"Hey, girl," Lanie called as Beckett approached. "No shadow yet?"
"Hey," she returned. "He's with Esposito and Ryan. Some of the guys were chatting at the tape. Hopefully, they're getting some info to go along with that gossip."
"Oh, it's some newbie's first scene – threw up and everything. You're not going to get much the first time they come back here besides gossip." Lanie observed as Kate tried to suppress a smirk. "Tell me you're not surprised," she started.
"Lanie, focus on the body," Kate interrupted before the M.E. could really start in.
"Alright. Geez, girl," Lanie reluctantly agreed. "As you can see, our friend came to the party, but got a little tangled up before he could leave," Lanie joked. "I'm going to go with tentative cause of death, barring any surprises," she said, pointing to the bullet hole in the victim's temple. "It only looks like he struggled slightly against the duct tape binding his hand to the doorknob; no dislocations, no bruising from what I can tell right now. I'll need to get him laid out flat instead of sitting down."
"Other than the obvious, anything worth mentioning?"
"Nope. Awfully warm night for the gloves crime scene found in his pocket, but nothing else jumps out at me. We'll have to get him away from the door to check for sure, but it looks like there is no disturbance to the door. Boy almost looks like he was trussed up and left here as a present for someone to find."
"Great. Thanks," she said, preparing to go corral 'her boys.'
"Hold up," Lanie said, laying her hand on her friend's shoulder. "Everything going okay?"
"Why wouldn't it be?" Kate returned, shooting Lanie an odd look.
"Beckett!" Castle called, approaching them. "Uh, is our dead body bound to that door?" he questioned, stopping to stare.
"Nah, Castle, it's all an illusion. He decided to just take a nap. That's why they interrupted all of our nights."
"Har har," he answered, unimpressed with Beckett's mocking sarcasm.
"Hate to break up the love fest and all," Lanie interjected, haning up her phone, "but it looks like I'm needed at another scene. Girl, don't expect anything until tomorrow sometime – Perlmuter's already at his own scene and it's a multiple. You," she directed towards Castle with a smile, "Don't get into too much trouble."
As Lanie hurriedly gave instructions to a tech, the boys finally joined them. "Well?" Beckett questioned them.
"I almost feel bad for the kid," Ryan started.
"But, then ya remember that he essentially contaminated our crime scene. That's when you decide he's getting what he deserves," Esposito added.
"What happened?" Castle questioned, his interests peeked.
"Later, Castle," Beckett chastised. "Esposito, see what you can do about finding the owner or manager of this place. If they have working cameras back here, we need to see them. Plus, let's see if there's any reason as to why he's here in particular." As he stepped back to start making calls, Beckett turned to Ryan. "9-1-1 calls. Get the call, talk to the couple that found the body. See if everything lines up. If so, let 'em go, but know how to find them later."
"On it," he said, making a beeline for the couple back towards the yellow tape.
