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

A/N: So, some of you thought that was an evil cliffhanger? LOL, well I guess it was, but believe me - you ain't seen nothing yet. :P I'm glad that everybody who is reading this story seems to be enjoying it very much so. And I'm glad that I've seemed to have accomplished making this story feel like an episode and I've been able to keep everyone in-character. I think I may have come up with an updating schedule. Now, keep in mind that this is subject to change... I'm thinking that I'll post an update some time on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and either on Saturday or Sunday. It could basically be any time on these days and most likely, I might not update on Thursdays, so it'll probably be Tuesdays and one day on the weekend. Keep time zone differences in account for those of you out of the country.

Okay, enough with my rambling, you all wanna read Chapter 3... here you go:

Previously in Habeas Corpses...

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.

Now in Habeas Corpses...

Chapter 3

Morgue

"Castle," Lanie greeted him as he rushed into the morgue, "Thanks for getting down here so quickly."

"No problem," Castle shrugged, "Is everything all right?"

"I'm not sure," Lanie sighed and signaled him to follow her. She led him over to the magnifying glass.

He looked at the letters on the slugs, "I know I'm missing something here. These are just the letters on the slugs that Esposito and Ryan told us about, right?"

"Yes," Lanie started, but Castle cut her off, "And we think we know whose initials those belong to – his law partner William 'Bill' Johnson."

"Could you let me say what I wanted to say?," Lanie was getting frustrated and Castle theatrically shut his mouth, "I wanted to say, that I don't think the initials are supposed to be "BJ"."

"You think it's the other way around? "JB"?," Castle assumed.

"But there wasn't anybody in our investigation with those initials," Castle shook his head confused, "Wait, why do you think the letters are supposed to be switched?"

"Because, I automatically thought about it alphabetically," Lanie started to walk away from the magnifying glass and back over to the body.

"But," Castle prodded.

"But I hadn't thought about the order of the bullets in which the killer shot Sullivan," Lanie explained and pointed to each spot on the body respectively, "The bullet with the letter 'J' went in first – into the liver and the second one 'B' went to the chest."

"So, he was dead before the second one even hit his chest?," Castle asked.

"Yeah," Lanie nodded, "I didn't see it before."

"So, why didn't you want Beckett to come down here for this? Why only me?," Castle touched his chest.

"Come here," Lanie gave him the 'come hither' motion with her finger. He followed her over to her desk with Sullivan's file on it, "The only other time I've come across the victim being killed by some strike to the liver was with Coonan."

"So, that could just be some big coincidence," Castle wasn't following.

"In this field, Castle, there are no coincidences," Lanie shook her head, "So, I did my own brand of police work."

"What'd you find?," Castle folded his arms.

"There are a couple other murders from last year that you two weren't on that had a killing involving the liver," Lanie said, "I looked into those and each one of their professions had something to do with protecting the people."

"I must be missing something," Castle shook his head.

"None of those cases had letters on anything involved with the murder, but they all had to do with the liver," Lanie continued, "It's like this killer has some sort of calling card."

"But you said that had to do with other murders," Castle said, "Weren't their killers caught?"

"They closed the cases – they just attributed them to gang violence. They couldn't find anything out of the ordinary about them," Lanie replied, "I think there might be some sort of new assassin out there that changes the tactics of each murder, but makes each of their victims die from some malfunction of the liver."

"Then what were you saying before about how there are no coincidences when I mentioned Coonan? He's dead, isn't he?," Castle was confused.

"Maybe somebody hired a new player to take his place, but decided to make his MO similar," Lanie theorized.

"And if that's the case, then the case we're working on now might somehow be connected to the man who ordered the hit on Kate's mother," Castle started to follow her.

Lanie didn't call him out on the fact that he used Beckett's first name. She just nodded in reply, "Exactly."

"So, what do we do?," Castle asked, "Do we tell her?"

"I don't want to tell her unless we're absolutely certain," Lanie shook her head, "There's no need for her to go through having to look through her mom's murder again if we're wrong. She went through hell those first three years as a cop… and then with what happened with Coonan? I'm not doing that to my girl again."

"I don't want to go on lying to her though," Castle said, "I'm still on thin ice from the first time I looked into her mother's case."

"But I don't want to worry her if I'm wrong, Castle," Lanie put her hand on his arm, "Promise me you won't say anything to her."

"I," Castle opened and closed his mouth.

"Cast-le?," Lanie prodded, giving him a look.

He sighed, "I promise… so what do you want me to do from here?"

"I was thinking that you could try to look into it a little more with your vast resources and all the people you know," Lanie got a hopeful expression on her face.

"I don't know if I can without Beckett getting suspicious," Castle replied.

"Oh, come on, Castle," Lanie didn't believe him, "You were able to get a ton of information on Kate's mother's murder without her even suspecting you were looking into it before."

"Good point," Castle sighed and then something struck him, "That's it."

"What's it?," Lanie furrowed her eyebrows.

"Some little detail was niggling at me about something I found on Sullivan's desk," Castle said.

"What was it?," Lanie was interested.

"A number on one of the papers on his desk," Castle said, his eyes shifting back and forth as he tried to recall the exact number.

"What number?," Lanie edged him on.

"48508250854-JKL," Castle replied slowly as he recalled it.

"What number is that?," Lanie asked.

"The number to Johanna Beckett's post-mortem narrative," Castle said with realization.

"Oh my," Lanie put her hand to her mouth, "How did you memorize that long of a number?"

"I looked at it enough when I was investigating," Castle replied, "Plus, as a writer, I have a thing for details."

"JB," Lanie realized, "Do you think that stands for Johanna Beckett?"

"Maybe," Castle bit his lip, "But why would he decide to send a message about it with this particular murder?"

"I don't know," Lanie shook her head, "So, Sullivan was looking into Kate's mother's murder? Why?"

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," Castle looked determined.

"Castle, remember, don't say anything to Kate unless you're one-hundred and fifty percent sure," Lanie reminded him, "The only reason I told you is because I thought I could use a little extra help."

"Well, I appreciate you bringing me in on it," Castle nodded, "And I won't tell Kate… as long as you won't either."

"Right," Lanie smiled, "Get to it, Writer Boy, and let me know what you find out."

"Will do," Castle nodded as he headed out the door.

"Castle!," Lanie called out to him. He turned around and raised his eyebrows expectantly for her to continue, "Please be careful."

"You too," Castle replied and left the morgue.

Castle's Loft

"Dad!," Alexis enveloped Castle in an attack-hug.

"Oomph," Castle let out an awkward breath as Alexis ran into him, "Is everything okay, sweetheart?"

"Where have you been?," Alexis looked up at him, not letting go.

"What do you mean?," Castle was confused.

"Detective Beckett called a little while ago and said you left the precinct to come home early," Alexis told him.

"And," Castle didn't see why that would result in the attack-hug he received.

"And you didn't come home," Alexis said, "I was getting worried."

"I stopped off somewhere else first," Castle said as she let go of her father, "Besides, I thought I was the parent. Aren't I supposed to be the over-bearing, over-protecting one?"

"Since when?," Alexis folded her arms.

"Right," Castle opened the fridge to pull out a water bottle. Castle turned his head to start making a snack when he heard Alexis talking and she wasn't talking to him. She was on the phone, "Who are you talking to?"

"Detective Beckett," Alexis moved the mouth-piece away from her mouth.

"Why?," Castle asked.

"I told her I'd call her when you got home," Alexis replied and handed him the phone, "Here."

"Hell-o?," Castle put the phone to his ear.

"Take a detour home, Castle?," Beckett laughed on the other end.

"Yeah," Castle replied, "I told you I was hungry."

"Don't tell me you went to that bistro that was in Sullivan's files without me," Beckett hoped she was wrong.

"Why? You want to save it for a date?," Castle played with her.

"Castle," Beckett bit.

"Relax, Detective, I was only joking," Castle put his hand up in mock surrender even though she couldn't see him, "I didn't go there."

"You're not lying, are you?," Beckett didn't trust him after all the stunts he's pulled in the past.

"I'm not lying. I swear," Castle swore.

"Okay," Beckett nodded.

"Were you worried about me, Beckett?," Castle asked.

"What? Me? No, I wasn't worried about you," Beckett scoffed, "Alexis was worried about you when you didn't come home right away."

"Righttt," Castle loved to tease her.

"The boys have Johnson here to see if they can get any more information from him," Beckett said.

"Okay," Castle replied.

"Anyway, if you're not too full and if you tell your daughter, I was about to head out to that bistro myself to see what we can find out," Beckett told him, "You in?"

"Yeah, of course," Castle nodded enthusiastically, "I'll meet you there as soon as I can."

"Okay," Beckett smiled, "And Castle?"

"Yeah?," Castle asked.

"Don't take any detours," Beckett teased.

"Scout's honor," Castle smiled and hung up, "Alexis! Pumpkin! I'm headed back down to the precinct."

"Already? But you just got back?," Alexis appeared at the top of the stairs.

"I know, but Beckett and I have a lead on a possible connection to Mr. Sullivan's murder," Castle explained as she came further down the stairs.

"What time will you be back?," Alexis asked, playing the parent.

"I don't know, probably late," Castle shrugged, "Don't wait up for me, it's a school night."

"Okay," Alexis sighed dejectedly, "But promise me that when you get home, you'll come in my room and kiss me goodnight? Even if it's really really late?"

"Have I ever let my daughter down before?," Castle grinned and gave her a kiss on the cheek, "See you later, sweetie."

"See you, Dad," Alexis smiled and trotted back up the stairs. As Castle turned around, he grabbed his keys and opened the door, "Mother?"

"Hey, kiddo," Martha opened her arms, "Doesn't your mother get a hug?"

"What are you doing home?," Castle gave her a hug.

"What? No, 'How are you?', 'How'd it go?', 'How do you manage to look so young?'?," Martha asked.

"Sorry, but I don't know about that last question," Castle apologized and as usual, he had to get in his usual dig at his mother.

"Oh, shush," Martha hit him with her gloves and walked in the apartment.

He helped her in with her bags, "But really, Mother, I thought you weren't coming back until tomorrow. Your show had an extended run until now, right?"

"Yes. And it was a rousing success," Martha explained, flailing her hands dramatically and then shrugged, "I got back early."

"Gram!," Alexis ran down the stairs and hugged her grandmother, "I thought I heard your voice down here."

"Hello, sweetheart," Martha returned the hug.

"How'd your play go? I heard it was a brilliant success," Alexis beamed.

"It was," Martha nodded.

"I'm gonna leave you two ladies to catching up," Castle said, "Alexis, you can fill Mother in and I'll see you two later."

Castle left his apartment, a little grateful that his mom returned early from her tour. At least this way Alexis wouldn't be alone in a huge apartment. He hoped the little bistro that was ironically named Little Bistro, would give them some sort of lead to Sullivan's killer… and to the man who ordered the hit on Johanna Beckett.

TBC

First off, I apologize if there are inconsistencies in medical facts like with the shot to the liver. I'm not that far yet in my studies, plus, I'm going in for veterinary medicine, not humans. :P

Congrats to those of you who were thinking that "BJ" was actually "JB" - I tried not to make it too obvious... but the trailer probably gave it away. ;) There are other aspects of that trailer that will be making an appearance, but that's still to come. Please review! Tell me what you think! Did you like this chapter? Can you wait for the next chapter? ;) Can you wait for the new episode of Castle, Anatomy of a Murder on Monday? I know I can't. :P Seriously, though, please leave a reply if you can and let me know how I'm doing... maybe I'll get inspired to write another Castle story on top of my new Smallville one. ;)

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

Clois and Caskett Forever! ;) :D