a/n: Clarification will be added the next Chapter. Yesh, I know it took awhile, I've been enjoying my summer. = ] Reviews are rays of sunshine. (cheesy x100000)

The sun was only beginning to set when they arrived on the crime scene. It would have been beautiful, really, the magnificent golden rays reflecting off the buildings as a rusty bronze was 'calendar picture' worthy. The only thing throwing off the scenery was the yellow caution tape surrounding the fountain in the middle of the campus, and not to mention the dead body lying halfway in the fountain, and halfway out.

The victim looked about twelve years old, much younger than the other two. Kate frowned, and watched as Castle followed suit, tilting his head to look at the body. Her eyes were closed, her face seemingly content as if simply asleep. Comparable to as if somebody would come and wake her up at any second, and tell her that she was late for class, and at that very moment she would stretch out of the water, and march away.

The killing would have been bloody, omitting the fact that the fountain was still running, and the water, though slightly red, had mostly washed the body clean.

"Beckett." Greeted Ryan who was standing by the fountain with a bored look on his face.

"Ryan. Is there a way we can turn this fountain off?" She asked, indicating to the water still running.

"I'll get right on it." He said, roaming away in the opposite direction of the crime scene.

"What happened here?" Castle stole the words out of her mouth.

Lanie was standing by the fountain herself, arms crossed, waiting for the water to turn off before she looked like she went dancing in the rain. Kate's friend looked at her before answering the question. "I can't really tell, not just yet." She replied honestly, shrugging her shoulders. "Did you talk to the parents?" She asked, continuing the conversation.

"We managed to talk to Mrs. Acorde, Jason's mother. Apparently, his father moved to California not too long ago. We're planning on trying to get a hold of him by phone." Kate answered.

"Haven't talked to the first victim's folks?"

"No. We know they reside in Jersey, but everything's been happening so fast." Castle answered the question instead of Beckett.

"Any suspects?"

"We haven't confirmed any yet. Routini's alibi was broken…"

"Beckett – we got the water." Ryan cut her off mid-sentence, and grinned, looking like he was proud of himself. Beckett mentally rolled her eyes, 'someone's been hanging around Castle way too much.' She thought to herself. As if on cue, Lanie made her way over to the body, and knelt over it, taking samples with minute tools.

"How long is this going to take?" Castle asked out of nowhere, sounding like an impatient ten year old.

"Castle, this could take awhile, just be patient." Kate replied annoyed.

"Well, I was going to say, we could question Routini now, and come back later to take a look again, and then we could go to both the victim's families." He said. Kate looked up at him.

"Let me just get another look real fast, okay?" She asked, bending over next to Lanie.

Kate bent over the body, slipping on gloves, and poking and prodding at the clothing for anything suspicious.

"Let's get her ID, see if she was a student here, or someone visiting or something or other. We'll find out how she's connected to the other victims, and we'll go from there." With that said, she stood up and brushed pass Castle without another word, and naturally, he tailed behind, texting as he went.

Routini's office was adorned with awards of sorts and photos of alumni. The desk was neat, papers stacked carefully on top of each other. A silver plaque that read 'New York City Ballet,' occupied the area above the many filing cabinets

"Detective, whatever it is, please be quick about it, I have a flight to catch." Routini sounded grim, just as he did last time, but he looked slightly more comfortable in the environment of his own office.

"How quick, and smoothly this goes depends on your answer to the questions." Beckett replied a merciless look quickly swept across her face.

"Go on." Routini looked at her, matching her look.

"Where were you between the hours of four and six a.m. last Thursday?"

"Aren't we repetitive? I was sleeping. If you don't remember, I'm sure your little puppy over there will." He said, looking over to Castle who had a scowl on his face.

"You know what, my kitten and I think otherwise." She watched as Castle's jaw dropped.

"A cat is he now? What did he do that was disloyal? Ex-lover?" Routini smirked.

"If you want to be finished with this, I advise you answer the questions honestly." She said.

"What makes you think that my answers are fallacious?"

"A witness supplied us with the information that you were backstage during that time."

"Let's assume it's true."

"Is it?" Beckett looked at Castle who was being abnormally quiet, probably still recovering from the 'cat' and 'puppy' comments.

"We're assuming."

"Alright. So we're assuming you were backstage at that time. What are we assuming you were doing?" She crossed her arms across her chest.

"If I were backstage at the time, I would be talking to the ballet mistress, Petrova." He replied.

"Alright, what would you be talking to her about?"

"Juliet. The black swan from the other night's performance."

"Why would you be discussing Juliet?"

"We would be deliberating about how she wasn't suited for the part, or to be onstage at all. Especially on opening night."

"If you were backstage, why would you tell us that you were asleep?" Castle spoke this time, he had recovered.

"Because if I were backstage, and let's say that Petrova disagreed with me, I would have to talk to somebody, and I would have to have her off stage one way or another."

"So the bleeding was no accident?"

"If I were backstage at the time, no it would not be."

"If she was cut before she got on stage, why would she still go on?"

"Because she would know it was an accident, she would know better, and just do the ten minute dance." He had begun to stand up.

"Would you be worried about the reputation of the school?"

"No. The school always redeems itself. Such as California this week, I intend of watching some of the students take home another award."

"You told us you hand pick your dancers, if Juliet was that bad why is she in the company?"

"She was in corps. However, Petrova had her promoted some months ago. She's not actually that terrible, but Julliard needed to see a strong opening performance, with some of our youth dancers in a strong part…"

"Petrova refused to let Lily play lead?"

"In a sense, I owe a great deal to her mother, so I did what I had to do. I have a flight to catch, a flock of impatient dancers to deal with, and an award to win, and not to mention a school to keep on top. See yourself out." He said, motioning to the door. Neither Beckett nor Castle argued as they turned around walking out the door.

"You think he had something to do with the murder?" Castle asked.

"Hard to say, do you?" Kate replied.

"Is Kate Beckett really asking for her pet cat's opinion?" Castle raised his eyebrows.

"I don't know, Kitten, you tell me." She smirked.

"I think he's like Lily, nothing to do with it. We're looking too closely. Analyzing too deeply, we need to see the outside people." Castle said professionally, following her through the crowd of students.

"Well, we'll see."

They arrived back at the original crime scene, and Esposito and Ryan were standing there, questioning a red-headed guy who looked like he knew something about the victim. Kate could tell because immediately after they dismissed the boy, Ryan looked at Esposito with a quizzical look.

"What have we got?" Beckett formed a triangle with the two; Castle came up from behind, changing it into a trapezoid of some sort.

"Well," Esposito began, tossing Beckett the wallet, which she opened.

"Verity Miller." A small school ID sat inside with a couple of dollars.

"We figured she wasn't mugged because she was a middle school student. Her school's a couple blocks from here, so she must've walked over here for something, and someone had an eye on her."

"Connection to the other victims?" Beckett asked.

"None yet. Boy that just walked by said he saw her come by every once in awhile. He said that she came around after school with a pink skateboard, and a bright blue helmet."

"So someone at this school could have easily targeted her."

"Or someone outside." Castle reminded, referring back to his comment on the 'outer circle.'

"Should we go see the parents?" Esposito asked, hoping to push the case forward.

"I guess so, Ryan, do you have the addresses?" She asked.

"Yeah, boss." He said, snapping his fingers, and turning around to walk to the car.

"I thought you liked to break the news." Castle teased as they began to make their way across the campus.

"Nobody likes to, 'break the news,' Castle." She rolled her eyes.

"Then where are we going?"

"I need to talk to Lily, see if she knew this one too."

"I thought you said she didn't do it."

"No, I still don't think she did, but whoever did, knew her."

"Beckett, she's one of the best dancers in the school, of course people know her."

"Someone who knows her a little bit too well."

"Kate, she's had like what, a million and two boyfriends?"

"And you've had like what, a million three girlfriends? Do you remember them all? Vividly? Remember who they dated before you, their friends, who they talked to?" He scrunched up his face at her words. "Point." She said, and continued to walk on. They entered the studio they were in not so long ago. The dancers looked the same, clad in their navy blue leotards as if time had reversed itself.

"Are you a flying blue whale? A cow, perhaps, a flying cow, or a cow jumping off a cliff, is that, Isabella, what you are?" They intruded the class just as the teacher was screaming at the young girl doing jumps across the floor. Trying their best not to divert the class more than it looked like they already had, the two made their way across the floor to the screaming teacher.

"Detective Beckett, NYPD, we need to talk to your student, Lily." Beckett's eyes panned the room for the girl, but she was no where in site.

"Goodness interrupted the class just to talk to Lily who isn't even in this room. She takes company class. Upstairs, two doors down the hall, to the right. Massive room, lots of mirrors, can't miss it. Let's try again!"

"How do you think, it would be to grow up in an environment like this?" Castle asked spontaneously.

"I don't know, Castle, you see, I didn't quite grow up in an environment like this. Similar, but not exactly." She rolled her eyes as she gripped the handrail.

"It must be hard…"

"You know what's hard?!" She asked, frustrated with herself now.

"I could think of a couple answers to that…" He replied, smirking.

"Castle! Listen! We've been on this case for three whole days. Three different people are dead. A young girl is dead. We're still standing on square one. If we get anywhere within the next twelve hours, I will be a very, very angry woman!" Her voice was low, and she punctuated every syllable of each word.

"Yes ma'am." He said his smirk was now a flat line on his face.

The classroom was quiet when they arrived. Suitcases and duffle bags lined the walls, and each of the dancers were conversing quietly amongst themselves.

"Where are you guys going?" Castle asked, without any acknowledgement to Kate. He scanned the room for the teacher, but there clearly wasn't one, just the company and some of their youth members.

"We're going to a competition. In California." Replied a girl with platinum blonde hair. By this time, Kate had found Lily sitting in the corner, tucking her pointe shoes neatly away in her bag, and talking to the red-headed boy from earlier, and Emma.

"Lily, we need to ask you a few questions if you don't mind."

"Fuck my life." She said, rolling her eyes, standing up and following them out into the empty hallway.

"Do you recognize this girl?" Beckett held out the picture of the twelve year old victim from earlier.

"Um, I recognize her helmet?" She replied, taking the picture from Kate's hand and turning it in different angles.

"That's it? No name?"

"Nada. Sorry, Detective."

"You said you recognized her helmet? What do you mean?"

"She came by like everyday after school with her skateboard."

"Do you have any idea why she would be coming by every day? She didn't go to school here did she?"

"No. She didn't. I don't know. Siblings? Crush? I have no idea. Why are you asking me?" She furrowed her brows, and blew a stray hair out of her face in frustration.

"Because, Lily, you seem to be the only connection between the two victims."

"Me? Great. You think I killed three fucking people?"

"No. We don't, but you could really help on this case."

"Listen. I would love to help, but I can't because, in half an hour, I'm off to California. I don't want to live in New York forever. I have people to prove myself to. You have my cell number; just call me if you really think there's something I could help with." With that, she jaunted back to the studio; sending Castle and Beckett again back to square one.

"This case makes no sense." Beckett was grouchy, they still had no suspect.

"We'll piece this one together. We'll get there." He knew he had to give her her space.

"What's the story, Castle?" He looked at her. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by a shrill ringing coming from his pocket.

"It's Jason's." Kate said blandly, taking the phone from his pocket forcefully, and took a deep breath before answering it.

"Hel –." Her voice was cut off immediately, the deep voice filling up all the corners of her mind.

"So many people I want dead. So little time. Stop watching the girl, because until further notice, she won't be next. So she can stop worrying. Temporarily." The voice on the other line went dead.

"Was that a threat call?" Castle asked, though it was obvious.

"Castle. We have to deal with this. We don't know who's going to die next. It could be anybody. Anybody. I can't deal with four bodies right now. We have to figure this –." She was cut short by the obnoxious ringtone coming from Castle's phone.

"Castle." He answered, holding a finger up at her.

"Does fishing wire sound familiar, and toe shoes around the neck? Our killers run out of creativity." It was Ryan on the other line, feeding Castle information about a murder that took place recently, but far away from New York.

They arrived at the precinct minutes after the call. Beckett looked angrier than ever, causing even Castle to shut up and just follow behind her.

"Beckett." Esposito greeted, arms crossed and a frown on his face as well.

"Esposito." Beckett said back, silently ushering him to just give the details.

"San Francisco Ballet, murdered the same way that our first victim was murdered. The only thing is that we know for a fact that the NYCB Company is going to California today, along with their apprentice members.

"So aren't the police in San Francisco supposed to deal with this?"

"Technically yes, but they've connected it to the case we have, and technically, we have a lead."

"You know what, I'm going to re-look the case file, see if there was anything we missed. Call me if anything new comes up." Annoyed, Beckett grabbed a handful of case files and walked out the door, followed by Castle who looked back at Ryan and Esposito with a shrug.

The hours dragged by slowly and quietly, neither one of them said a word. It had finally reached midnight, and Beckett was beginning to loose interest in the case file she had just read for the billionth time. She looked over at Castle, not surprised to see him watching videos on youtube, either that or he was asleep. She really couldn't tell.

"Castle." She said, snapping him out of his trance.

"Yeah?" He asked, hoping that they had discovered something new.

"It's getting late, maybe we should go." She checked her watch.

"You're done?"

"I think so." Her voice was quiet, despite the fact that they were the only two in the precinct.

"Let's go for a walk." He said spontaneously, shutting his laptop screen.

"You're crazy. No." She shook her head as she began to clean up all the files.

"You know, bounce our ideas back and forth."

"We already did." She said sheepishly, standing up straighter.

"It's easier when you can actually breathe. It's so stuffy in here." He fanned himself with his hand for effect. "I think we need to do what we did in that case with the frozen woman." He said, a sheepish look crossing his face.

"Do what?" She inquired.

"Trace footsteps."

"That would make sense, if we had a suspect."

"We don't. But we do know," he paused to stand in front of her; just to be sure she wasn't running off anywhere. She rolled her eyes. "We have a theory. The theory…needs evidence. Our theory is that…whoever did the killing knows Lily. We concluded that they probably knew her well."

"That doesn't explain the twelve year old girl."

"I have a theory," Castle put emphasis on the word 'I,' "that the girl with the helmet was just a distraction. A diversion. A way to diverge our thoughts from any connections to Lily." Castle was walking, slowly out the door into the dimly lit hallway, and Detective Beckett was subconsciously following…letting his words seep into her brain.

"This isn't one of your books, Castle."

"I said it was a theory. Theories can, as a matter of fact, be proven wrong." He threw his hands up in the air for emphasis. By this time, they had walked out the door, and his hand had found its way onto the small of her back after the frantic waving.

"I just don't see any motive."

"Fun?"

"Nobody kills for fun. There's got to be some kind of reason behind it."

"Uh hello, psychopath, the way he or she is killing, it certainly seems like they…really liked their sense of creativity." Castle was pushing for her to understand, even though he knew that she really did know what he was talking about, a hundred and ten percent.

They had made it down at least three blocks, only because when she was thinking she walked incredibly fast. She shivered. "You cold?" Castle asked.

"Nah," she said, shaking her nerves. "The thought of something treating killing as an art…is just…"

"Unbelievable, sick, twisted, horrific?" He offered an array of words.

"Yeah, somewhere along those lines." She says.

"Do you think it's someone in there?" He asks, referring to the school.

"No." She says honestly. "I don't see how it could be…they're, so close together. They suffer the same things everyday." She shrugged her shoulders and shuddered.

"So you believe me then, it's an outside factor or rather there is an outside factor."

"Yes. But we need solid evidence." She said, hoping to calm his ego.

"Yeah, yeah, but first we have to know what we're looking for." Castle pushed the calming of his ego obviously failed. "Beckett don't you ever think of things besides work?" He asked jokingly.

"Yes, but aren't we bouncing ideas of each other right now?" She said sarcastically.

"I suppose so." He answered sheepishly. "We have to get to California…" He said distantly.

"We are. We don't have a choice. Well actually, I don't have a choice. You can stay behind." She looked at him, her eyes slightly pleading.

"Very, very funny Miss. Beckett. I'm coming even if I have to handcuff you to me." He smiled a crooked smile.

"Oh, damn." She said, smiling a little as she snapped her fingers for effect.

"Who would these people encounter everyday?" He asked, pushing their conversation foreword.

"As in…who besides the people they go to school with, correct?" She asked.

"Yes…precisely." He wiggled his eyebrows, causing her to roll her eyes. "So we're students in ballet school. What time do we wake up everyday?"

"I'm guessing around 5:30 or 6 o'clock in the morning." Beckett replied.

"Okay, the first people we see?"

"Roommates."

"First 'outside factors?'" He asked, but before Beckett got a chance to answer, the shrill ring of his cell phone interrupted. "Castle." He answered casually.

"72 hours, beginning tomorrow, you can have your little girl back. You will follow my instructions, beginning, now. If you fail to do so, her life will pay. Glad we've come to an understanding. See you at 3 a.m at SFO international airport. Don't be late." The line went dead and Castle took a moment before building up the courage to snap the phone shut.

"We have to get to California." He said.

"Why?" Beckett asked, too smart to show any amusement.

"They have Alexis."

The phone rang again before Beckett could ask any more questions. He looked at the phone, but didn't answer it. Beckett looked at him, before gently prying the mobile device out of his hand and answering it for him.

"Castle's phone, Detective Beckett speaking." She answered.

"Beckett." Esposito's voice filled the line.

"We got a lead, how fast can you get to California?"