him smile.

Ryan entered the meeting room, paused and glanced between his two colleagues. His brow furrowed when he noticed their postures and expressions. He quickly chose to ignore it and said, "Hey, we tried to trace the creepy calls that Jessica was getting at her office. But since they were routed through the main switchboard at the college, there's no way to determine their source."

Behind him Esposito entered the office as well and stepped in beside Ryan.

"What about the cell phone?" Beckett asked.

Esposito replied, "The day she died, she placed a call to her boyfriend at the hospital, she placed a call to her voice mail at the office, and she placed two calls to Lady Irena's House of Pain."

Beckett glanced to Castle, "Lady Irena's House of Pain? That must be where Mistress Venom works." She looked to the boys, "Did you get an address, Espo?"

"Yeah, an office building on 38th. Got the phone number." He waved a piece of paper about.

Ryan smirked, "Oh, conveniently located for all your lunchtime spanking needs."

Beckett commenced to stand up and waved her hand over the files, "All right, you guys look through her notes, see if there's anything that's there that might implicate one of her clients. Meanwhile, Castle and I will go and meet this Mistress Venom." She took a post it note from Esposito and read the handwriting.

As Castle followed Beckett out of the office, he cheekily said, "Whips, women and murder - sounds like my lucky day."

Beckett located her cell phone and said to Castle, "I'm so glad you're excited by this." She began to dial the number Esposito had handed to her. Rick saw the name and number on the Post it.

Suddenly conscious of what Beckett was about to do he attempted to put the brakes on her. "Whoo," he called reaching to her phone.

Beckett ducked away, talked into the phone and sped up her pace. "Hi, my name is Kate, and my boyfriend-" she started to make ground from Castle, but shot him a look not to interfere, "Has been a very bad boy." She had to walk faster because Castle was in pursuit of the phone, "Yes, that's right. His name's Ricky."

"What are you doing?"

In the breakout room, Beckett commenced to circle the kitchen table, mainly to put distance between herself and the boyfriend. "Actually, a friend of mine recommended a Mistress Venom."

"Wait." Castle interrupted, chasing her.

Beckett who hurried to get away, glanced over her shoulder at Castle, "Is she available tonight? 4:00 pm?"

"You know what?"

Beckett continued the conversation on the phone, "Sure, that's perfect. Thank you." She disconnected the call and turned about to face Rick.

"Okay, that's very funny." He stated, right up near her. He swallowed and seriously requested, "Now call her back."

Beckett shook her head, "Unh-unh, Castle. This is the perfect way to get Venom without tipping our hand." She read his worried expression and stepped in closer so she could speak quietly, "What's the matter, Castle? You afraid of a little role play?" She laughed, a perfect grin of teasing directed at him. Then she turned about and hurried from the room leaving Castle there to stew on what she had done.

Castle called, "Yeah, you better run." He smiled to himself, very aware of how he was going to get even with her. She was gonna regret this late tonight.

A squeal of surprise escaped Beckett. Without warning Castle suddenly reached out surrounded her waist and drew her hard against his body. It was aggressive and controlled. With swiftness and ease, he lifted her body clear off the ground, and withdrew them into an obscure corner of the Precinct garage. Boots back to the concrete surface, she managed to turn about in his hold to face him.

"You gotta kiss-" It was Kate that said it, Rick that pressed his lips to hers shutting her up. He moaned, pure pleasure. His hands gripped to her buttocks held her against him. The kiss was urgent, fast and keen. Almost a minute into it they spilt apart, panting and grinning like teenagers. They stared at each other. Kate's fingers touched her swollen lips. He steadied her when she lost her balance.

"Castle-"

She briefly glanced around them ensuring no one was around.

"Beckett. This murder is going to test my will power." He slapped his hand against the brick wall. "Ready to do it right now."

She looked from him to the cement brick wall and back at him, her brow knotting. "No. You gotta wait, Buddy." She smiled, turned and commenced to walk to the car. Rick hurried after her.

When the car doors closed, Beckett turned to Castle who was already angled to her.

"That was so hot, Castle." She smiled and bit her bottom lip, an involuntary giggle escaping.

"What, that grab on the ass and the kiss-you-moment?"

"Mm. Was sweet."

"What is not sweet is you booking me in with Mistress Venom." He picked up her hand held it in both his, "I cannot wait to get you home tonight."

"I can taste you, Castle." She started the car, checked the time. "Two hours and counting."

Minus a further fifteen minutes, they arrived at Irena's House of Pain where Mistress Venom was employed. They entered through double doors to an executive reception. An attractive blond woman was at the desk to welcome them.

Castle scanned the entrance, the elegant, formal reception area, as he said, "This place looks like a law firm, Beckett."

"What'd you think it was gonna be? Torture wheels and women in corsets?"

Castle shrugged, "Well, yeah."

Beckett smiled devilishly, "That's in the back."

They approached an impressive reception desk. Beckett kept her gloves on, her leather coat zipped up tight and she carried an air of superiority in her composure.

The young woman behind the desk smiled politely, professionally. "Welcome to Lady Irena's House of Pain. How can I serve you?"

Rick stopped before the counter and waited for Beckett to show her badge, reply to the woman.

Beckett stopped beside Castle, gave him a second to reply, but for once he was quiet." She turned her head, looked at him. "Well, answer her!"

His body jolted a little in response to her loud voice. He glared at her with a dark look.

Beckett stifled a giggle, maintained a determined expression, turned her attention to the receptionist and said, "You see what I have to deal with?" The receptionist raised an eyebrow. The Detective's tone continued. "My boyfriend, Ricky, has an appointment at four pm with Mistress Venom."

"Will you be joining him?"

Beckett could hold back the curve of her lips. "Oh, yes. I've been dying to watch him squirm."

"Mistress Venom would be delighted to have an audience." The woman with the dead straight blond hair stood and commenced to walk towards a doorway off to her right, "Follow me, please."

"Do you think we could gag him?"

Castle sighed, well aware Beckett was thoroughly enjoying this, way too much. He was reminded of the night she tied him up with the pink tie. He cleared his throat, recalling a little more. "Remember, my safe word is apples."

"Apples it is." Beckett replied as they followed the woman. She paused and leaned towards Castle as she added, "You will be needing it with what I have planned for later."

Rick momentarily closed his eyes, "Oh, don't. Please. The anticipation alone is killing me."

"Two hours."

"And counting, Honey."

They followed the receptionist to a doorway on the right that she opened. "Please wait in there."

They were left inside a darkened room, named the room of pain according to the sign on the door they had entered. There were iron bars and leather cuffs, chains and garb all in line with what one would expect to find in such as establishment. Place was immaculately clean.

"Certainly not like a legal office in here." Castle muttered as he took in the surroundings and hardware. For once he didn't feel like touching things.

"Got a workbench." Beckett commented giving the mattress a slap as she glided past a place to lay, to be tied up, to be subdued she guessed. "We should have booked the room for an hour."

Castle snorted, "You're fucking kidding me, Beckett."

She laughed. "Actually, I'm not."

Castle sobered, his thoughts drawn to Beckett and the slab she had heartily patted. "You sometimes terrify me, Beckett."

"Mm. Nice to know, Castle."

"So what would Dominatrix KBex like to do in this room?"

It got a reaction that caused Castle to smirked in amusement. Comfortable for the moment, Castle rested a butt casually on that bench, then watched Beckett roam the room clearly thinking about his query. As much as he joked, he could see her quite successfully being a dominatrix. She got off playing around with him at home. She liked to be on top. He was certain she wouldn't do it as a sideline, but also saw her capabilities. He decided to tease her. "You should bring your new boyfriend here."

"Ha." She smiled, confessed in hushed tones, "But he's with me now." She made a circle gazing around the dark room, "I have to confess, Ricky, this is really turning me on, Ricky. My place tonight?"

He scoffed, and replied with assertiveness. "Any place tonight, Honey. I'm counting down the minutes to get inside your panties."

"Mmm." She responded as she passed him, her eyes shamelessly aimed at his groin. "I've got fifty seven minutes left."

"Any you're not counting?" He glanced at his watch. She was right. Then he casually took a look at her ass in the tight jeans and didn't hide it from her that he was checking her out.

"Cannot wait." He said.

"Me neither." Kate replied then spun about when she heard the door handle move. The door opened, drawing their attention and a woman stepped into the room. She was glamorous, attired in expensive leather. Her hair and make up was perfect and she wore prominent red lip stick.

Beckett approached the woman who was almost as tall as her. "Mistress Venom?"

"Mistress Venom is unavailable." The woman replied, "But I'm Lady Irena. I own this dungeon. I'm sure we can find another dominatrix to suit your needs." She took in Beckett, then acknowledged Castle who stood up to greet the woman.

Castle was unable to stop staring at Lady Irena. Beckett noticed, wondering if it was her perfectly styled red hair, her perfectly applied make up or her overall appearance. The woman, who was older than Beckett by a good five years was stunning.

Beckett re-focused, "I'm afraid we can't." She produced her NYPD badge and presented it to the woman, "I'm Detective Beckett. I need to speak with her right now concerning a murder investigation."

"Who was murdered?"

"Jessica Margolis. The PhD student who was observing her sessions."

"There was no one observing her sessions." Lady Irena replied.

Beckett glanced to Castle, uncertain, then asked the woman, "Are you sure?

Lady Irena gave a nod, "Positive. Privacy is paramount in my dungeon."

Beckett searched through her clipboard until she found the license photo she wanted of their victim. She held it up for Lady Irena to view, "You've never seen this girl?"

"Of course I've seen that girl." She opened an album she had been holding and commenced to flick the pages until she came upon the photo she wanted, "She wasn't observing Mistress Venom. She was Mistress Venom." She showed them a large photograph of Jessica dressed up as Mistress Venom. They were the same pieces of clothing she'd been found in. Castle came in closer the view the photo.

"That's her." Beckett murmured mainly to Castle.

"She was not only studying them, she was totally involved in the study."

Beckett pointed over the boots Jessica wore in the picture, "Well, this explains the marks on her body. Jessica must have been wearing this before she died."

"Like cruel shoes, these outfits can leave marks for hours after you wear them." Lady Irena said, "She had three sessions yesterday. She left around 7:30."

Castle returned to rest against the bench, more comfortable with distance between Lady Irena and himself. He asked, "You really had no idea that Jessica was conducting a sociological experiment out of your dungeon?"

"No." Irena's gaze remained on Castle a little longer than necessary, "She came to me about six months ago. Quickly became one of my most requested doms."

Beckett asked, "Did Jessica have any clients who were unusually obsessed with her?"

"Of course. I mean, they all were. But her clients were submissive. Killing is an act of dominance."

Beckett replied, "You and I both know that people aren't that simple. Men might come here for humiliation and torture, but it's easy to imagine that one of them might have been pushed too far and lashed out."

"If she was concerned for her safety, she would've told me." Irena replied firmly.

"Do you have a list of Jessica's clients?" Beckett asked.

"Detective... All of the services that we provide here are perfectly legal. Now part of that service is protecting the privacy of our client. I'm not about to betray the trust that they've paid for because you have a hunch."

"Oh, I think it's more than just a hunch." She quickly replied.

"Well, gee, I'm sorry. Unless you have a court order, my hands are tied, so to speak." Lady Irena said as nicely as possible but there was not a bit of wriggle room in her tone.

Castle chuckled aware Beckett would not back down. Neither woman would.

"You're pretty well-versed in law for a dominatrix." Beckett remarked.

"Don't let the leather fool you. I used to be a partner at a law firm."

Castle breathed out, "Wow."

Lady Irena turned to Castle and said, "When you dominate and manipulate men in every boardroom and courtroom that you're in, this just seemed like the natural progression." She walked towards Castle and faced him, stared at him for several seconds. He was in a trance.

"It's called Mistress Red."

Castle swallowed, then feebly asked, "Excuse me?

"My lipstick. I noticed you couldn't stop staring."

Beckett left the room a little peeved that Lady Irena wouldn't hand over a list of client details. Rick almost hugged her shoulder on their way out.

"Sorry," he hissed, "It was just hypnotic."

"It's not you." Beckett whispered, "It's her."

"Well, if you're so upset, we could find someone for you to go medieval on, like, uh, him perhaps." He waved a hand towards a chained and blindfolded man they walked by. He was also on a leash being walked by a woman in black leather.

Beckett gave him a look, "I do have a kinky box at home."

"Seriously?"

"Mm." She kept walking, distracted and thinking about how to obtain the client list of the deceased.

"Just not me, huh? Not today." He pleaded.

Beckett ignored Castle, "She wants to protect her clients?" She asked the universe. "What about her girls?"

A woman hurried after them, hissed, "Hey."

Castle and Beckett stopped and turned about to see the younger dominatrix. She asked Beckett with a broad New York accent. "You the cop?"

Beckett said, "I'm detective Beckett."

"I'm Mistress Sapphire. So, it's true? She's dead?"

"Yes. I'm sorry-" Beckett replied

Mistress Sapphire cut in, "This weird thing happened last week, I think you should know about."

Castle now interested asked, "With one of her clients?"

"Sort of." The woman replied, "A first-time client came in for a session, but he left just after a few minutes. I found her in the locker room, crying."

"Did she tell you why?" Beckett asked.

"No."

Beckett continued, "This client, do you remember anything about him?"

"It was a week ago, and I only saw him from behind. But he was wearing one of those medical shirts."

Beckett thought about it, then offered up, "Scrubs?"

Mistress Sapphire nodded, "Yes."

Castle looked to Beckett and asked, "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

Beckett keenly replied, "Jessica's boyfriend discovered her secret identity."

"And instead of proposing to her, he kills her." He suggested.

A half hour later they were at the Precinct in the Interrogation room with Tyler again. He'd agreed to return for further questioning.

Their eyes were also on the clock.

Castle was itching to get home. Beckett was impatient to end her work day and it impacted on the way she approached the meeting with Tyler. She basically went for the jugular and accused him of murdering his girlfriend. Her direct approach surprised Castle enough to have him sit up, keen to see the response. She got it. Tyler's face went red and every vein possible throbbed over his face. He denied knowing she was a Mistress and denied having gone to the dungeon to confront Jessica.

It was a short discussion and Beckett let the guy go after.

She slumped in her office chair, while listening to someone from the hospital speak to her over the phone. She thanked them and hung up. She put her head to her hands and said to Castle who was seated in his lousy old chair.

"He was telling the truth about the lease. Not only did he and Jessica sign the lease, but it was also notarized. The woman in HR also confirmed he signed in and off both times and was at the hospital when we thought he was at the dungeon and the night Jessica was killed." She was deflated and tired.

Montgomery who had approached behind them said, "That doesn't mean he didn't do it. He could'a had her sign to help his alibi."

Castle replied, "Maybe she was afraid of him. I've been thinking - the dysfunctional relationship she refers to in her research - There's a passage where she describes subject "a" as being afraid to tell subject "b" that she's leaving because he's become dangerously codependent. What if she was describing Tyler?"

"Maybe that's why she became a dominatrix, to give her the courage to stand up for herself." The Captain suggested.

"We have uniforms combing through hospital security footage. If Tyler left at any point that night, there should be some trace." Beckett said sitting up again.

Montgomery said, "In the meantime, you two should get home and get some rest. In the morning, let's just keep digging through those notebooks. We're gonna need more than speculation if we want to file charges."

Beckett replied, "Great." She checked the time. It was gone 5.00 pm. Two whole minutes. The Captain was on his way home and she caught Castle staring her down with a look of anticipation all over his face. He tapped his watch. She blushed.

"Let's go." He stood up, "We have something of importance to get on with."

She grinned. "Yus!" She gave the desk a shove.

He'd never seen her pack up so fast. She caught up with him at the elevator foyer inside a minute struggling to pull on her jacket and hold her bag. He took the bag and tugged at her coat until it was resting on her shoulders. He then hit the button hailing the elevator.

"Fucking hurry." He whispered under his breath. "Man's gotta do what a man's gotta do." He looked at Beckett. Undressed her in his imagination.

She stared back at him. Inside the elevator after the doors were closed, she shyly said. "You look like you're gonna eat me for dinner."

"That's my plan, my Dear. I'm starving."

"Dear Lordy."

He laughed. "Fucking starving."

She stared at him, watching him visually undress her. "My place? Its closer. Private."

"Anywhere." He virtually pushed her out of the elevator as the doors opened to the ground floor.