441. Chapter 441

After Inventing the Girl

Episode 2.03

By

UCSbdad

Disclaimer: Claiming to own Castle would be an invention on my part. Rating: T Time: See above.

"How do I look, Miss Tatiana?"

The tall, leggy woman in the Dior little black dress and the diamonds looked her over. "Oh, you are fine, Rina." She said with a distinct Russian accent.

Rina smiled and laughed. "I can't believe I'm really working with Matilda King. Will I get to meet her later? I really want to."

The woman shrugged. "Matilda King is very important person. She cannot be everywhere. This is small fashion show for European designers not known in America."

"So, you're Anthony's new whore." Said a bored voice from behind her with a distinct English accent.

Tatiana turned and smiled at the woman. "Not whore. I am designer. I work for Mr. Anthony."

"Mostly by spreading those legs of yours, I imagine." She said coldly. Two well dressed women behind her giggled.

Tatiana's smile remained. "I know you. You are Sloan Coffin-Johnson, from England. You were model." Tatiana waited a beat. "A very long time ago."

The woman's smile froze. "I've moved on." She said curtly.

"I have heard. You move by spreading your legs, but then you just lie there, like dead pig."

"I will not have some slut from Moscow…"

"Kiev." Tatiana said hotly,

"Is there a problem, ladies?" A tall, well dressed, and ruggedly handsome man asked, his blue eyes sparkling.

"And you are?" The Englishwoman asked coldly.

"Richard Castle. I'm one of the organizers of this charity event. My good friend Matilda King has allowed us to use the premises of Modern Fashion for our little show."

"Richard Castle?" She said, in a much warmer tone of voice. "I believe I've read some of your books. They're absolutely fascinating. Perhaps you could join me in a drink and we can discuss your works?"

Castle smiled. "I'd love to." He said, raising his hand so that his wedding ring showed. "But, I'm afraid every second of this night is taken up with my work here. There's so much to do here."

"I've done some modelling." Sloan said. "I can be of help to you."

"Only if we need model for fashions for babushkas, grandmothers." Tatiana said snarkily.

"I am not…" Sloan began, moving towards Tatiana.

Castle moved between the two women. "I am afraid I do need to talk to these two ladies about the show." Castle looked around and snapped his fingers. "Javier? Please escort these lovely ladies to bar and be sure they get the very good champagne. The Dom Perignon."

Javier glared at Castle and successfully hid a smile when Tatiana whispered, "Although they'll be accustomed to wine in cardboard box." However, he led the three ladies away.

Once they were out of earshot, Castle spoke to Rina. "Now, remember, you have a wire on. You don't have to take any chances. Just walk around with the other models and listen. We've made sure that they've had a few drinks and that should loosen their tongues. At least one of the six models that were at the after-hours party must have seen something, but they all claim they were in the ladies room when someone pumped six rounds into DJ The Big Bounce, AKA Betty Wilson. But, they all claim they were in the ladies room alone."

Tatiana leaned in to speak, her Russian accent disappearing. "I should be going in with the models, Castle. I can do it. I still have the body and the cheekbones for it and I'm the one that's a cop."

"Kate…Um, Tatiana, the New York modeling world is very tight knit. Everyone knows everyone else. No one would know you and they wouldn't say a thing." Rina said. Adding, "Although you do have the looks of a model."

"They wouldn't know I'm cop." Tatiana said, reverting to her Russian accent.

"It wouldn't make any difference. They wouldn't know who you were and they'd close ranks against an outsider. I fit right in, however. I've worked with all of these women." Rina flashed both of them a smile. "I'll be fine." Rina headed off to the model's dressing room, her hips swaying gently.

"You can look, Reekee." Tatiana said.

"I did, Tatiana. I hate to see you go, but I love the way you walk away from me. You've got Rina beat by a mile."

Tatiana smiled and kissed Rick on the cheek.

"Watch it. Rick Castle is known to be a married man who loves his wife dearly."

Tatiana frowned. "You used that love to talk me into this hare brained idea. How could have I let you talk me into letting some model into doing undercover work? What if something happens to Rina?"

"Tatiana, nothing's going to happen. The models' dressing room isn't as big as our bathroom. We have you and me here…"

"And dress is too tight to conceal pistol." Tatiana grumped.

"Which is why I have both of your pieces on me. And we have our friendly bartender, Javier, who was giving the models free drinks on an empty stomach. Ryan is a gofer, the kind of a guy these girls see all the time and totally ignore. Tory Ellis has her cameras and laptop, making her the perfect media representative. And we borrowed Cristina Callao from the Two Four, our lovely couture buyer from South America. Don't worry, we've got it covered. Nothing will…"

Castle's explanation was cut short by an ear piercing shriek. Rina came running out shrieking with a half a dozen models behind her. Kate grabbed for her pistol, but it was caught in his pocket. She cursed and pulled hard on her sidearm.

Castle put his hand on hers and stopped her when Rina ran up to them screaming, "It's a spider! The biggest spider I've ever seen! Get it out of there. Get it out now."

Ryan, in his capacity of the gofer, removed a very large spider from the models dressing room and then looked through every part of the room while the models stood in the doorway telling him where to look. Finally, after Javier the bartender had given the women another stiff drink, they all went back to the dressing room to change.

Later that night, Tatiana and Reekee got back to their loft. Tatiana rested her head on Reekee's chest. "Poor Tatiana. She love Reekee, but Reekee spend all his time looking at young models. Maybe Reekee not love Tatiana?"

Castle gently squeezed Tatiana's glorious ass. "Reekee loves Tatiana. No woman is as beautiful, sexy, smart, dedicated and passionate as Tatiana, even if she does listen to her husband's hare brained ideas."

"At least we found out that the models really didn't see anything at the shooting." Kate said, dropping her Russian accent.

"And they were telling the truth. They were all in the ladies room. But they were together."

"Turning tricks for members of the Big Bounce's crew. We went looking for a killer and we got a prostitution ring. That'll make Vice happy, but it does nothing for our homicide investigation."

Rick kissed the top of Kate's head. "How about I show Tatiana how much I love her?"

"Reekee do that for Tatiana?"

Reekee picked Tatiana up in his arms and carried her to the bedroom.