Life Goes On 2
Chapter 11
As Lily took a bow, she spotted the tall man with the white hair standing at the back of the room where she'd given her concert. She'd seen him before sometimes, when her father had taken her to the park or she'd been shopping with Mama. But when she'd asked who he was, her parents had gotten funny looks on their faces and suggested that he was probably just a neighbor. Some of the neighbors had come to her concerts, but they were the same ones who came to the house for Halloween or stopped by for parties. He'd never done that. He'd never even spoken to Lily.
Jackson Hunt slipped out the back door before the rest of the concert goers reached the exit. He was pretty sure he'd seen a look of recognition on Lily's face. He silently cursed himself. He could be setting up another Paris. He'd have to be more careful, especially the way things were going now. The 2016 election had emboldened the Russians. Even with the change in power at the midterm elections and the sweeping changes that took place in 2021, they had established a firm foothold that was not easily dislodged. With another election approaching in a few months, their activity was rising. He and the younger men he now supervised had to be prepared to quash it. He couldn't afford to have anyone get to him through his family. Richard's suggestion to plant a bug to hear Lily instead of showing up in person, hadn't been a bad idea. He might consider it in the future. But right now he had work to do.
"We are off to the Hamptons," Castle announced as he loaded the last of the twins' paraphernalia into the car. Let the Labor Day celebration commence!"
Kate slid gratefully into the passenger seat. There was no doubt that she could use a break. Jenny was a great help, but new needs were springing up everyday. The newest ones sprang from what had been the brief lifting of environmental controls in 2017. Businesses had taken full advantage, polluting waterways, including the Hudson, and avoiding the costs that would have come with treating the hazardous wastes they released into the ground. As a result, many industrial areas had become toxic, with solvents and heavy metals leaching into the soil and water table. Even though the regulations were reinstated, the damage had been done, most of it in poorer areas. Respiratory illnesses and cancers, especially in children, had risen. The center was helping with the filing of lawsuits, but recovery was an almost impossible task. The companies involved claimed that their releases had taken place during the time when they were legal, and little could be done to dispute their claim. The most the center could do was push for legislation to help the victims. Even as her stomach twisted, with Castle's help, she had begun to renew her political connections. The long family weekend would be a welcome respite from those efforts.
Traffic was heavy, stretching what could have been a ninety minute drive to closer to three hours, especially with rest room stops. Overflowing with unreleased energy, the twins bounded out of the car as soon as Rick and Kate freed them from their safety seats. Lily was anxious for action as well, impatiently waiting while Rick unlocked the door to the beach house. "Can I go in the pool?" she queried.
Rick gave Kate a questioning look, as the family made their way inside. "Go upstairs and put on your swim suit," Kate advised her daughter. "Daddy and I will get your brothers ready and we'll all go together."
A voice came through the open door behind them. "Sorry to intrude."
Castle turned. "Chief Brady, what brings you to our not so humble abode?"
"Look, I know you two no longer work with the N.Y.P.D., but I could use your expertise. We may have had a murder."
"May have?" Castle repeated. "Don't you know if someone if dead?"
"That's just it," Brady admitted, "I don't. Bernie Shapiro is missing and we found some blood near his pool, but our M.E. isn't sure that it's enough to say definitively that he's dead. He may just have injured himself somehow and gone off somewhere. We're canvassing to find someone who's seen him, but he had another one of his parties last night and most of his friends and neighbors are only about half conscious."
"Have you figured out who saw him last?" Kate asked.
"That's just it," Brady explained. "He had a house full of people. The cover wasn't even off the pool. No one knows when he left the party, or why he went out there."
"And you're sure that it's his blood?" Kate persisted.
"Pretty much," Brady declared. "He's AB negative, pretty rare. The blood we found is AB negative. The M.E. has the lab running a DNA comparison to Shapiro's toothbrush, but he expects confirmation. I admit I'm at a loss, where do we go from here?"
"You have to construct a time line," Kate advised. "Question everyone from the party again and try to establish exactly when they saw Bernie Shapiro. If you can find out exactly when he went to the pool, and who was seen with him, it should give you a better handle on what happened. The last person to see a victim is the killer."
Brady nodded. "Right. Okay, I'll get that going. His wife gave me the guest list. Listen, I know you have the kids, but can I call you guys if I need more help?"
Kate sighed. A potential murder was the last thing she needed that weekend. Castle caught her eye and she shrugged. Castle patted Brady on the shoulder. "We can't bring the kids into an interrogation, but we can honor you with our sage advice and counsel."
Brady backed out the door. "Great! Okay, I'll be going. Need to get to work on those party guests. Hope we can wake them up."
"You do that," Castle urged. As Brady departed, Rick kicked the door closed behind him and clapped his hands together. "Now! We were going to do something about swimming."
With the languor that flows from hours of water play, Lily and the twins ate their lunch in relative quiet. Castle dug into a container of cole slaw. "So," he asked Kate, "what do you think of Brady's case?"
"I've been trying not to think anything about it," Kate confessed. "We don't even know that anything happened. Maybe Shapiro was looking for some quiet time by the pool and he cut himself. Maybe he had a nosebleed and took a walk. Or maybe he had a tryst somewhere."
"Sounds like you have been thinking about it," Castle observed.
"Old habits die hard," Kate admitted. "What do you think?"
"I think you gave Brady enough work to keep him busy," Castle offered, "hopefully for at least most of the time we're here. And we check for his ID before we answer our phones. I also think if we can tire this gang out enough, perhaps with a rousing game of find the Sith Lord, we can get some time to ourselves later."
"Castle, maybe tonight I can hunt for something myself," Kate purred, stroking his leg under the table.
Castle nodded vigorously. "I'm all for a good hunt."