If there was one thing they’d learned in their years at the 12th, it was to duck and cover if Kate Beckett walked out of the elevator with a scowl on her face. And this particular scowl was aimed at her husband.
Castle looked entirely too pleased with himself as he followed her out of the elevator. Espo nudged Ryan, making sure his partner had noticed their friends arrival. They watched as she strode to her desk, debating for a second whether she was going to sit. She glared at Castle as she removed her coat, slung it on the back of the chair and dropped into her seat, firing up her emails and searching for files on her desk.
There she sat in a hideous Christmas sweater, adorned with presents, a bow and a little glitter. It was so unlike anything Beckett would ever wear, especially to work. They watched as Castle bit the inside of his cheek and swept his gaze over the clearly irritated figure of his wife. His amusement was clear.
They’d bet on something. And Beckett had lost. Cause there is no way their friend would wear something like that. They’d have to corner Castle in the break room later and find out what the deal was but for now they were going to have a little fun.
“Hey Castles!” Ryan called, gathering the bank account papers he’d been looking through this morning and trying to hide his grin. He cleared his throat and approached the murder board with updates for them. Beckett hadn’t moved her attention to the board yet and Ryan seized his opportunity. “Hey Beckett, we require your presents.” Ryan called. She wasn’t amused, fixing him with a look but Esposito stepped up and started to tell her and Castle that the bank accounts and phone records were a bust so far.
“Okay, keep searching,” Beckett told them. “Castle and I will talk to the family.”
“Oh, that’s not all,” Espo told her, flicking through the folder in his hand.“Yeah, it would be a treat to us if you would have a look at this.”
Beckett rolled her eyes but took the photo from him.
“This is just like the van our witness remembered being parked outside the apartment,” Beckett noted, handing the photo to her husband to peruse.
“Yeah, that statement was a real gift,” Ryan teased.
“Could be the key to unwrapping this case,” Espo joined in.
“I will remember this,” Beckett promised them. “And I will get you back,” she threatened Castle who was purposely keeping his mouth closed but gave Ryan and Espo a thumbs up when Beckett turned back to the board. “Okay, you guys track down that van. That could be our best bet. I’ll show this to the wife and see if she recognises it.”
Before anything more could be said Captain Gates walked into the bullpen. “Morning Detectives. Where are we with leads?”
Beckett, Ryan and Esposito brought Gates up to speed.
“Follow this and keep me updated,” Gates told them. The team nodded. Gates turned to Beckett, nodding “Tie this up in a bow, Detective,” Gates added as she went back into her office.
Esposito, Ryan and Castle tried not to look at each other as they held in their laughter. Beckett took a deep breath, not looking at any of them. “I will hurt the first person to laugh.”
She grabbed her coat, pulling it over her sweater and headed out to interview the victim’s family. Castle turned to the boys, eager to feed the birds and then he ran after his wife who was leaving for their victims office without him.