Looking for Clues


"You're gay, right?"

Kevin looks up as two men enter the break room area, one of them dark skinned and dressed in the requisite cheap cop suit, though the shirt is open at the collar and there's no tie in sight, and the other dressed in quality clothes, taken of the 'quirky' rack at whatever trendy store he shops at, his scarf like a Dr. Who reject.

"Dude." There's barely a trace of a Hispanic accent as the cop rolls his eyes. "You can't ask him that. This is the police department."

"Yeah. But I'm not the police." He turns and faces Kevin, and Kevin recognizes his face from his local book store. "I'm Richard Castle. You're gay, right?"

Kevin raises an eyebrow, but doesn't smile. "Why? Are you propositioning me?"

"No. Not exactly." Caslet slaps his hand on Kevin's shoulder. "Not that I'm not completely supportive of all lifestyles."

"So you're sort of propositioning me."

"Yes. No. Okay, look, I need you to go into the men's room."

"That's a proposition."

"No. I mean, I'm not going in with you or anything."

"So you're a tease."

"I just need you to go in there and look at someone."

"Look at someone."

"Part of someone."

"I'm pretty sure this qualifies as entrapment. I mean, I know you can't be suggesting that I oogle someone in the men's room of a New York City police department."

"Not oogle. No one said ogle."

"Right." Kevin nods and crosses his arms over his chest. "You just want me to casually check some guy out. How is this not entrapment again?"

The cop wraps his arm around Kevin's shoulders, leading him away from Castle. "Excuse the insane writer."

"So he is that Richard Castle."

"As far as I can tell, there's no reason for anyone to deliberately pretend to be him." He heads toward the espresso maker. "If it helps, I really am a detective. Detective Javier Esposito. The real story is that we have a suspect, but we're having a little bit of trouble getting him to confess."

"Maybe he's innocent."

"He's not innocent," Castle calls out from across the room.

"We have a witness who can identify…part of him, but before we clue him into that, we want to make sure we've got the right guy."

"So, in order to do this, he's just randomly asking men in the precinct if they're gay?"

"You're actually the first."

"Lucky me."

"Lucky you." Esposito tilts his head and smiles. "It'd be a big help."

Kevin looks from him to Castle, who looks very much like an over-eager puppy. Sighing softly he turns back to Esposito. "One condition."

"Anything!" Castle offers, holding up his hands in surrender at Esposito's glare. "Within reason. Or the law. I guess."

"I want real coffee when I'm done."

"Done." Castle smiles and crowds Kevin and Esposito against the counter. "Okay, so this is what we're looking for…"

* * *

Kevin sits on the edge of Esposito's desk, drinking his espresso. "So he's your guy."

"Looks like it." Esposito leans back and kicks his legs up, feet resting on the edge of the desk near Kevin's thigh. "So, I have a question."

"Yeah?"

"What exactly are you doing here at the station?"

"My boss went to college with your chief. They're bullshitting in his office."

"Dude. You work for Senator McCallister?"

"Yeah, but don't hold it against me."

"Okay, I get that but…you're working for a Republican senator. How the hell did Castle know you were gay? Dude doesn't have any kind of sense about that sort of thing."

"Oh, that part's easy." Kevin sips his coffee then slides off the desk as Robert exits the chief's office. "The book tour for his second book, he came to Stanford."

"Yeah? And?"

Kevin smiles widely, raising his eyebrows. "You're a detective, Esposito. Figure it out."


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