Turn About

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: How do I not own Castle? Let me count the ways. Rating: K Time: Somewhat AU.

She could tell by the sound of his footsteps coming down through the bullpen from the elevator that he was upset. The meeting at One PP, whatever it had been, must have not gone well

"Beckett. My office. Now."

Kate Beckett rose and followed Captain Montgomery into his office.

"Close the door and sit." He said.

She did so.

He looked at her for a long minute, making her wonder if this was bad news. Had she done something wrong? Was this just one of those things that happened no matter what? Why the hell was Roy just sitting there, staring at her.

When he finally spoke, she was shocked. "One PP is reopening your mother's case."

She took a deep breath, swallowed and finally spoke. "The Duncan case is almost finished. Another half an hour and I can send it off to the DA. Then I'll be able to…."

"You're not going anywhere near your mother's murder."

That stopped her cold. "What? Roy, that's my mom's case. It's my case." She said angrily.

He shook his head. "No, Kate. It's the NYPD's case and you're going no where near it. One PP is not going to let any detective handle a case that they have a personal interest in. Those are the rules and I agree with them. Especially in your case. I remember when you looked into your mom's case before. I thought you were going to go down that rabbit hole and never come back up."

"Roy, please. This is why I became a cop. You let me investigate it before."

"I let you read the file before, Detective Beckett. And you found nothing. You talked to everyone you could think of, you spent way too much time at the crime scene and you found nothing. And, One PP will never, I repeat, never let you on this case."

"Can you at least tell me what they found to reopen the case?"

Montgomery looked at her for what seemed to be a very long time. Finally, he spoke. "It'll be in the news anyway. Do you remember the rape and murder of Andrea Schiller?"

She shook her head.

"No reason you should have. It took place over ten years ago, when you were still in the academy. It was another unsolved. Then, last year, a forensic pathologist, Dr. Clark Murray, was doing a statistical analysis of unsolveds in New York. He's one of the best forensic pathologists in the country. He had Ms. Schiller's file and he noticed that while there was DNA evidence, it had never been processed. He sent it off and got a hit, a career criminal named Michael Woll. It turned out that Woll was arrested for bashing some guy's head in during a bar brawl right after the murder. Woll did two years upstate. If we'd done the DNA testing at once, we would have had him. But, by then he'd been released and was in the wind. It was just by luck that he was captured in a routine traffic stop in Colorado some months ago."

"Excuse me, Roy, but how does this relate to my mom's case?"

"I'm getting to that. Andrea Schiller's brother is Bud Schiller, columnist for the Ledger. Probably the most widely read columnist in the city. When he found out about what happened, he went ballistic. He wrote column after column calling the NYPD every name in the book: Incompetent, lazy, uncaring, stupid and anything else he could come up with. He demanded that the mayor set up a special commission headed by Dr. Murray to review all unsolveds with any forensic evidence. The mayor wants to be reelected, he wants the Ledger to endorse him and he does not want Bud Schiller calling him all sorts of names. So, we how have a commission run by Dr. Murray. He has a bunch of MEs and investigators from the NYPD, and of all people, the author Richard Castle."

"One PP must be happy about that." Kate commented sarcastically. "But why Castle? He's a good author, but…"She left the rest unsaid.

"Castle's a friend of both the mayor and Dr. Murray. As I understand it, his main job is PR. And keeping Bud Schiller off the mayor's back. Castle knows the press, he gets along with them, and he's very personable. All things Dr. Murray is not."

"Of course, One PP is furious, but the mayor has made up his mind. The commission began work about a month ago. They found something on your mom's case."

"What?" Kate leaned forward, eager to hear what had been found.

"He found three other unsolveds that had been murdered at around the time your mom was killed. The other three were killed in the same manner as your mom. A killing blow to the kidney, followed by apparently random stab wounds to cover up the lethal blow."

"You think it's a serial?"

Montgomery shook his head. "Two of the dead were women who knew your mother. They were lawyers and one was a student of your mom's. One was a documents clerk at the court house. Whatever document he had requested is gone and there's no record of it anywhere. Dr. Murray thinks all four were a targeted assassination."

Kate sat there stunned. The idea that her mother had been killed by a professional killer had never occurred to her.

"Kate, now that One PP has new evidence, they've turned the case over to two detectives from the Six Two, John Boyle and Harry Parker. I know them. They're good. They'll find whoever did this."

Montgomery smiled. "Why don't you take the rest of the day off, Beckett?"

Kate rose and shook her head. "I still need to finish up the paperwork on the Duncan case." She said softly.

She stared at the paperwork for some minutes, once back at her desk. She finally turned to Ryan and Esposito. "Do you two know a couple of detectives from the Six Two named Boyle and Parker?"

Ryan nodded. "I know Boyle personally and I know Parker by reputation. Why?"

"Are they any good?"

Ryan nodded slowly. "Yeah, they're very good."

"Not as good as us, but good." Espo put in. "Why?"

"Nothing." Kate said distractedly.

When she went home that night, Kate thought about taking out the copy of her mother's case file that she had hidden away. No. She thought. I know there's nothing there. Any new information won't be there. I won't go down the rabbit hole again.

But it took a long time for Kate to fall asleep that night.

She had pushed her mom's case out of her mind by the time she'd finished her coffee at her desk the next day.

"Do you have a minute, Beckett?" Roz Karpowski asked.

"Sure, Roz. What is it?"

"You were asking about Boyle and Parker from the Six Two yesterday?"

"Yeah. But Ryan and Espo told me they were good."

"We're is right. When Boyle's wife dumped him last year, the two of them decided they'd put in their papers at the end of this year, move to Florida and do nothing but drink beer and fish. They're getting a head start on their retirement. All they do now is drink beer and look at ads for boats on the internet. They're officially useless."

Kate suddenly became concerned. "Are you sure?"

Roz nodded. "I'm good friends with Magda Kaminski over in the Six Two. She's been bitching for months about all the extra work she has to do because those bozos do nothing all day long. Their captain is letting them slide because they'll be gone before he can get through all the paperwork he'd have to do to kick their useless asses up around their shoulders."

"Thanks, Roz." Kate said, getting up and heading for Roy Montgomery's office.

Fifteen minutes later she walked back out, very unhappy. Roy's answer boiled down to two things: Even if the rumor was true, the two detectives worked for Dr. Murray. It was his job to decide if they were up to the job or not; and Roy was not about to bad mouth another Captain's people on a job that didn't concern the 12th Precinct.

Kate was still seething with anger when she got home that night. She had bought a copy of the Ledger, which she rarely read, and looked for Bud Schiller's column. Sure enough, the whole column was about Dr. Murray and his commission. As far as Kate could tell, Schiller thought everyone in the commission walked on water. As she was closing the paper, an item on Page Six caught her eye. There was Richard Castle with some top heavy blonde on his arm, leaving an expensive restaurant. Kate smiled. She had an idea.

There was a knock on Rick Castle's door. He wasn't expecting anyone, but he never knew who might be coming to see him. He smiled in anticipation. To a certain extent, he loved the surprises that Manhattan always had for him. He opened the door to find a gorgeous young woman standing there.

"Mr. Castle? I'm Detective Kate Beckett, Homicide, 12th Precinct. May I come in? I need to talk you."

Castle suppressed a groan and stood back so the lovely detective could enter. Hoping that this wasn't what he thought it was, he asked politely, "How can I help you, Detective Beckett?"

"You're investigating the murder of my mother, Johanna Beckett. I want to work on the case. I can be of assistance because…"

"No." Castle said firmly.

Beckett glared at him. "You could at least hear me out."

"I've heard all about you from your captain, Roy Montgomery. He told me that under no circumstances were you to be allowed anywhere near this case. He told me what this case has cost you and what it almost cost you. The answer is no. I'm sorry."

"Will you at least hear my side of it. Don't you owe me that much?"

Castle sighed. "Come in and sit down. May I take your coat?"

Kate handed over her coat and sat on a sofa.

"I was pouring myself a Scotch. Can I offer you anything?"

"Do you have coffee?"

"I have an espresso machine. Is a latte okay?" Rick busied himself at the machine while Kate organized her thoughts.

In a few minutes, Castle handed her a latte, then sat across from her on another sofa. Kate took a deep breath and began her tale. She told of finding out about her mom's death, her withdrawal from Stanford, her entrance into the police academy, her unsuccessful search for new evidence about her mom's death, and her year of therapy. She also mentioned Boyle and Parker's premature start of their retirement.

"Aren't you afraid you'll go down that "rabbit hole", as you call it, again, if this new evidence leads nowhere?" Castle asked, being as sympathetic as he could be.

"No." She said, shaking her head. "I've learned my lesson. I knew after a couple of months that there was nothing useful in my mom's file. I just refused to give up. I know how to give up when there's nothing there."

"Detective Beckett, you know I don't have the authority to get you assigned to the case. Dr. Murray doesn't know anything about NYPD detectives, so even if we found out that these two do have the problems you mention I suppose Dr. Murray could ask for you, but given how close you are to the case, I'm sure he'd agree you shouldn't be on your mother's case. I'm sorry."

Kate had other ideas, however. She stood up and unbuttoned the top button of her blouse. "Mr. Castle, I can be very good to you. I can give you all sorts of reasons why I should be on the case." She unbuttoned the second button, showing a lacy black bra underneath. She took a step towards Castle. "Let me show you what I can do." She said in a husky voice.

"No." Castle said, standing up himself.

She undid another button. "I know I'm not as beautiful as the other women you've been with, but I know…"

"No." He said firmly. "Detective Beckett, you're as beautiful as any woman I've ever dated, and you have a brain, which puts you ahead of half of them. But, I have standards. For one, I don't date married women. My first marriage ended when I walked in on my wife in bed with another man. Secondly, I don't date women who want something from me." He grinned." Okay, if they want a great dinner at a five star restaurant, a night on the town ending with fantastic sex, I'm their man. But I don't date women who want me to get their book published, or who want me to get them a part in a play, or who want to investigate a murder I'm involved with."

"So, the Page Six playboy has standards?" Kate said sarcastically.

"Sometimes I even surprise myself." Castle admitted. "Let me get your coat for you, Detective Beckett."

"Um, could I use your bathroom first?" Kate said.

Rick sighed. "Through there and to the left."

He stood there for several minutes until he saw Kate Beckett come out. His eyes widened in shock and he dropped her coat. Kate Beckett walked into his living room wearing only a pair of high heels and a smile.