787. Chapter 787

After Sucker Punch

Episode 2.13

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: if I owned Castle, I wouldn't have to smuggle it in. Rating: K Time: See above.

She stood outside of his door for several minutes trying to get up the courage to knock. She knew she had to see him. She had to talk to him, but it was so damned hard. I'm a homicide detective. I can go nose to nose with Finn Rourke and Dick Coonan and I can't even talk to my partner? If that's true, I should just quit and do something else. She thought, and before she could change her mind, she rapped on the door.

Castle was glad to hear the knock. He had two ideas about how the next chapter would go and had no idea which one would work better. He got up from his desk and went to the door and opened it.

"Beckett? I thought you were off today? Did I miss a call? Let me get my jacket and we'll be on our way." He turned to the entryway closet.

Beckett spoke quickly. "It's not a body drop. We need to talk."

That worried Castle. Why would she come here to talk? About what? "Would you like some coffee? I have an espresso machine just like the one at the precinct."

Kate grinned. Of course you do. "Yes, I'd love a cup."

Castle walked to the kitchen and began making coffee. Kate was happy she could put off talking to Castle for a few more minutes.

Castle approached her with a two cups in his hands. "One grande skim latte, with two pumps of sugar free vanilla."

She took the preferred cup before realizing that Castle must have bought the sugar free vanilla especially for her. She sipped the coffee and walked towards Castle's office. Facing away from him, she finally got the courage to speak. "I'm sorry."

Crap. Castle thought. She's changed her mind about letting me follow her. Well, I offered and I still think I screwed up by starting and messing up the re-investigation of her mother's murder. She's right. I should stop following her. "That's okay. I know I screwed up things. If there's no murder, then this is probably a good time for me to stop following you. I do have a few things at the precinct…"

Kate turned around with a puzzled look on her face. "Castle, what the hell are you babbling about?"

"Um, are you accepting my offer to stop following you? You had to kill the only lead to your mother's murder because of me."

"No, Castle. That's not why I came here. I came to do what I just did. I apologized to you."

"Why?"

"I got mad at you when you looked into my mom's case. I didn't act like a good cop. I should have accepted your offer to help at once, but I didn't. The man who killed my mom is no longer some vague and shadowy figure. Coonan was a cold blooded killer. He killed at least one person, his brother Jack, and I did nothing to stop it when I could have. There might be others he killed while I was too busy being mad at you to think. He may have killed…I don't know how many more people because I stubbornly wouldn't look at the evidence you found."

Castle shook his head. "You can't blame yourself for that. And Jack Coonan was a killer himself."

"He was, but he deserved a trial, not to be murdered. And even if Dick Coonan didn't kill anyone personally in the time I lost by not accepting your offer, his heroin killed people and the money he sent to the warlords in Afghanistan killed people. That's on my conscience."

"Kate, you're not responsible for every killing in the whole world. You're remarkable, but you're not perfect. Not quite."

That made her smile. "Even so I'm apologizing to you. And I said some awfully bad things about you, and I apologize for those, too."

Castle smiled. "I accept your apology. But, actually you didn't say that much that was bad to me. Mostly you just refused to talk to me."

Kate blushed slightly and looked away. "Most of the bad things I said were to Lanie. And they were really bad."

"What did you say?"

"Castle! I am not going to repeat that."

He shrugged. "Okay. I'll just ask Lanie tomorrow."

"You will not. You'll be busy tomorrow. It'll take a few more days for the forensic accountants to go over Coonan's financials, but we can go over the reports of the other murders and see if anything stands out, given what we know now about Coonan."

"Okay. I'll be in first thing." He quickly added, "With your coffee."

"There's just one thing. The really old cold cases are held in a central records center. Montgomery kept my mom's file in the precinct because, well, because it was my mom's file. I don't have any authority to get those other cold cases."

"We'll think of something." He assured her.

The next morning he arrived at her desk bright and early with her coffee. And an idea. "I figured out how we can do this. I come to the records center disguised as an electrician. I'll have a very big tool chest with me. One of those ones that roll on wheels. You'll be inside. Once we get in the records center, I let you out and…You're laughing at me."

She nodded. "I am. How about I go to the records center with you and ask for an old cold case of mine?" She picked up a piece of paper. "Say, Annabelle Simmons, a homeless woman beaten to death five years ago. Then we find the files on the murders we want and photograph them with our phones. Then we walk out without having to try to convince anyone we're an electrician and his tools."

Castle shrugged unhappily. "I guess that'd work, too."

Kate looked at him. "You were hoping to help me out of the toolbox and help straighten me out, weren't you?"

"It never crossed my mind." Castle lied smoothly.

Kate's plan worked, but when they brought the photos of the files back to her apartment that night, they found they were no help.

"All these reports say is someone was stabbed and we have no idea who did it." Castle muttered. "These are useless."

Beckett nodded. "I'll try to see if I can find any murders with Coonan's MO anyplace."

"That might not work. He was trained by the military. He knew how to kill with more than just a knife. If he really had tried to kill Officer Lee, he wouldn't have used a knife. Not with two armed cops there. He'd have used a gun."

Castle was right. They found nothing that they could tie to Coonan and his financials were no help. Finally, they sat in Castle's loft and admitted defeat. "I'm sorry, Beckett."

"Don't be. The man who killed my mom is dead. That's more than I had before I ever met you." She looked at Castle. "When you came in after Coonan was shot. I told you I'd shoot you if you told anyone that I said I liked having you hanging onto my pigtails. That was a stupid and cruel thing to say. It made it sound like I was ashamed that I like you, Castle. I apologize for that as well."

"All these apologies. Are you sure you're not feeling badly?"

"I actually feel a lot better now." She glanced at her watch. "I need to get home. I have to be in early tomorrow."

She stood up and grabbed her coat, then hugged Rick quickly. "Thank you again for all you've done for me. Tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow."

Once the door had closed, Castle let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

Kate Beckett likes me.