Like so many things in the criminal justice system, things took a certain amount of time to work their way through the legal pipeline. Heck, after years on the force, Beckett practically lived and breathed those timelines, setting up her work schedule to accommodate them and stay on top of things while she waited.

But this case felt different. Well, it was different; very different.

It was hitting close to home in a way she never envisioned, and Beckett couldn't shake off the unnerving anxiety that came with it.

As such, she'd found herself pacing back and forth in front of the murder board, occasionally glancing over at Espo's empty desk, eventually drawing Castle's attention as the writer returned with two fresh cups of coffee.

Slowing down, she met him halfway, smiling at the caring gesture.

"The warrants should come through any second…", she explained, more or less to convince herself than Castle, and accepted the steaming cup, having lost track of how much caffeine she'd consumed by now.

A non-judgmental nod was her only response for a few seconds as Castle leaned against her desk, contemplating what to say over a sip of coffee, eventually pointing at the murder board where a new picture had appeared; this one belonging to one of their own.

"While Vargas was talking, I remembered your worry about Esposito's face being on here. And now it is…right I the middle of it all. I know how I feel about that. I can't imagine how Ryan is doing. Or you."

Feeling her face flush at his uncanny insight into her heart and soul, Beckett let her hand trace over the pictures of their murder victims, trying to envision their lives before the brutal slayings, then coming to a stop over Esposito's picture, still having a hard time wrapping her mind around the fact that there was a distinct chance that Espo might have something to do with this- whether he was aware of it or not.

"Ryan's taking it pretty hard…", she whispered and looked over at the detective's desk, not surprised to see that he had his head buried in web pages upon web pages of research, "And me…I feel like I'm not doing enough, that I am not fast enough on this investigation. Every minute we waste is a minute that Espo doesn't have."

"Kate…", Castle began, his tone of voice changing when he used her first name.

"I…I know what you're gonna say, Castle and I appreciate the optimism but it's just…this is like a bad car wreck. I can't do much about it, but I can't look away either…"

Not that looking away was an option anymore- but sometimes she sure wished fate could take a 5-min timeout to allow her to breathe in between dramatic life events.

She was about to take another sip of coffee when rapid footsteps approached their position, belonging to Vargas.

"We got something on your guy Esposito…", he announced, causing Ryan to scramble to his feet and join them at the murder board.

"This was taken a few hours ago in downtown.", the Lieutenant said and pulled out his cellphone to play a short security camera footage of a busy sidewalk crawling with shoppers, "Take a look right…here…"

A few seconds in, she saw Esposito pass by several people, dressed in dark gray fatigues, looking up at the camera as though he knew it was there.

"Thank God he's still alive…", she muttered, breathing a sigh of relief.

"My team is checking out several other cameras in the vicinity to see if he snuck into a building or car, hopefully we'll have a better trace shortly."

Surprisingly, Ryan frowned and reached forward to hit the replay button on Vargas' cell, watching the video clip once again with great interest.

"Javi is ex-Special Forces. He's already proven that he knows how to blend in, how to make himself invisible if he needs to. Knowing that we might be using facial recognition technology, why would he look up at the camera? That makes no sense at all."

"You know, Ryan's right. Something weird is going on here.", Beckett began but fell quiet when she saw Castle raise a cautious finger.

"Maybe not. Lanie said that these drugs only last so long before they don't work anymore. From what Ryan said, Esposito was already showing signs of overdosing. If Lafayette forced him to start taking them what…a week and a half ago, they must be losing their…their potency. Now, we can all agree that Esposito has enough combat experience to make him a difficult person to manipulate in the first place, so what if he's lucid enough that he is noticing these drugs wearing off and is slowly…I don't know…returning to his old self, breaking through the fog that Lafayette put him into? What if he looked at that camera on purpose to give us a chance to track him, to…to help find him?"