Chapter Four: I won't crack; I can't make a sound without you.

"Beckett . . . are you okay?"

Esposito stands in the door of the break-room watching her with dark compassionate eyes that take notice of every tremble of her fingertips as she brews coffee.

Her damn stupid hands just won't stop shaking.

"Here." He says finally, coming to stand beside her he takes over the working of the espresso machine, demonstrating the same quiet expertise with it that Castle used to exhibit. And it's just too damn much and she steps back, closes her eyes, and breathing too rapidly she tries to keep it all inside.

His strong hand steadies her at the elbow and her eyes re-open. Javi's staunch and unyielding support seems to flow into her from where his grip on her arm steadies her upper body. He holds out the now full coffee cup to her with his free hand, guiding her back to a chair in the far corner of the room.

"Sit Kate." He commands of her. "And drink that" He adds. "The stimulant in it will help stop the shaking."

She smiles her thanks and he sinks slowly onto his haunches beside her, his tanned face strangely devoid of much expression, painted carefully neutral.

"Do you really think it's actually from him?" He asks guardedly. "I mean Kate – you heard Gina. Black Pawn, well they've gotten hundreds of manuscripts claiming to be his. Hundreds. How can anyone - even people as familiar with Castle's work as you and Gina - possibly be sure that this one really is him?"

Kate sighs. Staring down into the dark swirl of hot liquid cradled between her hands she makes herself go over it again in her mind. Concern is rolling off of Esposito in quiet waves. As is his anger with the whole situation – with the sheer helplessness they've all been reduced to in the search for Rick. She knows her partner is just looking out for her. Just playing devils advocate here – trying to be the voice of quiet reason that doesn't let the emotion of this morning carry them all away. But she's still sure. Just holding that hand-typed manuscript between her hands was almost enough; almost like she could feel his skin beneath her fingertips again . . . the smoothness and the warmth of him . . . seeping from the words and into her exhausted psyche - holding her up.

"Javi . . . "

"Seriously Beckett – 'cop-think' here please . . . for me. Analyze what you read, what you saw in those few words and explain to me logically what convinces you that this is the real deal. Do it for Castle, so that we don't all waste our time, our emotions and our resources on a lie"

Kate drags her eyes back up to look at him. His posture is tense and his previously impassive expression is no longer so tightly controlled. She notices new lines that have formed around his eyes as they burn into hers, the dark brown awash with a pain that, while it doesn't rival hers is still very real. Freeing a hand from her coffee cup she reaches out for his muscular shoulder, grateful as always to have such a powerhouse on her side.

"Javi do you remember Melanie Cavanaugh at all?" She asks him.

The Latino detective squints his eyes and shakes his head.

"Human popsicle dumped at a construction site shortly after Castle started shadowing me." She prompts, knowing that not every cop has her almost perfect recollection of the victims' names – some of them remember by what they mentally tagged them as – the gallows humor – much better.

Esposito smiles now at the memory.

"Yeah. Yeah I do. Missing five years wasn't she? Found in a freezer at a storage lock-up in Queens and them dumped by the storage facilities manager to avoid any bad press."

Kate nods.

"Yeah – exactly, that's her. The opening prologue of that manuscript . . . the first character mentioned – her name is 'Melanie Cavanaugh'. The book's name is 'Heat Lost'."

Espo sighs heavily.

"Beckett – that's way to thin. The last thing I want is to be the one to shoot you down, but Castle tweeted about your cases from the moment he started following you. Anyone who was interested in either of you would know you worked together on that case. And 'Heat Lost' . . . I mean its not like his being missing is a secret."

Beckett nods.

"Javi you can't think I don't know that. I'm not totally broken – at least not yet. There's more . . . something else in that first paragraph that no-one outside of the four of us would know about. Something that when combined with the name 'Melanie Cavanaugh,' tells me it's him."

Espo's eyes narrow.

"What?" He asks, unable for now to mask the skeptical tone that is all over his voice.

Undeterred Kate continues. "The morning that we caught that case I told Castle we'd have to try and ID Melanie by combing through the departments missing person's database. This is before Lanie was able to provide us with an ID. He was so excited, like a giant kid at Christmas. He thought we had some sort of fancy facial-recognition software he could play with, and then we surprised the hell out of him when we revealed how we had to do it the hard way. Don't you remember? You and Ryan pulled all the missing person's files we had, and we all sat in the conference room with them spread out on the table before us. Castle was so horrified when he saw the size of the pile – said there were 'a lot of missing people' and then we got into a discussion about we usually managed to find them eventually one way or another. But the important fact here is that you and Ryan told him about one of the ones we've never solved – not even now - the girl who simply vanished into thin air from a side-walk. She turned a corner while her boyfriend was on his cell phone and only a couple of feet behind her."

Javier pales. The comparison between that and Castle's own disappearing act is not lost on him at all.

"Dana Sullivan." He tells her.

It's not case anyone could forget.

"I told him about Dana Sullivan and Castle told me no-one vanishes into thin air – that there's always a story that makes everything make sense."

Kate breathes easier with his recollection.

"Yeah well the second name in that book Espo, the one right next to Melanie's . . . its hers."

"No way." He tells her.

Kate nods and stands, suddenly feels stronger.

"Yes way Espo. And once we start reading they'll be more things like that in it I guarantee you; facts that only we and Castle would know. And I want that manuscript dusted for prints – immediately. . . hopefully Rick's will be all over it and we'll have something concrete, something very real to build upon."

Esposito smiles at her and she sees it in his dark eyes now too. What she's feeling, that spark . . .a spark of purpose – of hope and it carries the pair of them back to work.