Chapter 14: Shadows & Craters

"We've got nothing."

The words were less telling than the setting. Kate Beckett, daughter of lawyers and a former officer of the law sat slumped in an underground bunker. She pushed the files away. A hand waved despondently over the mess, "He's had too much time to cover his tracks. The trail of the mob money from the cops to Bracken ends in the fire that wipes out the old banks records. Nothing else in here is ironclad. The conspiracy to commit murder is too circumspect to make a strong case in court. The shit that can be proved is too small to matter or the statue of limitations has run out. An attorney could easily argue I've planted whatever meager evidence there is. We've got nothing." she repeated yet it felt like something big was out there.

Rick crowed between the table (the files) and his lover. "We've got leads. We've got time. We just started working with all the puzzle pieces. We've got this."

She didn't believe a word of it. Sarcasm dripped from her words. "Right. No pressure as long as I stay underground. If I pop my head up they'll put me in the ground permanently. Maybe you better get me pregnant so I have an incentive to hunker down."

He refused to raise to the bait, but did caress her jaw, the pad of his thumb toying at her lips. Castle was a bit of an expert at taking overwhelming circumstances and finding a way for characters to have a fighting chance. He felt it too: something lurking in the shadows.

He soothed her despite contradicting in inclinations, "Time. We will take this one year at a time. Alexis and I talked and she volunteered to take a 'gap' year before going off to college. She suggested some time in Africa with the Peace Corps. My mother suggested I sue her over my unpublished plays. The media attention can work to both our advantages and meanwhile it keeps her safe because of our very public falling out."

Kate looked frantic, "No! Rick, absolutely not."

A single finger of Rick's gently stilled the protest of her words. "They each offered. They each want to help. This is how they can show their support of us. Your father seems determined to forge a link through the financials. Esposito found the van Maddox is driving. He's going to put a GPS tracker on it and we might just get a photograph of Maddox meeting with Bracken during the Senator's upcoming trip to NYC. We need patience. We will get there."

Kate shook her head, dislodging his touch. She had to shrug him off to think clearly. "This is my fight. I can't let them, let my father…"

Softly he antagonized her, "Don't be so selfish. Don't pretend this fight is yours alone and don't push away your support system. I will not let you slam the door shut with me on the other side."

"Castle…" she warned. He always made it about her running…

"We are your family and you shouldn't want to stop us from helping. Let your dad finally feel empowered to get back at the man who has taken his wife, your innocence and his sobriety." Yeah, that kicked the fight right out from under her. He plowed ahead, "Let's use the advantages, however small, given to us by the magic of the universe. These little inroads will let the investigation proceed without drawing attention or putting innocents at risk."

"Castle, what if I go confront Bracken? Find a way to have a private meet and lay it on the line. Threaten him with the files?" Action - doing something - anything was better than sitting it out, hiding. Unsaid was that she could do it without him…

"Threaten a senator? Let's pretend you could get past the security- pretend your resignation isn't being gossiped about by every NYPD cop and they would wave you through. Let's imagine that I want you alone in a room with a man who wants you dead. This will look like a crazed ex-cop fixated on a highly respected public servant. It confirms you have files - which just might make you a bigger target for him. Might make him want to find a way discredit you like he did Mayor Weldon." Killing her spirit was just as big of a threat as the physical.

She huffed out a breath. A wrestling match of inner demons playing with her insecurities threatened another stalemate. Beckett asked for a nudge, a sign… "Do you…" She stopped, unable to give voice to the hidden carnage of her psyche.

"Kate, I know the meaning of words. When I said always, I meant it. I'm all about the story but it doesn't mean I am going to get bored with you if you're not a detective or walk away from unraveling the dragon's conspiracy."

"Mixed signals, Rick. You tell me we can finish the fight - it just takes time. Then you tell me I can walk away and it doesn't matter to you. Which is it?"

"Need some control? Some rules and boundaries to push?" The words balanced by a hint of a smile crinkling the corners of his eyes.

It broke through the weight of the world. "Implying I'm a control freak? Or are you just trying to stay on my good side without knowing where that is from second to second?"

"Umm. Can I plead the fifth?" His impish grin gave way to the delight of being able to show his feelings. He snagged her arms, pulled her up, looped his fingers in her waistband, and nuzzled her scent. "I want to push other boundaries…"

She playfully pushed him away. A middle of the day tryst, no matter how appealing, wasn't going to get their lives reclaimed. She cocked an eye at him, waiting.

"Oh, okay. I've got stuff that will exonerate Mayor Weldon. I've also got hidden connections to overseas gambling, drugs, and gun manufacturing. Bracken took the mob ransoms and put it into disreputable industries overseas. That money grew even as the flow of funds got more obscured through dummy accounts. The bad news is that Smith had someone hack the information so none of it will stand up in court. I doubt these countries honor U.S. warrants and Bracken would know what is coming even before the legalities were complete. Umm, also these accounts deposit various amounts to people-probably people on the take. Some go back years. Others received a single payout."

"We need Ryan to run these account numbers and find out who is working for him."

"Actually, there is another way. One that leaves Ryan safe from breaking rules on our behalf."

"Why do you look so guilty?"

"Because I thought we could follow Smith's example. Use a hacker to find out who's accounts these are."

"Rick!" Beckett was appalled. Why would he jeopardize the investigation like that?

"I know a guy! He's trustworthy - won't drain their accounts or anything. He just likes the challenge. Usually he sends an email to the tech department telling them how he got in so they can fix it. I've used him to set up a lot of stuff. He set up the network here so the IP address is bounced around a few countries and anyone trying to trace it will be stumped." Castle was trying very hard to not point out the obvious…

Oh… "I guess it's hard for me to stop being a cop."

"Hey, it just gives us few more options. Let's find out who the players are. Then we can see about the scales of justice."

She hesitated. "Playing by the rules was important to my mom…"

Castle nudged her out from her mother's shadow, "You'll know for sure if Halstead- the fire chief who investigated the fire where the bank records were destroyed- you'll know if he was paid off."

She bit her lip. Teetering.

"Come on, Beckett. Justice comes in many forms. We are still the good guys even if our methods aren't NYPD. You heard your dad. If not us, then who?"

"Okay. Bracken carries a big stick. Let's find out where the carrots lead."

All the camera would show was a man dressed in a black hoodie and dirty jeans threw down a wad of cash without ever showing his face. A yawn testified to the late night (early morning hour) and his gait betrayed fatigue.

That particular job had been messy and Maddox couldn't wait to throw these clothes away. The paint cans left splatter on the sleeves, and the grass stains and sweat gave him an earthy smell. He slunk into the back corner of the internet café and hunched over the keyboard. No one was good enough to track his physical movements to this place, and the electronic trail would lead to the bank of Dubai - the same branch where the fee for Beckett's shooting was sent from. The mercenary made these payments go back 9 months so they started when the detective reported back for active duty. As long as the patsy didn't die anytime soon, no one would have a reason to check the mother's finances. It was perfect - it wouldn't come to light without digging so it was tentative enough to look deliberately hidden.

The sinister figure glanced around to make sure he was being ignored. The attendant was still distracted by the porn site he was leering over and the only other patron was a man speaking in some Asian tongue using Skype. He refocused his tired mind to complete the frame up for this new plan. The fake payouts weren't all that damning, but along with a surveillance photos of the cop at the drop site, the trail of money cast enough suspicion to keep the authority figure in line if needed. All that remained was getting the precinct pawn to hide the key.

At the entrance to the morgue were printed summaries of cases - each pinned to the cork board with a scalpel. A sign warned "No verbal consults today. Disregard at your own risk." A rib spreader, reference book and other various objects littered the floor where they were flung at brave souls tried to venture further into the realm of the dead.

The next sacrificial lamb pushed through her door had tired blue eyes. She put down the steel instrument tray she was preparing to hurl. She went back to her keyboard, frowning at the screen.

"Lanie, I'm pissed too. I haven't heard from her either."

"Try again, Detective Ryan."

They had been through this before: last summer Beckett didn't keep in contact. Lanie handled that better than this. Kevin studied her posture for a second longer. She was beyond pissed. She looked like she was ready to kill someone. "You know something I don't?"

She picked up the instrument tray a cocked her arm.

"Oh!" He put up his arms in surrender. "You heard about what they did to Johanna Beckett's grave? How'd you hear?"

"The sisterhood. Now do you have some new information to share or are you here to waste my time?"

"I've got a contact in the Guns & Gangs squad. He said it wasn't a gang. The tags were wrong. I know Maddox was behind this."

"Maddox be damned. Bracken is behind this. Johanna Beckett almost exposed him then and Bracken is trying to use this to expose Kate."

Kevin nodded in reluctant agreement. "This will end Kate. She'll have her mother's remains transported to a new resting place and the whole process will be like facing her mom's death all over again. She will rush here heedless of the danger and Maddox will be waiting for her yet again in a cemetery. Probably love the imagery of shooting her at Johanna's grave so the mother and daughter die together."

Lanie sprang out of her chair and advanced on Ryan. "You are NOT going to say a word to Beckett. Do you hear me? Not. one. word."

Damn she is intimidating when she wants to be. "How can I? I have no idea how to contract her. I know it will take the grounds keeper a few days to send out notices about the vandalism but it's also listed on the police blotter."

"Not anymore."

"How did you manage that?"

"The sisterhood."

He blinked. Lanie sat back down and focused again on the computer screen. "What if someone decides to publicize the information without official reports?"

"Already happened. Already stopped."

"Let me guess: the sisterhood?" The gentle tease failed to draw even a hint of a smile.

"If you don't have something to add I suggest you get your skinny little butt out of here."

Lanie was being a little too cold and his instincts were alerted. First step was to get her talking, "Sisterhood? Is that girl-version of the 'good-ole-boys' network?"

"I covered a few shifts for the M.E. over there so she called in favors to keep the uniforms quiet who took the report. The Public Affairs Officer for the NYPD goes to my church so she removed specifics from the police blotter. I alerted Gina to be on the lookout and she found something. Someone submitted a letter to the editor bemoaning the youth of today and sited the recent cemetery graffiti. She pointed out the letter was submitted before the crime was even reported."

"Gina? You called Gina Caldwell, Castle's ex-wife to stop a news item about Beckett's mother?"

"It's in Black Pawn's best interest to control publicity about Beckett and keep their author free from distractions. Now if you're satisfied I've got a lot of loose ends." She flung a box of latex gloves at a detective who saw Ryan and thought the coast was clear. The cop ducked and backed out with a glare at the Irish man.

"Now unless you are trying to lure more of your coworkers into being targets for me, I suggest you leave." She was trying a little to hard...

"Lanie, what are you working on?"

"Leave, Kevin."

He walked around her desk to scan the computer screen. "I doubt the homeless guy on your table was assassinated with an untraceable poison." He laid a hand gently on her shoulder. "No, Lanie. Don't stoop to his level."

A half sob broke through the doctor's careful façade. "I threatened Castle and yet I let this monster hurt her? No, Kevin. Enough is enough." She sank a little lower in her chair and looked broken. It wasn't even her mother and Lanie was devastated. Kate's reaction…, well, they both needed to shove that aside for the moment.

He leaned down and gave Lanie a hug. "I've thought about it too, but I have to believe good eventually triumphs over evil."

Those big chocolate eyes were brimming with unshed tears but a reluctant nod put the issue to rest. "I already called the cemetery. I know the administrator because of the work I do here. He's promised to have it cleaned up by the end of the day. The headstone will take a little longer to have replaced, but there's a rush on that, too."

Ryan cocked his head, "Are you going to keep it a secret from Beckett? Are you sure you're not overstepping? You know how Kate is…"

Lanie gave him a shrug. "Sisterhood."