Thank you guys for being great… as usual!

Last Chapter: (longest chapter ever… okay not true at all) Todd, the last victim's brother, went on a rampage and tossed all of the tables and chairs around. Kate went in to help Esposito calm down the situation. Once Todd was calmed down she was able to ask him the questions they needed to know about his sister. Castle managed to keep himself out of the way, but didn't take his eyes off of Kate until Todd was gone. Together they went in to see Esposito who had gotten hit by one of the tables. Kate checked it out, and decided that it needed some attention from Lanie, which Esposito of course bitched about. It didn't help that Kate let Castle call Lanie. When she got there Rick and Kate gave them their space so they could have a moment together. After Lanie got Esposito all cleaned up Kate followed her out of the room, and pressed her about her relationship with Esposito. Which Lanie of course turned right back around at her…

Chapter 37: A New Lead

Lanie sat down on the bench next to Kate.

"Honey, take my advice on this one. Castle, he's worth the risk." Lanie said.

"Yeah, yeah he is." Kate said softly.

Castle pushed himself off of the wall he was leaning against.

And he walked over to where Esposito was sitting,

"So…" he said.

"So …. what?" Esposito asked cautiously.

"So, how long are you going to wait to tell her?" Castle asked more directly.

"Tell her what?" Esposito said grumpily.

Pshhht… you can't get away with using that line. It used to be my catch phrase. Castle thought.

"To tell her that you still have feelings for her, that you want her back." He said.

"After two divorces and a completely dysfunctional relationship with Beckett, I think that you should probably take your own advice… And you know, tell Beckett that you love her." He said, wishing that Castle didn't have a point about him and Lane.

"Oh I think she knows." Castle said over his shoulder, as he started heading towards the door.

"But really Espo. Don't wait until you're going to lose her forever." He added as he casually strolled out of the break room, towards Beckett's desk.

Esposito sat there thinking,

Wait what. No. really…. No it couldn't be.

Sure they had caught them kissing once, but how far had they really taken it?

Esposito let out a huff and jumped down off the table.

By that time Lanie was already getting on the elevator, and Beckett had made her way back to her desk. She was now smiling at something that Castle had said.

Hmm, he thought, something is missing…

He had to look around for a second before he could put his finger on it … Ryan.

Where is he?

Taking one more quick look around he walked over towards Castle and Beckett saying,

"Hey, have either of you seen Ryan?"

"Uhh, yeah I saw him while you two were talking to Todd. He didn't get anything from his last interview, but I did update him on what we found out so far." Castle said, "but that was a while ago… Where did he go?" he mused out loud.

"Maybe he went to the bathroom." Beckett suggested.

They all shrugged, not too concerned by Ryan's absence. He would turn up eventually.

Esposito was making a few calls to see if he could get their two newly discovered 'romantic interests' to come to the station.

While across the room Beckett was absent mindedly playing with her mother's ring, thinking about their next step.

Castle sat there watching her.

"How did you do it?" he asked.

"Mmm… do what?" she asked, pulling her attention back to him.

"How'd you get Todd to stop?" he clarified.

"I just told him what he needed to hear; I told him that it was okay… " she paused, "that it was okay to be angry." She finished.

"Is that because you were?" he asked.

"Yeah." She said, tucking her necklace back into her shirt and sitting up a little straighter.

Castle got the hint that she wasn't quite ready to talk about it, and he let the subject drop.

It was good that he did because it would have been awkward if their deep conversation had been interrupted when Ryan rushed into the bull pen calling to them, "Hey guys, you've got to see this!"

All three of them exchanged a quick glance before quickly getting up out of their chairs to follow Ryan, who in his excitement was already around the corner.

All three of them jogged after him a little bit until they caught up.

"Ryan if you're making us run after you to see pictures of your honeymoon again. I swear to god…" Esposito said through gritted teeth.

"That was only one time." Ryan shot back.

Beckett and Castle shared a look. Luckily for them, they must have been out when that little spat went down.

Beckett just shook her head at their shenanigans.

If nothing else they kept her entertained.

Ryan pulled open the door to the tech room and let the others go in first before following them.

"So, going to tell us now?" Esposito asked, as if he had somewhere important to be.

"Patience is a virtue." Ryan said in a patronizing tone.

"Okay boys. But really Ryan spit it out already. " Beckett said, ending their petty battle of wills.

"Alright, alright, take all the fun out of it, why don't you…" he said as he made his way over to the desk in the room.

Taking a seat he began his story,

"So, while Esposito was fighting a losing battle with a table, Castle here was telling me about what Randy had told you guys. So, I pestered Daniel Ethens and he then called one of his friends who remembered the name of the bar they went to.

Now, when I reran financials Bridget didn't have a credit card transaction there. So, let's assume she either paid with cash or someone else bought her drinks."

"Wow… that's amazing!" Esposito said, interrupting Ryan with his sarcastic tone.

"Well just you wait, because if you were impressed by that. Well, first you have really low standards, and second then this part is going to blow your mind… A few weeks before she died Heather has a charge at that same exact bar." Ryan said proudly.

"Nice work Ryan." Beckett said.

And at that Ryan shot Esposito a triumphant look.

"So the only piece of the puzzle we need is to confirmation that Heather was there with Sean." Kate mused aloud, "Before we take this too far, Ryan I want you to get Sean Leary on the phone to see if he was with her that night… you know what on second thought, have him come in." she added,

That way I can get a better read on him. She thought to herself.

"Should I keep following up on people on the list too?" Ryan asked hesitantly.

"No, not for now." She said before turning to Esposito and said, "I want you to confirm Randy's story with … Alex Kirsty." She said, looking down at her notebook to double chick that she had his name right.

"And depending on what Sean says we will see if we can place our second victim Caroling at that bar as well." She added.

Ryan and Esposito started to leave, to do their work.

But Beckett called after Ryan, "Hey Ryan. What's the name of the bar?"

"It's called the 11th Street Bar." He said on his way out.

Beckett turned to the tech guy that had just watched the rather bizarre dynamic of her team.

"Do you have the day of the week it was when that credit card transaction took place?" she asked.

"Yeah, I can pull that up." He said opening a file and scrolling the list that followed.

"It looks like it was on a Saturday." He said.

"Okay great, thanks." Beckett said as she turned to walk out of the room.

An unusually quiet Castle, just a few paces behind her.

"So, I was thinking that if Ryan has the date Bridget and Daniel went to the bar, then we'll be able to see if there's a day of the week that he habitually chooses his next victim on." She said, feeling empowered by their new lead.

"Oh okay." Castle said with a nod.

Beckett tried to shrug off his odd response as either him thinking or the drugs still hadn't worn off.

Because if it was option A, then it would probably be best to just let him think it through, and if it was option B, well then there was nothing she could do about it.

She walked up to Ryan's desk and waited for him to finish writing something before he looked up saying, "Why yes Detective Beckett, what can I help you with?"

"Well Detective Ryan, I sure hope so." She said, sassing him right back, before returning to her normal disposition and asking, "Do you have the day Daniel Ethens said he and Bridget were at that bar?"

"Yeah sure." He said pulling a sticky not off the pad, writing it down for her, and handing it over.

"Thanks." She said, taking it from him and making her way back over to her desk.

On her computer she pulled up her calendar and scrolled through the dates.

"I was right!" she said to Castle, who had taken up residence in his chair next to her desk, "Bridget was there on a Saturday too."

"That's great news." Castle said, trying to sound supportive, but not being very convincing.

"Okay." She said, turning her chair to face him, and crossing her arms, "What crazy Castle theory are you concocting in your mind?" she asked.

"No theory…." He said almost hesitantly, "It's just ... even if all three of them have been to this bar on Saturday nights. We haven't. Where do we fit in?"

Today I took my last final today, and now get a few days off to relax before I get to start it all over again! I'm hoping this is code for 'getting a lot of writing done'.

Let me know what you think!

Elizabeth

P.S. if I haven't answered your review yet, I'm sorry and I will get back to you by tomorrow at the latest!

PPS I Googled bars in NYC so I have idea what the 11th Street Bar is really like. I only know that it is a place.