Thank you once again for your encouraging words.

I don't own anything you recognise.

Boulevard of Broken Dreams

Chapter Three

Alexis watched as her father's face frowned, "Before you start thinking about alien abductions or government conspiracies perhaps you should just call her."

"Oh my clever daughter," Castle replied with a smile, "I should just do that." He added as he took the phone from the cradle and dialled Beckett's number. The phone rang several times, but there was no answer. He frowned before he put the phone back onto the kitchen counter, "No answer." He told Alexis, who had left her father and was rummaging around in the pantry, her laptop and cell discarded on the opposite kitchen counter.

Alexis smiled as she found the chocolates she had hidden, carefully she slipped them inside the sleeve of her pyjamas, before she turned to look back at her father, "Dad," she began, "we have a doorman, call him."

Castle nodded and he reached out for the phone again, dialling the number of the lobby of the building.

"Mr Castle, how are you this fine morning?" the familiar voice answered cheerfully.

"Sammy," Castle replied, "has anyone ever told you that you don't have to be so cheerful so early?"

Sammy laughed, "What can I do for you?"

"I am just wondering if you've seen Beckett this morning?" Castle questioned as he watched his daughter carefully, she'd managed to set up her laptop on the counter and was sitting on one of the kitchen stools - every so often she'd stop her furious touch typing and reach down for something, ducking her head as she did so.

"Can't say I have," Sammy answered, "I only started just before five. I'll check the computer." Castle waited and he heard Sammy swear under his breath at the computer, before he began to speak again, "Key card for the parking garage was activated at 4:40am, registered as one of yours, I can check the surveillance footage, but I'd say that was Miss Kate leaving you. What did you do?" Sammy questioned with a laugh.

Castle rolled his eyes, "Nothing Sammy, I did nothing."

"That's the story you are sticking to anyway?" Sammy questioned laughing again.

"Thanks Sammy, I'll remember this." Castle replied with his own laugh before he hung up the phone and put it back on the cradle.

"So?" Alexis questioned, her head poking above the screen of her laptop momentarily. "Did you solve the mystery of the missing Beckett?"

Castle pursed his lips, wrinkling his nose, "Well we have her leaving the building in her car about an hour ago, this means …"

"Someone got murdered." Alexis replied, finishing her father's sentence.

"Exactly." Castle said with a nod of his head, "But it still doesn't explain why she didn't tell me she was going?"

Alexis carefully slipped another chocolate in her mouth before looking at her dad over the top of her laptop screen, "You could always do the easy thing."

"Which would be?" Castle questioned as he realised what Alexis was reaching for and made his way closer to her.

"Go to the precinct."

Castle smiled, "A wonderful idea, but first," he said as he slipped his hand around behind the laptop, "I'll have one of these." He added as his hand took hold of one of Alexis' precious chocolates.

"Dad." Alexis squealed, her hand reaching for his, but he was too quick for her and she watched as he ate one of her chocolates, laughing as he did so.

"I'll buy you more," Castle replied as he leant over to kiss Alexis on the forehead, "besides aren't you the one always telling me that chocolate isn't breakfast."

Alexis glared at him, "Gram promised me celebratory ice cream at Serendipity when this was done, you can make it up to me by being there and paying for the both of us."

"Done." Castle replied, holding out a fist towards Alexis – who immediately made a fist of her own and bumped it against his. "Text me." He added before he kissed her forehead for a second time, smiling at her warmly as he stepped away from her and then headed upstairs.

Beckett sat on the edge of her desk, staring at the board in front of her; so far it was filled with blank spaces. They didn't even know the identity of the victim – Ryan and Esposito's investigating into the party that had been near the park had been a bust. The victim hadn't been with that crowd of people, that party had been an exclusive six person gathering, complete with things that neither Ryan nor Esposito had been able to tell her without blushing furiously and more importantly all of the guests were still in attendance.

Beckett had driven the long way back to the precinct, she'd taken a few side streets, hoping that perhaps there would be another witness, but the streets had been empty. The city just before 5am was relatively quiet, it was too late for the revellers and too early for the workers, unless they were joggers like the one that had found the body – his card was stuck to the board, but she was pretty confident he'd had nothing to do with the murder, murderers didn't usually vomit after killing someone.

She stood and moved closer to the picture of the victim, studying the good side of her face, Lanie hadn't called with any news, nor had tech with news of the cell phone she'd dropped off on her way in. Beckett reached out and traced a finger over the markings along the victims neck, it was clear that she'd been strangled with the length of the strap from her handbag; the pattern that marred the skin matched the pattern of the leather. She closed her eyes and remembered the markings on Paulette's neck – they were similar but not identical, but Paulette had a different handbag than what this victim did so of course they weren't going to be the same. She shook her head, this victim had been found close to where Paulette had been found, she resembled Paulette physically and she had a card for the same jewellers that Paulette had worked for close to her death. These three things automatically leant themselves to the fact that Michael Bancroft could have committed another murder – they'd never been able to catch him the first time, perhaps they'd be able to this time. So far they hadn't been able to track Mr Bancroft down and Ryan and Esposito had gone out to look for him as soon as they'd both finished blushing.

The phone ringing behind her startled Beckett from her thoughts, there was no caller ID on the precinct phone but she had to answer it, even if it could be Castle, even if she didn't know what to tell him about this victim. "Beckett," she answered cautiously.

"Detective Beckett, it's about the phone."

Beckett released a sigh; it was one of the techs that she'd left the phone with earlier.

"We ran the SIM card," the tech explained, "we encountered a problem though."

"A problem?" Beckett questioned, "Could you get anything?"

"We've got contacts, messages, emails and the calendar."

Beckett thought for a moment, none of those sounded problematic; in fact they sounded the opposite – helpful. "And the problem is?"

"It's an international SIM detective, we can't get billing information or even who the SIM is registered to without access to the records of the company who owns the SIM. We can tell you how the phone has been used and what it has been used for, but not who owns it."

"International?" Beckett questioned, staring back at the photo of the victim, who was she?

"The SIM is from Australia detective."

"Australia?" Beckett repeated, "Australia, as in the other side of the world Australia."

"Exactly," the voice replied, "I can send you all the information that we've been able to retrieve and I can send a requisition for the billing information but that might take some time."

Beckett felt herself nod, before realising that she had to actually say something to the person on the other end of the phone, "Okay," she answered, "thank you."

"I'll be in touch detective." The voice replied, before hanging up.

Beckett pressed two fingers to the top of her nose; suddenly this case had gotten a whole lot more complicated. A murder victim in Central Park was one thing; a tourist killed in Central Park was a new case entirely. There would be added pressure from consulates and governments neither of which knew how to solve murders. She needed caffeine, surely that would help her think more clearly. She turned and began to move towards the break room, it was then that she saw him, she smiled warmly – he was holding two coffee cups.

Castle held the cups carefully as the elevator slowed and then stopped before the doors slid open. He'd showered and left the apartment quickly, stopping once to pick up coffee on his way. He smiled as he saw the familiar figure of his partner moving towards the break room, he watched as her face moved into a smile, he wondered if it was because she'd seen him, or she'd seen that he'd brought her coffee, he hoped it was the former, but in some way he knew it was also the latter.

"You left without me," he said quietly as he handed Beckett her cup, his fingers grazing her hand as he did so, before he reached for her other hand and squeezed it quickly, she responded and then he let her go. The precinct knew that they were dating and most of them were ecstatic when they had found out, but there was a strict no PDA rule at work – a rule that surprisingly he managed to follow, even if it was incredibly difficult.

Beckett took a sip of the coffee revelling in the rich taste, she'd known that he would arrive eventually and that his first question would be why she'd gone alone to a murder scene. It had after all been a long time since she'd not had him with her when she'd gone to see a body – the last time had been over six months ago, he'd been in California discussing options for the second Nikki Heat movie.

She took a deep breath, "This murder," she began quietly before she was interrupted.

The elevator doors slid open once again and revealed Ryan, Esposito and a cuffed Michael Bancroft.

Beckett watched as Castle's eyes narrowed and his posture became rigid, "Bancroft." He said through gritted teeth – staring harshly.

Michael Bancroft smiled, "Detective Beckett, Mr Castle, it's so nice to see you again," he said with all the charm of a snake, the words hissing through his teeth, "or is it Detective Castle now? The papers do like to write about the two of you and here you both are, together drinking coffee, how sweet."

Castle felt his non-coffee holding hand clench into a fist, he now knew why Beckett hadn't told him about this case, Bancroft had killed someone else, just like he'd killed Paulette.

So we've met the charming Mr Bancroft, Castle really doesn't like him. I'd love to know your thoughts. Next chapter will be up soon, I've got to do some research for the next part.