Author's Note: I'd like to thank TORONTOSUN, phnxgrl, and southerngirl1 for their reviews. southerngirl1: Thank you. phnxgrl: I almost didn't put that information in. TORONTOSUN: Alex is smart and very dangerous. The Gentleman is even more so. At the same time, Beckett and her team are very good at their jobs. We'll see who has the upper hand soon... This chapter starts soon after the last one ended. Enjoy!

Chapter 36

Back at the precinct, Beckett and Castle went over Robinson's file on The Gentleman. The file had several pages in it that listed crimes and the file number to reference each case file. She also had a few pages on suspects with her personal notes, a date corresponding to each note, discounting each name. Beckett ran the names and had a few reasons of her own to cross those names off the list.

Beckett glanced up at the board. The cadets had been unable to locate Alex emerging from the subway tunnels anywhere near the scene of Robinson's murder. Esposito had grabbed Ryan to help him go over the files for cases Robinson had worked on for the entirety of her career at the U.S. Attorney's office. Castle had gone to join them a couple minutes ago.

CSI Danville handed Beckett a report. "Thought you might want to know what happened in the accident."

"Did you find something?" Beckett sat up, excited to possibly have a new lead.

"Not much." Danville sat in Castle's chair. "No prints on your car, but there was some blood on the back window. CODIS kicked out a name. Demetri Dvorkinov."

Beckett looked at the folder. "Not a big file. How is his DNA in the system?"

"Armed Robbery. Charges were dropped. The victim claimed it was a misunderstanding; said they were cousins."

"This is all in the file?"

Danville smiled. "No, I was there to process the scene. My boss told me to keep working it until the D.A. said we had to drop it. I may have 'accidentally forgotten' to prevent his DNA sample from being entered into CODIS."

"Ah." Beckett smirked as she skimmed over the file. "Anything else from the accident?"

"Tory Ellis is working traffic camera footage. I unfortunately only have an unknown fingerprint from the truck they abandoned. Demetri's prints are on the steering wheel." Danville stood. "I'll keep you updated if I get anything else."

"Thanks."

Beckett updated the board with the information Danville had brought up and put Dvorkinov's picture up under the suspects' column on The Gentleman's side of the board. He was connected to The Gentleman; they just needed to find him to figure out how.

Beckett walked into the Conference Room. "Any luck?"

Esposito looked up. "There are a lot of shady characters in these files. Robinson was good at getting perps to roll on each other for small deals. She'd use things like a couple years off here, a lower security prison there, you get the idea."

"Is this every case she's worked?"

"No, the cases that involved WitSec will be looked at by the Marshalls." Esposito picked up the next folder in the pile. "They don't want to accidentally compromise the security of a witness."

Beckett nodded. "Makes sense. They'll tell us if something comes up?"

"Said they would."

"Good."

Several hours later, their favorite I.T. tech came in. "I have something." Tory held up a traffic camera still. "This is the guy who drove the getaway car. I ran his image through the DMV database and got a hit. Calvin Havisham. He has a rap sheet."

Esposito took the folder. "Military record, dishonorable discharge. I'll see if I can look into this." He handed the folder to Ryan.

"After he got out, Havisham had two drunk and disorderlies, plus an assault charge that was dropped. All that stopped about six months ago."

Beckett held her hand out for the folder. "Look into that. Find out what changed."

Castle read the folder over Beckett's shoulder. "That's probably when he started working for The Gentleman."

"I have no doubt of that. I'm hoping there's something we can get from it." She handed the folder back to Ryan. "Castle and I will keep digging here."

"You got it."

Beckett and Castle had to admit defeat a few hours later. The sun had set and the files had yielded nothing useful at all. Ryan and Esposito had been making phone calls and searching for records all afternoon. From the number of trips they'd made to the board, they had been finding stuff.

The couple emerged from the conference room to see what the boys had found. Havisham's discharge, his arrest records and his employment records were bullet pointed on the board and some of Demetri's information had been filled in as well. It seemed the boys had been the more productive pair this afternoon.

"Good work. Did you guys find anything to help us track down The Gentleman?"

"We have a bank account that pays both Dvorkinov and Havisham," Ryan put up a sticky note about the money trace, "but the problem is the bank is in the Caymans. We can't get the name of the account's owner."

Esposito hung up his phone. "And it looks like we won't be able to talk to either of them. Lanie just ID'd Dvorkinov and Havisham as her newest vics. There was a third body with them."

Beckett turned back to the board. "That's probably the unidentified fingerprints Danville found."

Esposito nodded. "We should head down there. The John Doe was killed by Alex."

Lanie was crouched over the men lying on the end of Pier I, taking notes. Beckett and the team checked into the scene and gloved up to talk to the M.E. Divers were in the murky waters of the Hudson trying to look for more evidence. As they reached Lanie, one diver held up his hand as he surfaced to display a wallet he had found.

Esposito collected it from him. "Thanks, man."

"Is it related?"

Esposito held the ID next to the man in the middle. "I'd say so. This looks like he's Vladimir Medvedev."

"So they did find the wallet that fell out of his pocket." Lanie stood. "I'll pencil in the ID."

Beckett was looking at the two Russians. "Those are the guys who hit us. What can you tell me, Lanie?"

"Well, time of death will be hard to narrow down on site because of their exposure to the water, so I'll get back to you on that. Vladimir Medvedev was stabbed by Alex in her signature way and the other two have stab wounds to their upper backs."

Castle turned to Beckett. "Which one pointed the gun at you?"

"Medvedev. Dvorkinov stopped him."

Ryan's brow furrowed. "Why's he dead then? He protected you."

"I don't think she's killing to protect me anymore." Beckett pointed to the cut on his arm. "He's dead because he left his DNA at the scene. And Havisham was seen on cameras nearby."

"And they failed to retrieve the folder." Eyes turned to Castle. "I get the feeling that failure isn't tolerated much around The Gentleman."

Esposito looked at Beckett. "He has a point."

"Yeah. Who called it in?"

Lanie shook her head. "I don't know."

Ryan closed his notebook. "I'll find out. See if I can get cameras too."

"Good."

Esposito was looking up the Hudson. "I'll check the currents for the river. Maybe we can figure out where they went in."

Castle phone rang. "I was hoping this could be postponed."

"What?"

"The book tour. Gina just texted that they couldn't change anything. Not this close to the start of the tour."

"With all that's been going on, I'd forgotten that started tomorrow." Beckett bit her lower lip. "I'm not sure I can get away and go with you anymore. Not with the timeline we've been given on this case."

"You don't have to come for the whole thing. Just join me on a couple stops. You could use the break."

Esposito nodded. "We can keep digging while you're away."

She smiled. "That makes me feel a little less guilty."

"You don't take enough time to care for yourself, girl. A vacation would do you some good, even if it's only for a couple days." Lanie glanced back at her clipboard. "Okay, I'm going to take the bodies back to the morgue and get started."

"Okay, we'll check in with you in the morning."

Ryan came up to them as they left Lanie with her assistants. "The call came from a couple who are on vacation. They saw the bodies from the Hudson River Greenway. I've checked and they're already being interviewed."

"Okay, Castle and I will update the board and start digging into the third vic."

"See you back at the precinct."

Alex opened the door to her safe house to find a familiar face on her doorstep. "What are you doing here?"

"I brought the…"

Alex clapped a hand over Q's mouth. "Not here."

She closed the front door and led him up to the roof. Q carried the box up there with his mouth shut, confused by what was going on. She propped the door open so they could get back down and then checked the roof for anyone skulking around. Once she was certain things were clear, Alex returned to where Q was standing.

He was looking at her quizzically. "What was that all about?"

"I think my house is bugged. I just didn't want anyone overhearing something they shouldn't."

"I see."

Alex took the box from Q's hands and set it down. "You were supposed to leave it in a locker for me to get later."

"I didn't want to run the risk of anyone stealing it." Q glanced at the box, which was at her feet. "Aren't you going to check it?"

"I trust you. And besides, if it doesn't work, I know where to find you."

"Not anymore. Now that Sloan's been buried and I've delivered that, I have no reason to stick around."

Alex had to admit that made sense. "Has The Gentleman given you any trouble?"

He nodded. "Came to see me a couple weeks ago. As soon as I saw him, I took off my shirt. He saw the monitor and left me alone. I haven't seen him since."

"Good. Do you need any documents? I know a guy…"

"The one Sloan introduced you to, right?" Alex nodded and Q smiled. "I introduced Sloan to him. Don't worry, I'm all set."

Alex gave Q a hug. "Be careful."

Q turned to go, and then looked back. "What is that for anyway?" He was pointing to the box.

"It's part of my plan. You shouldn't worry about it."

"Sloan wouldn't want you to do this, you know."

"I'm aware of that. But he's not here anymore and this is who I am without him." Alex picked up the box. "You should go. You'll want to be far from here when things get ugly."

By the time Beckett and Castle were ready to leave for the night, Danville had matched Medvedev's prints to the unknowns in the truck. They had also discovered he too had a rap sheet, but it was from his life in Russia. The same account paying Dvorkinov and Havisham had paid for Vladimir's relocation to the U.S. as well. Like Havisham, Medvedev had dropped off the map six months ago too, right after he'd entered the country. They had to assume that The Gentleman liked to keep his men that way so they would be arrested less often.

Beckett had also worked out with Gates when she would be taking some time to travel with Castle. She would be joining him on four stops in the middle of his tour. Gates was glad Beckett was no longer taking the entire tour off, and even more excited to not see Castle in her bullpen for close to a month.

The couple left Gates's office and Castle turned back, hand outstretched to shake her hand. "Enjoy the time without me, Captain. Just know I'll miss you too."

Gates shook her head. "Goodnight, Mr. Castle."

A/N: What is Alex up to and will Beckett's team find The Gentleman? Leave a comment with your predictions! Stay tuned!