Exculpatory

Chapter fifteen

When Kate got into the precinct the next morning at 7 she was slightly taken aback by the looks her two brothers in arm gave her. But before she could interrogate them as to why they looked at her like that she saw and understood perfectly why.

"Morning Kate!" the writer exclaimed with excitement as he saw her coming to her desk, where he'd already planted an extra chair in which he was seated.

Kate stopped in her tracks and looked around her, the eyes of her brothers widened at the writer's choice of words and there were other officers showing high interest in what was going on, probably recognizing the writer from the last time he came visiting in a much more serious and sad manner. She quickly found her ground again and walked with quick steps towards her desk, sitting down in her chair before she planted her narrowed eyes on him.

"Castle, first thing's first, it's either detective or Beckett here, not Kate," she said in a low threatening voice.

He was, to her disappointment, not at all phased by her threat but simply nodded with the same excitement clear in his eyes. "Got it, Beckett."

She narrowed her eyes further and leaned back in order to log onto her computer. "Have you already spoken to Montgomery?" she decided to keep her voice low, not wanting anyone to hear their conversation. Thankfully he understood without her needing to explain her tone.

"I did, actually texted him late last night and got an answer today at 6am," he also kept his voice low, avoiding to let curious ears hear the words he uttered.

"Texted?" she looked at him with wide eyes. "You have his number?!" she hissed her question, in order to not shout it out loud.

"Yeah, we're poker buddies, didn't I tell you?" he asked and she put her face in her hands.

"Must've slipped your mind," she muttered, annoyed that she'd known no such thing.

"Ah, well, we are," he stated with a smile spread across his lips.

"Beckett! We got one!" Esposito called from across the bullpen, holding a note in his hand and Kate had never been more grateful.

Without missing a beat she logged off her computer, raised from her chair and started towards her fellow detective. After catching up to her two brothers she noticed Castle hadn't moved so she turned around to see he was watching her with confused but curious eyes.

"Castle! If you can't keep up you'll be left behind!" she called out in a mocking tone, causing him to an immediate reaction.

It didn't take long before he'd caught up with them just before the elevator doors shut.

"What's writerboy doing here?" Esposito asked with an accusing tone, which made Kate's cheeks get warm.

"'Writerboy'?" Castle questioned and she cursed her brother.

"Castle is going to shadow us, to see how real police work is like," she explained and Ryan piped in surprised.

"Montgomery actually agreed to this?"

"Isn't it against policy for let outsiders ride along?" Esposito added with a small angry showing in his eyes.

"It's... Espo, he's an author who's doing research for his books," Kate could see her brothers were upset by something, but she just needed her boys to back off right now. If her detective skills did her any good she suspected they were angry at the writer, and she just hoped Castle wouldn't say anything to upset them more.

Speaking of the writer, he cleared his throat to gain their attention and once again repeated, "'Writerboy'?"

"Yeah, you're a writer," Ryan said shrugging his shoulders, no way anyone could miss the irritation he felt.