Confession Chapter 56

"Katie, I was just about to call you. I scared up tickets for the Yankees game tonight and I was wondering if you wanted to go. "I know Castle's not much of a baseball fan, but I have three tickets in case he wants to come too."

"Actually, Dad, I was calling to ask you about something relating to a case. Do you know anyone in the cabins at your end of Skaneateles Lake?"

"At the lake, not really, no. We wave to each other from time to time when we're taking our boats out. But most of the others in the area don't own their cabins. They rent for a week or two from a cluster owned by a real estate company, Skaneateles Dreams. If you're looking for someone up there right now, that's who you should call. But about the game…."

Kate looks questioningly at Castle who shrugs and nods. "OK, Dad, we're in."

"Great! Can you meet me at my office around five-fifteen? That will give us time to get up there and get settled in before things get rolling."

"Fine," Kate agrees, "see you then."

"This could work out," Castle says with unexpected enthusiasm. "We were going to get deli for tonight anyway. We can get extra, drop some by the loft for Alexis, and share a spread with your dad. I've spent enough time with him to know he appreciates a thick sandwich or two."

"Or we could forget the deli. You could make sure Alexis has money for pizza and we could get stadium hotdogs."

"Kate, if you're sitting there eating a hotdog my eyes are not going to be on the game – and your father will have a good idea why."

"Babe, he's never told me I could bring someone along to a game before. He knows we're sleeping together. And for the first time I can remember, he actually seems to like one of my boyfriends."

"Boyfriends. Is that what I am, one of your boyfriends?"

"The only one. But do you have another word for what we are to each other?"

"If I wanted to channel Rook the romance writer I'd have a passel of them. Still what comes immediately to mind are two, partners and lovers, in equal measure. But maybe you don't see it that way. Or you're just not that committed."

"How committed are you, Castle?"

"Kate, I'd walk into a tornado for you. If I could have been the one to take that bullet instead of you, I would have done it. And I'm willing to go to a baseball game to be with you."

The laugh that bursts from Kate's lips surprises both of them. "That is quite a sacrifice, Castle. I'm not sure I've done anything that could match it."

"You did sit there for hours while I polished up the finer points of my Christopher Walken imitation."

"More or less polished up."

"Even more of a sacrifice. So, Lovers? Partners?"

"Both."

"Good. Maybe I should do my Christopher Walken for your father."

"Don't push it, Castle."

"Not pushing it. Back to the case?" he inquires pulling out his cell phone. "It shouldn't be hard to get a number for Skaneateles Dreams." He enters a quick search phrase. "Here it is. And Beckett, they have a handy New York City satellite branch. It's right on the way to your father's office. Want to call or stop in?"

"Stopping in is better. It's harder for people to deny having information with a badge in their faces."

"But Zabars first?"

"Definitely Zabars first."

Cillian Throgmorton's oversized blue eyes and impressive head of black hair don't seem to fit his unwieldy name, but he is helpful enough. "Greenway, Greenway, yes, Dirk Greenway. He has a contract to occupy one of our cabins for two weeks every year."

"Two weeks when?" Kate queries.

"If he's using his time, he should be there right now," Throgmorton responds.

"Do you have any way of knowing if he's there or not, Mr. Throgmorton?" Castle asks.

Throgmorton shakes his head. "Not really. We used to have landlines in the cabins, but with everyone getting a cell phone, it was no longer worth the expense. Due to the popularity of the festivals, the area has quite reliable mobile service. We have a cleaning crew go in at the beginning and end of each contracted stay. But since the tenants are charged whether they use their time or not, there's no reason to check up on them. And if they damage something, we just send them a bill."

"Nice little setup," Castle observes, "Maximum profit with minimal effort."

"It's good business, Mr. Castle," Throgmorton replies, pointedly shifting his gaze toward Kate. "Detective Beckett, is there anything else I can help you with?"

"The address of the cabin Greenway may be occupying," she prompts.

"Oh yes. Of course."

"Do you really think Gates will sign off on a trip up to Skaneateles Lake tomorrow?" Castle asks as he and Kate depart the real estate office.

"I don't see that she has a choice, Castle. Dirk Greenway is at the top of our suspect list in Oscar Blumenfeld's murder. The cabin up there is the most likely spot to track him down. And it's only about a four-and-a-half-hour drive. If we leave early enough tomorrow, we could be up there and back in a day."

"Then we shouldn't stay too long at the game. We'll need a good night's sleep."

"Castle, I'm not leaving until the game is over."

"With my luck," Castle mutters, "it will go into extra innings."

The crack of bat on ball drives the fans to their feet as Mark Teixeira rounds the bases for a home run. Totally caught up, Castle is up and yelling even faster and louder than Kate. "Well, that's it," Jim Beckett declares with the closest he ever gets to a grin. "The Yankees took another one."

"Yes, they did," Castle agrees. He's about to suggest beers to celebrate before mentally kicking himself. He knows that Jim's an alcoholic, but most of the time it's easy to forget – for him anyway. It can't be as easy for the man himself with fans eagerly partaking of brew all around him. Standing up to that takes a strength Castle admires, and he's not about to make the fight any more difficult than it already is. He checks his watch. He and Kate will need to head out anyway. Tomorrow will be a long day.

Wearing an oversized NYPD T-shirt that brushes her thighs, Kate climbs into bed at her own apartment. With the early start they'll need to get in the morning, the last thing she needs is a reason to do anything other than sleep. She and Castle had to settle for a good night kiss and the agreement to meet early in the morning.

Kate's made the drive up to Skaneateles Lake many times, visiting her father on his stay through the holiday season. The celebratory air in the city has always reminded him that Johanna is no longer around to enjoy it. So he just avoids it. Kate has always preferred the distraction afforded by burying herself in a case rather than a vigil at a frozen lake, regardless of its beauty. But she's also always wanted to make sure her father was all right. In those first few years after Johanna's death, she invariably found him with bottles – a lot of them. For the past five, he's been sober, but still wanted no part of the lights and sidewalk Santas of the Big Apple. Maybe this will be the year he can abandon his self-imposed exile. She hopes so.