Unexpected Appearance Chapter 47

Rick twiddles a french fry in ketchup as he watches Kate suck thick cool liquid through a Remy's oversized straw. "We've been in a holding pattern ever since Montgomery's fake death," he points out. "I admit that knowing you're under surveillance all the time isn't too conducive to adventures in relationship-building. But we're out from under now. Montgomery is back at the 12th, at least until Evelyn convinces him to take retirement, and we'll just be on the trail of regular murder cases. Kate, how do you see us moving ahead as a couple?"

Kate pushes away the heavy glass holding her shake. "Castle, if it were just the two of us, we could live together. I spend most of my time with you at the loft anyway. But you've got a daughter and a mother, and …."

"And it would be like we're still being watched?"

Kate sighs. "Something like that."

"Alexis only has one more year of high school left, and she's made it very clear that she doesn't want to live at home while she goes to college. She has her eye on Stanford, where Ashley will be a freshman. Mother has her school. Her career is also getting a second wind as she moves into some of the better roles for more, um, experienced actresses. She's even up for playing the grandmother on an upcoming TV series. She can afford to have a place of her own again, and if she needs a little boost between gigs, I can help her out."

"All of that is still going to take time, Castle. I can't give up my apartment based on what's going to happen a year from now. And I don't even know where our relationship is going."

"Where do you want it to go?"

"I told you what I want when we were both in that isolation tent, terrified we'd die of radiation poisoning. I want someone who'll be there for me, and I can be there for him, and we can dive into it together."

"Which is exactly what we've been doing."

"To solve my mother's case and to take down Bracken. But Castle, getting justice for my mother was the reason I became a cop. I've done that now and a lot more. I'm not sure where I'm going, so how can I ask you to go there with me?"

"You don't have to ask. I'm volunteering. I love Kate Beckett, and not just Detective Kate Beckett. I love the whole package. Whether you're a cop or not, I don't care. I'll dive into whatever waters you choose."

"Until I figure out the next step, that's still solving murders at the 12th Precinct. And I want to do it with you. But we have to be professional on the job. It's hard enough trying to lead as a woman, but if …."

"I get the picture. But off the job?"

"I want to be together as much as we can, but until the loft is less crowded, more at my place than yours."

"Fair enough," Rick agrees. "However, I'm sure the redheads have prepared a victory celebration. They've been whispering for days. And the victory is ultimately yours."

Kate reaches for her glass and sucks up the last of her shake. "Fine, Castle. Let's go celebrate with them. But let's celebrate by ourselves at my place later."

Rick grins. "Absolutely."

Applause rings through the bullpen as Kate and Rick get off the elevator in the morning.

Nodding her thanks, Kate raises her hands and takes a seat at her desk as the noise rumbles on, growing louder as Montgomery pops out of his office.

"All right! All right! That's enough. We still have work to do. Let's get to it," Montgomery orders. He lowers his voice as the tumult dies down. "Beckett, we have a new case. If you still like the weird ones, this fits the bill. It's right up your alley, too, Castle. A creep with a gun who was after a woman got his hand cut off with a sword. Then, the guy with the sword cut the creep's body in half."

"Wow!" Rick exclaims. "Like some rogue superhero. Horizontally or vertically?"

Montgomery shakes his head. "The call I got didn't give that much detail, Castle. Beckett, Dr. Parish is already on her way. She can fill you in. And take Ryan and Esposito. They need a new case. They filled a wastebasket with paper airplanes yesterday."

"Yes sir," Kate agrees, grabbing a tote she didn't have time to stow in a drawer. "On it."

A man with a notebook pushes his way toward Kate and Castle. "Detective! Detective! Detective! What can you tell us about this crime scene?"

"Uh, no comment," Kate replies, ducking under the crime tape.

Castle follows. "Quite a gathering of the Fourth Estate. Word travels fast."

"The body is over here," Officer Anne Hastings says. She points up at the windows of a nearby building. "It would have been visible from any of those apartments."

"And one tweet would have been a siren call for the press," Rick realizes. He looks down at both halves of the body, covered by yellow plastic. "Oh!"

Esposito looks on, wincing. "Yeah, tell me about it. Split head to his, um…."

"Family jewels," Rick fills in.

"He didn't lose any of his real jewelry," Lanie says. "He's still wearing his watch and pieces of some bling. Whoever did the slicing wasn't out to rob him."

"From what Captain Montgomery told us, according to the witness, after splitting the vic apart, the guy with the sword just took off," Kate recalls.

"Without a piece of the sword," Lanie says. "The tip broke off in the body when it hit the pelvic girdle."

"Ouch," Rick says as Lanie holds up an evidence bag containing the metal. "Single-edged blade, like a saber. Very Game of Thrones."

"According to the girl who was in the middle of being assaulted, more like a Marvel movie," Ryan says. "Her name is Marie Marcado. She's over here."

"I want to talk to her," Kate says.

"This," Rick declares, "is a story I have to hear."

"I met him at Matt's Bar around the corner," Marie Marcado explains. "He seemed like a nice enough guy, talking about his ship coming in. Anyway, it got late. I left with him. That's when he got all super aggressive. I took off running. He caught me and pulled a gun. God knows what would have happened if …."

"Your not-so-friendly neighborhood slicerman hadn't shown up?" Rick inserts.

"Exactly," Marie agrees.

"Beckett," Rick queries, "despite all the recent courtroom drama, I'm not completely up on definitions of murder, but wouldn't what the sword slinger did qualify as justifiable homicide, acting in defense of another?"

"Maybe in cutting off the hand to disarm the assailant," Kate considers, "but I doubt Waterhouse would buy slicing him in half. In any case, that's eventually for a jury to decide. We just have to get the guy."

"Capturing a superhero," Rick muses. "That's a new one, and somehow, I doubt it's going to be easy. But if it were, there would be no need to call in detective extraordinaire Kate Beckett."

Kate flushes. "Castle, let's just get on with it and identify the victim."

"Which half?"

"They're equally scummy. Both."