Chapter 36
Kate stormed into the loft and marched towards the office. Castle closed the front door and followed her. All through the ride back from the precinct Kate had remained silent, seething with the pent up fury that steadily built up and sought release. Riding up the elevator he had made the mistake of bringing up another topic that was extremely sensitive. The moment he had spoken he had seen the storm clouds gathering in her hazel eyes. Now that they were home the storm was about to break.
Castle hovered in the doorway to the office and watched as Kate tossed her purse on the couch. She pulled off her badge from her belt and slammed it onto the desk and then slammed her gun and holster beside it. She turned on her heels and glared at her husband. If her gaze was a Death ray he would have been cut in half in an instant. He was silently grateful that she had taken off her gun but remained a little wary because this was one of those times where he thought that she just might actually carry out her often made threat to shoot him.
He held Kate's gaze because this time he was not prepared to back down.
"I don't want to talk about it now, Castle." She said angrily.
"If not now, when?" Castle shot back angrily. "When, Kate?"
"Not now, okay?" She pleaded.
"No, not okay, Kate. It's not okay at all."
Kate turned away from him and moved towards the window. Castle strode into his office, his anger rising.
"Every time I have tried to bring this up, you have brushed me off." Castle informed her. "Well, I've have enough of that."
Kate turned her back on the window to look at Castle.
"We talk about it. And we talk about it now!" He shouted.
Kate folded her arms across her chest and continued to stare at Castle.
"I'm not giving up my job." Kate said through gritted teeth.
"And I'm not asking you to."
"Then what, Castle?"
Castle wanted to walk right up to her and pull her into his arms and just hold her. He knew he could not do that just yet. If he tried she would push him away. Too much had happened already today and he had to go and bring up one more thing. He slowly walked over to the couch and dropped into it. He slowly ran his hands over his face and hair. He took a deep breath trying to lessen some of the anger he was feeling. He hated fighting with her.
"Look, I know how important the job is to you, Kate and I would never ask you to give it up." Castle said in a less angry voice. "But what you do is dangerous."
"Don't you think I know that?" Kate exclaimed.
"Sometimes I wonder."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kate challenged.
Castle lifted his head and turned to look at his wife.
"Kate, you're pregnant. That's our child you're carrying." Castle said, pointing at her. "I don't want to see you putting yourself into dangerous situations."
"Well, I'm a cop, its par for the course."
"I know." Castle nodded.
Kate turned to face the window and stared out of it. Castle looked at his wife and saw her shoulders slump. Slowly he rose from the couch and walked over to stand behind her.
"What if Simmons had fought back?" He said in a low voice. What if the next time you're first through the door a suspect has a shotgun, or worse a Mac-10? What if next time you bring down a suspect he has a knife on him and he uses it do defend himself or to get away? What if...?"
Castle's voice trailed off. Having a writer's imagination could be a curse sometimes because of all the scary images that he could conjure up. He saw Kate's shoulders slump even more as she dropped her head. She unfolded her arms and gently placed her hands over her stomach. Castle stepped up to her and slowly wrapped his arms around her and settled his hands on top of hers. He had half expected Kate to pull away from him but she didn't. He felt some of her tension melting away.
"I'm not asking you to give up your job, Kate." Castle said in a low voice. "I'm just asking that you take it a little easy, now. You don't have to be the first through the door, and you don't have to be the one to bring down a suspect."
Kate let out a long sigh as she rested her head against his shoulder.
"Besides, did you ever see Columbo doing any of that?" Castle added.
Kate turned her head to look up at Castle. She arched an eyebrow at him.
"You're comparing me to Columbo now?"
"Well, you do look hot in a trench coat." Castle grinned.
"Why do I see you picturing me in a trench coat and nothing else?"
"Like I said, you look hot in a trench coat." Castle's eyebrows waggled suggestively.
"Another fantasy of yours, Mr Castle?"
"You should know by now, Mrs Castle, that when it comes to you I have an endless supply of fantasies." Castle purred.
"I'll bet." Kate chuckled.
Castle kissed the crown of Kate's head and tightened his hold on her.
"Okay." She announced finally.
"Okay?"
"Okay, I'll try and take it easy."
"Thank you, Kate, that's all I'm asking."
They stood by the window gazing out across the New York City scene that was before them for a short while. Neither of them wanting to break the silence.
"He threw me off the case." Kate announced suddenly, breaking the comfortable silence that had enveloped them.
"Well, you did try to hurl Simmons through the two way mirror." Castle said drily.
"He had it coming to him."
"No argument about that." Castle agreed.
If Kate had not grabbed Simmons by the lapels of his jacket and shoved him into the mirror Castle was sure he would have done it. Kate had merely beaten him to it. Simmons had wound both of them up during the interview in the interrogation room, pushing their buttons, taunting them and waited for the reaction. He did not have long to wait.
Looking back on it now, Castle could see that it had been Vulcan Simmons who had control of the interview, and he had pushed all the right buttons. Castle could not remember a time where he had ever seen Kate lose control of an interrogation and had physically gone after a suspect.
"Montgomery threw me off the case." Kate repeated angrily.
"I know."
Castle had been standing in the bullpen with Ryan and Esposito while Kate had been dragged into Captain Montgomery's office after the incident in the interrogation room. All three of them had heard what had been said in the captain's office. Everyone in the bullpen had heard. The volume in the captain's office had been turned up to eleven. When Kate had stormed out of the captain's office Castle had to run after her.
"He threw you off the Raglan case." Castle said carefully.
Kate slowly turned in Castle's arms so the she could look at him.
"What are you getting at?" She asked, narrowing her eyes.
"The Captain threw you off the Raglan case but he said nothing about solving Blake's case, now did he?"
"Technically that's true." Kate conceded. "You want us to work Blake's case?"
Castle shrugged his shoulders. Kate thought about it a moment and then nodded her head.
"But first, you need to get some rest." Castle announced.
"I'm pregnant, not an invalid." Kate retorted.
"True." Castle nodded. "But I suggest you get some rest while I fix us some lunch."
"I am feeling a little hungry." Kate confessed.
"Good, eat first, then rest and then we can see about solving Blake Jackson's murder."
"Okay."
"That's settled then."
Castle gently manoeuvred his wife in the direction of their bedroom.
"I'm sure our daughter would appreciate a bit of rest." Castle added.
"Daughter?" Kate questioned, suddenly stopping and turning to look at Castle. "You think we're going to have a daughter?
Castle was startled when he realised what he had just said. The word had tripped off his lips effortlessly. How did he know they were going to have a daughter? He had answered like he knew already. Yet in his mind's eye he could see a little girl with the same beautiful hazel eyes like her mother. It was not something that he had conjured up, it seemed very real, like it had already happened or was going to happen. For reasons he could not understand he just knew that the little girl, their little girl, he could see was real.
"I know we are." He said confidently, breaking into a smile to hide his momentary confusion.
"How do you know?" Kate said arching an eyebrow at him.
"Long story."
Castle turned Kate around and resumed guiding her towards the bedroom.
"Give me the Castle Notes version."
The smile on Castle's face deepened. "Well, many years a go a wizened old Bedouin cursed me with the name Abu El Banat."
"Cursed you?"
"Yeah."
"Abu El Banat? Really?"
Castle nodded his head.
"Father of Daughters, huh?" Kate said with amusement. "Just like in The West Wing?"
"Trust me to marry a woman with same tastes in television as I have." Castle sighed with great exaggeration.
Kate laughed.
"Do you want me to help you change into something comfortable?" Castle offered.
"I thought you wanted me to rest?"
"Oh, yeah, I did, didn't I?"
"Go and make me lunch, Castle."
"As you wish."
XXX
Kate opened her eyes to discover that someone had thrown a blanket over her. She did not have to think long and hard to know who had done that. She could tell that it was late afternoon. Glancing in the direction of the nightstand she saw the clock and realised she had been asleep for about three hours. She had slept far longer than she had intended. She must have been more tired than she had thought, she concluded.
Throwing aside the blanket Kate slowly got up. She paused a moment and waited for the small wave of nausea to pass. For a moment she thought that she might have to make a beeline for the bathroom but relaxed when it passed. So far her morning sickness had not been severe as she had expected but it was still early days as both her mother and mother-in-law were more than happy to point out when the subject was brought up. She had experienced bouts during the day, especially after having a nap.
Satisfied that there would be no rapid trip to the bathroom Kate smoothed down the large t-shirt she had changed into before laying down for a nap and padded barefoot across the bedroom and into the office.
She found Castle seated at his desk facing the large electronic white board. He normally used it to map out his books. It was switched on and was displaying the digital murderboard of the Jackson case. Since the Coonan shooting she and Castle had been working on this case from time to time. So far they had found nothing new in regards to the case.
Kate quietly tiptoed around Castle's desk and sat herself in his lap. Immediately she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a peck on the check.
"I think you're getting heavier with each passing day." Castle said with an over exaggerated wheeze.
Kate turned to face him and gave him a narrow-eyed look.
"I'd be careful there, Castle, if you know what I mean." She warned.
Castle flashed a beaming smile at his wife. His arms encircled her waist and hugged her. He stole a kiss from her.
"Sleep well?" He inquired.
"Yeah." Kate nodded. Her long nap had refreshed her and had put her in a better mood than the one she had been when they had returned from the precinct. Kate forgave Castle for his remark with another quick kiss before she turned her attention to the murder board.
"Trying to solve the case without me, Castle?" She asked.
Castle remained silent, his eyes on the board as well.
"You didn't answer my question."
"I had to keep myself occupied while you slept." Castle said.
"Uh-huh."
Kate studied the now familiar faces of the people who had been murdered by Coonan.
"Found a new hot lead?"
"Maybe."
"Want to review what we've got?" Kate asked.
"Okay." Castle agreed. "So what do we know?"
"Well, aside from Blake Jackson, there was Sarah McBride who was also a law student at Columbia. Also killed around that time was Jane Dylan who did a lot of work for the same legal aid service that Blake and Sarah worked at. The fourth victim was Scott Murray, a document clerk at the local courthouse." Kate recited from memory.
Castle nodded his head slowly.
"They had been working some case together and they were killed because of it." He said.
"That's the theory I've worked on."
"I think you're right." Castle agreed. "We also know that Blake had requested a court file not long before he was murdered."
"A file that subsequently went missing." Kate added.
"And so far we've had no new leads."
"Mm-mmm."
Kate's gaze shifted from the murder board and settled on Castle's laptop. Her eyes widened when she saw that he had accessed the NYPD database. She slowly turned and looked at Castle, arching her eyebrow at him.
"Tell me you didn't hack into the NYPD database, Castle?"
"I didn't hack into the NYPD database."
Kate pointed to Castle's laptop.
"Care to explain that?"
"I didn't hack into the database." Castle repeated.
"What, you've suddenly been given permission to access it?" Kate accused.
"Well, not exactly." Castle had the grace to look a little guilty.
"What exactly?"
"I accessed the database using your password." Castle said in a low voice.
"Castle!" Kate scolded. "You can't access the NYPD database without permission. You can get into trouble over that."
"I didn't. You did."
"And how did you get my password?" Kate demanded.
Castle grinned at his wife and wiggled his eyebrows.
"Castle!"
Kate could not help but be surprised at Castle. She had never told him her password, she could only imagine how he managed to figure it out. The smug look on his face told her that he was not going to tell her how he managed to work out her password. She had ways of getting the information out of him but now was not the time for those methods. She did however, make a mental note to change the password at the first available opportunity.
"So, what have you found?" Kate demanded, returning to the matter at hand.
"We've always assumed that Blake was murdered in that alley because it was a convenient place for the killer in which to strike, it was dark, it was secluded." Castle said.
"Yeah." Kate nodded.
"But remember what Raglan told us." Castle continued. "That this thing went back nineteen years, long before Blake's murder."
"I remember."
"Well, while you were snoring away in the land of Nod..."
"I do not snore, Castle." Kate warned.
"Really?"
"Yes, really." Kate insisted.
Castle eyed her carefully and saw that the question of her snoring in bed was a subject for another time. A grin rose to his lips.
"Okay, while you were in the arms of Morpheus slumbering..." He corrected.
"That's a little better." Kate informed him.
"...I did some research and it turns out that there was another murder in this alley nineteen years ago, when it was the back entrance to a club called the Sons of Palermo. A Mafia hangout."
Kate's eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"I didn't know that it was a club." she said.
"Yeah it got shut down not long after an FBI agent by the name of Bob Armen was killed in the alley behind it." Castle informed her.
Castle reached over to his desk and picked up a police file that had been delivered to him. The file was not in the police database because the case was so old. Only the case file number was recorded on the database. Castle had to make a discrete call to the precinct to see if the file could be found and if so if it could be delivered. The file indeed had been located and sent to him.
He passed the file over to Kate. She gave Castle a pointed look and he only shrugged his shoulders in reply. She did not really need to know how an old police file had found its way to the loft. Opening the file she quickly scanned through it.
"It says Armen was working undercover in the Mafia." Kate said, reading off the file.
"Somehow the mob got onto Armen, used the old family remedy." Castle said.
"Summary execution."
"Yeah. The NYPD arrested a mob enforcer in Armen's murder, a guy by the name of Joe Pulgatti. He later pled guilty." Castle paused to look at his wife. "And guess who was the arresting officer was?"
Kate saw the name in the file. Lifting her gaze from the file she looked at Castle.
"Officer John Raglan."
Castle nodded his head.
"Can you recall ever coming across the name of Bob Armen or Joe Pulgatti in your investigations?" He asked.
Kate had returned to looking through the file and slowly shook her head in answer to Castle's question.
"But there must be some connection there." Kate said. "This isn't a coincidence."
"I bet Pulgatti could shed some light on it." Castle suggested.
Kate shifted in Castle's lap turning to his laptop. She put aside the file she had been holding and quickly started typing. A few moments later she leaned back a little as the information she had requested appeared.
"Interesting." She mused.
"What?"
"Apparently Pulgatti was released due to a technicality about nine years ago."
"What kind of technicality?"
"He wasn't read his rights when he was arrested."
"Hmm." Castle said.
"There is no last known address listed."
"Don't worry, I know a guy." Castle declared.
Kate looked down at her husband and eyed him carefully.
"Sal Tenor?"
Castle grinned and nodded his head.
Kate remembered the mob case they had worked. She also remembered what Castle had told her about what happened when he had gone to visit his guy in the Mafia.
"This time I'm coming with you." Kate informed him.
"I wouldn't have it any other way." Castle conceded.
XXX
Castle was the first to reach the door to the bar in Little Italy and paused to look back at Kate. A small frown of concern creased his forehead. He was concerned because Kate was looking a little pale. Currently Kate was on the phone having received a call from Esposito. He continued to watch her as she finished up her call and put away her phone. Kate turned to look at him.
"I'm fine, Castle." She said before Castle had the chance to ask again.
Castle nodded. He knew that if he pursued the matter further she would snap back at him and it would end up in an argument. He did not want to fight with Kate. Yet he could not help feeling concerned. This morning he had found Kate in the bathroom hugging the toilet bowl a result of a bad bout of morning sickness.
When they left the loft Kate had insisted that she was fine when he had asked her. He would have accepted her answer if she had gotten into the car but when they reached her car she had passed the car keys to him. If she had been fine there was no way she would have let him drive her car.
"So, what did Esposito have to say?" Castle asked, changing the subject.
"They have a name for the sniper." Kate informed him. "Hal Lockwood. But there's nothing much about him on file, seems like he doesn't exist beyond two years ago."
Castle's eyes rose upwards in surprise.
"Obviously a fake name." He suggested.
"Looks like it." Kate agreed. "They found the hotel room he was staying in but he wasn't there. But they found some pills in the room."
"Drugs?"
"Prozipan."
"Anti-anxiety drugs." Castle nodded his head slowly. Kate shot him a questioning look. "I've read that some snipers use anti-anxiety drugs to slow down their heart rate, gives them more time to shoot."
"That's what Espo said. Well, the boys are trying to run down the supplier of the Prozipan."
Kate walked past Castle and up to the door to the bar, opened it and walked in. Castle quickly followed her.
The first thing Castle noted was that the bar had not changed one little bit since the last time he had been here. It was still dimly lit. Vito, the heavy set body guard/bouncer was at his usual place perched on a bar stool halfway down the counter. The barman was the same guy who had been serving the last time he been here. Castle could not be sure but he thought the same patrons were present that had been in the place the last time.
"Hey, Vito." Castle smiled in greeting. "How's it going?"
"Hey, Mr Castle." Vito replied, smiling.
Placing a hand on Kate's lower back Castle guided her towards the booth at the far end of the bar where Sal Tenor was sitting. Sal was dressed in a blue tracksuit and white t-shirt, his neck was adorned with several strands of thick gold chains and a gold crucifix. Sal too had not changed all that much, except for maybe he seemed a little portlier and his bald pate and expanded. The table in front of him was covered in invoices and purchase orders and the like.
Sal looked up from his work and seeing Castle he broke into a smile.
"Ho! There he is." He announced as he pushed himself to his feet. "Richard 'freaking' Castle."
"Sal." Castle replied.
The two men shook hands. Sal's smile broadened when he turned his gaze to Kate.
"I see you brought a bodyguard this time." He chuckled as he took in Kate.
"Sal," Castle said smoothly. "I'd like to introduce you to Detective Kate Beckett, my wife."
Kate cast a quick glance at Castle and saw the proud smile he sported. It was the same kind of smile he wore whenever he introduced her to people. She smiled gently at him before she looked at Sal Tenor.
"Pleased to meet you, Mr Tenor." Kate said as she held out her hand.
"Pleasure's all mine, Detective." Sal replied as he shook her hand.
With the introductions completed Sal motioned his visitors to sit down and he resumed his own seat.
"Can I get you anything?" Sal asked, playing the dutiful host.
"No, thanks." Kate said.
"We're fine, thanks, Sal." Castle added.
"Hey, thanks for the autographed copy." Sal said with a big smile. "The wife was thrilled, let me tell ya."
Kate glanced across to her husband and saw the 'your welcome' smile appear on his face.
"So, Rick, what brings you to my humble establishment again?" Sal said.
Castle glanced at Kate and gave her a small nod of the head as if to say that she could start the ball rolling.
"Mr Tenor..." Kate started.
"Call me, Sal, please." Sal interjected.
"Okay, Sal." Kate nodded. "I need to find a man named Joe Pulgatti, and we believe you might be able to help us."
Sal looked at Kate and did not hide the knowing look from his face.
"Joe Pulgatti, eh?"
"Yeah." Kate nodded again.
Sal's eyes narrowed a little.
"He's not in any trouble, is he?"
"No, not that I know of." Kate replied.
"We just want to ask him some questions, we think he might be able to assist us with a case we're currently working on." Castle explained.
Sal looked at Castle and then to Kate, a thoughtful expression on his face as he weighed up the request that had been put to him.
"Joe ain't exactly the talkative type, you know?" Sal said a moment later. "After what happened to him, you know?"
"Do you know where he is?" Kate asked.
"Sure I know where he is." Sal nodded as he leaned back in his seat. "But he ain't wanna talk to a cop. Not even one as good looking as you doll face."
Castle cast a worried look in Kate's direction fearing that she might bristle at being called 'doll face'. He saw a smile appear on Kate's face. If she took offence at the name she did not show it.
"Let me worry about getting him to answer my questions." Kate said.
"I ain't gonna tell you where Joe is." Sal announced.
The smile faded from Kate's face.
"What I will do though, is tell him that you wanna talk to him." Sal informed them. "And if he wants to talk to you, he'll get in contact, okay?"
"Thank you, Sal. I would appreciate it." Kate said with a smile. She reached into her coat and took out a card which she passed across the table.
XXX
For Joe Pulgatti there were some days when he missed the old days. Though they were few and far between, there were days when he sometimes missed the looks of respect he would get from people from his old neighbourhood. He sometimes missed the look of fear in the eyes of those people who were about to meet the business end of a baseball bat or his fists for having missed a loan repayment. And sometimes he missed getting the best table at the best restaurants in the city while he had a beautiful woman hanging off his arm.
Today was not one of those days where he missed his old life. At the moment he was busy hoeing the ground along the length of tomato vines, removing weeds that tried to take hold. He had been a city boy born and bred and in his previous life the closest he came to farming was selecting vegetables at the grocery store. He had taken to farming and he had put it down to something in his DNA, his ancestors in Sicily had been farmers.
On being released from prison ten years ago he had been living on this small farm outside Poughkeepsie. He had bought it from a cousin. He made a living by growing vegetables that he sold at farmers' markets and earning money from the race horses that were agisted on the several large grazing paddocks on the property. There had been a time when he had hated getting up early in the mornings, and then there had been the years when his days were regulated, when he got up when he ate, when he went to sleep. These days he loved nothing more than getting early in the morning to greet to rising of the sun.
Over the past ten years Pulgatti had visits from the police and from FBI agents all of them wanting him to help in one investigation or another but each time they came a knocking they left empty handed. He might have turned his back on his old life but it did not mean he would turn into a stool pigeon. The thing was that he had not left the Family, he had merely been placed on the inactive list.
Pulgatti had been surprised to get the call from Sal Tenor telling him about a police detective wanting to speak to him. He had been ready to turn down the request until Sal told him the name of the detective. Pulgatti immediately told Sal to tell the detective to come and see him.
Pulgatti paused in his work and leaned on the hoe. He saw the unmarked police car slowly making its way along the dirt road that led up to his house. He could not see who was in the car but that did not matter he soon would meet the car's occupants.
Pulgatti made his way out of the vegetable garden and started for his house. He reached the house just as the people got out of the car. He did not need to ask who the visitors were because he had issued the invitation to them through Sal Tenor. All the same he was startled a little when he saw the woman, she looked just like her mother, Pulgatti thought to himself with a small smile.
XXX
Kate was seated at the kitchen table watching as Pulgatti set out three tea cups and saucers on the bench while he waited for the water to boil in the kettle. She was trying hard to contain the rising excitement she was feeling.
Pulgatti had a slightly tanned weather beaten face that had come from spending many years outside in the fields and he certainly had gained more than a few pounds. In all the photographs Kate had seen of the man he had been photographed sporting the thick Zappata moustache. She supposed it made him look a lot meaner. Now it seemed he preferred the clean shaven look. His bald pate had expanded a lot more and was fringed by a small closely cropped spray of silver hair.
Pulgatti might have been a small time farmer yet there was still a coldness in his eyes and a quiet malevolence that was never far from the surface. He was not the type to turn the other cheek when crossed.
She was watching Pulgatti intently that she almost jumped out of her seat when Castle placed a gentling hand on her knee. She cast a glance at Castle but he was watching Pulgatti as he brought
over a tray containing the cups of tea. She realised why he had placed his hand on her knee to calm her down.
"I hope tea bags are alright?" Pulgatti said as he passed out the tea cups. "I'm more of a coffee drinker."
"Tea bags are fine." Castle said. "I must say you have a very nice place here, Joe."
"Thanks." Pulgatti said with a smile. "I do what I can."
Kate nodded her thanks when she accepted the cup of tea from Pulgatti. She watched as Pulgatti took his seat. This man might have information that would lead her to finding Blake Jackson's murderer.
"Thank you for seeing us, Mr Pulgatti." Kate said slowly.
Pulgatti nodded his head. He looked down at his cup of tea for a moment or two.
"I didn't kill Bobby Armen." Pulgatti announced suddenly. He knew why they were here and he chose not to beat about the bush.
"Then why'd you plead guilty?" Castle asked.
Before coming up to the farm Kate and Castle had spent some time going over Pulgatti's file, memorising the facts that might prove useful when they spoke to him.
Pulgatti lifted his head and Castle saw the anger in his eyes.
"Cause I don't like needles." He snapped.
Castle nodded his head in understanding. At the time of the murder capital punishment was still on the books. Killing a Federal agent was a capital offence.
"Detective Raglan places you in the alley at the time of the murder." Kate pointed out.
The anger remained in Pulgatti's eyes as he slowly shifted his gaze from Castle and to regard Kate carefully for a couple of moments before he spoke.
"Yeah, I was in the alley with Bobby." Pulgatti informed her. "I was the only witness to his murder. But it wasn't a hit."
Kate's eyebrows rose up in surprise. She was about to ask a question but Pulgatti continued talking.
"It was a kidnapping that went sideways." Pulgatti explained. "Three guys in ski masks rolled up in a van, said they wanted to take me on a tour of the city. Bobby tried to stop them and he went for one of their guns and wound up on the wrong end of it."
Castle and Kate exchanged a look before Castle looked at Pulgatti.
"Were they guys from another family?" Castle asked.
Pulgatti shook his head. "No. No way. We had a truce back then because there was this, uh, ghost crew out there, professional kidnappers targeting members of all five families. Look, I was in that alley with Bobby, but no one else could have known that. It was a blind alley, and the only other people in it when Bobby was shot were the people who shot him. So, you tell me, how could have Raglan known I was there?"
Castle nodded his head as he weighed the information Pulgatti had just supplied. His eyes widened a little when he realised what Pulgatti was telling them.
"You're saying that Raglan was one of the kidnappers?" He said.
Pulgatti shrugged his shoulders in response to the question but there was a knowing smile which appeared briefly on his face that spoke volumes.
"There was a law student, named Blake Jackson. Are you familiar with him?" Kate ventured slowly.
Pulgatti nodded his head.
"He was murdered in the alley some years into your incarceration." Kate added.
"I remember the kid." Pulgatti replied. "He had taken over my appeal case. He was a good kid, he would have made a great lawyer."
A look of curiosity swept across Kate's face.
"Wait a minute, you said Blake had taken over the case?" Kate said slowly. "Did you have another lawyer before that?"
"Yeah." Pulgatti nodded. A smile appeared on his face as he looked at Kate. "You look just like her, do you know that?"
"Are you saying my mother was your lawyer?" Kate said in a low voice as the colour drained from her face.
"Yeah." Pulgatti said. He paused a moment to pick up his cup and took a sip of his tea. "When I was on the inside I started sending letters to every lawyer I could find, telling them about my case, hoping one of them would take it. Most of them couldn't be bothered to reply and those that did said they were too busy to take up my case."
Pulgatti took another sip of his tea before he set the cup down and looked at Beckett.
"Your mother was the only one who wrote back to me. She was the only one willing to take a chance on me. She didn't care that I was a thug."
Kate opened her mouth to speak but the words had dried up.
"Johanna Beckett visited me in prison. I told her my story and she told me that she would look into my case." Pulgatti continued. "Then a little while later, the last time she visited me, she told me that she was dropping the case. She said that it was too dangerous for her to continue. I was upset to hear that but I accepted it. She was a good lady she had a family to worry about. I understood. Before she left the interview room she did make a promise to me, in a round about way, that I would be released from jail. I wanted to believe her but I really couldn't pin my hopes on a promise.
"A couple of days after your mother dropped my case I got a letter from a lawyer called Jane Dylan who said she would take up my case. She and this Blake kid visited me. Not long later I heard that Blake had been killed in that alley. And then I heard that Dylan had been killed too. I learned pretty quickly that it was in my best interest to keep my shut my mouth and not pursue my appeal case. But then a year later, I was released because the arresting officer hadn't read me my rights. Go figure."
Kate placed her arms on the table and leaned forward and fixed Pulgatti with a hard look.
"Tell me the story, right from the beginning, Mr Pulgatti." She commanded.
XXX
There was a small spring in the step of Johanna Beckett as she walked through the lobby of her apartment building making her way towards the elevators. She waved a greeting to the doorman as she walked past the front desk.
Johanna could not keep the smile from her face. She had a very good day at the college. Today had been one of those days which confirmed that she had made the right decision in becoming a part time lecturer. A student of hers who had been struggling with the work and looked all but ready to drop out of the course had manage to ace an exam she had set for her class. It was a very good feeling to see a student do well. The look on the kid's face when he saw his exam paper and the A- he had received was priceless and made the extra time Johanna had put in helping the kid worthwhile.
Joining Johanna as she got into the lift was Mrs Zbignew an elderly lady who lived on the floor below Johanna. The elderly lady was weighed down with a couple of grocery bags. Johanna spent the ride up listening to Mrs Zbignew complain how her children never visited her any more. Johanna felt a little sorry for her neighbour. She could not imagine her own child not visiting her. Reaching Mrs Zbignew's floor Johanna offered to carry the groceries for her. Mrs Zbignew accepted the offer. Johanna had to decline the offer of staying for a coffee, citing that she had to get home and get dinner started. Before leaving Mrs Zbignew's apartment she did promise to come down one of these days for a coffee.
Johanna unlocked the front door to the apartment. Removing the key from the lock she bent down and picked up her briefcase and entered. She moved quickly through the apartment to the kitchen. She startled at finding her daughter sitting at the kitchen counter with a coffee mug in front of her as she leafed through a magazine she had found.
"Oh, hello dear." Johanna said, recovering from her surprise.
Kate slowly looked up at her mother.
"Hey, Mom."
"To what do I owe this pleasure?" Johanna asked as she set her briefcase down and approached her daughter.
"Joe Pulgatti says hi." Kate informed her.
Johanna stopped in her tracks. The smile on her face vanished immediately. She had been expecting this day to come and had been dreading it. Johanna did not think that it would come so soon. There had been a couple of times when Johanna had almost come out and told her daughter about the secret she had been keeping. She hadn't though. With a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach Johanna slowly walked to the counter and took the stool at the far end of the counter. Once settled, she looked across to where Kate was sitting and saw the dark angry look on her face.
"You spoke to Joe Pulgatti?" Johanna said slowly.
"When were you going to tell me about Pulgatti, Mom?" Kate demanded.
"It didn't seem relevant."
"Didn't seem relevant?" Kate said heatedly.
"No."
Kate slipped off the stool and began to pace the floor of the kitchen. There was a look of disbelief on her face when she stopped and stared at her mother.
"You took on as a client, a Mafia enforcer with a wrap sheet as long as your arm. You believed that he had a pretty good case of having been framed for a murder he did not commit and was building up the case. But then all of a sudden you drop the case. Not long after you dropped the case, it was picked up by another legal aid service, the one which my then boyfriend worked for, and shortly after that he was murdered along with two others from that firm, and you don't think it was relevant to mention it to me when you knew I was investigating the case?"
"I will not be treated like a suspect, Katherine Beckett." Johanna said sternly.
"Then stop acting like one!" Kate shouted.
"I'm not acting like one." Johanna retorted.
Johanna watched as Kate resumed pacing the floor again. She could see that Kate was struggling to contain her anger. It had been a long time since she had seen her daughter looking this angry. Johanna did not like seeing Kate looking like this and she felt guilty for having kept it from Kate.
Kate stopped her pacing and took a step towards her mother.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Kate demanded, her anger barely contained the surface.
"I didn't tell you, Katie because I had to." Johanna said.
"You had to?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"I have my reasons."
"That's not good enough, Mom." Kate shouted.
XXX
Johanna had made herself a cup of coffee and brought it back to the counter. She sat down on the stool and stared down at her coffee mug. She had been grateful for the silence that had descended between herself and Kate. It had given her the time to think about what she was going to tell her daughter.
She also used that time to recall that night in the alley. She had never forgotten the crime scene photographs Castle had shown her of her own bloodied and lifeless body slumped in the alley. She also had not forgotten what Castle had told her about what had happened to her family in the aftermath of that murder. It still haunted her, she still had on occasion,nightmares about it.
Taking a deep breath Johanna exhaled slowly and lifted her head to look at Kate who was standing near the counter.
"That night, January 9th, I had been late to the restaurant because I had been in that alley in Washington Heights." Johanna said.
"I remember." Kate replied.
"I had gone to the alley to check it out, hoping to find evidence that would help Joe Pulgatti's case. I went there because I wanted to check out his story, to see if what he had been saying was true."
Kate nodded her head slowly, remembering what Pulgatti had told her about the alley being a dead end alley.
"While I was investigating the alley I met a man there who told me that my life was in danger if I continued to pursue the case."
"Did he threaten you?"
Johanna shook her head slowly. "He was there to warn me."
"And you believed him?" Kate asked.
"Yes, I did." Johanna nodded, as she remembered the look on Castle's face that night.
"You usually don't give up that easily." Kate accused.
"I don't." Johanna agreed. "But this time I did. He was very persuasive."
"Who was this man?" Kate asked. She moved to stand beside her mother. "What's his name?"
Johanna looked up at Kate and shook her head. She was not going to give her daughter that name.
"This man in the alley told me the name of the man who was behind it all." Johanna said.
"Who is it?" Kate demanded. "Who's behind all of this?"
"I went to see this man." Johanna said, ignoring her daughter's question. "I made a deal with him. I made a deal to make sure he would not come after me, that he wouldn't send people to come after us."
"You made a deal?" Kate said in exasperation. "What kind of deal?"
"I would drop the case, give him the file I had, and in return he would leave my family alone."
"And you trusted him to live up to his side of the deal?" Kate questioned.
"He's kept his side of the deal up to now."
Kate let out a frustrated angry sigh. She turned away from her mother and resumed her pacing of the kitchen. Johanna watched her daughter silently, as Kate struggled to rein in her anger. After about five minutes Kate stopped her pacing and returned to the kitchen counter.
"How could you mom?" Kate said in a quiet voice.
"I was protecting my family."
"You were protecting a murderer!" Kate said in a raised voice. She slammed her palm down hard on the counter.
"I was protecting my family and I would do the same thing again."
Kate scoffed and turned away from her mother for a couple of moments before turning back.
Johanna looked at her angry daughter and nodded in her direction, a small smile rising to her lips.
"You're going to be a mother soon, Katie." Johanna said softly. "The way you love that child growing inside you and the way you love your husband is the way I love you and your father. I would do anything to protect you both. And if it means letting a murderer walk around free so that you can be safe, so be it. I can live with that."
Kate shook her head in disbelief.
"Look me in the eye Katie." Johanna said. Kate looked at her mother.
"Look me in the eye and tell me you wouldn't do something like that, you wouldn't stop at nothing to keep those you love with every fibre of your being safe from harm?"
Kate bit on her lip as she considered what her mother had just said. A few years ago she could have answered the question easily, she would have responded by saying that she would have done everything within the law. Things had changed though, she had changed. She was married now, she had a family and a child on the way. Her mother was right, there was nothing she would not do for her family. Kate hated to think that her mother was right.
"You've let a murderer go free." Kate said in a low voice. "Blake Jackson was murdered because of the deal you struck."
"And if I hadn't made the deal, I would be dead." Johanna countered. "Or worse, you or your father. I couldn't live with that."
"But you can live with Blake's murder?"
Johanna sighed heavily as she looked away from Kate's angry gaze. She turned her attention to the untouched coffee mug and stared at it.
"There's not a day that goes past that I don't regret about what happened to Blake, not a single day." Johanna said softly. "I did the best I could from a bad situation. I did the only thing I could, I put my family first, I did what I did to protect my family." Johanna paused and looked up. "And I would do it again, Katie. I would do it again, every time, if I was faced with the same situation again."
Kate regarded her mother silently for some moments.
"Are you going to tell me who's behind these murders?" She asked.
Johanna shook her head firmly. "I tell you who it is, and you'll go after them."
"I'm a cop, it's my job."
"Then he'll come after one of us, Katie. I'm not going to give you the name."
"I could arrest you and haul you in." Kate informed her.
Johanna saw the serious look on Kate's face. She wanted to smile at her daughter but she did not. It would have been 'I dare you' kind of challenge and it would be a challenge that Kate would have no trouble in accepting.
"Yes, you could arrest me and haul me into your precinct, and you could question me for hour after hour but it would get you nowhere, I still wouldn't give you the name."
Kate had come to the realisation that this was a fight she was not going to win. Her mother was not going to tell her the name. When it came to stubbornness Johanna Beckett wrote the book, at least that is how it felt to Kate sometimes.
"I'm going to go home now, Mom." Kate announced suddenly.
Johanna nodded her head in understanding. She watched as her daughter came up to the counter and picked up her purse. For a moment Johanna thought that Kate would turn and walk out but was relieved when Kate came over to her and gave her a quick kiss goodbye before she left.
XXX
Castle was coming down the stairs just as Kate walked through the front door of the loft. He started to smile and was about to call out a greeting to her when Kate slammed the door closed with considerable force that had the walls shaking.
The smile vanished from Castle's face and he quickly completed the journey down the stairs by taking the steps two at a time.
"Kate?"
Kate was heading for the bedroom but on hearing her name she stopped and turned to look at Castle.
Castle saw that Kate was seething with anger. He did not need to ask how the talk with her mother had gone. He could see it written all over her face. He quickly walked up to her and pulled her into his arms and hugged her. Kate let out a sigh and rested her head against his chest. Her arms circled his back and hugged him.
Joe Pulgatti had not told them who was behind the murders. He either did not know who it was, or he did know and did not want to say. After leaving Pulgatti's place Kate wanted to go straight to her mother's place. Castle had tried to persuade her to come home with him first but Kate did not want to do that. They almost had a fight over that but he had managed to restrain himself and pulled back, not wanting to get Kate too worked up. In the end she had dropped him off at the loft and then gone to her mother's place.
"She knows who's behind all of this." Kate said in a quiet voice.
"She does?" Castle replied.
"Yeah. But she wont tell me who it is." Kate informed him. "She made a deal with the man."
Castle rested his chin on Kate's head. A small frown creased his forehead. For some reason he knew that that Johanna would not reveal the name of the man behind this conspiracy to her daughter. He did not know how he knew it, he just did. What was more troubling for him was he had a feeling he knew who the man was. He could not quite grasp at the name though.
Castle lifted his chin and planted a kiss on Kate's crown.
"It's been a long day, Kate." He said. "Why don't you go and change and I'll get dinner ready?"
Kate slowly broke from Castle's embrace. She looked up at him.
"Where's Alexis?" She asked.
"She's over at Paige's, they've got some studying to do." Castle informed her. Kate nodded her head.
"You can tell me what happened at your mother's place over dinner." Castle suggested.
Kate gave her husband a small smile as she nodded her head. She rose on her toes and gave him a kiss on the lips before she turned and disappeared into the bedroom.
XXXXX
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