Castle plops onto the cushion beside her and, without thinking, scratches the fabled 'Unreachable Spot' between Beckett's shoulder blades. "Perils of the job," he says. "When I was writing Unholy Storm, all that voodoo? I habitually checked Alexis' stuffed animal collection to make sure that nobody had put any bad mojo on me. Sometimes the work goes home with you."

He drops his hand back to his beer and plugs his mouth with the neck of the bottle. 'Wipes the foam off his upper lip and stretches his legs out beneath the coffee table.

Sometimes it follows you home, he thinks.