58. Chapter 58

Chapter 58

Once they were home, Castle asked, "Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'm going to get, I guess. Since we don't know what happened to Smith or where Bracken may be looking for the files, we don't have much choice."

He went and got her script from the hidden closet shelves, and handed it to her. He had also brought the recorder Jordan had left them and set it up exactly the way she and Avery had shown them.

Kate again read over the script they had prepared so she wouldn't forget anything; then she took a deep breath and said, "Here goes." Nodding to Castle to be ready to start the recording, she picked up her burner phone and dialed.

"Senator Bracken's office," the secretary answered.

"This is Detective Kate Beckett, NYPD. I need to speak to Senator Bracken. It's rather important."

"Is this an emergency, ma'am? He has a meeting in a few minutes."

"It isn't an emergency, but it does relate to an urgent matter. I think he'll be willing to speak with me. I'll be brief."

After a couple of minutes on hold, the senator's voice answered smoothly, "Detective Beckett, how can I help you?"

"It's the other way 'round, Senator. Mr. Smith is no longer in the area, and he sent me the files. Is there another number you might prefer that I call?"

He quickly gave her a number, and she called him back.

"I'm calling with a new deal, Senator. I know you had my mother killed, and I know you tried to do the same to me…"

"Detective, if you could prove anything of that sort, I'm sure you'd have thrown me to the wolves already."

"My point is that I'm bone weary of worrying about being shot or whatever the murder method du jour might be. Whether what I have would send you away for life or not, there's certainly enough in these files to send your career into a death spiral within the space of one day's news cycle. If you didn't know what these files would expose…blackmail, drug connections, framing a suspect for murder, indications of murder for hire…you would never have made the first deal with Roy, and you wouldn't have had Maddox looking for Smith to find them."

"I'm listening," Bracken answered dourly.

"I'm smart enough not to have the files at home or with anyone who's close to me, so don't bother trying there. The files are secure, but copies have been sent to random people we trust to hold them unopened…people who don't know what they have. If anything happens to me or to any of my family or friends, those people will mail the copies to others who will make them very public. It won't take much for that to happen… car accident, a fall down the stairs, mugging, assault, disappearance, home invasion, cameras or listening devices, unusual illness, sudden unexpected financial difficulties, threats, bogus charges brought against any of us, or needless to say, injury or death. I've seen a lot in my line of work, and I'm certain I know most of the methods you might use."

"You know I can't control all of those things," the senator blustered.

"Then you'd better hope we're all lucky. May I assume that I can live my life without looking over my shoulder now?"

"You may live your life any way you choose."

"No. That isn't good enough, Senator. I need to hear you say that my family, friends, and I will be safe. If I don't know that will happen, I can make one phone call, set things in motion, and take my chances. Do you intend to accept my terms?"

"I will. You do seem to have the upper hand for the moment."

"And?"

"And you and those important to you will be safe."

"I assure you that everything I currently have access to will be kept quiet unless something happens that will automatically trigger the mailings. Don't push me." With that, she hung up. "Did you get the recording?"

"Yes. Well done. He didn't deny your accusations, just said you can't prove them. And he agreed to your terms, no matter how reluctantly. He's been treated to Smith's methods, I see," Castle said approvingly. "Drop the bomb and hang up. Bracken must be seething while he tries to figure out how to get around you."

"I hope so. It's definitely his turn. And I hope Jordan can start connecting dots fast, because we just poked the bear pretty hard. I'm sure he's already plotting."

"Or he will be as soon as his brain stops trying to explode. I wish I could see his face."

"I'm glad he can't see mine. I don't feel nearly as confident as I think I sounded." She wrapped her arms around her husband's waist and he pulled her close.

"Have I told you lately how important it makes me feel to know that I'm the one you allow to see you feeling insecure?" He pressed a soft kiss on her head.

"You're my safe place, Rick. I don't have to put on a brave face with you. That means you're every bit as important to me as you feel…maybe more. It feels pretty special that I can do that for you, too."

"We're going be okay, Kate. I can't see the universe working so hard to get us together just so it can rip us apart. We're meant to have a long life together. It does look like the universe means for us to see that Bracken is stopped before we can relax and enjoy it, but we're going to get there. We'll be okay."

xxxxx

All day at work they were uneasy about their call to Bracken the night before. Not intending to allow it to stop them, though, the Castles left the precinct early enough to miss the afternoon rush traffic. They were taking time to themselves to celebrate the anniversary of the day they both finally dropped all pretense and committed to trying to make a life together work. Their one little bag was already in the Mercedes, so all they had to do was drop Kate's car off in the parking garage and pick up the Mercedes for their overnight trip to the Hamptons.

When they arrived at the house, they again went directly to the beach, breathing in the calming effects of the wind and the water. Standing with their arms around one another, they finally began to relax.

"Let's not think about anybody but us tonight," Rick suggested. "The boys can take on anything that comes in tonight. Mother called, so we know she and Alexis are safely in their hotel in London; and there's nothing we can do about anybody else anyhow. Just us tonight?"

"Yeah," Kate answered quietly, snuggling closer to her husband. "Just us."

They took a short walk down the beach and back, finding a couple of shells that had washed in with the waves. She picked them up, and Rick brushed them off and put them in his pocket. When they were back at the house, they took their bag to their room, and Kate pulled out the little keepsake box they had bought on her second trip to the beach house, the one they had bought to house the shells and a couple of small souvenirs from the first time they were there together. She cleaned the bits of remaining sand off the shells they had just found and wrapped them in tissue to set them apart as anniversary shells, leaving the box open for them to dry until morning.

"There was a time I thought I'd never see you sentimental about anything," Rick said gently.

"You gave me a place for it to be okay to be sentimental. It was always there, but I kept it hidden. I thought it made me look…I don't know, weak, I guess."

"Too girly to be a cop?"

"Maybe," she answered with a teasing bump against his shoulder. "But you've seen how many things I've kept from before you knew how much you meant to me."

"Finding those was one of the best surprises I've ever had." Picking up one of the shells from their first trip to the Hamptons, Rick smiled, remembering how they talked through a lot of the things that had kept them apart and agreed that they should be together…how loving Kate had been. "You know, enough anniversaries and walks on the beach, and we could have one of those lamps made…the ones with shells displayed in glass. We could put it next to our bed. There are craftsmen around here who could make something nice, show them off well. Then every time we're here, we can see our memories."

"I can close my eyes and see them every time we're here anyway. I remember the walks, talking the way we should have before, sitting on our bench listening to the ocean, watching you write, taking care of each other…feeling so in love I thought my heart might burst.

"I felt like half a person when you went back to work."

"Me. too. We're kind of hopeless, aren't we?"

"Only if you count being completely in love as hopeless."

"Not hopeless, then." She looked thoughtful for a moment and said teasingly, "I do seem to remember we didn't make love that first weekend. Are we going to observe that part of the anniversary, too?"

"Not the chance of a snowball in Hades if I have any say in it," he answered and pulled her into his arms for a kiss meant to convince her she should want to alter that part of the anniversary, too.

She giggled and kissed him back, "Are we going out for dinner, ordering in, or cooking?" she asked.

"Why don't we go out? No kitchen cleanup. We can stop for breakfast on the way back tomorrow morning. Nothing to clean up except the coffee stuff. Neither one of us should be behind the wheel before we have coffee."

"Good plan."

They went to dinner and visited a few shops that were still open, buying a couple of small items to add to the anniversary corner of the keepsake box. Then they went home, showered, and indulged in their variation of their first weekend together.

Morning came too soon for their liking, announced obnoxiously by the alarm clock. Preferring time for their anniversary indulgences the night before, they had allowed themselves only enough time to carry out their morning plan and get back to the city in time for work.

Kate groaned in protest, kissed her husband, turned off the alarm, and dragged herself out of bed. "I'll start the coffee. You start the shower."

Rick's response wasn't much more than a muffled "Mmfft" against his pillow, but he did sit up as if he intended to move.

After a shower, they had their coffee, cleaned up after themselves, and stopped for breakfast at one of their favorite early morning places. A couple of hours later, they were back at the precinct with their other two partners, catching up on the case that came in after they left the day before.

Watching Beckett and Castle sitting on the edge of her desk pouring over the information on the murder board, Ryan said quietly to his partner, "Mom and Dad look happy this morning,"

"Lanie said they went to the Hamptons overnight," Esposito reported. "I get the feeling that place means a lot to them, but that's all I can get out of my girl. She won't give up anything but that…if she even knows. You know how Beckett is about her private life."

"Whatever it is, I'm glad they're happy. They've been through a lot," Ryan answered.

Beckett turned to the boys and asked, "Did you say you have the girlfriend coming in this morning?"

"Yeah. We talked to the wife last night," Esposito answered with a smirk. "Kind of messy. They didn't know about each other. The girlfriend said she was out of town yesterday when we called. One of the victim's friends at work gave us her number. He's the one who introduced them."

"Should be interesting," Castle agreed with a little smirk of his own.

When the girlfriend couldn't produce any evidence of having been out of the city, especially to have been as far away as the midwest, they checked a little deeper and discovered she had never left town. She had found out that her boyfriend was married and accidentally killed him when she confronted him in a fit of rage. By closing time, their suspect was in holding.

"Well, that was easy," Ryan said.

"Almost too easy," Beckett answered. "Leave your notes, guys. Since we left you to handle everything yesterday, we'll get the paperwork done. I'll send it to your email for revisions when you get back tomorrow."

"We?" Esposito asked skeptically. "Castle is going to help?"

"Yeah, if he knows what's good for him," Beckett answered with a grin.

"Guess I'm helping, then," Castle answered. "Cause I do know what's good for me." He added a little wiggle of the eyebrows for effect.

"Castle!" Beckett protested and swatted his chest.

The boys just laughed and said goodnight.

Again, Beckett dictated from the notes and Castle typed. They teased each other as they worked and finished everybody's reports, making up Beckett's time off from Monday.

xxxxx

Castle called in a dinner order on the way home, and they arrived about ten minutes before the food. As soon as they arrived at home, Castle did his regular sweep of the loft.

"I know, I know," he said softly as he kissed Kate's cheek. "We've talked about it, but I'd rather lean toward paranoid and safe than just paranoid."

As he walked through the living room, there was a beep. They quietly and carefully checked, and they found a listening device under the coffee table. There was one in the kitchen, one in the study, and another in the master bedroom. They weren't entirely surprised to find the others, but the last one left them livid.

"I left something in the car," Castle said suddenly. "Be right back." He took his burner phone from his pocket and showed Beckett so she would understand, then he walked back to the parking area, dialing Jordan on the way to ask how she wanted them to handle it. He followed through with his trip to the car, and removed the first small object he saw from the glove compartment; then he closed the door, folded the paper, and slipped it in his pocket. "Got it," he announced as he re-entered the loft.

Kate had just paid for their dinner, and the delivery guy was leaving when Castle returned. "What did you forget?" she asked, playing along as she closed the door behind him.

"This," he answered with a tight smile, showing her a completely insignificant glossy brochure they had picked up in one of the shops they visited the night before.

"Oh. Well, heaven forbid you should be without that until morning," she answered for the benefit of the bug.

As much as they both wanted to shout at whoever was on the other end of the bugs and then drive to DC to throttle Bracken, they focused on getting the most information they could instead. So they were working around the bug problem until they could make some decisions.

They sat at the dining table and talked about whatever benign things they could think of, but they didn't eat much. The situation had left them angry enough that neither of them had much of an appetite.

As they stored the leftovers, Castle said, "It's been a long day. I'm gonna take a shower. Want to join me?"

"You know I'll conserve water with you any time," she answered.

They knew the bathroom was clear; so they closed the door behind them, turned on the shower, and turned on some music.

Once they were in the water, Kate asked, "Who did you call? Was it Jordan?"

"Yeah. She said she'd have our security system and the building's system checked to see if either one has been hacked. That may be how they knew the loft would be empty yesterday. If we can work around the bugs through tomorrow, they'll have time to do that. Then she'll send somebody tomorrow to see if there's anything they can learn while the devices are still working. After that we can "find" them, and somebody will come to the precinct posing as a possible witness to pick them up. They'll trace them back to the manufacturer and follow whatever trail they can find."

"We already know exactly where the trail will lead."

"And we have to decide what we do about that."

"We'll find a place to talk tomorrow."

"You really went to the car and got that worthless piece of paper?"

"If they were watching last night, they could be watching today. I didn't want to look suspicious." When she smiled and looked amused, he answered, "Okay, so maybe I look a little neurotic, but you love me anyway."

"Yeah, I do," she answered softly before she kissed his wet chest. And he gave her a self-satisfied smile.

They finished their shower dried their hair, and dressed for bed. But as Beckett reached for the doorknob, she stopped and whispered, "Castle, our bedroom is bugged. How do we sleep in there?"

"We don't do anything but sleep. That's a given," he whispered back.

"I feel violated."

"Me, too. I didn't see that coming, even from Bracken. But if another day will help Jordan and Avery find something that helps, we can manage, right?"

"I guess so," she huffed. "I hope they find something good."

"Okay. Showtime," Castle whispered and opened the door.

"We started the day before dawn. I'm exhausted," Kate said, walking back into the bedroom.

"Me, too," he agreed, dropping to sit on the bed and flopping backward.

"Get on your own side," she demanded. "I need mine."

"How about I stay in the middle and we snuggle?"

"That works," she answered and made a point of making a contented sound as he really did pull her to snuggle against his side.

"I enjoyed our trip yesterday. It was a nice break," he said sincerely.

"I did, too."

Unwilling to share more private moments with whoever was listening, he pulled the covers over their heads for a moment, kissed her goodnight quietly, and whispered, "I love you." And she smiled against his lips and whispered it back. Then he pulled the covers back to where they would normally be and they lay with their heads on the same pillow, feeling exposed as they held each other. It took longer than usual to fall asleep, but they did eventually.

xxxxx

Having been uneasy during the workday again, Castle and Beckett walked to a little park before they went home; and Kate called Jordan Shaw from where they sat on an unoccupied bench outside the fence.

When she answered, Kate asked, "Are you where you can talk?"

"Yes, but not for long," she answered.

"Where do we stand on security systems and listening devices?"

"Both your security system and the building's CCTV were being monitored from elsewhere. Avery has determined who did it; but it's someone hired to do the job, not the man we want. The good news is that it gives us cause for a warrant that will cover phone calls and payments that could lead us back to him. Avery was also able to install some safeguards for you that should make it more difficult for them to do it again. You can remove the bugs you found at home and let the senator know you found them. Give him this one chance to understand because, once that information hits the press, he won't hesitate to go after you. Put the fear in him, Beckett. Let him know you mean business. He doesn't want those files to go public. You know we've got your back if he makes a media claim of blackmail, but it's best for all of us if we can keep it quiet until we have more to work with."

"Thank you," Castle said from over Kate's shoulder where he had been listening.

"No problem," she assured them. She gave them the name their fake witness would use when she came to pick up the listening devices the next day, and then said, "Gotta go."

After the call, Beckett and Castle sat for a few more minutes just to have time away from bugs and involvement in plots and schemes and worries.

"Tell me again about our long life together, Castle."

He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and rested his forehead against hers. "Close your eyes and imagine it, Kate. We're going to have a normal life one day, and we're going to have at least one little Castle baby. We're going to watch Alexis grow into a confident, successful woman with a family of her own…have family gatherings at the beach house. And year by year we'll get a little older and grayer until the gatherings include our grandchildren. We'll eventually get reeeeally old, and be doddering around; but we'll still find a way to do romantic things, even though we'll still annoy each other. And we'll still be in love, probably more than we are now."

"I'd settle for just a normal life right now," she said, stroking her hand over his cheek, "But I'm looking forward to the rest, too. You paint a fine verbal picture, Writer-Man."

"The nature of the beast," he answered with his smirky smile. "Ready to go home?"

She nodded, gave him a little kiss, and stood; and they walked hand in hand back to the car and drove home to face another confrontational phone call with the senator.

Removing the bug carefully from under the shelf of the bedside table, Kate took it to the study and put it on Castle's desk while he removed all the others. Speaking directly into it, she said, "Whoever is listening should take this message to the man who hired you. I told him not to push me, and I meant it. Tell him that I've made the first phone call. If that person doesn't hear from me by nine tonight, I can't stop the mailings; so I'll need him to call me personally before then. I'm sure he knows how to contact me."