A/N: My plot bunnies struck! And since it's November and I heard about this Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month), I decided to continue and finish this story within the month. I don't know if I'll manage but well, it's worth a try and I do have some ideas again... Since I'm working now (yay, no uni anymore) and have a blog to maintain (an actual blog, not a fanblog xD), and am busy exploring the fantastic English countryside I can't promise to update regularly. I also apologise for the VERY long silence on this story. I don't know why I stopped, somehow it didn't flow anymore...Anyways, I hope some of you are still interested in it =)

Anyways. I did some research for this chapter but a lot is my imagination and speculation. Oh andI just remembered one thing about the morgue. I've read ff's where the morgue is just below the precinct. It never even occurred to me that it could be there which is why in my ff it isn't. Just in case anyone was wondering xD

Now, enjoy, I hope you like it even though it's not that long.

Carrie Downing seemed to be having the habit of never being where she was supposed to be. When Ryan and Esposito arrived at the Motel, they were told – very reluctantly – that Mrs Downing had left about an hour ago and of course no one knew when she'd be back. So they got a uniform to come to the motel and wait there for her and the two Detectives then made their way down to the morgue to see if Lanie had something new on Melissa already.

Once they got there they caught Lanie finishing up the autopsy so they entered to see if anything had popped up already. She threw them a slightly annoyed look for their impatience but stepped away from her work nevertheless.

"What do you need?" she asked with a raised eyebrow and Esposito grinned at her.

"Anything you got. Time of death, cause of death, murder weapon, you know the drill."

"Fine. TOD is approximately 5 to 6 am, COD is like I said a single GSW to the back of her head from a .45." She walked to the counter with all the evidence, took a bag and handed it to Esposito. "Found this, bullet fragments. The rest disappeared from the crime scene. Went right through her head, the killer must've cleaned up afterwards so no evidence. There's also gunshot residue on the back of her head, she was killed in very close proximity, execution style, like I said before."

She grabbed the evidence bag out of Esposito's hand, mumbled "lab" and placed it back with the other things before returning to the body were Ryan was leaning closer to examine the fingers.

"What happened to her fingers?" he asked, wrinkling his nose and glancing up at Lanie.

"Broken. Probably one at the time for torture. They are pre-mortem, so it's my best guess. Suggests again that there might have been two people around, one torturing her, the other restraining her since there were no signs of a struggle."

"You think they could've been the same ones as Matty's?"

"That's for you to find out, Detective Ryan, I'm only the ME here. But it is possible, since she was his mother. Oh, that reminds me, DNA tests are going to take a while, but it's very likely that she is his mother, blood type matches – which, of course, doesn't necessarily mean that they're related. "

"Why would they kill them both though…" Esposito wondered out loud, looking at his partner. "It wouldn't really make sense to kill Melissa, that only makes them look guiltier."

"Maybe they think they're clever enough to get away with it…"

Esposito shrugged just as his phone went off. He answered it, nodded and signed Ryan that they could leave. "We'll meet you there, just bring them both in," he said into the phone and turned to Ryan again.

"Carrie got back with her therapist. Might be interesting to interview them both."

Ryan nodded and walked to the door. "Thanks, Dr Parish," he said before heading out, leaving Esposito behind who grabbed Lanie and kissed her.

"Oi, Javier Esposito, I thought we had a deal! Not at work!"

He just grinned at her and made his way to the door as well, signing her that he'd call while she stood there, looking at him with crossed arms and a raised eyebrow that only made him grin more.

Meanwhile Beckett and Castle were brooding over the case files that had arrived from the Federal Marshals. They had not found anything that would really help them yet. There were several names that popped up but none of them was in any way suggesting to be the head of the gang. At least they had managed to figure out that it was a gang that originated in Colombia.

"Melissa really did get herself into huge trouble with this gang… Family business from what I can see which would explain why the guy took Connor but it still doesn't explain Matty…"

Beckett nodded in response but didn't look up from her file.

"This particular cell looks like pure family business but there's no trace of the head in any file…Maybe because there isn't really one… Look –" Beckett held her file so that Castle could see, " – they are not just a gang. They're an active cell. Small compared to the others, but they definitely belong to the Cali!"

"You mean, the Cali?" Castle asked back and looked closer.

"Yes, those ones."

"That sure sounds like trouble."

"Yeah. But it's still strange. I mean for one, I don't think the guy Melissa called Chris ever got caught despite what she said. Those boys got imprisoned for drug dealing, one for murder, another for assault but none seems to be the leader, the question is, if he didn't get caught, why didn't he go after her?"

"Maybe he wanted her to think she's safe, so she would let her guard down and he could find her more easily."

"Possible. But she went straight into protective custody and then she got shipped to Europe with WITSEC."
"Maybe he knew that?"

"And left her to live her life for so many years? I don't think so. He lost trace of her and had to find her again."

"Then there's gotta be some trace of his witch hunt."

Beckett looked up from the files that she'd been staring at for most of the conversation just because she was hoping something might catch her eye. Now he had her full attention.

"You're right. During those years he must have looked for her. Otherwise he wouldn't have found her in France. And even if he asked on the streets for her, someone might know."

Before they could start their inquiry, the elevator doors opened and Ryan and Esposito and two uniforms walked into the bull pen with Carrie and her therapist. Beckett got up immediately and informed the boys about Castle's theory.

"Which cell is it?" asked Esposito.

"They're a split from the Cali Cartel. First records of them being in New York come from the 1970s. They've got a lot of smaller cells and this one is definitely into Narco-trafficking."

"I thought the Cali got shut down years ago," Ryan said

"Well, only six of the seven heads got arrested and they may well have continued their business from within prison. At least, they were suspected of doing so. The seventh head must still be out there and these guys report to him or a new one. Well, maybe not directly but they're part of this Cartel.

Espo, take some uniforms and hit the streets. See if you can find out anything about this cell and especially, if they asked for Melissa after she got out of prison. Ryan, you take Mrs Downing, Castle and I will talk to the therapist."

The boys nodded and while Esposito went back to the elevator, Ryan disappeared in Interrogation One and Castle and Beckett sat down opposite Carrie's therapist in the interview lounge.

"Doctor?" Beckett began and the therapist obliged with a kind smile, "Hamsford. Doctor Eliah Hamsford."

"Dr Hamsford, I am sorry to bother you with this, but you might be able to shed some light on the Downings for us.

He nodded. "I will try to help you as far as my confidentiality allows me to."

"Well, I understand that. However, we do need some answers. How long have you been treating Mrs Downing?"

Dr Hamsford hesitated, weighing his duty to Mrs Downing and his wish to help and after a few seconds he sight. "Oh well. I've been her therapist for almost fourteen years."

"For… fourteen years?" Castle asked, making a double take with his head. "That's an awful lot of time in therapy…"

Dr Hamsford nodded. "I can't tell you much, I'm sure you'll understand, but I can say that Mrs Downing was of a rather insecure nature when she first came to me."

"Mrs Downing insecure? I can hardly imagine that. She seems very sure about what she says and does."

"She has a certain air about her, doesn't she," he chuckled, "she tried to be like that the first time she came in. Tried to hide behind it. I got to her rather quickly though and she stayed. She didn't have to. We basically had everything sorted out. As far as things can get sorted out. She decided to try without our sessions and then Matty got taken. It made her fall further back than when she came in the first time. We've been working on it ever since."

Beckett nodded, knowing the feeling of talking to a therapist. It was like talking to someone with X-Ray-Vision. There was hardly chance of just leaving, any shrink would get to you eventually.

"Has she ever told you about anything strange happening to her after the kidnapping?" she asked but Hamsford shook his head.

"She only wanted me to help her cope with the situation. She talked about how it made her feel, about how she couldn't stand living with the rest of the family anymore and that she had to leave. That was all."

"Didn't you find it curious that she wanted to leave?"

"No, not at all. When something like this happens, when a child gets taken, the parents tend to blame each other."

"Yes, but they still had Nicole. And Matthew wasn't their biological child."

"Carrie still raised him."

"So you're saying she loved him like her own."

"I would never doubt that."

"Then why do you think was she the one to lose faith in him being alive somewhere?"

At this point Eliah Hamsford refused to answer any more questions without Carries consent and hid behind his confidentiality which mad Beckett throw a frustrated look at Castle. She got up nonetheless and told Dr Hamsford that he was free to go.

Then they walked into Observation One to see how far Ryan had gotten with Carrie Downing.

"And you are sure you've never seen this before?" the Detective asked her again, showing her the evidence bag with the bracelet in it that they recovered in her Motel room.

Carrie shook her head.

"So you don't recall telling Detective Beckett and Mr Castle about it this morning."

"No, I don't. Look, you don't have anything on me to hold me here, if you don't mind, I would like to call my lawyer now."

"Shit…" mumbled Beckett beside Castle behind the one-way glass.

"Well, I'm surprised she didn't lawyer up sooner…" He looked at the woman on the other side and tried to imagine being in her position, trying to imagine what he would do.

"Beckett? Do you mind?" he asked, pointing at the Interrogation Room.

She shrugged her shoulders and invited him to go in, knocking on the glass so Ryan would know.

Then she watched as Castle entered the room and gave Mrs Downing a sympathetic smile.

"Hi again," he greeted but only got a blank stare.

"Carrie, I know you probably don't want to speak to any of us right now, I probably wouldn't either if I were you but here's the thing," he opened his wallet and got a picture out that he lay in front of Mrs Downing, "remember her? That's my daughter, Alexis. She's Nicole's age, we met at parent nights."

"So?"

"So, I am a parent too. I worry constantly about Alexis and I would do anything to keep her save. But if she got taken away from me and I had the slightest proof that she was still alive, I would do anything to get her back, absolutely anything. Except for keeping quiet about it."

"What if you were being told to shut up about it or someone else you love would be taken from you as well?"

She said it in a whisper, hardly audible and not meant to be said out loud at all. But both Ryan and Castle and also Beckett behind the glass heard it.

"What did you say?" Ryan asked urgently.

"I said, what if you were being threatened not to say a word or else your other child would die."

"Is that what happened?"

"I am not saying anything anymore. You already know too much."

"Mrs Downing," Ryan pressed on, "Matthew is gone."

"But Nicole is still alive. And if they find out I said as much as I did, someone else is going to get hurt. They already killed my sister and her son, I won't lose anyone else over this!"

"Can we hold her?"

"Not for long. Once her lawyer gets here, he'll tell us that she told us everything she knows even if it's not true and we'll have to let her go. She's not a suspect…" Beckett said as her phone started to ring.

"Detective Beckett? Oh, Espo. Got anything? Hang on, I'll put you on speaker!"

"We asked around a little. This was a very long time ago so it was a long shot from the start. But, we've got something. Word of Melissa Peyton being back in the States got around here. Apparently she was on a hit list for quite some time and when she got back in, people wanted to know if she still was. Well, here's the thing. She wasn't. But, a guy remembers a woman telling some of those people that Melissa was off limits."

"Did you ask him if he knew her?"

"Of course I did. He says she's known as Belladonna, like the deadly flower. She is part of the Cali cell in New York, stakes out targets, puts them down with poison if necessary but mostly, she acts in the background."

"Belladonna…doesn't give us much to go on. Got a description?"

"Brunette, straight long hair, mediteranean look. Sounds familiar? I thought so too, I flashed him the picture of Giovanna Servente. My guy identified her as Belladonna."

We're getting somewhere, aren't we ;D