Beckett sat up, "Okay." She looked at Esposito, "Can you and Ryan go back to the dungeon. See if any of the girls swap stories after work. Meanwhile, Castle and I will go to the university and see who had access to her research."

Esposito said, "Okay."

"See you back here in a couple of hours." She glanced to Rick silently telling him it was time to go. They both rose from their seats and Kate grabbed the phone and the car keys.

Chapter 72

The grunt she expressed as she pulled at her boot turned him on. The way she hopped right out of her right boot, the way her hair bounced and the sound of her laughter made him want to grab her already. The boot was dropped to the floorboards and then she started on the left boot. Same grunt, same two hops and the thump as the boot hit the floor. An unusual squeal of triumph escaped her once the socks were tossed near the boots. Rick kept up. The shoes were long gone, socks were off his feet. Kate was in a rush to get to the bedroom and Rick was nipping at her heels. There was no clumsiness today. In the bedroom, she stopped and spun about to face Rick who swung on the door frame in to the room. She briskly pushed her jeans down and they were kicked across the floor. Rick was out of his clothing by the time he stopped before his naked girlfriend. They breathed heavily. His hand raised to the side of her head and combed softly through her hair.

Then without a word they crashed, kissing frantically. Rick felt her body tremble, felt her hands use his shoulders to support herself. His hands blindly found her waist, urged her backwards to the bed and lowered with her. Throaty squeaks escaped her. She opened her body to accept him.

They took a brief break, too short of breath to keep up the pace.

"We gotta be quick," she whispered and raised her head to kiss him more.

Moments later they paused again. Rick smiled through the heavy breathing and scanned her face, "We are worse than rabbits."

She laughed, looking down their bodies to see Rick was primed for her. "Just don't go away without me again."

"But why? I'm enjoying the make up lost time sex we're having." He swept her hair back, looked into her eyes and glanced down as he lowered his body.

"Oh God." He whispered, closing his eyes. Beckett gasped, gripped his shoulders. They tenderly kissed. Softened sounds came from Beckett when she lulled her head, exposing her neck enabling Castle to cast a path of gentle kisses over her jaw and throat. Her eyelids fluttered at which moment he knew she was right into them, that she was submissively his for the next few minutes.

"Faster," she whispered in a plea.

"Can I go deeper first?" He asked giving pause to his task, "I've barely star-"

"Both." She impatiently growled, then rotated her hips to accommodate his body. She glanced down to their joining, a smile forming. She demanded. "Harder, Castle."

"Faster, deeper, harder." He groaned. "I'm barely in and trying my hardest not to shoot too soon. Now these demands. You wound me up with all your …'

She gripped at his shoulder blades, pulled him to her mouth, kissed him and his body instantly arched as he began to thrust his pelvis.

"Harder," she gasped into his mouth.

He tugged back, looked in her eyes. "Just shut up and let me fuck you…." He smothered her mouth but obeyed all her commands.

Precinct 90 odd minutes later …..

"You know," Castle casually said to Beckett who was making every effort to complete her file notes, "I've been thinking."

Taking her eyes from the monitor, she glanced to him, momentarily picturing him a little while back totally naked. His hair was still messed up but she wasn't going to tell him because it looked cute and she was the one who had done it. "Mm? You can think already?"

"Haha."

"Go on. Tell me."

"You are morally challenged if your murder alibi is a blackmailing scheme." He leaned closer and whispered, "And swipe that little look off you face."

"Shut up," she hissed then gave him a playful sideways glance she knew would turn him on. She then responded to his first comment. "If Matt's telling the truth, then we have no motive."

Castle saw Ryan and Esposito exit the elevator. "The boys are back. I wonder what they got up to for lunch."

Kate smirked, "I bet it wasn't what we did."

"Never know," Castle responded, then smiled, "Well, hello, gentleman. How was your trip to the dungeon?"

Ryan grinned, "Well, we learned that Esposito is not very good with laces."

Esposito said, "There were a lot of laces - I-I loosened 'em for you."

"Yeah, sure, Espo."

"True. I did." Esposito pulled up a chair. "Well, the tour of Irena's House of Pain was interesting." He glanced between Beckett and Castle. His brow furrowed.

"It was eye opening for Beckett, when we went there," Castle commented then waited for Beckett to react but all he got was the silent stare which was satisfactory but then he couldn't help but add, "Whips, leather. She was beside herself."

Ryan pointed at Castle, catching onto his comment, and seemingly oblivious to Kate's expression, "Yeah, well, one of the ladies spanked Espo with a riding crop."

Espo, a little coyly defended, "Only because I couldn't untie the straps on those boots. Not because I wanted her to."

"I could do it. You needed to be faster," Ryan said to Esposito.

"Faster," Kate echoed staring at Castle, whose eyes widened.

Ryan continued. "Mm. Apparently, he needed to be faster unstrapping boots."

Beckett raised an eyebrow as she innocently and curiously queried, "She spanked you for not being fast enough?" She cast her eyes on Esposito who nervously swallowed then shifted her gaze to her partner.

"She did." Esposito shakily replied.

"Mmm. How about it? Spanked for not being fast enough, Ricky." She articulated every word perfectly.

"Is, uh, is –" Espo glanced between Beckett and Castle. He pointed at Castle. "You're right Dude. She would make a good dominatrix."

"Oh yes. She would." Castle calmly agreed pinching the bridge of his nose, his eyes closed. "I'm sure Detective Beckett would spank me if she had half a chance."

Beckett sat up and cleared her throat, "The case guys." She reminded studying her boyfriend who seemed calm but was under duress. Right where she wanted him. In a tight spot of bother. "So, did you find out whether Mistress Venom ever shared one client's fetishes to another client?"

"None of the girls admitted to Jessica sharing any of her client secrets with them." Ryan replied. "We were told that Lady Irena beats confidentiality rules into their heads. According to the ladies, Mistress Venom wasn't stupid."

Esposito said, "Oh, one of 'em thought that she might have been seeing clients outside of the dungeon, which might explain the hole in our timeline."

Ryan added, "Uh huh, and none of the girls claim that they remember Jessica talking about any of her clients. But I think we might have an explanation as to where she was between the time she left work and when she was killed. Uh, Mistress Scorpion thinks that Jessica might have been working off the books."

"So, you didn't delve any deeper …?" Beckett maintained a serious expression but she stared at her lover who was reacting in subtle manners only she noticed, while internally, she pissed herself in amusement. "Guys?"

"Umm. They had nothing.. other than that." Ryan replied distracted by Castle who had gone into a sudden coughing fit.

"You okay, writer boy?" Espo asked.

Rick nodded his head, overcame the coughing and cleared his throat. Calmer, he threw Beckett a look that she clearly understood as her cheeks immediately flared pink.

"What did you guys find at Hudson University?"

Beckett shifted her gaze to Espo who had queried them, and sorted out her thoughts. "Um. Well, one of the students, Kelly?"

"Mm," Espo acknowledged with a nod.

"Yeah, well, she was in Westchester with her folks and her alibi was proved." Beckett was a little distracted by Castle who fidgeted.

"Jessica pulled out of the fellowship," Castle continued.

"Yes," Beckett confirmed, "And Matt showed us an e-mail Jessica sent that she cc'd Matt in on, with her withdrawal."

Castle said, "But if he was telling the truth, Beckett, then where's all the research she brought back
to her apartment? Given her concerns for privacy, she wouldn't just throw it away. And we know she didn't take it back to the university."

Beckett thought about it, then suggested, "Well, maybe we missed something. Maybe she hid it somewhere. Or maybe Matt is lying about the research."

"I guess we have another road trip." Castle commented and slowly stood up as Beckett did. He also looked at the time. Mid-afternoon and he was ready to crash for a couple of hours. All the sex had him mellowed out, famished for food and tired.

Castle thanked any angels within his orbit for making their journey to Jessica's apartment quick and non-eventful. As she had said she would, Jessica's house mate and best friend, was home when the detectives rapped on the door. The team searched Jessica's bedroom and personal space for the research notes to no avail. Not even a flash drive contained any information. A stack of paperwork and it had completely gone astray.

However, their efforts were not all in vain. Danielle told Beckett she had noticed something different, something a little out of place.

When she had unloaded the dishwasher, Danielle had found a wine glass with a lipstick stain on it. She pointed out it wasn't Jessica's usual shade, and it wasn't one of her own lipsticks. Evidently, she had put the glassware aside to hand-wash it later by hand.

On their drive back to the Precinct the boys swung by the House to bring in Lady Irena for a chat.

The team stared at the woman in the interrogation box. She had that effect on the men, Beckett didn't get. Each of them were enchanted and afraid at the same time. Beckett on the other hand saw through the façade of the woman who dominated others to that of a woman of law. It was something she was used to. Their formative career years conditioned them to be lawyers, just like her mother had been.

"Who would have known that a simple wine glass could blow this case wide open." Castle stated unable to take his eyes from the woman. "And she is attractive and scary."

Beckett laughed then said to the boys, "And you know what tickled Castle the most?"

Castle's eyebrows shot up. "Tickled? Humphh."

Beckett pressed on. "The lipstick was the color of Mistress Red."

Ryan pointed into the interrogation room where Lady Irena was waiting at the desk. "Same color?"

"Yes." Beckett answered. "Well, the reason we are here is to make her confess. Here I go. Alone, Castle."

"I'm not going in there." Rick released an evil laugh, "I cannot wait to see Lady Irena up against Lady Beckett in the interrogation ring, I mean room." He glanced at Beckett, and said softer, "I meant room."

"Sure you did." Beckett shot back as she commenced to back out of the viewing room. But, she stopped and turned about, "And we-", She waved her hand between him and herself a couple of times, "Will have a talk about Lady Beckett, later."

"Sure, Baby." Castle dismissively replied and turned about to look through the glass.

"Baby?" Esposito hissed. Beckett had shot out the door.

"You called her Baby?" Ryan asked.

"Well, slip of the tongue. It's easier to call the ladies a term of endearment than to remember their names." He flippantly answered then waited for one of the guys to challenge him on that.

Ryan waved him off, "Of course, the celebrity bachelor with all the beautiful women hanging off him."

"Someone has to do it for the team. Its tough." He replied and calmly leaned against the window sill when Beckett closed the door once she had entered the interrogation box. It was the truth. It was easier to use a term of endearment than to remember a name in a sea of women his manager encouraged him to socialize with. All to maintain a façade. He gave some thought to his reputation as a player, to how it affected Kate at times. He'd seen her reaction when women tried to hit on him or handed him their phone number. Those feelings she harbored. The insecurities he caused, he didn't like. It had caused him to refuse to be seen in public with any woman his publisher wanted him to. It was also on the condition that Beckett be his plus one.

She sat opposite the ex-lawyer, almost mirroring the older woman's expression and position. She remained silent for a bit while she made herself comfortable.

"Should have been an actress." Castle muttered from the other side of the glass.

"Never know when she's kidding … she is quite the actress." Ryan agreed.

In the box, Beckett drew in cool air coming from the overhead air conditioning vent. "Did you know," She begun, "That lip prints are a lot like fingerprints? No two are exactly alike." Hazel eyes scanned the woman's face in search of the slightest changes, muscle twitches.

"Hmm." Lady Irena responded in thought.

Beckett showed Lady Irena an 8 x 10 inch photo of a lip stick stain on a wine glass, noting she didn't get much of a reaction from the ex-lawyer. She continued. "We found this on a wine glass in Jessica's apartment. What do you think we'll find when we compare it to your lips?"

Lady Irena sighed with impatience, "That stain could've been there for months."

"But it wasn't," Beckett calmly replied, "We checked with your car service. They said they dropped you off at 9:00 pm in front of Jessica's place the night she was killed." Beckett leaned on the desk, "You were the last one to see her alive. What happened that night?"

"Detective, at this time, I'm exercising my right to legal counsel. I won't be answering any further questions."

Beckett closed her folder, "Okay. A uniform will be here in a minute or so." She stood up, gave Irena a second to rethink her request. Nothing happened. She walked from the room.

Beckett met the rest of her team outside the box and they gathered together. She quietly said, "As you heard, she's lawyering up. Ryan, can you organize that in a second please?"

"Sure."

"What did they find at Jessica's apartment after we left?"

Esposito replied, "They found the crime scene. It seems Irena was pretty good at cleaning up after herself. There was no trace or blood evidence, but the area around Jessica's bedside table lit up like a Christmas tree. It'd been scrubbed down with bleach."

Beckett said, "That's why we didn't find Jessica's research. Irena got rid of it all."

Ryan said, "Yeah, but she didn't quite clean everything. Once CSU stripped the bed, the swab test revealed dried saliva in one of her pillows from her screams as she was smothered."

"Looks like she'd do anything to protect her business, even kill." Castle commented.

"All right, lawyer or not, let's book her." Beckett ordered.

Ryan said, "Let's do it.

Esposito said, "Then we can go home."

Rick clapped his hands. "Let's get on with it then."