Author's note: On we go. I hope you like it cause I kinda do =) I'm looking forward to see where the story is going cause it's kinda funny. I write and then suddenly something is there that I didn't plan, but it just works and I love it.

Enjoy and review ;D

(Edit: I thought I had changed all the names that had been erased..For some reason doesn't like me writing Mr . Downing (without the spaces -.-) I changed it now, it should make more sense xD)

Chapter 3

Still shocked about Lanie's findings, Castle and Beckett entered the building to Mr Downing's apartment. Beckett flashed her badge at the doorman, telling him they were here to see Mr Downing. He nodded and they were allowed to walk through. On the elevator ride up, the detective composed herself, became her professional self again that had now to tell a father that his son was dead. The son that had been thought to be lost if not dead already. The son that he had worried about for the past six years, the son who had actually still been alive but had now been found dead only a couple of streets away.

Beckett knocked on the door, knowing the doorman had probably called up already and Frederick Downing must be waiting. Her thoughts were confirmed when the man opened his door with a slightly confused but not very surprised look on his face.

"Detective Kate Beckett," she introduced herself and was about to introduce Castle as well, when Frederick spotted him himself.

"Richard Castle?" he asked even more confused than before.

"The one and only," Castle shrugged, knowing the other man did not speak to the writer but to the father of his daughter's classmate.

"Long time no see, Mr Downing."

Mr Downing nodded and with a wave of his hand asked them inside his apartment. It was richly furnished but it didn't look jammed. The open spaced living room was delicate in white and Beckett was fairly certain that nothing in here had changed very much since Mr and Mrs Downing had gotten divorced. She could still see the female's touch in everything. The big painting that hung above the fireplace was a replica of Caspar David Friedrich's "Morning" and in so many ways it didn't fit into the picture of this home so that Beckett wondered how long this painting had been here. She guessed it was put there a few years after Matty's disappearing. It seemed like the painting mirrored a lot of the emotions that must have come up after this dramatic experience.

"Please, take a seat." Mr Downing's voice took her back to reality and she saw him pointing at the couch in front of her.

"Thank you," she said as she and Castle sat down and before she could say anything Mr Downing asked: "You're from the police? Did something happen to my daughter?"

Beckett shook her head.

"No, it's not about your daughter, it's…about your son," she explained a little hesitantly.

Mr Downing's eyes darted from Detective Beckett to Castle and back and neither of them was certain of what they could see in his eyes. Was it surprise, relieve, fear?

It was essentially all of that and pretty much in this order. First surprise because had never thought he'd hear anything about his son again, and then relieve over the fact that now he had and then fear. He had now finally remembered why Richard Castle was here. He had just realised that the writer was shadowing a homicide detective, the one who now sat opposite himself. His eyes now rested on said detective.

"You're homicide…right?" he asked, not able to keep his voice from shaking.

"Did he…did you…?"

He could not bring himself to finish the question as the answer was written all over the faces of Detective Beckett and Richard Castle.

Mr Downing took a deep breath, clasping his hands together to keep them from shaking.

"I'm…We're very sorry, Sir. We found your son this morning," Beckett started and before she could go on he asked: "How? I mean…"

Again he couldn't go on, the realization that it was over now, that they had finally found Matthew after all these years and still in New York…It was too much.

"He was…beaten to death," Kate explained, knowing that the truth sounded terrible but that it was for the best. Especially when she thought about the fact that she had even worse news.

"Beaten? No…I mean…how…how can you tell it's my Matthew?"

Castle and Beckett exchanged a look both realising that Mr Dowing had not yet grasped the full meaning of their coming here. He thought they had found Matthew's remains, decomposed and beyond recognition or something of that kind.

"Uhm…. We…assume that, when your son went missing six years ago, he was kidnapped."
"Yeah, I know. But we never got a ransom call…just the statement…"

"We're working on that…What I want to say is that…Matthew was alive until last night."

Frederick Downing went from his sad, relieved, surprised, scared emotional state to completely speechless. All colour drained from his face and he sat there, ashen and shocked. He slowly put his head in his hands, shaking it all the while and silently saying "No, no, no" over and over again.

He could not believe what he'd just heard. How was that possible? How could Matthew have been alive all these years but not with them? How was it possible that they had never heard a word from him? He had so many questions in his mind and no idea where to start and what to do.

"Mr Downing? Frederick?" Castle asked, speaking for the first time since they had entered the apartment. He and Mr Downing really never had much to do with each other even if their daughters were the same age and went to the same school. At this very moment though, Castle, as a father and a writer, could vividly imagine what was going on in Mr Downing's head. He must be devastated. And this was why Castle thought calling him by his first name might help, might give some kind of comfort.

And it did. At least it made Mr Downing look up.

"I know this is hard and we are very sorry for your loss," Castle spoke and looked over to Beckett.

Again Mr Downing nodded.

"You know, it's weird. For the past six years I assumed my son was dead and it hurt. It hurt a lot. My wife left me, took my daughter with her as well, I struggled to keep the business up but nothing prepared me for this…I know that deep down I always thought Matty was still alive. But knowing that he really was and that I lost him again now, it makes it even harder."

Beckett and Castle listened, surprised at how open the man in front of them was. Then again, he lost again what he loved and had thought lost before, he had nothing else to lose now.

"May I ask you a question?" Castle inquired and after Frederick nodded went on: "Back when Matty went missing…You must have thought of why someone would take him from you."

Again nodded.

"Of course. There was nothing else I asked myself back then. And still do. But I can't come up with an answer. Matty was such a kind and sweet boy. He made friends easily. Maybe that was what made me lose him. He trusted so quickly and without thinking. We always told him to be careful, to not go with anyone he didn't know but it seems like he did anyway."

He sat in silence for a moment, staring at some point on the wall, reminiscing the days when his son's laughter had filled the apartment. When he looked away, he smiled lightly but sadly at Beckett.

"There was no reason to take him away from us. That's why my wife gave up hope of finding him sooner than I did. It's what made us break up."

Beckett gave an empathetic nod just as they could hear the door to the apartment opening up. All three turned their heads to see who was coming. Castle and Beckett had not thought that Mr Downing was not living alone but when Beckett let her gaze roam around the place again she could see the hints. The living room may not have changed since Mrs Downing had moved out but the touch of a female hand was still visible. And Beckett remembered the open kitchen and dining room down the hallway and how tidy that had looked, the table decorated with flowers and all.

"Dad?" a girl's voice rang through the place and Mr Downing was startled. He hadn't assumed Nicole would be home so soon but when he looked at the clock it was already later than he'd thought.

"In the living room," he answered and soon enough a slender girl peeked around the corner. Castle had not seen her in years he was certain and even if he had he probably wouldn't have known her. He remembered her with long soft brown hair and a healthy tan. She now wore it in dreadlocks and in a ponytail. Her left eyebrow and lower lip were pierced and Castle could see she played with the lip piercing as she looked at Beckett and Castle.

"Hey Mr Castle," she greeted with a light surprise in her tone but remembering him nonetheless. "Hey Nicole," he said with a small smile as Nicole nodded towards Beckett. "What's up dad?" she asked and stepped into the room.

Castle had expected to see her barefoot but remembered that that would be too cold for anyone right now. He quickly scanned the girl that he had known so long ago, realising that, unlike Alexis, she had changed a lot. Of course his daughter had grown and become more mature – if that was even possible in her case – but Alexis had never had a complete makeover if one didn't count the one time she had wanted to join the cheerios and had been walking around in their costume. Nicole on the other hand, who in fact used to be in the cheerleading squad, had had a complete change of heart. She wore olive green loose trousers and a brown T-shirt with a yellow tree printed on it and a rainbow coloured woollen cardigan on top of it. The wooden necklaces completed her hippie outfit and Castle had to hide a smile as he tried to imagine Alexis wearing all that.

"Nicole, this is Detective Beckett," her father introduced the girl and shook Castle out of his thoughts. "Detective Beckett, this is my daughter Nicole."

They both nodded again as Nicole sat down next to her father and Beckett looked at the two of them.
Mr Downing saw the confusion on the detective's face and smiled slightly.

"Excuse me Detective," he began, "My daughter only recently came back to live with me, I sometimes forget that it's constant."

Beckett sensed that there was a story behind all that but also sensed that she would not hear it right now.

"Dad, what's going on?" the girl finally asked and her father looked at her with a stern but still sad expression on his face. The colour had returned to his face a little and he now took his daughters hand.

"They're here about Matty. They…they found him today. He's…dead," he whispered because his voice was not capable of anything else and he squeezed his daughter's hand as she looked at her father first, then at Castle and finally rested her gaze on Beckett as her eyes asked the question her mouth couldn't ask. Beckett nodded and Nicole let out a silent sigh.

"We knew that already…it's just a confirmation now…right?"

This time no one nodded and as it slowly began to dawn on the young woman she withdrew her hand and just like her father before, lost all colour. "He…he was alive?" she stuttered in disbelieve and saw the adults exchange quick looks.

"Something is odd here," Beckett claimed once they were in the elevator again. She and Castle only had to exchange a brief look, once Nicole grasped the meaning of their coming, to know it was time to leave. They of course had had more questions but with the young lady there, Mr Downing had first to explain to her what had happened and they needed some time to themselves, so Castle and Beckett had given them their condolences again and left.

Castle nodded now.

"I thought Carrie Downing had custody," he thought aloud and looked over to see Beckett frown. He could almost see how her brain was working, trying to figure something out. She didn't seem to realise that he was watching her, so he just waited and fair enough, as if she'd felt his eyes on her, she looked at him again.

"Sorry," she apologized with a slight shake of her head. "And yeah, she does. At least that's what Ryan said."

Beckett took out the phone and dialled Ryan's number.

"Ryan, did you two find anything useful yet?" she asked as soon as Ryan answered the phone.

"No. We can debrief you once your back but we haven't found anything that could be relevant to the murder case yet. There's so little information it's hard to believe. There were a few suspects back then, some people who hung around in the park and seemed suspicious but they all cleared so no one looked into them any further," Beckett heard Ryan's answer. She'd forgotten to put the phone on speaker so Castle was once again leaning closer, holding his ear to her phone and Kate felt something like an electric shiver going through her body. Maybe she forgot the speaker on purpose…

"Well okay, dig deeper and see if you can find something on the suspects from back then. Who knows, maybe they did something stupid in the meantime that could help us. Castle and I are off to Mrs Downing. Which reminds me, you did say that Carrie Downing had custody, didn't you?"

"Yes. Why?"

She didn't answer that and instead asked another question: "Has anything else turned up on that matter?"

"No. Again, why?"

"I'll tell you when we're back. Tell Gates where we are in case she asks!"

She hung up and looked at Castle who hadn't drawn away yet. The closeness let her cheeks blush a little and the almost hidden smile on Castle's face let her know he saw it. That made her blush even more and she had to catch her breath as she quickly turned away.

Beckett was glad when they stepped out and she was free to breathe again. Castle was still smiling or much more smirking.

Last summer, after Beckett had told him that she didn't remember his confession of love he had been devastated. He had laid his heart open for nothing and when she didn't call him for three months it made it worse. But very slowly he had noticed how Beckett started to change. It was rather subtle but it was there. She was opening up a little more and he enjoyed it. His feelings had not changed, if anything they had grown stronger. It didn't matter that she didn't know or that she didn't return the feeling but he had started to doubt that. Things like what just happened in the elevator were relatively frequent nowadays. He caught her blushing more often when she was looking at him, or averting her gaze when he sensed her eyes on him. He tried not to react to it all too often, he wanted to give her the space she needed but sometimes he just couldn't help it. Like now.

"Why in such a hurry, Detective?" he teased as she was almost running. She heard him, stopped and turned around with a scolding look on her face.

"Because I have a job to do. Would you hurry up now!"

He chuckled, caught up with her and let it go which she was glad for. She hated how well he knew her and how easily he seemed to read her. No, she actually didn't hate it but she never knew what to do when he did it.

Together they exited the building and once more got into the crown vic.

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