Disclaimer: I do not own Castle. Except for some of the characters this work is entirely my own.
ACPD Headquarters – Interrogation Room
Kate tosses the newspapers they got from Sylvie Baressi, inside their plastic evidence bags, down on the table in front of Frankie Dundalli, "What can you tell us about these, Frankie?"
The swarthy Dundalli, with his black hair sticking up in all directions due to the lack of product available in the ACPD's cells, studies the newspapers in question before replying, "Well, one of them looks like the one that Helen…Helen Nguyen, found in her mailbox one morning. The other one looks similar but I don't recognise it."
Like a lot of criminals after they have decided to talk Dundalli can't seem to keep his mouth shut now as he clearly thinks that he will only get a deal if he cooperates completely. What form that deal takes depends on both the Atlantic City DA and the information that Dundalli himself supplies so it is clear that he is going to tell them everything they need to know to try and save himself some prison time.
"The one that Helen Nguyen found. Did Joe Liguria take it to Sylvie Baressi and accuse her of being responsible for Helen's murder?" Kate pushes.
Dundalli nods his head, "Yeah, after Helen was wacked the boss thought that Sylvie had ordered it so he went to have it out with her. She denied it, of course, but the boss was sure it was her."
Kate shares a look with Castle, who is seated next to her at the table as they interrogate Dundalli. So they have confirmation from someone other than Sylvie Baressi on how she got one of the newspapers.
"What about the other victims, Brian Samuels, Natalie Collins and Simon Harris? Did they get similar threats?" asks Castle now.
"Samuels and Harris did. Both of them found them in their mailboxes one morning just like Helen did and after what happened to her they both came running to the boss screaming for protection," Dundalli tells them.
"What about Natalie Collins? Didn't she work for Liguria?" Kate asks having noticed the obvious omission by Dundalli.
This time he shake his head negatively as he responds, "Nah, she didn't work for us. Before you guys showed up in town and connected her to the other murders we hadn't even heard of her."
"But like the others she worked at the Valhalla at one time. Do you mean to say you don't at least remember her from then?" follows up Castle.
Again Dundalli shakes his head, "No. A lot of people pass through the Valhalla. You can't expect me to remember them all…" Dundalli pauses for a moment as he clearly recalls something. "Because we didn't know her the boss got me to ask around about her and the only connection I could find to the boss' business is that apparently Collins and Helen Nguyen were friends going back to when they both worked at the casino."
"Going back to Samuels and Harris. When they got their threats did Liguria give them protection?" Kate now asks wanting to find out how Samuels and Harris were killed if they were so forewarned.
Nguyen she can get because she was the first murder and they didn't know the threat was real but after she was killed surely they knew it was real. So when the other two received their red scrawled newspapers they and Liguria should have taken the threats seriously and been prepared.
"Oh, yeah, the boss gave them both protection. A couple of our boys sat on both of them morning, noon and night but they were both still taken," supplies Dundalli.
"How?" Castle asks with clear curiosity and Kate has the same curiosity in her as well.
Dundalli shrugs his shoulders but is also clearly nonplussed as he tells them, "I don't know. All I know was both of them were taken from their homes at night, the night before their bodies were found. Harris from his house and Samuels from his apartment. Two of my guys were outside both of their places but didn't see anything and the first we knew they were gone was when they both didn't answer when my guys knocked on their doors in the morning. They searched both places and besides their beds being messed up there was no sign of a struggle or of Harris or Samuels."
"Whoever took them must have done it while they slept," Castle supposes quitely and Kate nods in agreement of his suposition.
"Yes, and clearly the goons sent to guard them didn't do that good a job of keeping watch…unless they were in on it," Kate now surmises and turns her attention back to the man across the table from her.
"Could the guys you had watching actually done this?" Kate asks pointedly of Dundalli.
"Nah, it was two different guys each time and I know them all. As Chief of Security it was my job to know them and all four of them were loyal to the boss and to me. I chewed them all out after they lost both Samuels and Harris but I'm pretty sure they weren't the ones to do this," Dundalli looks a little sheepish now as he says. "I'll admit that what you said was right. My guys aren't the brightest bulbs in the chandelier so I think it was just that they screwed up rather than them being involved."
"Or it could have been Liguria himself that ordered it," supposes Castle. "You said it yourself that the men you had watching are loyal to you and to Liguria. He could have ordered them to do it and keep you in the dark for some reason. Perhaps the whole threat thing is to throw you off. Maybe you were next, Frankie."
Dundalli pales visibly for a moment at Castle's theory before shaking his head, "No, I'm sure it isn't the boss. I've known him for a long time and he's not that good of an actor and I would know if he was lying to me or behind this. Besides the boss is a lot more, ah, direct. If he wants to take you out he doesn't play games like this. He'd just go ahead and do it."
"So after Harris was killed do you and Liguria still think that Sylvie Baressi is behind it all?" Kate asks really wanting to know who the man who it seems is the true target of these murders thinks is responsible for it all.
One thing is for sure Liguria himself isn't likely to tell her. If he was he would have gotten to cops involved after Helen Nguyen's murder but given all of their links to his illegal business he couldn't. Ironic that the man is so obviously being targeted but because of his own criminality he can't go to the police for help.
"Yes and no," Dundalli hedges. "You know about the bad blood between Liguria's family and the Baressi's. Well because of that the boss will always think that anything bad that happens is because of the Baressi's but after Harris got wacked he was starting to think that there was a chance someone else was behind it."
"Why?" presses Kate.
"We both thought that this wasn't Sylvie's style. Sure she might kill our people and string them up to send a message but she also would let the boss know that it was her doing it. Especially after Samuels and Harris were both taken from right underneath us. There's no way that Sylvie wouldn't rub the boss' nose in that if she'd been responsible," Dundalli then sits back in his seat and for a hardened criminal he looks to Kate that he is being honest with them.
"Whoever it is they must know a lot about Liguria's business, all of it including the less than legal parts because they were able to identify and target Liguria's proxies. People that to the outside world looked like ordinary working citizens but someone knew they were anything but. Sylvie Baressi would know because their businesses are in competition so who else could have known?" pushes Castle.
Dundalli nods his head in agreement at Castle's words at that and then it is like a light bulb of inspiration goes off in his head as a look of realisation appears on his face and he says, "I remember now. About three months ago I found an out of town PI nosing around the Valhalla. I had couple of the boys take him into a back room for a little chat. He spun some line about how he'd been hired by some broad to follow her husband who she thought was catting around on her. Said he was staying in the hotel. There was nothing on him at the time that didn't match his story so after some…ahh….aggressive persuasion he was told to leave the hotel and not to come back."
"Let me guess, the aggressive persuasion included the breaking of some bones, most likely his fingers?" surmises Kate showing that she won't be prevaricated with by this man.
Dundalli grimaces and he admits, "Yeah, that's pretty much how it went but the reason I remember this now is that even after we threw him out I could swear I saw him a couple more times after that and it wasn't at the casino. One time when the boss was meeting with Helen and another was a time I met a delivery of product from one of our suppliers. It was only those two times and I couldn't be sure it was him because he bolted the moment I or any of my guys looked like going near him. After the second time I didn't see him again and I forgot about it, until now."
"So when you pulled this PI in for your 'aggressive persuasion' did you get a name?" asks Kate.
"Yeah, the guy's name was, Doug Rainey from Boston."
Conference Room – several hours later
"Thank you, Sergeant Korsak," and with that Kate hangs her cell phone.
She turns around to look down at Castle who is seated at the conference room table from which he has been listening to her side of the phone conversation as she stood nearby. A couple of the other members of the taskforce are likewise seated around the table and are busy with their own tasks.
"What did Boston PD have to say?" Castle asks her but before she can answer she spots both Kaminski and Kent entering the room and she signals them with a wave of her hand to join them.
Once the two men are standing next to the seated Castle she says for their benefit, "I just got off the phone with our friends in Boston. According to them Doug Rainey is gone. The landlord of the office building where he had his PI office told them he ended his lease a month ago and moved all his stuff out. Likewise when they visited his apartment he wasn't there and his neighbours say they haven't seen him for about the same amount of time."
"Was Rainey known to Boston PD?" asks Kaminski.
Kate nods as she responds, "Yes. He's one of theirs, an ex-cop. He retired a couple of years ago after finishing his twenty and then started the PI business. According to them he did the usual jobs PI does, background checks, following cheating spouses, that sort of thing but nothing big. Nothing like tailing mobsters in Atlantic City."
"Did they know why he might have been in Atlantic City, at the Valhalla and following Liguria's guys around three months ago?" asks Castle.
"No, the Detective Sergeant I spoke to sort of remembers Rainey from his time on the force. Said he didn't have many friends except for one old partner that is still on the job and he stayed in touch with. He spoke to him for us to see if he knows where Rainey is and why he was in Atlantic City but his old partner doesn't know. The one thing the partner was able to tell was that Rainey had been having a tough time over the past year. Apparently his daughter died back then and this friend of his said he's been struggling ever since. His wife divorced him years ago and moved to Seattle so there is no one else that Boston PD could find that might know where Rainey is and with him gone no records of why he was in Atlantic City three months ago," Kate tells them.
She then looks over Castle's shoulder towards where Tory and Douglas are seated side by side at the conference table each working away at laptops and she says to their FBI liaison, "Douglas, any luck tracing Rainey from his credit card activity and other financials?"
The dirty blond haired woman looks up from her computer and says, "Nothing so far, Captain. All activities on his credit cards ceased a month ago and at the same time he cleared out both his personal and the business accounts for his PI business of all his savings and cash reserves."
"What about the LUDs on his cell phone and the landlines at his home and business, Tory?" she asks of their tech analyst seated next to Douglas.
"Same, ma'am. Everything just stopped a month ago and I'm not currently able to trace any signal from his cell phone, GPS or otherwise. If I'd have to guess I'd say he's ditched it and is using a burner," the olive skinned, dark haired woman tells her.
At that Castle gets up from his seat and goes to stand behind the two women and as he leans over their shoulders to look at their respective screens he asks, "What about three months ago when he was supposedly in Atlantic City? What do his phones and financials show then?"
Both women tap away at their screens and Kate, with Kent and Kaminski close behind walk around to join Castle standing behind the women. As she stands next to her husband she sees for herself a number of transactions on Douglas' screen at a motel and other businesses that show Rainey was indeed in Atlantic City three months ago.
"Well, his financials confirm he was in town when Dundalli said he was," she says.
Meanwhile, Castle is leaning over Tory's shoulder and is running his finger down the screen at the list of phone numbers displayed there. His finger stops on one number and he says over his shoulder at them, "There is one number here that he called a lot during the time his financials put him in Atlantic City. Tory, could you run it? See who it belongs too?"
The woman nods her head and after a few more taps of on her keyboard a box appears on the screen with the information Castle asked for and Tory reads it out for those around her, "The number is a cell phone registered to a Marcus Walsh with a billing address in Salem, Massachusetts."
Kate turns to one of the men behind her and orders, "Kaminski, see what you can find out about this Marcus Walsh." As the Connecticut Detective nods his head and moves away to follow her command Kate turns back to the women seated in front of her. "Douglas, likewise I want you to get in touch with your federal colleagues and see what you can find out about both Doug Rainey and Marcus Walsh."
Before Kate can give any further instructions to Tory, however, the analyst who had been taping away at her keyboard as Kate was speaking, says, "Captain, I've had a look at the LUDs for Marcus Walsh's cell phone and just like Rainey's all activity ceased on it a month ago."
"What's the bet that when Kaminski looks at Walsh's financials he finds that there's no activity there for a month and that he cleared out his accounts then as well," says Castle to her as she stands back up.
Kate looks at him and nods in agreement with him, "Yeah I'd say that would be a pretty safe bet, Castle."
"So are we saying that these two guys are our suspects now?" asks Kent from behind her.
Kate turns to face him and she shrugs her shoulders as she responds, "Their definitely persons of interest. I'm not saying that I believe all that Sylvie Baressi told us but so far everything she's said has panned out and it's led us to these two guys so we have to look into them."
"Besides we know that there are two perpetrators committing these murders so it could be these two men," says Castle in support next to her.
Kent ducks his head and rubs the back of his neck for a moment before looking up at Kate again and asking, "Captain, I know we've got these murders to solve but what about my partner's case and the connection to Oyarzov and his people? Are we letting that go?"
Kate shakes her head negatively as she responds, "No, we're not letting that go. I spoke with the Commissioner earlier and he confirmed agreeing with the request to release the Russians into Homeland's custody. He said that they put a case to him that the feds suspect Oyarzov of having overseas backers that have links to terrorism, just like we thought they would. With that argument the Commissioner had to agree but he did say that he is going to bat for us with the feds to that we can retain access to Oyarzov. You should still be able to question him about his link to your partner's case. Solving these murders does have priority though so if a new lead comes up in regards to them we have to follow that. Then again we haven't ruled out Councilwoman Zamis' involvement yet. What have you and Gibson been able to find out?"
"Gibson, Esposito and Ryan are still following her," supplies Kent. "I've been doing some digging into her background. On the surface she looks clean. Just a couple of minor charges when she was in college, nothing serious. One of the most remarkable things I can find is how quickly her profile has risen in the press since she joined the city council. Being a councilwoman in Atlantic City wouldn't exactly get you a particularly high profile with the media but she certainly has one. It seems to me that the reason they are already talking about her making the move to state or even federal politics is because of her media profile."
"You said her profile was one of the most remarkable things, what was another?" Kate asks him.
"Well, I checked her reported campaign finances and again for a city councilwoman in Atlantic City she has garnered significant funding for her campaign and a lot of it is surprisingly from sources outside of the city. Again not something you would expect from a local councilwoman," Kent tells them.
"What kind of sources are we talking about?" asks Castle.
"There is money from some big donors from all over the country, mostly linked to her party. There is even some money from some Super PACs that are known to donate to candidates from Zamis' party but more usually on the state and federal level. Very out of the norm for a local candidate like Zamis. She should be getting money from local donors and not that much of it at that yet she has a campaign that is as well funded as some congressmen and from sources from all over the country. All in all it paints a picture of Zamis having some significant players behind her. More so than you'd expect for an Atlantic City Councilwoman in just her second term," surmises Kent.
Kate nods in agreement and after sharing a significant look with Castle before saying, "Follow the money, Kent, particularly those Super PACs. Castle and I have some experience with how money from less than legitimate sources can be used to fund a political campaign. If you find out where her money is coming from you might find out who her backers are."
"That is if her backers were responsible for getting the feds to take Oyarzov away from us," raises Castle.
"Oh, I think we can say that, bro," says the voice of Esposito from the doorway of the room as the Hispanic detective walks holding up a small digital recorder in his hands.
As Esposito joins them he continues, "Zamis is at home for the evening and Gibson and Ryan are sitting on her but I thought you'd want to hear the latest phone call we recorded. All thanks to Tory's wizardry at being able to find the number of Zamis' burner phone and the warrant that Castle's judge friend granted for us."
He then presses the play button on digital recorder and holds it up for them all to hear.
"I wasn't expecting to hear from you again so soon. I thought we were to suspend contact for the immediate future?" comes the voice of Councilwoman Zamis from the recorder.
"This will be the last communication we will have for some time I just wanted to tell you that the Oyarzov matter is handled. I have made sure he is now out of the hands of the Special Investigation Taskforce and will remain so for the foreseeable future. There is no need for you to be concerned with him anymore," says an unknown male voice on the other end of the line.
"Thank you," responds the relieved voice of Zamis before she asks, "When will I hear from you again?"
"Not for some time. Not until this has all had a chance to settle. Until then continue as you have been, performing your role as the contentious representative of the people that you are known to be. When the time is right I will contact you again," the voice says.
"Understood," responds Zamis and there is the distinct sound of the call disconnecting.
As Esposito turns off the recorder Kent says, "So Zamis and the people behind her are responsible for the feds taking Oyarzov away."
"Whoever that mystery voice is on the other end of the line they must have some serious connections to arrange for the feds to do their work for them like that," supposes Castle.
Kate nods in agreement with his words and asks Esposito, "Check the number that call came from. My guess is it will probably be a burner as well but you never know. You might be able to find something to identify the mystery caller."
"On it," responds Esposito and he leaves them to carry out Kate's order.
As their friend leaves Detective Mayhew walks into the conference room and over to them with a triumphant look on his face as he declares, "Captain, we've got him!"
"You've found enough evidence to bring in Joey Liguria?" Castle asks from beside her.
Mayhew nods emphatically, "Yep, thanks to info Dundalli gave us I've been able identify several bank accounts both here and overseas with suspicious transaction histories. Those accounts all have money flowing in and out of them constantly and some payments have been made directly to companies that are known fronts for organised crime. Some other payments are from some legitimate businesses here in the city. Pritchard and I have spoken to a few of them. Most of them gave us a line that the payments were part of their normal business dealings but one of them, the owner of a dry cleaning business not far from the casino, is angry. Angry enough to admit that the money he deposited in one of the accounts was both protection money he was paying Liguria and a 'finder's fee' for the Valhalla to send business his way."
"Can you link the accounts to Liguria or the Valhalla other than from the word of this one business owner?" Kate asks the excited ACPD Detective.
This time Mayhew's enthusiasm dulls slightly, "Uh, no, but with this guy's testimony and what Dundalli has told us I think we have enough to bring him in and ask him some questions."
Kate's not so sure about that and is about to tell Mayhew that when surprisingly Castle speaks up in support of the Detective, "Actually Kate, I think it is time we have another talk with Liguria. Given all information we've found out about the murders and his people being targets. In fact I wouldn't be surprised, given the threat to Sylvie Baressi, if Liguria wasn't a target now himself if he isn't responsible himself. Add what Detective Mayhew has found and I think we have more than enough to warrant speaking to Liguria again."
Kate looks between Castle, Mayhew and Kent before saying, "Ok, let's go talk to 'Happy Joey'."
They all start heading towards the door of the conference room when Detective Pritchard comes hurrying into the room, stopping them in their tracks as he announces quickly, "I just heard from the guys we have watching the Valhalla in case Liguria decides to bolt. They just saw him get into an SUV with a couple of his guys and a whole heap of luggage."
"Looks like he's running," supposes Kent.
"Are your guys following him?" Kate asks Pritchard.
The Detective nods, "Yeah, looks like he's headed to the airport."
"Ok, then we better try and catch him there," Kate then says directly to Pritchard. "Get onto the airport and see if you can find out what flight he is leaving on. Whether it is a private or commercial flight I want them to delay its departure. Also get the ACPD units you've got stationed at or near the airport to get into position to detain Liguria when he arrives." She then says to the rest of the men around her, "Come on."
With that she leads the three men out of the room and the station and ultimately into their cars parked in front of the station. She and Castle into hers and Kent and Mayhew into the ACPD Detective's cruiser.
Kate and Castle don't speak as she drives them towards the airport but the silence is soon broken by the radio in the console of her cruiser squawking into life. Tuned to the ACPD's band that it is she hears the call comes from the detectives that she supposes are following Liguria.
"This is Tango Five Three, we have lost visual with target Liguria's vehicle!"
A/N: There you have it. The story's moving now and yes yet another cliff-hanger. Thank you all again for reading this story and your kind and encouraging reviews. Concentrating on writing and the response it gets from the readers helps me feel better about Castle despite the grim future that appears to await us.