Thank you once again for the kind words.

I don't own anything you recognise.

Boulevard of Broken Dreams

Chapter Four

Beckett could feel the anger radiating from the man next to her; she remembered the harsh words she'd read all those months ago, the force with which Jameson Rook had pushed a suspect called Mikhail Croftban into the mirror in the interrogation room, the detailed description of the glass breaking around the two of them, shattering into tiny pieces, anger had leapt of the page and the same anger was leaping from Castle now.

She smiled back towards Bancroft, "It's still Beckett." She replied through gritted teeth of her own, silently she willed Esposito to take Bancroft to the interrogation room – he read her slight facial movement perfectly and quickly shoved Bancroft forwards with Ryan following closely behind.

Castle watched as Ryan and Esposito pushed Bancroft down the corridor, his hand was still clenched into a fist. He hadn't looked at Beckett since he'd seen Bancroft, his eyes had been focused on the man whom he'd allowed to get inside his head the last time they had crossed paths. Castle was looking for his one weakness – the one odd sock.

Beckett took a deep breath before she stepped to stand in front of Castle, she snuck a look around the precinct before she slid her hand down to his clenched fist, her fingers tangling with his, trying to get him to relax.

"I didn't want to tell you anything until I was sure." She began as she felt his eyes move to meet hers.

"Sure that he'd murdered someone else." Castle replied, his fist unclenching as he felt Beckett's fingers entangle with his before she slowly pulled her hand away.

"There was another body in the park," Beckett explained as the two of them walked towards her desk and the murder board, "she was a young woman, she had a card for,"

"Swift's." Castle said finishing Beckett's sentence as they stopped in front of the board, he stared at the victim closely.

"How did you know that?" Beckett questioned expectantly, either Castle had made a good guess, or he knew something she didn't. There was no mention of Swift's on the board just yet – all she'd written was where the body had been found and the approximate time of death.

"I've met her." Castle said, turning his head to the side, studying the victim's good side of her face.

"You have?" Beckett questioned as she sat down at the computer, placing her coffee down next to her and opening the email that the tech had sent to her regarding the victim's cell phone.

"She worked there - at Swift's. She worked behind the counter," Castle began, "I was there a few weeks ago, buying a present for mother." He added quickly before continuing. "She was Australian, her name was,"

"Cassandra Peterman." Beckett replied, staring up to look at Castle, ignoring the comment he'd made about his mother.

"Cassie." Castle said, "She called herself Cassie, she was here on holiday." He explained as he rounded the desk and bent over to look at what Beckett was reading.

Beckett nodded, "Tech ran her phone, there's no billing information, the SIM is international, but," she told him pointing towards the screen, "all the messages are to a Cassie or Cassandra and the emails are the same."

"She'd been here for three months, she had two left before she went home." Castle explained.

"How long did you talk to her for?" Beckett questioned.

"Why Detective Beckett," Castle began, "are you jealous?"

"No." Beckett answered a little too quickly.

Castle felt a smile cross his face – before he remembered Bancroft.

"Castle," Beckett said pointing at a new paragraph of text on the screen, "look at the last message she sent."

"'I want to come home. I thought coming here was a good idea. I was wrong. Will you book me a flight home? I'll pay you as soon as I am home.'" Castle read quietly before he turned to look at Beckett.

"Sent just after 3am. The body was found just before 4:20am. That leaves an hour and twenty minutes between the two." Beckett explained as she stood up and walked over to the board, writing the new information underneath the word victim and adding the time of the sent message to the time line.

"Her dress is expensive," Castle added as he moved to stand next to Beckett, noticing her strange expression he explained, "no I have not taken to buying women's clothes. Alexis showed me a picture in a magazine, she wanted something similar for next month."

Beckett nodded; she'd heard Castle and Alexis discussing dresses during their weekend away in the Hamptons. Alexis had also wanted her opinion on which dress she should choose, Beckett had agreed to go with her and Martha next weekend – for an afternoon of shopping and style – at least that was what Martha had promised.

"He liked to buy Paulette dresses." Castle stated, "Remember the size of her closet."

Beckett nodded, Bancroft certainly had the money to buy this particular brand of dress and Paulette had owned at least six by the same designer. Beckett remembered how delicately they'd hung in her closet – waiting patiently to be worn.

"She worked at the same store, she looks like Paulette, she's wearing a dress by the same designer that Paulette liked." Castle said with a hint of anger creeping through his voice, "You can't tell me that this is a coincidence."

"And there are no coincidences in murder," Beckett added, "I know Castle, but coincidences don't mean evidence."

"Yo," Esposito said interrupting Castle and Beckett, "he's claiming wrongful arrest in there, claims he has an alibi."

"There was a woman in his bed." Ryan stated as he came up behind Esposito, waiting for Castle to make a comment regarding leaving women alone in beds, but there was no comment and Ryan realised that this was going to be like the last time Bancroft had been in the precinct.

"Esposito," Beckett said taking control of the situation, "I need you to call Lanie, see if she's found anything that pins down time of death. Also fingerprints, if she was from Australia then she must have been fingerprinted when she arrived. We need confirmation of ID." Esposito nodded in response and headed for his desk, "Ryan I need you to get onto tech, see how they went tracking down the billing information. It must be late afternoon early evening in Australia. Cassandra Peterman has been using the cell, but did she own it? Or did this woman have someone else's phone." Ryan also nodded and then returned to his desk. "And Castle," she said quietly, "I need you to wait out here while I interview Bancroft."

Castle frowned, he knew that this was coming, he knew that she wouldn't let him in on the interview this time, but he'd half hoped she'd forgotten the way he'd let Bancroft crawl under his skin. Apparently she hadn't.

"With you in the room Bancroft will just become antagonistic, he won't give anything away, he'll expect you in there, he won't expect you to stay away, we need to throw him off guard. Challenge his expectations."

Castle nodded, "Okay." He said quietly.

"If he killed her we will find out." Beckett said softly, "I won't let him get away again." Castle smiled slightly, "And besides Castle, I never said you couldn't watch." She added raising her eyebrows towards him.

"Detective Beckett, how nice to see you again." Michael Bancroft said with a smile as Beckett entered the room. Bancroft had been pacing up and down the length of the interrogation room; he paused briefly as Beckett stopped behind the table, but then continued.

"Mr Bancroft, sit down." Beckett replied calmly as she placed a folder down in front of her. She watched as Bancroft considered it for a moment and then changed his mind.

"I've had my door kicked in, been dragged from my bed, had to leave my girlfriend in my apartment alone in the early hours of the morning and been subjected to manhandling by your lap dogs out there. I think I'll stand." Bancroft said firmly, folding his arms across his chest, "And I don't even get the pleasure of having my friend Castle interview me this time."

"Sit down Bancroft, before I make you sit down." Beckett replied calmly, "I don't care about your door, or your bed or your girlfriend. I care about murder, this woman's murder." She added, her voice low and calm, as she slipped the crime scene photo out from the folder, slamming it onto the desk in front of her. "This isn't going to be like last time, so sit down now." She said slowly as she watched Bancroft's facial expression change, before he slid into his seat carefully, "And Richard Castle is not your friend."

"But he is yours."

Beckett felt her anger begin to rise, but she took a deep breath and ignored Bancroft's latest comment, slowly she pulled the chair from behind the desk and sat down. Bancroft wouldn't rile her this time - she wouldn't let him. "This morning a woman was murdered in Central Park, she'd been strangled." She explained, pointing at the photograph in front of him. "She was found with a key card for Swift's Jewellers, the same store your wife worked for before her death."

"The wife you accused me of murdering."

Beckett ignored him again, "Have you met this woman?" She questioned, pointing at the photo again.

"No."

"You've never spoken to her at Swift's? You've never visited the store where your wife worked?"

"No Detective, the memories are simply too painful."

Inside the observation room Castle scoffed, "Too painful." He repeated under his breath, "I'd show him too painful." Once again Bancroft seemed to have all the answers, he'd never given anything away when they were investigating Paulette's murder and it seemed that this time would be no different.

"Talking to yourself again bro?" Esposito questioned as he entered the room, stopping next to Castle and staring in towards Beckett and Bancroft.

"Either myself or one of my many imaginary friends." Castle replied mirthlessly. "Any luck with Lanie?"

Esposito smiled and considered making a joke, but then decided against it, "Yes," he replied, "She wants to see you and Beckett now, she's found something interesting."

Castle groaned inwardly, he then groaned for a second time out loud as he heard Bancroft explain that he had been home all night – he'd been entertaining the woman that they had made him leave in his bed. He watched as Beckett's head turned towards the mirror, she was almost staring right at him, even if she couldn't see him. Castle knew what she was thinking; they were the same thoughts that he was thinking.

So what has Lanie found? Review and you'll find out :)