Evelyn
Chapter 20
"Your forehead is all wrinkly," Rick points out.
"I just can't believe that there's a 'hate map,' or more like I hate that we need one."
"I'm sure it doesn't make the Southern Poverty Law Center ecstatic that they need to maintain one either," Rick responds, "but we can filter by ideology. Once we go through the ones that go after African Americans, we can get more specific about who would have been around to attack Mara and Paul."
"You'd think that after all the years I spent on the street, I've seen enough assholes to make me used to this. But it still makes me sick," Kate confides.
"With you there," Castle agrees. "When I was doing my research on this stuff before, I could have used a couple of barf bags. Aside from plot problems, that's one of the reasons I stopped looking into these devil's spawn before. But Evelyn needs us to do this now.
"We should probably start with white nationalist groups. We know the KKK has been around a lot longer than 1970, but they like to announce themselves. They're more into marching around in dunce caps and burning crosses than staging accidents. It looks like there are seven other groups listed for the city. We can get basic background info online. Once we get dates on them, we can start digging for Paul and Mara's killer or killers."
Kate rakes back her hair. "I'm not looking forward to that."
"Yeah," Rick confesses. "Me either. And it might not be a bad time to look into one of those intermittent fasting diets."
"I can't believe that I'm looking at visiting the mother of a potential murder victim as a relief," Kate declares.
Rick sighs, leaning back in the passenger seat of her unit. "I get it, after some of what we've been reading online. But if we stand a chance of sniffing out the Stoots' killer, we're going to have to enter the domain of books printed on paper."
"I know, but we need to get this one and the next of kin of the last match done first. This is what I'm getting paid for."
"Ah, excuse No. 6, sticking with the job. Somehow I don't think this time Montgomery's going to insist on that."
"But, they could be discharging Johnson from Bellevue anytime," Kate figures. "He'll probably be in the mental health facility at Rikers while he's waiting for arraignment, and we have to get this done before the D.A. gets his ass in gear."
After her husband died, Mary Lionheart did the best she could for her five children. For four of them, that was enough. They earned grades high enough to get into the low-cost city college system and managed to settle into decent positions after they graduated. But Morgan is different. If anything, he's smarter than the others, or at least he had the highest GPA. But he's never been able to get along with anyone. He went through five jobs in three years, moving down instead of up in salary. Finally, he declared that he was going to chuck the whole thing and start an online business. He claimed he'd been saving money, although she couldn't figure out how. In a couple of months, he had a website up selling all kinds of things. He ran the whole operation out of his apartment and told her he didn't need any warehouse space for what he sold. It all shipped straight from China.
For a while, Morgan seemed to be doing well. He gave her rides in the new car he leased and took the whole family to dinner every few weeks. Then the trouble started. Morgan didn't say anything, but Mary saw an article in the Ledger about contaminated Chinese products. She didn't think too much about it. Most of them, like toothpaste and hand lotions, were sold in bargain stores and were already being pulled from the shelves. But then a child died from cheap play dough, and the toy's trail led back to Morgan. The police even brought him in for questioning. He claimed that he could not have possibly known the products were deadly and produced clean certificates of analysis. Unfortunately, more children died, and their parents hired lawyers. The Ledger put out more articles. Morgan started looking for places to hide, then one day, Mary lost touch with him completely. So did his brothers and sisters. He never moved out of his apartment. He was just gone.
Mary wondered if he had retreated into hiding for good, or maybe left the country, but she thought she should have heard something from him. She filed a missing person report, but the police told her they suspected he was in hiding too, and when things cooled down, she'd probably hear something. But she never did – until she received Detective Beckett's call. She dreads what she's about to learn.
Kate presses the doorbell of the large brick home in Brooklyn. It's not the most expensive neighborhood, and years ago, the house might even have been affordable to a middle-class, or at least an upper-middle-class family. A woman with gray hair fronted by a patch of pure white opens the door. As Kate introduces herself and Castle, Mary Lionheart invites them to take seats at a sturdy dining table, the kind that could accommodate many Thanksgiving dinners. "You said you had something to tell me about my son, Morgan."
"Yes," Kate acknowledges. "Ms. Lionheart, there's no easy way to say this. Our crime lab found Morgan's DNA on the weapon of a suspected serial killer. We believe that Morgan may be dead."
Mary buries her head in her hands. "I've been so afraid. There's been no word for so long."
"Would you like me to call someone for you?" Kate asks.
Mary shakes her head. "No, my daughter is coming over. She just had to get my granddaughter off to day camp. Do you have this suspect in custody? Who is it?"
"We do, but I can't disclose the identity of a target in an ongoing investigation," Kate responds. "I'm sorry."
"Is there anyone you would have suspected of wanting to harm Morgan?" Castle queries.
"I'm sure the lawyers who've been trying to bring suit against him could give you a list of people who hated him, but they were looking to take his money, not kill him. There was a guy that Morgan told me he saw hanging around his apartment. He was worried that the man might come to the house. He said he had crazy eyes. I think I might have seen him once when our family was having dinner at a restaurant not far from Morgan's apartment. But he was gone a minute later, and I didn't want to worry anyone by saying anything."
Kate brings up a picture of Ralph Johnson on her phone. "Was this him?"
Mary studies the image. "As I said, I didn't see him for long, so I can't be sure. But the man I saw had eyes like that."
"Thank you, Ms. Lionheart. That helps. Would you like us to stay with you until your daughter gets here?"
Mary chews on her bottom lip. "Thank you. I'd appreciate that."
Castle can't help wondering if Ralph might have gone after someone who was beyond the reach of the law again. It's a lot easier to get angry at the sons of bitches who prey on innocents like Mara and Paul Stoot.