Beckett sat on the edge of a desk, arms folded over her chest as she considered the murder board she'd set up. The face of her dead brother kept snagging her gaze, drawing her to stare at it until her eyes became blurred with tears and she had to wipe them clear.
"Hey."
Castle walked up, holding two mugs of coffee. He handed one to her.
"Thought coffee wouldn't hurt."
He smiled at her, and she tried her best to smile back. He joined her looking at the murder board.
"Lanie said she'd call when the autopsies were done," Beckett informed him. "And ballistics are running the bullets used to -" Her voice broke, and she cleared her throat. "The bullets used," she finished.
Castle put his coffee down and placed his hand over hers in a wordless gesture of comfort.
The phone of Beckett's desk rang loudly.
Beckett quickly crossed the floor and answered it, listening for a moment, then saying "Thanks Lanie, we'll be there soon."
Replacing the phone in the receiver she motioned to Castle.
"Come on, Lanie has the autopsy reports."
*
Castle didn't miss the way Beckett's hands trembled as they stood in the morgue, looking at the pale and lifeless bodies of Connor and Alison Beckett. They'd been significantly cleaned up - all bloodstains had been removed, the remnants of the eyeballs either discarded or scraped back into their sockets and covered over with bandages. But they didn't exactly look peaceful in death.
"What've you got Lanie?" Beckett asked, voice rough with repressed tears.
Lanie's expression was one of sad sympathy as she picked up the reports from a nearby surface.
"Cause of death for both vics was two bullets to the brain, both entering through the eyes and exiting through the back of the skull. The first would have been the killing shot, the second... well, there was no reason for it really. I don't know why it's there."
Beckett nodded, tight-lipped, and Lanie put a hand on her arm in an attempt at comforting her.
"I'm so sorry, sweetie. I wish it hadn't happened."
"Yeah, well, best we can do is catch the son of a bitch, right?" Beckett smiled grimly, deliberately avoiding looking at Connor's body. "Did we get ballistics back yet?"
"Yep."
Lanie went over to a desk and picked up a plastic evidence bag with four bullets in it. The sight of them made Beckett's breath catch painfully.
"Bullets are thirty cals, typically used in rifles. Ballistics have guessed that maybe a Ruger model rifle may have fired these ones."
"Thanks Lanie," Beckett said softly. "Keep us posted on any developments."
Without a second glance, Beckett left the morgue, Castle trailing in her wake.