A/N: Yadda yadda yadda, the case sort of ran ahead on it's own, yadda yadda yadda, Beta by Diana! :)
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Jerry Tyson had been inside the apartment – his fingerprint placed him at the crime scene. It was time to unleash the hounds onto his trail. Beckett pulled out her cell, calling her Federal team at the Twelfth.
"It's Tyson. We've found his print on one of the sketches here. Forget about finding other suspects, go through Jenna's movements on Sunday again – I want to know how Tyson got to her. Did the canvass turn up anything new?"
Beckett paused as the person on the other end of the line replied to her.
"Okay, well tell Lee to pick up the pace, but don't miss out anything. Have Ryan and Esposito start talking to her guy friend. Tell them it's not him, but press for more details about Jenna's life in the past week. I'll be heading back soon; her parents should be arriving in half an hour right? Fine, you can tell me about her vlog and the soup kitchen when I get there. I'm leaving Dom here, so please send him the list of tenants that need additional questioning. Thanks."
Kate hung up, her attention reverting back to the present company. She picked up the sketch with her gloved hand and sealed it into an evidence bag. "I'll bring this back to the precinct to for further processing. Dom, I want you to stay back and talk to the rest of the tenants on your own. Cooper should be sending you the list right now. See if you can find his accomplice, or if anyone saw someone suspicious yesterday. Show them Tyson's picture again; prod their memory if you have to. Let them know whom we're dealing with to ensure their full co-operation. Castle, you coming with me?"
"Yeah," he answered quickly, pulling out his phone to send a quick text to Alexis.
The Feds found Tyson's fingerprint at the apartment. Please be careful.
They'd have another conversation regarding the additional security when he saw her later that night. Maybe now Alexis would be more receptive to his appeal.
Ryan and Esposito were comparing notes with her team when Beckett and Castle arrived at the Twelfth. They headed over, joining the group. Beckett greeted them briefly before asking, "Anything?"
"Her vlog turned out to be quite informative. Brianna did most of the talking, but the two of them shared screen time together. They mentioned the air conditioning going out two weeks ago, but it's been fixed since last week. Jenna mentioned Brianna's trip briefly, so anyone who saw their vlog would know that she's alone this weekend. We're tracing the IP addresses that have been frequenting their vlog recently, but the list is still pretty extensive. Brianna was very outgoing, so they've got quite a number of people following their updates," Grey told her.
"What about the computer? Was there an opportunity for Tyson to pose as a repairman to get to Jenna?" Beckett asked the boys.
It was Ryan who answered her. "No, we spoke to Sam about it, he said that he had a friend who would fix the computer for her, but they hadn't got to it yet. According to him, there had been nothing out of the ordinary throughout the past week."
Just then the elevator chimed as its door opened, and the group unconsciously looked over as one. A uniformed policeman was escorting a distraught looking couple. They could see the similarity in features between Jenna and her mother. Her parents were here.
Beckett watched on as they were escorted to the break room for a more informal setting and handed cups of coffee.
"Okay, I'm going to go talk to Jenna's parents. Can you guys continue digging deeper? We need to find out how 3XK got to Jenna and where he is right now."
The group nodded their assent, prepared to get back to work. Only Esposito crossed his arms and said, "You've got your Fed monkeys to do that. I'm sure you guys are more than capable of handling that on your own, right?"
"Look, I need to go talk to Jenna's parents right now, and we all need to catch Tyson, so I'm not in the mood, nor do I have the time to entertain this. I get that you're mad at me and that you dislike me, I'm fine with that. But I'm leading this investigation, and whether you like it or not, when your supervising leader tells you to do something, you'd better damn well do it. Otherwise, you can have the honors of informing Castle when his daughter ends up being Tyson's next victim," she said heatedly. Beckett hadn't wanted to give him a public dressing down, but she couldn't afford to tolerate his childish behaviors anymore.
Her federal team quickly dispersed as Esposito stalked away, leaving only Ryan and Castle there with her. Sighing, she asked, "Look, can you guys try to talk to him about this? At least do this for Alexis' sake. None of us want to hand Tyson another opportunity to strike again."
Getting small nods from the two of them, she turned and headed to the break room, bracing herself to let Jenna's parents know that the Triple Killer had murdered their daughter, and they still weren't any closer to catching him.
Ryan and Castle found Esposito upstairs, taking out his frustrations at a punch bag in the gym.
"What the hell, man? Neither of you could stand up with me to Beckett? I'm the bad guy now?"
His less than pleasant greeting was followed by three quick hits to the punch bag as Ryan and Castle warily approached.
"It's not like that, bro," Ryan told him, standing behind the punch bag, bracing it in place for his partner.
"You sure about that? Cause you seem all too happy to welcome her back. She left us three years ago with no explanations. Nothing, alright?! Beckett didn't even bother to keep in touch with us!"
"She kept in contact with Lanie in the beginning, didn't she? I'm sure she had a reason for leaving," Ryan supplied weakly.
"She left us, okay!" Esposito repeated, punching in quick successions. Wiping off the sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand, he turned to Castle, asking him, "How can you even be so nice to her? She broke up with you three years ago, and now she's back with a new team and possibly a new boyfriend, yet you're not tearing her to pieces! Man, if I were you, I would have torn her to pieces the moment I saw her."
In that case I guess it's a good thing the boys don't know about the failed proposal. Esposito would've shot her on the spot if he knew, Castle thought. Instead, he replied, "I've moved on, man. Life goes on. Whatever Beckett does in her personal life right now is of no concern to me."
"So she's together with that Dom guy?
Castle pursed his lips. Should he withhold that information from the boys? They would find out soon enough – after all, they're detectives.
"They're not together as a couple, if that's what you're asking," he replied diplomatically.
"But they're sleeping together?"
Castle's silence was all the answer that he needed.
"And you're fine with that?!"
Castle shrugged, telling him, "Was I happy upon finding out? No, I wasn't, but it's her life, man. Right now, my only focus is Alexis' safety, and catching Tyson."
Ryan took that as his cue to step in, saying, "Come on, we're all still angry at Beckett to a certain extent, but I'm not going to let it affect my work. At least do it for Alexis."
Ryan could see his partner wavering. Bringing in little Castle was the way to get through to Esposito. "Look, if doing this for Alexis isn't enough of a reason on it's own, think of it this way," Ryan continued, "the sooner we catch Tyson, the sooner Beckett and her team leaves."
Both Castle and Ryan were looking at him with wide, expectant eyes. At length, Esposito groaned. "Fine, man, you guys win. But I'm only doing this for Alexis!"
Beckett was still talking to Jenna's parents when the boys returned to the bullpen with Castle. They headed to the meeting room, checking the progress of Beckett's team, helping out wherever they could.
By the time Beckett got to the meeting room, all five of them were hard at work. Beckett gave herself a small smile, relieved that Ryan and Castle managed to get through to Esposito.
Beckett joined them, each doing their own work silently. They worked individually, but functioned as a team. At around noon, Lee returned with his team of agents and officers. It was time to compile evidence and go through all the interview material.
"I think I might have something here, boss."
Beckett headed over to stand by Lee as he continued. "One of our agents at the soup kitchen managed to interview some additional frequenters that the detectives missed out. Stinky Jones rotates between a few soup kitchens, so he wasn't present the first time Detectives Ryan and Esposito went round for interviews. We showed them a picture of Tyson, and Stinky Jones recognized him. He had sideburns and was scruffier looking, but he was pretty sure it was Tyson and that he was asking about Jenna discreetly, eavesdropping on her conversations."
"That's probably how he got to know her and where she studied," Beckett murmured. "How long ago was this?"
"About a week before the murder," Lee answered, referring to the notes in his hands.
"Alright, so we can focus the IP address search-"
"-to within that time frame," Ryan finished Beckett's sentence, tapping Esposito to join him as he headed out. "We're on it," he told Beckett.
They walked into Dom at the doorway, the agent being in a hurry to get in. "You're late, Dom, better have something good for me," Beckett told him.
"Good news, Beckett, I think I may have found his accomplice. Mark Green's been late on his rent for the past three months but just settled two month's worth of rent yesterday. I pressed him, and he finally admitted to bringing in an air-conditioning repairman on Sunday. No questions asked, he just said the man approached him offering money in exchange for entry into the apartment. He was desperate for the cash, so he agreed."
"But Jenna's air conditioning was fixed a week ago, Tyson would've known that if he did his research on her," Castle mused.
"I may have an answer to that," Cooper interrupted, ending the phone conversation he had been engaged in.
They all turned to look at him as he continued. "A friend of Jenna's just called remembering something from Sunday. She said Jenna mentioned a guy at the door who was over to check the gas system for the air conditioning before they hung up. Something about a manufacturing default in the batch of products. She didn't mention this earlier because she was still in shock at Jenna's death."
All the information relating to the case was coming in rapid procession. They were finally making progress with the investigation.
"That's got to be Tyson. Alright, search for costume rental places in town and we'll cross reference them with the IP results, see if we can triangulate where Tyson's staying."
A/N: I'm heading off for hols real soon, so I'll be trying my best to update as quickly as I can before leaving. Unfortunately this means I might not have time to reply each and every review, but know that I appreciate them all the same! That said, Please Review! :)