Genre: Crime, Drama, Family, Romance, Humor

Rating: M for violence, language and sexual situations

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters featured on the show Castle, they belong to the creator of the show, ABC, and the others who do own them.

A/N #1: I was really happy to get the reviews I did for the last chapter, so want to get to my thank yous for that. vetgirlmx (Had to laugh a little bit at your reaction to the end of the chapter, but you had questions that made sense of course. Plus don't blame you for that reaction either, though I might get that from someone, lol. Also the same with your speculation at the start there; not surprised at what you said there either. Really laughed when you mentioned Tarantino, 'cause I have never seen any of his movies, lol, so the fact the victim count in this story is comparable to him is a funny coincidence, lol. But glad you like that part of this storyline. Really happy you liked the twist with the previous band, and more so that you compared it to what they do on the show, 'cause I tried to do that! And sorry about the cliffhanger, but I gotta write them to make sure the story stays interesting. And I am so happy you want to read more already, now you can!), Beckett-Castle4ever (Was really nice to see that I write the crime scenes so well you can see it in your mind. Definitely what I was trying to do so I'm happy to read that!), pcol22 (Glad to see you enjoyed the chapter of course. And not surprised to see your speculation about the mom and also the manager, I expected it. Things will be explained though, don't worry! And really happy seeing that you want to read this next chapter, which you can now!), life's a mystery (I was happy to read that you're finding this story interesting, of course, always hoping to get that in any feedback I can get!) and sammysgirl78 (Happy seeing you liked the last chapter, and enjoyed what was in it. Glad that you found the other band interesting, was aiming for that when I'd thought of it, same with the fifth victim. And it's great to see that everything with that is making you wanting to read further with the case so see what'll happen. Not surprised you mentioned the graduation again, plus the date and Father's Day, lol, but also with that, nice because it means that you want to read more with that. And speaking of that, now you can read some more!). Again, need to say thanks to those of you that reviewed the last chapter. I loved reading each review and I of course appreciate the time taken to write each one out!

Majoring In Medicine

Watching Porter as he spoke with a doctor down the hall, Castle said, "I'm still confused, how did his mom find his car? In an alley no less."

"That's why we need to see if we can talk to Mrs. Porter," Beckett said simply. "Doctor," she said as the woman walked over to them. "How is she?"

"She's doing very well considering she was beat up pretty severely," the doctor replied. "She's been asking for her son though."

"Mr. Porter," Beckett said quickly, as the man was standing next to the door to the room his mother was in. "I'm sorry, but I need to go in with you when you see your mother."
"Do you not trust her?" Porter asked in surprise.

"I'd just like to hear her story first hand," Beckett said.

"Okay sure, but, could we go now?" the man asked.

"She has some bruising and lacerations, a few stitches here and there," the doctor said. "But she's pretty tough; she's a nurse here after all."
"Here?" Castle asked in surprise.

"Just a moment," Beckett said quickly. She took her fiancé's arm and led him back down the hall. "Call Ryan back from the car, tell him he needs to look into this guy our first vic met here at the hospital again." When he'd gone to the waiting room she turned back around and walked over to Porter and the doctor and said, "I'm sorry, there might be something for my case. So besides that she's doing fine?" as they paused at the closed door.

"She is, she should be able to speak to both of you, and I'll allow her to leave whenever you're finished Detective," the doctor said.

Following Porter inside the room, Beckett hung back close to the door to watch as the man rushed to the bed, hugging his mother tightly.

"I was so scared Ma," Porter was saying. "Asked Tina to check on you but she said you'd left for the market for lunch."

"I know, I lied, I got…" Mrs. Porter started to say, trailing off when she caught sight of Beckett.

"Mrs. Porter, I'm Detective Beckett," she said quickly, walking over to the bed. "I'm glad to see you're doing alright."
"So am I," Mrs. Porter said. "Is Wes here in trouble?"

"No, Ma, Jace was killed," Porter explained.

"What?" Mrs. Porter asked, turning very pale before lying back against the bed.

"We have reason to believe the person who attacked you may have been involved," Beckett said, hesitating slightly as she heard the click of the door opening behind her. "We'd like to hear what happened to you, in as much detail as you can remember."

"I was eating lunch at home, and got a phone call from a man who said he was a friend of yours," Mrs. Porter said, looking at her son. "He said that you'd found your car, and that you wanted me to join you since I was with you in Ocean City… though I wasn't there when it was stolen. That the police would like to talk to me," she quickly amended.

"And you went, didn't call me?" Porter asked, not scolding, but just surprised.

"I did, the voice sounded so familiar, I wasn't sure," Mrs. Porter said, tears in her eyes. "So I went and I tried to call you when I reached the alley where the car was, but you didn't answer."

"I must have been on my way to the police station," Porter said, looking at Beckett. "I had it on silent for my appointment, but I did see you called, I tried calling back, but like I said, I couldn't get a hold of you."

"What did you do next Mrs. Porter," Beckett asked, to get their attention back to the attack.

"Yes, well, I went to the car, as I could see someone inside in the passenger seat, and I thought it was my son," Mrs. Porter said. "But when they stepped out, it was a man, a tall man in a hood, with huge sunglasses, and then a bandana around his mouth. He had a gun, and told me not to yell for help or else he would shoot me. And he made me get closer… and then hit me on the head here," she said, indicating the bruise on her temple. "When I fell he just started hitting me over and over and over. I don't know what made him stop, but eventually he did and ran off."

"So were you unable to see anything of your attacker?" Beckett asked. "I know they had their face completely hidden, but anything would help."

"All except their nose," Mrs. Porter said. "It was long, a bump right here at the bridge. "I noticed that pretty quickly as I was walking to him while he was holding the gun on me."

"Did he have an accent?" Castle asked from behind Beckett.

"No, just a very gravelly voice," Mrs. Porter replied, shaking her head. "It was a little disturbing."

"I'm wondering, if you could tell me if you know this woman?" Beckett asked, showing her the picture of their last victim she'd brought with them to the hospital.

"I… yes, it's Eva," Mrs. Porter said. "Why… oh no. Wes, don't tell me that she's…" she started to say, looking at her son before she burst into tears.

"I'm sorry Ma," Porter said with a frown. "They were friends; she was kind of an assistant to Eva when Jace and I were with the Silver Hammers. Can I take her home now?"

"Does your building have a secured entrance?" Beckett asked Mrs. Porter.

"Yeah, a doorman," she said, taking the tissue her son handed her to wipe her cheeks.

"Okay, then I'd like you to go to your mother's apartment with her," Beckett told Porter. "I'll have an officer in the lobby. And I'm wondering if I could ask if Mr. Basingstoke and Mr. Yates could stay with you for the time being? For their protection as well."

"Yes, oh… uh, sorry Ma," Porter said. "Is-"

A little surprised at the way the man had blanched; Castle looked at his mother and saw the frown on her face. "Do you not get along with the rest of the band Mrs. Porter?" he asked, seeing his fiancée glance slightly over her shoulder towards him.

"No, no, I do, it's just I hate that this band has taken my son away from me," Mrs. Porter replied. "He tours so much… but no, I do not want those two to be harmed; I would never forgive myself. They can stay with us as long as they need."

"Then you can check her out Mr. Porter," Beckett said to him. "Just allow me to get an escort for you and to set everything up before I let you leave."

Holding the door open for her, Castle watched his fiancée go down the hall while talking to the station on her phone. He saw Ryan approaching them, and he hurried to pass Beckett to talk to him first so she could finish her conversation. "Anything new?" he asked.

"Yeah, CSU is in the men's locker room, looking at the locker of the guy our first vic dated," Ryan replied. "Found this in the false bottom of it," he said, showing Castle a picture on his phone.

"A fake mustache?" Beckett asked, standing behind him.

"And color contacts," Ryan replied. "They're an extra set. But other than that… I don't have much to tell you that I didn't tell you when I first looked into this guy. But they said he had a gravelly voice, if that helps. Did she… she did," he said, trailing off at Castle and Beckett's slightly surprised expressions. "So what else did she say?" he then asked, nodding behind them.

"Could only see the nose of her attacker," Beckett replied. "I'll have to call the sketch artist if Espo is still at the car."

"He is," Ryan said before he looked past them.

Turning, Castle and Beckett watched as the Porters came up to them, and she quickly said, "An officer is on his way, he'll escort you home. Do you have a landline Mrs. Porter?"

"No, just a cell phone," the woman said.

"Alright, then I would ask if you'd not answer any calls from numbers you don't know," Beckett said. "And should you do get a call, I need you to call this number; mine; so we can trace it and see if your attacker is trying to bring you out into the open again."

"Of course, thank you Detective," Mrs. Porter said.

"Officer Hirsh is here," Castle murmured to his fiancée.

"Good thing the car was so close to the hospital," Ryan said. "Ma'am," he then said to Mrs. Porter. "My name is Detective Ryan, I'm investigating the case along with Detective Beckett, Mr. Castle here and another partner, I'm wondering if you know a Bob Kentwood? He worked here at the hospital."

"Not really, I work in the neo-natal ward," Mrs. Porter said. "Never met anyone by that name."

"Okay, I was just wondering," Ryan said.

"Ma'am, sir, if you'll follow me, we can head back to your apartment," Officer Hirsh said to the two.

"So this Kentwood," Beckett said once the others were gone. "Did he have a nose that had been broken at some point, was kind of long?" she asked Ryan.
"No, it was a long nose, but it kind of tilted up and was smooth from bridge to tip," he replied. "Taking a chance, I showed the nurses that knew this guy pictures of the entire band, and no luck."

"Let's get back to the Precinct, we need to update the murder board, and come at this another way, because how we're going at the moment, we're not going to be so lucky that our next victim is attacked instead of killed," Beckett said with a sigh before she led the two men to the elevators.

"Alright, checking again on Bob Kentwood, nothing new to report," Ryan said, coming into the conference room where Castle and Beckett had been quietly talking to each other, Castle facing her and both of them with serious expressions on their faces as he turned around. "…Am I interrupting something?" he asked.

"No, what do you have?" Beckett asked quickly. She glanced at her fiancé as he stepped away from her and turned around. They'd been talking about their supposed date that night, trying to make sure they knew what they were going to do once they "discovered" each other at the restaurant. She tried to focus on what Ryan was saying, but found it a little hard. "So obviously he posed as an intern, but I'm wondering how easily he was hired," she said after he'd told them Kentwood had a brand new ID card and social security number.

"Unfortunately, the hospital is strapped for interns and nurses, so they were desperate, he was under a probation for two months though," Ryan said. "Luckily he knew what he was doing, so… he didn't kill anyone through malpractice."

"You know," Castle said, having sat at the table while Ryan had been talking. "I'm wondering about the two vics he chose from the hospital."

"A connection there?" Beckett asked. She breathed out deeply as she considered that, and then nodded. "There could be," she said as she picked up a marker and began to write down Manhattan General, along with the names of their first vic and then Mrs. Porter. "And then there's the Silver Hammers."

"What if," Castle said, standing up and going to stand next to her. "The killer was someone associated… somehow with the Silver Hammers and was also a doctor or nurse at Manhattan General?"

"Motive?" Ryan asked, sharing a look with Beckett when Castle didn't speak for a while.

"He's doing something illegal…" he began before trailing off slowly. "The concerts this band must have done," he said, tapping the old band's name. "Maybe he passed out drugs, and the manager; Eva Kellogg; caught him and had him arrested. This is revenge. No, actually Jason Sunderland caught him, and he and his lover, Kellogg, had him arrested, with Mrs. Porter helping at some point."

"I can call Mrs. Porter," Ryan suggested.

"I need to, since she's likely only going to realize she can trust my number," Beckett corrected him. She took her phone out of her pocket, pausing at the time for a moment before she started to dial the number they had for the woman.

"You could call her first," Castle suggested, looking at his watch at her pause.

"This comes first for now," Beckett said. "Then I call her, but before five and Lanie comes over."

"Oh yeah, I wanted to ask about that, why is she going over?" Castle asked.

"Why are you being so nosy?" Beckett shot back though she wasn't really that negative in her tone. "Mrs. Porter?" she then said as the woman picked up the phone. "Yes, this is Detective Beckett, thank you for answering. I'm wondering if there was ever an instance while you were with the Silver Hammers band where there was drug dealing going on at the concerts or else… okay, are the other two men there?" She nodded though the woman couldn't see it, and then hung up saying, "No drugs, at least not as far as they knew."

"Didn't hurt to try," Castle said.

"No, but we're at zero, no suspect, and the threat of another murder," Beckett said with a heavy sigh. "Esposito needs to get back here, now."

"Ask and ye shall receive," Castle said. When his fiancée gave him a look he nodded outside the room, to where their partner was approaching the doorway, carrying something in his hands.

"You found the box?" Beckett asked, recognizing the shape as the one in the picture taken at Sunderland's apartment.

"Our Ark of the Covenant?" Castle then added, earning him a quick jab to the side from his fiancée. "Sorry, it pretty much is. Anything could be in there, I'm betting the Holy Grail."

"Well, whatever's in it, it's kind of heavy," Esposito said, setting the box onto the table. "And locked pretty securely, as you can see."
Turning the dials at the top, Beckett saw they were all letters and not numbers. "A password lock," she said.

"It's a codex," Castle said in amazement. "I wonder if there's a vial of vinegar in here, and if we try to force it open, it'll break and dissolve everything inside."

"I don't think so, there something hard inside of it, so it wouldn't dissolve," Esposito said as Beckett tried the word silver, since there were six dials.

"I need to call Mr. Porter now," she said as there was no click to let them know she'd been correct. She dialed the number for the man, and after speaking with him she hung up telling the three men waiting, "He doesn't know, no idea that Sunderland had this box either. So for the time being," she said as she grabbed Castle's wrist; since he'd been fiddling with the letters and had just spelled out brooms; with her index finger and thumb and pulled it off the box. "Tell us what we have with the car; and was this dusted for prints?"

"It was; no prints though. Why brooms dude?" Esposito asked.

"From Paul's song Broomsticks, had that stuck in my head for a while," Castle said, glancing at Beckett who he could see was fighting a smile; knowing she'd guessed he'd listened to that with their daughter while helping her get dressed.

"Okay, so with the car, it was in great shape; can understand why Porter was so happy it got found," Esposito continued. "CSU spent a good chunk of time dusting every surface they could reach and-"

"Nothing?" Ryan, Castle and Beckett said together.

"Pretty much," Esposito said. "Found some hairs, but they'll need to get a sample from Porter to see if it's his hair."
"I wouldn't be surprised if they were," Ryan said. "If this killer's trying to set up Porter…"

"That would make sense," Castle said as Beckett nodded in agreement. "He killed Sunderland; and everyone else; why not have everyone think it's his band mate and long time friend, though they weren't chummy, according to him."

"Though we have a solid alibi, Porter going to his girlfriend's apartment once back in the city and not leaving until his dentist appointment," Beckett commented. "Anything else Espo?"

"Not really," he said. "Not until we got to the trunk," Esposito told them while he was opening a file he'd had on top of the box. "This is what it looked like when it was first opened. And each item separately of course."

"The box, a blanket," Castle said as Beckett went through the pictures. "A notebook… do you have that?"

"CSU took it, but they let me open it up and had a picture taken," Esposito said.

"A picture?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah, a picture," Beckett said before Esposito could answer. "The killer just had these two pages filled out." She tilted the picture towards Castle and Ryan, so they could see the drawings of guitars and a silver hammer, colored in with a colored pencil.

"Huh, he's a good artist, but creepy at the same time," Castle commented.

"Okay, so that was it, well, we know one thing," Beckett said, handing the picture to Ryan to put up on the board. "The killer's been sleeping in the car. But we're a little out of luck with the car itself."

"Tried to find it but…" Esposito said before trailing off.

"I'm not surprised you didn't," Beckett said, nodding her head. She sighed and said, "Alright, we've been working pretty steadily for a while now. Take a five minute break, and then let's get back to this case, we'll go from the start again, and hope we won't get another interruption." With that she left the room and went to the break room, getting a bottle of water before jerking slightly when her phone shook.

"What is it?" Castle asked, coming into the room seeing her looking at her phone.

"Where are they?" Beckett asked.

"At their desks," Castle said. "Esposito got some soda for them before we had to go to the hospital and car."

Nodding, Beckett said, "It's Miss Amber's number." She dialed back the missed call, and said, "Miss Amber?"

"Yes, Ms. Beckett, your daughter was very insistent that I let you know she got here to class alright," the dance teacher said, a smile tingeing her tone. "And that she has her overnight bag."

"And I love Mommy too," Julia whispered loudly in the background.

"Put her on if that's alright," Beckett said, sharing a smile with Castle before looking at her watch.

"Hi Mommy!" Julia said. "Is Castle there?"

"I'm here sweetheart," Castle said, looking towards the door.

"Hi, I'm here, and gonna dance soon, I'll call you when I am at Celia's, is that okay?" Julia asked.

"It is sweetie; your aunt is going to be with me when you call okay?" Beckett said.

"Kay, but will you and Castle call me when you can talk?" Julia pleaded.

"Of course," Beckett said, Castle echoing her words. "You better go so Miss Amber can start the class sweetie, but we'll talk to you later and see you tomorrow okay?"

"Kay, love you Mommy, bye! Bye Castle," Julia said. "Here Miss Amber, thank you," she said, not hanging up the phone.

"Ms. Beckett?" Miss Amber said.

"Yes," Beckett replied, trying not to laugh as they could hear their daughter humming a song in the background.

"I better go, the class is about to start," Miss Amber replied.

"Thank you for letting her speak with us, hope it's a good class," Beckett told the woman before they said goodbye to each other and hung up. "What was that song she was humming?" she asked her fiancé.

"Uh… don't remember… okay, it was Blackpool," Castle said, finally giving up and saying the name in exasperation. "Come on Kate, that song is completely harmless, she had no idea what was going on in it, she just loves the music."

"Yes, but the lyric let me tell you how I like them?" Beckett asked, arching her eyebrow at him as she gave him a look.

"Honestly, she doesn't understand that," Castle said. "She was pretending to play the guitar, it was so sweet, I should have filmed it. Though she didn't know the chords…"

"The guitar," Beckett said as he trailed off and they looked at each other in realization before they rushed out of the break room back to the conference room together, getting Ryan and Esposito's attention immediately.

"You dropped your water Beckett," Esposito said as he and Ryan walked to the doorway to the room.

"Have you guys lost it?" Ryan asked as the two were looking at the picture of the notebook on the murder board.

"We're trying to work this out," Castle said hurriedly. "Did they get it right?"

"No, I have no idea what song they're playing here," Beckett said as they were looking at the markings on the necks of the guitars drawn. "Search for chords to the song, so I can have that as a reference just in case."

Sharing a look, Ryan and Esposito walked further into the room, glancing at each other a second time as a song started playing through Beckett's phone.

"I thought-" Esposito started to say.

"Shh, we need to hear this first verse," Castle said hurriedly as Beckett restarted the song.

"D first," Beckett said, watching Castle turn the first lock to that letter. She repeated the same line, and then said, "A… no, wait…" She formed a chord with her fingers and shook her head saying, "B, then Em."

"Should I put m too?" Castle asked.

"Just E, next is A7," Beckett said as the last lyric of the song played for a third time. "Okay, last is D and A." She went to the box as Castle put in the last letter and the top of the box popped open. Before anyone could touch the cover, she hurried out to grab some gloves, throwing the rest to the boys and her fiancé before putting on her own pair.

"I'd tell you not to look… never mind," Castle said as Beckett took the cover off. "I thought he threw those away," he said as the first thing she took out was a stack of letters.

"You're assuming they're from that so called stalker," Ryan said, he and Esposito standing to see what was inside the box as well.

"They're not from a stalker," Beckett said, having opened the first envelope. She set down the first letter, and let them read the note, made from cut out letters.

"Who does this anymore? Thought that died out, especially these days," Castle said.

"I think you might want to read what it says bro," Esposito said.

"I saw that already," Castle said simply. "I'm a speed reader remember. So he was being blackmailed," he directed to Beckett. "But for what?"

"Money," Beckett said simply, reading the second letter which asked for it specifically. "Did we check Sunderland's financials beyond the past couple days?"

"Not really, there wasn't much of a need to," Ryan said. "But I'll get on that once we empty the box."

"Maybe he didn't need to pay. And by the way, I meant what the blackmailer was holding against him," Castle said, taking a manila envelope out of the box. He handed it to his fiancée, watching her pull out a stack of photographs. "Ah, that would be sufficient reason to blackmail him," he said when they saw Sunderland in the pictures, leaning in to kiss Mrs. Porter.

"That's a little…" Ryan said.

"Gross, yeah, that's pretty gross, he's only a few years older than her son," Esposito said.

"But you realize a picture of a kiss isn't going to reveal that much," Beckett said. "They never do kiss, the pictures stop before that."

"She makes a good point," Ryan said.

"Think Mrs. Porter would say if you asked her?" Castle asked. "Though you realize the blackmailer could have just held back those pictures of any kiss."

"No, he didn't," Beckett said. "And I also know now why we're assuming the killer is the blackmailer."

"What'd you find?" Esposito asked.

"The last letter, about two weeks ago. You two checked his mail recently, right?" Beckett asked.

"Yeah, about a week's worth," Ryan said, remembering going to a neighbor's who'd gotten the mail for their vic. "And we didn't find anything looking like that envelope."

"What does it say?" Castle asked. "And another question, where was the band then?"

"I can check," Esposito said.

"I can call Yates or Basingstoke," Beckett said to stop him. She set down the last letter, and then leaned over to read it, seeing it simply said, Washington Park, third bench from playground. "Does that place have security cameras?"

"I'll look into it," Esposito said quickly.

"Can you check Sunderland's financials around the… fourth?" Beckett asked Ryan. When he'd left she reached into the box again and took out a spiral notebook saying, "Beside some photo albums at the bottom that's it."

"It is? Well, I guess that's the more important stuff he'd want hidden, since it was stuffed way back in this guy's closet," Castle said.

"Castle," Beckett said warningly as he stood next to her a little closely as she opened the notebook.

"They're busy," Castle said simply, though he scooted back over slightly. He expected a reply to that, but getting none, he glanced at her and then quickly down at what she was looking at in the notebook. "That's…" he began before trailing off.

"Our new suspect list," Beckett said, looking at the very first page, a picture of a group of people and written along the bottom Silver Hammers August-October '09.