Guardian Angel
Chapter 34
As the prisoner transport vehicle comes to a stop half a block ahead, Maddox swipes his detonator icon, bracing himself for the shock of an explosion that doesn't come. What the f**k! He'd checked the device before staking out the precinct that morning. It was perfect. Could the police have found it? If the lab could trace any of it to him… He has to find out what went wrong.
Cole pulls into the lot of a nearby laundromat and rapidly covers the ground to where he'd planted his bomb. As he nears it, he hears rustling. Rats are swarming around fast food bags that someone must have thrown out of a car. Could the vermin have loosened a wire on his device? He doesn't think that… The asphalt buckles under the force of the blast. He'll never think of anything again.
As Lanie examines what's left of Maddox, Kate surveys the scene. "Why would anyone want to set off a bomb here?"
"It wasn't that long after the cops transferring Coonan picked him up that we heard the explosion," Castle recalls. "Could this guy have been after him?"
Lanie turns from the mangled body. "If he was, he really screwed up. At least he is the only body unless you count a bunch of rat parts."
"Not a recommended method of extermination," Castle comments.
"Can you get an I.D., Lanie?" Kate asks.
"Uh-huh. A couple of the fingertips look intact enough to at least get a partial. And we might get a match to his DNA if it's on file."
"There's no traffic cam at the stop sign," Ryan notes, "but there are a couple at the nearest lights. If he drove a car here, we might be able to figure out where he was coming from."
"Good, you get on that," Beckett instructs. "And Esposito, get some unis and start canvassing."
Kate turns to Castle, catching his grin. "What are you smiling at?"
"You're back to you, digging your teeth into this and tearing away."
The corners of Kate's lips fight their way upward. "Yeah, I guess I am. Babe, if you're right about this guy being after Coonan, it will give us another link to Bracken."
Rick holds up crossed fingers.
With Castle close behind, Kate rushes into medical examiner domain. "What have you got, Lanie?"
"Our victim's fingerprints were a match to a Cedric Marks who was reported killed in action in Afghanistan."
"Unless a Dr. Frankenstein shot him full of juice, earlier reports of his death must have been exaggerated," Castle quips.
"He must have faked it somehow," Kate concludes.
"Right," Lanie agrees, "because we also got a match to a Cole Maddox. He had to give his prints to get a Georgia driver's license two years ago."
"Was that before or after he was reported killed in Afghanistan?" Kate asks.
"After," Lanie replies.
"So he comes back to the states and picks up a new identity, probably stolen," Castle figures.
"And if we're lucky, he was still using it," Kate continues. "Anything else, Lanie?"
"He was pretty blown up. Most of his organs were almost shredded, but it does look like at the time of his death, he had considerable blood in his corpora cavernosa."
Castle snickers. "You mean he had a hard-on?"
Lanie's eyes narrow at Rick. "I'm not sure if I should give you a gold star or a demerit, writer-boy, but yes."
"So," Castle recounts, "we have a victim who rose from the dead, operated under an alias and got his jollies from planning to blow people up."
"That's not the way it's going to appear in my report, Castle," Lanie responds, "but that's probably pretty close to the truth."
"There couldn't have been too many men fitting that description in New York." Kate assumes.
Johanna gazes upward. "The Father willing."
Ryan waves across the bullpen as Kate and Rick get off the elevator. "I got something off the traffic cam. A rental car passed the light a couple of minutes before the explosion, then parked in front of a Sudsy-Spin. It's still there. The unis checked, no driver washing clothes or anywhere around. The rental company says it leased the car to a Cole Maddox. The clerk got a credit card and a cellphone number. The phone's offline."
"CSU will probably find a zillion pieces of it," Castle guesses.
"We'll order the transactions on that card and any other financials for Cole Maddox," Kate declares.
"And oh," Ryan adds, "I heard from a buddy in Narcotics. Business in Washington Heights is picking up."
"Someone lit a fire under Vulcan Simmons," Castle assumes.
"And I think we know who," Kate agrees.
"How long do you think it will take to get that stuff?" Castle wonders, after Kate puts in her request for data on Maddox.
"A couple of hours if we're lucky. Maybe more. At this moment, Maddox is a victim, not a perp, so he doesn't take priority."
"Anything else we can do in the meantime?" Castle queries.
"Not much. We could go question people in the area of the explosion, but Espo already has a team doing that."
"How about reviewing the traffic video from around the blast site, maybe from a couple of days back."
"What would we be looking for, Castle?"
"Maddox's rental car. If he were after Coonan, he would have planted that bomb sometime after you busted Coonan. Probably, pretty soon after. He wouldn't have known you'd hold a guy who was caught red-handed attacking a cop as long as you did. If Maddox wasn't there, then we'll be looking for another bomber. But if he was, it could be another line to Bracken."
"You have a point, Babe, but that's going to be a lot of video."
"I could make popcorn," Castle offers.
"How about ordering Chinese?" Kate counters.
"You've got it!"
Castle points excitedly at the screen. "That's the car, Maddox's rental!"
Kate checks the timestamp. "It tracks, Castle. That's the day after we nailed Coonan. Bracken must have called him in to take Coonan out."
"Detective Beckett," L.T. calls, "those financials you've been waiting for just came in."
Castle rubs his hands together. "The timing couldn't be more perfect!"
"Not the Golden Bowl but not bad," Castle remarks, gazing around Maddox's final abode. "Contract killing must pay well — except for this last time, of course."
Kate strides impatiently around the room. "Never mind the room rate; we need to look for anything that will tie Maddox to Coonan or Bracken."
"On it," Rick replies, slipping into the attached bath.
"What are you looking for in there, Castle?" Kate asks.
"The mystery writers' oldie but goodie, something in the tank of the toilet. Usually, it's in stories about drugs, but you never know. I don't suppose you have an extra pair of gloves on you?"
Kate digs in her pocket. "Here."
Rick gloves up before checking the hackneyed hiding place. "Hey, Beckett, what do you know?" He pulls out a tightly sealed plastic box containing a USB drive. "Given Maddox's proclivities, I'm not sure whether I'm anxious or scared to see what's on this."
"I'm not about to stick that in my computer. Especially given where it's been." Kate remarks. 'We'll take it to Tech and see what they find." Rick drops the box with the drive into an evidence bag Kate holds open. She checks her watch. "Babe, it's about the time for Karnacki to be proposing his deal to Coonan - if he hasn't done it already. We should hear something soon."
Rick strips off his hand-coverings. "A cornucopia of revelations awaits us."
