Disclaimer: I don't own Castle... the characters of this amazing show belong to the genius Andrew Marlowe and ABC. :P

A/N: This story has been getting an amazing response and I feel very proud. I wasn't sure what type of a response it would get... it's a pretty unique storyline, I believe. ;) If anybody is interested, one of my friends made a trailer on YouTube to go with this story... it shows more elements of what to come. :D You can find the link to the trailer on my profile page! :) Chapter 2 starts getting the plot in motion, I hope you'll see what I mean and I hope you enjoy. Please reply/review and tell me how I'm doing. :)

By the way, I apologize if there are any inconsistencies in actual police/detective terminology. I just wrote off of what I remembered from the show and I don't know if they were used in the right context... it shouldn't take away from the general enjoyment of the story, so read away. ;) :)

Previously in Habeas Corpses...

"Letters on the slugs again?," Esposito leaned over, "I hope this doesn't mean we have another Dunn case."

"I don't think so," Lanie shook her head, "There are only two of them and they're just letters: "B and J" – maybe they're initials of somebody he knew?"

"Or maybe it was some kinda message," Ryan theorized, "It could be the initials of the killer's next target."

"Did anything come up in your investigation with some associate with the initials BJ?," Lanie asked, stepping away from the magnifying glass.

"Not so far," Esposito shrugged, "But we'll keep a lookout."

"We'll look into it now," Ryan said, "But you should call Beckett and tell her about what you found."

"Will do, Detective," Lanie smiled with a nod. As soon as Esposito and Ryan left the morgue, Lanie shook her head and went back to studying their victim, "Why is it my girl always gets the crazy ones?"

Now in Habeas Corpses...

Chapter 2

Sullivan and Johnson Law Firm

"Looks like he had a partner," Castle observed as they started to walk up to the building's entrance, "Why is it whenever people are partnered up, they always go with the last name that comes last in the alphabet to go first?"

"How do you come up with those kinds of things?," Beckett asked. After she thought about it, she realized that pretty much every example she could think of, that was the case: Woodward and Bernstein, Regis and Kelly, Lane and Kent, Ryan and Esposito, Castle and Beckett…

"I just like to point out the obvious," Castle shrugged with a smirk, "It's not my fault that the obvious isn't obvious to most people… I hope this guy can help though."

"Let's hope they were sharing this case," Beckett nodded. Castle opened the door for her and then followed her inside.

The front desk was typical of a law firm. Castle looked around and took note of the cold room. The color scheme seemed to be black, gray, and/or white. Castle turned to Beckett as they approached the front desk, "Not very warm, is it?"

"It's a law firm, what did you expect?," Beckett replied out of the corner of her mouth as she flashed her badge at the secretary, "Hi, I'm Detective Kate Beckett, could I speak to Mr. William Johnson please?"

"Certainly," the secretary nodded, "He'll see you in a minute. You can take a seat over there while you wait." She nodded to a leather bench on the other end of the room.

"Thank you," Beckett nodded and went to go sit down with Castle on her tail.

"Do you think that our victim could've been some type of hit for whatever case he was working on?," Castle asked, his head leaning against the wall and turned to Kate.

"What brought that on?," Beckett looked intrigued.

"I don't know," Castle turned his head to look forward once again, "I've just got this gut feeling…"

Beckett was about to say something in response, but Castle interrupted her by finishing his line of thought, "Of course, that might just be indigestion from that hot dog I had in the food court."

Kate turned her head to hide her amused smile. She looked up when the secretary stood in front of them, "Detective? Mr. Johnson can see you now."

She led them down a long hallway filled with inspirational posters to Mr. Johnson's office. It was adjacent to Sullivan's. The secretary turned around before opening the door, "Just go right inside."

Beckett nodded and went inside as the secretary returned to her desk. Mr. Johnson's office was about as warm as the front reception area. The color scheme was even the same. Castle noticed that the lawyer didn't even seem to have any personal pictures on his desk.

"Detective Beckett, I assume?," Johnson stood up and walked around his desk to take Kate's hand in a handshake.

"Yes," Kate took his hand and then motioned to Rick, "And this is Richard Castle."

"Oh, I know," Johnson nodded, "Your little crime-fighting team is famous."

"Team?," Beckett's eyebrows disappeared into her bangs; Castle smirked. She shook her head, "Anyway, we're here investigating the murder of your partner Charles Sullivan."

"Ah, yes, I heard what happened," Johnson's expression changed, "I can't believe he's gone. Have you found the murderer yet?"

"Not yet," Beckett shook her head, "But we were hoping that you might be able to shed some light on the case he was working on."

"We think that what happened to him might be connected to his case," Castle finished for her.

"That's a big possibility," Johnson nodded, seeing their reasoning.

"Were you two working on the same case?," Beckett asked.

"Us? No," he shook his head, "We would sometimes share cases, but his most recent one… no, that one he wanted all to himself."

"Any particular reason?," Beckett cocked her head to the side.

"I think he said that it was personal," Johnson replied.

"How late was Sullivan working?," Castle asked.

"Pretty late," Johnson replied, "I left here close to eleven and he was still in his office… His case should still be in there actually. I can let you in there if you need."

"That'd be great," Beckett nodded as she and Castle followed Johnson out into the hallway and into Sullivan's old office.

"If you have any questions, just let me know," Johnson said, "I have to be in court in a few minutes, but take my card and feel free to call if you need anything."

"And you can do the same," Beckett held out her card. He took hers as she did the same to his. Johnson closed the door leaving Kate and Rick in the empty office.

"So much for him working on the same case," Castle sighed and started to sift through papers on the desk.

"I know, but something tells me that he knew more about what we were talking about than he was letting on," Beckett said as she opened one of the filing cabinets lining the wall.

"You think he was lying?," Castle sat in the chair to continue looking through all the papers.

"He was really quick to answer," Kate nodded, "Plus, he wouldn't give me eye contact. And if he didn't know what case Sullivan was working on, then he wouldn't have any reason to believe that it could be connected to his murder. I'm sure whatever case he was working on, it must've been high-profile."

"Sullivan's wife did say that she thought it had to do with some big-time guy in the underworld. Maybe he was trying to take down the mob and somebody decided to take him out first," Castle theorized.

"Maybe," Beckett bit her lip, "I wonder why he said this case was personal to Sullivan."

"Some deal he had to work out?," Castle started bouncing off ideas, "Or maybe he needed to close a huge case to get a raise or a promotion?"

"I don't know," Beckett shook her head, "Did you find anything over there in that mountain of paperwork?"

"Not yet," Castle kept looking when something caught his eye, "Hel-lo, what's this?"

"What?," Beckett closed the filing cabinet and leaned over his shoulder just enough so he could smell cherries.

"It seems I found the case he was working on. It's dated for a week ago," Castle held up the manila folder.

"He was defending a little bistro?," Beckett raised a disbelieving brow.

"Yeah," Castle said.

"That doesn't exactly scream 'high-profile', does it?," Beckett stood up and went back to the cabinet to keep searching.

"Maybe not, but let's see what he was defending the little bistro from, hmm?," Castle flapped the folder and began reading, "Ah! Looks like Sullivan was defending the bistro against the mob."

"You got that from that?," Beckett closed the cabinet again and pointed to the folder, "How'd you get a mob connection in there?"

"Isn't it obvious?," Castle raised his eyebrow.

"Why don't you enlighten me?," Beckett folded her arms.

"Little diners and bistros are always being picked on by criminals," Castle started, "And these criminals, usually mob members, approach the owners and say they're there to offer protection… which usually means that the owner needs to pay them so they won't do anything to their place. The owner of this little bistro must've not wanted to give in, so he came to Sullivan to defend him and his place."

"And you got all of this from a few lines in a file that you just found and of which you have no background information on?," Beckett cocked her head to the side with her arms folded, "Or did you get that from your knowledge on Batman comics?"

"Very funny, I'm telling you that it has to do with the mob," Castle assured her, "We just need to prove it… what say we visit this little bistro?"

"Hungry, Castle?," Beckett turned around and started for the door.

"That hot dog wasn't very filling and I think it gave me heartburn," Castle defended himself, fisting his chest, as he followed her out the door.

12th Precinct

"Why did we come back here? I thought we were going to follow up on that restaurant from Sullivan's file," Castle whined as they joined Ryan and Esposito by the whiteboard.

"Because even though your little theories and crazy scenarios sometimes turn out to be true, we have to get all the facts first about this little bistro before we go investigate it," Beckett replied, "And where better to do that than back here?"

"Any luck at Sullivan's firm?," Ryan asked.

"A little, we're about to follow up on it right now," Beckett nodded, "How about you? Anything interesting on his SIM card?"

"Nada," Esposito shook his head, "All the calls he made didn't raise any red flags in the system and he didn't call any of them repeatedly except for home."

"Talk about no life," Castle quipped.

"Hmm… Did Lanie have anything new?," Beckett ignored him and went to the next order of business.

"She didn't call you?," Esposito asked.

"Noooo," Beckett stood straighter, "Was she supposed to?"

"Yeah," Ryan nodded, "She found some letters on the two slugs."

"Letters?," Beckett's voice squeaked, "Don't tell me this is another Dunn case."

"No," Esposito shook his head," That's what I initially thought too, but there were just two letters, "B and J" – we think it might be the initials of somebody Sullivan knew."

"But we didn't come across anybody with those initials in our findings," Ryan sighed, folding one of Castle's Derrick Storm books into his chest, "Did you?"

"Wait a minute. Johnson, Sullivan's partner," Castle looked like inspiration struck and then his shoulders sagged when he realized, "But his first name is William."

"Bill is a nickname for William," Beckett said and turned to Ryan and Esposito, "Get uniforms to go pick him up and make sure he's safe."

"On it," Ryan nodded and jumped to do as he was told.

"Castle? You okay, man?," Esposito noticed that Castle seemed to be lost in thought.

"What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Castle assured him, "I was just thinking."

"Don't do that, Castle, you might hurt yourself," Beckett grinned.

"Ha ha," Castle glared. She smirked and got up to get some coffee before she started research on the bistro Castle saw in the file. Esposito patted Castle on the back and joined Beckett to the espresso machine for some coffee. Castle bit his lip. A detail was niggling at him from when he was sitting at Sullivan's desk, "What was that on his desk? It looked familiar."

Before Castle could ponder further, Beckett's phone vibrated on her desk. Castle looked around and didn't notice Kate coming back yet. He figured it'd be okay to answer, "Beckett's phone, Castle speaking."

"Castle? Where's Kate?," Lanie was on the other end.

"She went to fuel up on coffee and she left her phone on her desk," Castle answered, "If you're calling about the letters on the slugs, we know, Ryan and Esposito just told us."

"That's good," Lanie smiled, "I got caught up with a few things here and didn't get a chance to call you. I hope you weren't worried."

"Nah, it's all good," Castle assured her, "We think we may even know who the mysterious "BJ" is…. Sullivan's partner."

"That's interesting," Lanie could be heard fiddling around with something in the morgue. She stopped and sighed. Castle could tell that she was wrestling with something. After another brief moment, she continued, "Uh, Castle, do you think you could come down here?"

"Uh, sure, I'll get Kate," Castle stood up, but Lanie's voice stopped him, "No, Castle, I don't mean Kate, just you."

"Is everything okay?," Castle was starting to get a little worried as he sat back down.

"I hope so," Lanie sighed, "Get down here as soon as you get a chance."

They hung up just as Beckett and Esposito came back with their coffee. Beckett held another cup for Castle. She noticed Castle putting her phone down, "Was somebody on the phone?"

"Yeah, it was just Lanie," Castle took the second coffee mug from her.

"She call to tell us about the initials on the slugs?," Beckett assumed.

"Uh-huh," Castle nodded, "She got caught up with some other things around the morgue and didn't get around to calling us."

"Well, I'm glad that at least everything was okay," Beckett replied. Castle nodded distractedly, "You okay, Castle?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Castle lied, "You know what? I think I'm gonna head out a little early."

"You're leaving early?," Beckett didn't believe it.

"Yeah, it was a pretty trying day," Castle said and put his untouched coffee down on her desk, "Plus, I'm still pretty beat from coming back from the Hamptons. Call me later and let me know if you find anything interesting on that bistro."

"Uh, okay," Beckett was taken aback. Esposito looked a little suspicious too. Castle grabbed his jacket and put it on. Beckett stopped him by putting her hand on his arm, "You sure everything's okay?"

"Positive," Castle lied again, "I'll see you guys later, okay?"

And with that, Castle left to go to the morgue to see what Lanie had to tell him.

TBC

Hmm... what could Lanie possibly have to tell Castle? Whatever it is, it must be important to not want Kate involved. ;) The trailer might give that little something away... *looks innocent* Please reply and tell me what you guys think! I hope you all are enjoying this story. And just repeating what I said in the author's note above in case anybody skipped over it: one of my very talented friends made a trailer to accompany the story. The link to it can be found in my profile page. 8-)

Thank you to those of you who are just reading as well! I appreciate you too!

Caskett Forever! ;) :D