If Richard Castle was good at any one thing in his life, it was the fact he could read anyone. The ordinary people that he met on the street or business contacts, he could read their facial features and could tell what they were thinking. It gave him an advantage having information like this. With people that he was involved with on a more personal level, well he could read that and so much more. He observed their facial looks and body movements and small nuances, tells if you will. This was especially very helpful at times when he caught Alexis being not so truthful with him about a boy she liked. Yes, she was mature about it, and she wanted to pull one over on him but when she wanted to see him one night for a movie, she used the excuse of going to Paige's house to study he could tell by the way her voice changed, her eyes darted all over the room not looking directly at him, and her body was screaming that she wanted to be anywhere but in the room with him. Eventually, she broke down and told him the truth. He pulled her into a hug and told her as long as he met this new boy in her life, he was fine with her seeing him.

His ability could also be a curse. He hated the fact that he knew what other people were thinking about doing, even before they did. Since he had become Kate Beckett's unpaid tag along and unofficial partner, she was hard to read at first. But since spending just about the last three years with her, he was able to read her better than anyone ever could…. even herself. He knew when she was sad, happy, pissed off, and when she was showing off her softer side towards him, even if they were far and few between. Of course, she'd deny this was the truth, the furthest from it. He guessed that she had kept her feelings close to the vest and walled off her heart emotionally.

As he and Roy talked at Mike Royce's crime scene just a few yards from them, they both turned when her car pulled up. Even before she got out of the car, Rick knew that she was invested in his death on another level. She walked up to them and said,

"Where is he?"

Rick knew at that moment without a doubt that Kate was or is still in love with Mike Royce. She might deny it, but when he looked at her it was written all over her face. When she noticed that he was reading her, she dropped her head donning her detective face almost immediately. Hiding her feelings away from him. Kate had two levels for Rick to read her by. Her first one was strictly about the job. For him when they were assigned a case they were in sync and he could read her so well. Though when it came to an emotional connection to something personal, well then he could really tell what she was thinking. Being able to read her on this level had taken him about two years. What he witnessed as she walked by was something that he was going to regret in the coming days. They watched as she knelt down and brushed his forehead lovingly and then she took note of the crime scene. When she was done Lanie gave her the rundown on how she thought Royce had died and that he left something for her and she handed it to her. Rising up she gave him one last look and turned away from him for the last time.

Rick knew that she was going to catch the son of a bitch that murdered Royce. He thought instead of fighting her, he would help her in any way he could. The one thing he wouldn't do was let her far from his sight. She walked past them without saying a word got in her car and left the crime scene. Rick just looked at Roy and he shrugged his shoulders.

"Come on Castle, I'll give you a ride back to the 12th."

As they drove back Rick had a nagging feeling that she was going to do something that would get her hurt or much worse. He only hoped that she was at the 12th when they got there. When Kate arrived back to the 12th, she asked what Ryan and Esposito had found out. They told her that they tracked down traffic cam footage and found out that their suspect was a Russell Ganz. Since Kate arrived back to the precinct before Castle, she did a quick search on Ganz and found out that he was responsible for a couple of petty crimes when he was younger and for about the last 6 years he had a spotless record. She wrote down his last known address, taken her jacket off the back of the chair, picked up her purse and walked out. When she got home she searched for flights to LA and found one that left at 6:35 am in the morning. She had about 9 hours to get ready for her trip. She was in full huntress mode now and nothing would stand in her way.

Xx

Donald Mannis was more than methodical when it came to finding out about a target. He sat in his car across from the NYPD's 12th precinct. He had observed the long-legged detective with the brunette hair at the crime scene and followed her. What he found out in a short amount of time from watching her was that she was ruthless in her pursuit of piecing together the clues and any other evidence that got her closer to finding out who killed the ex-cop. She was only at the precinct for about 15 minutes and when she left, so did he. He followed her to what he thought was her apartment. So, he waited. And in the time he waited, since she was most likely going to go to sleep, he called a contact here in New York that would guarantee a location for one Violet Young within two hours. Keeping an eye on the window of her apartment he watched as the last light went out. Just as it had, his cell phone rang. When he connected the call, he said nothing. He just listened to the information that was being relayed to him. When the caller hung up he put his phone away, started the car and drove to Brooklyn. Arriving at the address he was given he parked about a block away and got out on foot. He walked up to the front of the property at 871 55th street and just observed as he slowly walked around the front of the house. It was late and he'd use the darkness to his advantage. Sleeping people sometimes forgot to think that this world was still a safe place to live in. He checked the side windows and having no luck he went around the rear of the house. As he looked up at the first-floor window he found what he was looking for. It was extremely warm tonight and the portable fan wedged in the window could easily be overlooked by any homeowner as being safely secured. It wasen't. He slipped on a pair of gloves and pushed the window up with one hand while holding the fan from falling to the floor with the other. Placing it on the floor he climbed in through the open window. Letting his eyes adjust to the darkness he moved through the hallway. Seeing that all was quiet he carefully climbed the stairs to the second floor. There were three bedrooms and one bathroom. Checking the first two he found them empty. Removing his Sig P320 from his shoulder holster, he screws on a silencer and pushes the door open. His target is there on the bed sound asleep. He walks up and notices that she is not alone. What he sees tells him that she knows her bedmate. Maybe even intimately. Whatever it is he doesn't care. He'll just eliminate them both. Knowing that he could have an issue if he takes her out first, her mate might wake up if he hears the gunshot, so he decides to eliminate him first. Walking over to the other side of the bed, he positions himself for two quick head shots. Taking aim at the male he puts a bullet right in the center of his head. Quickly after that he does the same with Violet. Her body spasms after the shot, but that swiftly subsides. He holsters his weapon after removing the silencer. Removing his smartphone from his pocket he takes a picture of Violet, now dead and attaches it to a text and sends it to Ganz fulfilling his promise from earlier.

30 seconds later Ganz replies and tells him to clear out and catch the next flight back to LA. Yeah he'll do that and he will also tell him about a possible addition to the team in the form of one detective Beckett. Because from what he's seen she will be one hell of an adversary.