Who Are You?

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Why, no. I don't own Castle, but thanks for asking. Rating: M Time: The future.

Chapter Four

The man behind the counter at the bodega where Henry McCarty had allegedly been sent for ice cream was obviously too young to have been there on the day of the murders.

"He's too young." Castle muttered as they entered.

"Maybe he ditched school that day."

"Is that what Rebel Becks would have done?"

"Even Rebel Becks wouldn't have come anywhere like this neighborhood back then. Rebel Becks did not like the idea of getting shot."

The man behind the counter smiled at them. "May I help you?"

Kate held out her badge. "Detective Beckett, NYPD, homicide. We need to ask a few questions about some murders that took place a while ago."

"Oh! Is this about the guy who they found a couple of days ago?"

"Among other things, Mr. …?"

"Pena. Chuck Pena."

"Mr. Pena, I assume you weren't here in 2001."

Pena laughed. "No. Dad wouldn't let me come to the store in those days. Too many bad things going on."

"Your father is Oswaldo Pena?" Kate asked.

"No. Dad is Alfonso Pena. Uncle Ozzy is his brother. Dad and his three brothers own this bodega. Me and one brother and a cousin run it now."

"Do you remember anything about the day three policemen were shot back in 2001?" Castle asked.

Pena thought for a second. "You know, dad and my uncles talked about so many shootings and bad shit down here back then, I'm not sure. I remember hearing about shootings from the family, but after a while they all kind of blur together. I don't really remember hearing anyone say anything about that shooting, although I bet the adults did talk about it."

"According to our reports, Oswaldo Pena was working here when the three policemen were shot. Can you tell us where he is? We'd like to talk to him."

"Sure. He's retired and lives in Brooklyn. I can give you his address and phone number."

The Pena house in Brooklyn was an older but well maintained home on a street with similar nice, older homes. Kate rang the doorbell.

And elderly Hispanic man in sweat pants and a NY Jets tee shirt answered the door. "You must be the two cops. Carlos called and said you were coming. Come in. Come in."

Pena offered them coffee, which they accepted. They found themselves sitting on the sofa in the living room, facing Mr. Pena who sat in a comfortable arm chair.

"Mr. Pena, "Kate began, "we found a body of a man long dead in the same building where three policemen were shot back in 2001."

Pena nodded. "Yeah. Carlos told me about it when he called just now."

"The deceased was a Napoleon Bonaparte Moncrief. Do you remember him at all?"

Pena slowly shook his head. "No, not at all. But I made an effort back in the day not to see anything. Too dangerous."

Kate handed him a DMV photo of Moncrief. "Do you recognize him?"

This time Pena nodded. "Yeah, I saw him around. But there were dozens, hundreds, of guys like him. One day they're bums hanging around on the street corner, then the next day they have flashy clothes, a flashy car, a flashy girlfriend and a roll of money. Then they're dead or in jail. There's nothing about him that sticks out."

Both Rick and Kate frowned. "Do you remember a policeman coming into the bodega to buy an ice cream sandwich when the three policemen were murdered? At the time of the investigation, you said you couldn't remember anything."

Pena looked at the floor and blushed. "Yeah. I know what I said. You gotta understand. Back then, it was worth your life to talk to a cop about anything. Old man Obregon bitched about some drug dealers harassing his customers outside his store and two days later some punk walks in and shoots him in the face. He lived, but that tells you what the neighborhood was like then."

"We understand." Kate said as sympathetically as she could. "Can you tell us now what happened?"

Pena shrugged. "I remember he came in that day. Wasn't there too long and then he left."

"About what time?"

Pena stared at the ceiling. "I really don't know. It's been a long time, you know. I know he was there at the bodega. When? That's anyone's guess. I just can't remember."

"Was it before or after the shooting?" Castle asked.

Pena shrugged again. "I don't know."

They asked Pena if there was anyone else who might have been at the bodega that day who might remember, but Pena could think of no one.

Once back in the car and headed back to Manhattan, Castle stroked Kate's cheek lightly. "I told you. No one remembers anything."

"Do you think he was telling us the truth?" Kate asked.

"Yeah. There's no one around any more to scare him, but it's been a while and if he tried to remember nothing at the time, there's little chance he'll remember anything now."

….

"Alexis Castle!" The slender blonde woman said, rising from her desk at Marlowe Prep. "What brings you back to school?"

Alexis smiled at the woman. "Hi, Mrs. O'Mara. I ran into a classmate of mine, but he had to take off before I could get his number. I'm trying to locate him again. And since you're involved with the Marlowe alumni association, I thought of you."

"Dear me, Alexis. You aren't thinking of having a re-union so soon are you? Why, you're probably not out of college yet. Or are you?"

Alexis shook her head. "I'm at Columbia still, in pre-med. But I'm just trying to find a classmate with whom I've lost touch, Vincent Peake?"

Mrs. O'Mara nodded slowly. "Oh, yes. Young Mr. Peake. His older sister was such a good student. Vincent could have done much better if he'd applied himself. But…"

"I heard he got into Rutgers." Alexis broke in.

"He did. We got a notice from his family just before graduation, but he never attended. Let me see…" Mrs. O'Mara stared into space. "It seems that I heard that there was some trouble with the family right after he graduated. However, I don't recall ever hearing any more about it. I do hope he managed to go to college somewhere. He was a pleasant young man. He always was polite to me. How did he appear to be when you met him, Alexis?"

Alexis remembered Vince and his biker friends and decided to be polite. "He looked happy, and he seemed to be in good spirits. He's in good physical shape, too." Which I hope is not from beating rival gang members up or running from the police. She thought to herself.

"Well, if you do run into him, please ask him to fill out a membership form for the alumni association. We do like to keep in touch with all of our Marlowe family."

As Alexis left the school, she wondered how Vince would fit in at the next class re-union.

…...

Castle and Beckett got back to the precinct just after lunch. Ryan and Esposito were happy to see them.

"Have a nice trip to Brooklyn? I hope you weren't bored while we were here reading the exciting police reports." Espo asked, sarcastically.

"The witness was a bust." Castle replied. "He didn't remember much from that day other than that McCarty was in his bodega sometime that day, but whether it was before, during or after the shooting he can't remember."

"Well, pull up a file and get to reading." Ryan said.

"We did get something accomplished." Castle said, smiling at his friends.

"What?" Espo asked, suspiciously.

"While I was treating my lovely wife to lunch at Le Cirque, the crab cocktail is to die for, by the way, we decided to go to the Bahamas for our next weekend off. Miami is just getting too déclassé."

"Jenny and I wouldn't be caught dead in Miami." Ryan said, nodding seriously. "And do you have any idea how much they charge to park a yacht?"

"As a matter of fact I do." Castle shot back.

"We don't." Espo said, pointing to himself and Ryan. "So can you quit rubbing it in?"

"Sorry, guys." Kate said softly. "Sometimes being the wife of the wealthy Richard Castle can be such a problem.

"Don't worry about it, Beckett. We're just teasing each other." Espo said, giving her a smile.

Just then, Captain Gates stuck her head out of her office. "News, people. The US Attorney's Office wants to see us this afternoon. We have an hour or so before they'll see us. Anything new on the case?"

Beckett advised Gates that the trip to try to confirm McCarty's presence at the Bodega had been a bust and Ryan and Esposito said they had found nothing in all the police reports that might help.

Gates nodded, then frowned. "Keep at it."

Castle saw the reason for Gates' frown exiting the elevator. "Bergdahl." He whispered.

Lieutenant Bergdahl strode down the hallway in the bullpen, showering anger and disdain in her wake. She walked into Gates' office and closed the door. The ensuing conversation seemed to be entirely one way, Bergdahl to Gates, and to be as unpleasant as the team had come to expect conversations with the IA lieutenant to be.

"Have I mentioned lately how warm and cuddly I've found Captain Gates to be?" Castle asked Kate in a whisper.

"No." Kate replied. "Not at all."

"That's because I'll never lie to you. But I am thankful we got Gates for the precinct captain and not Bergdahl. Can you imagine working for her?"

"That's not imagination, bro. That's a nightmare."

As Bergdahl stomped out of Gates' office, glared at all and sundry, then headed for the elevator. Gates was sitting in her office chair, staring straight ahead.

"Do you think Bergdahl turned Gates to stone?" Castle asked, sotto voce. "I've heard witches can do that."

"I heard that Mr. Castle." Gates replied.

"Sorry." Castle said, quickly grabbing a file and starting to read it.

When he looked up, Gates was standing next to him. "I'm very much afraid you're a disaster for the whole NYPD, Mr. Castle. Detective Beckett's team is a collection of losers and fools and I am the most incompetent precinct captain in the entire history of police work. At least, that's Lieutenant Bergdahl's opinion." Gates looked over the homicide squad. "Please solve this case so that I can shove it down…" She stopped and shook her head. "So we can proceed."

A chorus of "Yes, sirs." followed.

"We should leave for the US Attorney's now, I think." Gates said, returning to her office to gather her things.

As the team got into the elevator, Castle looked around to make sure that Gates couldn't hear him. "If Bergdahl jaywalks near the US Attorney's, I really can imagine someone running her over, "accidently."

Kate grinned at him. "Control your imagination."

"How can I when you're standing right next to me?" He said, waggling his eyebrows.

Both Ryan and Esposito coughed loudly.

"Imagination controlled." Castle muttered.

…...

Alexis Castle decided that afternoon would be a good time to visit the bar she had seen Vince Peake and his friends go into. She stood in front of the bar and looked up at the neon sign: Los Guerreros. The warriors. She peeked in the door and found the bar was busier than she had imagined. However, there were couples dancing in the back and everything seemed peaceful. She went inside.

She had taken perhaps a dozen steps inside before anyone noticed her. A young man smiled at her and spoke to her in Spanish. She smiled back, but said nothing. She had decided that talking to a bartender would be the best way to find Vince or his friends.

Another two men suddenly stood in front of her. One licked his lips and said something in Spanish. Alexis tried to move past the two, but they moved in front of her.

"I'm looking for a friend of mine, Vince Peake?" She said. "Or his friends, Tuco, Flaco, Cowboy and J Boy? They ride motorcycles and I've seen them coming in here."

A ripple of laughter went around the bar. Alexis noticed that the dancers in the back were studiously ignoring what was happening in the front of the bar.

Alexis tried to step back, but found her way locked by a solid wall of young, and not so young, men. "Excuse me." She said as forcefully as she could.

She felt a hand sliding over her ass and then another squeezing her ass. She slapped at the hands, but they stayed where they were. Another hand grabbed one of her boobs and someone was trying to slide a hand under her blouse.

"Stop that!" She said, her voice starting to quaver. "I'm leaving." However, she was surrounded and couldn't move.

She heard someone screaming in Spanish coming toward her. The crowd parted and Alexis saw a huge woman waving baseball bat around and shoving the men away. Before Alexis could say anything, a young Hispanic woman wearing a skin tight dress that showed plenty of cleavage and was so short that she couldn't possibly bend over without showing her panties, assuming she had any on. She grabbed Alexis by the arm and forcefully dragged her to the door as the other woman and the men screamed at each other.

When they reached the street, the girl released Alexis' arm. "Don' come back." She said in thickly accented English.

"Thank you, but I'm trying to find…"

"Go. You and men…Police come. Trouble. Go."

"I'm trying to find a friend, amigo, Vince Peake, Tuco, Flaco, Cowboy and J Boy. Have you seen them?"

The girl spat. "Vincente?" She spat again.

"Yes. Vincent." Alexis said.

The girl nodded. "Kaibiles." She spat again.

"Kay Bills?" Alexis tried.

The girl made a pistol with her hand and said, "Bam." Then she turned and walked back into the bar.

Alexis stood on the street, suddenly finding herself in a neighborhood that was a good deal tougher than she was used to. She noticed men on the street starting to look at her. One took out his wallet and waved some money at her. She headed for the nearest subway, which was many blocks away.

"Alexis Castle?" A voice called to her.

She whirled around and saw a policewoman standing there. "Yes. I know you. You're…"

"Ann Hastings. I know your dad and his wife. What are you doing here?"

Alexis blushed. "Looking for a friend."

"Here?" Ann asked, disbelieving.

"It's a long story."

"Let's get back to my cruiser. I can take you back to the 12th Precinct."

Cruz-Reynoso didn't stand this time when the NYPD team entered his office. He slapped a file down on his desk and frowned. "It seems that giving you access to McCarty is seen as a bad idea by everyone but our politicians. Senator Bollinger was particularly interested in your having access to him, Detective Castle."

Kate decided this was not the time to explain that she used her maiden name while on duty.

Cruz-Reynoso continued. "We did get a few concessions, however. Mr. McCarty will be known as Michael Johnson. You can call him Mick. He'll have civilian ID under that name from New Mexico. He'll also have a Federal concealed carry permit for his weapon. If anyone asks, tell them he's a Fed working undercover. That's all that you'll need to know and all you'll get. Lastly, keep him in the background as much as possible and for God's sake, keep him away from the media. Understood?"

Everyone mumbled something affirmative.

Cruz-Reynoso looked straight at Captain Gates. "Is that understood, Captain Gates?"

"Yes, sir." Gates shot back.

"Mr. Johnson is in the next room. Go and meet him." Cruz-Reynoso nodded to a door at the back of his office. The detectives went through it.

Kate had seen photos of McCarty, but almost didn't recognize him. His records showed he was 6' 1" and 180 pounds. The height was right, but McCarty, or Johnson, as he was now known was a good forty pounds heavier. It all looked to be solid muscle. In his NYPD records McCarty had been clean shaven and had short hair. Johnson had a full beard and his hair hung over his ears and over his jacket collar. His eyes couldn't be seen due to dark aviator sunglasses.

He was slouched in a chair with his feet on a desk, his legs crossed at his ankles, showing cowboy boots and his jeans pulled over the boot tops. He wore a dark blue tee shirt under a brown leather jacket that came over his hips. A holster with a large caliber handgun in it was visible at his waist.

"Mr. Johnson?" Gates said, holding out her hand.

Johnson stood. "Let's get the hell out of here." He ignored the Captain's outstretched hand

"We're glad you could help us with the case." Gates tried again.

Johnson turned and faced the captain. "You have got to be kidding me. The only reason I'm back here in New York is because the NYPD was far more interested in proving I was a coward than in finding who killed those three cops. Now that I find they were probably dirty, I can see why that happened."

Gates opened her mouth to defend the NYPD, but Johnson kept speaking. "I lost my wife, my family, my friends and my career because of the NYPD and now I've been dragged away from a job that is very important to me to go chasing after some long gone killers. I spent a couple of years thinking about the events back in 2001. I went over everything I did and heard and saw hundreds of times and I came up with nothing. I really can't see that something is suddenly going to pop into my mind after all of these years to solve your case. So let's consider my working with you as what it is. A public relations job for the NYPD to make them look good while nothing happens. I'm here because I was ordered here and I can't imagine that I'll accomplish one damned thing." Johnson headed for the door.

Kate put her hand out to stop him. "I'm Detective Kate Beckett. My homicide team will be investigating these four murders. I am not here for a public relations job and I expect to do everything that I can to solve all four of the murders. And I expect you to help as best as you can. You're a Fed so I expect you to treat this as an important murder case and not as a waste of your time. Do you understand me?"

Johnson stared at Kate for a full minute. "So, you're an optimist."

"I'm a good cop." She snapped back at him. "And so are my people."

"Including him?" Johnson asked, pointing at Castle.

"Very much including him." Espo and Ryan said together.

"It must be catching." Castle said with a grin.

"We should go back to the precinct." Gates said. This was the first time that anyone noticed that Bergdahl had already left.

"I can't wait." Johnson said snottily.

Back at the precinct, Rick and Kate had a surprise. Officer Ann Hastings called and advised them that she had a dangerous, red-headed college student who needed to be transported to confinement in Tribeca. It took them a second to catch on to who she meant.

Kate checked her watch. "It's about time to go home. We'll see you tomorrow."

"Wait one." Espo said. "I've got something. The first patrol car to arrive on the scene of the murders was from the Five Four. A couple of uniforms were trying to chase down a witness for some detectives. Senior man was Sergeant Peter D'Angelo, who retired on '03 and died of a heart attack five years later. His partner was one Thomas Demming. Demming was apparently the first person to see McCarty. It'd be interesting to see what Demming remembers."

Kate glanced at Rick and made a decision. "Call him up here tomorrow. You and Ryan do the interview. Castle and I will observe. And Mr. Johnson, of course."

"We need to go see what Alexis was up to." Castle whispered in Kate's ear as they headed for the elevator.