AN: Sorry for the delay, but I got caught up in some fanfic, namely Chuck vs The Buymore bomber and Chuck vs The grid. So here is the next chapter, hope you will enjoy it.

Struggling

Outside the precinct:

Beckett leans against the wall of the building, taking deep breaths to get herself back under control. She nearly had a breakdown in front of the Captain and Esposito and that would have cost her the lead in the investigation. So she had blurted out that she is going to investigate a lead. 'What a mess,' she thinks, 'now I have to cover for this. And with whom should I talk, who matches that description.' Mulling it over she makes the decision. 'Maybe it will bring some results', is her final ruling. Making a grimace she takes a good look at her shaking right hand and realize that she is in a state of shock. So far she didn't had a break and could go on Adrenaline. Beckett uses her willpower and a couple more cleansing breaths to at least get the shaking to subside. She needs to get active, right away. Or else she has to wait for hours for the case files or the fan mail to arrive.

Little Italy 1am:

As she enters the old and little bar, she knows why Castle like it so much. It has is own charm and the questionable character from some of the guest is part of it. Down the right side in a booth sits the person she wants to talk to. And Castle is one more right, a certain resemblance with Danny DeVito is there. She also spots the bodyguard of him. Playing it save she pulls her badge and starts walking in his directing.

'NYPD, I need to talk with your boss for a couple of seconds', she states matter of fact as she flash it. Without waiting for a response she steps to the booth, 'Mr. Tenor, NYPD, Detective Beckett, I would need your attention for a short time.'

'What does the police wants from me an honest businessman?'

'Mr. Tenor, I wonder if you have any information about the disappearance of Mr. Castle' she continues.

'What, Ricky disappeared? Take a seat and fill me in with more details.'

'He was violent taken from his home this morning, wait last morning and we follow all possible leads.'

'Wait', he interrupts, 'the only case he was involved which leads to me was the hit man, who went after The Rat. And honestly my business partner and me liked the way he solved it.'

Now it is her to fall into his words. 'Why exactly do you liked the outcome?'

'Simple put, you cracked that case so fast after the FBI agent was shot, there was no revenge from the agency against any family. And the guys from middle management and the lower thugs could be incorporated into other families without a problem. And some of them doesn't liked the son of the old boss and are happy that they got this chance to change their employer. And under us two, some capos of the families have their signed copies of "Storm Warning" in a show case, because they believe Castle described them in that particular book', Sal explains.

Quick thinking is a strong point of Beckett, which helped her in a lot of interrogations, so she came up with a daring proposal, 'Why don't you let the word get out why I was visiting you today. You may even drop a hint, that whoever comes up with a lead which brings Castle back will get an important role in his next book.'

Laughing Sal agrees, ' Yeah, that will most likely be an incentive some of them could not pass. They will turn the city upside down to find him.'

'That is fine with me', she murmurs.

Some alley:

It is some dark alley, Beckett realizes, which she is walking down. And somehow it is frightening familiar. No noise is heard, no movement seen. Fear creeps into her heart, it can't be good being here. Then she sees the body on the ground, her stomach tightens. 'No, it can't be Castle' escapes her lips. She covers the last meters in a flash, bends down and turns the body on his back. Castles lifeless eyes bore into her and she starts to sob.

'It is your fault, Kate', the dead body says.

She sits up, covert in sweat, the blanket drown onto the floor. Recovered she remembers, she went home after the conversation with Mr. Tenor and straight in bed. A quick glance at the clock shows it is 5:23 am. Knowing she can't get any more sleep, she heads to the bathroom. Taking a quick shower, gets her rid of the sweat, but not of the bad feeling. Forgoing the make up, she dons her clothes and steps out of her apartment heading to the precinct.

AN: I should not have started with the location as head line as separators inside chapters. The correct one for the last part of the chapter would have been Becketts apartment, but it would have been a dead giveaway. So I had to use the location of the dream as banner.