Chapter 48
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Ryan lamented, "Colleen is going to disown me. I let her one kid with a decent future get himself blown up."
Castle walked in the room and distributed coffees.
Esposito, staring at their board focused them, "Okay, we made The Dragon flinch. So how, exactly, have we poked him?"
Kate offered, "We questioned Sutton and Halstead's daughter then stopped at Columbia. They either know about Sutton or we're being followed."
Gates finally appeared. "I understand we've had some excitement."
Kate stood and quickly summarized, "Sir, there's been a bomb at Castle's place in The Hamptons. We think it's a distraction so we must be on the right track." She outlined the connection between Markway making payments to an offshore account and Halstead's children getting tuition from the same source. Gates nodded throughout Kate's update.
"Okay, we need to question Halstead. I am sorry, I had no option to get out of this meeting without drawing undo attention."
Kate asked, "Do you want us to bring him in or question him at the fire station?"
She crossed her arms and commanded, "You are not going anywhere. I will send some plainclothes to bring him here."
"But, Sir!"
"Detective Beckett, have I not made it clear to you who is leading this investigation?"
"You have."
"Did you or did you not agree to follow my orders?"
Kate was seething, "I did."
"I understand the last time this case reared its head you had a different captain with much less respect for policy and procedures. I am not sure if the end result was due to a disregard of his leadership responsibilities or if he was somehow involved personally in the case, but it would seem that he was prevented from acting in the best interest of his city, his precinct, and even his staff."
Esposito shifted into a challenging stance.
"Stand down, Detective Esposito." She pierced them all with a glare. "Let me make myself clear. Despite your well-coordinated versions of what happened that night, I am not naïve." She turned to Ryan, "Do I look naïve to you?"
He answered soberly, "No, Sir."
"I know you're hiding something, but because Captain Montgomery has paid the ultimate price, I've let it slide. There should have been an inquiry, and if guilty, he should have been dishonorably discharged from the force, lost his pension and possibly served jail time depending on if his guilt extended beyond neglecting procedures to being personally involved in the crimes."
There was dead silence and four sets of crossed arms waiting for her to continue. She did so with a softer tone.
"I was IA. I seek justice and demand consequences because I have seen what happens when the system breaks down. However, I am not judge and jury and I certainly am not heartless. Whatever consequences should have been his, he has paid for his sins in full. Evelyn has lost her husband and those kids will never be the same. Pulling his death benefits from them and sullying his name, which is all they have to hold on to, would not bring justice to anyone in this situation. I am not in the business of sentencing innocent family members to a life of disgrace and poverty."
She stopped and looked at each one before continuing, "I am willing to remain ignorant for now, but if this thing blows up in our faces, if Montgomery is implicated from an outside source, I will follow that line of investigation and you had better conjure up short-term amnesia because this conversation will have never taken place."
Before they could answer her, The Captain's phone rang "Gates." She listened then replied, "I'll get a team on it."
She hung up and looked directly at Kate. "It looks as though there is no need to question Mr. Halstead after all."
Gates allowed Esposito and Ryan to go to the crime scene but she refused to let Castle and Beckett accompany them. Kate had put up a fight, wanting to scour the scene herself, but she was reluctantly relieved that she didn't have to test how badly her PTSD would be in a more exposed space when a sniper might be implicated. Castle had been clenching his jaw the whole time Beckett tried to convince Gates. He thought of Aquaman projecting rings of mental messages to fish and he looked at Gates and concentrated saying the word, 'no' over and over in his mind. The ESP attempt failed, but The Captain read his body language all the same and held her ground more firmly for it.
Halstead's body had been found slouched over his desk in his office at the fire station. His door had been closed and the others had assumed that he had been busy working on reports and making phone calls until he didn't emerge to lead their scheduled training drill.
Gates had recalled Dr. Parish a day early since she could be trusted if Halstead's death was related to the conspiracy. Lanie met Ryan and Esposito at the scene. She saw the victim, recognized him immediately from Kate's investigation and she pierced the guys with a look that had them both taking a physical step backwards.
"Where's Beckett?"
Esposito answered "Benched. Gate's orders. When did you get back?"
"Two hours ago, which you would have known had you bothered to call, but it seems you've been busy." She was seething. She resumed giving Esposito the cold shoulder for not telling her that they had started playing with fire once again. She snapped on her blue gloves and addressed Ryan, "It appears the victim died of a single GSW to the chest, large caliber bullet." She pulled out her liver probe and waited a few minutes. "Time of death three to four hours ago. I'll have to get him back to the morgue before you get any more than that." She flicked her chin up, put a hand on her hip and added, "And Esposito, information is all you'll be getting for quite some time."
He opened his mouth to argue but Lanie cut him off with a stare before he could start. Ryan placed a hand on his partner's shoulder and pulled him back, "Javi, let it go for now."
He let out a string of Spanish curses under his breath that Ryan didn't need to translate.
Kate was starting to feel cagey again. Security tapes from a four-block radius were rushed to the precinct and she and Castle were scanning them for any suspicious activity. They had started from when the time stamp showed noon, when they were interviewing Rachel Halstead. The first camera showed a view of the window to Halstead's office. They both flinched when they forwarded through the glass breaking. Castle rewound the tape and watched in slow motion as some glass wedges flew from the pane. They had time of death at 12:36. They enlarged the area just outside the pane of glass and were able to catch a blur of what looked like the bullet in midair. They noted the angle and the size of the blur and Kate absent-mindedly rubbed the scar on her chest. They had the rifle that her sniper had used to shoot her, but if it's his preferred weapon, the type of ammo might match, maybe they could even get DNA off of something to confirm it.
They skipped to another camera and watched the cars leaving the area, running plates to see if anything popped. It was a long shot, but they needed to do something while cooped up. After twenty minutes of monotony, Castle exclaimed, "That arrogant son of a – "
Kate cut him off, "What! What is it?"
"He drove away in Halstead's car. He's getting cocky, thinking he's so far above our reach." Rick's expression tightened and he visibly paled, "Oh no. Kate, do you think it was him in The Hamptons? He could still be there."
"I don't know, Castle, walk me through what you're thinking."
The normalcy of running theory was almost comforting if it weren't for the fact that their family had been the intended target of the crime.
"He could have driven there in less than two hours on a weekday afternoon and even placed the pizza order to be delivered at 3:15. Nico would have the only delivery car in service for the closest shop since the summer season doesn't kick into gear until Memorial Weekend. It wasn't a normal mealtime, so the bomber wouldn't even have had to guess which delivery run was his. The sniper could have put some sort of IED under the car then waited for the delivery to detonate it. Nico knows all the security guys at the gate to the community and they would have exchanged a friendly wave and not have thought twice about letting him pass."
"Okay, the timeline would fit, but why would he detonate the bomb when no one was close enough to kill?"
"I suppose he could have used a timer and we were just lucky that Nico parked far enough away, or his orders could have been only to create a diversion. If I am right, we should be able to pick up Halstead's car on traffic cams in The Hamptons, maybe even get lucky enough to catch him placing the bomb."
Kate picked up the phone and within minutes they had downloaded traffic cam footage near the pizza shop. The window of time would have been tight so they only had a small amount of footage to review.
While they were watching, Esposito and Ryan entered and each pair brought the other up to speed. A few minutes later Lanie texted Kate to come down to the morgue.
"What do you have, Lanie?"
Her friend crossed her arms and gave her a pointed look. Kate rubbed her forehead. Experience told her that when Lanie was scared she overcompensated with anger; but Kate just didn't feel up to facing her friend's wrath. She felt Castle's hand on her back in silent support as she continued, "I'm sorry. I didn't want to worry you or ruin your visit with your mom. As soon as you got back I was going to tell you, and for the record, I ordered Javi to keep you ignorant, so that one is on me."
Lanie tamped down her frustration when she observed how stressed Kate looked, and backed off. "Once this is over, we are SO going to have words."
Kate replied a little softer, "I know. I'm just glad you're here now."
The ME tapped her foot then relented. "Oh, Girl, come here." Lanie engulfed her in a hug. "You okay?"
Kate shrugged. "No, but maybe better than I should be considering." Castle couldn't help but smile knowing that he had made that difference.
"What are you smiling at, Castle. Come here, you get a hug, too." He complied, making sure to give Lanie a good one. "Now, tell me what I've missed."
Kate said, "In a nutshell? Castle's father's CIA, The Dragon is after us, Markway and Halstead are involved, and there was a bomb in the Hamptons where our family is staying. And I fully expect that this" she pointed to Halstead's body, "was the work of my sniper."
Lanie's jaw slackened, "Is that all?" She looked between the two of them. "A bomb?"
Kate answered "Everyone's okay."
She then turned to Castle, "CIA? Have you been holding out on us?"
He shook his head. "No, didn't know myself until Sunday. It's a long story that Kate will tell you later. For now, though, we need answers."
"Really the only information I have is that the slug I pulled from his body is the same caliber as the one that was pulled out of you, Sweetie." She showed them the crumpled bullet under the magnifier. "That's not conclusive, but it is consistent with your theory. The entry wound was deep, almost a through-and-through, so he was at less of a distance than when he . . . than at Montgomery's funeral."
"Okay, let us know if you find anything else unusual." Kate eyed her friend and added, "Esposito's been running himself ragged on this. You might want to cut him some slack for extenuating circumstances." She picked up the bullet again and while she examined it she added, "You never know what will happen tomorrow."
Kate put the bullet down and turned to leave, but Lanie stopped her.
"Castle and I had to watch you die once, I'm not prepared for a repeat performance. I don't understand what all you've gotten yourself into, but you look after each other. Both of you had better come out of this one unscathed."
Kate replied, "We will." and prayed she hadn't just made a promise they couldn't keep.
When they returned to the conference room, Esposito and Ryan were both leaning towards the screen with rapt attention. "What is it?"
Ryan rewound the video. "Watch this." They saw a the front edge of the white sedan pull up to the back of the pizza place then a guy came onscreen wearing a dark long-sleeved shirt, jeans and a baseball cap lugging a black backpack. He walked casually by the delivery car, seemed to drop his keys then bent to pick them up. He took extra time, enough to attach the bomb under the car, then got back in Halstead's sedan and the corner of the car vanished off the screen. All of this took place without witnesses.
Kate asked hastily, "Any usable stills for facial rec?"
Esposito answered, "We had just found this right before you came in, but in the two times we watched it, I'd say probably not. I didn't see any tats, either. He just looks like your average white guy."
Castle asked, "Did he touch anything that we could dust for prints?"
Ryan shrugged, "I'll run it again, in slow motion."
He ran the tape and all they could see of his face was an ear and part of his cheek, and just a bit of dark hair. When they watched him drop the keys Castle shouted, "Stop! Rewind that bit." He crumpled his brow and they all looked at the screen, not seeing it. "There! Go back a bit and play it at normal speed. He's holding his keys with his right hand, but watch the fingers on his left hand just before he drops them."
Ryan zoomed in on the left hand then played it at normal speed. What they saw was his first two fingers fluttering against each other, nearly at hummingbird pace just for a few seconds.
Castle stood and poked the screen. "That! That's it!"
Esposito asked, "So he has some sort of tic? We don't have a data base for that, Bro."
"No, we don't, but I've only seen one other person with that particular idiosyncrasy. Markway does that at the poker table. It's a subconscious tell, but he does it intentionally sometimes to throw us off."
Kate jumped in, "What do you know about Markway's sons?"
"Brian is 30, a lawyer in California, I'm not sure what Eric does, but I think he's local."
Ryan started typing in Eric Markway and came up with his DMV photo and his address. At the same time Castle Googled him and his Facebook page came up.
Before Ryan could offer anything Castle said, "Apparently he works as a bartender in Brooklyn, and is in a relationship with get this, 'Julia Roberts,' definitely not the actress based on these pictures. Wow, okay, his physique certainly doesn't match our suspect." He turned the phone so they could see the face matched the driver's license photo, but the beer gut that went along with the man was clearly inconsistent with the sniper.
Ryan, not wanting to be the one to state reality said weakly, "The tic could be just a coincidence."
Kate ignored him, needing this lead. "If only he had left his DNA somewhere we could compare it to what we got off the sniper rifle, and to Markway's. Of course we'd need his as well, and no judge will issue a warrant against their peer without more proof than a poker tell."
Rick thought carefully before suggesting, "Maybe it's time to phone a friend."
