Author's Note: I'd like to thank phnxgrl, southerngirl1, MaineCastle, and Chkgun93 for their reviews. southerngirl1: I think the site was having problems a few weeks ago; mine wasn't the only story that had inconsistent posting. Glad it worked for you this last week. Chkgun93: At this point Alexis is only considering transferring; the decision hasn't come yet.

Toward the end of the chapter, when Beckett and Castle are interviewing a potential witness, the witness and Beckett exchange a few words in Russian. I included English translations for those words and both the Cyrillic (Russian) alphabet and Latin alphabet is used in writing the words in Russian (the Cyrillic alphabet may not show up correctly depending on your internet and operating system, which is why I used the Latin alphabet too). This next chapter starts the next morning. Enjoy!

Chapter 18

Lanie called them down to the morgue before nine the next morning. "I was right."

"You usually are. What about this time?" Beckett had taken a perch on the counter earlier to wait for her friend while she had gone to grab a folder.

"The victim was killed about an hour before she had her throat slit."

Beckett hopped off the counter in surprise. "How do you know?"

"When I got her cleaned up, I noticed there was no vital response along the edges of the wound, meaning it was done after she'd been dead for about twenty minutes."

"That would explain why she was hung upside-down. If she was already dead, that would be the only way to create that blood pool." Castle turned to Beckett. "The killer wasn't using some kind of twisted methodology. He was going for a dramatic image."

Beckett nodded. "So if her throat wound wasn't the C.O.D., what was?"

"She was strangled." Lanie moved the sheet so they could see Oksana's neck. "The bruises are faint and the cut is going right through it, which suggests her killer had some skills. We could be looking at a pro or someone who's had a lot of practice."

"Like a serial killer?"

"Possibly, though if it is, then the killer isn't local. I've already checked our records. No other murders like this were committed in New York City in the last two decades."

Castle looked at Lanie. "What about before that?"

"Before that the records are still mostly on paper. There wasn't enough digital storage space for things like that back then and no one is willing to pay to have them digitized. You're welcome to troll through them yourself, but I don't think it's worth your time."

Beckett nodded. "Anything else I should know?"

"She was probably raped." Lanie handed Beckett the results. "Crime lab says no semen, just spermicide. That means he used…"

"A condom." Beckett scrolled down the page. "Any idea how long before she was killed?"

"I found evidence that she was raped multiple times over the course of a few hours, the last time being just before she died."

Beckett closed her eyes and shook her head briefly at that. "No one should have to go through that."

"I know." Lanie pulled the sheet back from Oksana's left arm. "I noticed a puncture mark in the bend of her left elbow. I've requested her medical records to see if she's had blood drawn, or an I.V. recently. I'll keep you posted on that. I also noticed that she had no defensive injuries."

Castle had moved around the table and was looking at the victim's arm. "Is there any evidence of drugs in her system which might have made her compliant?"

Lanie shook her head. "Tox panel came back clean."

Beckett was surprised again. "She gets raped but there are no defensive wounds and she wasn't drugged? How is that possible?"

"Kate, I can't answer everything. I can only tell you what I found."

"Lanie, I'm just thinking out loud. If I was in her shoes, you can guarantee I would have fought, which would have left some type of defensive wound. I'm trying to figure out how she wouldn't have any bruises if she was raped."

Castle came back around the table. "Maybe she knew her killer and was too afraid of him to fight back. Or it wasn't a rape and she liked it rough."

"Castle…"

"Just listing possibilities. After looking at that sheet, I think it was rape too."

Beckett crossed her arms across her chest and decided to move on; this case was going to be tricky enough as it was. "So what time would you say she died?"

"Javi says the nightclub was locked up by 5:30am."

"Is this going to be a scientific explanation?"

Lanie grinned. "It is, so hold onto your hats. When a person dies, it can take several days for blood to begin to coagulate if there were no injuries to expose the blood to air. The lack of lividity anywhere besides her head tells me she was either kept mobile after death so the blood wouldn't settle, or she was killed 20 to 45 min before her throat was slit. Rigor was fixed by the time we got there, which means she was killed more than twelve hours earlier. Assuming the killer went right in after closing, I'd say, the window for time of death is between 4:30 and 5:30am."

"And if he didn't?"

"I can't say with 100% certainty yet. A couple of tests are still running."

"Thanks, Lanie." Beckett headed for the door. "Keep us posted."

"Will do."

Beckett and Castle went upstairs to a nearly empty bullpen. Karpowski was at her desk nursing a coffee. She looked exhausted, as though she hadn't slept at all last night. Beckett powered up her computer while Castle headed into the break room to make them some coffee. Her email and answering machine had nothing new in them so Beckett went to talk to Karpowski.

"Hey, Roselyn. Anything new on the mystery reporter?"

Karpowski groaned. "Yeah, we finally found him."

"What did he say?"

"Not a whole lot. His body was found in Central Park last night. I just got back from the crime scene and my partners are searching the S.R.O. he was staying at."

Beckett sighed as she took a seat. "Whoever he's working for killed him so he couldn't point fingers."

Karpowski nodded. "Looks like it. Dr. Perlmutter has the body right now; hopefully he can get us an I.D." She gestured to her computer screen. "The driver's license in his wallet was a fake."

Beckett nodded and stood. "Thanks. You'll let me know what happens?"

"Yeah." Karpowski turned back to her screen and returned to nursing her coffee.

Beckett returned to her desk and Castle handed her a coffee. "What was that about?"

"The reporter from almost three months ago? Karpowski's crime scene last night was his body. The first lead she's had in a while was just killed. Probably because she was starting to get close."

"I'm sorry. Any leads?"

She shook her head. "Too soon to say. She'll keep me informed though."

"That's good." He gestured to the board. "Where did you want to start?"

"Let's start with the victim's apartment. CSU should be getting there by now."

Ryan and Esposito had arrived. "What about us?"

"Financials and alibi checks for the top three persons of interest; they've said they're not involved, but I want to make sure."

"You got it."

They pulled up to the victim's apartment as the CSU techs started unloading their equipment. Last night had been busy; the police radio had been buzzing with three B&E's, a rape, and two murders besides Oksana Sokolova. Crime scene techs had been spread thin, so the apartment of their victim had been moved to the bottom of the list.

Beckett and Castle gloved up and stepped inside. Oksana Sokolova lived a neat and tidy lifestyle. Books were on shelves, knickknacks perfectly arranged on tabletops, pictures hung exactly level on the wall. Most of her things would be considered as low to midrange purchases, though every once in a while, you could find something that cost a pretty penny. On one table, Beckett recognized items that indicated Oksana was Russian Orthodox. She made a mental note to check in with the local congregation and priest.

Castle turned a circle. "I don't see anything that stands out."

"Everything is so tidy. Almost a little too tidy."

"OCD?"

"Maybe." Beckett opened a cupboard in the kitchen to reveal a jumble of pots and pans. "Make that a 'not likely.' This would be organized if she were."

One of the techs flagged Beckett over. "Detective, I'm not getting very many prints. This area would be high traffic, which means lots of prints. I have what might be a partial here, but it's smudged."

Castle looked at the tech. "Could that be the result of someone with OCD?"

"Maybe, but this seems more like a wipe down, not a thorough clean."

Castle turned to Beckett. "Maybe her killer has OCD."

"This might be the original crime scene."

"Detective!"

Beckett turned to the source of the call. A CSU tech was standing in a doorway beckoning to her. She excused herself from the first tech and headed into Oksana's bedroom. Things in this room were in more disarray than the main area. It looked like the sheets had been hastily pulled up to look like the bed had been made and several drawers weren't closed completely because clothes were in the way. Beckett considered the OCD order of the living room and the pans in the cupboard and wondered what the story was in this room.

The tech went to the bedside lamp. "This is what I wanted to show you." He turned the lamp to display the broken back of the glass base. The break matched the corner of the low bookcase on the other side of the nightstand. There was a struggle here.

"This is the original crime scene. This is where she was raped and murdered."

The tech nodded. "We'll make sure to go through this room with a fine-tooth comb."

"Thanks. I'll have uni's dumpster dive the area, maybe they'll find something." Beckett and Castle left Oksana's bedroom. "I don't see any trash in the trashcans anywhere."

"Killer probably took it with him along with anything he brought with him." Castle glanced around the apartment again. "You know what's bothering me?"

"What?"

"Everything in this room was wiped down and organized, but the bedroom, the crime scene no less, was hastily thrown together. That doesn't add up."

Beckett noticed a uniform was beckoning to them from the front door. "Maybe the canvass will tell us something."

The uniform spoke in a low voice as they arrived at his side. "The neighbor said she met the victim's brother early yesterday morning, but something she said just sounded weird."

"What's that?"

"She said he was agitated and wouldn't let her in."

Beckett nodded, that was worth following up on. "Where is she?"

"Third door down. She has a heavy accent; Russian, I think."

"Thanks." Beckett knocked on the door where an older woman answered. "I'm Detective Beckett, this is Richard Castle. We'd like to ask you some questions, if that's all right."

"Ибо любовь всего сущего святые (Ibo lyubov' vsego sushchego svyatyye, For the love of all things holy). I told the other cop about it."

"I know. I wanted to ask a few more questions about that. Get a few more details. Это хорошо с тобой? (Eto khorosho s toboy, Is that alright with you?)"

"Вы говорите по-русски? (Vy govorite po-russki, You speak Russian?)" The little woman was surprised.

"Чуть (Chut', A little), but English is better for this. You said you met Oksana's brother early yesterday morning?"

"Да (Da, Yes). She had asked me to join her for an early breakfast today for our Christmas. I knocked on her door at 8am and this man opens up. He said he was Oksana's brother and that she was not feeling well."

Beckett wrote that down. "What happened then?"

"I asked to see her. But he refused. He was very nervous; almost like he was hiding something."

"Had you ever met him before?"

"Нет (Net, No). He has never come by before."

Castle wanted to try a different line of inquiry. "Would you say you know Oksana well?"

The old woman thought. "Hmm, да (da, yes). Well enough."

"Did she ever talk about her family?"

"Да (Da, Yes). Her family is still in Russia. She came here on a student visa four years ago and got her citizenship while she was at it." The woman paused. "She talked about her parents and a sister, but no brother."

Beckett had wondered and Castle's questions had confirmed; the "brother" was probably the killer. "If you were to sit with a sketch artist, do you think you could help us get a good picture of him?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. My eyes, they are not so good these days."

"Пожалуйста (Pozhaluysta, Please). This is important. Oksana was murdered early yesterday morning and the man you spoke to might have been the one who killed her. We need to find him. Пожалуйста (Pozhaluysta, Please)."

The woman nodded. "Я попытаюсь (YA popytayus', I'll try)."

A/N: My Russian might be a bit formal, I had Google do the translating. Let me know what you think!