Recollection Rick
Chapter 7
As if she could will more information to appear, Kate studies the Berringer file. Nothing magically materializes. Perlmutter's autopsy report is the most useful document. Roger Berringer suffered blunt force trauma, apparently at the hands of a killer with considerable strength. The attacker shattered Roger's skull and also smashed both kneecaps and 12 ribs. Slivers of ashwood, characteristic of Louisville Sluggers, were in the wounds. The killer had muscle, but not necessarily height. In Perlmutters opinion, the knee caps were hit first, and the rest of the blows were delivered when Berringer was already down. It looks like someone was damn mad at the victim, which lends credence to Rick's theory.
Kate searches for former addresses for Roger Berringer. She finds the most recent in Pennsylvania, with one before it in Carlisle, Indiana. He'd been working his way across the country. But Indiana only goes back seven years, and no residences are listed prior to it. Berringer could have changed his name, especially if the law or angry citizens were after him. To escape being tagged in a search, he would also have had to change his Social Security number. Unfortunately, the continuing rash of identity thefts makes it evident that appropriating that numeric is altogether too easy.
The area around the Wabash Correctional Facility, the population center in Carlisle, would be fertile ground for a scam like the one Rick attributed to Berringer. The median income is low, and the population is declining. Any chance to save money or lift a burden on young people would be welcome. Kate checks Berringer's address in Pennsylvania and finds similar demographics. But if that's what Berringer needed to pull off what Rick imagined, why come to New York? To find out anything else, she needs to interview someone who knew Roger Berringer. The Peaceful End funeral home is as good a place to start as any.
Gritting her teeth, Ceil Gortyn waves Kate to a chair. "When you work at a place like this, you have it beaten into your brain never to say a bad word about the deceased, but I can't say much good about Roger. The man was slime, but he was also the best pitchman that Peaceful End had. He could talk some poor soul earning minimum wage into buying the highest-end casket. And he convinced the Fisher family, who own Peaceful End, to set up long-term payment plans by promising that he'd take care of all the administration. After he died, we found out that it was an embezzlement scheme.
"The Fishers hired a lawyer to try to get the money back, but apparently, Roger spent it as soon as it flowed into his pockets or hid it offshore somewhere. Either way, we could all be looking at losing our jobs. The Fishers were running on a thin margin anyway, and without that money, they may have to close down or sell out to a chain. Roger Berringer should burn in hell."
"Do you know of anyone who might have put him there?" Kate asks.
"I didn't hear anyone threaten him if that's what you mean. And as far as I know, nobody else here did either. We've all speculated about what would have happened if we'd caught on to what he was doing while he was still alive. I might have missed a clue. I brought him some mail once. Usually, people in his job get thank you notes or cards, but he looked upset or scared when he opened the envelope. Then he shoved a paper in his pocket and walked off."
"Did you see a back address?" Kate questions.
"I didn't look that carefully, but I noticed the letter was from the Midwest – Illinois or Indiana, somewhere like that."
"Does Carlisle, Indiana, ring a bell?" Kate prompts.
Ceil shrugs. "Could have been, but I really don't remember. Sorry, that's the best I can do."
"You've helped a lot more than you think," Kate assures her.
"I'm here!" Kate announces as she strides through the door of the loft.
"Ma ba," Lily babbles enthusiastically from Rick's arms.
"Just in time," Rick responds. "I was about to start packing Lily's things to go to the studio. Good day on the streets of the naked city?"
"Everyone I saw was fully dressed, but I did uncover some dirt about our victim, Roger Berringer. He embezzled from his last place of business and apparently ticked someone off before that."
"I knew it!" Rick exclaims.
Lily wails her objection to his outburst.
"Sorry, kid. Daddy's bad." Rick cuddles the baby before handing her to Kate. "But I hope your discovery bodes well for my deductive powers. Will you be watching the livestream tonight?"
"With extra popcorn," Kate confirms.
As reigning, if one-day, champion, Rick's name is announced last, but to respectable applause. The other two celebrities are Brian Benchley, a soap star best known for a six-pack displayed at every possible opportunity, and Livia Burnum, lead of a long-running medical show. The categories revealed for the first round feature nothing about teenage tastes. It figures. But there is one about famous detectives and, better still, one about space exploration. Rick reaches for his buzzer. He could have a handle on this yet.
At the end of the second round, Rick has an impressive lead but not enough to guarantee a victory. The final round's single question is about soap operas. The categories are supposed to be random, but Rick wonders if the producers are trying to throw the win to Benchley. If Rick goes down, he's determined to go down fighting. He bets his entire bank.
George reads the question, "On what show is Lance Hastings a long-running lead?"
Before half of the 30 seconds of Lily's favorite music finishes playing, Rick writes down "Temptation Lane."
"And Richard Castle is now a two-time champion, raising another $70,000 for his charities," George announces. "See you next week, Rick, and maybe I'll get a glimpse of that baby girl of yours, yet."
"I'll be here, George," Rick promises, "but we'll see what my wife has to say about bringing the baby."
George winks at the camera. "We can all understand that."
"You did it again, Babe!" Kate proclaims as Rick crosses the loft's threshold.
He pulls her in for a kiss. "Actually, you did it. If it hadn't been for your addiction to Temptation Lane, I wouldn't have known Lance Hastings from a hole in the ground."
"What are you talking about, Darling?" Martha protests. "When you were nineteen, I was on Temptation Lane for three weeks, and Lance Hastings was my love interest, on and off the screen."
"Mother, when I was nineteen, I was living in a hovel with a girlfriend who was constantly talking about going off to London, trying to get through school, and writing 'In A Hail of Bullets.' I couldn't keep track of your love interests on or off-screen. I was too busy attempting, unsuccessfully as it turned out, to hold on to my own."
"Well, that was obviously all for the best," Martha declares. "You found a woman who truly appreciates the finer things in life."
"Very true," Rick agrees. "And speaking of appreciation, what does the love of my life think about bringing Lily to the studio next week? She would never be on camera, except from the back. I made the producers promise me that."
Kate gazes down at Lily before turning back to Rick. "I don't know, Babe. We'll have to see how things work out."