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Chapter Four
Castle didn't return until late afternoon. He had tried to write, but kept getting sidetracked by Kate's case. He wanted to leave her alone to digest the files Roy had sent him, but he wanted her company as well. In fact, as he admitted to himself, he wanted her company forever. He had already told her he loved her. When all this was done, he'd have to tell her again and make sure she listened.
But in the meantime, back to work. He climbed the steps and walked through the open door to her room.
Kate was napping. The afternoon sunshine glanced across her face and the papers spilled across her hospital bed. Castle thought she looked visibly better, better color, and her cheeks filled out from the gauntness he'd seen when he arrived two days before. He smiled and strolled over to the matrix board to see if Kate had entered anything new from the laptop on her bedside table.
"Wake up, Sleeping Beauty," he said, as he dropped a gentle kiss on Kate's forehead. At the same time the door opened to Smith's replacement, another nurse coincidentally named Jones, who took her vital signs, noted the results in the file at the foot of her bed, and left.
They both watched the door swing closed before turning to each other, excitement burning in their eyes.
"Roy kept everything!" said Kate. "Son of a bitch! That son of a bitch." And she smiled, when she said it.
"There should be enough here to solve the case," said Castle. "But I wonder why he just didn't tell us who was behind everything? Why didn't he give us a name?"
"I think he needed us to figure it out, to reason our way through the case on our own. Then we've have the evidence locked into place. Just a name wouldn't convict the bastard, whoever he is."
"So where do we start?"
"Let's see what we know so far," replied Kate. "John Raglan, Gary McCallister, and, at least for a bit, Roy Montgomery, ran a kidnapping ring, snatching up senior members of the New York crime syndicates, beating them up and then holding them for ransom. "
"Right, " said Castle. "And then, somewhere along the line, someone else discovered the ring, someone big and powerful and scary enough to take over and divert all that money to his or her own accounts.
"Now, if I were writing this, Mr. Big would be someone with ties to the criminal underworld in New York, either through law enforcement or through the syndicates themselves or maybe even both."
"Right. And Ragland and McCallister can't go to the cops," Kate took up the thread. "At the very least, they'd be fired. They could go to jail or, even worse, the mob would find out their identities and take them out. Not worth it. So they kept their mouths shut. And then, years later, when everyone thought they were safe, my mom gets a letter from Joe Pulgatti and the whole thing begins to unravel."
"We need a time line!" said Castle, happily, and moved to the electronic murder board to set it up.
"Nineteen years ago the snatch went bad, FBI Agent Bob Armand was killed, and the ring folded." Castle tapped his time line and put in the Armand murder.
"So, sometime before that, maybe a year or two, Mr. Big moves in and takes over"
"And suddenly becomes very wealthy," adds Castle, excitedly, looking at Kate.
"So if we can get a list of potential Mr. Big's, then we can follow the money!" They both shouted out the last part in unison. Then grinned at each other.
Getting serious again, Kate wondered, "But how do we get that list and get financials on all these people? I'm supposed to be dead, and you don't have the contacts."
"Ah! That's where the excellent Jordan Shaw can help us out," replied Castle, reaching for his cell phone. "We'll call her and see what she can dig up."
"That's great," said Kate softly. Then, suddenly overwhelmed with achy fatigue, she closed her eyes. Nothing like doing too much, too soon. As if she'd said it aloud, Mr. Jones appeared with her pain meds.
"Best let her rest for awhile, Mr. Castle," he said. And so he did. Besides, it would take awhile for Shaw to collect the data.