With the witnesses taken care of, the next step was the staff at the school for Adam while Beckett checked in with Leung. She had to admit, she'd never really thought about the kind of people it took to be a principal day-in and day-out until she and Castle had enrolled RJ in school. You had to wear a lot of hats, she thought; today Leung was wearing her Fearless Leader fez and Sympathetic-Motherly sombrero as she watched her direct children this way and that way towards parents or older siblings.

'I know, sweetie, it's a very scary and bad thing that happened,' she crooned to a boy of about seven who clutched the fingers of another boy who looked about thirteen. 'But the police are here to make sure they find the bad guy. Dmitri, are your parents going to be here soon?'

'Yeah, Mom texted said they're just getting off the subway.'

'Why don't you take your brother outside, get him some fresh air?'

'Okay. C'mon Nolan.'

Beckett watched Leung watching them go and saw the woman heave a small sigh as she tried to make sure she kept her composure. It was a move she herself could appreciate, having been the leader on countless ops where her men were looking to her for the answers she didn't always have. She moved so that when Leung opened her eyes, she would see Beckett walking towards her; sure enough the principal caught sight of her and gave her an understanding look.

'It can't be easy,' Beckett said, feeling a little lame.

'It took us long enough to get our reputation back after those three exchange students were murdered twelve years ago. Even when it turned out to be part of some political plot, it took us about two years to put our reputation for bad security behind us. This...this could ruin us.' Leung sighed again, then turned with a gesture for Beckett to follow her into the main office where the three secretaries were on switchboard phones that were lit up like the seventh night of Chanukah; they bypassed them straight for Leung's office.

'I want to thank you for your discretion with regards to the body and the students, Detective,' Leung said, moving to her Keurig coffee maker. 'It's never easy to lose someone suddenly but to have it happen at the school...'

'Sarah and Nicky both said he was tough but he was equally liked and respected.'

Leung gave a mournful little chuckle. 'Wayne Hill is probably one of the hardest teachers to ever work here. I don't mean he was a hard man, but he believed wholeheartedly in the school rules, sometimes a little too wholeheartedly from time to time. He pushed the students and our alumni who go on to places like Stanford and MIT, Cal-Tech, UCSB, all of them send him a thank-you note for how great a teacher he was because without him they would have flunked or just barely passed.'

'How did he get on with the other staff?'

'Very well. He'd become a lot more quiet and withdrawn of late, though given he was going through a rather acrimonious divorce I can't really blame him. His husband was taking him to the cleaner's in legal fees.'

Beckett wanted to pointed out that all divorce was acrimonious, as it meant the dissolving of a promise of love; the romantic in her wanted to believe that when people said 'Till death do us part' they truly meant it. The realistic cop in her had seen too many cases of spousal battery and infidelity to know that it didn't always work for everyone. It was also what made her thankful for her family and friends; she made a mental note once she was in the car to call her husband.

'Were there any complaints about him from students? Did he have a reputation for being a flirt or prejudiced against certain groups?'

'No, Wayne didn't have any interest in his students like that, even as a healthy man in his prime appreciating young beautiful bodies. And he was known to be friendly with the staff but lately he was more and more snappy and strung out looking. The stress of the divorce was getting to him, which was I was going to recommend him for a conference down in Miami so he might get a little sun and time away from everything.'

'That's very considerate of you,' Beckett told her, taking the coffee Leung passed her. 'What about parents, were there any issues there?'

'Some were hot under the collar when they found out a gay man was teaching their children but our teacher's council pointed out this only became an issue after they found out. Wayne never hid his sexuality but he never flaunted it either, you know?'

'Yeah, I know what you mean. I have an officer like that in my division. What about other students? Maybe some seniors last year who didn't get the grade they wanted, it stopped them from getting into their dream school?'

'I can't think of anyone who would do that to Hill, mainly because he teaches the sophomores and juniors. If anyone had issues with him, chances are they'd still be at the school.'

'I'm going to need a roster for all of his students, anyone he sponsored for independent study and all complaints or disciplinary actions involving his students.'

'The rosters I can give you now,' Leung told her, already moving to her desktop computer, 'but the others will take a few hours. I'll have them to you as quickly as we can manage. There's a lot of fallout to deal with that hasn't even started yet.'

'Thank you very much, Miz Leung.' Beckett drained her coffee cup, rose. 'I'll be in touch.'

'Please, if you can tell us anything as soon as you know it, I'd like to pass it on to my students and their families, my staff so we can create our pwn plan of attack on how to handle this.'

'I'll do my best.'

Beckett left the office, nearly bumping into Adam who was on the phone with his bride-to-be, it seemed, while he waited for her return.

'LNo, I don't think a limo is too over the top. No I'm not just saying, that, my cherry tomato. Okay. Text when you've got it sorted out. Love you too. Bye-bye.'

Adam sighed as he hung up, turned to look at Beckett. 'She was fine this morning, then all of a sudden she had this notion pop into her brain we should take a towncar to the airport next week. I don't get it, she's been so sane the rest of the time and- what?'

'Oh, Adam, you really are going to be a married man soon,' Beckett laughed. 'I can tell you with one-hundred percent certainty that no woman in the history of the world who has ever planned a wedding has been sane from start to finish. Any woman who claims otherwise is a bald-face liar.'

Talk of wedding-lanning reminded Beckett of the call she wanted to make and since Adam had taken two minutes for personal time, Beckett decided to do the same. She dialed home and was a little surprised when she heard Alexis' voice, but it was a welcome surprise none the less. 'Hey, what are you doing home?'

'I'm doing my next six weeks in the hospital and it's my day off the rotation today, how are you? Are you okay?'

'Yeah, just wanted to say hello to my family.'

'Okay, that- yes, Jojo, in a moment. Sorry, Jojo wants to say hi to you too.'

'That's fine, put her on,' Beckett laughed and she listened to her little girl's voice over the line. 'Hey bumblebee, how are you?'

'Alessis vis'in, Mumum! Daddy go get 'tuff fo' suppah. It a pise fo' you!'

'Oh, well, you tell Daddy a great big thank you from me and you give him a big hug and kiss from me too, okay?'

'An' say 'love you' ?'

'Of course.'

Jojo giggled in her sweet way. 'O-kay, Mumum, Alessis turn now. See soon! Love you!'

'Love you too, bumblebee.'

Alexis came back on, and Beckett told her as much as she could about the case, which had Alexis going on red alert. 'I'll go with Dad and Jojo to get RJ after school,' she said and Beckett felt a little tension in her gut ease up.

'Thanks girl. Gotta run, I'll see you later. Love you.'

'Love you too Mom.'

Beckett hung up, looked at Adam who had gone pale. 'What is it?'

'Shane thinks he's already got a cause of death.'