Chapter 86: Daily Exaggeration

After dinner, Castle dropped his ex-wife Meredith, whom he had been divorced from for years, at the hotel she had booked. He then drove home with his equally dejected daughter, Alexis, feeling utterly deflated.

"Dad, you can't let Mom stay in New York. It would be a disaster for both of us..."

Alexis mustered the courage to impress upon her father the terrifying consequences of having her mother in the same city as them.

"Sweetheart, I know exactly how destructive your mother can be. Honestly, from the day I married her, I haven't been able to do anything about her. You saw it yourself; I tried to talk her out of it, but it didn't work. And now, I even have to co-sign the mortgage for her new apartment. What do you think I should do?"

"No, Dad, I don't want to lie to my teachers anymore, taking days off only to go shopping with her. Who knows where she'll take me next time? Last time, she said we were going shopping, but she took me straight to the airport and flew to Paris! Dad, you have to find a way to make Mom change her mind about settling in New York! I believe you can do it!"

Alexis desperately tried to instill in her father the necessity of not letting her mother stay. While she loved her mom, Meredith was just too overwhelming. If her dad didn't stand firm, Alexis felt her life would be turned upside down by her mom's antics.

Castle, seeing his daughter's desperate expression, felt a pang of pity. "Alright, Alexis, I'll figure out a way to make Meredith drop this idea. You don't need to worry about it; let Dad handle it. By the way, I have some good news for you: your godfather is going to be a dad!"

Alexis was immediately distracted by the news of John becoming a father. "What? Godfather is going to be a dad? Is his new wife that Italian heiress you told me about? What's her name? Oh, right, Gianna?"

"Yes, that's her. She's your new godmother. They're in Rome right now. I tell you, your godfather really hit the jackpot this time..."

Castle, showing none of the decorum expected of a father, gossiped with his daughter about John's new love as they drove home.

Once home, Alexis wanted Castle to video call her godfather so she could chat with him. However, Castle refused, citing the time difference and not wanting to disturb a pregnant woman's rest. Instead, he gave Alexis John's new phone number, suggesting she contact him during the day tomorrow.

After urging the travel-weary Alexis to shower and rest early, Castle finally had a moment to himself. Sitting in his study, he began to review his recent gains and losses. Just as he sat down, he remembered that the system had rewarded him for convincing Henry to team up with him. Engrossed in talking to Henry and then dining with his daughter and Meredith, he hadn't yet checked the reward.

Wondering if it might be another random skill like the one for helping Beckett solve a case, he opened the system panel and saw two pending rewards.

"Could it be that Beckett and the others have already caught Larry Horne and Nesbitt? Is the case solved?"

Curious, Castle clicked on the pending rewards. Sure enough, the first reward was for successfully teaming up with Dr. Henry Morgan. The system awarded him "Neal Caffrey's Lockpicking Skills," described as all of Neal's top-notch lockpicking skills at his peak. Once acquired, no lock would be too difficult for the host, provided he had the right tools.

Without hesitation, Castle claimed the skill. This was a godsend for him. Although it required the proper tools, for someone with a personal storage space, tools were no problem at all...

The second reward was indeed for helping Beckett solve the case, granting him another random skill. Glancing at the random skill storage, Castle remembered he already had one stored random skill reward. Now, with this new one, he had two chances to exchange for a specific skill.

After some thought, Castle used the two random skill rewards to get "Fluency in Portuguese." He chose this because he planned to go to Brazil to watch Dominic Toretto's heist against Hernan Reyes. Such an exciting event was something Castle had been eagerly anticipating.

This time, Dominic's team included local expert Vanessa. Castle wondered if this would make the events even more thrilling than in the original story. Currently enjoying some downtime with only the main mission of helping Beckett, Castle's adventurous spirit was stirring again. Besides, witnessing the explosive scenes from "Fast Five" in person was a dream for Castle, who had loved the movie in his previous life.

After carefully planning his future trip to Brazil, Castle turned his attention to figuring out how to get the case files on Beckett's mother from the police archive.

"Hmm, Beckett doesn't fully trust me yet to believe I can help solve her mother's case. So, for now, I need to focus on helping her solve cases to gradually build her trust in me..."

With his plan set, Castle decided to proceed subtly and steadily. He stopped worrying, got up, washed, and went to bed.

The night passed uneventfully...

Early the next morning, Castle walked energetically into the 12th Precinct. After placing a skim latte on Beckett's desk, he turned to Esposito and Ryan, who were bursting to talk.

"Alright, guys, you look eager. What do you want to say?"

Esposito and Ryan exchanged a look, then said ingratiatingly, "Castle, tell us how you figured out the murderer was the victim's wife from the start. Do you have a special technique? Teach us, and we can cover for you with Beckett..."

Just then, Beckett's voice came from behind, "Don't you have any self-respect as detectives?"

Ignoring the trio, Beckett walked into Captain Montgomery's office to report on the case follow-ups, such as preparing the prosecution materials for the DA.

Castle didn't mind Beckett's complaints. He focused on getting along with Esposito and Ryan, one of his goals. Even though his insight came from his familiarity with the original show, it didn't stop him from making up something plausible.

Castle thought for a moment and began, "Guys, I don't know if you can learn to be as sharp and intuitive as I am, but you could try this... and this..."

When Beckett finished reporting to Captain Montgomery and left his office, she saw Castle happily spewing nonsense to Esposito and Ryan.

"..."

Beckett couldn't stand her two subordinates acting brainless, so she had to intervene.

"Castle, stop giving them false methods for so-called intuitive thinking. Do you think everyone has your wild imagination? And you two, we are detectives. Solving cases is about evidence, not intuition like Castle says. Got it?"

The three men, engrossed in their animated discussion, quickly scattered at Beckett's scolding.

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