AN: I started to write this chapter and thought, opps didn't check out real world, so I most likely messed up the tides. If actual tides were different I am sorry, but I'm stuck with it now.

I hope that I don't jump to much to different locations, but it seems the best way to keep all parties involved.

02 April 2011, 09:07am:

He drives along the beach as a man steps in front of his car. He hits the breaks and blows the signal horn of his car. Fortunately he comes to a stop mere inches away from him. And the guy is looking exactly the same way at him like the deer he hit last year. Leaning out of his window he yells, 'Damn it, watch where you are going, you stupid asshole. You want to die or what? Then buy yourself a nice piece of rope, idiot.'

Then he sees the police officer stepping on the street, so he swallows the best curse words he saved up for the end down. He relaxes as he sees the police officer pulling the man of the street. 'Great, put the drunk bastard into jail.'

His adrenaline rush already fading and his hands starts to shake he takes off with a last 'Freaking drunks'.

02 April 2011, 09:10am:

'Mr. Castle, are you okay', the officer asks him.

He stammers his answer, 'Y-y-yeah, I'm .. fine, ssseems I was somewhere else with my head.'
'These crime scenes can have this effect. Do you want me to call a cab for you?'

'No Eddy, I will walk, only have to pay attention to where I'm walking. Take care, Eddy.'

'You, too Mr. Castle.' The officer observes him walk away along the beach, not sure if he should have insisted more on calling him a cab. Strolling back to his partner he shrugs his shoulders and says, 'He is old enough, if he wants to walk, he walks.'

02 April 2011, 09:40am:

Beckett and Crawford stare at the point, which was their crime scene one hour ago. It is now flooded by the tide. 'Did you got everything', Beckett asks Perlmutter.

He waggles with his head. 'We will never know what we lost', is his answer. 'But without Castle pointing out that the tide is coming, we maybe would have lost more evidence. And the peak will be here in three hours, roughly one foot more.'

'Even in his condition he checked the tides with an app on his cellphone. I'm impressed.'

'He didn't checked anything, he simply took a look and told it to me.'

'Mh, but let us get back to the case. What are your preliminary findings?'

'The victim is between 8 and 12 years old, well feed and good teeth. Clothing would put him into the better society. At the moment I would put time of death between 6 and 7am, and the cause is a slashed throat, he has also two cuts on his back, one like a L and a the other cut is a reversed L, so on first glance it looked like a T and he has a diagonal cut on his chest. And what I have seen so far, these cuts were antemortem made.'

'What sick person could do that? Are there any defensive wounds', Crawford picks up, after all of them were silent for a while.

'No, there aren't and no indicators for him being bound either. I will have the tox-screen as soon as possible.' Perlmutter leaves the two women and marches to his van, dreading what he has to do in the morgue.

'Where are you setting up the war room, Crawford?'

'I think at your precinct would be best. Are you done here?'
'Yeah, as soon as we are back in the precinct, we should inform the other departments that we are looking for missing person reports matching his description from the last two days or coming fresh in.'

02 April 2011, 10:25am:

Ryan and Esposito finish their search of the storage room, but they found only things for the dead girl on the bed. Nothing indicates that another person was there, it surely looked like a girls bedroom. Stepping to Lanie, who took her time with the body, even though it generates more questions than answers.

'Lanie, found anything that may help us?'

'I don't know what it means, but take a look at this. She has these distinctive cut marks on her right arm, leg and across her stomach, which puzzles me.'

'Why', Esposito asks.

'Whoever prepared her, didn't need these cuts on the arm and leg.'

'Maybe it happens as he killed her, coming at her with a knife in a crime of passion and these are defensive wounds.'

'It is a possibility, but somehow it don't feels right for me. I will take a closer look at the morgue.'

'See you there. Come on, Ryan we need to talk with the owner', Esposito says.

The two detectives walk to the office of the facility, hoping to find him there. As they arrive there, they are positive surprised, the owner isn't the stereotype fat, old and greasy owner, but a lean and young man in his late twenties.

'You are the owner of this facility, a Mr. Smith?'

'I'm Smith junior, I took over this place from my father three years ago.'

'You know why we are here, so what can you tell us?'

'The room is rented since January, 2009 to a Mr. White, young dude should be around twenty - twenty-two years now, nothing to remember about him medium height, weight, dark hair. He paid always in cash for three months. He is overdue for the last three months, so I opened the room to claim what is in it to cover his debts. At first I was pleasant surprised, the inventor there should be enough to pay his debts. Then I found the girl on the bed, I nearly wet my pants.'

'Do you have surveillance tapes, which show this Mr. White? And he always paid cash', Ryan asks.

'No, we tape only the last seven days and if nothing happens we reuse them. Only when there is something like a break-in we hand them over to the police. I will check with my ledger, but I'm pretty sure he only paid cash.'

'Here is my card, if you remember anything else, give me a call', Esposito says.

02 April 2011, 11:37am:

The two detectives enter the bull pen. They see two technician carry a smart board into the conference room.

'Do you have the same flashback like me?'

Ryan nods and steps to the door, 'But this time it is only one smart board and less FBI agents.' He sees Beckett coming from the Captain's office and he takes a searching glance into every direction, turning around he seems puzzled. 'Where is Castle, I would have bet that he is drooling over all the apps the FBI brought in', he asks Beckett as she arrives.

'He went home, needed a timeout from the case.'

'So bad?'

'Worse', and with that she left the two confused detectives behind her and slams the door to the conference room shut.

02 April 2011, 01:06pm:

Castle needs multiple tries to get the key into the lock. As he opens the door he sees Alexis heading his way with a worried face. He lets the door fall into the lock behind him and makes the last steps to her and engulfs her in a bone breaking hug.

'Dad, where have you been? Beckett called hours ago to let us know you are coming home early.'

He starts with a sigh, 'I needed time to think, so I walked home. And I still need to think about what I have seen.' With a kiss to her forehead he stops hugging her and walks over to his bar. There he grabs without looking a full bottle of whiskey.

'Dad, that is the cheap stuff you give out to the totally drunk and person you don't like', Alexis comments his action.

'Doesn't matter, I don't like myself right now and I wont taste it anyway.'

Martha observes the interaction between her son and granddaughter from the stairs-head. 'Such a cruel case, kiddo?'

He looks up the pain clearly visible in his eyes, 'It is worse, mum.' With the bottle and a glass Castle walks into his study and closes the door behind him.

Alexis looks at her grandmother, 'Grams, that is the first time I heard Dad calling you mum!'

'Yeah, it is a long time since he used it, tomorrow it would have been twenty-six years.' Martha climbs down the stairs, 'I will talk with him about the case tomorrow, Alexis. But you can give Kate a call that your wandering dad is back, kiddo.'

'Right, the phone is up in my room. I will take care of it right now.'

Martha stares at the door to the study, while Alexis runs up the stairs. 'I should talk to him right now, tomorrow with a hangover and the day itself it would be even worse', she thinks. Taking a big breath she goes to the door and opens it. Her son looks up from the desk in a way that reminds her of the little boy he once was.

'Richard talk to me, you have seen so many crime scenes in the last 3 years. Why is the current one so bad?'

Castle sighs and leans back into his chair, covering his eyes with his hands and after that let the hands slide through his hair. 'I have seen Dave today.'

His mother gasps in shock,' That is not possible, Richard.'

'I know mum, he is dead.'