Author's Note: Sorry I'm a little late in posting this week. I've been rather busy. Enjoy!

Chapter 38

Perlmutter was upset when they arrived. "Do you know how long I've been waiting for you? You're not the only body I have today. I just got a call about another one."

Beckett was accustomed to his behavior and knew better than to brush him off. "Sorry, we were in an interrogation. What did you find?"

"I know how displeased you were with my work the last time, so I made sure to check my findings against Dr. Parish's notes on the assassin know as the Shadow Fox. Due to that, I can conclude that Dr. Rodger Fendway was indeed killed by the same person who killed Dr. Anita Mahra. Here is the cast I made from the wound. It's a match to the other Shadow Fox cases." Perlmutter handed Beckett the cast.

"Great." She slipped it into her folder. "Anything else we should know?"

Perlmutter handed her his report. "I found it odd that a man like this was overpowered so easily; he's built like an ox. So I ran a tox panel and found out that he was drunk. Very drunk."

Castle scanned the report over Beckett's shoulder. "How drunk are we talking?"

"0.2; two and a half times the legal limit. Plus there were traces of a sedative in his system. I'm surprised he managed to make it outside."

Beckett looked up from the report. "So he had no chance of fighting off his attacker."

Perlmutter nodded. "None whatsoever. Now, do you mind?"

"Sure." Perlmutter brushed past them and out of the morgue.

Castle walked over to Fendway's side. "Why cover him with the tarp?"

Beckett joined him. "What do you mean?"

Castle turned to face her. "If you're going to make it look like a mugging, why bother covering him up with a tarp?"

"It was probably used to give the killer an extra few minutes to escape."

Castle shrugged. "Yeah, I guess."

Beckett tugged his arm. "Come on, let's go."

They returned to the bullpen to find the boys waiting for the elevator. "We were about to call you. We got a name for the friend. Charles Whittaker. And we got an address."

Beckett knocked on Charles Whittaker's door and heard, "Just a minute," from the other side. Finally the door opened. "Can I help you?"

"Charles Whittaker?" He nodded and Beckett showed her badge. "I'm Detective Kate Beckett. We're here to ask you some questions about Dr. Rodger Fendway."

Whittaker was confused. "Who?"

"Rodger Fendway." Beckett showed the DMV picture of Fendway. "You had drinks with him last night at Ox Cart Tavern."

"I'm sorry, you must have the wrong man."

"Charles Whittaker at 200 Mercer St., Apartment 3C?" He nodded. "We came here because your credit card was used there by someone who was with Dr. Fendway." Beckett was beginning to suspect what had happened.

"Look, I'm sorry, but I don't know any doctors called Fendway. I've also never been to the Ox Cart Tavern, and as for my credit card being used there, my identity was stolen a couple of months ago. I've been trying to get it all sorted out ever since."

Esposito stepped forward. "Do you recognize this man at all? Maybe he gave you another name."

Whittaker shook his head. "No, I haven't. Sorry."

"Thank you for your time." Whittaker shut the door and Esposito turned around. "This was set up to get us to chase a false lead."

Ryan nodded. "So who was Fendway talking to?"

Beckett started walking down the hallway and back to the cars. "We need to talk to the bar's manager again."

"What do you want me to do?" The manager shut the door to his office. "I don't honestly care if the card was stolen or not. If it goes through and I get my money, I'm happy."

Beckett sighed. "I'm not here to bust you for accepting a fraudulent card. I just want to know what the man who used it looked like."

The manager sat down in his chair. "It was hard to tell with all the facial hair. This guy had a full beard and mustache. I mean, Santa Claus full. Only it was all black, not white."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah. He was wearing glasses and there was a scar on his nose. And he was wearing a trucking hat."

"Is he a regular?" Castle was only half listening as he wandered around the room.

The manager was watching him. "No, I'd never seen him before. But I know he wasn't from around here. His accent was from the Deep South. Please don't touch that."

Castle put the statuette down and Beckett moved to the next question. "I saw you have a camera mounted above the door. Could we get the footage?"

The manager shook his head. "It's just for show. Most of my customers see that and behave themselves."

"So you don't have a security company monitoring the cameras at all?"

"No, but a lady from a company came by last week." He dug around on his desk for a minute. "Here it is. Avalon Security."

Beckett reached for the card. "What was she here for?"

"Asked me if I wanted to upgrade my security systems. Why?"

Beckett turned the card to Castle. "Pamela Kreutz. Do you remember what she looked like?"

"Yeah. Red hair, green eyes, slightly darker skin; I guess you could call it olive. I think her hair was a dye job though, because the roots were black."

Beckett and Castle knew what that meant. "Do you remember anything specific?"

The manager shrugged. "She dressed nice. And she specifically asked about the cameras."

Castle turned back to the manager. "What did you tell her?"

"I just said that they'd worked for me in the past and I wasn't changing them now. Even after I told her I wasn't interested, she insisted on leaving her card."

Beckett held up the card. "Mind if we take this?"

The manager stood. "Keep it. I was gonna toss it anyway."

It was mid-afternoon when Esposito put down his phone. "Avalon Security is a real company, but they've never had a Pamela Kreutz working there. And CSU just emailed to tell us…" he opened the email, "that the manager's prints and yours were the only ones on the card."

Ryan hung up his phone. "Talked to the only Pamela Kreutz listed in the state. She's 84 and lives in East Patchogue. The last time she was in the city was over a decade ago for her niece's wedding."

Esposito looked at his partner. "Took you half an hour to get that?"

Ryan got defensive. "She's old; wanted to take a trip down memory lane. Anyway, she's not the one we're looking for."

Beckett updated the board. "It looks like the Shadow Fox does like to have accomplices. The woman who poses as Pamela Kreutz has worked with him before, so she's probably his partner. And the trucker could be new or the Shadow Fox in disguise. Either way, let's get the pictures and descriptions out there."

Castle took the sketch of Kreutz down. "She was sent to case the place; find out if the camera worked. The trucker was probably told to find out what Fendway knew."

Beckett turned from the board. "I'm going to take another crack at Sulu."

"You can't." Ryan pointed to I1, where Karpowski was grilling a suspect, as Esposito picked up his ringing phone. "Gates must have kicked him loose while we were talking to Whittaker."

"I kicked him loose just before we left; we had nothing to hold him on." Beckett grabbed her coat. "We'll go visit him at work."

Esposito hung up. "He's not likely to say much. Perlmutter just called from the scene. Dr. Sulu is dead."

The crime scene was in an alley near a subway entrance just three blocks from Vertanin Pharmaceuticals. Beckett pulled up to the scene and parked next to one of the many blue and whites there. She stepped out and ducked under the crime scene tape, holding out her badge until she had arrived at the body. Esposito and Ryan had fanned out, taking statements.

"What happened?"

Perlmutter was wrapping things up at the scene and didn't look up. "He was stabbed. Lower back, near the kidney. Go ahead, say it."

"Shadow Fox?" Castle was looking around the alley. "I see two cameras, but neither of them are pointed this way."

Beckett nodded. "I'll still want the footage. There may be something they picked up. Who called it in?"

"Homeless lady." Esposito and Ryan had walked up in time to hear Beckett's last sentence. "She was going through the trashcans when she found him."

"She must have found him just after." Beckett turned to Perlmutter. "Any chance I can get a preliminary T.O.D.?"

Perlmutter sighed. "He is still warm, so no more than an hour or two ago. Can I get him back to the morgue now?"

"Go ahead." Beckett turned back to the boys. "What else did you find out?"

Ryan pointed across the street. "The store across the street looks like it has a camera that was pointed in this direction. I think it might have a clear view of at least the alley's entrance. I'll see if I can get the footage." He turned to go.

"Add these to your list." Beckett pointed to the cameras in the alley and Ryan nodded as he left. "Javi, did you talk to the woman?"

"Yeah, she said she didn't see anyone or hear anything. She'd just started looking through the cans at the lip when she saw his shoes. Went to investigate and found him dead."

Beckett glanced past Esposito to where the homeless lady was standing. "How'd she call it in?"

"She used his phone. Said it was just lying there next to him. Apparently she was kind off upset when CSU bagged it."

"Hostile?"

Esposito shook his head. "No, she handed it right over. She was just disappointed that she had to."

"Let's walk this though. Shadow Fox is what? About 5'6", 150 pounds?" Castle was walking toward the mouth of the alley.

Beckett and Esposito followed. "If Alex's descriptions are accurate."

Castle stopped in between the subway and the alley. "Assuming Sulu was here when he was grabbed, how did he end up 30 feet in there?"

Esposito saw what he was getting at. "He's over six feet tall. No way someone just pulled him back there."

Beckett nodded. "So he was lured or forced. How?"

Ryan came back from the shop. "The store over there can play back their security tapes. I think we might have the how."

"How?"

"I'll give you a hint. She has red hair and dresses in a business suit."

Castle was the first to answer. "Pamela Kreutz. How'd she get him to follow her?"

Ryan pulled out his notebook. "She came out of the alley looking upset, grabs his hand and he follows her into the alley. What he didn't know is she was at the mouth of the alley for a few minutes waiting for him."

"You get a copy?"

"Hardly had to ask." Ryan held it up. "The quality isn't the best, but it's something. I'll get the other cameras when I can find out who has the footage from them."

"Good." Beckett sighed. "That's four. We need to offer Dr. Cronin protection before he becomes the next victim."

A/N: What's going to happen next?