437. Chapter 437

After A Death in the Family

Episode 1.10

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Guess who owns Castle? If you guessed me, you're wrong. Rating: K Time: See above.

"It's about your mother." He said.

He must have said more because Kate later remembered that she could see his lips moving, but she was in too much shock to comprehend what he said. Finally, he stopped, and there was silence between them.

"We're over, Castle." She said and ran out of the hospital, crying.

He followed her, but by the time he reached the parking lot, her car was gone. He called, but got no response, just her voicemail.

Castle headed for her apartment. He saw that her lights were on. He stood in front of her door and knocked. Finally, she answered it. "Beckett, let me…"

"Castle, we are over! Now get the hell out of my life." She said bitterly.

"Just let me talk to you."

She took a step forward and slapped him as hard as she could. "Castle! Go! Get the fuck out of my life. Forever." Then, she slammed the door in his face. No amount of knocking would get her to open the door again and eventually Castle left, leaving a crying Kate Beckett behind.

Kate was sprawled on her bed, sobbing. God, this hurts. And I know why it hurts. I liked him. As immature and egotistical as he can be, he's more. He's a good father, a good detective and a good partner. I was feeling like we were becoming friends. And then for him to do this to me. Why? Why would he do this? Is his damned book that important to him? More important than me?

Rick Castle sat in the back of the cab on his way home from Beckett's apartment. He thought back to the conversation he'd had with Dr. Murray.

"Rick, you must know as well as I do that after ten years, the chances of finding anything on a cold case are infinitesimal. Why are you doing this?"

"It's a cold case involving one of the people I'm working with on my new series. The detective I'm shadowing, in fact."

Dr. Murray had smiled. "I saw a picture of a young lady at a reading of Storm Fall. She's very attractive."

Castle blushed slightly. "She's beautiful, and dedicated, and smart, crazy smart, and caring and a lot of things. And, it was her mother that was murdered."

Murray nodded. "And you'd like to impress her."

"I'd like to help her. She became a cop because of her mother's murder. She deserves to find out who killed her. If that's at all possible."

Dr. Murray gave Castle a long, serious look. "Just don't go making any promises that I can't keep."

Castle smiled. "Never. If nothing comes of this, she'll never know about it. And thanks. I owe you big time for this."

"You certainly do."

Castle had made sure that Beckett had left the precinct before he went to Montgomery's office.

"Got a minute?" He asked.

"Just about that long for you." Montgomery said, not looking at all happy about seeing Castle. "You don't have too many friends around here right now."

"I know. But I gave something to show you." He put the report from Dr. Murray and the other autopsy reports on Montgomery's desk. Castle explained what he had done and what Murray had found.

"And you didn't tell Beckett about this?" Montgomery asked.

"No. She wouldn't give me a chance to talk to her. In the hospital I didn't really get a chance to tell her just what I had found. I didn't get a chance when I went to her apartment. She just slapped me and slammed the door. But I have to tell her what I found."

"No. Don't do that, Castle."

He frowned. "Why not? She deserves to know."

Montgomery nodded. "She deserves to know when we have something concrete. This is a ten year old cold case. NYPD regs won't allow a detective to work on a case they have a personal interest in. If Beckett gets involved in this and we arrest someone, the defense attorney'll have a field day claiming a vendetta by an NYPD detective. I'll call a friend in another precinct and have their homicide team do the investigation. If Beckett finds out about this, she won't be able to stay out of the investigation." Montgomery smiled slightly. "You know her. She'll be all over the investigation and there'll be no way for anyone to stop her. Understand?"

Castle nodded. "I won't say a word to her about this, but she's going to hate me."

"You must have known that something like this would happen if you tried to reopen her mom's case. She may well hate you, but it's better than seeing her disappear down a rabbit hole. She almost did that before. But, if you actually came up with something, she'll forgive you. Even if the new investigation is a complete bust, I hope she'll forgive you. What I'm afraid of is that the investigation will be inconclusive. Give us some leads that don't really go anywhere. If I tell her, she'll grasp at straws and disappear down that rabbit hole, so I won't tell her and she'll hate you forever. Can you accept that?

Castle nodded slowly. "If I lose whatever it is we have…had, I'll hate it. But I have to do this. I have to take the chance that something will come of this."

"Okay, and remember not a word to Beckett."

Castle was headed for the elevator when he was grabbed and dragged into an empty office. Esposito was in his face. "You had to hurt her, didn't you? Now I'll hurt you."

"Wait! Don't you want to hear my side of the story?"

Espo glared at him. "You have a side to the story?"

Castle nodded vigorously. "I found something."

"You found something?" Esposito scoffed.

"Okay. A guy I know found something."

"What?"

"I can't tell you."

Espo lifted Castle up off of the floor. "If you're lying to me…"

"I'm not. I gave what I had to Montgomery. He's having another precinct handle it. He knows how little chance there is of finding anything after ten years, but if Beckett finds out about what I found, she'll go right down that rabbit hole again and she might not come out this time. Montgomery made me promise not to tell Beckett, no matter what. You can't tell her either."

Epso let him down. "If you're lying to me, I will hurt you." The detective walked away.

That night Roy Montgomery stopped in parking garage far from his home and his work. Using a burner cell phone he called a number he'd hoped he'd never gave to call.

"Yes?" Said the voice on the other end.

"Someone has been looking into Johanna Beckett's murder."

"Then she'll have to die, Roy. You know that."

"It's not Beckett. It's the writer, Castle. He's been shadowing her for a book. He hired a forensic pathologist and he decided the killing was a professional hit. And he found the other three. She doesn't know what he found. I told Castle I'd take care of it and that he should never tell her. I called a friend at another precinct. He's a drunk just marking time until he can retire and his homicide team is no better. There's no chance that anyone would find anything at this late date, and these guys are the last people in the world to find anything."

"It would be easier to kill them, Roy. Her, the writer and the doctor."

"You think so? You want to kill a homicide cop, a millionaire writer who plays poker with the mayor and a pathologist? Be real. Killing Castle alone would bring such a huge investigation that I couldn't possibly control it, and you might not be able to either. Don't worry about it. Nothing will come of the investigation. I promise."

"Nothing had better come of it, Roy. We both have too much to lose." He hung up.

Roy Montgomery drove home and had two stiff drinks before going to bed.

Author's note: Okay, so I did write After…stories for the first season of Castle. But there are only ten episodes. I can't promise to keep this up. Um, that said, I do have a thought for the next episode.