Kate Beckett quickly scanned the apartment, if you could call it that. It consisted of two small rooms. She walked through the tiny kitchen/dining room that held an ancient and empty refrigerator that matched all the empty cabinets, a small gas stove beside a wobbly kitchen table with two mismatched chairs. The other room held a small chest of drawers with a portable TV on top of it. Most of the rest of the room was taken up by a bed. The reason why she was in the apartment was sprawled all over the bed and covered in blood.
"So what do we know?"
Esposito opened his notebook. "Landlord said that the vic is Susan Meyers. She moved in five weeks ago and he's had a few complaints about noise and men, plural, coming out of her apartment at all hours." The young woman was spread eagle on the bed and her lifeless green eyes were wide open. "We'll knock on some doors to find out more." Kate barely noticed as he and Ryan left.
"Talk to me, Lanie. Was Susan murdered or was this a dissatisfied customer that lost control?"
"Could be both, she hasn't been dead that long, rigor hasn't passed. She obviously has lots of bruises and some wounds on her hands that look like she got in a few licks before she lost the fight. Preliminary cause of death is strangulation but I'll know more when I get back to my lab. Oh yeah, the name she gave might be a phony, there's no wallet or ID anywhere." She pointed to a small tattoo on her arm; it was a small heart around the name EMMA.
"Thanks." Kate looked back to see a silent Rick Castle staring at the figure on the bed.
"She looks like…..she could be a student at York with Alexis."
Kate took a longer look at the victim's face and realized why Castle was so subdued. The young woman had strawberry blond hair and green eyes. If you looked quickly, she could be mistaken for Alexis Castle.
"How old do you think she is?" Castle was still staring at the victim.
"Eighteen to twenty tops." Lanie supervised as the body was placed in a body bag and wheeled from the room. "CSU is here, you all set?"
"Yeah…wait! Did anyone clear that closet?" Lanie shrugged and Kate pulled her gun. She walked quietly to the door, yanked it open and saw something move. "Police! Come out now."
A toddler crawled out of the back of the enclosed space, eyes wide and seeing Beckett she began to cry. Kate and Lanie stared at the baby in shock. Before either woman could react, Castle was across the room, he knelt in front of her and lifted the baby into his arms. "Hi, I'm Rick. What a good girl you are, staying in there for so long and you were so quiet. I'll bet you are really hungry and thirsty too." At his gentle tone, the little girl stopped crying and nodded. "Well then, let's go get you something right now." He walked out of the room with her in his arms, moving carefully so that she couldn't see all the blood.
Kate turned back to Lanie in shock. "He can't just leave with her!"