"Coffee, then." A moment later, in a much more polite tone: "Decaf for the detective." A fresh cup and saucer appears at her elbow. Castle repeats his request, except this time he requests his poison in one of those ubiquitous little espresso cups. Hey, he's been called worse things than 'pretentious.'

He taps the edge of his coffee against hers. "To catching a perp," he says, aware of his tawdry use of the term, "and to looking damn fine doing it."