Another round of harsh cold weather coming tomorrow so I will be absent for a while again. Thank you for all the support. Be safe out there!

Somebody was watching them.

Kevin could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end as they left the gas station behind, opting to keep the unmarked police car parked where it was in order to retrace some of Raquelle's last steps before she met her killer.

With the cold wind blowing through the tall buildings to either side of the road chilling him to the bone; he'd followed his partner down the sidewalk, stopping here and there to check out adjacent alleys for any signs of a struggle.

The heinous crime was wearing on both detectives as they walked in silence, each man well aware of the chance that Raquelle might not be the only victim of an unscrupulous killer who was relishing the act of desecration. This situation left no room for lightheartedness; in fact, the graphic images of her mutilated body would not leave him for the night, that much he knew.

"You really think he raped her in an alley?", Ryan asked after a while, lowering his voice somewhat when a woman pushing a stroller crossed their path.

Next to him, Esposito grunted undiscernibly, then slowed down and shrugged.

"It's the most logical place. It's isolated. Dark. Filthy. Plenty of other stuff in some of these places to hide evidence. Toss anything covered in blood into a dumpster and it might disappear in a landfill forever."

"I don't know…", Kevin noted when a strong gust ruffled the hairs on his forehead, "There had to have been screams."

"He could have gagged her with practically anything. Threw her back in the car when done and drove off."

"I think…there was more to it than that…"

His carefully spoken words raised Esposito's curiosity and the older detective glanced over at him.

"Enlighten me, Castle Junior."

"The violence…the well planned out killing and moving of the body…", Kevin began hesitantly, "This is a ritual for him. And I just don't think he's your regular rapist dragging women into an alley to violate them. This guy is doing things none of our usual suspects do. He even defiled the body after he got done, possibly keeping some of the parts for himself. This is pathological, and the worst kind of it."

He watched Esposito draw in a deep breath to rebut when his glance drifted over to the right, where an approaching set of footsteps interrupted them.

"You ehm…you look like cops."

Ryan turned around to see who the raspy voice belonged to, quickly finding himself face to face with a visibly nervous homeless man. At just under 6ft tall and barely 160lbs, the lanky man was kneading his wool beanie feverishly as he leaned down to inspect the gold badge dangling off Esposito's chest, then looking for its counterpart on the Irish detective.

"We are.", Kevin replied and reached for the badge in his coat pocket, allowing the man a few seconds to view his credentials before clearing his throat, "Can we help you with anything, Mister…?"

"Just call me Tremor.", the man replied matter-of-factly, then looked behind him as though he was worried somebody had followed him, "The…the gas station girl. Is she alright?"

The innocent question immediately set off several alarm bells and Kevin looked back over at his partner who shared the same feeling.

"From the…the Shell station down the street?", he asked in return, hoping to narrow down a potential witness testimony.

"Yes. The…the dark-haired girl. I never knew her name, but she always gave me a couple bucks for coffee on her way home. Skinny, has a pretty face. I haven't seen her in a couple of weeks since the guy…"

"What guy?"

Esposito's voice was enough to send a quiver through the man's body, causing him to knead his hat even faster.

"A white man. That's all I saw. He was in a black car and pulled over to talk to her. But she kept walking and he pulled in front of her then and got out. I didn't hear what he said but she eventually got in the car and I haven't seen her since. I am just worried."

"Is that the girl?", Ryan asked and pulled out his cellphone, carefully moving past the pictures of the body and to the one of Raquelle they had dug up from the DMV archives.

"Yes, that's her. She's the one that always treats me nice."

"Can you describe the car?", Javi interrupted urgently, lowering his voice somewhat.

"It was a black sedan, a chevy or ford maybe. That's all I can remember."

Trying to hide his disappointment on the sketchy information, Ryan pursed his lips, his mind scrambling for tactful ways to pass on the news of Raquelle's murder.

"Is there anything else you can remember about the man? Did you hear her say his name? How did he walk? Did he have a limp? What about his hair? Clothing?"

Instead of answering Esposito's intense round of questions, the man shook his head fervently, going as far as taking a step back as though he considered running off.

"I…I told you everything I remember. It was…a couple of weeks ago. On a Tuesday I believe. Late at night. But that's…that's it. I swear. Who is this guy and where is she?"

"We don't know. That's why it's so important that you tell us everything you know.", Esposito replied before Kevin had a chance too, meeting the younger detective's eyes in an unspoken request to let him do the talking.

"I know that but this guy…he gave me the creeps. Like…he is evil. I could sense it from half a block away. And I think he creeped the girl out too, but he must have said something to get her to go into his car. They drove south. It all…it all played out so fast. All I could do is stand here and watch."

"Sir, we'd like to take you to our precinct to go over everything again and record your statement. It might be instrumental to find out exactly what happened to-"

"No."

The conviction in the other man's voice surprised both detectives but only served to make Esposito grow more impatient.

"Would you mind telling us why?", the older detective challenged, "Your statement could make a difference in-"

"I said no. Officer, I told you that this guy was creepy. He was evil. And I think he knows that I saw him. He is still around…here in this neighborhood. I can feel him watching me. And I don't want him to think that I ratted him out. He'll try to do something terrible to me."

"You think something terrible happened to the girl?"

"Of course, it did. That's why you two are here, aren't you?"

This time the homeless man's question was directed at Kevin who nodded slowly.

"I am afraid so, yes."

"Then you have your answers. I told you everything I know but I don't want to be seen walking off with the cops. There's no telling what that guy could do to me."

Kevin wanted to rebut, come up with convincing reasons why it would be helpful to bring him to the station regardless, but there was one thing he could agree on with the old man; the feeling that somebody was watching him hadn't left since they arrived at the gas station.