S2E1
In Season two, Kate's hair has gotten longer and sexier. It begins with Rick at the precinct doing promos for the release of the first Nikki Heat novels.
Kate wants him off the team. She promised their working relationship would be over if he dug into her mother's murder. As always, he ignored her and she was bound and determined to keep him away from her team.
The reporter sat beside Beckett to interview her, "He's rich, he's handsome, and he's basing his next best seller on you. Tell me, Detective Beckett, what's it like being the inspiration for thrill-master Richard Castle's new character, Nikki Heat?"
"On behalf of the NYPD, it has been a pleasure to offer Mr. Castle insight into the profession."
"Given all his best sellers, it's obvious Mr. Castle has tremendous insight into the criminal mind. I'm told in many occasions, his participation was essential to solving your toughest cases."
Kate stared at her, "Really? You were told that? By who?"
The reporter smiled back at Kate, "By Mr. Castle."
Just them Captain Montgomery walked in and Kate saw him, "Would you excuse me for a moment?" She got up and hurried over to him, "Sir, could I talk to you in private for a moment, please?"
"Beckett, I have a couple..."
Kate raised her voice, "NOW!' She walked into his office and closed the door.
Roy looked to her, "We had a deal, Beckett."
She stood before him, "The deal is off."
"What's the problem?"
"Not only does he have the bachelor-party cop twins out there using him as a stripper pole, while I make nicey-nice with the press, but do you know what he said?"
He shook his head, "No."
"He said that he has been instrumental in helping us solve crimes."
"Well, hasn't he?"
"That's not the point."
Roy glared at her, "Do you know how hard it is for the NYPD to get good press? I mean, in a magazine that people actually read? This article is very important to the mayor, therefore we are going to cooperate. Do I make myself clear?"
She bit her lip, she was pissed off, "OKAY! FINE!" She left to get coffee and Rick poked his head in.
"I just wanted you to know I had nothing to do with this. I mean, it was the magazine. Well, the mayor thought it would be good press."
She shrugged, "You don't have to explain yourself."
He was stunned, "Really?"
She grinned and bared it, "Really. See" I don't care anymore. Now if you'll excuse me, I have an interview to get back to." She walked past him.
He tried to speak, "What did I do that was so wrong?"
She gritted her teeth, "The one thing I asked you not to do"
"Okay, so you asked me not to look into your mother's murder. But look at what I found."
"It doesn't matter what you found. I put that all behind me a long time ago." She looked to the reporter, "We can get back to the interview now."
Javi came over to her, "Nope, you're gonna have to reschedule. We just caught a body."
She looked to the reporter, "So sorry to step out on you, Amy."
"Oh, are you kidding? It's perfect. A chance to see Castle in action. Our readers will love it."
Roy broke in, "Well, we wouldn't want to disappoint your readers, now would we Detective?"
Kate just glared at them both and swallowed deeply.
They arrived at the crime scene and he hopped out of the car, "Hey, can we talk about this, please?"
She growled at him, "There's nothing to talk about."
"Well, just at least let me know what I can do to make it up to you?"
"You could leave me alone."
"Yes, well, I tried that, and it didn't work. Hey, I could buy you a pony!"
She rolled her eyes, "Focus, Castle, Crime scene, okay?"
They found Lanie on a cherry picker looking at a guy hanging down from a tree. He landed on one of the lower branches. She looked down at them, "Castle, what are you doing here?" Kate looked up at her, "Doesn't matter, we're still mad at him.":
Ryan scoffed, "A guy in a tree, Mom and Dad bickering. Seems like old times."
Kate looked up again, "How's it going up there?"
"I got tree branches poking my boobs and spotlights shining up by booty."
Javier added, "Could be worse. You could be wearing a skirt."
She stared at Javi, "When I come down, I'm gonna smack you."
He grinned at her, "I'll be looking forward to that."
She tossed him the victim's wallet, Here. He's a white male, late thirties. Judging from the cracked branches, I'm guessing he did a Superman off the top of that building.
Javi opened his wallet, "His name is John Allen. ID has him on the Upper West Side. Business card had him in insurance."
The reporter looked up. "Was it suicide?"
Both Rick and Kate answered together, "It's not a suicide."
She looked at them, "How do you know?"
Kate looked to Castle and back to the reporter, "Um, the building is too short. He'd wanna kill himself, not cripple himself."
Rick added, "If you wanna die, you're gonna aim for concrete, not a tree. Judging from the angle of descent, I'd say that guy was thrown off the building."
Kate looked to Lanie, "Since it clearly wasn't suicide, how did he die?"
There are signs of strangulation. It looks like his windpipe was crushed."
Kate called up to her, "Any ligature marks?"
Lanie called back, "Nope."
Rick looked to the reporter, "Ligature refers to anything that ties or binds, like a rope or a belt. The lack of any marks suggest he was strangled by hand."
The reporter was impressed, "Wow, you really know your stuff. No wonder they like having you around."
Kate was fuming again, "You know what? He's such an incredible resource, it seems like a shame to waste his talents here in the field. Would you mind going back to the morgue with Dr. Parish to see what else you can find out about the victim?"
He knew she was baiting him, "Don't you think I'd be of more use here at the crime scene?"
"Oh no, we're just gonna knock on doors and see what else we can stir up. You know, boring police stuff."
Lanie came down from the cherry-picker with the body. She loaded in the wagon and the reporter looked at Rick, "We have to ride in back with the dead body?"
Lanie looked to the reporter, "You can take my seat up front. I'll ride in the back with Castle."
They we on their way back and Lanie gave Castle the stink eye. He looked at her, "Hi."
She shook her head, "Uh-uh. You don't get to say hi to me. I'm just doing my girl a favor."
He let out a deep breath, "You, too, huh?"
"Well, what did you expect? Beckett spent the first three years of being a cop trying to solve her mother's murder. It took everything that she had to put it behind her. You can't respect that?"
"What was I supposed to do? Not tell her what I found?"
"What you found?"
"Ah, she didn't tell you, did she? Three people were killed the same way her mother was, right about the same time. One of them was a former law student of hers. Another one, a documents cleat. The third one, a lawyer for a non-profit."
This peaked Lanie, "Wait, the ME at the time didn't make the connection?"