Disclaimer: I do not own any of the phenomenal characters from Castle but I do own this shameful tid bit of story.

Chapter 2


"We were supposed to meet at the convention center before it opened," Jennifer Spectre, the small red head, supplied sadly. Her eyes searched the dimly lit room at the police station. She sat on a small love seat across from Castle and Beckett. Kate was hunched over, her elbows propped on her knees while Castle sat against the back of his chair, feeling sorry for the young girl.

"Who all were you meeting with, just Cassandra?" They had asked for the name of their young victim as they got to the station. Along with her name, the girl gave more information including the victim's age: 20, and the fact that the girl lived alone in a small apartment. There was a crew already there processing the apartment to see if they could find any thing to give them an idea of why Cassandra Grey was killed.

"It was supposed to be me, Greg and Cassandra," she brought a tissue to her eyes and wiped a few tears away gently, "he'll be torn up when he finds out."

"Was Greg her boyfriend?" Castle asked softly. Kate was jotting down information on a small notepad.

"Yeah, we were all part of an online community, but we'd only met a couple of times. We never really had an excuse to see each other until the con came around. Greg was one of the head administrators."

"What kind of community was it?" Kate looked up from her notebook.

"An RP forum," she started and Castle tweaked a brow in interest, "but it was only Spider-man related. We thought it would be fun to go to the con dressed as the characters we play on the board. I was supposed to be Mary Jane." She looked down at the tissue in her hands, folding it and shuffling it around.

"Jennifer, you said that Greg was her boyfriend, do you know his last name and maybe where he lives?"

The girl nodded her head, "his last name is O'Connor, but I've never been to his place before. He didn't show up either, so I just figured they were together."

"Alright, well thank you for your help." The investigative pair stood up from their chairs. "We'll be in touch," Kate continued, handing Jennifer her card before leaving the room with Castle.

"I'll have Esposito and Ryan check out the boyfriend, see if they can get some more pertinent information from him. In the mean time, Lainie's ready in the morgue." Kate shrugged and started down the hall.

"Shouldn't you have someone check out their website?" Castle inquired.

Beckett turned to face him, placing a loose strand of hair behind her ear, "why do you ask?"

"Well, I've checked out a few of my fan communities and forums, and it can get pretty vicious between members who have differing opinions." He put his hands in his pockets casually, "maybe there were some threatening messages exchanged."

"Like what? Disputing who's really slept with you?" Beckett smirked.

"I was referring to what happens in my books, actually." He strolled up to her confidently, "but I had no idea you were the one who started that thread." His grin phased out her aggravated look.

"Whatever. I'll have someone look at it, but first let's see what the body tells us." She walked a bit ahead of him, but he was quick to follow.

"You didn't deny it."

He was met with silence.

When they arrived in the morgue, Lainie was waiting for them with the body.

Kate had informed Ryan and Esposito of what they learned from Jennifer, and she directed them to find out Greg's address.

Dressed in their blue smocks they approached the table where Cassandra lay.

"So what do you have for us," Detective Beckett asked as she gave a once over of the body. The face was covered with small piece of cloth. Even some sights were too gruesome to see all the time.

"I found traces of fabric in what was left of her mouth which makes me think she was gagged. There's also some mild bruising around her wrists and ankles consistent with being tied up." Lainie walked over to an adjacent counter where she picked up an evidence bag containing one of the victim's clawed, costume gloves. "I found some skin particles under the claws, "she pointed to the glove, "so I sent them to the lab to see if they can get a hit."

"Any evidence of sexual assault?" Kate asked.

"No she was clean, but along with the skin under her nails, I found more to suggest a struggle." She lifted Cassandra's left hand, emphasizing the knuckles, "She landed a good hit on somebody."

"But he landed a better one on her," Castle gestured towards the gunshot wound.

Suddenly, Beckett's phone went off, and she excused herself to take it. After a moment, she closed her phone and put it back in her pocket as she walked back.

"That was one of the investigators at our victim's apartment," She motioned for Castle to follow after she started walking. "Thanks, Lainie. We've gotta go check this out."

The small, ratty one room apartment was dark and gruesome, an ideal place for a horror movie. Water stains lined the patched walls, and Castle was pretty sure he heard rats next door. Flashes of light beamed from the cameras as the investigation was underway, combing through every inch of the small room.

A small wooden table stood just outside of the kitchenette. The white cabinets were tarnished with blotchy stains.

"When was the last time this place was inspected for code?" Castle asked, not expecting an answer. He carefully stepped passed one of the examiners who was peering at the blood spatter on the accidentally beige walls; which, by the way, were crumbling from a good dose of water damage and improper care.

They made it passed the blood soaked sofa and over to a man who was crouched, looking at a shell casing. He picked it out of the wall with a pair of tweezers and let it drop into a small, sealable bag. He rose up, his black trench coat evened out and when he turned he was met with Beckett and Castle.

"Detective Beckett?" He guessed. The tall, lanky man took off his blue gloves, and adjusted his black rimmed glasses. His hair looked black in the poor lighting, but it was dark brown and spiked up. He offered his hand and after she confirmed with a vertical nod he introduced himself, "I'm Detective Crakk." Beckett grasped his hand in a firm shake while Castle stifled his laughter.

"Pardon him," her brow crumpled together in embarrassment, "he doesn't know the meaning of professional."

"Right," Crakk eyed Rick for a moment before focusing on Detective Beckett. "I just found the shell casing you were missing. It's a .22 caliber by the looks of it." His deep voice cued her to look at the small bag in his grasp, "the tenant came up this morning due to the loud music that was playing from the stereo," He pointed a long finger at a Bose system in the corner of the room. "He'd gotten several complaints, but when he found the room like this he called us in."

"That's a nice stereo for someone who lived in a place like this," Castle remarked.

"Any sign of the gun that was fired from?" She rested her hands on her hips but noticed that Castle was moving towards a laptop on the kitchen counter.

"Should he-"

"He has moments when he knows what he's doing," Kate interrupted the tall detective to ease his mind.

The laptop was high quality, and new, definitely something pricey and unlikely for a person living in such a rundown apartment to own, just like the stereo. The lid was open, and the internet browser was up. The banner at the top of the website depicted Spider-man and Dr. Octopus who were on opposite sides of the title: Web of Fate. He scrolled down the page, passing links to related forums and then back up to the top of the page.

"Detective," he ushered Beckett over with a motion of his hand, never taking his eyes off the screen. "I think this is the community." She looked over his shoulder at the page.

"Check it out, new message." She pointed to the inbox link in the navigation bar. Castle clicked it, revealing a mass of messages from the same person, SHADOW_SPECTRE.

"From Shadow Spectre to Cat Burglar," Castle read, "I could give you more than that web slinger ever could, but you never listened."

"It's in past tense." Beckett realized, "what's the timestamp on it?"

Castle scanned over the page, "yesterday at seven-thirty eight." His eyes jerked back to the name, "wait a minute. Spectre," he thought. "Isn't that Jennifer's last name?"

"You're right," Kate turned back towards Detective Crakk. "Thank you for notifying us. When you're done processing the scene, send us the details." She grabbed a bag from one of the investigators and slid the laptop in. "I'm taking this back with us and putting it on priority."

The lanky detective nodded, "alright. I'll be sure to let you know if we find anything else here to help you out."

With that, they left the apartment, but as they walked down the multiple flights of stairs, Beckett got another call, but this time it was from Ryan.

"Beckett." She answered, "uh huh….yeah we're just leaving the victim's apartment." They continued to walk, finally reaching the exit door, "alright we'll be on our way." She finished her conversation and unlocked the black Crown Victoria that was parked outside. Placing the bagged laptop in the seat behind her, she climbed in the driver's side.

"So we're headed back to the station?" Castle presumed.

"Yeah, they were able to pull more information on Greg O'Connor. Hopefully, after we get that laptop down to the techs they can tell us some more information on the community and the members. I'll have them pull a copy of her inbox for us to look over," she started driving back to the station.

Standing in front of the bullpen board were Ryan and Esposito. They were adding more details in the form of sticky notes accompanying pictures from the crime scene. There were arrows drawn from one piece of information to another to connect them.

Beckett strolled over to them, "What do you have for me?"

Castle waltzed in with a cup of coffee for his female counterpart, eager to listen in on more details.

"Greg O'Connor, moved here from Ireland four years ago to pursue his dream as a comic book artist. His parents own one of the largest beer breweries in Ireland, making him a very wealthy man." Esposito informed with crossed arms.

"Could explain all of the expensive electronics at her apartment." Castle sipped on his own coffee, but it was a little too hot for him.

"So did you find out where he lives?" Beckett took a large swallow of her coffee, leaving Castle to gawk. "You'll burn your throat that way," she smiled in return as he returned to blowing at his steaming cup of liquid life.

Ryan slipped Beckett a piece of paper detailing the address. "That place would take me three life times to pay off. Luxury high rises in Brooklyn, they're practically penthouses."

Esposito's desk phone rang, so he walked over to take it. While he spoke, he wrote onto a piece of paper. Ryan excused himself to get a cup of coffee.

The phone clanged back to the hook and Esposito rolled his shirt sleeves down, "that was O'Connor's high rise security chief, we told him to give us a call when he got back into the building. He said O'Connor just got back from lunch."

"Alright, let's head out then." Ryan emerged from the break room with a mug of coffee, "come on, guys." He protested, "this is from a fresh pot." Esposito tossed him his jacket, "take it with you then, but spill it in the car this time, and you'll be paying for it."

A/N: I'm trying to make this seem like an actual episode of Castle in the way I transition from one thing to another, so hopefully it's coming across in the way I intended.

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