The Girl I Left Behind Me
By
UCSBDad
Disclaimer: Sir! I do not own Castle, Sir! Rating: T: For language. Time: Three months after the end of season eight.
Once in the car, McCarty took out an electronic device.
"What's that?" Kate asked.
"I want to see if they planted any bugs on the car or on us. They didn't."
"How paranoid are you?"
"Not paranoid enough. People are still trying to kill me."
They got back to the precinct and found that Shaw had some information on the dead shooter, Earl Cousins.
"He was a loner." Shaw said. "Never joined up with any of the big biker gangs. He did hang around with younger punks who were impressed with him. Eventually they got smart and figured out he was just some wild loser. Nothing more from the prison. He kept his nose clean and didn't have any particular friends. His cellmate for most of his time was a guy named Charles Richmond. Richmond couldn't handle being dumped by his girlfriend so he killed her and her new boyfriend. He had no criminal background that anyone can find and he'll be in prison for a long, long time." Shaw shuffled some papers. "The local FBI office found a hooker Cousins had been with, Carole Wasserman, street name Sparky. She said he got a call from somewhere up north and got all excited. Said he was going to make some real money and took off on his Harley. She didn't know who the call was from or what he was going to do. The local SAIC is having his people try to find anyone else who knew Cousins and will keep us informed."
"Hold on." Kate said, grabbing a file. "Cousins was killed driving a stolen Mazda Miata. Stolen from a commuter train station parking lot on Long Island. We need to try to find his Harley. If we find that, we'll know where he was staying and maybe who he was working for. Espo, why don't you and Ann handle that?"
"We're on it." Espo replied.
"The next thing…."
"Is for Captain Beckett to go home." Shaw interrupted.
"What? It's hardly past noon. I don't need to go home."
"Kate, you look tired and stressed. Talking to someone like Roarke can't be easy for you." Castle said.
"Being a cop isn't supposed to be easy." She shot back.
"Which is why I'm taking you home and fixing a nice lunch for you. Then you can take some of your meds and have a nap."
"We aren't going to let you do anything if you stay here." Espo said with a smile. "You may as well go home."
"This is mutiny." She grumped, but picked up her jacket from the chair.
"That's exactly what it is." Ryan said, smiling. "But if we need you, we'll call."
Kate glared at everyone but went with Castle to the elevator.
McCarty glanced at his watch. "About lunchtime. You ready, Peake?"
"Sure. How about Remy's. Everyone says they have great food."
"By everyone, I'm assuming you mean the blonde cop?"
"Yeah."
"I've told you I don't want to eat in some cop hangout. Apparently my family is still more popular around here than I am. I scoped out a place just one subway stop away from here. You like Mexican?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"No."
"In that case, I love Mexican."
Exiting the 12th Precinct, the two soldiers were stopped by a thin, grey haired man in an ill-fitting suit. "Excuse me, but are you the FBI agents looking into the disappearance of Dalal Bakari?"
"No, but we are involved in the case. "McCarty said. "Do you have some information?"
The man looked around with an embarrassed look on his face. "I don't want to cause anyone any trouble…."
"You're originally from Jordan, aren't you?" McCarty cut in.
"How did you know?" He asked, surprised.
"I'm good with languages. Your accent sounds Jordanian."
The man nodded. "My father was an official in the government. He was murdered by Palestinians when I was a boy. My mother was very afraid and we came to this country. I am a citizen. And I heard something…."The man stopped, looking unhappy.
"We can protect you."
"I just don't want to cause trouble for someone if it's nothing."
"If there's a problem, we can keep you out of it."
The man seemed to make a decision. "I am Hamid Saleh. I am a janitor at a mosque. The mosque of Hadj Mohammed al Amriki."
"Our people have talked to him."
"I do not want to get him in trouble if there's no reason….."
"But, if there's a reason, you'll want to tell us."
Saleh shrugged. "Last night I heard him on the telephone. He was far from me but I heard the word "girl" and "trouble". Everyone in the mosque knows about Dalal Bakari. However, it could have been any girl. A girl having trouble with her studies of the Koran, perhaps. Only God knows."
McCarty nodded, "Thank you. We'll check into this. And no one will mention your name."
Saleh smiled and walked off.
"No lunch then?" Peake asked.
"We'll eat." McCarty checked his watch. "Muslims pray at sunrise, then around noon, then late afternoon, next at sunset and finally before going to bed. I'd just as soon see al Amriki between prayers at the mosque. There'll be fewer people around. "
After lunch, they got back in their car.
"Reach under the dashboard." McCarty said. ''There's a Manila folder there. Pull it out and give it to me."
Peake did as he was asked.
McCarty pulled out some ID cards and badges. "FBI? I don't think so. We'd never convince even someone like al Amriki that you're in the FBI."
"I could always steal that guy Sorenson's clothes. You think he ever gets laid dressed like that?"
"He had a wedding ring on."
"Christ! What's his wife like, I wonder?"
"Probably wears conservative blue suit lingerie to bed. DEA? You look the part anyway. But why would the DEA get involved?"
"What do you mean I look the part?"
"Here we go. US Treasury agents. There's money involved. You're now Special Agent David Michaels. Try to remember your new name and act like you know how to count."
"Who are you?"
"Special Agent James Woodward."
"Maybe I should just call you boss? Or chief. Or jefe. Maybe honcho?
"How about Your Supreme Magnificence?" McCarty shot back.
"Special Agent Woodward it is."
They drove to the mosque and exited their car.
"Can I be the bad cop?" Peake asked.
"You? Be serious. I'm obviously badder than you are. I'm older, too."
"What's age got to do with it? What about Emelio Estevez as Billy the Kid in Young Guns? De Niro as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver?" Peake snarled. "You talking to me? You….talking… to me?"
"Sorry. You're more like Vincent D'Onofrio in Full Metal Jacket, or maybe Wile E. Coyote."
"Just for that I'm wearing a tee shirt tomorrow.
"Suit yourself."
They entered the mosque and soon found al Amriki. He made them at once.
"May I help you, officers?" He said softly.
"Special Agents Woodward and Michaels, US Treasury Department." McCarty barked.
"I have done nothing. This is a religious institution. All of my personal paperwork and that of the mosque is in order."
"We'll see about that." McCarty looked around suspiciously. "You helped to deliver money to a known terrorist front organization and the operator of a hawal is dead, his daughter has been kidnapped and there's six hundred thousand dollars in the wind. What do you know about it?"
"Mr. Bakari and his family have long prayed here. I know of his death and that his daughter is missing. I was asked by a friend to drop a donation off to an organization that was not considered a terrorist front at the time. Aside from that I know nothing."
"Yeah, I'll just bet." McCarty started walking through the mosque. "Mind if we have a look around?"
"Of course not, Agent Woodward. As long as you have a warrant."
McCarty grinned. Peake had to admit it was an evil grin. "Suppose I decide not to get a warrant?"
"Then any evidence you get would be inadmissible in court. You know that."
"Inadmissible, yes. But what we find could make people think differently about you and your religion."
"Islam, like many other religions is a religion of peace. That does not stop people, of many religions, from doing violence."
Peake decided it was time for him to play good cop, "Jesus, Woodward. He's right. You go looking around here without a warrant and nothing you find will be useful. And we'll both be in a world of hurt. Let's go see about a warrant."
"Gutless punk." McCarty muttered, but headed for the door. "It won't be too hard to get a warrant on national security grounds." He shouted at al Amriki over his shoulder.
Once back in the car, McCarty smiled. "You did a good job. Maybe next time you can be the bad cop. You can be a young hot shot and I'll be the tired old veteran just looking forward to a peaceful retirement."
"Lethal Weapon?" Peake asked, smiling.
"If you have to."
They hadn't set one foot out of the elevator in the 12th Precinct when Shaw stuck her head out of her office. "You two. My office. Now!"
When they were inside, Shaw slammed the door and glared at them. "What the fuck do you two morons think you're doing? Going to the mosque and pretending to be Treasury agents?"
"We're not in your chain of command, Special Agent Shaw." McCarty quickly said, before Shaw could say anything else.
"What the hell does that mean?" She said, narrowing her eyes.
"Did you think we made up some IDs on a printer or something? Call up the US Treasury Department. You'll find they have two agents named James Woodward and David Michaels. Their records will have our faces, our fingerprints and our DNA. The IDs are completely legitimate." McCarty laughed. "So you have the mosque bugged. Good. We might learn something. As to what we're doing there, I'm trying to get al Amriki to run with the money. Once he's out of the US and in the Middle East, the military will take care of him."
"You mean you'll kill him."
McCarty shrugged. "It happens."
"Get out of here." Shaw said, reaching for her phone. An hour later she had talked to a half a dozen people and had gotten nowhere.
Meanwhile, at the Castle's loft, Kate had just woken up from a short afternoon nap. She turned to see her husband beside her, smiling. "It's awfully quiet. Where is everyone?"
"Alexis has a project to finish on campus and my mother is at her acting studio and then she's headed for a play a friend is in. No one will be back until after dinner."
Kate smiled. "Then we can fool around a little? Or a lot." Her hand went to Castle's belt buckle.
"I'm afraid not. Look." Castle pointed to the bookshelf in front of their bed.
It took Kate a second to realize there was something different about one book. "She has cameras in here? She's spying on us? Fine! We'll use her room."
"Cameras are there, too. In fact, unless you want to make love in the hallway, and upset poor Mrs. Wallenstein when she comes back from walking Charlie, we're out of luck. The whole loft is bugged."
"We'll toss the cameras in the trash chute."
"Oh, then she'll know we were fooling around. And she'll assume the worst. I'm afraid, Alexis, the Supreme High Preventer of Fornication, has us covered, so to speak."
Kate's eyes began to tear. "Dammit! This is worse than when we weren't together and I was starting to believe that you were in love with me and that I loved you, too. I want to make love to my husband. I want to show him how much I do love him."
"I know how much you love me, Kate. I love you totally, just like you love me. And one thing I will never do is take a chance on hurting you. Which could happen if we make out before we have a medical okay. So, Alexis wins this one. Okay?"
Kate nodded and then looked at the camera. "Alexis, as soon as I'm medically cleared, I'm going to fuck your father in every room in the house and on every piece of furniture. And we'll even fuck in the hallway and let Mrs. Wallenstein and Charlie watch." Then she stuck her tongue out at the camera.