Flu
Chapter 83
Kate's usually confident stride is more tentative as she enters Montgomery's office with Rick a step behind. Roy glances up from his paperwork. "I'd think you'd be feeling proud of yourself, Beckett. That was quite a job you did on Simmons yesterday. The D.A.'s office can get him thrown behind bars in a walk. And I doubt they'll be too hard on the kids. So why are you looking like you just lost your best friend?"
"I didn't lose anything, Sir, but something's come up. I'm, um…"
"We're going to have a baby," Castle interjects.
Montgomery springs from behind his desk and extends his hand. "Congratulations!" He looks at Castle. "Is she taking care of herself?"
"So far, so good, Sir," Rick responds, "but that is why Kate, why both of us, need to talk to you. Kate signed up to put her life on the line. So did you and every other cop here. And I've been aware of the risk while I've worked with Kate. But no one gave the kid a choice. If Kate's in the line of fire, so is the baby."
"That's true," Montgomery acknowledges. "And personally, I see where you're coming from. I can't think of anything I wouldn't do to protect my kids. But I have a problem. Under the current rules, pregnancy qualifies as a disability, but just that. It doesn't have a special standing that protects the child. I can, and will, give Beckett reasonable accommodation, as I would any cop. But I can't give her more than that. So, help me out here. Beckett, how can you fulfill your responsibilities as a detective without endangering the baby? What can you give me that will justify having you ride a desk?"
"Sir, with all due respect, most of the work I do on cases involves more research and interviews than it does shoe leather."
Castle presses his lips into silence as he banishes visions of Kate's impressive shoe collection. "Captain, the first thing on your mind when Kate came in was the confession she pulled out of Simmons. She can talk to witnesses and conduct interrogations right here. And her supervisory skills are excellent. You add that to the prodigious talent our partnership has demonstrated in digging up obscure clues, and you have closed cases – a lot of them. Isn't that how you justify paying any detective?"
Stroking his palm over his increasingly receding hairline, Montgomery slowly nods. "You have a point, Castle. But Beckett, I'll need to see a steady stream of closures. That means working both current and cold cases, with even more careful documentation than usual. Utilizing Castle's creative talents in producing those reports wouldn't hurt either."
"My metaphorical writer's pen is at her command," Rick declares. "The facts will be neatly presented in the required typeface."
"If you two are going to pull this off," Montgomery responds, "they'd better be."
"Ryan isn't running up with a sticky note," Rick observes as he and Kate leave Montgomery's office. "No new case. So, to the archives?"
"To the archives," Kate confirms.
Gazing across the courtroom to the defense table, Eli regards Heitner's new attorney, Harvey Bender. He's seen the type before. Ambition manifests itself in a man leaning forward in his chair, ready to spring into action. The hand-tailored suit is clearly intended to project success, and Eli could buy a year's worth of ballpoints for the price of the fountain pen lying next to Bender's legal pad. Eli guesses that the man considers taking Heitner's case as advancing his own interests, but given the evidence against the disgraced cop, the A.D.A. can't see how. He'll have to observe Bender's responses to the court and figure it out.
Eli's not surprised when Bender asks for a continuance of the case as an opportunity to prepare. Any defense counsel would reasonably make the same request. But the attorney's look of satisfaction when the judge grants it seems out of proportion to the ruling's routine nature. Bender has some maneuver in mind, but for the life of him, Eli still can't discern what it could be. A look into Bender's history wouldn't be a bad idea.
"Your turn to choose an aisle," Rick declares, as he and Kate reach the artificial cavern housing the endless racks of bankers boxes.
"The baby's due in July. How about 'J'?
The clap of Rick's hands echoes from the walls. "Excellent choice! Want to start on the bottom shelf?" he asks as they reached their target row.
"Might as well," Kate agrees.
Rick gazes at the labels. "Hm, going alphabetically, the first one is Jabbanek. Sounds like it should come out of a Star Wars movie." He grabs the box and carries it to a nearby table.
Kate pulls off the lid, revealing a bagged liturgical shawl lying on top of the other evidence. She examines it through the plastic. "Red. From what I remember from going to church with Nonna, a celebrant would wear this at Pentecost."
"I had to go to services every week at a couple of my boarding schools. I remember the same thing. You think that's significant?" Rick asks.
Kate spreads her hands. "I have no idea. I'll have to read the case file."
Rick points further into the carton. "Is that burned hair? Alexis did a thing for art history about a painting with flames on the crowns of the disciples. The scene was supposed to take place at Pentecost. I'm sensing a theme here."
"Me too," Kate agrees. "Let's take the box upstairs and see if there's any more to our 'Study in Scarlet.'"
Grinning, Rick picks up the container. "The first appearance of Sherlock Holmes. I love it!"
Kate stares at the original detective's report while Rick makes a quick trip to the break room. "Why the frowny face?" he inquires, laying a handful of cellophane-wrapped packets on her desk when he returns. "Should I have been faster with snack fetching?"
Kate taps her fingernail against the front page of the document. "No. It's just that with the shawl, I thought the victim would be a priest or a minister or something – especially with the Pentecost angle. But he wasn't. Gilmartin Scruggs Jabbanek had no connection to the church where he was found. For all anyone could figure out, he wandered in off the street. The detective on the scene identified him from the driver's license in his wallet, but no one at the church or in the neighborhood had ever seen him before."
"So, where did he come from?" Rick queries.
Kate skims down the page. "Oh, wow!"
"What?" Rick presses.
"He came from Nazareth."
"Nazareth home of Jesus?"
"No, Nazareth, Pennsylvania, home of Martin Guitars."
Rick grabs a quick kiss. "I love you for knowing that! But Nazareth, the shawl, the burnt hair, have got to be connected. It all has to mean something. Who claimed the body?"
Kate flips through pages again. "Jabbanek's brother, Earl. According to this, he lived in New York."
"If he still does," Castle mulls, "perhaps we should invite him in for a chat. If he's like most of the family members we've encountered investigating cold cases, he'll be gratified that the N.Y.P.D. is showing renewed interest in his deceased loved one."
Kate grabs a package of crackers. "If his number's still good, I'll give him a call. I just want these first."
"Take your time," Rick advises, pulling out his phone. "I can run a quick background on Earl. If he's still around, he should pop up." Rick's eyebrows ripple. "Well, what do you know? More Pentecost. Earl manages a rock group. It's called 'A Mighty Wind.'"
A/N As far as I can make out, at the time this story was set, the way pregnancy was regarded by the N.Y.P.D. would be reasonably accurate. There was a lawsuit in 2016 that changed those rules, giving pregnant cops more rights.
