12:17pm, ~150h:

'What do you mean? I don't wait on any lab results form you or is his body found', Beckett asks with a quiver in her voice.

'Relax, I don't have Castle downstairs. The good news is I have a big lead for your investigation.'

Beckett notice that she has hold her breath starts breathing again, 'So if that is the good news why are the next ones getting worse?'

'I got the results for the bullet used to kill the John Doe, it is the same gun used during the abduction of Castle. The worse part is I can't identify the body.'

'How come so?'

'The fish and crabs had a field day on him, eaten away his face and the flesh on his hands. And the victim seems to be a brawler, nearly all his tooth's are missing, only a couple ones and some roots are left. Yesterday I called Dr. Murray to come and take a look at him. He is downstairs, but as I got the ballistic results I thought it would be best to inform you right away.'

'I will accompany you downstairs and you can fill me in with all the facts you learned so far, but give me a second to get the things rolling up here.' Glancing through the bullpen she sees Esposito standing on the far side of the room at Karpowski's desk. 'ESPOSITO', she yells, softening it with a smile as he looks at her. Beckoning him over to herself, she stands up.

'What can I do for you', Esposito asks as he arrives at the desk.

'You are no longer lead in the John Doe investigation, I take over. Could you inform Captain Montgomery about it, please.' And with that the two women leave a stunned Esposito behind them.

Looking around he sees Ryan with a cup of coffee coming his way, 'Do you know why Beckett wants to be the lead investigator in the floater case?'

'What? I don't anything about it, but after the way she fought for staying on Castle case, my guess is the two cases overlap each other.

12:26 pm, ~150h:

The two women are heading down the corridor towards the morgue and Lanie is filling Beckett into the facts, 'Older male between fifty-five and sixty-five, one GSW to the back of the head as cause of death, with his state of decomposition I would say he is between fourteen and twenty days dead.'

'Why do you believe he his a brawler?'
'He has a lot of older injuries, broken rips, arm, nose and cheekbone all concurrent with getting beaten up.'
'How many matches did you and Esposito have for missing persons?'

'None went missing in the last three weeks matching the data we have for the victim. Nation wide it would be three, but for them it would be a rush job to come to NY.'

The rest of the way the two walk in silence.

They enter the morgue and find Dr. Murray engrossed in a phone call.

'I try to convince them. …. You are right, it is a case calling for you. …. Yeah, as soon they agree I will send you everything. …. I know that you have met him on your book promotion. …. I'll call you back, bye.'

Looking up he realizes that he is no longer alone, 'Detective Beckett, it seems I never meet you under better circumstances.'
'Dr. Murray, that is the burden with our jobs we have to live with that. So can you help us identifying the victim', she replies and steps over to the body on the gurney. 'What happened with his hands?'

'Besides the fish and crabs bite marks, he also had rheumatism combined with articular gout. And I am sorry, I can't help you identify him. But I know someone who possibly is capable of doing it.'

'The person you just talked on the phone with?'
'Indeed, she works at the Jeffersonian Institute in Washington as a forensic anthropologist, specialized in identifying bones. She has identified over 400 dead soldiers from WW II. And she works on cases for the FBI as a consultant.'

'Let's assume I would let her in on this case, when can she be here?'

Grimacing Dr. Murray says, 'That is not the most efficient way, I would send her the body and clothes per express mail and it would be with her this evening. And she can starts with boiling.'

'You just lost me, why should she start with cooking?'

'I never said she starts cooking. She is after all specialized in bones, so she will remove the flesh first and the most common method is boiling.'

Beckett paler than usual turns to Lanie, 'Can you find anything new with the body here?'

'No, I can't.'

'Okay she is in, send the body. When will we have first results?'

Scratching his bold head Dr. Murray answer, 'Tomorrow morning you may get a sketch of how our dead friend here looked like alive. But I can't guaranty that you will get an ID.'

'That is fine with me, as long as I try everything possible I can look into a mirror.'

12:40 pm, ~150h:

Beckett returns to her desk, only to see all the people she needs to inform already gathering around it, namely Captain Montgomery, Esposito, Ryan and Karpowski.

'As you all know I will take over the lead in the floating John Doe case, because it is directly connected with Castle. He was killed with the same gun at least a week before Castle went AWOL. To get an ID for our John, Dr. Murray will send it to a specialist in Washington, we may get a sketch of the dead tomorrow, so with all of this said I propose that we clock out early and come back tomorrow well rested. Because we will show the sketch to all person Castle knows, there has to be a connection between the two.'

Captain Montgomery nods, 'Sounds like a good plan or does anyone have a lead which needs to be checked out?'

All detectives shake their head.

1:50 pm, ~151h:

Beckett takes a deep breath, the last time she went through this door was five days ago fully armed. She raise her hand and knocks. Martha opens the door, 'Hello, Kate. Do you have good news.'

Beckett takes a look in both directions of the corridor, 'I have good and bad news Ms. Rogers, but it would be best we wouldn't discuss them in the corridor.'

'Oh, where are my manners. Come in Kate.'

The two enter the apartment and with a resounding boom the door close behind them.

AN: Crossover? Yeah it would been possibly here, but I already have enough problems keeping track of the characters of Castle alone. But at least I have build the chance to use this in later fanfics :)