A/N - I know I have neglected this story for the month and I will try not to forget it until next year, but my other one had to be finished first to get it out of my head. Now this and one more short fluffy write is all I have to finish before work calls in a week. BTW, this chapter is somewhat bored out of reality. My husband does snake handling and breeding as a hobby. Reviews would be appreciated.

Chapter 7 – Catching an Escaped "Killer"

Beckett and Castle quickly moved through the main part of the hospital and saw Lanie as they rounded the corner into the ICU. "You have anything?"

Lanie smiled seeing the two together at the odd hour of the night. She kept her thoughts to herself. "So, the girl that came in does have the same little puncture marks on her ankle this time. The doctors think the strange location for the bite explains why she didn't die quicker. The first victim was hit in a more direct artery."

Beckett and Castle followed Lanie back into the ICU where the girl was laying in the bed hooked up to different machines. "What's her prognosis?"

"They are giving her a general antivenom not knowing exactly what species they are dealing with, but they are also starting treatment for her kidneys, taking watch of her other organs. I told them about our vic's autopsy, so they are watching her carefully. The parents are in the waiting room." Lanie pointed toward the double doors with no glass.

"Thanks," Beckett motioned to Castle to follow. He glanced back at the girl and shook his head. The girl was about Alexis' age. He stayed behind Beckett as she approached the parents.

"Mr. and Mrs. Askew. I'm detective Beckett and this is Richard Castle. Can we take a few moments to sit?" The parents couldn't form words and Castle noticed that they didn't let go of each other as they motioned for them to sit down.

"I know this is a horrible time and I would be normally waiting, but the animal we think bit your daughter may have killed someone else prior. Is there anything you can tell us?" Beckett sat quietly as the parents looked at each other and then the mother started to break down in tears.

The father looked up briefly as his wife cried into his shoulder. "My daughter loves your books Mr. Castle." The father choked up again.

"Sir, we want to catch whatever is doing this. I have a daughter about her age and I understand what you are going through right now, but we are hoping we can stop it before we have more victims in here," Castle added with full sincerity.

"I didn't see it. I just heard her scream in pain and then she pointed under the cabinet in the apartment. It's got a few places that still need patching." The mother got silent again and shook her head. "We should have waited to move in. She said it was like a dark brown or black before she started seizing."

Castle looked over at Beckett and motioned with a nod to leave them. They both sat again with their heads down and holding hands. The two silently got up and made their way back to the vehicle. As Castle jumped in the passenger side, he looked over at Beckett. "Back to the apartment?"

"Only if you have time. I can drop you…" She saw Castle shake his head as he started searching for pictures of snakes that could fit the description of their perpetrator. Beckett smiled to herself, hoping that they could finish their talk once they closed their case. The thought was lost when she realized finding the snake may not be the end. Someone still had to push their vic out the window.

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Castle and Beckett arrived at the apartments just as Ryan and Esposito got out of the back of the animal control vehicle. Castle stopped midstride noticing the waders the two had put on. "I take it you're not dumpster diving?"

Beckett added a questioning look to Castle's joke. "We started up to the apartment and animal control here said that with the possibility of what's in the building, this would be a suggested extra precaution. He just doesn't have enough for all of us." Ryan glanced in Castle's direction.

"Detective Beckett I presume. Officer Winchell." The man stopped and looked at the woman, laying a careful stare on her footwear. "I can't let you go in there in those shoes and it could compromise the material in the feet of the protection." Glancing in Castle's direction, Winchell pulled the last pair of waders out of the truck and threw them at him. "He can go."

Beckett and Castle exchanged glances and then she looked over at Esposito, "I'll watch him boss." Beckett rolled her eyes, not able to imagine how her shoes were keeping her from her investigation. She watched as Castle removed his jacket and handed it to her along with his wallet and keys. She let him lean against her slightly to balance as he dressed in the full body wader.

"Doesn't make for running very well, does it?"

Beckett put his things in the car and locked it. Following them up to the front of the building, she couldn't help but chuckle. The last time she had seen anyone in those was when her and her father went flyfishing up north. "Now all you need is a couple of poles."

"I have that," Winchell responded without even a chuckle. He handed each man a pole that extended to ten feet. The end had a hook on it. The boys all looked back at Beckett as she shrugged. "If you see it, just try to tail it while calling it in. Just make sure it doesn't get close enough to bite. The waders are a precaution, but not fool proof."

Castle's excitement dwindled into apprehension as he listened to the officer and then glanced back at Beckett. She shrugged and halfway smiled jokingly. The one time the man actually got to work a case without her. She waved as the men disappeared into the building.

As the men worked their way to the apartment where the snake attacked last, Winchell stopped. "Smell that?" The three took a deep breath and cringed. "If we find that, hopefully we find our culprit. Oh, and use the hook to turn over things on the floor, don't reach with your hands for anything."

The three followed the officer into the empty apartment as the smell became more pungent. The three separated when the smell seemed to emanate from all corners of the place. Ryan flipped a few items on the floor over and waved the pole under the bed for any other possibilities.

"Guys!" Esposito and Ryan both followed the high pitched screams as Castle ran back out into the living room and slammed the door. Shaking his free hand, Castle stammered, "found it."

Ryan looked down at the phone and showed it to Castle. Beckett was already making fun of him, apparently hearing his shrieks from the lobby. "Ok, so Ryan, if you would just have the tall garbage pail there for me." The officer was completely ignoring the rattled Castle and grabbed him by the arm. "And you stand there."

The three looked at each other as the officer opened the door to the room where several lamps were lit. The smell grew in intensity and all three men cringed in disgust. Winchell squeezed in the door but left the light off. Ryan and Esposito moved closer to the door with the garbage can. "You may want to call your drug enforcement friends." Esposito and Castle traded places as Esposito placed a call down to Beckett and explained quickly what was going on. He hung up and joined the other two as they stared at the noise coming from the room before the door flew open.

"Holy Sh…." Castle jumped back and waved his hook in front of his legs as Winchell followed the snake out the door. Ryan caught the head of the snake on the hook in between him and Castle's feet as Winchell hooked the other end. Esposito moved the garbage can in between the two as the snake dropped off the hooks. The three sighed as the snake slid into the tall can, not able to climb the side of the can.

Castle held his hand in front of the officer and pulled his phone out of his pocket. Clicking a couple of shots off, he jumped back as the snake eased up the side of the garbage can before falling back to the bottom. He thanked Winchell and hollered down to Beckett and waited as she made her way up the stairs. "I guess you have it?"

"Yep."

"Yeah, Castle was still screaming like a little girl." Beckett walked over and looked in the can before Winchell covered the can up and taped the lid on. Castle stepped out of the waders and handed them to Ryan.

Beckett smiled at Castle and shook her head as he handed the officer the hook and followed her into the bedroom. She covered her face from the smell and turned on the light. "Wow."

The three men stopped behind her and covered their faces after seeing the regurgitated rat lying on the floor. The body had been stretched and flattened but was still wet with what only could be the digestive juices from the snake. Beckett stepped carefully over the mess in the floor and made her way to the well-lit shelves on the wall. She picked her phone out of her pocket and dialed. "It's Beckett, apartment 3B in the building. I have a pretty good crop of home grown weed in the first bedroom and what I gather was a testing set of rats."

Castle waited for her as the boys helped Winchell down the stairs carefully with the can. "We'll wait for the other crew to show and have them canvass the area. How are you?"

Castle glanced over at her after looking around the room and nervously shaking his head, "So what's going to happen from here? This isn't the girl's apartment?"

Beckett nodded as she scoped out the rest of the room. She made notes on her pad of what she observed in the bedroom after turning on the overhead light. "No, but apparently our little critter had been looking for somewhere with warmth and then food. He bites someone right outside a bathtub upstairs and then heads down here to this room. The question is if these people want to stay here knowing that the vents and possible other crevices aren't fully filled."

Beckett turned and saw Castle nod in agreement as the boys returned. "Winchell's going to take the snake back to animal control and put it down before he picks at it. Not sure how much you can actually get out of a snake."

Esposito added, "We've got it here boss. Vice will be here in a bit with a full CSU team. They're going to also check out the girl's apartment. By the way, Lanie called me and let me know that the girl is coming around but still has a way to go."

Beckett nodded and waved as she left the apartment. Castle followed close behind as Beckett headed up the stairs to the unfinished apartment at the top of the building. Stepping under the other police tape that was across the frame of the door, she stopped and stared at the window. "I still don't get how the box we found that had the shed in it made it back to the dock when obviously the whole incident happened here." Castle stood back as she talked to herself and walked through the motions from a few nights ago.

"Maybe the crate never made it here." Castle added standing over to the side.

Beckett turned and pointed at him, knowing he probably wasn't very off target. "We need to get more information back on that crate. CSU's supposed to be wrapping up the work on it for Monday." Beckett turned back around and continued to stare out the broken window that the man fell through.

"Maybe we should head back for the night. They've got teams working here." Castle paused his thoughts and watched Beckett retrace steps to the window and then huff. "Come on, it's late and there's nothing else you can do here."

"Yeah. I just keep wondering if we are missing something." She pinched her nose and started down the stairs after shutting the lights off. Castle followed her back to the awaiting car and got in the vehicle. She stopped before turning on the car and turned to him. "So tomorrow?"

Castle glanced at her, "Are you saying you are still interested in my idea?"

She nodded in a silent maybe with a glint of a smile creeping across her face. "Bronx, they have decent reptile area. About 9?"

"I'll bring breakfast," Castle added in agreement as Beckett started the car. As the two went over the night's events again and laughed, the issues from the nights before didn't completely disappear but quickly were put on the back burner. Maybe the weekend wouldn't end so bad after all.