Author's note: So! A new Castle story. The last one I wrote was fun, this one should be a bit more serious – although I doubt I can write anything without a little humor in it. I hope you guys will read it.

Disclaimer: I'm not making any money on this and I don't own Castle.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

The Witness

The room was sunny and bright, the light curtains pulled back to allow the morning sun to shine in and reflect from several different mirrors and paintings on the walls, bathing the entire room with a delicate glow. The floors were hardwood, with a couple of rugs to cushion the austere affect, and the furniture was all tastefully upholstered in tasteful, vivid colors. The only thing marring the whole room was the dead body on the floor, and the small army of people who were taking pictures of it and studying the rest of the room, trying to determine what happened.

Kate Beckett walked through the door and was immediately drawn to the dead man sprawled on the floor, half on a rug and half on the floor. A pool of blood was under him, and Lanie was crouched beside him, studying the bloody wounds in the man's back.

"What do you have so far?" she asked, coming over and kneeling beside her, careful to stay out of the way.

Lanie shook her head, and looked up. And frowned.

"Where's Castle?"

"No clue. Said he was on his way."

They both turned their attention to the body again.

"Vic is a white male, probably in his late twenties, with three gunshot wounds in his upper torso." She pointed at the wounds on the back, which Beckett could tell were entrance wounds since exit wounds were far messier than what they were looking at. "Shot in the back."

"Neighbors didn't hear anything," came a voice from behind them. They didn't need to look up to know it was Esposito. "So he must have used a silencer."

"No chance he was killed elsewhere?" she asked Lanie.

"Not with the spatter we have, and the pooling. He died where he is right now."

"Then-"

There was a slight commotion at the door that drew her attention and interrupted her train of thought, and Beckett and the others saw Richard Castle nod to the police officer that was guarding the door and walk into the room. He looked rumpled and tired, and even at that distance she could see that his eyes were bloodshot when he glanced around the room, studying the layout of the place, and taking in the position of the body. When he walked over to her, she knew she wasn't the only one who noticed.

"You look terrible, Castle," Lanie said, looking him over. "Did you sleep in your clothes?"

"I didn't sleep," he admitted, with a tired smile. "I was up all night on the Internet."

"Yeah?" Esposito asked, with a sly grin. "Which site was it? Big boo-"

"It was the craziest thing I'd ever seen," Castle interrupted. "Have you guys ever heard of fanfiction?"

"What's that?" Lanie asked.

"You'd never believe it," he told her. He looked over at Beckett. "But I can't wait to tell you about some of the stories I was reading."

"I don't even want to know," Kate told him, fairly certain that she didn't. "Do you mind if we get back to what we're here for?"

"What'd I miss?" he asked, changing gears immediately.

"Not much. Lanie was telling us about the DB."

"Not much to tell," she admitted. "So far I can tell you he's white, male, and dead."

"Any witnesses?" Castle asked, looking down at the corpse.

"None that have come forward," Ryan told them, walking over to join them. He looked at his notebook and shook his head. "I've spoken to seven neighbors and all seven people I've spoken with have given me seven different names for the victim – and seven different occupations."

Beckett frowned, but it was Castle who spoke.

"Really? Did he have any ID on him?"

Ryan nodded.

"That was what I showed the neighbors. With my hand over the name after the first one gave me a different name than the one on the license. They all agree he lives here, and that's about all they agree on."

"What does the license say?" Beckett asked, noticing out of the corner of her eye that Castle had wandered away and was starting to open the doors that led off from the living room.

"John Smith."

That brought her attention back.

"Seriously?"

Ryan shrugged, giving her a chagrined look as he passed the license over to her. She studied it for a moment and shook her head.

"Get a list of other names we have for him, and start getting information from the neighbors," she ordered. "Someone had to see something. Run his license and see if it's real and let's check out the rest of the place…" she paused when she saw Castle step back quickly from the closet door he'd just opened.

He looked over at her, but she could tell whatever he was going to say wasn't coming. Wondering what he could have seen that managed to do something she'd never been able to do before – render him speechless – she walked over and looked into the closet as well.

And took a step back, too.

Huddled in the closet, looking up at them with terror in his big blue eyes was a small boy.

"Oh, my…"

Castle looked over at her, and then back at the little boy.

"Think we found a witness?" he asked.

"I hope not," Beckett said, softly.

The scene in the living room was the last thing anyone that young should ever see.