The Searchers
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: No, don't own no Castle. Rating: K+ Time: Between Seasons Two and Three, AU
"She would have known then." Rick said.
"That explains the blackmail." Kate added.
"Blackmail?' Oh, this is getting juicy. What about blackmail?"
Kate explained all about the finding of the money in Lisa's apartment, the notebook and their conclusions.
"But how could someone with Lisa's…Um…Experience, allowed herself to get pregnant?" Castle wondered.
"No birth control is one hundred percent effective, Richard. And she may have allowed herself to get pregnant. She had unprotected sex with her richest friends, tells each one she's pregnant. They have a choice of paying a reasonable sum towards her support and that of the child, or being named in a paternity suit, with a chance that the child is theirs. I think most of her rich boyfriends would prefer a nice low key payoff."
"Can't you call me Castle, or Rick, Lanie?"
Lanie smiled. "I'm kind of liking Richard. And I do like your mom. She's a pistol, Writer Boy."
"That she is." Rick and Kate said together.
"Dinner time, I think. What time are you going back tomorrow, Lanie."
"Oh, your mom invited me to stay another day. I already called Captain Montgomery to tell him my female problems were real bad this month. He couldn't wait to tell me to take another day and get off the phone."
"Do you want to come along with us and help in the investigation?" Kate asked.
"Do I look crazy, Sweetie? I don't have a rich, handsome boyfriend to take care of me, so Martha, Alexis and I are going to do some shopping tomorrow and have a really nice lunch. Oh, Martha told me to tell you that lunch for us girls is on you."
"I knew that as soon as you mentioned Mom."
After dinner, everyone sat up and talked until finally Rick and Kate decided to go to bed. Kate slipped into bed with Rick wearing a pair of her running shorts and a tee shirt of Rick's.
Rick pulled Kate to him. "There are times I just can't believe I'm lucky enough to have you here with me."
Kate kissed him softly. "I can't believe we're here together, either. And in such a lovely, romantic…" She stopped.
"Something wrong?"
"Mrs. Conway said Lisa never had men at her apartment. I can't see her making love to her wealthy clients in that office of Angstroms. So where did she see them? I can't see her boyfriends heading to a local motel with her. There has to be someplace at Angstroms. We should go talk to him."
"Now!" Rick said in obvious distress.
"Oh, I suppose it can wait until morning. Why, did you have something else in mind for tonight?"
"Did I!" Rick said, sliding his hand under her shirt.
The next morning, they arrived at Angstrom's Gallery. Mr. Angstrom was not happy to see then. "Really, officer. I have been very cooperative, but I cannot have the police at my place of business all the time. What exactly do you want now?"
"We'd like to see where Lisa St. Croix entertained your clients." Kate said stiffly.
"Do you have a warrant?" Angstrom said with a nasty smile.
"Why, no. We didn't get one did we, Beckett? Why it completely slipped my mind."
Kate smiled at Rick. "Oh, that's no problem, Castle. We do have those names that we found at the vic's apartment. We can ask them at their homes if they're familiar with Ms. St. Croix and can tell us where they last saw her. What was the gentleman's name at the top of the list again?"
"Jason Woll. He's a lovely fellow, I'm sure he'd be happy to help the police with their inquiries. We can just pop over and talk to him. So sorry to have bothered you, Mr. Angstrom."
"If you will please come with me." Angstrom said coldly.
Angstrom led them through a storeroom and a narrow hallway to a locked door. Angstrom unlocked it.
"If you'll please stay outside?" Kate asked politely.
Castle whistled appreciatively when the two walked in. "Now this is how a first class courtesan's lair should look."
"And you know how a first class courtesan's lair should look because?" Kate asked sweetly.
"Because I do research. I'm a writer, you know." Sensing he was on dangerous ground, Castle changed the subject. "Look. A king sized, round bed, with silk sheets and red heart- shaped pillows. A mini-bar, with…Yes, my old friends, Johnny Walker, Jack Daniels and Jose Cuervo, plus a well thought out selection of wines. The fridge holds…mixes of all sorts and…Surprise, oysters."
"She had full length mirror over the bed." Kate added. "And a sound system. Light classical music, for the most part. I'd say our Lisa was more knowledgeable of how to entertain the elite of the Hamptons than I would have expected."
"I'm betting she got a lot of help from Angstrom. I wonder how much of his income came from Lisa's extracurricular activities and how much from actual sales from the gallery."
Kate suddenly smiled. "If they were real partners, he might have known she was pregnant and wouldn't be working for him, at least for a while. That could explain his sudden deal with the big New York gallery that Andrea Archer told us about."
"We'll ask." Castle replied. "If nothing else it'll piss him off."
"You really don't like him, do you?"
Castle shook his head. "No. I don't like to see a man take advantage of a woman sexually. My mom doesn't ever say anything about it, but I suspect she was pressured by producers and directors when she was younger."
"I can't say I can see anyone pressuring Martha Rodgers that way."
"No, but I'll always wonder what she might have done for her son. And I worry about Alexis. She's gorgeous, if I do say so myself, and smart, but…"
"She could be taken advantage of."
"Yeah. Another one of the joys of being a father, I guess."
Kate decided that she had better change the subject. "She did have the disco ball." She said, pointing to the ceiling.
"You know, we have time…."
"I much prefer your bedroom, it's much more romantic. And we wouldn't contaminate a possible crime scene."
"Crime scene? She couldn't have been shot here."
"No, but I just need a little push to arrest Angstrom for running a house of prostitution. His gallery is nothing but a one woman brothel."
"But the one woman is dead. There's no evidence of sex for money. Just evidence of lots of sex, and with Lisa's reputation for giving it away, you'd never get a conviction."
"Whose side are you on, Castle?"
"Yours, as always, Kate."
"Wait."
"What? You don't like me being on your side?"
"Boost me up to the disco ball. There's one of the little mirrors missing."
Castle lifted Kate onto his shoulder and she removed a section of the disco ball. "Pay dirt, Castle. There's a camera in here, pointed right at the bed."
Kate hopped down and viewed the pictures on the camera. "Lisa was a very busy girl, and very limber."
"She was making sure that her lovers were nicely centered for the camera. More evidence of blackmail."
"How did she take the pictures?"
"I assume there's a remote around here someplace."
"How many pictures?"
"Several hundred. Maybe she has memory cards with more."
An exhaustive check of the bedroom found no other memory cards, or anything else.
When Castle and Beckett left Lisa's former room, Angstrom was waiting for them. "Are you two done, at last?" He asked sourly.
"We're done in her boudoir." Beckett answered coldly. "But were not done here. We're you aware that Lisa was taking pictures of her lovers?"
"What?" Angstrom sputtered. "Of course not! I would never condone such acts. I had no idea…"
"Very good." Castle said with a smile. "Just the right mixture of outrage and fear of exposure. Of course if you two were blackmailing your clients…."
"Blackmailing?" Angstrom screeched. "That's outrageous."
"You'd have the perfect system for it." Castle finished. "You buy a painting worth five hundred bucks, and "sell" it to your victim for, say, five thousand. That would be hard to prove, wouldn't it, Beckett."
Kate nodded with a cold smile. "Of course, in the course of our murder investigation, we've come across evidence that Lisa was taking photos of her lovers. We'll need to talk to every one if the people in the photos. Several hundred people, didn't you say, Castle?"
"Assuming we don't find any more memory cards."
"There has to be something I can do to assist you?" Angstrom begged.
Beckett looked at Castle. "I don't know, Castle. I can't think of anything, can you?"
Castle assumed a look of deep concentration. "Hmm. I don't know…Well, maybe one thing."
"What is it?" Angstrom asked.
"You could open your books to us. So we'll know where you bought your paintings and for how much, and who you sold them to and for how much."
"But these are very prominent, wealthy and powerful people?" Angstrom groaned.
"In that case, you'd be advised not to tell them about this. After all, if we don't tell them and you don't tell them, they'll never find out, will they?"
"Come with me." Angstrom said, defeated.