Chapter 2: 3XK?

"Hey, so I checked with Missing Persons for our Jane Doe. Turns out our vic either hasn't been missing more than 24 hours or she's from out of state," says Ryan, approaching the Murder Board.

"Yo, so I had unis canvas the area around the apartment for anyone who might have seen or heard anything, I also had them recanvas the building now that people are up," says Esposito, also coming up to the Murder Board.

"Good thinkin', did anything turn up?" Beckett asks.

"Nope, canvas didn't turn up squat. What's our next move?"

Beckett's phone rings and she pulls it out. "Lanie's got somethin' for us." She puts the phone on speaker as she says, "You're on speaker Lanie. What do ya got?"

"I've determined her age to be somewhere between 15 and 17 and cause of death was strangulation," informs Lanie in a rapid fire manner.

"Are we any closer on an ID? DNA or fingerprints?"

"I ran her fingerprints and DNA through the system, nothing popped. I'll let you know if I find anything else. If you get an ID let me know."

"Thanks, Lanie," says Beckett before hanging up. "Will that help any with the Missing Persons list?"

"Not by much, I had the age set between 13 and 25," replies Ryan.

"Well, now what? If our vic is local we won't have anything on Missing Persons until tomorrow at the soonest and I think we need a little more than we've got to run the nationwide list. Without an ID or witness we don't have any leads," says Espo with a sigh.

"Let's look at what we do have rather than what we don't, go over the facts again," reasons Beckett.

"Perhaps we can't find an ID because she doesn't exist, maybe our victim was born into a secret society and killed for knowledge," theorizes Castle, who had been oddly quiet.

"That's highly doubtful, but since I can't think of a better theory, let's stick to what we know," says Beckett with a frown. "Victim is a teen, still in school, possibly from out of state, found strangled on Castle's doorstep, no ID and she had this symbol all over her," Beckett points towards the pictures of the tattoo and necklace.

"Wait, Ryan, I thought you said you recognized it?" Castle pipes up.

"Yeah, it's actually a Celtic Symbol," starts Ryan uneasily. Castle opens his mouth, ready to spout a leprechaun joke at Ryan's expense. "Don't even think about it Castle. As I was saying, it's a Celtic Symbol called the Trinity or Celtic Knot, also known as the Triquetra."

"Does it symbolize anything specific?" Beckett inquires.

"It has different meanings to different people but the most common one I've heard of is that it symbolizes the strength and power of three: three fates, three weird sisters in Macbeth, rule of three in mythology, Father, Son & Holy Spirit, the list goes on and on. So it probably won't help much with an ID until we find out where she's from," explains Ryan, almost reluctantly.

"Perhaps, the triquetra wasn't hers, perhaps it's a calling card of a killer who, drawing on the power, kills in threes," theorizes Castle, not realizing what he's implying.

"That sounds just like..." Beckett trails off.

"Just like Jerry Tyson, 3XK," finishes Ryan, knowing that's what they'd all been thinking. "Pretty, young, blonde, strangulation."

"That's why the triquetra freaked you out so much, bro, you knew it meant three," realizes Espo.

"Esposito put an APB out for Jerry Tyson, get his picture to other stations statewide, but don't make it public, we need to keep this on the down low or we'll spook him," orders Beckett.

"APB's not gonna do squat. It doesn't make any sense either. Why fake his death? Why steal his files? If he's just going to kill a few months later right back here in the city, it doesn't fit," argues Castle.

"What are we supposed to do then Castle?" Esposito retorts angrily. "Last time he went after me and Lanie, before that Ryan. It fits he'd go after you and Beckett next!"

"I don't know! But after all the crap he did last time to disappear showing up this soon doesn't make sense!"

"Doesn't it? They warned us they'd be back and now a dead lady shows up on your doorstep right when everything's good in life: Ryan and Jenny are pregnant, you and Beckett are engaged, it's the perfect time for the other shoe to drop!"

"GUYS!" Beckett hollers.

Ryan, who had been silent for the most part chooses that moment to speak up. "Let's just ID our victim and then we'll decide whether or not to put out the APB. I've got an idea on how we can find our victim so I'm going to talk to Tori, if you want to continue to squabble like little kids feel free." Leaving the others behind him in a shocked silence, Ryan walks into Tori's 'office' of sorts where she had her equipment.

"Hey Detective Ryan, what's with all the racket out there? Castle and Beckett goin' at it again?" Tori greets with a smile that falters upon taking in Ryan's paler than usual face and demeanor. "What's wrong?"

"Hey Tori, it's just this case. We still don't have ID and Espo thinks it's 3XK again, Castle doesn't," responds Ryan tiredly.

"What about you? Must be tough for you, this possibly being 3XK and all," says Tori sympathetically towards the young, tired-looking Irishman.

"I don't know what to think yet, I just want to wait until we have an ID and learn more about our victim. On that note I may have an angle on how to find our victim."

"Just tell me how I can help."

"Pull up a list of all Missing Persons in the U.S.," Tori turns on her monitor and a map of the U.S. appears with red dots all over it. "Now remove all of the men and people under 10." Dots disappear from several places all over the map. "Now remove people over 30." More dots disappear. "Damn. That's still way too many to run," Ryan runs his hands through his hair in frustration and begins pacing.

"How about removing married women?" Tori suggests.

"It's worth a shot," responds Ryan, pausing in his pacing to watch some of the dots disappear. "But not enough." There are still too many dots in too many places. More dots suddenly disappear leaving several relatively large clusters. One in New York, one in California and three others spread about the country. "How'd you get that?"

"I changed the age range to the range Lanie gave us, so 15-17," explains Tori.

"Earlier we had the age set between 13 and 25 and we had way more then than we do now. How'd it change so much?"

"The married women and the other ages we eliminated," says Tori. "Plus I put in a possible timeline."

"Good work Tori, now we can run our vic's face through each of the remaining state's database, with any luck we'll have an ID by tomorrow morning, if not sooner," praises Beckett, appearing in the doorway.

"It was Ryan's idea," admits Tori humbly.

"It was our idea," corrects said Irish detective with a smile.

"Regardless we now have a direction for this case," says Beckett.

They fall into a semi-comfortable silence that Tori breaks. "It's quieter now. I take it Detective Esposito and Castle came to some sort of an agreement."

Beckett sighs before answering the implied question, muttering under her breath about the stubbornness of men. "You could say that. Espo agreed to wait until tomorrow to 'remind' the other precincts to be on the lookout and he promised to remain objective until we have more evidence and at least an ID."

Leaving the computer to do its job Tori, Ryan and Beckett join Castle and Esposito at the bare Murder Board. "Seeing as we have no current leads until the computer finishes my suggestion is we all go home and take the rest of the day off until tomorrow morning. Focusing on the case won't do us any good until tomorrow."

"Sounds like a plan Detective Beckett, shall we?" Castle extends his arm and Beckett links it with her own, together they make their way to the elevator.

Tori also excuses herself and disappears into her office, leaving Ryan and Esposito at the Murder Board alone.

The two partners stand there semi-awkwardly until Esposito breaks the ice. "Look, bro, I'm sorry I overreacted with the whole 3XK thing..."

Ryan glances at him, surprised at his normally stubborn partner's admission. "It's fine. It's difficult for all of us, 3XK escaping again right under our noses and this case but we're cool, bro, it's all good."

They share a smile. "You wanna come over for a quick game of Madden?"

Ryan's smile falters. "Sorry, bro, I would but I should probably get back to Jenny, I think she's pissed about me takin' off this mornin', either that or its hormones. We're still on for tomorrow though if we have time."

Esposito shrugs, understandingly, he can tell from his partners genuinely apologetic tone that he's torn inside. "It's all good, bro. I woulda kicked your ass anyways."

Ryan's smile broadens. "Thanks," a pause. "Hey! Wait a second, what do you mean you would've kicked my ass? I think you've got that backwards."

Smiling the two detectives enter the elevator, it's doors closing on their friendly back and forth banter.

"I have a theory," Beckett says between sips of wine.

"About what? The case?" Castle asks, also sipping a glass of red wine.

"No, not exactly. It's about you, and how you became Mister Master of the Macabre."

"And what's your theory, Detective?" Castle says, as Beckett takes another sip, intrigued.

"When we found the body I said again thinking about The Hamptons, but that was actually the third body that's paid a house call," she pauses for a sip. "One, my place. Two, The Hamptons and three, this case. You're drawn to death obviously, is that because death is drawn to you?"

Castle pauses, the glass halfway to his lips, at a loss for words.

"What's wrong?" Beckett asks, sensing she'd hit something.

Castle shakes his head and has another sip. "Sorry, that just sounds like something Tyson said to me that night in the hotel room. And as for your theory, Detective, that is one mystery you will have to wait to finish for another time. Come on, I'm tired."

Castle stands, his hand outstretched, leaving their empty glasses on the table, Beckett accepts the hand and whispers seductively into the writer's ear. "I hope you're not too tired."

San Francisco

"Shauna? Shauna Devlin?" Leo Wyatt calls out for the fifth time that week, with a sigh he marks Absent by her name and continues down the attendance list.

Later that day Leo picks up the phone on his desk and punches in the number. "Yes, can I speak to Lieutenant Morris please? I'd like to report a missing person."