Life Goes On 2

Chapter 54

As soon as Lily and the twins had been picked up for school, Kate called Cap Katzenberger on the land line number he'd given Castle. Cap picked up immediately. "Yes, Kate. As I told your husband, I got your letter. I want someone from the Senate to be spearheading the investigation, and there's no one more qualified than you."

"Cap, I'm not a cop anymore." Kate protested. "I haven't been for a lot of years."

"But it's obvious that you still think like one and you look at the world like one," Cap argued. "Look, we don't know who might be involved in this. Use outside people. I'll make sure you have all the financial resources you need. And if you need to apply a little pressure to get the information you need, I can help with that too."

Kate chewed her lip. "Normally I'd call upon Richard Castle Investigations, but that could be seen as a conflict of interest since my husband is a partner. But there are operatives whom I trust, who independently contract with RCI. They could be paid directly, completely bypassing my family."

"Fine," Cap agreed. "Just get it going, Kate. I'll push the paperwork through. Track down whomever is behind this, the sooner the better."


A grin split Topher's face. Kate couldn't help thinking he was a lot like a mutt, the more ugly, the more endearing. "Kate, I was wondering when you'd think about flying lessons, although this was a bit sooner than I'd imagined."

"Why?" Kate questioned.

"I saw the look on your face when you checked out the cockpit. I know that look," Topher explained. "And I don't know that I've ever met anyone as independent as you, except for my wife. You aren't about to let someone else's schedule dictate when you can and can't be with your family. Getting started is not that hard. You can take your ground training online. You only need a seventy to pass the test. That should be child's play for you. But that's when the fun begins. You'll be putting in at least forty hours of flight training, and you'll have to solo. And you'll need medical certification too. Once you get all that done, you'll be tested by the FAA. If you can get enough access to a plane and an instructor, you can probably get it all done before your next term starts, if not sooner. You are running for another term, aren't you?"

"That's the plan," Kate confirmed. "But we could have a hell of a mess to straighten out during this one. Cap wants me to lead the investigation."

Topher nodded. "Good choice on his part. Then I suppose I'd better let you get on with it. I wish I could have been more help, but I don't know Truesdale all that well. He keeps to himself, and he is of the other party. But you know my aide Julie Choo. She talks to Franny Moskowitz. You probably know she's Truesdale's aide. They go to the bathroom together. I'll never figure out why you ladies need company in there."

"And that's a secret we will never reveal," Kate teasingly assured him.


Reese Perkins and Jake Pullman were back in Albany, under the direct employ of the State Senate, and supervised by Kate Beckett. She had given them a full description of the server who'd disappeared from the mixer after Truesdale collapsed. He'd been identified by the catering manager as a temp, but the information they'd received from the agency who'd employed him turned out to be bogus. The agency did have the contract he'd signed, on file, and Reese dusted it for prints. He was able to run them, using an arrangement Kate had made with the State Attorney General's office. After the employees of the temp agency had been eliminated, there was only a partial print remaining. It was enough. The owner, Vincent Jervais, had never been convicted, but as a college student, he had been charged with the cyber theft of standardized tests. The evidence had just not been strong enough to make the charges stick. Obviously he had continued down a criminal path. Now Reese and Jake just had to figure out where that path had led.


In a booth in Chelsea's diner in Albany, Julie Choo sat nervously across the table from Kate. "I'm not sure I can help you, Senator Beckett. Sure I know Franny, but most of what we talk about isn't really about work, it's about the frustration in our love lives. You know, always being on call to the boss, having to be in two different cities; it can really cut into a dating schedule. Though lately, I think hers is going a lot better than mine. She said she had a boyfriend, and a few times she was in a hurry to go meet him. I think he's some kind of computer guy. He put some new software on her phone. But I don't really know much about Truesdale."

Kate's eyes narrowed in thought. "That's just fine, Julie. Tell me everything you can remember Franny saying about this boyfriend. Do you know his name? Where he lives?"

"Now that is a strange thing," Julie mused. "Franny didn't really know where he lives. He'd always meet her somewhere. And when they'd - you know - they'd do at her place. He told her he lived with his brother, who is a real slob, and he didn't want to subject her to that. She called him Vince. I never heard a last name."

"Vince," Kate repeated thoughtfully. "Julie, you have been very helpful. Thanks. You want a refill on your chai?"

"Actually, Senator," Julie replied, "that shake you're drinking looks terrific."


After leaving the diner, Kate met with Big Jake and Big Reese in the privacy of the Castle's Albany house. "So you two uncovered a Vince, and Truesdale's aide has been seeing a Vince. That can't be a coincidence," Kate asserted.

"You're right," Reese agreed. "But where to find Vincent Jervais is the problem. He gave the temp agency a fake identity."

"He probably has more than one," Jake added. "It he's been going around stealing information, he could have credit cards, bank accounts, even apartments in all kinds of names."

"We don't need to know where he is, if we know where he's going. Franny Moskowitz is his eyes and ears in the Senate. He'll want to maintain contact. Get on her and stay on her. Sooner or later, Vince will come to you, and we'll have the state cops pull him in for questioning.


Castle checked and rechecked the statistics on plane crashes.. He knew in his mind, and confirmed on the screen, that flying was safer than driving. But those statistics included commercial flights and corporate jets. The numbers for small private planes were a lot murkier. Depending on whom was parsing the statistics, they had been as dangerous as cars, if not more so - especially when idiot pilots started taking selfies. Not that Kate would ever do anything that stupid. Things had changed in the last decade for both cars and planes, as sensor technology had improved. The changes were slower to come in smaller planes, as they had been in cheaper cars, but they were there. There just weren't any long term numbers yet. There was one thing of which he was sure. Kate was trying her best to spend as much time as she could with the kids and with him. He would do everything he could to support her in that effort, including buying her a plane. He would just make triple sure it was the safest one he could get. And maybe he'd get his mother to give him a refresher on calming breathing techniques as well.