Chapter 6 – Choked Sob

Castle is sitting in the interview room. Well, Castle in thirty years is. His hair has gone stark white, but he still has a full head of it. There are laugh lines around his eyes, he's aged well. There's a wedding ring on his finger that he's fiddling with as he looks at me. I don't know where to start. I feel like I'm looking into a mirror and seeing my future.

Sucking in a deep breath "Mr. Caldwell I'm Detective Beckett, I'm in charge of your son's case," I introduce myself taking the seat across from him.

"Oh hi... I was just wondering if you knew anything." He's jittery with nerves, and seemingly on the verge of tears, "Sorry, I just... he called me three weeks ago said he wanted to move past our fight, that he wanted me in his life again... and then today we were supposed to meet for lunch but he didn't come so I went to the address he gave me for his apartment, but the scary doorman told me it was a crime scene..." a tear finally escapes runs down his cheek, "he sent me here. But this is the homicide division. Is my son dead?"

"I'm so sorry for your loss, we found your son in his home yesterday morning."

There's that choked sob that seems to always wrack every person in the room. "We hadn't talked in nearly twenty years, today was going to be the first time we had seen each other since his high school graduation."

He stands shoving his hands in his pockets, looking for something to do, somewhere to go. And must give up because he sits back down. "Mr. Caldwell I know this is difficult for you but is there anything in your recent conversations that might have hinted that he thought he was in trouble?"

"Yeah, he said that's why he called. He was making some changes in his life for the better and getting back in touch with me was one of them." He made that same face that Castle does when he's really concern and worried about me or Alexis.

I have this unnatural impulse to reach out and give his arm a squeeze, his mannerisms making me react instinctively, just as if I would if I saw Castle in this kind of distress. Reining in my own emotions, "Did he mention any details?"

He shakes his head, "No, no nothing... It's just I thought that I was getting my son back. He's all I have left, my second wife passed last year from cancer and Ethan's mom was killed in a car accident, and now he's gone." He's standing again crossing the room, looking out the window into the bullpen. Not really taking anything in he just stood there for a moment.

"Mr. Caldwell, I we'll let…"

But he cut across me, "Detective if my son is dead then who is that standing over at that white board?" Then he was out of the room before I had a chance to even begin to tell him what was happening.

"Ethan!" He calls across the bullpen, the three boys spin around to look at me. Castle is absolutely panic stricken.

"Mr. Caldwell!" I yell trying to get his attention, "Mr. Caldwell we need to discuss something else."

"It can wait, Detective. I want to talk to my son first." He snaps at me, "Ethan it's me. It's dad."

The entire precinct has gone deathly quiet, everyone is just watching this train wreck. Castle seems to recover first, clearing his throat he draws himself upright, crossing the room to us. "It's nice to meet you Mr. Caldwell," he pauses eyes hitting mine for just a second, "I'm Richard Castle. Why don't we step back in here and talk for a minute with Detective Beckett."

Now Mr. Caldwell is looking like he's been struck over the head, "Richard Castle? But you look just like Ethan." Castle and I follow the elder Caldwell into the interview room again and barely managed to close the door before he started again, "Ethan, you're not in witness protection are you?"

I can't leave Castle to flounder, "Mr. Caldwell there's been a huge misunderstanding."

"A misunderstanding?"

Castle takes a breath, "Mr. Caldwell I don't know how to tell you this but I am your son, just not Ethan... Ethan as it turns out was my half brother."

Mr. Caldwell flops back on the sofa his mouth opening and closing but no sound coming out, "My son... half-brother... You're my son?"

"We ran the DNA test when we found him, their appearances were too similar not too." I explain how we came to this life altering news.

The air in the room has gone completely still as father and son just look at each other for a long minute. Castle is sinking into the chair across from him, and I give up fighting the compulsion to cross to him and lay a hand on his shoulder. He brings and hand up tangling his fingers with mine, and I relaxing knowing that this is what he needs, just a hand to hold onto.

Mr. Caldwell is studying Castle closely, eyes sweeping over the jaw, cheekbones and eyes that I know so well. "How old are you?" Mr. Caldwell seems to have finally found his voice.

"41. My mother is an actress Martha Rodgers." Castle offers hopefully. Maybe that detail will spark something for Mr. Caldwell, "She says she got pregnant while doing a traveling show of the Merchant of Venice the summer before."

Mr. Caldwell is quite dropping into a state of melancholy, "I met my first wife, Ethan's mom, that fall." He sighs in that exaggerated way that Castle does when he's struggling with something. "I'm sorry. You said your name is Richard Castle? The Mystery Author?"

Castle nods his head slowly. "That's me."

"Karen loved your books. That Nikki Heat kept her smiling even when the chemo got to be too much." He breaks down and sobs, "I'm sorry this is too much... um can we... I..."

Pulling a card from his wallet, Castle hands it over to him. "Here's my contact info you can call me anytime, or call the station, someone will let me know."

Handing over my own card now, "Mr. Caldwell here's my card if you think of anything Ethan might have told you, or you need to get a hold of Rick, let me know."

He nods even as tears roll slowly down his face, "Yeah I will... I'll let you get back to work." He stands wiping his face quickly.

"I'll walk you out." I offer, trying to make this as smooth as possible.

He shakes his head, "No that's alright. I can find it." He stops and looks at Castle hard, "You're definitely not Ethan. He had a birthmark by his ear, but I can't deny that you look enough like him to be my son. Maybe when you find out who did this we can have lunch? It would seem that you're the only family I have left."

Castle smiles slowly and he nods, "Yeah I'd like that."

Mr. Caldwell nods, he doesn't really seem capable of further speech because he just nods and heads out of the room.

Castle comes to stand next to me, his fingers seeking mine as we watch his father leave. It's not until the elevator doors close that he lets out a breath. "Are you okay?" I ask.

"Okay, is a relative term. But as well as a 40 year old can be for having just met his father thanks to finding his brother dead while following his girlfriend around at work." He's smirking and just a little bit, so he's doing ok, and so I laugh giving his fingers a squeeze.

"Yeah you're doing ok. You want to go home, or go back to work?"

"Let's go back to work; we were just finishing the timeline when we got interrupted." He regretfully untangles our fingers, "Hopefully the boys have found something."