new york wolves } of cold cases and secret deals

[grumpypuppy]

Derek: [and he isn't able to cover it up fast enough because he wasn't supposed to let anyone know he was working on this] This... isn't what it looks like.

Castle: [His eyes narrow for a moment because no, he knows what that looks like] Is this the Johanna Beckett file?

Derek: ........... Yeah. [and he rubs the back of his neck]

Castle: Does Beckett know you're working on this?

Derek: Yeah, she does. She wanted another set of eyes to look it over - see if I can find something she doesn't see.

Castle: [his faces is torn his lips turning down for a moment before he shakes his head] I thought she was moving on.

Derek: You never move on from something like this, Castle. [he goes to close the office door to try and keep their voices from floating out] Sometimes just working the case keeps you sane.

Castle: And sometimes it could get you killed.

Derek: Only sometimes. She's going to keep going after this case, and I promised her I would have her back.

Castle: Only sometimes? She's already nearly died once!

Derek: Yeah, and Flack assigned her a werewolf as a partner.

Castle: [huffs for a moment, before he settles in the seat across from him] The deal I made to protect her won't work if she doesn't stop digging.

Derek: [he crossed his arms, looking at Castle carefully] What deal?

Castle: [sighs heavily] Before he died, Montgomery sent a file with information on the person who ordered the hit on Kate's mother. It was his leverage, so that he could protect Kate. But he knew he was going to die and he wasn't going to let them take her with it, so he gave the file to someone he knew would know what to do with it. He said that he would keep them off her back, so long as she stopped looking into the case.

Derek: Well, technically I'm the one working on it, not her. She hasn't really touched it since she gave it to me.

Castle: I made this deal right after she was shot.

Derek: I was still in the crime lab that day. Heard about it on the news, but I was in the middle of a serial killer case that I couldn't get away.

Castle: We were trying to catch the sniper. We never found him.

Derek: Did they find any evidence at the scene?

Castle: He left the rifle behind. That was it.

Derek: If it was bagged, I may be able to pull a scent off it.

Castle: It was, but I think a lot of us have handled it since then. I know that Esposito used it to help Kate through the sniper case.

Derek: [huffs a bit] If it's not bagged, it'll lose the scent after a while.

Castle: [shrugs] Whoever the guy was, he was a pro.

Derek: Yeah, well I have a few tricks of my own that the pros never see coming.

Castle: Are they the kind of tricks that will hold up in court?

Derek: I haven't lost a case yet.

Castle: Look ... I want this to be solved. I want this closure for her. But I care about her life more.

Derek; You don't think I don't care about her life?

Castle: No, I know you do. Which is why I'm trying to be as rational as possible about this.

Derek: [he's trying to get a read on Castle at the moment] Are you working on something involving this without her knowing?

Castle: [shakes his head] No. But if you're going to look into this, you need to tread lightly.

Derek: I will.

Castle: Do me a favor? If you do find anything, run it by me first before you tell her? I want to know what it is before she goes running head first into it.

Derek: I can do that. If you find out anything that would be a part of this, you'll feed it to me so I can work it into my profile?

Castle: [nods] I don't know if I'll have much, though. I haven't been looking as much as I should.

Derek: Hey, you never know how the smallest of information will be the case breaker unless you have it pressed against the rest of the information.

Castle: Very true.

Derek: So what do you have? [waves Castle to come look at the file with him]

Castle: Whoever's pulling the strings on this thing? Is a guy with a lot of power.

Derek: Alright, power. In New York, that would be CEO, politicians, or mob bosses.

Castle: The guy blackmailed three cops for many years. If we can find out how he found out about it, maybe it'll give us a better clue as to who he is.

Derek: [nods] Yeah.... we can work on that. I know Montgomery was one, who were the other two?

Castle: John Raglan and Gary McAllistar. He was a rookie under them at the time.

Derek: [he sighs and grabs the puzzle roller and unrolls it, the green murder board coming into view that had paper whiteboard glued to it. He added the names next to Montgomery. Other facts were on the board in the same organized manner that Kate did her murder boards - they had learned together after all - and he bit the edge of the dry erase marker]

Castle: They're both dead now. "The Dragon," whoever he is, had them taken out the same way he did Beckett's mom.

Derek: The Dragon. [he thinks a moment, then considers something] I'd need to look at my old files at the crime lab, but that alias is familiar. I think we've had it come up in at least one of our cases.

Castle: Wouldn't be surprised. He's had a lot of people killed over the years.

Derek: But it's a lead to run down. Maybe there's info on my previous cases I can use to find a direction to follow.

Castle: Definitely worth having a look.

Derek: Thanks, Castle.