Author's Note: Apologies for the delay - this site has been acting up pretty badly lately. In case you didn't get the alert for chapter 2, you should probably jump back and read that one first.

Chapter 3

"Hey, guys," Castle offered in greeting.

Beckett lifted her head in time to see Ryan and Esposito approaching her desk, fresh off their early morning canvass and clearly engrossed in an animated debate.

"Hey, anything?" Kate called as they neared.

"A whole lotta nothing," Espo answered, tossing his jacket over the back of his chair as he walked by. "Talked to some of the neighbors but no one seemed to know much about Jenna or Sara. Seems they mostly do their own thing."

"Didn't get the feeling that anyone in the building was particularly talkative. Few people said they'd passed her in the hallway," Ryan elaborated. "Said they'd exchange 'how are yous' in the laundry room, but that's about it."

"According to the super, they've lived there about eight months," Espo added. "Said they always paid rent on time and no one had filed any complaints."

"No one heard anything last night?" Castle questioned.

Esposito shook his head. "One guy recalled hearing a couple guys duking it out on the sidewalk about midnight, but that's before our time of death."

"Huh," Castle mused.

Ryan removed his jacket, draped it over his arm and nodded to the murder board. "What've you guys found?"

"Jenna Mays, twenty four," Beckett began, rolling her chair back and rising to her feet as she spoke. "Biomedical research assistant at Rockefeller University. Not much else at this point except what we know from Sara."

"Anything from Lanie on COD?"

A shake of her head. "Not yet."

"So we have almost nothing to go on," Ryan stated.

"I put in a call for phone records and financials, and unis are tracking down next of kin," Kate rattled off. "But I haven't found much else."

Ryan nodded thoughtfully.

"Bar was closed and we haven't been able to get ahold of the owner, but there's a traffic cam across the street," Espo added. "It's a long shot, but," he shrugged, "footage is on its way."

Kate took a sip of coffee, paused as the liquid slid down her throat. "It's worth a try."

"So," Castle drawled as the boys turned back to the board, collating what little information had appeared while they were away. He perched in front of the murder board, one butt cheek resting against her desk, coffee cradled in both hands. "How do we investigate a murder when we don't even know if she was murdered?"

"What, no wild theories about invisible bullets and secret assassins?" Kate teased.

Castle shrugged. "Guess not."

"Come on bro," Espo called, tossing a smirk over his shoulder as the boys headed off to track down the video footage. "Stolen purse and a mysterious COD? You should be all over that by now."

"I can think of something I'd like to be all over," Castle uttered sexily, low enough for only Beckett to hear.

She narrowed her eyes in disapproval but couldn't completely suppress the flutter in her tummy or the pink that stained her cheeks. Damn him and his ability to make her lose all train of thought.

"Beckett?" called a voice from behind her.

She startled, took a moment to compose herself before turning. "Yeah?" She hoped she sounded more focused and professional than she felt.

"Parents are here."

She sobered instantly, setting aside her coffee mug and pausing to take a deep breath.

"What are we gonna tell them?" Castle asked, standing and following her to the interview room, all traces of teasing gone.

She tossed a glance over her shoulder, lips narrowed grimly. "As much as we know."

"Hey, Lanie."

"Hey," the ME greeted, finished signing her name across the bottom of a medical form before turning her attention to Castle and Kate.

"Anything?"

Lanie stood, crossed the room to retrieve the proper file. "Well, nothing visible to suggest foul play. No bruising, no signs of struggle, but I'm officially putting time of death between two and four a.m.."

"Cause of death?" Kate asked.

"I'm still waiting on lab results," Lanie reminded her. "But in the meantime, I did find something weird during the autopsy."

"Do tell," Castle prompted excitedly.

"Edema," Lanie announced, paused then elaborated. "Fluid accumulation. Particularly around her airways."

"And what does that signify?" Kate inquired.

Well, it's most often seen in people with congestive heart failure," Lanie explained.

"In a twenty-four year old?" Castle interjected.

"That's what I thought."

"Huh."

"Also, her heart was almost empty."

"Empty...as in there wasn't any blood?"

Lanie nodded. "Exactly."

"And what could cause that?" Kate questioned in interest.

"A drastic drop in blood pressure," Lanie answered. "It's most often caused by severe blood loss, though that obviously wasn't the case here."

"Anything else?"

"Off the top of my head? Heart conditions, infections, and extreme cases of dehydration," the ME recited.

"Edema and dehydration?" Castle wondered aloud.

"Not usually concurrent," Lanie agreed.

"Did she have heart problems?" Kate asked.

The ME shrugged and shook her head. "Medical records haven't come in yet. Has anyone you've interviewed said anything about health conditions?"

"Nope. Parents didn't mention anything, but we also didn't ask."

"So it wasn't murder?" Castle asked.

Lanie shook her head. "I don't wanna make the call until the tox screen comes back, but as of right now..."

"Can something else manifest in a similar way?" he asked, grasping for an explanation. Something wasn't lining up here, but it couldn't quite put a finger on it. "Maybe from the alcohol. Or drugs? Could she have OD'd?"

"If she did it'll be in the tox results," Lanie answered.

Kate thanked her friend, turning and heading for the door, but not before catching sight of Lanie's silent demand for girl time. She nodded in understanding, allowed Castle to guide her from the morgue with a hand spanning her lower back.

Girl's night would have to wait. For now, it was time to head back to the precinct.

The elevator dinged, signaling their arrival on the homicide floor, and Ryan was on his feet the moment they stepped out of the elevator. "Anything from Lanie?"

Kate shook her head. "Nothing to suggest foul play. How about traffic cam footage?"

"It's a poor angle on the entrance of the bar, but from what we've seen so far, there's nothing suspicious," Esposito piped up, falling into step next to them.

They reached Kate's desk and she removed her jacket, draping it over the back of her chair before crossing one foot in front of the other and folding her arms across her chest.

"What'd Lanie say?" Ryan asked.

Castle recited the ME's findings while Kate reached for a marker, jotted some new notes on the murder board.

"But it's possible it was murder?" Ryan questioned as Castle finished his recap.

"We don't know yet," Kate answered.

"Phones and financials came in while you guys were out," Espo added, extending a stack of folders to Castle.

She turned her head, glanced at the pages of print over her husband's shoulder. "Anything?"

He shook his head. "No unusual activity."

Kate added this information to the white board, the neat strokes of her penmanship flowing smoothly from one letter to the next, marker squeaking lightly against the glossy surface. "This is looking more and more like it was just a tragic death."

"It can't be," Castle countered. "It just doesn't make sense."

Espo shrugged. "Sometimes people die, bro."

"Yeah, but a twenty four year old who by all accounts was healthy, hard-working, and well-liked?"

"Doesn't make her immortal."

"I know, but something doesn't add up."

"Does anyone else find it odd that her purse was stolen the same night she died?" Ryan interjected, gesturing to the murder board.

"Exactly," Castle spoke up. "If her death was accidental, what happened to her purse?"

"Maybe she lost it," Espo offered.

"And then dropped dead?"

"Maybe someone stole it from her body," Kate suggested.

"So someone just happened upon her dead body on their way up the stairs and decided to take her purse?"

She shrugged. "Wouldn't be the strangest thing that's ever happened."

"But we spoke with almost everyone in the building, and most people said they were asleep around the time of death," Ryan reported.

"Doesn't mean they were telling the truth."

She paused, turned. "Castle, why are you so convinced this was a murder?"

"It just doesn't make sense otherwise."

Kate capped the marker, deposited it on the tray at the base of the board. "Come on," she encouraged. "We won't have anything else from Lanie until tomorrow at the earliest. And let's face it. We really don't have anything to go on. Let's call it a night."

Ryan and Esposito didn't need telling twice, returned to their desks to shut down computers and pack up their things. Kate collected the file folders, crossed the bullpen to store them away for the evening. When she returned, Castle was still surveying the murder board, a look of concerned determination on his face.

"Hey," she called softly, pulling his focus away from the case. "You ready?"

He nodded rapidly, turned. "Yeah, yeah, of course."

She smiled, snagged her jacket and tugged it on. Castle automatically reached out to untuck her hair from her collar, straighten the fabric.

"Thanks," she murmured with a smile, pocketing her phone and keys and grabbing her bag from the floor.

Castle trailed her to the elevator, standing silently with his hands in his pockets as they descended. Kate threw a concerned glance in his direction, received a wan smile in return. He kept up a mindless conversation on the drive home, even managed to crack a few laughs.

But despite it all, Kate couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't quite right.

Thoughts?