Author's note: I'd like to thank KB4RC, two Guests, TORONTOSUN, DREAMWRITER, and southerngirl1 for their reviews. KB4RC: I'm sorry to hear that Vikram was such a turn off for you. While he wasn't my favorite new character, I thought I should include him for at least a little bit. If it makes you feel better, his involvement in this story will be minimal for most of the cases. TORONTOSUN: I'm happy to be back. I've missed writing for Castle and am glad inspiration struck after all this time. This chapter picks up where the last one left off. Enjoy!
Chapter 2
Aaron Blakeshaw was escorted to the lounge when he arrived and Ryan interviewed him with Esposito. "Mr. Blakeshaw, sorry about the confusion earlier."
"Not a problem. Most of that was my fault anyway."
"Right. What can you tell us about Mr. and Mrs. Smithe's relationship?"
"They were good. For the most part, at least. I mean, I know he had a woman he was seeing. And Mel was seeing me. But, for the most part, they were good. The last month or so was different."
"What do you mean?"
"Mel could feel things were changing for Dalton. He was acting differently. That's why she was feeling like a divorce might be the best thing for her."
Esposito set a glass of water in front of Aaron. "Do you know how he was acting differently?"
"No, not really. Mel didn't talk about Dalton much when we were together. I mean, let's be honest. She was seeing me for the sex. It wasn't for my scintillating conversation."
"Do you know who Dalton Smith was seeing?"
"No." Aaron leaned back into the couch. "That's why Mel needed a P.I."
"Did you recommend Castle's business?"
"Well, yeah. There's a woman who works there who's really good at her job. I can't remember her name, but I took a case to her and she helped me out. I told Mel to ask for her."
"Hayley Shipton?"
"No, her name started with an 'A', I think."
Esposito looked at Ryan. "Great. Is there anything else you can think of that might explain why someone wanted Mr. Smithe dead?"
Aaron thought about it. "No, not really. He is a lawyer. Maybe that had something to do with it?"
"Dalton Smithe works for Bretz and Coven. He's pretty high up, too. The mail room isn't very fond of him." Hayley sat across from Beckett. "That's as far in as I could get without making people suspicious."
"Bretz and Coven. That takes us back a bit." Beckett leaned back in her chair. "Why didn't the mail room like him?"
"He was very particular about the condition his mail arrived in. If it wasn't just so, he would yell at the person who delivered it. I asked around about a girlfriend. They said there was a rumor, but no one had a name."
Castle cleared his throat. "Does the name Aaron Blakeshaw sound familiar?"
"Yes. Alexis and I solved a case for him. Why?"
"He's Mrs. Smithe's boytoy."
"Oh. That's interesting." Hayley stood. "I can go grab the file on him if you'd like."
"That'd be great. And thanks for the intel." Beckett stood and shook Hayley's hand.
"Sure. I'll bring the file back in an hour or so." She left the office.
Ryan came in. "So, Aaron Blakeshaw's alibi checks out. And we've just started to look at all his records, but it looks like he's clean too. What do you want us to do?"
"Dalton Smithe worked at Bretz and Coven. Find out what they know about him. Work enemies, personal life, former clients; that sort of thing. And get the girlfriend's name."
"You got it."
Esposito put the car in park and got out. "I'm kinda surprised this firm is still in business. After the fraud scandal, you know?"
"That was just one part of the firm's services. That section had to go through a major overhaul, but it wasn't bad enough to kill the whole company."
The boys badged their way up to the main floor for Bretz and Coven, where they were greeted with weird stares and awkward silence. The receptionist was friendly though, and soon the pair were on their way to talk to the senior partner, Clarence Fishbourne. A short conversation later, the detectives were allowed to talk to the rest of the firm's employees.
Clarence Fishbourne stepped out of his office. "Listen up. These two detectives are here to speak to everyone about Dalton Smithe. Just answer their questions honestly. Thank you."
"What happened?"
Esposito stepped forward. "We would have preferred to talk to you individually, but since the question was asked, I'm sorry to inform you all that he was murdered this morning."
Murmurs broke out as Esposito and Ryan moved into the crowd to ask questions. Most the employees didn't really know the victim all that well, so those conversations went really quickly. Some of the employees knew the victim a little better and they were able to give some information about Mr. Smithe, but what they had to say wasn't all that different from what was available in police records or the internet.
Mr. Smithe's secretary on the other hand had a lot of information to share. "And you can't think of anyone who would want to hurt Mr. Smithe?"
"Not from a work standpoint, no. He made sure to not piss off the people he was going up against. I'm not quite sure how he did it, but he was good at it. If I had to guess, his girlfriend is the one I would look at."
"So he did have a girlfriend?"
"Yes," Mrs. Olverson nodded, "but I don't know her name. He was careful about that. I don't think he wanted people to know. Not that it worked. Everyone knew."
"Everyone in the floor!" A gunshot rang out and everyone froze. "That one was a blank, but the rest are real." A masked woman, her voice somehow being altered by the mask across the lower part of her face, was standing on a desk by the elevators. Her clothing was all black and her hair was pulled back in a bun with metal hairpins holding it in place. She was wearing a bulletproof vest over a turtleneck with throwing knives in holsters along her arms. If Esposito had to guess, she was a former military member; most likely involved in covert ops.
Esposito's hand went for his gun and another gunshot rang out. "Hands off that! The next one goes between your eyes." He nodded and raised his hands. He didn't need any other instructions; the feel of the bullet slicing through the air mere millimeters from his hand had been enough.
The woman pointed one of her guns at an employee. "Grab the cops' guns and bring them to me." The employee hesitated. "Now!"
The employee, visibly shaking, went to the detectives. "I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it." Esposito turned to the masked woman. "Is there something we can call you?"
"No. I'm here for a file. You two shouldn't have been here." The detectives' guns were placed on the desk in front of the woman. "Who has access to a file designated HK4112013ED?"
"I do." Fishbourne stood up. "Where do I need to send it?"
A bag had been clipped to the back of the woman's pants. She unhooked it and tossed it at the senior partner. "Print it out and put it in there."
Fishbourne sighed and logged into the nearest computer. The printer closest to the work station started spitting out pages and one of the paralegals started putting the pages in the bag. Esposito worked on memorizing the masked woman's face and clothes. The guns were as black as her outfit, but by the looks of it, they were .40 caliber Smith and Wesson p226's. This woman meant business.
Ryan taped his arm. "I tried to call dispatch, but there's no signal. She's got a jammer."
Esposito pulled out his phone to check. "You're right. That's why she wasn't collecting everyone's phones. You don't need to if they don't work."
"No talking!"
The senior partner brought the bag to her. "Here, that's the whole file."
The masked woman holstered one gun and slung the bag across her body. "One last thing. There was an item given to you when this file was opened. Where is it?"
"We don't keep things like that here."
"Where do you keep them?"
Fishbourne shook his head. "I can't."
The woman slowly pulled one of the throwing knives from its holster. "I don't enjoy torture, but I need that location. So I'm willing to make an exception." Her arm cocked back to throw.
"It's in the largest safety deposit vault at First United Bank!" Fishbourne's secretary looked at him apologetically. "I'm sorry."
The masked woman sheathed the knife. "Thank you."
"You won't get away with this." Esposito stepped forward. "You will get caught."
The woman pressed the button for the elevator. "You might be surprised with what I get away with, Detective. You won't catch me."
The elevator doors opened and she stepped inside. As soon as the doors closed, cell reception returned and everyone started calling 911. Ryan and Esposito retrieved their guns and raced down the stairs to try and catch the woman. When they got downstairs, their eyes frantically surveyed the crowd, but no one down here had auburn hair or was wearing black tactical gear. The door to the elevator she'd entered opened, but no one was inside.
"The hatch is open. She went out the top." Ryan holstered his gun.
Esposito followed suit. "She's good." He hit the wall with his fist in frustration. "We lost her."
"Did she look familiar to you?"
"No. She sounded like a female Kylo Ren, but that's the only thing that seemed familiar. Why?"
"She kinda looked familiar to me. I just can't place it."
Esposito grabbed his phone and called dispatch. "This is Esposito. E-S-P-O-S-I-T-O. Badge number 75931. I'm at 125 Broad St. Suspect in armed robbery is a white female, 5'4" to 5'7". She is wearing all black with a high-altitude training mask. Suspect is heavily armed."
"Badge 75931, please elaborate."
"Two guns and at least eight throwing knives. Requesting SWAT to search the building."
"Copy, badge 75931. SWAT has been notified."
"Thank you." Esposito hung up. "SWAT's on the way. Beckett knows now?"
"Yeah." Ryan pocketed his phone and reentered the elevator. "She probably got into a different elevator. My guess is she's got a sneaky way to escape."
A blonde woman reading from her phone bumped into Esposito as she got off the nearest elevator. "Sorry. Excuse me."
"Yeah, sorry." Esposito looked around the lobby again. "There's no way she'd get out of here in what she was wearing."
Ryan gestured over his shoulder. "I'm going to talk to security and see about getting the footage from the elevators. You good here?"
"Yeah. I'll keep an eye out here."
Just as Ryan was returning to the elevator banks, SWAT arrived and started their sweep of the building. Beckett arrived soon after and questioned the boys on everything they had seen and everything the woman had said. They all went back up to the law offices and asked a lot of questions about the file and the woman. In the end, they had to conclude that the file had nothing to do with the murder investigation.
Beckett pulled the boys to the side. "As much as we want to pursue the thief, we need to table that for now. Robbery division will be taking this one. I've already gotten their captain to agree to share the information."
"You got it, Captain." Ryan pulled out his notebook. "The office knew he had a girlfriend, but no one knows her name. We're getting a list of the people he was most likely to have a beef with from a work standpoint, but no one thinks any of them are a real possibility."
"Okay. Hayley brought Aaron Blakeshaw's file. We can go through that while we wait for Vikram to unlock the victim's phone."
A/N: Stay tuned!
