428. Chapter 428

After Nanny McDead

Episode 1.02

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: No. 'Nuff said. Rating: K Time: See above.

"But I was a help. You do have to admit I was a help."

Kate Beckett glared at Castle. I do not have to admit anything. She thought. "Castle, you do know that the NYPD has been solving homicides for years. Since before you were born. Since before everybody was born?"

Castle ignored the dig. "Who thought to look at the tenants? Who thought to look for the guy in 8-B?"

Beckett smiled coldly. "The "guy" in 8-B is an elderly woman who was in Chicago visiting relatives."

Castle sighed dramatically. "Details. Looking at the tenants got us looking for people in the building and that led us to Chloe Richardson, the killer."

"It's not like you're the first person to think of looking at known associates of a victim, Castle."

"You're not going to give me any credit for this, are you?"

Beckett just smiled at him.

"What about the five second gap in the security footage?"

"We look at security footage, Castle. We look at lots and lots of security and traffic cam footage and eventually we find something."

"Oh, eventually? When would that have been? About the time Chloe started receiving her Social Security checks."

Now Beckett was starting to get mad. "The NYPD, the 12th Precinct, and my homicide team has a very good record of solving murders, Castle. I'd suggest you don't push things."

"Who, me?" Castle asked with as much surprise as he could muster. "Never."

Beckett just rolled her eyes.

"And who thought to call Sarah's cell phone when we were in Ian Harris's apartment? Was it you?"

"And who was it that came into the laundry room when Chloe Richardson was cutting herself with a knife? Did you think you were helping?" Kate said coldly.

"Okay, in that instance, I didn't help because there was no reason for me to do anything. But, if you had gotten into trouble, I would have been right there for you." He said smugly.

"Wait! You would have been there for me? Did I hear that right?"

Castle made a show of thinking about it, frowning in mock concentration and stroking his jaw. "Yes. I believe you did hear me right. I'll make a note of that: Detective Kate Beckett has excellent hearing."

"Castle, have you ever heard of suicide by cop?"

Castle frowned and shook his head. "No. I must have missed that one."

"It's when people decide to commit suicide and for some reason can't do the deed themselves. So, they make a threat to a cop and the cop shoots them."

"Makes sense." Castle replied.

"Chloe asked me to shoot her. And she had a knife which she was using to carve up her thigh. She was extremely upset and, no doubt suicidal. Now, why was she suicidal?"

Castle raised his hand. "I know. She had committed a murder and the police were closing in."

Kate smiled. "Very good, Mr. Castle. Now, why did she commit the murder?"

"Because Sarah was also sleeping with Ian Harris and wouldn't stop. Chloe was in love with Ian." Castle was starting to see where this was going.

"And Ian was a man. That "sisterhood" thing that you thought was so clever was real. I understood what was going through Chloe's mind. And the last thing she needed to see or hear was anything, anything at all, that reminded her of why she was suicidal. And she was suicidal because of a man. And, to some extent anyway, you're a man."

Castle grimaced at the last part, but quickly put that aside. "Very interesting, and I didn't know about suicide by cop." Castle smiled. "See? That's why I shadow you, Beckett. You know all kinds of cool things."

Beckett frowned. "Here's a cool thing for you. Sarah Manning is dead. Her parents are heart broken. Whatever family she has is also heart broken. Chloe Richardson is going to prison. Probably for manslaughter and not murder, but a bright, happy young college graduate has just had her future blighted. Do you know what kind of jobs ex-cons get? A lot of times they don't get any. And Chloe is pregnant. If she's lucky, her child will be raised by a loving family member. Chloe's parents, or maybe a sibling. If she's not lucky, the child will end up in foster care. And a lot of foster care isn't very good."

She continued, not letting Castle break in. "And, because neither Ian Harris nor Howard Peterson could keep it in their pants, two families are going to be broken up. We don't know the consequences of that, but I'm willing to bet it'll be hardest on the children involved and on the women."

"Like I said, both men will have to go through expensive, unpleasant divorces, especially Peterson." Castle replied.

"You would think of that." Beckett snapped at him.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You told me that you've been divorced twice, so I doubt that you'd think a divorce would be all that traumatic. Just another minor problem in the life of Richard Castle."

"Oh? So you think that I got married for the sole purpose of having a fun divorce? When I married my first wife, Meredith, I expected that I had exactly what you said you wanted. One marriage that would last for the rest of my life. Meredith was fun, unconventional, sexy, outgoing, always happy. No one was more shocked and upset than I was when I was served with divorce papers."

"I can well understand your wife wanting to leave you." Kate shot back at him.

"I came home one day and found Meredith screwing a director so she could get a part in his movie. I got custody of Alexis. Full custody. Meredith got the money and I got my daughter. That's the best deal I ever made. But it still hurt like hell at the time."

"That's your story, Castle. I'm a trained investigator. I'll withhold judgement until I hear both sides of the story. And what about your second marriage?"

Castle shrugged. "Gina is also my publisher. I thought we'd be perfect together, knowing each other so well. And we did work well together as writer and publisher. Not so well as husband and wife. Someone called us two nice people who should never have gotten married."

"Again, I withhold judgement."

Castle checked his watch. "Time for me to get home. Tomorrow, Detective Beckett?"

"Good night, Castle." Kate returned to her paperwork.

Once Castle had left, Beckett began thinking about the conversation they'd had. So, we're all highly trained homicide cops and we probably would have found all of the things Castle found eventually. And maybe by the time we found those things, Ian or Chloe would have been dead. So, Castle, in spite of everything was a help. And also a giant pain in the ass. I do wish I knew more about his ex-wives. Get their stories. She pushed the thought away. Why the hell would I care about that?

Richard Castle finished the last sentence and closed his laptop. Yes, Nikki Heat's heart had been broken and so has Kate Beckett's. She so needs to have her heart made whole. But how do I do that? Will she let me do that? Do I even know how to do that for her?

Richard Castle leaned back in his chair and thought very seriously about Detective Kate Beckett.