"His prints aren't in the system…", Ryan said as he passed the few desks toward Beckett's, holding the CSU printout in one hand.
"That's surprising. I was really hoping for a hit.", she replied and accepted the paper with a grateful nod.
"No. He's too smart for that.", Castle said instead and ran his hand across the width of the murder board, "Somebody who can orchestrate all of this…he's not going to get caught doing petty crimes. Look at the way he's been playing with us since the beginning. He's very comfortable at what he is doing. Considering his past, he had to grow up when he was very young and taught himself how to navigate life. That's where the anger and resentment came from. So he began to envision different scenarios on how to get back at his mother for what she did to him. I honestly think he spent most of his time setting up for this killing spree, hoping to release some of that pent up hatred each time he murders. Stumbling across the Michigan Murders may have been the conduit he needed to let it all out."
Beckett was about to reply when Ryan cleared his throat.
"Well, I said I didn't find his prints in the system, I do however have an ID."
With a victorious smile, the young detective held up the other piece of paper in his hand, before attaching it to the murder board.
"I called the shop where our suspect is said to be working and the owner sent me this image from a company party. So I took a picture and texted it to the patrol guys from the Hughes residence. It was a positive ID. Say hello to one Daniel James Harrison. Twenty-eight years old. He's been working at that shop for ten years. The owner swears up and down that he's a good kid and wouldn't touch a soul. He said he has him drive the cars that come in for repair, to check them for problems. He's not in the DMV database so my guess is he's got a fake license."
Standing up, Beckett studied the smiling face for many long moments, taking in every nuance of the fairly ordinary features of their murder suspect. Short black hair, squared jaws, a dimple on his chin…they were the only things standing out for the curious onlooker.
"Yo, I just talked to the set of uniforms we sent over to his apartment. He's not there. CSU is going through it right now."
Esposito stopped next to Ryan, taking a second to stare at the picture as if to curse it silently.
"Let's distribute this to all the patrols in the area. Let's get a couple teams of uniforms together to canvass the area, talk to store owners, see if he has a pattern. Kevin, is the shop owner able to send over the account he was using to pay him? We can trace his movements that way."
"That's a dead end.", Ryan replied swiftly, "He's paid him under the table all these years. Said it's a hassle but the kid is good so he thought it was worth it."
"Let's be careful. This guy has been flying under the radar for quite some time. He's not going to come out of his hideout because we're shaking some door knobs…"
Upon her comment, Castle shook his head, meeting those lifeless cold brown eyes staring back at him from the picture.
"No, he only comes out on his terms. When he can control the situation. He gets his kicks out of messing with people, of…of seeing the fear in their eyes. That's his drive behind all of this. Chaos, confusion and death."
"I have a call into social services to see if they have anything on him. Peter said he had an abusive past so hopefully we'll be able to dig up something that will help us foretell his next steps."
Ryan, visibly running on all cylinders, turned back around to head to his desk, immediately checking for new emails before sitting back down.
It left his partner staring absent-mindedly at the board, until Beckett got his attention with a wave of the hand.
"So…the alarm didn't go off this morning?"
With a sheepish smile, Esposito nodded, his eyes remaining strangely distant.
"Something like that."
Unwilling to go into further detail, he spun around on his heels and returned to his desk, his pace not matching his partner's sense of urgency.
"Must be that new girlfriend…", Castle said with a wily smile, then let his eyes drift back to the bouquet of lilacs and the dark meaning behind it.
Deep inside he hoped and prayed that this didn't mean they were about to stumble across two more bodies and that Harrison was simply playing with them.
But he knew better than to wish for the best.