Beckett trod familiar ground as she followed the corridor to the loft apartment, fingers drumming gently against the butt of her handgun as she walked. She shot a glance backwards at the two men following behind her; Esposito and Ryan practically on her heels as she moved. She shook her head minutely at the worry on their faces, trying to believe it was not imprinted upon her own features, the tension was practically palpable and if Castle was just sleeping off an all-nighter or something similar she would murder him herself. Pushing away the thought she pulled her phone from her ear as it went to voice-mail once again, growling angrily as she pocketed it and freed her gun from its holster completely, hand falling loosely over it.

"He's still not picking up," she said to Ryan and Esposito, pulling from her pocket the front door key Alexis had given her when they had decided to search the house, and denied the girl from going as well. A feeling in Beckett's gut told her that was the right choice. The same feeling that had her readily reaching for her gun. "If he's here I'll smack him with his cell phone," she could practically see the smirk Esposito gave behind her as they stopped before the hall door. The two men falling into well practiced positions either side of her before she raised her hand and knocked on the door.

"Castle!" she shouted through the partition, "Castle, open up now!" Silence. Stretching over a minute in which no one moved, and then she tipped her head towards the door, a frown creeping over her face as she listened.

"Television?" Ryan guessed, hearing the same sound that she was listening to, and she shrugged, snapping from the trance she'd fallen into trying to pinpoint and recognise the sound, and knocked on the door again.

"Castle!" louder this time, more insistent, recognising that the other tenants of the block would likely complain of the noise she was making, not caring, the feeling in her gut was churning now, a glance to the boys told her they felt the same "Castle, if you don't open the door now I am going to break it down!" silence, other than the noise of the possible television, and then she nodded to the pair, listening as they both drew their sidearm's, and placed the key in the lock.

The smell of whiskey hit her as soon as the door was opened, and a single step over the threshold had her looking down, taking in the broken glass on the floor, the small pool of liquid the pieces sat in, and the shard she had stood upon and crushed beneath her foot. She drew her gun without thinking, jerking her head to Ryan and Esposito; check carefully.

They moved further into the apartment, bodies tensed, fingers poised over gun triggers, eyes taking in everything. Beckett's eyes made a quick scan of the room, registered no threat, and focussed on the television; the source of the sound indeed, for there was a film playing on it, one of the old black and white silent ones, the backing music the sound that they had heard from the corridor.

Ryan was moving up the stairs, heading towards the bedrooms with Esposito on his tail as she turned a slow circle. The lower floor of the loft was obviously deserted, although that was no reason for her to become comfortable and lower her weapon, instead she ran a cynical eye over everything, examining the room for anything that suggested why Castle wasn't answering his phone.

"Upstairs is clear," Ryan called out as he and Esposito started back down the stairs, making Beckett nod thoughtfully, the shattered whiskey glass had spoken volumes towards the fact that Castle wasn't around, but she could find no other obvious signs of chaos. Only their mystery writer could leave behind such a solid mystery.

"Call it in," she said, turning another slow circle, rechecking everything, moving towards the couch and perching on the edge, plucking Castle's cell phone from the table and pressing a button to light up the screen. Thirty-four missed calls. She wasn't surprised, she had tried to get through to him numerous times and Alexis was probably still trying. "Talk to security, see if they know if anyone suspicious was hanging around last night."

She stood for a moment as the two men moved to do as she bade, trying to work out what to do next, before she moved across the room, heading towards the partitioned section that marked Castle's office. In her head, she saw the man in his chair behind the desk, head bent close to the monitor as he typed, only to look up startled when he realised she was there, startled by her appearance in his apartment. Instead the room was empty, quiet save for the low hum of the computer's fan. She moved directly for the desk, and stared at the computer, a wry smile crossing her face as she watched the screensaver play across over and over. She doubted it was as much of an incentive as it was supposed to be, but that was probably why Castle liked it.

Her hand ghosted over the mouse, eliminating the screensaver and bringing up a word document. Her eyes scanned it quickly, noting a chapter of a new Nikki Heat novel, what Castle had been watching before he'd been distracted into watching his film no doubt.

Beckett straightened up then, her eyes scouring the room quickly and a frown drawing across her face. Castle's office was usually perfectly tidy, and whilst most of the room echoed this sentiment one of the lower shelves had to all appearances exploded across the floor. The folders typically lined up in the low shelf were lying on the floor before the emptied space, numerous papers from inside strewn across the floor. She moved around the desk and crouched before the strewn papers, looking at them carefully.

"Captain says to treat it like a typical crime scene for now," Esposito said, stepping into the office, his phone disappearing into his pocket.

"It's not our jurisdiction," Beckett said absently, they handled homicides, kidnapping cases belonged to Sorenson and his team.

"Captain's making some calls," Esposito responded, "Castle's one of us after all." Beckett nodded, and her head shot up as the man behind her whistled.

"What?" she asked, turning her head to see Esposito stood by the desk, a bottle in one hand.

"Jameson Limited Reserve," he said, a touch of excitement in his voice "This is really good, expensive stuff." He set the bottle back on the desk, and glanced back into the main house "It proves it," he added finally.

"Proves what?"

"You don't drop a glass of Jameson's Limited without good reason." He told her, "Whoever grabbed Castle grabbed him at the door."

X

Castle woke up slowly, feeling heavy and disjointed. For several moments he was still, blinking as he allowed his brain to catch up with the rest of his body. Then he raised his arm, felt it move slowly, as though moving through treacle, and waved it in front of his face several times, feeling his breath against his palm, hot and heavy. His forehead creased, and he lowered his hand, touching his nose carefully with his palm.

"Well hell," he said into the dark, blinking in the hope of perceiving anything through the dark.