52. Chapter 52

Chapter 52

The team, minus Castle, was in place bright and early. About twenty minutes later, he came into the bullpen with coffee and bear claws for all of them and joined them at Beckett's desk.

"Yesterday, one of the victim's friends mentioned a problem with his business partner," Ryan was saying as Castle arrived. "They were both in their late sixties, and they ran a successful cleaning business, had for about twenty years. The partner wanted to sell, but the victim didn't."

Esposito took up the story there. "Funny thing, though. The partner didn't mention that when we talked to him. Want us to get somebody to bring him in? Yesterday we went to him."

"Yeah. This time we'll talk to him in interrogation. Might shake him enough to say something he doesn't intend to," Beckett agreed.

Gates came back from the break room with coffee and stopped to ask about progress on the case.

"Looks a little different than it did originally. We're bringing the business partner in to talk to him this morning," Beckett answered.

"It seems the business partner wasn't as forthcoming as he could have been yesterday," Castle added.

Gates started toward her office then turned and looked at Beckett. "We need to talk, detective…whenever you have a break from the case."

"You haven't been back long enough to be in trouble. What's going on?" Ryan asked.

"Too much at the moment. I meant to tell you guys I passed the lieutenant's exam."

"When was that?" Esposito asked.

"About a month ago."

"And you didn't tell us?" Ryan sounded hurt.

"You didn't think we'd want to know that?" Esposito grumbled.

"Sorry. It was about the same time as that classified case, and things got a little crazy after that. I didn't mean to keep it from you." After hearing disapproving noises from both the boys, she told them, "Gates said Farraday intends to retire at the end of May, and she's said she'd consider me for the position. But I'm pretty sure that's only if Castle and I manage to stay out of trouble that long."

"Looks like we're probably stuck with you, then." Esposito teased and got a backhanded swat on the arm.

"Get somebody to pick up the business partner," she ordered good-naturedly.

He grinned at her and answered, "On it," as he went to find LT.

"You guys should call to set up another game day when you have time," Castle said pointedly to Ryan. "I've got a new one. We could try it out."

"Okay. Sure," Ryan answered. "I'll talk to Javi. Maybe after we close this case." Turning to the murder board as if they were discussing the case, he said, "Looks like there's more going on than we thought."

"Sure does," Castle answered, giving him a look indicating he meant more than the present case.

"Guess we'll see when they bring the guy in. You taking him, Beckett?" Ryan asked.

"I'm here. I might as well work," she answered and sat down at her desk.

About an hour later their case was closed. The business partner had developed a gambling problem over the years, owed money to some dangerous people, and needed the money for his share of the business. When he couldn't talk his partner into selling the business and retiring, he killed him, knowing that neither the victim's wife nor children would want to run the cleaning company. The boys watched from observation as Beckett led the conversation to a place where a small piece of information gave her an opening she could work with. Then she drew the confession from him with little trouble.

With the confession behind them, the paid members of the team did paperwork. They spent most of the afternoon writing up their various required reports and organizing the case file to pass to the captain before going home. Meanwhile Castle entertained himself for the rest of the afternoon. At one point, he wandered over to see what the gathering at Lupinski's murder board was about, theorized with them, and actually pointed out something useful…something else he had run across in his book research that gave new meaning a piece of evidence.

After that, he went back to his chair beside Beckett's desk. "Can we go home sometime soon?" he asked his wife.

"About twenty minutes." She double checked the case file and then took it to the captain. "Another sad case," she said as she handed Gates the file.

"Yes. I've seen a lot of those recently." She looked at Beckett knowingly.

"I hope you have a good evening, Sir."

"I intend to. A friend is dropping by this evening, an old colleague. Work has been tiring lately, and we've both done a lot of reading and intend to discuss it…give ourselves something new to think about. She called this morning to confirm and said she actually had tiramisu for breakfast."

Beckett smiled. "I understand. I've had worse for breakfast myself. Enjoy your discussion." Going back to her desk, she looked over at the three men on her team.

"Let's go home, guys," she told them.

xxxxx

When they walked into the loft and didn't see Alexis within hearing distance, Kate said quietly, "They both know now…the captain and Lin Jackson. Gates told me in a roundabout way that they're getting together tonight to talk about it. I assume we'll hear something from her soon."

"Ryan caught that there's something new, so I think either Ryan or Esposito will call me before long. We need to get copies to them, too. They may come over this weekend for 'game night'."

"I'm so wired right now I can hardly hold myself together. This Bracken abomination has been almost our entire world for the last few days. It's been hanging over us for way longer than that, and it's eating us alive. Let's try to just enjoy a night with Martha and Alexis, pretend that nothing on those shelves behind the safe exists."

"What do you want to do?"

"Talk to them. Take a walk. Go to a movie…nothing heavier than a comedy. Play cards, games. I don't care. Something that doesn't involve murders, or conspiracies, or politicians…"

"Alexis, we're home." Castle called out without answering his wife. When Alexis appeared at the top of the stairs, he asked, "Do you feel like doing something with us tonight?"

"I don't know. I just got here, too. What do you have in mind?"

"Maybe dinner and a movie. We could see if your grandmother wants to go, too."

"Sure. Is something special happening?"

"No. There's been a lot of stress in the past week or two, and we just want to unwind."

"Okay. What kind of movie are we looking for?"

"A comedy," Kate answered. "We need to laugh."

While the other two Castles found their favorite theaters on their phones, Kate unfolded the newspaper and scanned the movies in the entertainment section.

A few minutes and a few theaters later, Alexis asked, "Dad, do you remember this one? It's showing at that classic films theater where we saw The Princess Bride."

Castle looked at her phone and saw an old Danny Kaye movie, The Court Jester. "I don't remember everything about it, but I think I remember very few serious moments."

"I remember laughing a lot," Alexis agreed. Turning to Kate, she added, "But I was only eight at the time. I remember because we watched it after my birthday party. I had a princess party, so we watched a silly movie with knights and castles and a princess."

"That sounds like exactly what we need," Kate answered. "I'll trust the two of you."

Castle sent a text to his mother.

"If we leave now and Martha meets us there, we could have dinner at that little restaurant again, right?"

"We should have time as long as the traffic isn't worse than usual. We'll get a cab, and I'll get the car service to pick us up." Castle's phone dinged then with an incoming text. "Mother's in. I'll tell her where to meet us. Get whatever you need, Pumpkin. We're ready."

Martha met them at the restaurant and told them about progress on her school. The construction work was still on schedule, and she was enthusiastically planning the curriculum and listing the materials and equipment she would need for her classes. There were three other teachers interested in working with her, and Castle had finally talked her into accepting some help from him. Stating the advantage of not having to worry that someone might leave at a critical point because of lack of funds to pay them, he had talked her into taking enough from him to pay their salaries for the first year…and to provide advice from his lawyer's office on contracts, etc. He argued that he was proud of her and that she could consider it a loan if it made her feel better…one that wouldn't come due until the school was on its feet and making a profit.

Alexis started to tell them about something she encountered during her day and then stopped. "I probably shouldn't talk about that in a restaurant, should I? Besides, I'd gross Grams out completely." Looking up at her parents, she said as if just realizing it, "We aren't exactly a normal family, are we? We talk about some of that kind of thing while we eat dinner, and it doesn't bother any of us."

"I guess that's what happens when your family consists of a research oriented murder mystery novelist, a homicide detective, and a medical examiner intern," Kate answered, amused. "Not quite normal. But maybe normal is overrated. It works for us."

"Yeah, it does," Alexis answered and smiled.

Martha and Castle looked on, still enjoying the fact that Alexis had a mother figure in her life who behaved like a mother figure and loved their girl.

They finished their meal, walked to the theater, picked up their tickets, and leaned back in the recliner seats, looking forward to a couple of hours of de-stressing. Castle reached over and took his wife's hand, resting their hands on the arm of her chair. All of them laughed at the sheer foolishness in the film, and Castle and Kate left feeling much lighter than when they got there.

"Feel better?" Alexis asked Kate as they left.

"I do," she answered. "Your dad and I needed that."

"Anything in particular giving you all that stress?"

Kate hesitated before answering. "Yes. We'll tell you about it when we figure it out, I promise."

"Just remember, I grew up with a dad who had reporters hanging around him a lot. I know how to keep my mouth shut about things that he doesn't want in the media. It works the same way for other things, too. And I like that you've always been honest with me. Don't stop now, okay?"

"Okay. Just give us time to work it all out, and then we'll sit you down and explain everything."

Alexis nodded, and Kate swung an arm around her shoulders. "I'm glad I can lay claim to you, Kid."

"Me, too," Alexis answered.

Castle had asked to have a car waiting close by when the movie was due to end and had sent a text before they left their seats, so a town car miraculously appeared in front of the theater within a minute of their leaving the building. They all got in, were dropped off at home and agreed to end the evening with ice cream sundaes.

After Martha and Alexis went upstairs, Castle kissed his wife playfully and asked, "So what's next on the agenda?"

"I was kind of hoping to get lucky," she answered, running her hands under the lapels of his jacket."

"I think there's part of a bottle of that wine you like in the cooler, the one that..."

"Relaxes my inhibitions?"

"I was going to say 'makes you horny'," he answered with his smirky smile, his arms around her loosely with his hands at her lower back.

"Ever the romantic, aren't you? Yeah, definitely that one," she answered, returning the grin.

"That's one of my favorites these days, too. So, wine, bed, and eventually sleep?" he asked, leaving soft little kisses trailing down her neck.

"Exactly what I had in mind," she answered. "You get the wine, and I'll get the glasses."

They left the empty bottle on the counter, took their glasses to their room, and finished their day with no thought at all of murders, or conspiracies, or politicians.

xxxxx

Again Castle came into the precinct a little later than Beckett, bringing coffee and pastries for the entire team. This time, though, when he set the box of pastries on Esposito's desk, he also dropped two stick drives under the front edge of the box where Esposito could pick them up unnoticed as he and Ryan grabbed for their favorites.

"There's something new. Let me know what you think," he told them as if he meant the breakfast he had brought.

"Thanks, Castle," they both answered around their morning goodies. He placed their coffee on the desk next to the box and took his wife's to her.

"Last night makes it easier to face this morning," he said softly as he handed it to her and placed his own on the corner of her desk.

"Yeah, it does," she answered, giving him a loving look before taking a sip and putting her cup down to go and pluck a bear claw from the box on Esposito's desk. She brought Castle his favorite, too.

By the time she was back in her chair, Esposito had palmed the two stick drives and dropped them in his desk drawer, ready to pocket them later and hand one off to Ryan.

Beckett's phone rang then, and she wrote down an address and texted it to Esposito. The men all grabbed one more pastry, all of them took their coffee, and they were off to another crime scene.

In their car on the way, Esposito asked Ryan, "So you think Castle meant to pick a game day this weekend?"

"Think he'd be up for Saturday? We've got lunch with Jenny's parents on Sunday."

Handing him one of the stick drives, Esposito answered, "I think he's up for whenever we can get there."

Ryan looked at it and put it in his pocket with his keys when they got out of the car. "He did say to let him know what we thought of the new stuff this morning. Think he's planning more of that?"

With that, they reached the crime scene; but before they left, they did arrange for game day on Saturday. Ryan called Jenny to let her know he'd be spending some time at Esposito's apartment after work again.

xxxxx

Arriving at home after work, the couple were just Kate and Rick again. They settled into the loft and sat to talk until the others got home.

"We have to get back to the files, don't we?" Kate asked, sounding resigned.

"We should," her husband agreed, putting a consoling arm around her shoulders. "Bracken is unpredictable, and we need the FBI to have a heads up on what they need to look for before he tries to get rid of the proof. You shouldn't call Bracken until after that."

"Any place in particular that you'd like to start?" she asked, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Bracken and Vulcan Simmons. The files showed Bracken is connected to Vulcan Simmons and his drugs…or he was at one point. How long? How do you think they met?" Castle asked. "We know there was a connection as far back as the early to mid-nineties."

"It would make sense that they made some kind of deal around the drugs while Bracken was a prosecutor. It would also make sense that it's how he's stayed out of prison that long. We know Bracken doesn't like to get his hands dirty. I'll bet Vulcan Simmons operates the same way."

"Does it strike you that Simmons is an extremely well-spoken drug dealer?" Castle asked. "Corrupt, depraved, and a degenerate, but well-spoken and intelligent."

"Two of a kind? Do you suppose they knew each other before we think they did? Maybe in school?"

Castle looked thoughtful. "We can look up yearbooks from anywhere without raising any red flags. Do you know where Bracken went to school?"

"No. Do we know where in the city he grew up?"

"I don't, but it would probably be easy to find online. I'll get the other laptop from the closet…the one with internet."

"I'll meet you in the study."

Kate pulled a chair up to Rick's desk and they did a quick search for Bracken biographirs. He made a big campaign issue of being educated in New York's public schools, so it didn't take long to find the school and neighborhood he grew up in.

"There it is. Let's find the yearbooks."

"Start with the scholastic teams," Kate suggested. "Bracken would probably be there. Debate, maybe, honing his presentation skills. He did go to law school."

"I would have thought he'd have tried for Stuyvesant like you did. Which still impresses me, by the way. I read that about thirty thousand students take the entrance test every year and less than three per cent of them are accepted."

"You would probably have made it if you'd tried. Listen carefully, Rick, 'cause I may not say it again for a while. You're brilliant. Your mind is an endless source of fascination for me. I'll never understand how…" She paused as if gathering her thoughts.

"Don't tell me my mind leaves you speechless," he said with his signature smirk as he looked for their targets.

"And you've just provided the reason you may not hear it again for a while." Her tongue peeked through her teeth as she smiled playfully, and he leaned in for an appreciative kiss.

"Good call. Look. Both of them on the debate team. They knew each other in high school. Wonder where Vulcan Simmons lived. Could they have been neighbors? What would you bet they had all the teachers and other people's parents conned? I'll bet both of them could 'yes ma'am' and 'no sir' with the best of them while they were getting away with all kinds of trouble behind their backs," Castle speculated. "And probably had other kids doing a lot of their dirty work so they wouldn't get caught."

"I wouldn't be surprised. And possibly coercing, blackmailing, or threatening them if they weren't cooperating. Ordinarily I'd find some of their teachers and some of the other students and ask some questions, but we can't do that," Kate answered.

"So we make a list of questions we can't follow up but the feds can…either because we can't be seen as connected to it or we don't have the clearance or equipment or whatever."

"Okay, so they could look at other connections between the two of them besides the drugs in the early nineties. Simmons seemed to know too much about the reason my mother was murdered not to still be in the loop in 1999. And it wasn't about the drugs, the Take Back the Neighborhood project. Scott Murray had nothing to do with that. He was just the court records clerk who pulled a court file for her…the file that disappeared."

"When did Bracken run for State Senate?"

"The turn of the century. He was elected in 2000."

"So he blackmailed the cops for the money to get his first campaign started, and he had your mother murdered to keep her from doing something that could stop his state senate run. Am I seeing a pattern?"

"That question goes on the list, too. Are there other suspicious incidents that coincide with his elections? We only have the early years."

Castle created a document called Questions that need answers, and they worked for a while on lists of questions they could and couldn't answer on their own, and put it all away when they heard the front door open.

They wanted to talk to Ryan and Esposito before they talked to the rest of the family on Sunday. The four of them made a good investigative team because they understood each other and how to work together effectively. And two more minds would probably add to what needed to go on their list of questions and comments.

Alexis brought JD home for a movie night, and the four of them had an impromptu at home double date, JD laughing at the fact that they had now double dated with both her parents and her grandparent. After two movies, the married couple finally retired to their room, even though Rick grumbled as they changed for bed that the younger two were "out there making out".

"What would you like to do in here?" Kate asked, getting under the covers and propping herself up against the headboard.

"Read," Castle answered, sliding in beside her. "If we're making out, I'd be thinking about them making out. It's distracting."

"If it makes you feel better," she answered with a chuckle.

"But if we're still awake when he leaves…" Then Castle got up, excitedly saying "Oh, I know…" He grabbed his usual laptop, then returned and pulled up the yearbook for Stuyvesant High 1998.

"This is the year you graduated, right?" he asked. When she rolled her eyes and nodded, he grinned at her and said, "Then let's see what Katie Beckett was doing that year."

"Castle." It sounded like a warning.

Immediately he was delightedly distracted, and found her on the debate team. "Honing your pre-law presentation skills, too?" he asked staring at her picture as if he had found some lost treasure.

He was well distracted from the inevitable thought that his daughter was old enough to make her own decisions about everything, including making out with boys; but some of the pictures he was finding of Kate's younger self…

For a while, there was occasional moaning heard from her that was of a completely different sort than what usually issued from being in bed with her husband.