An hour later. . .

Castle Residence

Bzzz . . .Bzzz . . . Bzzz . . .Bzzz . . . Bz . . .

Castle groaned as he rolled over in bed onto his stomach, the right side of his face pressed against a pillow as he forced his eyes to open.

He could just make out his cell phone on the stand beside his bed as it was vibrating, the screen lit up.

He forced his head up as he reached over for the phone with his left arm.

His fingers fumbled with the phone for a moment as he finally picked it up, squinting at the screen as he worked on making out the time.

As he did, his eyes widened as it read 5:00 a.m. Who could possibly. . .

He pushed the reply button as he brought the phone up to his ear, head falling back against the pillow as he closed his eyes, allowing himself to relax as he could feel his body drifting back to sleep.

"Hello?" He mumbled a reply.

"Castle, wake up. I need you here right now." Beckett's voice replied as his eyes flew open, instantly alert now as he rolled onto his back, sitting up in bed.

"What's going on . . . are you okay?" He asked as there was a pause from the other end of the line.

"I'm fine, it's. . . a cop's been killed." She said as he could hear the emotion behind her words.

"I'll be there right away. Address?" He asked as he cradled the phone in between his neck and shoulder, getting out of bed as he headed for the closet.

"It's on Bank street, near the intersection of Bowery." She said.

"Alright, I'm on my way." He said as they both hung up.

He quickly got dressed before exiting his room, quietly making his way down the stairs as he headed towards the door.

"Dad?" He turned around to see Alexis sitting on a stool near the island in the kitchen as he gave her a small smile.

"Hey sweetie. I gotta go, got a case. A cop's been killed." He said as her face softened.

"Go.' She said softly as his hand rested on the door handle, looking at her more carefully.

"You look like you want to talk about something." He said as she walked over to him.

"It can wait. Go." She urged as he nodded, quickly giving her a kiss on the side of her face before he turned and exited the apartment.

At the scene . . .

Castle ducked under the crime scene tape spanning across the alleyway as he looked ahead to see Kate, Esposito and Lanie all gathered around a body lying on the ground as it was partially hidden from his view.

As he approached them, Esposito and Kate turned around to look at him, Lanie staying crouched down beside the body as she was examining it.

The two of them stepped out of the way and Castle got his first glance at the dead officer.

He was young. . .just a kid. Looked no older then twenty.

He was lying face down on the ground, head turned sharply to the left as he was staring vacantly at the wall, eyes devoid of the life they'd once held.

His uniform hat was lying a little to the right of his head, right arm outstretched as he was clutching something in his hand.

A large pool of blood had gathered underneath him as Castle finally tore his gaze away from the body to look at Kate and Esposito.

He could see tension in their faces, both of them visibly upset as he decided it best to just skip the banter.

"Who is he?" He asked.

"Officer John Wilson. Kid was just twenty two years old. He just got his training wheels off too, working his first shift without a training officer. He was responding to a call out about a mugging when this happened. . ." Esposito said as Castle looked back down a the young man.

"Killed on his first shift working by himself. . .that's rough." He said quietly as Esposito nodded.

"Yeah, well technically he was off shift. Figure he was on his way back to the precinct when the call came in. He said he was closest so he'd take the call. Maybe ten minutes later he called back, saying shots had been fired and he needed assistance." Esposito said.

"How'd he die?" Castle asked as Lanie looked up at the three of them, quickly getting to her feet.

"Two gunshots to the back, close ranged. Judging by the pool of blood underneath him, he died here but I can tell you more once I get him back to the morgue." She said as Kate nodded.

"Thanks Lanie." She said.

"Mhm." Lanie replied.

"So the officer gets the call, responds to a mugging in an alley. He sees a man being attacked, rushes in to help. The mugger turns his attention to him, the two tousle and the mugger's gun goes off. Somewhere the officer gets the upper hand, stunning the mugger while he takes the time to call it in, but the mugger shoots him twice in the back after the call." Castle said.

"Makes sense." Kate said as Esposito and Lanie both looked at her, raising their eyebrows.

"What? It does. I can agree with Castle occasionally." She said defensively.

Meanwhile Castle was looking at the officer's right hand, wondering what he was holding onto so tightly at the time of his death.

He crouched down again, reaching towards the officer's hand but suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder, yanking him back.

"Castle, don't touch." She said sharply as he looked up at her, slowly standing up.

"He's clutching something in his hand." Castle protested.

"Could be evidence. Better have someone with gloves grab for it." She reminded him as he nodded.

"Probably a better idea." He admitted sheepishly as Kate looked at Lanie.

"Already on it sweetie." Lanie said as she knelt down, leading over as she gently unfolded his hand, removing a small wallet sized photo.

"What's the picture of?" Kate asked her as her, Castle and Esposito watched Lanie's face darken.

She shook her head, turning the picture around as they leaned in closer to get a look.

It was a picture of a young, blonde woman smiling, a little blonde haired girl sitting on her lap as she had a big grin on her face, eyes shining.

"He had a wife and a daughter." Esposito said softly.

"Sunnuvabitch." Kate swore as Castle felt anger beginning to grow, thinking about a little girl growing up without her father.

"We need to find the bastard who did this." He said, voice tight with anger as Kate looked over at him, nodding her head.

"We'll get them Castle but first we need to find that couple that was attacked. They can probably I.D. the guy responsible for this. Esposito, after you and Ryan are done canvassing here I want you to check with dispatch about the woman who called in the crime. See if you can trace her phone, find an address. Castle and I will go talk to the wife." She said as he nodded.

"Sure thing." He said as he turned and walked away, Kate turning her attention back towards the young officer.

She was not looking forward to to telling his wife that her husband was never coming home. . .