12:22 am, ~77h:
A red eyed Beckett returns from her break. 'Ryan, Esposito let's try a different approach, don't check for known enemies of him.'
As the two look up with a confuse face, she continuous, 'I want to know everything about Castle: financial status, see if there are any red flags on his phone records, his whereabouts for the last weeks, girlfriends and everything else you can think of.'
'Road trip', Esposito says as he toss the keys to Ryan.
9:10am, ~98h:
'Damn you, Castle' Esposito says, while putting the receiver down. Beckett turns with raised eye brows. 'That was the last woman Castle was rumored to have a sexual relation with. And like all the others before, it was the same story. They went out for publicity reason only, both happy with the PR and as long as the press believed they had sex there was no need for it. And Castle was always the perfect gentleman. The last person I could proof had sex with him was a ….' Esposito looks down on his notes, sifting through a couple of pages, 'Ellie Monroe and she has a perfect reason to want him well and writing, because every book he writes about Nikki Heat may lead to another movie. And with that to a very good payday for her.'
'Don' cry, at least you could get all the phone numbers of these hot women. I had to dig through his financial of the last three years. And mark my words there aren't any women there', Ryan says.
'So what did you get', Beckett inquires from him.
'The only transaction which raised red flags can be accounted for, a payment to Denton and one to Coonan. A weird investment into an indie film, I checked with is fond manger. It was to get his first ex-wife out of town after the deep fried twinky incident. And last a cappuccino machine delivered to another address than his home.' With the last words his gaze shifts to the break room.
'Ryan, why don't you fetch for each of us a nice cup of coffee', Beckett agrees his unasked question.
'It is unbelievable how good our bad boy writer is', Esposito states, 'White like fresh fallen snow. I believe there aren't that many cops out there, who would come up with so easy to explain red flags if they get roasted by Internal Affairs for the last three years.'
'Is that so', Beckett asks.
'Okay, but you have to agree it is natural for us to be also clean, we worked the last three years with Castle', Esposito says with a big grin on his face, which don't last that long. 'So we looked into all aspects of Castle known enemies and suspicious behavior from him and come up empty handed. Even the wackos sending him fan mail came back with alibis, at least those who wrote to him. Where do we turn next to?'
'I don't know', she confess. 'But I wont stop till I have found him.'
1:20 pm, ~102h:
Captain Montgomery steps silently behind Beckett. 'May I have a word with you in my office Detective', he asks with a soft voice.
The two of them walk over to his office. As soon as they are in it and the door is close, Beckett turns to face the Captain, 'What is it you can't discuss in front of all the detectives?'
'I want to take you of this case and let you handle a fresh one, just got in a floater with a GSW to the head', Captain Montgomery says bluntly.
'You can't do that. You know what that will do to the moral of the precinct, Castle knew nearly all the beat cops by their first name, something Detectives working here longer than him didn't approve as necessary. He never threatened them as some errand boys, he acknowledge their hard work. That are the reasons we had so much manpower over the last days, they came in while off duty to help. They will also start thinking if we let Castle case slip into a "Cold Case" after a meager day, what will they do with my case if the culprit isn't standing with a smoking gun above my body. I can't move on and wait that his ….', she can't finish her sentence.
'Body is found', the Captain finish it for her.
'Don't you dare say it, he has to be alive.'
'Beckett, let's face the facts after four days his chances of being found are marginal. Especially with no leads, I have read all your reports. I am impressed, what an amount of data you worked through in this short time, but without leads I can't let that many detectives idling around. There a murders we need to catch now, with actual body's lying around.'
'So you are saying he is most likely dead, but you wont let your best homicide team work the case?'
'Okay, you can stay on his case for three more days, but if you don't have a lead by then I will pull you of the case. And I need someone working the floater!'
Without hesitation she answers, 'Esposito can work the floater with Karpowski, the two make a good team and he will need the experience for a promotion. Where is the dead?'
'Down at the docks, warehouse 68.'
'I will tell them', with that she leaves his office.
On her way to her desk she stops at Esposito, 'Grasp Karpowski, then head down to the docks, warehouse 68. You will be lead in the investigation of that case.'
Turning to Ryan she says, 'You better call Jenny, 'cause there are a lot of long days in front of us. We are on a dead line, if we don't find a suspect in the next three days we are of the case.'
Leaving the two shocked detectives behind her, she walks into the restroom and hides in one of the cabins for a quarter hour to get herself composed again or else she would start crying in front of all the other detectives.
12:16 pm, ~150h:
The next two days vanished in a blur for Beckett and Ryan while going over the facts multiple times, but it didn't change anything. They still have zilch.
And the new case Esposito is working at doesn't fare to well either. Beckett had overheard various conversation Esposito had with the Captain. Without getting the details she knew from the tone of the conversation that the Captain doesn't liked it. A really bad week for the department.
She is reading a report, which she had read so often she could quote it in her sleep as somebody steps at her desk and clears her throat. Looking up she sees her best friend standing there, 'Lanie, what you doing up here?'
'Girlfriend, don't freak out. I have good, bad and worse news for you.'
AN: I really struggled with this chapter. On one side I didn't want to give you the impression that I am rushing the story line on the other side I didn't want my readers dropping of their chairs, 'cause they fell asleep during a real boring chapter. And I see the end coming up, only four / five chapters to go.
