Author's Note: I would first like to apologize for the long delay. What I thought would only take a couple weeks to write took longer, then my family went on vacation, and I didn't want to post part of a case and leave you hanging while I was away from a computer. Now I'm back and ready to post.

I'd like to thank southerngirl1, phnxgrl, MaineCastle, Chkgun93, and TORONTOSUN for their reviews. Glad you guys liked it. This chapter is the beginning of the next "episode." Enjoy!

Chapter 10

Esposito put the final touch on his partner's desk and stood back to take a look. "Yo Beckett, what do you think?"

Beckett looked up from her paperwork and had to stifle a laugh. Esposito had covered Ryan's desk with flowers, a welcome back banner, a sling, paperwork, and a mug that looked like it had been shot. It was like looking at a prank wrapped in a "here's everything you missed while you were out," finished off with a touch of "we missed you." She shook her head. Castle's "old-men" desk prank on the two of them had been a little better; at least that one had a theme.

Esposito was still waiting for a response. "Well?"

"I'm thinking I'm glad I came back a few days early so I didn't have to deal with that. What exactly are you going for?"

He shrugged. "I had a few different ideas, so I just threw them all in. Too much?"

"A little. Ryan's not gonna be able to find his desk under all that."

"I'll help."

"I'm sure you will." Her phone started to ring. "Beckett. Okay, we're on our way."

Esposito grabbed his gun out of the drawer. "We got a body?"

"Yeah. We'll have to welcome Ryan back when we return." She dialed Castle's number as they headed for the elevator. "Hey babe, we caught a case…"

The entire block of West 52nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenue was roped off when they arrived. Beckett parked as close to the tape as she could and then headed in. Castle had somehow arrived before them and was waiting for them at the tape. Overhead, a couple of news choppers were circling and news reporters from the vans they'd passed were camped out, waiting for something to report on.

Castle gestured to the camera crews. "What happened here? Someone famous die?"

Beckett shook her head, just as confused as he was. "No idea. Lanie didn't go into details, just gave us the address."

"Something big must have happened for the news to already know about it."

Esposito nodded. "I'll find out what the vultures know."

Castle held up the tape for Beckett to duck under. "Ryan's not coming?"

"He hadn't arrived when the call came in. We'll have to welcome him back when we go back. How's the book coming?"

"I wasn't working on it. I was actually heading for the precinct when you called me. I wanted to be there when Ryan walked in."

Beckett smirked. "Sometimes I'm surprised you ever manage to write anything."

"Sometimes I just need some inspiration. Or fewer distractions."

They turned the corner and were greeted by a barrier. Rounding the barrier they saw an open-sided tent had been erected over the body and another barrier was standing a little beyond that. Lanie was kneeling near the body, or at least as close as she could get with all the blood in the snow around him. The barriers and tent were explained; Lanie was trying to preserve the dignity of their victim by shielding him from the prying eyes of the media.

"What the hell happened to him?"

Lanie looked up. "He was crushed by a manhole cover."

Castle had his "didn't see that one coming" look on his face. "Someone dropped a manhole cover on him?"

"I don't know how the cover ended up crushing him, but I'd say it came from over there." She pointed around the car they were behind to an open sewer access point. "I'll give you what I do know."

Beckett nodded. "That's a good place to start."

"Victim's watch is broken, so I'm guessing that T.O.D. was 9:15. Victim's name is John Conklin. According to his I.D. he's 42 and lives three blocks away. Uniforms are headed there to bring the family to the precinct."

"Good." Beckett looked around. "This reminds me of that museum worker from a few years ago. I don't see someone taking a manhole cover all the way to the roof just to drop it on Mr. Conklin though. Could we be looking at an accident?"

"Maybe you're thinking too literally."

Beckett shared a "here we go" smirk and eye-roll with Lanie before turning to her fiancé. "Really? And how should I be looking at this?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Castle glanced around at the blank faces and decided he'd better elaborate. "We're looking for an alien spaceship. Or a telekinetic. I haven't figured it out yet."

"An alien or a telekinetic. Those are my suspects?" Beckett was amused, but continued to be the skeptic she always was.

Castle was getting excited about his theory. "Don't you see? An alien spaceship was trying to harvest manhole covers thinking they might be something important but Conklin saw it, so they dropped a manhole cover on him to silence him."

"So it's definitely an alien, not a telekinetic?"

"No, you're right. This street is fairly thin. A spaceship might have a hard time fitting in this space. Scratch the alien. It was the telekinetic."

Beckett crossed her arms. "And why would a telekinetic want to kill Conklin?"

"They were practicing levitating heavy objects and he walked down this street at the wrong time." He paused. "Or the telekinetic was just discovering their powers and, as you mentioned, this was just an accident. Conklin was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, surprised the fledgling telekinetic and they lost control of the manhole cover, crushing Mr. Conklin."

Lanie stood up. "I've heard quite a few of your crazy theories before Castle, but even I have to ask if you're feeling okay today."

Beckett turned back to her best friend. "I think he's suffering from writer's block. The theories get really weird when he can't write."

Lanie chuckled, and then gestured back to the body. "I'll get him back to the lab and get to work. Hopefully I can find something to determine if it was the alien, the telekinetic, or someone else entirely."

Beckett shared a grin with the M.E. "Thanks, Lanie." They started heading back to the barriers.

Esposito walked up to them. "So the vultures are here because there were reports of a small explosion. What'd you find out?"

"The victim was crushed by a manhole cover. Castle says we're looking for telekinetics or aliens."

"Ooookay." Esposito sounded like he wanted to question Castle's sanity. "As I said, residents called in the explosion around 9:15 and one of them found the victim while she was on the phone. Paramedics took her to the hospital, so I'll talk to her later."

"Anyone see the bomber?"

Esposito shook his head. "Bomb Squad hasn't found any bomb parts yet either."

Beckett looked around. "Should we be expecting spooks to show up again?"

"You starting to get crazy Castle theories too?"

"No, I'm just thinking about that case we had with the drone. We had almost no evidence on that case, too."

"At least this time we have a body." Castle looked at the looks they gave him. "What?"

Beckett shook her head and then wondered over to the open manhole. She looked at the edges around the opening where the cover normally rested and noticed what appeared to be welding marks. She called a tech over and had him photograph the opening.

Castle followed her as she moved to the next manhole on the street. "What's up?"

"Reports of an explosion, but no sign of a bomb. And a manhole cover that somehow landed on someone; I think the sewer system was the bomb."

"An accidental gas build-up?"

"No, this was deliberate." She pointed to the next manhole cover. "This doesn't happen by accident."

This cover was welded to the housing, but it was only spot welded. If the city had sealed off this manhole entrance, the welds would go completely around the entrance. They wouldn't use four of the two-inch long welds she was seeing here. These welds were designed to be done quickly. Beckett waved the tech over and had him photograph this cover too.

"We need to figure out how many covers are welded shut and why. Esposito!"

He came over. "What's up?"

"We need to search the underground sewer tunnels. Someone welded this manhole cover shut and the open one shows signs of weld marks too. The explosion was underground and for some reason that cover didn't hold."

"I'll get a team together and let the bomb squad know."

"We'll head back to the precinct to get a start on the board and talk to the victim's family." Beckett and Castle turned to go to the car.

"If Ryan's there, have him start pulling footage from the area. Look for our welder."

"You just read my mind."

Ryan was just coming out of Gates' office as they came in. "Hey guys. What'd I miss?"

"Hey Ryan. Welcome back." Beckett gave him a hug. "How long have you been here?"

"Long enough to see what you guys did to my desk."

Beckett held up her hands. "That was all Javi. Leave me out of this."

Ryan glanced toward his desk. "Yeah, that looks like Javi. So, what did I miss?"

"Victim was crushed by a manhole cover. We're still working on how. The vic's family is on their way in. We were about to talk to them."

"I think I saw uniforms bring a woman in when I first got here. They put her in the lounge."

"Thanks, Ryan. This is the address of the crime scene. I need you to start pulling footage of the area, probably for the last few days. Esposito will let you know how wide an area to search soon." She handed Ryan a slip of paper and turned to Castle. "Shall we?"

"We shall. After you."

Beckett walked up to the lounge door and peered through at the woman waiting to speak them. She looked like she was late 30's to early 40's and had been rushed out of her home before she was ready to be out of doors. Her clothes were comfortable for lounging around the house and her hair looked uncombed. Beckett sighed and opened the door.

The woman's eyes snapped to Beckett and she stood. "Is John okay? The cops said something had happened to my husband. What's going on?"

Beckett took a seat across from Mrs. Conklin. "Please, have a seat. I'm afraid I have some bad news."

Mrs. Conklin sat back down. "What happened to him?"

"I'm sorry Mrs. Conklin, there's no easy way to say it, but I'm afraid that your husband was killed earlier today. I'm sorry for your loss."

"What?"

Beckett cleared her throat. "We don't have all the details yet, but at the moment we believe that it was an accident."

"What do you mean an accident?"

"It doesn't look like someone targeted him specifically. What does your husband do for work?"

Mrs. Conklin looked down. "He is an international stocks broker. Most of the clients he deals with are overseas, so he works nights when they are awake. I thought it was strange when he wasn't home by nine, but I figured it had something to do with a client."

"So he would have been on his way home around 9:15?" Castle set a glass of water in front of Mrs. Conklin.

"If he had to stay a little late, yes."

Beckett wrote a note. "Had he mentioned seeing anything unusual in the area lately?"

"No."

"What about you? Have you seen anything strange lately?"

She shook her head. "No. Does this have anything to do with that car backfiring this morning?"

Beckett glanced at Castle and then back to Mrs. Conklin. "The noise you heard this morning wasn't a car. We don't know what exactly happened, but it appears that the noise coincided with your husband's death."

"What happened to him?"

A/N: What do you think? I tried to put a little of Castle's crazy theories in there, so let me know what you think! Thanks!