A/N - Yep, I haven't updated this one in forever either. But here I am giving it a go again. Thanks for reading!

Chapter 5 – Curiouser and Curiouser

"So Esposito, where are we with the sister?" Beckett quickly composed herself as she walked back in to the bullpen.

He walked up and met her at her desk and laid the file on the desk. "Nothing much. Lanie had to console the woman when she identified the body. She had no idea what the marks on his arm were but said he was genuinely a happy guy that as far as she knew, never got involved with anything underhanded."

Esposito handed the picture of the sister to Beckett as she also looked through the file. "And his financials?"

"That's there too. Nothing really out of place; only one large transaction in the last few weeks." Esposito leaned over and pointed out the highlighted section of the records. "That payment went out of his account, a savings account a couple of weeks ago."

"Did you ever run down what the SHHS is?" She continued to look at the payment by check to the same name on the box and in the man's wallet.

"No, but we've got a couple of leads that we are checking into." Esposito watched as Beckett went through the rest of the file. "Where's Castle?"

Beckett looked up quickly and then back down at the report. "I think he's run an errand with the family. It's Saturday and Alexis had been real bothered by how she was treated at school."

Esposito nodded and walked away as Beckett didn't look up from her desk. Something was different, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Texting Lanie, Esposito hoped that maybe he could get his boss back on the case and out of her own head.

Castle slammed the front door as he threw his jacket on the couch. He poured himself a drink and leaned against the kitchen counter as Martha walked. "What happened?"

"Why does something have to happen? I just decided to take the rest of the afternoon away. I don't work there." He answered without looking at her. "Where's Alexis?"

"She went out with Ashley to talk." Squeezing her son on the arm, he shook her head. "Now what about you Richard? You would never walk out on a case unless…what happened last night?"

He glanced up as he put the empty glass in the sink. He knew that he probably shouldn't float two bourbons back to back before the afternoon. "What do you mean?"

"I mean Alexis told me that when she went to bed last night that you and Beckett were still down here working apparently and that when she woke up she was gone."

Castle eyed his mother. "We worked for a bit and then she went home. That was it mother."

"Doesn't sound like it," she mumbled as kissed him on the cheek. Starting back up to her room, she turned back. "For once Richard the two of you need to talk."

Castle shook his head slowly. "Thank you mother, but I think that is what got me here." His mother gave her well-known sign for whatever as she started up the stairs.

Castle sat down in front of his computer in the office starting to feel somewhat more relaxed and focused. Opening up the latest notepad on the computer, he recorded a few new plot lines that he wanted to work into his latest novel. She would recognize the fight if he included that, but the characters did have some issues that needed to be worked out. He scoffed at the fact that he was writing fiction, but more and more it seemed he was paralleling his real life. Maybe it was time to truly back off and look at another perspective.

Shutting the notepad, he opened up a browser and typed in SHHS. After pages and pages of seeing different high schools and their various websites, he closed the computer again. It had to be something else. He could tell that his drink was starting to kick in as he fell asleep in the chair.

"So what do you have?" Beckett asked as she appeared in the morgue.

Lanie looked at her and then leaned her head to the side. "No shadow today? What did you do?" Beckett returned the question with a glare. "Never mind then, but it will kill you, you know that? Anyway, I sent your box to CSU but did a little checking on it myself. Poop."

Beckett curled up her lip in confusion. "What?"

"Poop, excrement. That was the smell. I found traces where it looked like someone had tried to wash out the box, but there is always trace elements left, hence the scent. Anyway, I scraped a little, did some tests. You may not have a who to catch, but a what."

Beckett looked in the microscope and shook her head. "Seriously?"

"Yep, from what I could see, there were some miniscule hair fibers and what looked like broken down bones. You've got an animal. Oh, and I found this stuck underneath one of the cross beams in the box." Lanie handed the sample to Beckett and crossed her arms as Beckett stared at her.

"See? You've got a what." Lanie took the sample back and put it with the rest of the forensics information. "So, I'm working more on that angle now. As for you, what's up with you?"

Beckett stood and looked again at the body and sample that Lanie had just shown her. She watched as Lanie took a picture of the sample to print out for the murder board and then turned to face her. "It's nothing. Castle and I had a disagreement."

"And?"

"He went home."

"And?"

Beckett sighed and slumped against the counter. "And Josh and I broke up. He's cheating on me in Japan."

Lanie turned and hugged her best friend, "Honey, I'm so sorry. You want to get together tonight and talk about it. Booze and Bashing."

Beckett waved her off, "No, actually I talked to Castle about it and I think that was a bad idea. He was playing the best friend card, I gave in, we misconstrued a few things and got in a fight."

Lanie rolled her eyes at Beckett. "You know girl I would say I was proud of you for actually opening up to Castle about something other than your mom, but you turned around and then practically shut the door in his face didn't you?"

Beckett stood real quiet and glared at Lanie. She didn't want to give into the ME, knowing that she was probably right about everything, but wasn't in the mood. "Lanie, he's like a puppy. He'll come back and we'll tackle it then. Until that time, I still have a case to solve."

Lanie watched as Beckett was almost out the door, "Enjoy arresting it; I want to see pictures!"