A/N: Hey everyone. So sorry for the huge delay in getting this out, but we are getting ready to move, and have been very busy. So I hope you enjoy this update as short as it is, but we get some critical clues here. So as always enjoy and please leave reviews. Thank you.
Chapter 5
12th Precinct
Manhattan, New York
"Alright Sheldon Baxter before he became Deputy Mayor on School Safety was the head of prestigious private school in upstate New York five years ago." Ryan stated as holding a printout. He handed it over to Kate. "Has a 19 year old daughter from a previous marriage. His second wife was a teacher at the school he headed up."
"What happen to his first wife?" Russell asked.
"Died in a car accident." Castle answered as he bounced baby RJ on his lap as Kate sat next to him. He looked at the murder board. "And his second wife is 6 months along."
"But come on Castle you said it yourself that she started the deposits 2 years ago." Russell stated as she pointed to the murder board. "Doubt she has had that many kids in the past two years."
"I have to agree with Russell bro." Esposito stated as he looked at Castle. "If our victim was sleeping for spots in the school, why have an affair with her beforehand?"
"Guys cheat." Castle answered as he passed Baby RJ over to Kate. "Though I never have, plus he's the deputy mayor for school safety. They could have met at a wide range of charity events."
"Castle has a point. We met Sheldon and his wife at the MADT fundraiser earlier this year." Kate answered. She kissed Baby RJ on the cheek before setting him in the stroller. "We also attended a fundraiser for Boys and Girls Clubs in which there were plenty heads of private schools at these events."
"But that doesn't mean he had affair with our victim." Ryan stated as he pointed to the photo that Castle brought. "She, Deputy Mayor Baxter, and his wife could have flown down there together."
"Then where's his wife Ryan?" Russell countered. She walked over and pointed at the photo. "If a man flies down to the Caribbean with a woman not his wife, it's not for business and why the injunction if they are just friends? Wouldn't they want to find out who killed her?"
Ryan didn't have an answer for that, because he had to admit Russell was right. Russell turned back towards Kate and Castle. "Castle anything else your friend find out about the account?"
"Not yet." Castle answered as he sat on the desk. He took out his phone which pinged with a new message. "But Sheldon Baxter took a private jet down to the islands, and the only passenger was our victim."
"Still doesn't mean he was cheating." Ryan stated again as he looked at Castle.
"Well I'll ask him when me and Castle talk to our buddy the mayor." Kate stated as she got up and looked at the board. She turned to the team. "Go through the victim's life again. There has to be a reason why she set up the account."
The team nodded as Kate walked towards her office and came back a moment later. She, Castle and baby RJ started towards the elevator. "Martha's school is on the way to city hall. We'll stop by there and drop baby RJ off."
"Here that bud. You can be used a prop in a show." Castle said smirking as baby RJ laughed as the elevator doors closed.
City Hall
Manhattan, New York
"Rick, Kate." Mayor Weldon said coming over to the door and hugging Castle before giving Kate a kiss on the cheek. He then looked around. "Oh I was hoping you bring the baby by."
"Not this Mr. Mayor. Official business this time." Kate said to the mayor as he escorted them in.
"I understand that." Mayor Weldon said as they approached the desk. He motioned for them to sit down. "Can I ask why you need to see Sheldon?"
Castle shifted in his seat. "During the course of the investigation Mr. Mayor, it came to our attention that your deputy took a trip to the Island's with our victim and may have been having a affair with her."
"That's a pretty hefty accusation to be throwing around Mr. Castle." Mayor Weldon said more formally to the pair. "What evidence do you have to back this up?"
"A surveillance still of our victim with the deputy mayor in the Grand Caymans where she opened a account, and flight manifest that shows Deputy Mayor Baxter and our victim as the only passengers on the private flight." Kate answered defending the position they had come into the office with. She took a breath. "We need to talk to him to get clarification because the victim's sister also mentioned someone high in the levels of the city government."
"As well as he slapping an injunction on the team going through surveillance footage for the time the victim was killed." Castle added in. He leaned forward a little bit. "He would only do that if he was trying to protect someone, or stop us from seeing a particular piece of footage."
Mayor Weldon sat back and looked at Castle and Kate. He took a breath. "I know he and his wife apply for a spot for their baby, but why would he have a injunction placed on the investigation?"
"That is why we need to talk to him sir." Kate said answering the mayor's question. She took a breath. "Hopefully getting clarification on all of this."
Mayor Weldon nodded and picked up the phone. "Julie, can you have Sheldon come down to my office please."
It took a minute but there was a knock on the door, and the deputy mayor for school safety stuck his head in the door. "Mr. Mayor you asked to see me?"
Mayor Weldon nodded. "Yes Sheldon. Captain Beckett and her husband Richard Castle have a few…."
The Deputy Mayor bolted down the hallway with Kate rising quickly and chasing after him calling out to Castle. "Castle, call security and have them lock the building down."
Castle got up to follow his wife as the mayor called building security as Castle called Ryan. "Ryan call for backup to city hall. The Deputy Mayor took off."
The Deputy Mayor ran down the hallway towards the entrance towards city hall, not knowing that security already had the building on lockdown, and the uniforms close to city hall were closing down the exits. As the deputy mayor turned the corner he saw security blocking the entrance so he turned to head back the way he came towards a stairwell when he saw Kate pointing her gun at him. "Going somewhere sir?"
The Deputy Mayor put his hands up as Castle came running behind his wife. "Whoa, and I thought City Hall never closed."
Kate rolled her eyes as an officer came over and put the deputy mayor's hands behind his back.
12th Precinct
Manhattan, New York
"I want my lawyer." Deputy Mayor Baxter demanded from his seat in interrogation.
"And I want our son to have world peace when he grows up." Kate countered with a look of determination on her face. "But we can't get all that we want."
Castle looked at his wife. "Nice lyric drop there."
"Thank you." Kate said keeping a straight face but smiling on the inside. She then pushed forward the picture that Castle had brought earlier. "Now to be fair we thought that you just were giving a victim a ride to her destination where you would meet up with your family. But you didn't did you. You and Clarissa have been carrying on a affair haven't you?"
Deputy Mayor Baxter scoffed. "Please how would you…."
"It's nice being connected." Castle answered as he saw Kate slide forward the flight manifest. "All flight contain two passengers. You and our victim Clarissa Donaldson."
Deputy Mayor Baxter scoffed at the notes. "So I gave a flight to a friend of ours. Doesn't…"
"And my friend who runs the hotel where you stayed in the Turks and Caicos remembers just the two of you." Castle countered cutting off the Deputy Mayor.
Kate smiled and eyed up the deputy Mayor. "How long have you been seeing our victim?"
Deputy Mayor Baxter saw that he had been founded out. "Past couple years. Ever since me and my wife have been trying to get pregnant. We wanted to get our child into a good school."
"But you should have been…" Castle started to say.
"Not with her in charge. It was whoever could persuade her the right way." Deputy Mayor Baxter replied. He shifted in his seat and eyed up the both of them. "Some with donations to the school, while some tried the route I did. But it was supposed to be a one-time thing."
"But it turned into something more." Kate stated getting a nod. "Where were you between 9 and midnight a couple nights ago?"
"I was at a function with the mayor at the Waldorf." Deputy Mayor Baxter answered as he looked both of them over. "You can check with the news crews. I am pretty sure they caught me."
Kate nodded and wrote this down as Castle eyed up the Deputy Mayor. "Why the injunction?"
Deputy Mayor shook his head. "Sorry. That is one question you are not getting an answer out of."
Kate and Castle walked back out into the bullpen where Ryan was hanging up his phone. "His alibi checks out. He was at the Waldorf from the time he said he was."
"Great." Kate answered rubbing her head. "Why then the injunction then and what he is trying to hide?
Russell thought about it for a moment and looked at the board. Then it hit her. "It's not what he is hiding, but who he must be protecting."
The team looked at the board, and then it hit them. Kate saw it first. "Who has Fredrick Niemen made the biggest donations too?"
Castle answered before anyone else. "The mayor's campaign, especially his big push to improve school safety."
"So the mayor makes a big push for school safety, and solicits big money for donations." Ryan said eyeing up the board as Esposito was still engaged in his conversation on his phone. "So Fredrick sits down with the chairman of the city council, while Deputy Mayor Baxter attends an event at the Waldorf which focused on safety technologies for schools."
"Let me guess, it was the elite and wealthy of the city at the event?" Castle asked getting a nod. "Those events never focus on public schools, merely on trying to make the schools where their kids go safer."
Everyone nodded their agreement as Esposito finally hung up the phone on his desk and got up to approach the murder board. "Alright get this. I talked to the victim's sister again. Guess who the boss was that their mother had the affair with at her financial company where she got a promotion to operations manager?"
"Niemen Financial services?" Kate asked getting a nod as she look as Castle's phone rang and saw him answer it off at a distance. She saw Esposito nod. "Let me guess. No one at the office they work at remembers anything?"
"To the t." Esposito replied with a nod. He did smile and walk over to the board. "The only reason the sister remembers it, is because of the stuff she kept from her parents place."
"Still a long shot unless we know for a fact it was Fredrick Niemen." Russell replied getting a nod from everyone else.
"Keep looking." Kate told them as she saw Castle coming back over towards them. "Who was that Rick?"
"My contact in the Grand Caymans. Turns out victim put very specific instructions on the account." Castle answered. He pulled out his phone. "In the event of my death, all funds will go to Janet Baxter the day she turns 25, along with the birth certificate that list Fredrick Niemen and my mother's name on it to the press, along with the adoption papers."
"Clarissa had a daughter?" Ryan asked.
Castle shook his head. "Half-sister, who was adopted by the Baxter's. I think that is the reason why for the injunction."
"And our motive for the murder." Kate said as the team looked at the board.
Additional note: In the next update, the Team digs into their suspects daughter's past, and confront the sister, as Russell has another confrontation with her dad. Kate goes to floor to get the injunction removed from the tapes.
