"No ID on our victim yet. Caucasian male, I am guessing mid to late thirties, one hundred-fifty pounds. Based on body temperature and lividity, I'd say this man was killed between 9 and 10pm last night. Murder method is a complete dislocation of the C-4 vertebrae, severing the spinal cord, killing him instantly…but you knew that of course. There are a few other bruises on the body from our victim putting up a fight, but not a whole lot. I'll check his nails again, see if I can get some DNA this time. I already sent his prints to the lab to get a headstart on his ID."

Nodding at Lanie, Beckett circled the crime scene for many long moments, taking in the dead man at her feet, scruffy 3-day beard, dressed in black pants and jacket, athletic built, his limbs strewn out in different directions, his dull brown eyes staring back at her accusatorily.

Just like last time, there was no blood, no obvious traces of their killer, and thus far, no witnesses either.

And once again they were in an alley, barely 10 blocks away from the last murder scene, the area littered with low-income housing, decaying buildings and failing businesses; the kind of environment that would allow violence, organized crime and senseless murder like this to flourish.

With a disgruntled sigh, Beckett cocked her head at the surrounding buildings, her team following the move.

"Espo, canvass the area, see if anybody saw or heard anything, check for security cameras too. There's gotta be something. Call or text me if you need anything."

The detective nodded obediently, immediately heading off toward a vast apartment complex across the street, while his partner stayed back, eyebrows raised.

"You…ehm…you want me to go with him?"

Shaking her head discretely, Beckett looked over at Castle, pleading for the writer to stay back as she pulled the Irish detective toward to waiting squad car.

"How did it go last night? Were you able to dig into his relationship with Lafayette a bit more, see why he's on edge like this?", she asked instead, never bothering to disguise her worry.

It didn't take a genius to detect Ryan's utter discomfort with the situation. Raking a nervous hand through his wavy hair, the detective stared at the ground, biting his lip, fighting an inner battle of loyalties, before looking back up at her.

"I…ehm…I am not sure. Javi is sold on the guy, that much is true. That dude is his hero. But there…there was something he said that made my skin crawl."

Upon his words, Beckett frowned and leaned closer, giving them more privacy as several uni's passed by.

"Like what?"

"You see, Javi told me how he got into an actual fight with Lafayette. He was frustrated and threw the first punch, the doctor gets back at him, beats the hell out of him for some weird type of…of therapy. It all sounds novel until you get to the part where Lafayette puts him into a choke hold, threatens to break his neck unless he admits to the fact that he does want to live."

"You gotta be kidding me?", Beckett sighed, her eyes travelling to Esposito as he crossed the street to visit the neighboring buildings, "So Lafayette already used that technique before, he just…he just didn't finish it. You and I both know what that means. He is in on this somehow."

Ryan licked his dry lips, watching his partner disappear amongst an assortment of onlookers.

"He already alibi'd out for the last murder. Javi is going to lose it if you bring in Lafayette on circumstantial evidence like that."

"Let's check his alibi for last night first.", Beckett cautioned as she watched Castle bend down to inspect the body, "If he doesn't have one, we'll bring him in. If he does, we'll just keep digging until we catch that son of a gun in the act."