My apologies about my recent absence. Farm life has been hilariously busy. Stay safe everyone!

"We traced the number back to a burner phone. I should have it pinged in a couple of minutes at least.", Ryan explained, his mouth dry, heart racing as he held up the piece of paper in his shaking hand.

His findings were no surprise by any stretch of the imagination, and judging by the tired faces greeting him, they were just further proof that their worthy opponent had one-up'ed them once more.

Worse yet, another innocent soul had fallen prey to his murderous deeds.

Esposito's search party had come up empty-handed; the buildings across the street void of any traces of their suspect.

It left them grasping at a single straw, a cheap phone bought off the streets, used as a carrot dangling in front of their eyes.

Four people…four intelligent, experienced, outside-the-box-thinking people and they still hadn't caught him.

It made frustrations bubble through the still waters of his level-headed mind, making him question if they had tackled this case wrong from the beginning; their failures now adding up to another victim.

Four.

Four young women dead; murdered in the most brutal and terrifying fashion. And all they had to show for was a goddamn burner phone.

By the time he joined the team, he saw Esposito reach for his cell, those brown eyes clouded with worry.

With his formal greeting reduced to an impatient grunt, he listened to the message on the other end, enduring everyone's expecting stares as they followed along, hoping for more info.

By the time he hung up, Kevin felt his own cell rattle in his pocket, hoping and praying he wouldn't be the next recipient of gory pictures.

"Yo, one of the unis just called in. His informant saw a guy matching our suspect enter an apartment building on 180th and Prospect."

"180th…that's right down the road from his room…", Castle muttered, then quieted down when Kevin raised a warning hand.

"The coordinates for the burner phone just came in as well. They were traced back to 180th and Mapes, right by the ballfield."

With a determined nod, Beckett reached for her coat, then headed toward the elevators, her team on her heels.

"Let's get moving and see if we can catch him in the act."