At the school there was already a make shift memorial up for Victoria. There was a poster sized framed picture of her leaning against the flagpole in the middle of campus. It was surrounded by candles, flowers and a few stuffed animals. Some people had left letters as well.

Trevor and Haven weren't at school. That didn't surprise Kate. She was actually more surprised that Sydney was. The girl sat across the table from them in a conference room. Her green eyes were bloodshot and puffy from crying. Her long blonde hair was pulled back in a low ponytail. Kate could make out streaks of

purple and blue from the little bit of bangs that hung down out of the hood she had pulled up over her head. She was dressed in black skinny jeans and a baggy black hoodie. She slouched in the chair she was sitting in and refused to make eye contact.

"I'm surprised you're in school today Sydney."

The girl shrugged and picked at the edge of her thumbnail.

"Considering your best friend just died, I would think you would be at home, like Haven and Trevor."

"I don't want to be at home...here is my only other option."

The girls muttered response was so quiet Kate could barely hear her. She stood up and walked to the other side of the table to sit in the chair next to Sydney. The girl looked up and shifted her chair slightly sideways, away from Kate. She ignored the girls obvious attempt to get away from her and leaned close as she spoke.

"Look Sydney, I know what its like to loose someone you love. I know you want to just crawl in a hole and hide from the rest of the world right now. I know you are trying to think of things you could have done...if you had just been there with her, if you had just noticed something, that maybe you could have stopped it. I'm here to tell you now, its not true. There is nothing you could have done to stop it and it wasn't your fault. I am trying to find who killed her...and to do that, I need to ask you some questions. Is that okay?"

As Kate spoke Sydney slowly looked up at her. Tears ran down her face as she slowly nodded.

"When is the last time you saw Victoria?"

"The night before she...died. Me and Haven spent the night a her house. Trevor came over too, but he didn't stay. He came over after Jen checked on us and he left around midnight."

"What time did Jen check on you?"

"Umm...around seven I think? She was probably there until eight thirty or so, I think Trevor got there around nine."

"What did you guys do?"

"Just sat around listening to music and talking about nothing, like we always did."

"Did you notice anything different about Victoria? Was she upset about anything?"

"No, nothing different at all. She was in a good mood. She was usually in a good mood."

"Can you think of anyone she was upset with recently?"

Sydney thought for a minute, looking down at her hands as she did so. Then she looked back up and looked directly into Kate's eyes.

"No, she didn't mention anything to me and I can't think of anything that happened or anyone she was upset with."

"What about her relationship with Trevor?"

"They were really close. They've been the perfect couple ever since they got together."

"Victoria's mom mentioned that they broke up for a while over summer..."

"Yea...that was because of Tori. She had this moment when she thought she was missing out on something by only being with Trevor. She said this was high school and she should be dating other people. She broke up with him for a few weeks and was so miserable the whole time she didn't even go out with anyone else. Haven and I told her to get over herself and just get back with Trevor."

"Did Trevor date anyone else during that time?"

"Nope."

"Can you think of anyone who would have wanted to hurt her?"

"No...she got a long with everyone..."

"What about her parents? And Tony?"

"She was really close to her mom. Her dad...she got along with him but he was over protective and didn't like how much time she spent with Trevor, so that annoyed her. But...nothing huge. She didn't always see him very much. She liked Tony. They werent close, but she liked that he made her mom happy."

"Thank you Sydney. That's all for now, but here is my card. Please call me if you think of anything."

Sydney took the card from Kate and went back to looking at the ground. Kate stood up and walked to the door, Castle stood and followed her. They were almost to then door when Sydney called out to them.

"Detective Beckett?"

"Yes Sydney?"

"Thank you...for trying to find who killed her...she would have liked you..."

"It's my job Sydney, but you're welcome. I'll do my best to find who did this."

"Its more than a job to you, I can tell...and that's what Victoria would have liked. She always said people should live life doing what they were passionate about...and if it helped other people, the it was even better..." Sydney's sentence drifted off as she got lost in thoughts about her friend. She looked up at Kate with tears running down her face.

"You know why I'm not at home today?"

Kate slowly shook her head no.

"Because everything there reminds me of her. My walls are covered in pictures of all of us, from middle school up though last week and I can't handle it. I talked about killing myself once...when things were bad at home...and Victoria go so mad at me. She said she knew me better than that, and that I wasn't a quitter. She said she would be so pissed off at me if I quit like that. She wrote 'Don't you dare give up on me' on my mirror in sharpie...it's one of the first things I see every morning...and I just couldn't do that today..."

"That's understandable...she was right to tell you not to give up...call me Sydney...if you need to talk about anything...okay?"

Sydney nodded and Castle and Beckett quietly left the room. They walked by the memorial again and Beckett stopped in front of it. Victoria smiled back at her from the picture, her bright blue eyes sparkling, like someone had told a joke that only she understood. Beckett shook her head and sighed softly as they walked away. Castle walked next to her in the hallway and put his hand lightly in the small of her back. She leaned into his touch and walked closer to him as they made their way to the car.

"So, what did you think of her?"

Castle asked once they were back in the car.

"She's an upset girl who just lost her best friend. Typical teenager, she didn't want to talk to me because she didn't think I would understand."

"But she's totally hiding something..."

"Yes, she is. And she wants to tell me, but she's not sure it's really important to what happened and she doesn't want to betray her friends trust."

"Do, you think she'll tell you eventually?"

"I hope so. I think she might be waiting until we talk to Trevor and Haven. She is hoping one of them tells me so she doesn't have to."

"Do you think they will?"

"I don't know. We'll find out. I'm headed to Haven's house next. Then Trevor's."