The Alibi

"He's not even nervous," Ryan noted, chewing anxiously on his thumb nail.

"Why would he be?" Esposito asked defensively. "He didn't do anything!"

Gates hummed, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. Surprisingly, she seemed perfectly neutral; a perfectly calming barrier between Beckett and her too-anxious, too-defensive, too-emotional team as she tried to disconnect.

The four of them stood in a line, arms crossed in front of chests, eyes narrowed in frustration as they stared through the two-way mirror, watching a team from the two-oh interrogating Richard Castle.

Their Richard Castle.

Out of professional courtesy - for Detective Beckett and the team, not for non-detective Castle, as they had referred to him as - Detective Aarons and his partner, Detective Walsh, had agreed to ask their questions at the twelfth.

"Sir, you know he didn't do this," Beckett whined, frustrated that her captain hadn't even attempted to stop this. Neutral had only scored her so many points.

"He had a relationship with the victim, they have to look into it," Gates explained, her eyes glued to the scene unfolding on the other side of the window.

In the box, Castle remained calm. He had no reason to be nervous, after all. He knew he had nothing to do with this crime and, sooner or later, the evidence would show that.

"Okay, Mister Castle, just let us know where you were last night and we can clear this whole mess up." Detective Aarons readied his pen, hovering it above his notepad as he waited for Castle to provide his alibi.

"Last night?" Castle asked, his voice wavering slightly.

Beckett tensed, fear tingling in her every nerve ending.

"I don't recall," Castle said with a shrug. "Guess that doesn't help my case, does it?"

"He doesn't recall?" Gates' focus only strengthened as she inched closer to the window.

"Come on, Sir, you don't really think he did this, do you?"

"Of course not!" She waved off Beckett's accusatory tone. "But without a rock solid alibi, he might just go down for this."

Beckett stared at the man - her man - sitting on the wrong side of that table.

Just tell them... her thoughts urged, as if their relationship had allowed them to form some ability to communicate telepathically.

She abandoned telepathy in favour of actual words. "He has an alibi, Sir."

Gates, Ryan and Espo all turned to face her, confused looks on their faces.

"And his alibi is?" Gates pried.

Beckett gave Gates her best please don't make me say it out loud look, but her captain simply raised an eyebrow in response.

"Detective?" she urged, growing impatient with Beckett's silence.

Beckett sighed, accepting her fate.

She knew what she had to do.

She stormed out of the observation room, forcing her way through the door on the other side of the glass just seconds later.

"Detective Beckett, can I help you?" Detective Walsh asked, taken aback by her sudden presence.

"What are you doing?" Castle asked her, his voice low.

"Castle was with me last night," she blurted, informing the inquisitor that Castle did, in fact, have that rock solid alibi he needed.

"That's awfully convenient," Walsh remarked. "Can anyone back that up?"

His assumption that she was simply covering for him - risking her career, her reputation, bearing false witness - bothered her beyond reason, triggering her defensive side.

"Wasn't exactly a group event," she commented with attitude.

Aarons leant back in his seat, studying Beckett's demeanour. He turned his attention back to Castle.

"There's regulations against this," he stated, trying to hit a nerve, trying to read Castle's response. "She could lose her job."

"I'm aware," Castle muttered, painfully aware of the risk she had just taken for him, the fallout that was bound to come from her revelation.

Aarons looked back and forth between the couple. He didn't seem one hundred percent sold on the story yet.

"The Garden restaurant in West Village." She offered the details unprompted. "We had dinner delivered to my apartment around 8pm. We paid cash, but the delivery guy should remember Castle. Ask about the over-tipper in the floral nightgown, that should jog his memory."

Aarons looked at Walsh. "Run it."

Walsh stood, sliding past Beckett as he made his way to follow up on the information she had provided.

"You can go now, Detective," he dismissed.

She hung her head low and backed out of the room, shutting the door behind her. She turned to head anywhere but back into the observation room, but when she lifted her head she found Gates already waiting in the hallway for her, arms crossed and brow knitted.

Ryan and Esposito stood behind her looking apologetic.

"My office," Gates growled. "Now!"