FRC – Evidence Be Damned
Summary – Post 7x02 AU. After finding the fake Henry Jenkins lied, Beckett starts questioning the evidence against Castle. This is my version about where it leads them.
Author's Note: Totally AU – Yeah, it's Monday again and I think the plot bunnies may be working again – they took a break when we moved back to regular time from day-light savings time, which really messes with your circadian rhythm – not to mention that winter has come early this year. Rated T for swearing.
As usual, Castle belongs to A Marlowe and ABC/Disney.
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Chapter 10 – Phone a Friend
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"This may take a couple of minutes," said Jenkins as he sent the picture to his contact. "He's checking out a possible Chinese connection to this, so the reception may be spotty."
A few minutes later, his phone chirped and he quickly answered. "I'm at the 12th – you're on speaker phone," he cautioned.
"Good to know," said the gravelly voice that Beckett recognized instantly. This was definitely a Catch-22 situation – without that man, Castle wouldn't have been born, but because his father did what he did, Castle and his family were in constant danger should anyone find out their connection.
"The woman in the picture I just sent you – that was taken at Hollander's Woods 31 years ago. She was our DOJ contact in Costa Rico. Do you know her?" Jenkins asked.
"Got it," the man replied. There was a pause, several long moments of static before he replied. "No, she wasn't…one of ours…at the Woods…I didn't…see her then…DOJ, you said?"
"Yes, she met us in Costa Rico and took us to where Riseman, Sr. should have been. But he wasn't there and she didn't know where he was," Jenkins explained. "A Canadian agent is here at the precinct asking about the two men from Hollander's Woods."
There was a long pause.
"Let me…call in a few favors…shouldn't take too long…I'll be in touch." The line went dead.
The room was silent for a few moments and then Gates looked at Beckett. "Detective, a moment of your time."
"Yes, sir," Beckett answered and then followed the captain into her office.
Gates shut the door and then looked at Beckett. "Kate, let me get this straight. When Mr. Castle was a boy, two men tried to kidnap him and the CIA killed them while he was watching? Why would they be interested in an 11-year old boy? Was it because he met the man the DOJ put into protective custody?"
Beckett thinned her lips slightly as she thought. "Possibly – but it could also be because of who Castle's father is."
Gates looked at her questioningly. "I thought Mr. Castle doesn't know who his father is."
Beckett shook her head. She knew now that Gates could be discreet when the situation called for it and trusted her more. "He only met the man two years ago when Alexis was kidnapped. Castle's father was the reason it happened and he rescued her." She paused for a moment. "He's a CIA black ops asset."
"I see," nodded Gates. She cocked her head at Beckett. "Did he have anything to do with the Ted Rollins case?"
Beckett nodded. "He's why we caught the case – he staged it so we did. He wanted to work Castle for information. And, once again, he killed the suspect in front of Castle."
Gates nodded. "He is the 'friend' that Mr. Jenkins phoned?"
Beckett nodded in affirmation. "Yes, sir."
"So Mr. Castle based a character on a man in protective custody and used that book in a seminar. The man's son took the seminar and realizes that it's his father – the man he's been trying to find. And now the country – probably Canada – that the man defected from is trying to find the man for some reason. They probably killed his son and family while attempting to find out that information. When that didn't work, they kidnapped Castle on his way to your wedding because they thought he might know. And then Castle went with…the CIA," Gates looked at Beckett with raised eyebrows and then continued when Beckett nodded her head slightly, "to find the man and put him back in protective custody because Castle could recognize the man. And now, that same country has kidnapped Castle again…to find the man?"
Beckett nodded in affirmation again. "Yes, sir."
"And we're detaining an agent from Canada who is asking about those men who tried to kidnap Castle as a boy – I'm assuming he doesn't know that the CIA killed the men?"
Beckett shook her head. "I don't think so, sir."
"And the CIA is in the conference room running the operation," Gates finished.
Beckett nodded throughout Gates' summarization – sometimes life was stranger than fiction. "Yes, sir," she said after Gates stopped speaking. "That's an accurate description."
Gates nodded while she thought and then looked at Beckett. "Let's see if we can get this cleared up before 1PP gets wind of it and decides Mr. Castle is a liability and removes him from the precinct."
"Yes, sir," Beckett nodded.
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Jenkins was sitting at the conference table, watching the video feeds on the tablet and sipping a cup of coffee when Beckett walked back into the room.
Espo and Ryan were standing to the side, semi-discretely watching the man.
"Anything yet?" she asked.
"Like I said, Detective, it's a waiting game," Jenkins said, pulling up another feed.
Beckett nodded and then finally gathered her courage to ask the one question she needed answered – that her team needed answered to put this to bed. "When Castle flew to Montreal – found the warehouse – you told him that he asked to have his memory of the event erased. Why did he do that?"
Jenkins paused for a moment and frowned slightly. "Castle said that he was responsible for what happened to Riseman and his family because he wrote about his father. He didn't want to make that mistake again," Jenkins replied. "We tried to talk him out of it – it seemed very extreme, but he was adamant."
"But didn't he realize that by doing that, he would create a mystery that he would feel compelled to solve?" Ryan asked.
Jenkins just shrugged. "The truth affects people different ways. Some people have no problem with the consequences of their actions; some people can't get past it." He swiped his finger across the tablet screen. "I guess Castle is one of those people who couldn't get past it."
Beckett pressed her lips together, a small seed of doubt creeping up on her again and she squashed it without remorse. She was about to say something else when Jenkins' phone chirped.
The asset quickly answered. "You're on speaker," he said.
"Good," said the voice on the other end. "Now take the phone into Director Tremblay if he's still in the room. If you didn't cuff him, he might not be there." The line went dead.
Jenkins frowned at that and glanced at Beckett.
They quickly walked into interrogation room 2, with Espo, Ryan, and Gates walking into the observation area.
Weatherby was still fuming, while Tremblay exuded a detached confidence.
"What right do you have to detain me?" Weatherby started. "I demand to see the police commissioner immediately."
Jenkins' phone chirped again and he quickly answered it and then handed it to Tremblay, who gave him a look.
The man's demeanor changed and he quickly stood, looking slightly shocked. "Of course, sir. I understand. Yes, sir."
Tremblay thumbed the phone off and handed it back to Jenkins. "Apparently you have really good connections," he said, silently appraising the asset. "I've been ordered to give you the information I have on Alfred Morin and Ross Burns and see what other assistance I can give in your investigation. Although this is strictly off the record," he said as he sat back down. "Morin and Burns were the agents in charge of security at a government lab in Montreal. During their watch, several vials of a cloud-seeding agent were stolen and they were attempting to recover them."
Beckett glanced at the mirror that divided the interrogation room and the observation room.
Because they had been working together for so long, Espo and Ryan understood what she meant and quickly walked into the conference room to get the pictures of Riseman Sr., Riseman Jr., and Tiffany and bring them into the interrogation room.
They knocked on the interrogation room door and handed her the pictures.
"You might want to invite them in," said Tremblay. "That way, they'll have an unobstructed view."
He waited until Gates, Espo, and Ryan were standing in the interrogation room.
"Do you recognize this man?" Beckett said as she handed him the picture of Riseman Sr.
Tremblay nodded. "That's Dr. Arthur Cutchins. He was the senior scientist in charge of the cloud-seeding project until he defected to the United States 31 years ago and took his work with him. The Canadian government protested – they weren't interested that much in Cutchins since he was deemed unstable, but in the samples that he took."
"Cloud-seeding?" asked Espo. "As in making rain?"
Beckett nodded. That was what Castle had said. "So are you the ones looking for Cutchins?" she asked, the implications left unsaid – did you kill Riseman and his family? Did you kidnap Castle?
Tremblay shook his head. "No, we're not. Canada has a mature cloud-seeding program. In fact, most industrialized countries have had major breakthroughs in cloud-seeding since then. Cutchins' samples would be a step backwards for them."
"Do you know who is?" Gates asked.
"No, we weren't aware that anyone was looking for Cutchins. Our only interest is in what happened to Morin and Burns. They thought they had a lead on Cutchins and came to the US to apprehend him 31 years ago. They were never heard from after that. Like I said earlier, flags popped when your tech started running facial recognition."
"And I'm assuming that you didn't share this information with our government," said Jenkins.
Tremblay raised an eyebrow at him. "We may be friends, but our governments don't always share."
Beckett placed the picture the photographer had taken of the men in front of the school. "Are these Moris and Burns?"
Tremblay picked up the pictures and then nodded. "Yes, that's them." He studied the pictures and then looked up. "Where were these taken?"
"At a school where the son of a government official attended," Gates said discretely. "Do you know why they would be interested in him?"
Tremblay shook his head. "I have no idea."
"What if I told you that the boy had met Cutchins during the summer?" Beckett asked. "That the doctor let him help fire rockets."
Tremblay frowned as he considered that. "Then they may have wanted to talk to him?" he suggested. "Perhaps Cutchins told him something?"
"And they tried to kill him and the assets who were protecting him," she continued.
Tremblay's frown deepened. "I have no idea why they would have done that. They certainly weren't authorized to do that according to the assignment brief."
Beckett nodded and then pushed the picture of Tiffany towards Tremblay. "What about her? Do you recognize her?"
Tremblay picked up the photo. "Yes, that's Tiffany Stiles – she was Cutchins' assistant at the lab but quit after he defected. She went to work for a think tank making a 6-figure salary." He laid the photo back on the table. "So, now that I've shared, what can you tell me about Morin and Burns?"
"As long as we're off the record," Beckett took a breath, "we have a witness who says that they were killed while trying to kidnap the government official's son."
"I see," said Tremblay, nodding. "That definitely wasn't in the scope of their assignment. I'll mark that file as closed." He paused and sat back in the chair. "And now that we have that out of the way, my next concern is recovering the samples that Cutchins stole."
"Why? Are they important?" asked Gates. "They were stolen 31 years ago."
"Most industrialized countries have mature cloud-seeding projects." Tremblay leaned slightly forward to stress his point. "But if the samples are still viable, they could advance that methodology exponentially for any country that hasn't developed the capability yet – they would be worth tens of millions to the right buyer. And analysts say that affecting the weather might be the next weapon in a war. So we need to recover those samples."
Gates nodded. "So what can you tell us about them?"
Tremblay shrugged. "He took 3 vials. Security is very tight at the lab—"
"Not tight enough," commented Espo under his breath.
"—so Cutchins must have gotten them out by disguising them as common objects," Tremblay continued, ignoring the detective.
"So what size are we talking about?" Beckett asked. "Eye dropper? Coffee thermos?"
Tremblay thought. "Probably the size of a soft drink can."
"Or a beer can," Beckett said as the air was sucked out of the room. "I have a crazy Castle theory." She paused as she remembered. "Castle said when they were camping at Hollander's Woods, they would find the beers that the workers would hide in the lake and move them. Cutchins shot off rockets near there. What if Cutchins hid the samples there, and Castle found them and moved them? He said that Morin and Burns were on the lake all day. They were probably looking for the samples. "
She looked at Jenkins. "They're going to Hollander's Woods."
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