Too Close
Chapter 86
"This is profiling," Omar complains from his seat in interrogation. "You cops had no right to get me off that plane."
"Apparently, the Attorney General disagrees with you, Omar," Kate informs him. "It doesn't take any profiling to pick up a suspect heading for a country with no diplomatic relations or extradition treaty with the U.S.."
"Particularly when said suspect had access to the murder weapon," Castle adds.
"My mother is in Iran. She has cancer, and I need to go see her before the end. I had every reason to be on that plane," Omar protests. "And what murder weapon? I do maintenance on websites. I maintained Dale Tanner's, and I maintain several others. I'm no jihadi radical, and I've never been near a weapon."
"You wouldn't have had to go near the one that killed Dale Tanner," Kate points out. "It was controlled by a program, a program that Dale Tanner received from its designer."
"I wouldn't know anything about that," Omar retorts. "Dale gave me the copy for his posts. I upgraded its SEO, that's search engine optimization. I made sure his links were operational and kept his operating system and his anti-malware up to date. If he loaded a program, I didn't see it. But people send stuff on thumb drives to the p.o. box of the Whistleblowers Anonymous website. Dale kept the drives in a shielded drawer in his desk. I didn't even have a key."
Kate leans across the table. "Who did?"
Omar combs his fingers through his hair. "Obviously Dale did, but I think his son Sean did too. He checked out some of the wilder material for his father. He said he thought Dale should be spending more time with Beth, his wife, so he wanted to take some of the load."
"So Sean has expertise with programming?" Kate questions.
"I wouldn't call it expertise, he's a freshman in Computer Science. He has a lot to learn about coding," Omar asserts, "but sit him in front of a keyboard, and he can make almost any decently constructed software run. Now please, I need to get out of here. I have to find another flight to Iran before it's too late."
"We'll check your story, Omar, and if it tracks, we'll get you on a plane," Kate promises.
"Do you believe him?" Castle asks Kate after L.T. leads Omar to a holding cell."
Kate shoves a strand of hair behind her ear. "I don't know, Babe. He didn't show any of the usual tells of lying, but why would Sean kill his father?"
Castle closes his eyes to visualize a scenario. "One of Sean's professors cancels class, so he arrives home unexpectedly. Maybe he wants to go over the contents of some of the drives his father received or raid the refrigerator. Even as he is unlocking the door, he can hear sounds from the master bedroom.
"For a moment, he wonders if his mother took a well-deserved day off, and she and his father are making the most of it. But then, he detects a whiff of perfume that isn't his mother's signature scent. He makes his way inside as quietly as he can.
"The bedroom door is only open a crack, but it's enough for Sean to see Dale Tanner with Monica Lane. He's furious and tempted to confront his father then and there, but he remembers the program his father received. Sean won't need any weapon but a keyboard to make Dale pay for his sins and free Beth to seek a man worthy of her.
"Sean plans carefully, telling his father that a source of information on massive governmental misconduct wants to meet with him at a specific place and time, a time that matches up with the schedule of the regular drone flights that observers on social media have been tracking. With Dale away from his office and Beth at work, Sean launches the final blow at his father, using the adulterer's own equipment to do the deed. He returns to Hudson U to attend his classes until he receives your call. Then the dutiful son returns home to comfort his grieving mother."
"In a twisted way that all makes sense, Castle," Kate acknowledges, "but how do we prove it?"
"Kate, ever since a frat that formerly maintained a house at Hudson University, decided that assaulting coeds would be part of their initiation ceremonies, the school has had surveillance cameras all over campus. I checked out the security when Alexis took a summer course there."
A smile teases Kate's lips. "Of course you did."
"Anyway," Castle continues, "it should be possible to track Sean's movements on and off university grounds. I didn't see an extra car at the Tanner home when he was there, and the subway is only three blocks away. That must be how he travels. He would have been caught on below-ground cameras too. If need be, we could ask Stack if the techs at the DHS have uncovered any of Sean's tracks on Dale's equipment."
Kate shakes her head, her errant lock of hair re-finding her face. "Not if we can avoid it. Sean knew his father's computer and probably figured out how to conceal any evidence of what he did, anyway. Otherwise, assuming you're right about Sean, Stack would be out ahead of us. I'll get Ryan and Esposito on the traffic cams and getting more background on Sean, and you and I can concentrate on Hudson University."
"In a way, I hope I'm wrong," Castle confesses. "It's bad enough for Beth Tanner to lose her husband, even if he was cheating on her. But if she has to watch her son go to jail..." Castle's eyes squeeze shut. "After seeing Alexis in a cage, I can imagine the agony she'll feel."
Kate lays her hand on Rick's arm. "That's how it is with murders, Babe; the deceased is rarely the only victim."
Rick wraps his arms around Kate as her face presses against his chest. "That's why you're so good at solving them. You understand the fallout better than most detectives ever could."
Marie Descoine rereads the message forwarded by Gene Tree. Richard Castle wants her and any other members of the family to come to his wedding. He's even offered to charter a plane to fly them to New York and to put them up at The Four Seasons. She'd assumed that he would want to talk on the phone or set up a Skype, but she hadn't expected this. She's never been to the wedding of a celebrity, not even a minor one, and she's looking forward to the adventure. But she has a lot of calls to make. The rest of the family may not be as excited as she is.
Hunt scans the report of the email traffic of the Descoines. He can't remember the last time he was mentioned, but there's a reference to him now. It's in a message from his niece Marie that was forwarded to Richard. His son is getting close to uncovering his true identity. The boy's sharp. It was inevitable that it would happen sooner or later. Maybe Hunt's been in the cold too long, and it's time to change course. Making a successful exit will take a hell of a lot of preparation, but that's the case in every mission. He may just be able to pull this last one off.