Two hours later the crime scene is in full swing, Castle's out in the hall leaning on the wall out of the way frowning deeply cause from what he can hear he knows he was right and he hopes that it was fast.

His head tips up when he hears high heels approaching him

"Rick, why are you here instead of upstairs in your apartment?"

Beckett asks with a sympathetic voice. castle clears his throat a few times before he can talk

"It occured to me, that I'm really the only person she has to identify her. I... I know I can't touch her but I can give your M.E. identifying marks"

He just feels the raised eyebrow in this direction, he raises his hand and delicately touches her face to be sure

"not like that, ever since the accident... I see with my fingers"

He can feel her stiffen so he 'looks' quickly

"you have a mole on the left side of your face, just below your eye and a small scar that would be invisible to the naked eye near your right ear. You're also quite beautiful if I might say so" he offers her a warm smile

"my point is, those two marks would be enough for me to know that the person in front of me is you Detective Beckett. The same would be said for how I know Darcy is Darcy"

Beckett couldn't help but be impressed even if he did run his hand over her face when she's not really a touchy person, in the end she finds it odd that aside from the initial shock reaction she doesn't really mind it.

"Let me go get Lanie then, I'll be right back"

He waits against the wall out of the way for several minutes before he can hear Beckett's heels and another set of footsteps.

He tips his head up again

"Alright Rick, here's Lanie"

Castle nods in greeting to the M.E. then clears his throat

"okay, well first Darcy told me once that she has a tattoo on her left butt cheek. Smurfette flipping the bird if I recall. She also has a scar over her left eyebrow, barely there from a childhood accident. She never told me what it was. Her left ear is pierced three times her right only twice and she has two small warts that she was working on burning off with the over the counter freeze stuff. One on her right middle finger the other on her left elbow. Is that enough?"

Beckett and Lanie look at each other for a long moment before Lanie speaks up

"Boy that's more than enough, you're going to make this I.D. so easy I'll get an early lunch. Let me head back in and I'll take a look see"

Castle laughs softly at the M.E.'s enthusiasm then turns his face back to Beckett

"Tell me Detective... does it look like she died quickly?"

Beckett looked at him, knowing she's not supposed to give out information like this but deciding to give him enough to have peace of mind

"Yes, he shot her in the leg it looks like to stop her from running but the second shot was to her head. Lanie can't be a hundred percent until she gets her back to the morgue but she said it's highly likely that your friend was dead before she hit the floor"

Castle let out a held breath with a relieved sigh and nods

"Thank you Detective, I know crime scene details on active cases are hush hush so thank you for telling me. It's a relief to know that at the very least she didn't suffer"

He extends his hand to her and smiles when she takes the hand

"Let me know how it turns out Detective, somehow I just know you'll get your man"

Without waiting for a response he turns and starts making his way to the elevator, accidentally bumping into a few uni's and getting shoved with a few curses in his direction.

He lets out a resigned sigh at it all and gets in the elevator, his ears picking up Beckett reading the two rude uni's the riot act just as the doors of the elevator close.