Author's Note: I'd like to thank TORONTOSUN and phnxgrl for their reviews. This chapter starts the next morning. Enjoy!

Chapter 37

Beckett and Castle headed down to the morgue first thing in the morning. "What's the story, Lanie?"

"That's Castle's area of expertise."

Castle smirked. "Can't write a story without some basic facts about the scene."

"Touché." Lanie led them over to Strasse's body. "Victim took a bullet from a .44 caliber gun. She also has some bruising consistent with brass knuckles. I couldn't see it yesterday because they didn't have enough time to develop."

"Cold air from the drawer brought it out, right?" Castle straightened up from examining the bruises.

"Exactly."

Beckett was looking at the monogrammed letters on Strasse's side. "What about the brand?"

"Perimortum. This girl took a painful exit to this world."

Beckett looked surprised. "She was branded while she was still alive and nobody heard her scream?"

Lanie held up a small collection dish. "I found this in her teeth. I'm guessing they stuffed a gag in her mouth, so any sounds she made would have been muffled. I also found small fibers on her clothes. Crime Lab matched them to carpet fibers commonly used in Ford cars."

"She was brought to the park in a car's trunk." Beckett pointed to scratches and bruises on Strasse's wrist. "I'm guessing those are from zip ties?"

"Abrasions are consistent with zip ties."

"Anything else?"

Lanie handed Beckett a folder. "Ballistics is working on the bullet I recovered. Other than that, not at the moment. I'll keeping looking though."

"Thanks, Lanie."

"You got it."

Beckett and Castle returned to the bullpen and updated the board. Beckett noticed that Ryan was watching traffic footage around the park, but from the expression on his face, he was striking out. Esposito had left a note on the board letting them know he was out canvassing with uniforms to try retracing Strasse's steps and establish a timeline. Let's hope he comes up with something.

Castle sat down in his chair and then started squirming. "Okay, I take back everything I said about your vest being uncomfortable."

Beckett smirked. "Not so comfortable, is it?"

"How's your fitted vest?"

"This one's fine. I mean, it is a little restrictive, but at least it works. When your fitted one comes in, it'll feel much better."

"It better be." He readjusted his posture again. "Okay, with Strasse dead and not much incriminating evidence to accompany it, how are we going to find The Gentleman?"

Beckett pursed her lips and took a deep breath. "I don't know. It seems like everywhere we look, loose ends have been killed to tie up every aspect of this crime. We have Auditore's apartment, so The Gentleman wasn't able to silence everything."

"How many files did we get through yesterday?"

Beckett turned to look at the stacks of files in the Conference Room. "Not enough. Want to help me keep digging?"

"Not particularly." Castle stood up and headed into the Conference Room. "Which box should we start with?"

Several hours later…

Alex stepped into the lobby of The Plaza Hotel wearing one of her best pantsuits. Her hair was hidden by a black wig and her eyes were hidden behind a pair of Vogue sunglasses. She surveyed the lobby and zeroed in on the desk attendant at the end. His manner of dress matched the other attendants, but his face betrayed how nervous he was. Either he was new here, or he was having a really bad day.

Alex went up to him. "Excuse me; I have a meeting with Ms. d'Estrees. Would you be able to point me in her direction?"

"Sorry?"

"Ms. Jacqualine d'Estrees. I have a meeting with her. Could you tell me where I might find her?

The attendant spent a few moments typing. "I'm sorry; she has a 'Do Not Disturb' order in place. I'm afraid I can't really help you."

Alex glanced at his name badge and saw d'Estrees' room number reflected in the burnished surface. "That's strange. We're supposed to meet at 2pm. Are you sure?"

"Yes ma'am, I'm sure."

"I'll have to try back later." Alex went into the hotel's bar and took a seat where she could see the front desk. Half an hour after she sat down, the attendant left his post. Alex stood and made her way across the lobby to the elevators and pushed the button to call the elevator. While she waited for the elevator to arrive, she took out her phone and called Sloan.

He answered on the first ring. "Black Hat and Assassin Inc. How may I help you?"

Alex laughed. "It's me. She's in room 1236. Anyway for you to know if she's in or out?"

"Let me check." He started typing. "I've killed the cameras by the way. Is this a kill order?"

She entered the elevator. "No, I've apparently moved up to messenger. I have to somehow convince her to meet with The Gentleman."

"There's no cameras in the rooms, but room service has cleaned the room and there have been no entries since. I'm reasonably certain the room is vacant."

Alex exited the elevator on d'Estrees' floor. "What's her security look like?"

"One bodyguard and he's not staying in the room. Wait…" Sloan trailed off as he checked something out. "Ms. d'Estrees is in the lobby and her muscle is with her."

"Any chance you could buzz me into her room?"

"Just say the magic words."

Alex stopped outside the door. "Open sesame?"

"I was going with please, but that works too." The light on the door turned green. "There you go."

Alex entered the room and made a sweep. "Room's empty. And it looks like fresh flowers were delivered."

"Standard order for her. She likes fresh flowers in her room." Sloan typed a bit more as Alex settled into a chair away from the door. "Good news. Her muscle doesn't usually come in when they get back to the room."

"Let me know when they get up here."

"The elevator just arrived at your floor. Good luck."

"Yeah." Alex ended the call and put her phone back in her pocket, settling into a seat that was out of sight of the door. A few minutes later, the door opened and then shut. Jacqualine d'Estrees walked in and froze. "I wouldn't scream if I were you."

d'Estrees recovered enough to remove her coat and slowly took the seat across from Alex. "Who are you?"

Alex sat back, the picture of ease. "My name isn't important. My employer wishes to meet with you."

"And your employer is?"

"He's known as The Gentleman."

d'Estrees leaned back. "Ah. It has been a while since I've talked to him. I am assuming he has given you something to give me?"

Alex took the envelope out of her pocket. "He gave me this. Said you'd know what to do." d'Estrees took the envelope and read the card inside. Alex watched the other woman as she furrowed her brow in concentration and then pale as she reached the end of the note. "Everything okay?"

"Yes." d'Estrees hurriedly stuffed the card back into the envelope. "I know what I must do."

Alex stood. "What shall I tell my employer?"

"Tell him I will meet with him. I suggest you leave now. My security will be here soon to take me to an appointment. Goodbye."

Alex nodded once and left. That was easy.

Alex returned to her safe house and pulled off her wig. Her meeting with d'Estrees had unsettled her for some reason. It didn't make sense. What could have been on that note that would frighten her so much? Alex had originally assumed it contained a meet location and time, but that shouldn't scare her. Something just didn't feel right.

Sloan was working frantically on the computer. "We haven't been paying very close attention to our favorite detectives."

"What's going on?"

"Helena Strasse was killed last night by The Gentleman. She was hired to kill Andrew Wilde in the precinct, which she did, but then she was killed too. My best guess is that she got caught on camera, so she had to go."

"Who're Strasse and Wilde?"

Sloan pulled up their pictures. "Strasse is a small time killer for hire. She doesn't get much work and the police have wanted her for a while. Wilde is a petty thief; mostly B&E's and pickpocketing."

"And both were working for The Gentleman?"

"Yes, on different aspects of Auditore's murder. You were hired to kill him, Wilde was hired to destroy evidence against The Gentleman, and Strasse was hired to silence Wilde after he got pinched."

Alex sat down. "What did we get pulled into?"

"I don't know. I've been trying to figure out what Beckett and her team know." Sloan glanced at Alex and noticed a glazed look in her eyes. "What's up?"

"The Gentleman is like a chess player. He plans everything out far in advance and has a backup plan for his backup plan. What series of events have I just set in motion?"

Sloan stopped typing and came over to sit by Alex. "We can't think about that right now. It's been done. You can't take it back."

"You didn't see the fear in her eyes. Whatever that note said, it scared her. And that scares me."

Sloan sighed. "You want to stop it, don't you?"

"I want to know what 'it' is. That'll determine if I want to stop it or not."

"I'll start looking; see if I can find anything." Sloan stood up and returned to his computers.

Alex followed him. "What have you found out about Auditore's connection to The Gentleman?"

"As far as I can tell, they just had a falling out five years ago. As to why The Gentleman decided to kill him now, Beckett and company think The Gentleman may have been in jail, but I doubt it. The real reason may be the Auditore said something that pissed The Gentleman off."

"And it wouldn't have to be recent. The Gentleman is the type to hold grudges. The trigger could be a few years old."

"Exactly. I doubt I'll be able to find anything digitally." Sloan cracked his knuckles and started typing. "I'll start tracking d'Estrees, see what I can find."

Meanwhile…

Beckett and Castle were working on their sixth box of files when Ryan came in. "There was a sighting of Alex at The Plaza Hotel about an hour ago. She's gone by now, but the hotel is sending over their surveillance footage right now."

Beckett set down the file she'd been reading. "Did they say why she was there?"

Ryan shook his head. "No. The attendant who spoke to her has gone missing."

Castle stood to follow Beckett. "That doesn't sound good."

"No, it doesn't." Beckett's phone rang. "Beckett."

"It's me. I have a body. It was found in a dumpster about three blocks south of The Plaza. Badge on his coat identifies him as Cody."

"Ryan, what was the missing attendant's name?"

"Cody Shaw."

"Thanks, Lanie, we'll be right there." She ended the call. "The missing attendant may have just been found three blocks south of The Plaza in a dumpster. Lanie's there now."

Ryan nodded. "I'll go over the surveillance tapes and see what Alex did."

"Then head over to The Plaza and talk to everyone who may have seen her. Castle and I will meet you there after we see Lanie."

Ryan's computer dinged. "Hold on. Plaza just sent something. It's Cody Shaw's employment info. There's a photo…I'll print it out for you."

Beckett grabbed the photo from the printer. "Thanks. Let's go Castle."

A/N: What's going to happen next? Drop me a line in the comments below! Thanks!