Confession Chapter 71

"How about City Hall Park?" Castle asks as he and Kate join the stream of pedestrians outside the coffee shop. It's not that far and you can drink in serenity on stretches of green and from the closest thing the Big Apple has to fresh air."

"All right," Kate agrees. "I could use something with a little life in it."

"Well, it's not like we're going camping," Castle muses, offering his arm. "But on the other hand, we won't have to worry about hiding our provisions from bears either."

"Just the occasional pickpocket or purse-snatcher," Kate quips.

Castle's eyebrows begin to jig. "What is that I'm seeing? Could it be the beginning of a smile?"

"Maybe. I'd like to go to the fountain. Sometimes, when I was little, I'd come down to the park with my parents and my dad would give me a penny to throw in to make a wish."

"Any of them ever come true?" Castle wonders.

"One I can remember. I got a Drive Yourself Crazy game for Christmas. I would have liked it even better if it had a motorcycle instead of a car, but I had a lot of fun with it."

"Which explains some of your current maneuvers. Anything else?"

"I wanted to grow up to be like Mom, to be able to fight for justice like a superhero – but without having to wear the skintight suit."

"You'd look terrific in a skintight superhero suit, Beckett. And you could get an Olympic medal for running in heels. But you did grow up to be like your mom. You prove it almost every day on the street and you definitely proved it today."

"But I still don't know where to go from here, Castle. The killers I go after every day aren't supervillains. Most of the time they're sad, disturbed, or plain stupid. Or they're pulled into violence so young they never had the chance to know any better."

"So what are you saying? That you don't want to be a cop anymore? Your original plan was to go to law school. You could still do it, Kate – become a hero of the downtrodden like your mother. And you wouldn't have Bracken's web of evil holding you back."

"My mother was a hero. I saw that and I admired it. But she could only help one person at a time. That's a lot like what I've been doing as a cop. I get one bad guy put away, but crime is like a hydra, it grows two more heads."

"Ah, good classical reference."

"I always liked reading about Hercules's adventures, because he couldn't just be strong, he had to be smart. The Hydra had nine heads but only one was immortal. So Hercules had his nephew Iolaus cauterize the wounds when he cut off the other eight so nothing could regrow. Then he cut off the immortal head and buried it under a rock. It might have still been alive, but it couldn't go anywhere."

"A reasonable description of Bracken's plight for the foreseeable future," Castle notes.

"Right, but the point is that a lot of the real hurt in this world is inflicted by modern-day hydras – massive corporations. They can impact hundreds, thousands, sometimes millions of people unless someone cuts off and buries the immortal head."

"Going after corporations – that's the kind of law your father practices."

Yes, it is," Kate agrees. "Growing up I always understood what my mom did, because it was easy to wrap my head around helping an individual. But I never really grasped what Dad did, how many people he could help with just one case."

"But you see it now." Castle's fingers tighten around Kate's slim hand. "Is that what you want to do, study corporate law, go to war against the behemoths?"

"Go to war against the behemoths, yes. But not necessarily go to law school. With my experience as a cop, I could work as an investigator to expose corporate rip-offs. I might even be able to work undercover, give first-hand testimony about what I've experienced."

"Do you want to work with your father?" Castle asks.

"If he'll have me."

Castle draws Kate against his side, pressing his lips to her hair. "He would be crazy not to, and your dad is nobody's fool. Are you going to talk to him about it?"

"I don't know. Everything just now came together in my mind. I hadn't gotten that far."

"He will be joining us at the loft for Christmas, Kate. Telling him that you want to work together could be one hell of a Christmas present."

"I hope so."

"Hey, we're coming up on the fountain," Castle realizes. "Going to throw in a penny?"

Kate starts digging into her purse. "I think by now I'll have to make it at least a quarter."

Kate has always covered a shift on Christmas Eve and this year is no exception. Still, with Gates' aversion to overtime, Kate's shift will end promptly at five p.m. That will leave plenty of time for the Christmas Eve dinner and festivities at the loft.

While Kate is at the precinct, Castle has plans of his own. He and Kate never did make it to the Diamond District. She didn't get a glimpse of what he'd commissioned for her months before. Benji Lefkowitz made it clear to Castle that it is awaiting pickup, but the writer will have to make it before sundown. Benji isn't concerned with Christmas Eve, but it is a Friday and he will be ceasing work before the first hint of darkness and going to shul as usual.

Castle drives his car to the Diamond District. It would be easier and probably quicker to take the subway than to fight holiday traffic. Still, Castle can't see transporting his precious cargo amid the underground crush of humanity, and he doesn't want to count on getting a cab.

Pressing the button on the intercom next to the gated door of Benji's shop, Castle announces himself. The buzzer sounds and he pulls the heavy door open. The inside of the shop doesn't look like much. Unlike the glittering displays that would call to shoppers at a mall, most of Benji's gems are loose stones secured in a vault. He sets them to order. A few sample settings lie on velvet inside a small glass-fronted display case. Benji's eyes light up above his bearded face. "Ah, Richard. You made it!"

'Is my order ready to go, Benji?" Castle queries.

"Of course. It was ready when I called you three days ago. Would you like to see it or shall I just box it?"

"I want to see it. Before I unveil it to Kate, I'd like to know what I'm unveiling."

"What you will be unveiling is precisely what you ordered," Benji declares. "But you can examine it to reassure yourself. It's in the small safe in the back. I'll be just a minute." The man disappears into a heavily draped doorway.

Castle paces the tight space inside the store. With the sudden turn that Kate's decided her life should take, he's not sure she's ready to consider any more changes. But the trial is over and for months she's been telling him that when it was, she would be ready to think about other things. He's pretty sure what she meant. They've come to the moment and he can't let it pass.

Benji emerges to present the contents of a small velvet box. A diamond flashes, ringed by amethysts, gems of Kate's beloved purple. Castle draws in a deep breath. Kate's life is not the only one about to change – at least he hopes so.