Evening Blue Chapter thirty Eight

Beckett sat at her desk waiting for the boys to answer here when the elevator chimed and the doors slid open. Without turning around she knew it was Castle. As he approached her desk the smell of fresh coffee and his cologne filled her nose. She smiled sweetly when he placed the coffee mug on her desk and he sat down in his chair.

"Good morning detective!"

"Mornin' Castle"

"I guess a body hasn't dropped yet?"

"Nope"

"Darn"

Castle took out his phone and started playing Angry Birds as Beckett got back to her paperwork. A few minutes passed when Beckett's phone buzzed. She answered it.

"Beckett"

She wrote down the crime scene's location and stood to put on her jacket. Castle looked up as he put his phone in his pocket.

"A body dropped?"

"yep"

"Yes!"

Beckett rolled her eyes and she motioned for Esposito and Ryan to follow. They all four squeezed into the elevator and rode it down. Ryan and Esposito hopped in their car, as Castle and Beckett hopped in her car. Beckett pulled away from the curb first, and then the boys followed.

Once they all piled out of their cars, they made their way towards the body. Beckett and Castle were walking in front of the boys and every so often they would touch hands. Castle grabbed Beckett's and wrapped his first finger around her thumb. Anytime earlier that Castle would have done this Beckett would have pulled her hand away and moved away from him immediately, but this time she smiled sweetly and they continued walking. Once she got to the body she pulled away and kneeled on one side while Lanie was on the other.

"Hey Lanie, what do you got?"

"Caucasian female, multiple stab wounds to the torso, bruising around her neck, face, and arms. She also has some ligature marks on both of her wrists."

Beckett inched closer to the body. "Looks like she was bound."

Castle watched as Beckett examined the body, she always furrowed her eyebrows as looked the victim over. She gently picked up the victims wrist and examined the marks that had been cut into her skin. From the looks of it, she had been bound by wire that had been very tight.

"So you think the stabbing is what killed her?" She felt something at the pit of her stomach, she hated cases where the victim had been stabbed multiple times, it was sometimes too personal.

Lanie shook her head as she turned the victims head to the right, revealing a single gunshot wound to her head.

"So stabbing, bruising, ligature marks, and a single GSW, looks like she was tortured before she was killed."

Castle was having a hard time with this case, the young women looked so innocent, she seemed too young to die. "But why?" he choked out the words as he gripped his coffee mug so tight his knuckles were turning white.

Beckett turned towards Castle as he looked at the young women's body lying limp on the ground. "Rick, if this is too much its ok for you to go home."

Castle shifted his eyes from the young women to Beckett kneeling beside her. "Uh, no I'm ok".

Beckett nodded her head and turned back to Lanie "Do you have an ID?"

"She doesn't have any form of ID on her, so I'm sorry but no, you have a Jane Doe"

"Damn" "Alright, what about an estimated T.O.D?"

Lanie looked through her notes. "Well judging from her body temp and levity I'd day between twelve and two this morning."

Beckett sighed as she stood up. "Thanks Lanie"

Beckett and Castle made their way towards the boys who were talking with the two young college students who found her during their morning run. Ryan excused himself and made his way towards Beckett.

"Ryan, when you and Esposito get done, talk to some of the other people around here, see if they saw anything else, and maybe there are some cameras around here."

"Got it boss"

Beckett turned towards Castle who was watching CSU load the body in the morgue's van. She stepped closer to him and looped her arm through his. "You sure you're ok?"

Castle sighed as he wrapped his hand around her waist. "Yeah I'm fine, let's go"

Beckett didn't believe him but if she knew if she asked again he would only tell her the same thing, so she decided to let it be. The slipped in Beckett's car, buckled up and she drove off towards the precinct. Beckett would glance over at Castle once in a while and he would still be looking out the window with one hand resting on the console and the other on his knee. He was silent the entire trip back to the precinct and the ride in the elevator to homicide level. When the couple entered the bullpen, Beckett went straight to the murder board and started placing pictures and timeline. Castle went to the break room; he was in desperate need to hear his daughter's voice.

When Castle came out of the break room, feeling a bit better that talked to his daughter for a few minutes, he saw Beckett standing in front of the murder board with her hands on her hips. He smiled to himself as he quietly made his way over to her. Beckett could feel his presence behind her but she was too focused on the murder to acknowledge he was there. He gently stepped behind her and placed his hands on her hips.

"Find anything?"

She sighed as she never took her eyes off the board. "Nope"

"Heard anything from Lanie?"

"Not yet"

"Damn"

The elevator chimed and Ryan and Esposito stepped out and quickly made their way towards Beckett. Ryan raised his eyebrows at the position Castle was standing, and where his hands were resting but chose to keep his mouth shut.

"Yo Beckett, we talked to a few people, and no one claims they saw anything, and the park doesn't have cameras in that area nor any other camera that could possible record from their distance."

Beckett sighed as she walked back to her desk. So far on this case there wasn't anything useful and Lanie hadn't called yet. The victim had no ID, and her fingerprints weren't in the system. Beckett groaned in frustration as she put her face in her hands. She sat like that for a few minutes racking her brain trying to think if anything she could use to help move along this case but there wasn't. Beckett went to take a sip of her coffee when her phone buzzed. She quickly answered before even checking the caller ID, hoping it was Lanie.

"Beckett" "Great, I'll be right there!"

Castle jumped up from his chair. "Was that Lanie?"

Beckett smiled as she put on her jacket. "Yes, she found a few things, let's go!"

When Castle and Beckett entered the morgue, Lanie was leaning over the victim examining the bruising patterns on her neck. Beckett stood on the opposite side of the table as Lanie finished writing the notes on her clip board.

"Hey Lanie, what did you find?"

"Well I found this piece of paper with these numbers on it, and when I stripped the body, her ankles have matching ligature marks just like her wrists."

Beckett quickly moved to the lower end of the slab to get a closer look at the young women's ankles. They had the exact same wounds as her wrist. "Anything else?"

Lanie moved back towards the victims head and she pointed to the bullet wound. "It looks to be small caliber, I'm guessing a .32 and the bruising on her neck tells me that the killer either strangled her or had something wrapped around her neck tightly"

Beckett wrote down some notes and turned to walk out the door. "Thanks Lanie"

Castle and Beckett stepped off the elevator as the doors slid open. Beckett made her way to the murder board to add the few things Lanie had provided. . Esposito pushed his chair from his desk, and made his way over to Beckett, who was now concentrating on the murder. He stood beside her and crossed his arms.

"So what did Lanie find?"

Hey guys, just thought I'd throw in a murder so it won't be sooooo much of Caskett…don't wanna bore you guys out….but don't worry there is plenty of caskett-y fluff! The next chapter will be up shortly! Again thanks to all the peeps that are reading, alerting, favoring and reviewing, you guys are awesome!