Author's Note: I'd like to thank southerngirl1, phnxgrl, MaineCastle, and Chkgun93 for their reviews. Glad you guys liked the "M" chapter. We're starting this chapter in the morning. Enjoy!

Chapter 14

Karpowski was already in the café when Beckett and Castle arrived in the morning. She waited for them to order and receive their coffees before she waved them over to her table. Beckett's text last night had been cryptic. All she'd said was they needed to talk about Jim Beckett's case and where to meet. Karpowski was worried. Jim Beckett had been murdered six months ago, but she'd made almost no headway. If she knew Beckett's attitude toward her more personal cases, this meeting would turn into some sort of interrogation.

Beckett took her seat and jumped right in. "So, what have you found so far?"

"Look, Beckett, you're in Homicide too. You know that after a while some cases have to get put on the back burner. I've had ten other cases in the last six months…"

Beckett interrupted. "I'm not here to grill you, Roselyn. I just wanted to touch base, see what you've discovered so far."

Karpowski relaxed a little. "Well, the scene had been wiped down with bleach, so if the killer was injured in the struggle at all, his DNA would have been destroyed. Canvass of the neighbors didn't turn up much."

"But something did come up." Castle took a sip and pulled a face. "That's not what I ordered."

Karpowski nodded. "The unit below him called the cops because they heard a lot of banging. They responded, but when I sat them with a sketch artist, the picture I got back was barely better than a stick figure."

Beckett put out a hand. "Wait, they spoke to the killer?"

"Yeah. They responded to the disturbance call about an hour after the T.O.D. That's why I had them sit for a sketch."

"What was their report?"

"According to the notes," she held up her notebook, "let's see, 'Owner said he was trying to recapture his pet mouse and had been running around a lot.' The officers were both pretty new, so they bought it. They've both been reassigned to more experienced partners."

Beckett sat back in the booth. "The killer was still there an hour after he killed my dad?"

Karpowski nodded. "I'm guessing so he could clean up and plant that evidence against the Shadow Fox. He probably left minutes after the cops did."

Beckett sighed. "Do you have a copy of the sketch?"

Karpowski pulled it up on her phone. "It's not very good."

Beckett took a look and had to agree with Karpowski; a stick figure might have been more helpful. "I might have something you can look into."

"Let me hear it."

"Yesterday, when I returned to the precinct, I was harassed by a few reporters. One of them asked me to comment on my dad's murder. At the time I was reeling from a therapy session, so I didn't think much of it, but when I thought about it later, I realized there were a couple things off about the way he asked."

"Like what?"

"One, he asked the question when the others had given up and was therefore highly unlikely to get a statement. Two, the tone of voice was mocking, like he knew something." Beckett shrugged. "It could be nothing."

Karpowski shook her head. "No, don't be ridiculous. At this point, I'll look into almost anything. Do you remember what time this was?"

"About 4pm."

"Just outside the precinct?"

Beckett nodded. "Yeah."

"Good. That means he'll be on camera. Thanks. This'll be helpful."

"You'll let me know if anything comes of it?"

"Of course." Karpowski stood. "Good luck on your case."

"Thanks." Beckett stood. "We should get to the precinct and see what the boys have found."

Castle nodded and then held up his coffee. "Give me a minute to fix this."

Beckett and Castle arrived at the precinct as the boys were hanging their coats on the backs of their chairs. She glanced at the board as she made her way to her desk; except for some bio info for Gretkov, not much had been added after they'd left for the night. She checked her desk for any message slips, but found none. Beckett turned on her computer so she could check her email, hanging up her coat as she waited for it to boot up.

Esposito came over just after she'd signed in to the network. "Still looking for Gretkov. We found out he has a few unsavory associates, so we've been looking into them a little."

"CSU give you anything else?"

"We might have a set of prints. They found a cell phone device in the debris that probably triggered the deflagration. Mostly partials, but they're still trying to run them through the system."

"Good. Keep me posted." She quickly checked her email, dumping the spam and trash in just a few minutes. So far, no new case related material had come in. It felt like they had hit a brick wall. At the moment, everything seemed to hinge on Gretkov.

Castle was standing in front of the board. "I know we set this up with Conklin as a random victim, then an unwilling participant, but I'm wondering if we moved the focus off of him too soon."

Beckett was willing to change focus. "What were you thinking of?"

"Well, normally we timeline the victim's last few days and check out everyone they met. If Gretkov isn't the culprit, we should have some idea who Conklin might have come into contact with. They may be the one responsible."

"I'm game. I'll leave the boys on Gretkov and the CSU report. Let's figure out what Conklin was up to."

Castle flipped the board around and drew a line across the top. "We know that four nights ago he was welding manhole covers shut from midnight to about 6am." He marked that on the board.

"His wife says he sleeps from 10:30am to about 6 or 7pm every day."

"Did she say when he would leave for the night?"

Beckett scrolled back in her notebook to their first interview with her. "If he only went to work, he'd leave home around 11pm and come home between 8:30 and 9am."

Castle had marked those times. "We should focus on the time before the manholes were welded shut. Where do we begin?"

"I'd like to start with his coworkers to see if any of them knew more about his personal life than his wife did. And it would be good to find out if his work was erratic lately." She stood and grabbed her keys. "Come on Castle, let's go"

They arrived at Schwartzman Investments to find flower arrangements throughout the lobby for John Conklin. A man in a business suit was at the large directory desk speaking to the receptionist manning the station. He had just turned around when he caught sight of them waiting to speak to the woman. He quickly turned back around and told her "never mind" before turning back to Beckett and Castle.

He quickly extended his hand to her. "You're Detective Beckett, am I right?"

She shook it. "I am. This is Richard Castle. Mr. Abbott I presume?"

"Michael, please. Let's go to my office, it's a little more private."

"Lead the way."

A short elevator ride and brisk walk later, they arrived at Abbott's office. He offered them drinks, which they refused, and then indicated they should have a seat while instructing his secretary to not disturb him.

"So, how can I help? I understand this is about John's death?"

"In a way. We're trying to nail down his movements for the past couple weeks. What can you tell us about his work for that time period?"

Abbot cleared his throat. "Well, I can't really talk about his clients. Confidentiality and all that. As far as his attendance is concerned, the only really big blip I've seen is when he called in sick four nights ago. Other than that he was here, at least as far as I know. I don't really have that much interaction with John. You'd have to talk to the night manager for more details. He'll get here around 9pm."

Castle glanced at Beckett. "Is anyone still here who has a schedule that overlaps with Conklin?"

"No, not at this point. They start arriving at 9pm too. Midnight is about the latest our brokers arrive."

"So the night shift is gone by 9am?"

"Yes sir, that's correct."

Beckett ticked down to the next question on her list. "After Conklin clocks in, is there a way he might not actually be here?"

Abbott sat back in his chair. "Well, we don't have cameras on the floor to protect our clients' sensitive information, but we do have cameras near the entrances to the floor and in the stairwell for security. I'll call down to the security desk; tell them to give you whatever you need."

"That will be very helpful; thank you."

"Of course Detective. John was a good broker. I want to help you catch whoever killed him."

After screening the security tapes for the week prior to Conklin's death, they were forced to conclude that any of Conklin's gambling dealings were done in the time between waking up and reporting for work or getting off work and arriving at home. The night before he called in sick, Conklin showed up moving gingerly. Beckett was assuming that was when he received his beating. Now they were heading to speak to his widow again, hoping she could give them more specific times for when he left for work each night and arrived home each morning in the past week. That way they could figure out how many holes they needed to fill in.

Mrs. Conklin sighed when she saw them in her doorway. "What do you want now?"

"Mrs. Conklin, I'm sorry we have to intrude again. Right now we're trying to nail down your husband's movements for the last few days. It shouldn't take long."

"Fine." She let them in, but the tension remained.

"You mentioned that four nights ago you tried to call John but couldn't get a hold of him. Do you remember what time he left that night?"

"I think he left around ten that night."

Castle shifted in his seat. "What about the night before?"

Mrs. Conklin finally sat. "I think it was 8 or 8:30, somewhere in there."

Beckett had the widow walk them through the past two weeks. She was looking for anything out of the ordinary, but considering how little the wife seemed to know about her husband's activities, Beckett wasn't expecting her to shed much light on things. Partway through the interview, Beckett noticed that Mrs. Conklin seemed to respond better to Castle's questions, so she sat back and let him run this interview, only jumping in when she wanted some more information.

They left the interview with some general arriving and leaving times. "This should help a little."

Beckett started the car. "We should update the board and see how many holes need to be filled."

"Maybe the boys will have made some progress too."

"One can only hope."

They walked into the precinct to find Ryan waiting for them. "I got a surprise for you."

Beckett shrugged out of her coat on her way to her desk. "What kind of surprise?"

"We managed to track down Gretkov."

"He's being brought in now?"

Ryan smirked the way he always did when he knew something. "Better. He arrived ten minutes ago."

"Where is he?"

"I1. Esposito has him on ice for you."

Beckett headed for I1. "He's got the folder?"

"Everything's waiting inside."

A/N: Leave a comment below; thanks!