The responses from many of the state penitentiaries had come back surprisingly fast- and with it, ruling out that branch of their investigation. While there were some individuals who fit the general profile, none of them had even come close to exhibiting the violence this perpetrator had bestowed upon their victim.

Those who did rape and kill women were still incarcerated, many of them for the rest of their sorry lives. SingSing's maximum security facility reported no current prisoners that fit their description but offered to look into old records of inmates long dead just to be sure.

Throughout his research, Esposito had kept track of his partner's progress, hoping that Ryan would have more luck narrowing down their killer's vehicle and cross referencing any other missing females in the area that fit their current case.

So far, all he'd been able to hear were fervent strokes of the keyboard, paired with the occasional heavy sigh as the young detective was weeding through the vast amount of data available to them, hoping to find the few important pieces that would help with their puzzle.

Half an hour ago, Beckett and Castle had taken off to go through Parker's apartment, checking to see if there was evidence that Raquelle had been seeing somebody. They were up next for a trip to her place of employment. If they were lucky, any of the nearby cameras might have picked up a car matching the one they'd seen on the poor-quality video of the electronics shop- better yet, its driver.

When his quest reached a complete standstill, Esposito pushed his chair back to reach into his snack drawer, the inconspicuous one on the bottom right that he had labeled as "Office supplies & misc".

If nothing else, he hoped that a small KitKat would give him enough sugar to power through their visit of the gas station in question.

When he noticed his partner's change of pace, Kevin turned around, taking a moment to rub his dry eyes before facing Esposito.

"Can I have one too?"

"One what?", he teased and hid the red wrapper in his palm, trying to disguise his chewing.

"One KitKat. You honestly think I don't know what you got in that drawer down there?"

The heightened pitch in Ryan's voice caused a few weary faces to turn toward them, before the detectives resumed their work.

"I don't have a snack drawer. It's office supplies. Besides, aren't you supposedly on some diet aga-?"

"Not a diet.", Kevin interrupted and reached down to open the drawer himself, smiling broadly at the large bag of snacks at his fingertips, "Just limiting how often I go out. That really adds up at the end of the month."

"Oh."

Not bothering to say anything else while his partner raided the drawer, Esposito leaned back in his chair, thoroughly enjoying the friendly banter when he heard his phone vibrate against the wooden surface of his desk.

Stealing a glance over at the display, he froze when he recognized the number as the one belonging to Allison.

The one she had given him the night prior.

When their dinner date had extended into her hotel room.

Fighting the heat rising up either side of his neck, he feigned indifference as he waited for Ryan to retreat, the younger detective symbolically taking his time to unwrap the KitKat before indulging in it like a 5-star menu item.

"So…", he began again between bites, "How did your date go last night?"

"My…my what?", Esposito replied sheepishly and raised his eyebrows, breaking out in a cold sweat as he reached for his cell and shoved it into the pocked of his dress pants, "I didn't go out on no date."

"Are you sure? I mean, you seemed pretty interested about what time it was. And then you come in this morning and you are all…relaxed."

"I…you are wrong. I am not relaxed. And me…dating? Come on now. Besides…there's Lanie…"

Throwing her name out there as a strategic lure didn't deter Kevin who smiled at his awkward attempts to deny the undeniable.

"There's nothing wrong with dating other women while you and Lanie are taking a break…"

"I am not dating anybody, will you knock that off?"

This time it was his voice that made the others look up, some of the detectives growing impatient with the lively exchange.

"What is it again they taught us in Police Academy…the signs of lying…a change in speech pattern and speaking in sentence fragments."

"I am not…no. I am telling you that you are wrong."

"That's a definitive yes…", Kevin replied, drawing an imaginary checkmark, "Rapid breathing…"

Esposito grunted when his partner positioned himself uncomfortably close in front of him.

"Yep. Annnd you are starting to blush. It's not looking good for you, my friend. Add in the fact that you are a pathological liar when it comes to your snack drawer, and I have a pretty good case built against you. So, what's her name?"

"Work. That's her name. Let's get moving."

Keeping his expression as guarded as possible, Esposito pointed at his wristwatch, then pushed Kevin back and out of his space.

"Seriously? It's so obvious and you still won't tell me her name…?"

Ignoring his partner's remark altogether, he grabbed his jacket and headed for the elevator, hoping to God he'd come up with a good way to deflect Ryan's heightened curiosity.