"Thank Goodness! Murder!" Castle squealed in his usual upbeat way.

"Castle, don't be so happy." Beckett said plainly, knowing that it was not right to be so happy that someone died, even though he voiced everyone's thoughts. Let's just say the precinct had been super dull lately.

"Sorry." He mumbled under his breath as they slid into her car on the way to the crime scene.

When they got there it was, the murder had taken place on the grounds rented out for the circus. There was a giant poster hanging outside the tent that had written on it: HALY'S CIRCUS.

The body, broken and bloody, laid sprawled across the ground was the body of a performer. Simone Arian.

"Alright gimme something to work with Lanie." Kate said looking around the sight.

"She was on the tight rope. It broke. The performers are so used to performing that they don't need to use a net." She concluded with a sigh. "It was during a live act."

"Great," Kate said with a tinge of sarcasm, "so there are lots of eye-witnesses."

"Boss!" Ryan shouted from across the crime scene. "You might wanna come have a look at this."

"What is it Ryan?" she asked as she and Richard made their way over.

"The rope, it didn't just snap." He held up the frayed wire. "It was tampered with."

"Hey, Boy Wonder! How was school today?"

"It was fine Kid Mouth." The ebony haired boy responded as he plopped down on the couch with the rest of the team. Miss M had gotten home fairly early from practice and was baking some cookies from left over dough from the day before. She always tried to make extra. She walked over to where the team was spread across the living room.

DING!

"Cookies are ready!" she said cheerfully. But she said it just as the TV was changed to the news.

"This is Kat reporting live from the site of the murder. 21 year old Simone Arian was killed in a staged attack. She was an acrobat at the Haly's International Circus. She died in the middle of her act." The blonde on the TV said slowly and sadly.

"Our regrets go out to the family, friends, and her fellow workers. This is Kat Grant reporting live from New York City. Gordon, back to you."

Wally immediately looked at his best friend to his right. The team had dismissed it and had gotten some cookies, thinking it was just some freak accident, not having heard the word murder, but Wally knew better. Dick sat there frozen. Wally quickly turned off the TV and rested a hand on Dick's shoulder.

"You knew her didn't you?"

"She would baby sit us kids when our parents would go into the town." He said simply, he tried to shrug it off but let a tear slip past his glasses. "She was crazy nice. Never was the horrible stereotypical nanny. All she wanted to do was to have fun and do what she loved to do. She was so happy the day she was allowed her own act. It was live the stars had aligned for her. She had a great smile to." He sighed. "I think I'm gonna call Haly. He's gonna want to hear from me." He said softly, minding his words around his friends.

"She was a wonderful girl." Haly told Beckett on the sight.

"Can you tell me, did Simone have any enemies who might have wanted her dead?"

"Oh, no! Never! Simone was an angel. She was always there for everyone. The only person jealous of her would be Nadia Rufskivic, but the only reason for her is that she and Simone were up for the same job. Nadia needed a bit more time to get acquainted with the routines."

"They were up for the same job."

"Yes, and originally Simone accepted it. Only last night did she reject the new job."

"Whoa whoa whoa! She rejected it? Did she say why?" Castle asked raising a quizzical brow.

"Well we never knew for sure, but her friends suspected it was her over protective husband, or her brother." Then his phone shouted something about the flying something's that confused Kate.

"Excuse me this is an old friend of mine. I haven't heard from him in years." He picked up the phone and put it on speaker. "Hey Dick, how are you holding up? I'm guessing you found out."

'Yeah pop's tell the police that I knew her. And if they want to talk to me they can.' A young mans voice came over the speaker. 'You remember the last time you came here what happened, right? Pop's it's a pattern.'

"Dick, I'm Detective Beckett I need you to come down to the precinct, if you don't mind."

'Course.' And that was it, the line went dead.

"She was pregnant." Lanie said in autopsy.

"So that's why she said no." Castle said.

"Besides that her cause of death is pretty obvious." She said plainly as she looked over the cleaned body. She sighed. "She was beautiful."

"Oh Lanie. Most of 'em are." Kate said and left followed by Castle on her heels. "What Castle, no funny outlandish ideas."

"This isn't funny." He said plainly with a straight face.

"Um, there's a fourteen year old kid here to see ya Beckett." Javier said confusedly, as her and Richard entered their level. She turned on her heels to see the boy in an interrogation room waiting patiently. He was pale, he had raven black hair, and deep blue eyes. She knew exactly who he was.

"Richard Grayson. Didn't expect you to come."

"Dick. I prefer Dick, if you don't mind." He said standing sharking her hand, then seating himself back down.

"Of course." She said closing the door behind her and sitting down in front of him. She told Castle to wait in the other room. He guessed she was going for one of those 'Motherly Approaches'. "Thanks for meeting with me." She said smiling slightly, just enough to be encouraging but not overbearing like she was glad they met under these circumstances.

"I wanted to come, I knew Simmy before the-"he took in a slight gulp-"before the fall."

"Okay, it's okay. Now on the phone you said there was a pattern. Do you mind telling me this pattern that you saw?" she asked stretching her neck out a bit and resting a hand of his shaky palm. Normally Dick would be fine to talk to the police, it's just that the problem ran so close to home that it was hard for him to stay 'fine'.

He nodded after a few silent moments of him gathering his thoughts. "Three years ago something similar happened, not identical, but similar. A man in his thirties, he had a kid. She's my age."

"Can I ask her name?" she asked as she lifted her hand from his and clicked a pen.

"Sofia Adel Naomi. Her father also worked for Haly. He was killed." She took the moment of silence to write down the information.

"Is there anything else?" She asked glancing up at him.

"My parent's death…" He mumbled. "They were killed when I was seven. There equipment was also tampered with. They fell. They all fall. There all similar acts. They all involve the high wire, height, and balance. It's rare to see a professional fall!" He said with obvious frustration letting the light lisp that he tried so hard to hide, out.

She took a moment to let him calm down while adding a series of 'it's okay', and 'it'll be fine's.

"Dick, may I ask how you got here?"

"The butler, Alfred, he drove me. He knew it would take a while for me to talk with you so he left back for Gotham."

"Do you have a place to stay, if we ask you to do so?"

He gave a thoughtful look for a moment. Then shook his head 'no'.

"Well, you're welcome to stay with me, if your father allows." She said then gathered her papers and stood. Leaving him alone in the interrogation room.

He whipped out his phone.

"He Tati. Yeah, I have to stay….. No Barry doesn't need to pick me up. Tati its fine Central is two hours away. And I'm not making him speed!" he gave a light chuckle. "Can I stay with Detective Beckett?" There was audible typing on the other end, then a moment of silence as he knew his adopted father was reading Kathrine Beckett's file. There was a slight 'Mmmmmmhmmmm.' then a yes. "Thanks Tati."