This is an idea that popped into my head a while back and just wouldn't leave. I started writing and it took a life of its own before too long. Thank you ever so much to Kkarrie, Jden, and domina tempore for all their help with it. There are not words enough to thank you girls for everything you did for me to inspire, motivate, and correct me. I owe you much!

Disclaimer: Castle and all its characters and plots and the like belong to the network and producers and wonderful people who make it show up on my television. This story is meant as a compliment and the only thing I claim ownership of is the actual authoring of this story and my original characters and plot idea. Anything you can recognize probably doesn't belong to me.

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"Well, this looks like a charming place to spend the night," Castle observed, surveying the run down hotel in front of him. A sign out front proclaimed the low cost per night, and just by looking at the exterior, one could guess its age, as well as most of its clientele, fairly easily.

"Not if you end up in the swimming pool like our victim," Detective Kate Beckett returned, accepting the cup of coffee he handed her. "And good morning to you, too."

"Swimming pool?" Castle repeated.

Beckett nodded. "Manager found him this morning, called it in."

The pair went through the gate on the side of the property and rounded the corner of the building. Castle could see various officers bustling around the crime scene. Some were taking photos while others talked to the onlookers who were clustered on one side of the small courtyard that held the small pool and a few lawn chairs. Just like the building itself, the courtyard and its furnishings had seen much better days.

There was a form in blue jeans and a red polo laid out on the pavement beside the pool, the puddle underneath him showing that he had recently been dragged out of the water.

"Well, of course he was killed," Castle commented. "He should have known better than to wear a red shirt."

Beckett just ignored him and turned to Lanie Parrish, the medical examiner, who was crouched beside the body. "Hey, Lanie. What do we know?"

"Not our guy's identity, unfortunately," the woman replied. "However, I'm fairly certain he didn't drown."

Castle's eyebrows went up at that. "But wasn't he in the pool?"

"Well, he was, but these knife wounds in his abdomen are more likely the cause of death," Lanie explained. "Of course, I won't know for certain until I do a full autopsy, but it appears that he was stabbed to death sometime between about four and five this morning. There wasn't much blood in the pool, though that could be due to the filter; we'll know for sure once CSU fully processes everything."

"Do we have an ID?" Beckett wanted to know.

"Uh, not yet," Detective Kevin Ryan joined the conversation, having come up in time to hear Beckett's question. "There was no wallet or ID of any kind, and we haven't found anyone here who knows him; Esposito's still questioning some of the crowd. However, we did find one guest who came in early this morning. He says he heard some muffled voices and thumping from inside one of the rooms, but he didn't think anything of it until this morning when our guy was found."

"Of course. In a place like this, no one asks many questions," Castle commented. "Do we know who rented the room?"

Ryan shook his head. "The front desk has it listed as vacant."

"Ooh. Vacant room, murdered John Doe," the writer grinned excitedly. "This has all the makings of a classic mystery novel."

"Well, let's hope we can wrap it up as smoothly as a classic mystery novel," Beckett remarked.

"We're trying to contact the night clerk," Ryan continued, glancing at his pad. "Apparently our dead guy wasn't registered as a guest with the front desk, so we don't have much else to go on."

"Okay," Beckett acknowledged. "Is there security footage?"

"Yes, the manager's getting that for us," Ryan replied. "The building only has two cameras, one on the front door and one on the back. Shouldn't take us too long to go over."

"Great, thanks, Ryan." Beckett turned towards the hotel's back door.

Castle followed her, looking around as they stepped into the small, dark back lobby. There was not much in the five square feet of space, just a steep flight of stairs rising on one side and a single door in the adjacent wall.

"Wonder what happened to the light," Castle said, toeing a small pile of glass shards on the floor as he glanced up at the shattered light bulb in the ceiling. "Maybe the killer did it so he could get out the back without being caught on camera?"

"Or maybe it's been out for a while," Beckett replied, ascending the stairs. "Who knows in a place like this."

The two were soon at the door to room 206. What set it apart from the other identical doors in the grungy hallway was the bright yellow crime tape marking it off. Nodding to the uniformed officer standing beside the open doorway, Beckett and Castle entered the sparsely furnished room. It held only the bare necessities: a bed in the center of the far wall, a table that held one lamp, a hard-backed chair, and a small door that presumably led to a bathroom.

The focal point of the room for the newcomers, however, was the dark stain next to the bathroom door. There was a large stain on the ragged carpet underneath it as well.

"Nice accommodations," Castle quipped, "as long as you don't mind a little extra decoration."

"There's not much to go on here," Beckett ignored his comment. "Other than the blood, nothing looks like it was disturbed."

Castle nodded in agreement. "At least we know where the murder went down. Perhaps a lovers' spat?" His eyes lit up as a story formulated in his head. "Our John Doe meets a lady here, but unknown to him, she's married. Her husband was following her and when he finds out who his wife was seeing, he stabs him and drops him in the pool outside, breaking the light first so no one will see his face."

"Nice theory, Castle, but it's just as plausible as about a dozen other ideas," Beckett shook her head. "Come on; let's get back to the station and see what's on that footage."

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"So, we have an unknown victim, an unknown killer, and an unknown motive," Castle mused, staring at the white board where Beckett was writing out the case information.

"Well, we do have a timeline; that's a start." Beckett finished writing and capped her marker. She stepped back, tapping the marker against her chin as she thought.

"Yo, Beckett," Esposito waved from his desk. "So, I went over the footage the manager gave us," he began when Beckett and Castle joined him. "Here's our John Doe entering the apartment," he hit a key to play a clip on his screen. The time stamp showed 4:33 am. "Now, there's no footage of him or anyone else leaving through the front. However, about ten minutes later, we've got this on the back door camera." He hit another button and a second video clip came up.

The screen showed the back exit door, with no movement anywhere in the frame. Suddenly there was a small flash of light and the screen went almost completely dark, although the exit sign above the door and the clock on the time stamp showed the camera itself was still working. A moment later, the frame was slightly illuminated by a sliver of dim light as the exit door swung open. A dark figure stepped through the door, slightly bowed by the weight of the large object. The group watching could clearly tell the figure was dragging a body. A moment later, the door swung shut and the video again went dark.

"So that's what happened," Castle grinned, straightening as Esposito paused the video. "I told you the killer broke the light," he told Beckett almost gleefully.

"Do we have anything on our John Doe yet?" Beckett asked the other detective, ignoring Castle's gloating.

"Yes, actually," Ryan answered as he walked up. He had a strange look on his face. "And you're not going to believe this."

Castle perked up. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

The detective shrugged a shoulder and handed Beckett a sheet of paper. "This is our John Doe."

"John Doe?" she looked up from the document. "His name is actually John Doe?"

"It is?" Castle jumped up to look over her shoulder. The paper showed a copy of a man's driver's license, the picture of which did indeed show their victim's face. "Well look at that!" He grinned. "What are the chances of that?"

"Not sure," Ryan replied. "But he was in our system due to his being arrested several years ago for assault. No family and he was currently unemployed," he finished.

"Do we have any information on where he worked before?" Beckett asked. "Anyone we can ask about him?"

"It looks like he hasn't held down a solid job in a couple of years," Ryan told her, glancing over the paper in his hand. "Apparently his arrest affected his career, even though he never actually served any time. After being released, he bounced around between minimum wage jobs. Looks like his last place of employment was a pizza joint, though he was let go from that one last week."

"Okay, Castle and I'll go check that out," Beckett said, reaching for her jacket. "You and Esposito go through his phone and financial records; let me know what you find."