It was late afternoon when Castle finally entered the confines of the bullpen, having spent the majority of the day doing something he hadn't done recently- contemplating life.
Alexis' candid words hit it on the nail, making it obvious that his subtle ways of avoiding the pain and uncomfortable questions that had come up between Beckett and him were beginning to shine through on the edges, becoming obvious to the curious spectator.
It had also answered the notion he'd harbored deep within when it came to their startling lack of progress.
What if he was to blame in parts to what was going on? Had he not tried hard enough to become involved? Had the torrents of his private struggles begun to overshadow his passion for solving murders, flowing into every part of his professional life, threatening to drown what was left to save?
It had been a series of haunting thoughts as he stepped out of the elevator and into the busy office, his eyes travelling to the murder board full of faces that were burnt into his memory by now, then to the double desk housing Ryan and Esposito that now sat barren and finally over to the break room, where he found Beckett making small talk with one of the patrol officers from downstairs.
Picking up his pace, he forced himself to remember that they owed it to five innocent people to keep their private issues out of the investigation, to give it the best they had to offer in order to stop a ruthless killer before more people could die.
As such, he put on his best smile as he entered the break room, immediately hearing the conversation die down as his presence was noted.
"Castle.", Beckett greeted, trying to sound enthusiastic even though the long day was wearing on her.
"I am sorry my…brunch took longer than expected.", he said hesitantly, ignoring the clock that reminded him it was well past 5pm, "Any headway yet? I see the boys are out."
"Actually, there is.", she said, all that previous exhaustion immediately wiped off her beautiful face, "Lanie called me a couple of minutes ago. The lab crew found two boot prints amongst those of Officer Reece. One is a size six and one is a size ten."
"So we're not after just one killer, we're after two? And one of them is a homicidal midget?"
"They're thinking weight-wise that both belong to adults, weighing between 130-160lbs."
It wasn't much, but it was something after all.
"A regular guy and an overweight midget. That should narrow down our search criteria…"
She didn't react to his joke; instead, Beckett walked back to her desk, naturally assuming for him to follow as she checked her laptop for several long seconds, before glancing back up.
"I'm running some searches based on our case, see who all matches the criteria. Because of the shoe size, I am also including women. All our victims were males so there's a chance that this has something to do with a romance gone bad."
Nodding at her assumption, Castle sat down on the corner of her desk, careful to avoid the ever-filled inbox as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"Or perhaps our killer uses women to lure their victims away from a safe spot to a place where he can…torture them with little chance of being seen? How better to fool a police officer…or any man for that matter, than by using the old damsel-in-distress trick? It also explains the lack of calling for assistance. A woman asking for help to change a tire or being escorted through a dark neighborhood would hardly cause anybody to call for backup, much less grow suspicious."
Beckett acknowledged his theory with a faint nod, some of that pent-up tension and frustration leaving her body at the eve of an iota of progress. Unable to take his eyes off her gorgeous face, Castle fell quiet, studying those intricate features, the way her expression brightened a little bit each time that instinct to hunt criminals was fueled.
"This search is going to take quite a while if you want to go home. It'll be a late night for me.", she said eventually and ran a hand through her hair, before pushing a couple more buttons on her laptop.
"What about the boys? Could they help you?"
It was a selfish thought, he knew that. But vying for the love and attention of a woman as successful and equally busy as Beckett forced him to stoop low at times in order to get her back into his arms at a decent hour.
"I already sent them home. I think they're pretty burnt out. Espo still isn't right after that whole fiasco with Sonia and Ryan is about to become a father again. They've got a lot of stuff on their plates. I don't mind doing the research for once."
Then there was all that.
With everyone on the team being pulled into different directions, how in the world were they ever going to work side by side and see eye to eye again?
Having noted his silence, Beckett reached over to place her hand on his thigh, patting it affectionately.
"This will get better someday."
Raising his head wearily, he pursed his lips, then forced a shy smile.
"You promise?"
"I promise, Castle. Now go on home, I will see you tonight."
