Hey guys. Sorry my updates have been so slow in coming lately. I'm struggling to finish the common application and there's been a lot of stuffs going on over here, but don't worry! I haven't forgotten about you! Besides, it'd just be cruel for me to drop the story at chapter twenty after all this time. So thanks for sticking with me through this and here's the long awaited chapter twenty one.

The murderer won't directly be named in this, and it is kinda short, but you'll more or less be able to guess the murderer after this, and I won't hold out nearly so long with chapter twenty two. Promise.

Chapter Twenty One: Breakthrough from Breakdown

"What're you talking about? That's crazy!" Ryan responded with surprise, but even he must've heard the denial in his voice.

"Really Ry? You're actually trying to lie to your partner?" Esposito shot back with a hint of anger in his voice. He had thought that they were past this, and Ryan felt guilty for holding back his thoughts from his partner immediately.

"It's the truth!" Ryan insisted, but the denial had vanished, and was replaced with a resentment that wasn't directed at Esposito as it was directed at himself. "I don't know who killed Kayla." And he had to keep reminding himself of that. There was nothing to suggest that he was anywhere close to right.

"But you had a hunch," His partner followed up immediately. He just looked down at the floor in his guilt, not even bothering to deny it. "You've had a hunch since the beginning, and you've gotten more and more certain as we went through. And you never said anything! You could've mentioned it to us; Castle's had us follow stranger leads before."

"I had no evidence," Ryan said in an attempt to defend himself. "It was just a dumb, biased hunch that had no evidence to back it up. All it would've done was stir up the questions of where I got that from, and how I would be able to recognize it. If I had found any evidence, then I would've told you,"

Esposito looked at him with some strange expression that he couldn't quite interpret. He ran through his defense again for anything strange in it, but he thought it all made sense. He didn't know what could cause that reaction in his partner.

"What was your first clue?" Esposito asked quietly, and Ryan looked down at the ground. He had to be honest with him. After all, he'd put them through too much lately.

He slowly turned and walked off the mat to where there was a bench in the corner. He knew that he'd probably need to sit down at some point, so he took care of it sooner rather than later. Esposito must've understood what he was doing, because he followed him nearby to a workout bike, and sat sideways in the seat and faced him, waiting for the story. Ryan took a steadying breath and obliged.

"The meet-and-greet," he expected Esposito's look, and just continued. "Remember when we shook hands? There were bruises on her wrists. It's not easy to get bruises on your wrists in a normal manner. If you fall or swing it into a door your palms or forearms get beat up. Next to nothing would get the wrists. Nine times out of ten, it's the dead giveaway."

"You knew even then, and you didn't say anything?" Esposito asked quickly. He had probably made the connection to his first trigger, but didn't expect Ryan to already have a prime suspect. Who would? Any intelligent, intuitive, sane cop would bring a prime suspect forth to his team. That's the way it works, and Ryan was no exception. Of course Esposito wouldn't expect him to change his behavior.

"I said nine times out of ten for a reason. It's not exactly smart to take a shot in the dark, especially one like that." It was too huge of an accusation. Reputations can be destroyed by that kind of claim. Even if it's proven wrong, people don't bounce back from that. They couldn't bluff with that one to a witness. They needed to be sure before they said anything, and he wasn't.

Esposito had to understand that one, but knew that there was more to be said. "That wasn't your only hint though, was it?"

"There was the way she timidly asserted her maiden name, and the stuttering. But also all the fights the parents got into, how lightly the kids slept, and the divorce pushed the issue, but none of it offered any definitive reason to believe that…" he trailed off sadly. He didn't want to say it out loud.

"How lightly the kids slept?"

"Jenny has never once been able to get up to get a drink of water at night without me waking up. It's just how the body conditions itself for self-preservation; you've got to be on the alert at all times for whatever might happen. That means letting every bump in the night wake you up,"

"So, let's nail the bastard already," Esposito said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Ryan sighed and shook his head.

"There's nothing that could hold up in a court of law, so why bring it to Beckett if a hunch can't hold its water?" He asked rhetorically, and sighed.

"Because it's something worth looking into!" the Hispanic was shouting now, infuriated at the defeated look on his partner's face.

Normally Esposito didn't work off of hunches, so it was weird to hear it coming from him. Normally he wanted the facts and looked for some definitive proof before he brought it forward. Usually Ryan was the one who relied on hunches and minor discrepancies that most cops write off as weird. While he trusted his gut, Esposito never followed emotional responses unless there was some hard substance.

Ryan thought about it, then paused in a confused realization. "Wait, how did you know that I thought…?"

Esposito gave him a slight smile. "I just figured it out when I got your evidence."

•••

"Yo Beckett!" the call across the precinct jolted Castle out his concentration at staring at the murder board. Immediately, he checked his watch and grinned before turning to Beckett excitedly.

"Three hours and thirty six minutes. We made top five," he cheered quietly, and swelled in pride when Beckett grinned slightly. Normally when he mentioned the list of longest stare-downs with the white board, she scolded him and reminded him that actual police work is less glamorous than TV shows portray. There wasn't intense background music while the camera showed a montage of them moving around evidence and staring at the board. It was real life. He was glad she was starting to relax around him again.

"Did you find anything?" she called back to the boys, trying to keep the desperation out of her voice.

He was surprised at how late it had already gotten, and realized that he was just as desperate as they were to close the case. He wanted to see how it all played out, but the day after tomorrow he had to leave to pick up Alexis. He couldn't wait to see his daughter again, but he still didn't know if he could stand not watching this one end. This was a closure case; everyone needed it to be solved, and they all needed to have some part in closing it. If they didn't close the case tomorrow, then he'd either have to postpone his and Alexis's Hampton trip, or drop the case.

"You bet! We think we know who the killer is," Ryan said, walking up next to his partner. The first feeling from Castle was the relief that the Irish man was very conscious, and seemingly stable. They hadn't let him run off two hours ago to work himself up into some trauma frenzy. After a moment, he absorbed the words and lit up in excitement and surprise. Very rarely did Esposito and Ryan make the breakthrough fact, but this case had them all stumped, and somehow they came up with the epiphany.

"Who?" Beckett demanded in the same excitement, surprise, and confusion. Instead, Esposito handed her a packet of what looked like the lawyer's notes in a folder with a couple of lines highlighted. She read it, and closed the manila folder before Castle could lean over and read what it said. She grinned in a bittersweet way of finding the killer, but not liking what she saw. "I'll have uniforms pick him up in the morning."

Beckett nodded to the guys before walking off with the folder to show Montgomery. He considered following her to ask what it said, but thought otherwise and turned to the boys.

"What'd it say? Who are we picking up?" he realized he was on the verge of begging for answers, but he was beyond caring. Esposito grinned widely, and looked to his partner who wore a similar smile, only slightly diminished. "C'mon guys! What did it say!"

"Three words, Castle," Ryan finally caved. His face seemed much lighter than it had since he'd been back, but still burdened by what they had found. Still, the relief in his expression made it suddenly obvious to the writer that Ryan had guessed at this guy long before tonight and had, for whatever reason, stopped himself from moving forward with his instinct. "Deny visitation rights,"

"Lawyer seemed to think that it could hold." Esposito commented lightly. At that hint, both men turned around, and headed for their desks, where they got on their computers immediately to start building a case against their perp.

Castle was left standing alone near the murder board, and thought about what Ryan said for a second. He had just been staring at the whiteboard for several hours on end, and his mind was a little slow. He rubbed at his eyes roughly and allowed himself the time to let his brain reboot and begin to make the connections. The four note tune of the windows logo on every computer screen waking up was practically playing in his mind as he ran over the words again. Instantaneously his eyes widened in realization.

"No!" he gasped in disbelief before biting his knuckles to keep from yelling out his shock.

So, now you know what those three words were. What do you think? Let me know if I did this well, and if you've figured it out, and what you hope to see in the next chapter, which I promise will be longer.

And as promised. The next chapter title

Chapter Twenty Two: Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt