Chapter 76

The next morning Castle met Beckett at the Precinct at 8.30. A few mornings a week, the boys and Beckett trained for some marathon he'd finally got out doing with his team. Beckett had accepted that she was leaving Rick in bed, to pound the pavements of NYC with Esposito and Ryan.

Once training was over, Castle provided the coffee and the protein shake he insisted she consume after the two hour workout. Once the breakfast was consumed, they set out to walk to the morgue because Lanie had summoned Beckett stating she had important information.

"Chet, Mom's partner, has asked her to move in with him." Rick said to Kate breaking a brief and unusual period of silence during their walk to the Morgue. They'd made it about block, dodging other pedestrians, but never letting anyone part them.

"Isn't it too soon?" Beckett asked. They waited for the green man to give them the go ahead to proceed across the street. "Haven't they only been dating for a few months?"

"Apparently when you get to be her age, every minute counts."

"Maybe." She replied, "Is she going to move out?"

"We'll have to wait and see. In typical Martha style, she's going through the pros and cons and one of the cons is, now hear this, Honey."

"I'm listening."

"She doesn't want to live in another man's home." He raised his eyebrows with a Go figure look. The lights went green. They resumed their way.

"Mm." She replied. "Well as it happens, she lives in your home. You are definitely a man."

He laughed. "Thank you. Yes, we made note of the fact that she resides with me, but she claims wholeheartedly that she trained me. Trained me, Beckett. And that is apparently different."

"Well. I could talk to her about a few ways she trained you."

"What?" He squawked. "I'm very conscious of…."

Kate pushed on with all intentions of winding him up. "You touch things." Her large eyes glanced his way as her hand reached out into thin air her fingers clawed.

His eyes widened. "Is that all you got?"

"The rest-" She waved her hand dismissively, "Those don't worry me."

"The rest? How many we talkin' about?"

Beckett shrugged releasing a playful giggle.

"Oh, I see. You're jerking my chain."

"Well, if I told you the rest that would be unfair. We all have bad habits and I'm not about to point any out. When the time comes, I will be happy to live with you, and your pros and cons, because I really like the pros."

Rick stopped. He stared at Beckett. His mind was locked in a place he wasn't able to get out of. She too stopped, then stepped back to him and hooked her finger into his and gave him a gentle tug.

"C'mon Castle. Your Mom should move in with Chet only if she wants to. She is right, that time is important but it has to be at their pace."

"Mmhmm," he replied, "Well what about us?" His linked finger brought her to a stop this time.

She gave him a questioning look. "What about us?"

"It's been a year, Kate. Why don't we –"

"Castle." She stopped him but looked away into the distance.

"Kate?"

Her line of sight returned to him. "Not yet, Castle."

Immediately he broke their link. Hazel eyes shot down to the place their fingers had been hooked. Then she discarded it and moved on. "We need to get to the Morgue," she stated.

Castle watched her proceed ahead of him, her arms folding across her chest. Releasing a deep sigh, he mumbled. "Sure." Disappointment was evident, but he opted to follow, to drop it.

Lanie silently observed the interactions between the detective and writer who had entered the Morgue only moments earlier. An expression of concern crossed her face. There was something weird going on. They stood side by side at the edge of the gurney studying the deceased's naked body. They seemed uneasy.

The Kate's eyes met Lanie's dark brown eyes. Prompted by Beckett's cloudy look of get on with it, she said, "Cause of death is multiple gunshot wounds." She pointed at the points of penetration. "Tox indicates he had a Martini about an hour before he died. Other than that, there is nothing interesting about the body."

Beckett took in a breath, her mind still on the conversation with Castle, too busy with all that to notice that Lanie sensed the air between her companions. She had to ask, "So, then why the call?"

"The body isn't the interesting part," the ME replied as she stepped around, Castle. "Excuse me."

He promptly stepped aside then followed Lanie who went to a large magnifying glass. "But the bullets are." Lanie switched on the magnifier lamp. "Check out the marking on the end of the slugs."

Her visitors inspected the bullets. Then Beckett asked, "Aftermarket factory stamps?

Lanie said, "No." Lanie waved a hand in the direction of the silver bullets placed on a glass slide.

Castle who was busy focusing the magnifying glass and studying the bullets said, "Those aren't stamps. They're letters. And look, there hand-etched. They spell something." As Beckett closed in to look, he slid around the bullets. "Beckett, they spell… kinki". He smirked at Beckett.

"No." Beckett shifted the bullets. "Nikki" she murmured. "Nikki Heat. That's why he called me. That's why he said he was a fan. He dedicated this murder to me."

"Okay," Rick replied straightening up and looking over her face. "That makes it personal."

"We need to speak with the Captain." Beckett said. "Could you use your super phone, Castle, and take a photo of those bullets please?"

"Sure."

Rick opened his phone to take a picture.

"Is there something going on between you two?" Lanie asked.

Both stopped and looked at Lanie with wide eyes.

"Huh?" Kate asked.

"Could cut the air with a knife between you this morning."

Castle and Beckett looked eye to eye, suddenly conscious of their behavior.

He turned his attention to Lanie, "It's good," he replied and pointed at Beckett, "She just needs breakfast."

Kate smiled and nodded, "I could do with coffee."

"Well then, let's get you coffee."

They returned to the Precinct on foot, a short walk and all the way Rick allowed their conversation to rollover on repeat in his mind. He brooded over it. Here he was, committed, head over heels in love and now he was beginning to doubt she felt the same way about him.

A few steps short of the entrance to the Precinct, Kate took a gentle hold of his right forearm to bring him to a stop. He obliged and looked over face, her eyes squinting. He turned them a quarter to get the sun out of her eyes.

"What is it?"

"Are we okay, Castle?"

He swallowed. "Sure. Why wouldn't we be, Beckett?"

She thought about that before she said, "I only said not yet. I didn't say no."

"I know. Let's go inside, Beckett. We have to meet with Montgomery." He replied and raised his left arm in the general direction of the entrance.

In the elevator, they were in the company of three detectives out of sex crimes squad. They busted out of the box at level 2 and no one else came in. The doors closed. At about the time they passed level 3, Rick said, "We'll get out of town when we get off this case. There's a restaurant I would like to take you to in Vancouver. Read a raving review."

She laughed. "My God, you love restauranteering."

He turned and looked at her with a questionable expression, "Is that even a word?"

"Is now," she confirmed. "Vancouver?"

"Yes. I will book a table, and flights, as soon as this retched case is wrapped up."

The elevator pinged, and the doors opened. They stepped out of the chunk of a metal box and strolled to Beckett's desk to prepare for their meeting with the Captain.

The team gathered in Montgomery's office for a debrief. Beckett picked the edge of the desk to sit upon and Rick took the chair alongside her, happy to have an uninterrupted view of her shapely thighs. Esposito slipped onto the chair next to Castle. Ryan was caught on a phone call to CSU.

Montgomery asked the group, "Does he realize she's a fictional character, not a real person?"

Castle replied, "Obviously, he's delusional, but given that Nikki Heat is based on detective Beckett, maybe he's confusing the two. And we showed Alex Peterman's family the sketch of our suspect. He did not look familiar.

Montgomery said, "How are we on forensics?"

Beckett, who unconsciously played with the pearls of the bracelet, answered, "C.S.U grabbed about 200 fingerprints, a thousand fibers and 60 odd DNA samples, and that was just from the phone box. They're working them up now…" She paused, the ring of her desk phone interrupting her train of thought, "After they clear their backlog."

"I'll make a call to get the DNA results done faster." Montgomery said as he looked to the doorway as Ryan leaned into the room.

"Beckett", Ryan said, "Guy on the phone's asking for Detective Heat."

Beckett looked to Montgomery.

"Take it here," the Captain instructed. "Ryan, get a trace put on the call before she picks up."

They waited the seconds it took for Ryan to put a trace on the line before Beckett picked up the Captain's desk phone. "Beckett."

A male said, "Nikki, did you get the first part of my message?"

"Yes, I did." She answered, her eyes locked on Ryan who waited for someone on the end of his line to trace her caller. Her heart beat heavily and fast.

"Well, the second is at the Central Park carousel," he stated and then the phoneline disconnected.

"Did you get it?" Castle called out.

Disappointed, Ryan shook his head. "Nope. Not enough time."

"Get a team to the carousel." Montgomery ordered but the group was already rushing out of his office.