I apologize for how dry this story may seem, I can't keep Alexis, Ryan, Beckett and everyone true to character if I were to jump straight in to it. So thank you for bearing with me, because here we go. –SS I do not own Castle.
The next couple of weeks went in a fairly regular routine. A body would drop, often being the result of an estranged wife or girlfriend or money problems, with the occasional freak accident that was categorized as manslaughter. Then, after they closed the case, approximately two days worth of paperwork, especially if there had been a shooting or chase. Castle and Ryan continued to grow progressively closer, spending a lot of time together. Everyone was in the bullpen when the call came in.
"Beckett," Kate answered, picking up the phone. The conversation was short.
"Ok, yeah I got it, thanks," She said, scribbling something down before hanging up.
"Caught a body," She announced, standing and getting her things. They arrived at an apartment complex, easily following the trail of police officers and CSU to the correct room. Beckett entered first, and being her best friend, quickly noticed the expression on Lanie's face.
"Lanie?" She questioned her friendly worriedly. By that point the rest of the team had entered the room, and as they walked around Lanie, realized what all the fuss was about. A blonde woman was laying on her bed, clothed nearly in a pristine way, methodically. Her hands were clasped together and resting on her stomach. The team slowly approached until they were close enough to read the note her hands rested on.
"For my favorite Detectives," It read, and as their gazes followed her arms, they saw the ligature marks ringing her neck.
"Tyson," Beckett nearly whispered, staring at the body. The Triple Killer was back.
"Lanie?" Beckett asked, her voice stronger.
"Cause of death is strangulation. Body repositioned post mortem. I haven't been able to check yet, but I will try to find fibers on her neck. I don't really have anything else for you," Lanie rattled off, ending on a sad note. Beckett turned towards her team, a fire in her eyes.
"He's not coming out alive," She said coldly. The tone in her voice showing the truth to her words.
The precinct was pretty quiet. Beckett has been interviewing the family of their victim, Carrie Wright, to see if they had heard about a new boyfriend or anything of the sort, with no luck. Lanie had matched the fibers on Wright's neck to the green and white nylon rope known to be Tyson's MO, even finding a fingerprint on the note matching him. He didn't care about keeping his identity a secret anymore, he was trying to taunt them. The team had already combed through all of Wright's personal belongings, as well as any video they could find along her daily route, with no sign of Tyson. They also checked anything he was known to be associated with, coming up with nothing, he had fallen off the radar after escaping from their grasp. It was beginning to look more and more like he had chosen his victim at random, which gave them nothing to go on, and the clock was ticking on his second kill. Gates had already held a conference, informing anyone who didn't already know as to the situation at hand, it wasn't necessary for Alexis however, she had already been caught up to date from Kevin. Gates had also pulled Beckett aside afterwards, asking for her to bring Castle up here, for his safety and the fact that they could use all the eyes they could get on this case. So the elder Castle was around as well, having brought Maddie as a safety precaution. It was 11:30 at night, so she was in sleeping on the couch in the break room, Rick and Kate were with her, talking about the case, trying to find a break. Esposito had gone down to visit Lanie, who hadn't stopped working since the body dropped, desperately looking for even the smallest piece of evidence that would help the case, nothing had popped yet. Kevin and Alexis were parked in front of the murder board, staring it down. Ryan hadn't spoken much since the crime scene. Alexis knew from what he had told her, what had happened and the major effect it had on him, it tore him apart inside. She wanted to help, but she knew there was nothing to say. The only way to end his pain even remotely was Tyson's arrest, or his death. So she said nothing, just sitting next to him quietly. It was getting down to the wire. They knew they didn't have long until his next victim was killed. The shrill ring of a telephone pierced their silence. Ryan bolted up, jogging to his desk and picking up the phone in hope of good news.
"Ryan," He answered, sitting on the edge of his seat. Alexis followed on his heels, perching on the edge of his desk. From such a short distance she saw his muscles tense up.
"Tyson," He spit out, and that was all Alexis needed to hear. She leapt to her feet, sprinting across the bullpen to her desk, knowing every second counted. She called for Beckett when she was closest to the break room, but didn't go in to get her. Instead, she dove to her computer, bringing up the tracing software and plugging in Kevin's phone line, then watching as it started bouncing around the map. She waved her hand it a motion towards him, to indicate it was going. Beckett reached her then.
"What's going on?" She asked.
"Tyson called Ryan, I'm trying to trace it now," She informed her boss, watching the screen.
"Damn it!" She shouted, shoving her keyboard forward.
"He's bouncing the call, I can't get a trace," She seethed. Suddenly, Kevin slammed his phone down, knocking off several folders in the process, but he couldn't have cared less. He glanced at Alexis hopefully. She shook her head. Castle entered the room then, Esposito just behind him.
"What happened?" Esposito demanded, frustrated he had missed something.
"Tyson called, couldn't get a trace. What did he say exactly?" Beckett said, directing the last part at Ryan.
"I answered the phone and he immediately told me who it was, he didn't have to, I knew the voice. I asked why he was doing this, what he wanted and he ignored me, rattling on about how much he missed the city. Then he said that he had been watching Castle and I," Ryan explained, glancing at Alexis to indicate the Castle he was talking about.
"Nothing else?" Beckett prodded.
"And that we will find the next body in less than an hour,"
