Chapter 8
Kate's iPhone sung out and vibrated on her desk. She turned from the white board to it and when she saw who was calling she picked up a smile rapidly spreading over her face. "Morning sleeping beauty." She sat at her desk and relaxed.
"You didn't wake me," Castle sleepily mumbled sounding genuinely disappointed.
Kate bit her lip as she recollected staring at him in been that very morning, "You looked too cute." She knew he would be scuffing his slippers over the floor to the coffee machine, rubbing his eyes with the heel of his left hand.
"Sure I did. Where are you?"
"At the Precinct."
"I'll be there soon. I'm about to shower after I have my first coffee."
"Bring me …."
"A bear claw. I know."
"Thanks."
"Arrr, you beautiful thing you left the coffee on for me."
"Of course I did, Castle." She heard him pour the coffee and release an Arrhhhhh when he smelt the aroma.
"Flavour country," he chuckled, "I'll be there soon. Love you."
"Me too. See you soon." Kate hung up. She lingered momentarily on the two last words he'd said to her, that he loved her. She stared at the photo of them on her iPhone their cheeks pressed together, wearing happy grins. It had been taken last weekend at the wedding. She gave herself a moment to enjoy the way her tummy buzzed and that he had caused a smile to spread across over her face. She couldn't wait to marry him.
The moment done with, she put the phone down on the desk then turned her attention back to the photographs. She had ordered copies of all the photos from Benson's file and memory disk to be printed overnight and had browsed through the entire collection that morning. She had separated the photos into two piles on her desk. She gazed over the second white board. It was certainly busy and a third was about to get as crowded.
She glanced up to see Esposito and Ryan approach their desks from the breakout room.
"Morning Beckett," Ryan called out as he dumped his coat over the back of his chair.
"Morning Ryan, Espo."
"Beckett," Espo said and looked about the bull pen, "Where's your off-sider?"
"He needs more beauty sleep than I do," Kate replied as she stood up.
"That's for sure. What you got there?" Espo stopped beside Beckett and scanned the board for any additional information Beckett and Castle may have stumbled upon during the night.
"Copies of Benson's surveillance photos." She passed him the reduced set and put one of them up on the third and smallest board she had rolled out early. With a red whiteboard marker she printed 'Benson's surveillance' across the top. Esposito and Ryan helped with hanging the pictures of Perri at the various places Benson had photographed him. They grouped them according to the places Perri was in each picture.
Castle arrived not long after the last photo was placed on the board. The detectives were seated along the edge of Beckett's desk staring at the three boards. He stopped by Kate and passed her a coffee cup and paper bag.
"Hey." He said to Kate.
"Hey. You go me a claw! Thanks."
"No worries," He gazed over the new third board that wasn't there last night when he left.
"Hey Castle." Ryan greeted. Esposito and Castle toughed knuckles and nodded. Castle sat beside Kate and gently knocked her shoulder. It received a smile from her.
"What you guys doing? I mean besides staring silently at the boards."
"Trying to find a common theme in Benson's pictures."
"Well yes, I can see there is not a single bit of doubt in this deep pool of detective minds that the photos are of importance." Castle commented.
"They are, but we don't know why." Ryan said.
"The focal point on the entire collection is Perri. He's at work, at home, at night clubs."
"So Benson took photos of Perri going about his daily life. Why did he do that? What motivated him to follow Perri so diligently and for so long?" Castle asked then took a sip of his coffee.
"I don't know. There are other people in the photos but nothing's consistent," Kate replied looking at Castle. She turned her attention to Esposito and Ryan, "Last night before we left here, Castle and I read through Benson's notes and as you pointed out Castle, his handwritten notes were mostly about times of the day Perri was at places each day. Nothing about what he was doing."
"Yeah, like he jogged every morning at the same time, left for work at the same time, ate lunch at the same diner, left for home in the evening to catch the same train."
Kate continued, "He grocery shops every Wednesday evening and Saturday morning. He's a bookie on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and steps out to night clubs Friday and Saturday nights. Sunday evenings he orders take out and eats at home."
"Nothing jotted down about who Perri was seeing, just the times," Castle confirmed.
"The man was predictable. He was boring. So who wanted Perri dead and why?" Kate asked.
Ryan leaned over Beckett's collection of elephants to pick up the financial records of Benson. "What have we got here?" He scanned through them again to see if they had missed anything.
"Jack shit." Espo replied, "We've been through them with a fine tooth comb.
"True," Ryan tossed the file back to her desk.
"Let's give this line of investigation a rest, after all, it's not a murder and the alleged murderer is lying in the morgue waiting for a relative to formally identify him and take his body for the funeral." Kate said. "Can you guys chase up the police where Benson lives and see whether they have any information? Castle and I have to go and talk to Perri's co-workers."
Shortly after Castle and Beckett drove out to meet the people Tony Perri worked with during the weekdays. They figured they wouldn't find any leads at his workplace but for the thoroughness of the case they decided to tick that box off. Beckett parked out front of a small commercial building. Inside the structure, they rode the elevator to the sixth floor. With Rick slightly behind her, Kate approached the reception desk which was manned by a young blond woman wearing a low cut shirt.
Kate maintained eye contact, but contemplated where Rick's eyes would be directed. As he was behind her, she had to trust he was being a gentleman, "Hi, I'm Detective Beckett, here to see Mr Ben Simpson. I phoned earlier." She briefly showed her badge which was attached to her black compendium.
"Of course Detective. Mr Simpson asked me to offer you the use of one of our conference rooms where you will be able to privately speak to the staff," the blond said as she stood and stepped from behind her desk.
Castle observed the receptionist wore a snug white business shirt over a generous bodice, with a black fitted mini skirt. Her high heels didn't give her any ground on Kate's height but they were impressive shoes. She wasn't tall at all but she certainly made up for it with a rather curvy cute body.
He remained discreet as he checked out the younger woman's assets as he tagged along behind the women to the meeting room they had been given access to. He saw Kate glance suspiciously over her shoulder at him. He calmly raised an eyebrow his expression neutral.
In the meeting room he stopped walking and glanced about them. It was an external room with a view of New York's might fine skyline. He took a moment to savour the view of his home. He then turned about. There was a long conference table that seated approximately ten people, a flat screen, and a wall cabinet in the same grain as the table. Upon the cabinet sat a silver serving tray with a half dozen upturned glasses and a jug which he assumed contained chilled water. On the wall were pictures of what he saw were staff involved in various charity work.
As the receptionist asked if they wanted coffee and took their orders, because of the natural light in the room Rick noted that her hair was naturally ginger. She had bright blue eyes and a friendly smile. Unlike his daughter this young woman enjoyed the sunshine and wore the freckles over her cheeks. When she left the room, she closed the door behind her promising that Mr Simpson would be right with them.
"Wow." Kate murmured as she sat in a chair at the long side of the table.
Rick sat to her right, "What?" He knew exactly what Beckett was commenting about but he was in the mood to let her explain her thoughts.
"The buttons of her shirt certainly have a job on their hands."
Rick snorted, shocked by Kate's comment. "Beckett!" He never expected her to make such a remark, but then again he had seen her jealous of other women's boobs.
Her eyes widened, "Well!"
He leaned on the table and looked at his girlfriend in amusement, "I agree those buttons were under duress. But if I had mentioned it." He waved a hand dismissing his own sentence.
"I know, Castle, I would have gone off the deep end at you." She smiled at him. "But you can see my point of view here."
"Yes, I can. But in saying that, she's a very attractive young lady," he carefully offered up, "But she's not much older than my daughter and that makes it all too creepy to think about it anymore." He shuddered then looked at Kate who was laughing at him.
"But it's different when it's about me." She commented.
"You're my girlfriend. I've seen all of you," He said then smiled cheekily.
"Would you date a girl like her?"
"Nope, I'm engaged to you."
"I mean if you were single?"
"I'm not single."
"Castle, will you stop being logical? Leave that to me."
"Touché Beckett." He chuckled.
"Castle."
He put on a serious expression, "Do I really have to answer this? I don't ask you these kind of things."
She dropped their gaze to organise her note book, "You can if you want."
"Okay. Remember that," he warned.
"I will. So would you date a woman like her?"
"No, I wouldn't."
"Why not? You said she's cute."
"Well, I said she's very attractive, but yes, I agree with you, she's very cute. And to answer your questions, although she's attractive, she's not tall enough."
"That's your cut off? Height?"
"Certainly. I prefer tall women and anyway it's not all about the physical stuff. There has to be chemistry."
"Okay." Kate opened her folder and flipped her note pad to a fresh page. She found a pen in her bag then wrote the date at the top of the page.
"Is that all you're gonna ask?" Rick inquired, shocked by her sudden dismissal of the conversation.
"Yes. It's all I wanted to know."
Rick watched as she cast her eyes to his face, her expression a little timid. He always thought it was a cute look she gave when she accepted how crazy she sometimes behaved. He smiled at her eyes. "I know," he whispered and instantly saw her blush.
"I don't know what you're talking about Castle."
He laughed but stopped when he heard the door handle move. They stood up as a man in his late forties entered the room and closed the door. He was very tall, slim with grey hair and brown eyes.
He approached Castle, "Sorry to keep you, Detective Beckett …." he reached out a hand to shake Castles, as he stepped around the table to meet the man, "I'm Rick Castle," he greeted.
"Oh, sorry. Nice to meet you, Rick. I'm Ben Simpson."
Castle held out his arm to Kate, "This is Detective Kate Beckett."
"Detective, lovely to meet you."
"Mr Simpson, thank you for your time this morning." Kate said as she leaned over to shake his hand.
"Please, call me Ben."
"Ben," She glanced from Rick to Ben who was four inches taller than Rick and very slim for a man.
"What can I help you with Detective?" Everyone took their seats.
Kate took a deep breath and rested her elbows on the table, "We have a situation Ben in which Tony Perri's life was threatened this morning. As you know he was picked up from here and he is currently in protective custody."
"Yes, I was here with the Police came and escorted him to the station."
Kate nodded, "We require access to your staff who interact with Tony Perri, for approximately ten minutes each to ensure that no one in your business has a bone to pick with Mr Perri."
"We can certainly do that, Detective."
"Does Mr Perri have contact with clients?"
"He certainly does and several of his co-workers are internal clients. I can give you a list of each if you wish."
"Please. Would there be a disgruntled co-worker or client you know of who might be motivated enough to arrange his murder?"
"I don't believe so, well not enough to want to murder him. Any disgruntled clients would complain to management. Staff understand that there is a process implemented by human resources to have any complaints about co-workers formally resolved."
"Fair enough. And so you can confirm you haven't received serious complaints from clients in relation to Tony Perri."
"Not a complaint that would be motive for murder."
Satisfied with his reply, Kate pulled a photograph of Billy Benson from her folder and slid it over the table to Ben Simpson. "Do you recognise this man?"
He picked up the photo and studied it a moment or two. His brow furrowed. "Well, he could be the guy who works in a local coffee shop."
Castle and Beckett glanced to each other. Progress already. They both sat up.
"Can you give me the name of the coffee shop?" Beckett asked.
"Yep, I sure can." He strained a little to see out the window across the street. Castle turned about to follow the man's gaze, "It's the Little Black Dog Coffee Shop. Right over there."
Kate looked out the window and soon found a sign in a window that had exactly that written upon it, "Strange name for a coffee shop." She commented turning back to Ben.
"Yeah. The guy who runs the place has a little fox terrier that sits in the front of the store. He can't go where the food is served but he's allowed to stay up the front. It's an odd establishment but the food is great!"
"Got it." Kate interrupted not interested in hearing the history of the place. She made a note to drop over there when they were on their way out. She continued with her questioning. "Do you know of any person who may have had issues in the past with Mr Perri, any disgruntled staff who may not have taken the matter to HR?"
"No. Tony is a strange man and he keeps to himself."
"Strange, how?" Rick inquired, not surprised at all that the comment had been made.
"Don't get me wrong here, he's a good worker and works hard but he doesn't play nice with his co-workers."
"How so?"
"He's not a team player, tends to isolate himself from the rest of my employees.
Rick persisted. "Is he rude?"
"Not that I've heard. Nothing has been reported to me about him being rude."
"Has anything been reported to you?" Kate asked.
"Not exactly but I've heard via the grapevine that he and one of the women on staff had a few issues after they broke up…"
"What is the name of the woman he had the affair with?" Kate inquired.
"Tania Hocking is her name, but you didn't hear it from me as they kept their relationship quiet."
"We will maintain discreetness as much as we can." Kate confirmed.
"Thank you Detective."
Kate sat back in the chair crossing her hands over her hips. Before them sat the umpteenth person who worked with Tony Perri and once again she was hearing the same response to their standard questions.
"Oh no, he's never insulting or short." Amy Teesdale replied shaking a head full of brown curls that bounced and tangled every time she nodded or shook. Amy's large dark brown eyes narrowed as her smile faded. She leaned in and directing her conversation to Castle she said, "He's quite creepy."
Castle leaned forward too pretending to be interested, "How so Miss Teesdale?"
"He makes the women in the office feel uneasy." Amy looked at the detective, "You know, when certain guys prickle the hair at the back of your neck." She nodded again, the curls bouncing about.
Kate was surprised that Amy looked at her. It was the first time in awhile. "Yes, I know that feeling all too well Amy." She had accepted that all the women in this small business were attracted to Castle like bees to honey and she had allowed Rick to ask the questions because he was getting the women to candidly talk.
"It seems most women get that reaction to this man." Castle remarked as he smiled to Kate who quietly stared back.
"But he never does anything that would provoke that feeling." Kate replied.
"No detective. Its instincts. He's like a darkened alleyway on a winter's night." Amy described, "Does that make sense?"
"Geez, I need to jot that one down." Castle said searching his pockets for a pen and his pad.
"Got it." Kate muttered as she jotted.
Castle smiled because his muse had done it for him. Over the years she'd adapted to his writer needs. Her police notes were littered with writer quotes and ideas. As she always did she drew a square around the note so he could easily locate it later on.
Amy glanced between the two people questioning her, unsure what they were up to. She chose to ignore it and continue talking, "Tony's the sort of guy you keep at a distance. Be nice an all that, but keep him at arm's length. The only one who had a relationship with him was Tania Hocking."
"Tania." Kate murmured. Her name had come up in earlier discussions. "Thank you Amy. Would you please ask the next person to come in?"
As it happened most of the people Tony worked with got along with him if they kept him at arm's length. The exception to that rule was one woman who held a longstanding grudge against him. Every person they interviewed named Tania Hocking. She had been in a relationship with Tony that had lasted only a few months. According to alleged rumours spread via the office grapevine, the relationship had finished badly and ever since she was the woman scorned. Kate gave up jotting down her name when Joe French was the tenth person to mention her. She dropped the pen on her notebook and gave Castle a look, noting his eyebrow rose once again. She leaned forward and rubbed her forehead in weariness when she heard Joe tell them Tania Hocking was spiteful enough to arrange Perri's murder. She heard Castle take a deep breath. He was also growing impatient with the discussions.
"Joe, tell me why you think Tania Hocking would be motivated to murder Mr Perri." Castle asked calmly.
"Because at the Halloween party I saw them fighting. They'd had a bit too much to drink. They had stayed away from each other for months but at the party there was a major argument outside. I shared a cab home with Tania and that's when she told me she knew there was something sinister about Tony. He was trying to get back together with her but Tania wouldn't have it."
"What did she tell you?" Castle asked.
"That he wanted her to get involved in a part of his life. She wouldn't elaborate when I asked her to."
"A recurring theme." Rick commented tapping his finger on the table. "But no one can elaborate."
"Mmmm." Kate replied.
Tania Hocking was the twelfth person who entered the meeting room. She was slim, average height and had long red hair. After almost two hours of interviews, Beckett and Castle were both on the edge of throwing the towel in. But the entrance of the red head had Rick instantly sit up and clear his throat.
Kate observed him, unsure of why she had clearly made him nervous the second she had appeared. Then it occurred to her. It was the red head factor. Tania looked similar to Meredith. It caused Kate to smirk but she held it inside. The red head sat opposite Kate which was odd when she recalled that all the women so far had sat closer to Castle. She sat stiffly and pushed her very long straight hair back behind her shoulders.
Castle, all too familiar with redheaded women soaked her in. She was quite attractive, her hair thick and long. Like the women he knew, she stayed out of the sun to prevent the freckles over her skin. It was the freckles he liked about redheads. He looked to his fiancée who was preparing to take notes for this interview. He could see Kate thought this conversation was going to be the most interesting one for the day. The woman everyone had spoken about was finally in their company. He glanced over Beckett's long brown hair at the freckles she wasn't afraid to have and at her olive complexion. She must have sensed his stare as she looked up at him. She smiled at him, fidgeted then looked to Tania and began.
"Sorry. I was thinking." She turned her attention to the woman. "Your name is Tania Hocking?"
"Yes, it is."
"I'm Detective Kate Beckett and this is my colleague Mr Rick Castle. We're making inquiries about Tony Perri. His life was threatened."
"I know. I heard about it. I kind of wish the guy had taken the shot before he fell."
She's a redhead. Rick thought as he abruptly sat up. He was once again reminded of how lucky he was that he was with Kate even if she was challenging in her own way. No more red heads.
"So you are disappointed he wasn't murdered." Kate inquired almost allusively.
Tania stared at Kate for several seconds, "I didn't have my hand on the trigger Detective. If someone else wanted him dead it's not a surprise to me. The guy is a creep. He's weird."
Rick duly noted once again the woman had told Beckett that the guy was a creep, that there was something weird about him. Rick couldn't find any reason not to agree with her. But Tania Hocking was far more assertive and spiteful about it. She evidently had firsthand experience of this other side of Perri that the others hadn't seen. Castle stayed out of the conversation because Tania was comfortable talking to Kate.
"Can you elaborate on that why you say he's a creep? It's a very general description."
Tania fidgeted then said, "We were in a relationship which was great to begin with. You know when its exciting and he's all you can think about."
"Then what?" Kate asked.
"He got kinky in the bedroom. Wanted me to do things I wasn't comfortable with."
"Is that why you broke it off with him?"
"In the end it was, yes."
"Did he physically harm you?"
"No. I didn't let it go that far."
"Tania, did he know this man?" Kate pushed the picture of Benson over. She looked at it.
"He's the guy from the coffee shop."
"Does Tony know him?"
"Only from the shop I would guess but I don't believe in any other way. Tony doesn't drink coffee or tea. He only drinks water or health drinks. He is fanatical about the food he eats. Always going on about protein. He is fond of the salad rolls from across the street. \"
"Okay. Do you know this woman?" She showed Tania a copy of the picture of the woman that had been found in Benson's bag. The woman looked at it carefully for several seconds then handed it back to the detective.
"No. I've never seen her in my life."
"Who the hell is she?" Rick muttered rubbing his thumb and index finger over his brow in weariness.
"Thank you Tania. We'll be in touch. If you think of anything please phone me." Kate passed a business card over the table to her. "What you tell us I can promise you won't be repeated to Mr Perri."
"Thank you." Tania paused a moment like she was on the edge of saying something, but then she stood and left the room.
When she was gone Castle said, "She knows more than she's telling us."
"I know. It's why I gave her the card. She doesn't trust us." Kate tapped the pen on the pad, full of impatience. "Until she spills, all we have is Benson was making coffee over the road and everyone thinks Perri is a creep." She stretched her arms, desperate to move and have a coffee.
"Well, we got that bit right. I think it's time for a coffee, Beckett. My shout."
"Perfect timing Castle. It's always your shout. I would have to take out a loan to repay you."
Castle laughed. She was probably right. "I'll buy the coffee. You talk to the manager."
"Will do."
