A/N1: Hello peoples and WELCOME to the 16th Chapter titled 'Mr Castle We Need to Meet' I

"Summer is in the air boys!" Rick declared one Monday morning in mid June as he entered the bullpen with coffees and bear claw in hand.

"Congratulations, your powers of deduction are devastating," Ryan joked as the Writer strode past his desk towards Kate who was sitting at her own desk and had lit up upon hearing his voice. "When did you figure that out? Can't have been the ninety degree weather outside."

"Ha ha," Rick replied giving Kate her coffee and dropping a chaste and furtive kiss on her lips. "It's the first time in months I've driven all the way to the precinct with the top down on the prancing horse."

"T-hat w-was going to be m-my guess," Kate said with her mouth full of bear claw. "Fanks."

Rick flashed her a wink. "Anytime," he said softly, dropping down at his own desk and switching on his own computer. "Anything new?"

"Nope, just paperwork," Kate revealed, slumping back in her chair. "There's due to be a body though, there hasn't been anything since Friday. Not since we attended that drowning in Central Park."

"There's been nothing in three days?" Rick exclaimed in surprise as his computer beeped to life.

"Nope, none of the teams in the department has had anything," Kate said. "And paperwork is running low, too so it is entirely possible that for the first time in the twelve years I've been on the job there will literally be nothing to do."

"I'm sure we could find something to occupy ourselves in the evidence room," Rick murmured unlocking his desk drawer and in doing so purposely rubbing his foot up the inside of the female detective's calf. "What do you say detective?"

Kate shot the Writer a death glare. "Not now!" she hissed, the very hint of a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. "Behave yourself Writer Boy."

"Oooh Writer Boy, you haven't brought that one out in a while," Rick teased as he unlocked his desk drawer and retrieved half a dozen folders. "I like it."

"Zip it, Cupcake."

"Cupcake?" Rick hissed. "God, not at the precinct. If the Rysposito monster hear that I'll never hear the end of it."

Kate grinned widely. "Then keep your hands to yourself," she countered in amusement. "Got it?"

"Got it."

Kate's early prediction that all the paperwork would be done before another body dropped never eventuated and just before midday her iPhone rang, shrilly.

"Beckett," she answered. "Yup...uh huh, shit, are you sure?...alright...thanks."

Kate hung up and immediately swore so loudly every head in the bullpen snapped in her direction.

"Boss?" Esposito ventured, tentatively.

"The Knick Knack Killer's struck again," Kate explained as she got to her feet.

"Detective?" Gates scolded from her office door as the bullpen lit up with activity. "I assume you have a reason for the language?"

"The Knick Knack Killer's struck again," Kate explained not bothering with the niceties. "This one is in East Meadow Central Park just off ninety-seventh transverse. And according to dispatch, it's a messy one."

Gates swore under her breath before barking orders. "Alright, you, Mr Castle, Esposito and Ryan head out there. Karpowski-you, Stegner and Jacques go with them. Eggerstrom you and your team can set up a base here. I'll contact headquarters. I want all hands on deck with this one!"

"I was starting to wonder when he'd surface again," Rick said to Kate as he pulled on his jacket and followed the female detective towards the elevator. Ryan and Esposito not far behind them.

"God I hope Lanie's the M.E on this one, I haven't got the patience to deal with Perlmutter today," Kate muttered hammering the 'down' button. "Dammit, COME ON!"

Eventually the lift arrived and Kate, Rick, Esposito and Ryan got in travelling down to the bowels of the twelfth precinct where their squad cars were parked.

"This is serious guys, sirens on," Kate called over to Ryan and Esposito as she reached her Crown Vic. "See you there."

"Got it," Esposito answered.

Wordlessly Rick got into the Crown Vic, biting his tongue and not speaking as Kate yanked her seatbelt down and started the engine with a menacing roar.

"What?" she snapped, reversing with a squeal of tires and yanking the vehicle into drive.

"Nothing, I wasn't saying anything," the Writer replied.

"I know, you weren't saying anything very loudly," Kate snapped, flicking the switch for the rarely used sirens and lights. "What is it?"

"Nothing, nothing relevant to the case anyway," Rick replied as Kate raced out of the parking garage the tires squealing. "It was only to do with lunch but that's not relevant now. What did dispatch say?"

"Caucasian male, late fifties to early sixties. Multiple stab wounds, cut throat and severed genitalia," Kate replied. "They didn't say it was the Knick Knack Killer but unless we've got a copycat, it's the same guy, shit!"

"Calm down," Rick said as the traffic ahead parted like the Red Sea. "Getting worked up is not going to help things."

Kate didn't utter a word but her knuckles turning white as she gripped the steering wheel and her creased brow told Rick she was using her all her self control not to snap back at him.

With Ryan and Esposito close behind, Kate raced through the streets of Manhattan, ducking through every available break in traffic every intersection. Her teeth were gritted in determination and her eyebrows were knitted together as the Crown Vic raced along the tires squealing with every corner turned. Rick knew better than to speak but instead he reached across the console and quickly squeezed Kate's thigh.

"I'm fine Rick," she told him, her tone much softer.

"I know."

Moments later they arrived at Ninety-Seventh and transverse. Kate yanked on the handbrake and dropped the clutch and the Crown Vic spun around with a screech from the tires coming to rest in the opposite direction she had been heading.

"A reverse donut?" Rick exclaimed gleefully. "That was awesome!"

"Focus Castle," Kate said firmly as she cut the engine and yanked the keys out of the ignition. "Come on, there's work to be done."

The partners got out of the Crown Vic just as Ryan and Esposito arrived.

"Yo some badass driving there detective," Esposito teased. "Word will spread back at the precinct."

"Yeah because you can't keep your mouth shut," Kate grumbled with the hint of a smile upon her face as Karpowski and her team arrived. "Come on, you and Ryan delegate Karpowski's team. Castle and I will go and see the scene."

"On it."

Esposito and Ryan made their way over to Karpowski, Stegner and Jacques as Kate and Rick made their way up the incline to where the cordon was. Kate flashed her badge at the uniform guarding the tape and the moustached officer waved them under, his lips pursed in distaste. Lanie was standing by the tarp covered body, clipboard in hand and Alexis was with her taking in everything the dark skinned M.E was saying.

"Hey Lanie, what have we got?" Kate asked, pulling on a pair of purple latex gloves as she arrived.

"Caucasian male in his mid fifties, multiple stab wounds to the abdomen and upper torso, severed carotid artery and severed genitals," the M.E recited, crouching down and grasping the edge of the tarpaulin covering the body. "You might want to prepare yourself. This one is a little gross."

"Lanie, I'm a cop, you're a M.E. Don't try and lighten things up," Kate told her friend. "We've both been in the job too long to sugar coat anything."

"Alright, just don't say I didn't warn you."

Lanie flung back the tarpaulin to reveal a blood soaked and mutilated corpse of a mid fifties man. His neck had been badly cut and there was a pool of blood like a halo around his head, making his hair colour unidentifiable. Stab wounds peppered his chest and abdomen like macabre freckles and his genitals were missing the surrounding skin stretched and hacked.

"I might just go and help Aiden," Alexis declared in a nauseated tone as Kate and Rick recoiled and muttered. 'Oh that's gross!' in unison.

"Told ya," Lanie said in a resigned tone.

"C.O.D is obvious. How about a T.O.D?" Rick asked averting his eyes from the corpse and looking over at Alexis who was helping Aiden, one of the morgue attendants prepare a gurney to transport the body.

"Well temperature and lividity indicate maybe between four and eight this morning," Lanie replied. "Of course I'll know more when I get him back to the lab."

"Yo, what's the story?" Esposito asked a moment later as Lanie waved Alexis and Aiden over. A CSU investigator snapped a few more pictures of the body and surrounding areas.

"Caucasian male in his mid fifties, stab wounds to the torso and abdomen, severed carotid artery and his unit is missing," Kate recited. "Lanie reckons T.O.D is between four and eight this morning. Contact dispatch, I want the dog squad out here looking for any clues. This is getting ridiculous Javi. Get Jane and her team to question all these morbid spectators and get more uniform in here too. I want a search of the surrounding areas done, there's got to be a wallet, cell phone or something that belongs to this guy. I wouldn't if I we-"

The Latino detective had listed up the tarpaulin covering the body and immediately recoiled in horror.

"Joder! Eso es repugnante!" (Holy fuck that's revolting!) he exclaimed in Spanish.

"Javi, get onto the dog squad please?" Kate asked more firmly. "And get anyone with any information you think is of any substance to come to Rick and me personally.

"Already on it, Karpowski and her team are already questioning the crowd," Esposito responded smartly as he retrieved his cell phone from his pocket. "I'll call in the dogs and get more uniform in."

"Thank you!"

Esposito jogged back down the incline to his and Ryan's Crown Vic where the Irish detective was speaking to a uniformed Sergeant and indicating to a map of the area that was spread out on the bonnet of the gleaming black vehicle.

"So, what d'you think?" Kate asked as they stepped aside and allowed Lanie, Alexis and the other morgue attendant to wrestle the lumbersome body into a body bag.

"Same as before, perpetrator is a male in his late thirties to mid forties. Repressed homosexual, most likely unemployed with a history of sexual abuse, being a receiver and perpetrator of it," the Writer replied somberly"Though the injuries are the same, the level of violence is escalating this to me indicates someone wanting to be caught. Someone who wants psychiatric help, but can't or won't ask for it."

"Well I'll catch him if it's the last thing I do," Kate muttered. "Come to the CSU van with me? I want to see what they've got so far."

"Lead the way."

Kate team and Karpowski's team stayed at the crime scene til Lanie removed the body and took it to the morgue and liaised with CSU who were combing the immediate area for any skerrick of forensic evidence. The dog squad turned up and half a dozen German shepherds and blood hounds tumbled out of three squad cars. The leader of the group, a short muscular man recognized Kate and made his way over to the female detective with a massive German shepherd at the end of a leather lead.

"Kate?' he inquired.

Kate lit up. "Dan!" she exclaimed, embracing the Detective. "It's been too long!"

"Hey Hard Ass, how's you?" the detective asked.

"Meh, dealing with homicidal maniacs, you know the usual...guff," Kate replied, rolling her eyes at the nickname as the German Shepherd rubbed his massive body up against her legs. "Hey, what's this one called?"

The dog leapt up on his hind legs with a gleeful yap, his long pink tongue lolling out.

"This one is King, he's only a young one...hey geddown you bastard," Danny scolded, giving a sharp yank on the lead. "Sure you don't want a career in the dog squad Kate? We need more chicks."

Kate laughed. "Nah, I'll stick to homicide," she said. "I don't have anywhere to keep a dog of King's size, anyway I'd like to introduce you to my partner, Rick Castle. Rick, this is Detective Dan Boder. He heads up the dog squad."

"Hey, nice to meet you...finally," Danny said to Rick shaking the Writer's hand enthusiastically. "I've heard tons about you through the grapevine."

"I swear no one in the NYPD can keep their mouths shut," Kate muttered, rolling her eyes. "Seriously."

"Nah, just the stuff I've read in the papers and see on the news.' Danny replied with a grin. "Flash mobbing eh? Nice one."

"I wouldn't believe everything you see on the news; more often than not it's a load of shit." Rick informed the male detective

"Fair enough, so KB what's the deal?"

"Our vic is a mid fifties Caucasian male, suffering multiple stab wounds to the abdomen and upper torso," Kate began showing her colleague some of the crime scene photos CSU had emailed to her iPhone. "Our perp had cut off his unit too so we need to if possible, find it We've got a footprint just over there, that I think the perp left so your dogs have a scent to follow. I don't think the perp is in the immediate area anymore but we might get a scent track to more forensic evidence. Our ME said if we can find our vic's junk she might be able to give us more of a lead on the suspect."

"Alright, I'll get on it," Danny said. "C'mon boy, let's go."

"You're not expecting much, are you?" Rick asked intuitively as Dan and King made their way over to the now empty crime scene.

"Honestly no," Kate replied with a sigh, watching King sniff furiously at the shoe print in the dirt. "But it's always worth a try. With the average homicide case I wouldn't bother bringing in the dog squad but our perp is a serial killer and needs to be stopped. I need to bring out all stops, Rick. If this wasn't a serial killer case Gates would have my hide for getting them in."

"But if it were a normal case you wouldn't even consider bringing them in," Rick countered as King headed off in the direction of a scent. "I know you're not into wasting NYPD resources."

"Hmmm."

"So...how do you know Dan?" Rick asked curiously, trying to sound casual. "When did you meet?"

"We met in the aftermath of nine eleven," Kate revealed. "I was supervising a cordon near ground zero when he came in as part of the dog squad, searching for bodies. He had another shepherd, Benny then. Mom, Dad and I had a German Shepherd when I was growing up...Axel and after the days work was done we got talking about the breed."

Rick grinned. "Now I know what to buy you when we get that house in the 'burbs," he said. "We'll go to Westminster one day and hob nob with all the German Shepherd people."

"You want to buy me a dog?" Kate asked in surprise.

"I want to buy you a lot of things," Rick said softly. "But you won't let me."

Kate smiled. "Because I have my own-" she began.

"Money, I know. But you know me. I like to spoil you," Rick said, grasping her wrist and fingering the Trinity Bracelet he had gifted her for her birthday. "Let me every once in a while, huh? I'm a guy and guys like spoiling their women."

"Alright," Kate relented. "Though if I truly let you spoil me I'd have my own Ferrari and would go to work covered in the crown jewels every day."

Rick laughed heartily. "I'm not buying you your own Ferrari," he said in amusement. "If I did that, I would miss out on the joy I get from seeing you drive mine. And even if you did own the Crown Jewels you wouldn't wear them to work."

"You got that right," Kate answered.

"Though I am keen to get you a custom made piece for your navel piercing," Rick continued. "Blue Topaz is your birthstone and I reckon it'd be awesome if every time you took your clothes off I saw a piece I created dangling there."

He added a suggestive eyebrow wiggle

"I think you had an entirely different thing in your mind when you said that, Cupcake," Kate replied dryly, rolling her eyes skyward. "Whenever I take off my clothes, your eyes are far lower than my navel."

"I really have to learn to be less obvious, don't I?" Rick said sheepishly.

"When we're behind closed doors at home you can be as obvious as you like," Kate informed him with a smile. "It's just out on the field I need you to behave yourself. And I have to admit you're getting better and better at it."

"I knew the badass stealth skills I picked up form reading all those Batman comics and watching the old sixties TV series would come in useful one day," Rick relied with a grin. "Imagine if I had gone Special Forces like Espo. I'd be badass on bad-"

"Detective, found something!"

Kate's hair swirled as she snapped her head in the direction of Dan's voice. She took off at run. Rick, Ryan and Esposito followed her over to a thick clump of trees and shrubs where King was keening at a particular spot whining, yelping, shrilly and scratching at the ground. Kate fearlessly plunged into the scrub in the direction King was indicating, branches and twigs snapping under her weight.

"Evidence bags someone!" she called. "Ugh."

Esposito gave Rick two evidence bags and the writer made his way into the shrubbery after Kate. The slim detective stood just ahead of him a look of distaste on her face. At her feet was the unmistakable form of a severed penis and testicles, clearly belonging to the victim.

"Sometimes I hate my job," Kate groaned as she pulled on a fresh pair of latex gloves before crouching down and hastily placing the severed genitalia in an evidence bag. "Ugh...at least 3XK didn't play with his food. Hold this will ya?"

Kate held out the bagged genitals and Rick took them, avoiding looking at the contents of the bag and watching Kate again as she plucked a worn leather wallet caught in nearby foliage and put it in another evidence bag.

"Got something?" Esposito asked in interest as he and Ryan pushed aside the foliage as to allow Kate and Rick and easier exit from the shrubbery.

"Yeah, a wallet and our vic's junk," Kate replied as she and Rick held up the two bags.

"Oh foul," Ryan muttered. "It's perps like this that make me wish I had stayed in Narc."

"Thanks a lot Dan," Kate told the dog squad detective as he enthusiastically praised his charge and rewarded him with a rope toy. "Without your help we might've lost some really important evidence."

"No problemo KB, happy to help. Let me know if you change your mind about joining the dog squad, eh?"

Kate rolled her eyes. "I'm sticking to homicide,' she said dryly. 'Though when you retire King, I'll be more than happy to take him off your hands."

"Ha ha not happnin' chickadee," Dan replied with a chuckle. "He's already got a spot in the Boder household, he's-"

The radio on the detective's hip suddenly cracked to life. "Dan This is 32451 at the east end of ninety seventh and transverse by the overpass, we've got some evidence here Detective Beckett's gonna be interested in." The male voice announced, cutting Danny off mid sentence.

"Tell them to cordon off the area, immediately," Kate told Dan authoritatively. 'No one gets near that evidence, got it?"

"Got it. Listen 32415..."

Kate took off running and the boys followed.

The four colleagues ducked under the cordon tape and pushed through the few remaining gawkers before running down the walking path til they came to a patch of greenery just over 97th and transverse. Two dog squad detectives each accompanied by two Bloodhounds stood guard over the patch of greenery where a black denim jacket had been carelessly thrown.

"Detective Beckett?" The elder of the pairing inquired, holding out a hand while expertly restraining his dog with the other. "Detective John Miller dog squad, we've just found this jacket. Reckon it might come from your perp. Bentley got a really good track on it."

"I seriously love dogs!" Kate declared, briefly shaking Detective Miller's hand and scratching 'Bentley's' ears before donning a fresh pair of latex gloves. "Got an evidence bag big enough Espo? This needs to get to CSU."

"Nope, you're going to have to get one at the van," the Latino detective said apologetically as Kate stepped into the shrubbery and retrieved the now obviously bloodstained jacket.

Bentley the Bloodhouse lit up as Kate lifted the jacket out of the shrubbery and let out a shrill yap.

"I owe you a porterhouse," she told the dog. "Thanks a lot Detective, anything else?"

"Nope, I think your perp got a ride from someone or legged it over the fence and down onto the road, the scent trail ends here."

Kate who had momentarily lit up deflated with a sigh. "Dammit," she grumbled. "Well a bloody jacket is better than nothing, thanks a lot anyway. If you find anything else let CSU know, got it?"

"Got it."

"Well a bloody jacket is better than nothing," Rick said as the team began heading back to the CSU van. "Perp or vics blood, d'you think?"

"Going by the amount I'm guessing the perp's," Kate replied, holding out the jacket between her index finger and thumb. "It's too small to be our vic's and the placement of the blood spatter indicates whoever was wearing this was facing our vic when he expired."

"It's our best lead yet Boss, with that amount of blood the crime lab will pull a DNA profile for us to work on," Esposito assured his preoccupied colleague. "Don't sweat it."

"Knowing out previous luck, nothing will come up," Kate complained as they made their way down the walking path. "The fingerprints we got with the first case hasn't yielded anything yet."

"Here's Detective Pessimistic speaking," Rick said. "What happened to you optimistic outlook?"

"Eh, sometimes working in Homicide turns you pessimistic," Kate confessed with a shrug. "Or it could just be this son of a bitch getting to me. It's the only active case on our books now and I want to nail this bastard."

"Well he's probably just given us as good a lead as a personal invitation to his apartment," Ryan piped up. "Something will come of the jacket. It was worth calling in the dog squad you know it was."

"Hmm."

"Okay even I'll admit even Gates would tell you to cheer up," Rick told Kate as they arrived back at the bustling CSU van. "You know she would."

"I suppose."

Kate turned the jacket over to CSU with strict instructions for the DNA test results to be rung though to her directly then made her way back to the Crown Vic which was still surrounded by the rubber skid marks arcing out from under the rear tyres.

"God, maintenance is going to kill me for that," Kate admitted sheepishly as she crouched to inspect the sleek black vehicle's rear tyres. "They're a brand new set of tyres and I can see how much I've taken off."

"They're still legal though," Rick reassured her as he crouched to inspect the tread grooves. "If maintenance or Gates kick up a stink, I'll buy the Crown Vic a new set of tyres."

"You d-don't have to do that!" Kate exclaimed. "I was the one in the driver's seat, not you."

"Yeah, well if I was in the drivers seat we'd be down to the rims," Rick confessed sheepishly. "On the day I bought the Prancing Horse I put a new set of custom made tyres on them and did so many doughies on them they exploded one by one and the weight of the car crushed the rims. I had to call a tow truck and get the car taken back to the Ferrari garage for be fixed up. And someone called the cops because they thought the tyres exploding was a gun fight and I was arrested for driving dangerously."

Kate roared with laughter. "H-how many s-squad c-cars t-turned up?" she guffawed.

"Four."

Kate laughed so hard her slim face turned bright red. "That's HILARIOUS!" she shrieked. 'Ahahahahahaha! How long ago was that?"

"Seven years ago," Rick revealed with a reminiscent grin. "Around the time Storm's Last Stand was about to go on sale and Gina and I separated. I spent the night in the lock up because Mother refused to pay my bail, paid a fortune in fines and promised when it went to court to make a massive donation to a local driver safety program. The judge was satisfied with that and no conviction was recorded."

"You're a rebel without a cause, Cupcake," Kate teased. "I can't believe you exploded four custom made tires on a Ferrari of all vehicles! I can understand doing it in a bomb but a Ferrari? Not even I would do that."

"Yet you did half a donut in a squad car," Rick countered. "Oh come on, you would so put the Ferrari into a donut."

"I would not," Kate insisted. "Clearly I have more respect for that car than you do. I seriously cannot believe you did that. I've been to car rallies where stunt drivers put their cars into such hard donuts they blow tyres but never have they done all four."

"Right, that's it. I'm going to buy you an old bomb and take you to a parking lot in the middle of nowhere and challenge you to blow all four tyres in a donut," Rick challenged as Kate made her way around to the driver's side door and unlocked it. "I want to see Kate Beckett, hot car chick. If you can blow up four car tyres I will be your slave for a whole week." He added as he slid into the passenger side door and shut the door with a thunk.

Kate grinned. "Oh reaaaaally?" she exclaimed, drawing out the last word with a purr. "And what sort of slave would you be, Writer Man?"

Rick jumped and let out a little yelp of surprise as the female detective grabbed his crotch and brushed her lips against the apex of his ear.

"I think you know," he managed to choke out. "Really Kate really? At a crime scene?"

"We're heading back to the precinct now and I have plenty of time to grope you considering I'll be keeping to the speed limit." Kate revealed with a saucy grin and a wink.

Rick squeezed his eyes and groaned softly as Kate cheekily unzipped his fly and massaged his junk.

"Katherine Louise Beckett, you're going to kill me one day. I swear," he muttered as her hand found its way into his boxers. "Don't you think you ought to start the engine and start driving? I can see Ryan and Esposito at the CSU truck from here, looking at us. If we stay stationary much longer they're going to guess we're getting frisky and give us hell about it back at the precinct."

Kate made a face. "You're no fun," she said petulantly, giving him a final squeeze then starting the ignition. "But it's lunchtime now, do you want to head back to my place for a bit? I live closer to the precinct than you do."

The Writer lit up. "Can we get up to other activities while we're there?" he asked hopefully.

"Oh what do you think?"

After spending a frisky hour an a half at Kate's apartment (during which time they totally forgot to eat anything) Kate and Rick returned to the twelfth precinct. The bullpen was alive with activity and Ryan and Esposito were in front of the murder board that was covered in crime scene photos and many notes written in Esposito's neat print.

"Wow you've gathered a lot," Kate said as she removed her jacket and slung it on the back of her chair. "Any early reports from CSU or another find from the dog squad?"

"Nope, the only items the dog squad found at the scene were the jacket, wallet and the victims junk when you and Castle were there at the time," Esposito responded circling the photos of the three items. "Gates has demanded the crime lab make this case a top priority, so fingers crossed we'll get the earliest test results back by tonight. All we can do for the time being is sit and theorize."

"Good job guys."

"Hey, what's this I hear about you dropping a donut at the crime scene?" Jane Karpowski asked Kate as she approached the murder board and gave Esposito a folder. "Esposito said-"

"Esposito is full of crap," Kate muttered, blushing a magnificent shade of scarlet as she dropped down in her chair and turned her computer back on. "I did not drop a donut at the crime scene."

"She's right, it wasn't a donut," Rick piped up with a grin. "It was half a donut. Left skid marks thirty feet long on the road and took half an inch of tread off a brand new set of tyres."

"Oh Castle!" Kate exclaimed as Ryan and Esposito burst out laughing. "Thanks a lot!"

"Any time partner," Rick replied cockily. "And you know Jane said to me during lunch she wants to go back with a can of spray paint and graffiti 'Kate woz 'ere' followed by her badge number."

"OH YOU LIE!" Kate shrilled as Ryan, Esposito and Karpowski roared with laughter. "Richard Edgar Castle liar, liar pants on fire!"

"If we weren't here he wouldn't be wearing any pants to be on fire," Karpowski muttered as Esposito began affixing more crime scene photos to the murder board. "Don't think we don't know what you two got up to during lunch. You two couldn't be inconspicuous to save yourselves."

That comment unfortunately was heard by every detective in the bullpen and every one of the sworn in officers, howled with laughter. Ryan dropped the files he was holding, smudging a whole column of notes on the murder board and Esposito was bent over double, laughing so hard his brown skin turned a magnificent shade of scarlet. The noise attracted Gates who stood in the main door of the bullpen her hands on her hips.

"And what's so funny?" she enquired primly, a perfectly sculpted eyebrow arching in question.

Their bosses question immediately silenced the guffawing group.

"N-nothing, S-sir. Ab-absolu-tely n-nothing," Karpowski sniggered.

"Castle was just saying he longs for a world where a chicken crossing the road no longer has its motive's questioned, Sir," Ryan told his boss with a grin. "It was rather interesting. You ought to hear his theories sometimes. It's certainly stopped me wondering why a chicken would want to cross the road."

Gates rolled her eyes dramatically as her detectives erupted in a fresh fit of giggles.

"I'm sure that's exactly what was said, Detective Ryan," she said dryly. "How about we leave the poultry talk to after the end of shift and get back to finding the sadist who did this, huh?"

"Yes Sir!"

"You three up for a brew?" Rick asked Kate, Ryan and Esposito, once the other detectives had dispersed. "Of the caffeine variety?"

"Sure bro, the usual." Esposito said gratefully.

"Same," Kate and Ryan chorused.

"Coming up."

Rick got up and left the bustling bullpen making his way into the break room where he began making coffee. He had just finished making Esposito's usual grand full fat hazelnut latte when his iPhone rang, shrilly. Whistling a formless tune he retrieved the buzzing device from his pocket and answered it with a flourish.

"Castle!"

A deep and familiar voice filtered down the line.

"Me Castle we need to meet."

A/N2: Whoooooo a mysterious ending! Who do you think called Castle? Remember reviews mean you love me!...lol