Instead of going home, he went to the morgue. He walked in like he was supposed to be there, and found Lanie with a body. "Castle?" she greeted him, if you could really call it a greeting. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"You too? I'm getting a little tired of hearing that today."

"Then maybe you should stop showing up places unexpected."

"I'm assuming you know why Beckett didn't come to work," he said, cutting to the chase. He wasn't feeling patient enough to drag this out, and besides, directness worked well with Lanie.

"I can't guarantee that I'd tell you if I did know, but to be honest I was just as surprised as you," she replied. "I texted her this morning to see if she wanted to meet me for lunch and she told me then."

Castle frowned, not sure whether he should be relieved that Lanie had had some contact with Kate today or concerned because her best friend didn't even know what was going on with her. "She answered you?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't she?"

"I tried calling her earlier and it went straight to voicemail."

"That's odd." Lanie studied some test result she'd printed out, so that Castle wasn't entirely sure whether her comment referred to what he'd said or what she was looking at. She looked up at him. "She probably just doesn't want to be bothered. Beckett gets in these moods sometimes where she doesn't want to talk to anyone. I'm sure you've noticed that."

"Yeah, but in the middle of the week? When she's supposed to be at work? She takes her job way too seriously to be completely unreachable."

"Maybe."

Castle bristled, annoyed by Lanie's nonchalance. Why was he the only one who cared? "Well, what if something happened?" he asked her.

Lanie tilted her head to one side and raised her eyebrows, more than a little patronizing. "Like what?"

"Like she's being held at gunpoint and they took her phone."

"Wow. Beckett's right. You are annoying."

"Helpful comments like that make me feel so much better."

"I'm not trying to make you feel better. And even if I didn't think your little theory was crazy, which it is, what good do think I'm gonna do? I'm an M.E."

Castle considered. She had a point. He wouldn't allow even his imagination, over-active though it might be, go to a place where the expertise of Lanie's career would be useful. What he was hoping would help was the expertise she'd gained from being Beckett's best friend. "So you're siding with Ryan and Esposito? Everything's fine, Kate's just taking a well-deserved day off, and I'm totally overreacting?" Lanie was nothing if not brutally honest, and part of him wanted her to say yes, exactly. She knew Beckett at least as well as he did, and if she could tell him this, he might almost believe it.

She sighed and answered him seriously. "Honestly? I don't know that everything's fine, but you are overreacting."

"Well, I'm ready for your theories."

"I don't know, Castle. I really don't. She seemed just fine when I saw her yesterday, but you're right, it's not like her to miss work."

Finally he felt like they were getting somewhere. "I guess she called Montgomery this morning," he told her, realizing that she probably hadn't heard this. "Said she was taking a personal day. He told me she'd be fine and that everything would be back to normal tomorrow, but he seemed like he knew something."

Lanie frowned. "What's that about?"

Castle nodded. "Right. What would she tell him that she wouldn't tell you, or that I wouldn't be able to figure out?" There was something odd about building theory with Lanie about Beckett, but if it would help him figure out what was going on, he was willing to try anything.

"There's plenty you wouldn't be able to figure out, but what she would tell him and not me I have no idea."

Castle was so preoccupied he chose to ignore the first part of her statement. He hesitated, trying to come up with a story, as he always did, that made everything make sense. But try as he might, he couldn't do it. Usually if he and Beckett were stuck on a case it was because they didn't have enough information, but this was different. It was like he had too much, and he couldn't get it all to line up. Over the last two years, he had made it his mission to study Kate, to understand every nuance of who she was, what she did, and why. He knew he still didn't know everything about her, but he did know a lot of things. Every time he almost had something, he would remember a detail that made the whole thing implausible. It was frustrating to say the least. "I've got nothing," he finally told Lanie.

She shrugged. "Ask her tomorrow. And if you find out before I do, let me know because you've got me curious."

He sighed. Curious. Ask her tomorrow. For a while there he'd thought Lanie was going to be more helpful than Ryan and Esposito had been, but apparently not. "Will you tell me if you find out first?"

She raised an eyebrow. "No."

"Then how can you expect me to do the same?" Castle shot back. It came out closer to a snap than he'd intended. Lanie was obviously trying to help, to some extent, but his patience was waning.

"Come on, Castle. Beckett's my girl. It's possible she'll tell me what's up and ask me not to tell you, and if that happens I'm gonna respect her wishes. If you manage to pry it out of her, she won't care if I know."

Castle rolled his eyes, irritated that Lanie was probably right. "Fine. We'll see." He banged out of the morgue, leaving Lanie shaking her head. But he had no intention of waiting until tomorrow to get his information.

Happy Castle day! :)

To everyone who reviewed the first chapter: thank you so much! I think I managed to reply to almost all of them last night... I was feeling ambitious. I loooove reviews. They totally make my day. And I wanted to let you guys know how much I honestly appreciate it. Unfortunately I can't reply to every single review all the time... it takes awhile... which is why I tend to leave rambling author's notes with my chapter updates. Anyway, thank you again! And I'm glad you seem to like it so far, even if you're frustrated with me for what I described as "a bit of a cliffhanger." Heehe. Admittedly, maybe it was more than a bit of one.

I did promise people that I would update today, and so you have it. Unfortunately it doesn't really help with the whole cliffhanger thing. Heh heh. *sadistic grin* Hope you enjoy it anyway. I had fun writing Lanie.

To those of you trying to guess what Beckett's up to: I appreciate the enthusiasm, and by all means, keep trying, but do you really think I'm going to tell you? Because I'm not. I feel much more powerful leaving you in suspense. Mwahaha. You'll find out soon enough. I guess "soon enough" is a relative term... but it won't be long. :)