The Woman in the Yellow Dress
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: I own neither Castle nor a yellow dress. Rating: K Time: Early season five. Others know Kate and Rick are a couple, but not Gates.
Miss Gruber did not look like she had been churned out in the basement of the Hoover Building. But, Castle thought she might have been the product of a secret government lab somewhere. But he had no what they had been trying for.
She was tall, probably an inch under Castle's height, and slender. In fact, she had a figure that would have done a twelve year old boy proud. She had no hips and no boobs. Her straw-colored hair looked like two competing bird families had tried to make their nest there, but had given up in disgust. Her skin was clear and entirely devoid of makeup. She wore a pair of old running shoes, with the laces untied, a plaid skirt that went to mid calf and was bunched around the waist by her belt, and a white blouse, marred by a mustard stain.
"You're an FBI agent?" Castle asked.
"Pul-ease!" She said. "I'm Serendipity Gruber. I'm a contract worker for the FBI as they really aren't smart enough to do anything but get in the way. Oh, you can call me Sere."
"Then you should call me Kate and he's Rick."
"How did you end up as a contract employee with the FBI?" He wasn't sure how he'd do it, but someone like Sere could easily end up in a Nikki Heat book.
"I was living in Berserkeley, Berkeley, California, after dropping out of UC. Some assclown raped and murdered a local woman. The local cops were useless, but I found out the FBI had identified the guy through DNA as some serial rapist and killer. I was interested, so I hacked into the FBI's database. I found..."
"You hacked into the FBI's data base?" Castle said.
"It's not like it's rocket surgery or something, you know. Anyway, they had all the information they needed to identify the guy and find him, they just didn't know enough about computers to do it. I took what I had to the FBI in San Francisco. They thought it was really funny that some hippie chick could crack a case that had stumped the best minds in the FBI. Like I'm a hippie chick. But, when I began bombarding the big wheels in DC with my information, sending to their oh-so secret e-mails, I got their attention. Of course, they busted me for hacking, but they caught they guy. If someone hadn't leaked the story to the media from inside the FBI, I might still be in the slammer."
"Did you leak the story from inside the FBI's holding cells?" Castle asked.
Sere smiled.
"Your boyfriend isn't as dumb as he looks."
Kate managed not to laugh.
"Do you have some information for us about Mr. Cummings?" Kate asked before Rick could make a comment.
"He's a black hat hacker. A gun for hire. He'll work for anyone who'll pay him and he moves around a lot. Makes it harder for the so-called authorities to catch him." Sere shook her head. "Really, most of the people in this office think that if some villain stops working in New York City, that means they don't have to worry about him any more. But he's just moved on, still committing crimes."
"How did you track down Cummings?" Castle asked, very curious.
"Easy." Then she stopped and looked at Castle, then at Beckett. "Just how much do you know about computers?"
"His teenaged daughter handles that for him." Kate quickly said. "It would be better if you assumed I didn't know any more."
"Okay. Like most old guys he doesn't keep learning. He keeps using basically the same programs and shit that he's always used. You with me so far?"
Castle felt insulted, but nodded.
"The other thing is that he has a real hard on for women in the IT industry. Apparently, he blames the women he beat up at SynTeq for part of what happened to him. So, when he's done with a job, he likes to beat up and rape some woman in IT. Easy peasy."
"Do you have any idea where he is now?"
Sere looked at Kate like she'd asked a real dumb question.
"Duh! We were just waiting for you to show up to go arrest him."
Kate turned to Rick.
"Now we just need to get the FBI to let us talk to him."
"Um, you're here about a murder last Tuesday?" Sere asked.
They both nodded.
"I'm positive he was in Toronto, Canada until Wednesday, but you can talk to him."
The FBI pulled up to an abandoned industrial building in full FBI mode. Everyone arrived in black Suburbans which screamed to a halt covering all sides of the building. Just to be sure, an FBI helicopter hovered overhead. Castle was sure they had someone in the sewers below the building.
"Or more likely that what they use the NYPD for." He muttered.
Most of the agents were wearing black jumpsuits and black protective vests with the letters FBI prominently displayed. The rest wore their blue suits covered by an FBI protective vest. Everyone seemed to have an earpiece, and half of the ones in suits seemed to be screaming into radios.
"If Cummings has hired all the gunmen in all the cartels in Mexico to protect him, we should have enough firepower." Castle said. "I don't think I've ever seen an NYPD raid with this much weaponry on display."
Sere spoke.
"Since were not FBI agents, we get to stay here. Once the gorillas have decided it's safe, and they've issued a press bulletin, we can go in. Just to be sure, we should probably stay behind the wall here."
The three moved behind a nice thick concrete wall.
As the FBI moved slowly into position, Kate felt a hand gently rubbing her ass. She was about to kick Castle in the shins when she realized she could see both of his hands. She looked and it was Sere. Kate took Sere's hand off of her ass and glared at her. Castle, meanwhile, never doing what he was told to do, had moved away from the wall to get a better view.
"Sere, I'm not interested." She said softly.
"How do you know? I have a great mouth. Spectacular, even."
"No." Kate repeated.
"If you're worried about your boyfriend, we can invite him along. I do guys as well as chicks. I'm very flexible that way, you know." She giggled. "Very flexible. You wouldn't believe what I can do with my body. Plus I have a great little crib, a great sound system and some primo dope."
Kate smiled at Sere.
"I can be very flexible, too. But I can be extremely stubborn as well. The answer is no. It's no now and it'll be no as long as you keep asking, so stop asking."
Sere shrugged.
"Okay. Okay. I can always hook up with Georgie. I invited him over last weekend and slipped some meth in his Diet Coke. He didn't come down until Sunday."
They were interrupted by one of the FBI suits calling for Sere to go into the building. Cummings had been secured. He was led out in handcuffs along with his only companion, an underaged hooker with a black eye. She was already telling the FBI all that she knew about Cummings.
The FBI wasn't going to release Cummings to the NYPD, but once they were done with their interrogation, they allowed Rick and Kate to talk to him. Not that that did any good. As soon as he'd seen the FBI pulling up, he'd called his lawyer. The lawyer was sitting with Cummings when Rick and Kate walked in.
"I've instructed my client not to say a word to anyone but me." The lawyer said, which was about what Kate had expected.
The lawyer smiled and went on.
"I understand that you're concerned with a murder that occurred when my client was out of the country. We not only have a very good FBI computer specialist to confirm that, we can provide witnesses, phone records, credit card receipts, in short, anything we need to prove my client couldn't have committed any crime in New York. I suggest you quit bothering him and look elsewhere."
Kate smiled.
"We'll have our own people check everything you have and anything we might find that you don't turn over to the FBI willingly. People have faked alibis before."
"Good luck, bitch." Cummings said, smirking.
They left Cummings and went to see Sere.
"I'm just getting started on the computers we seized when we grabbed him. But when I'm done, I'll send you a full report of my findings and the FBI's report."
"Great." Kate grumped. "The way the FBI cooperates with the NYPD, I'll get it just in time to celebrate my retirement."
"Kate, I said I'd send you the report. I didn't say I'd have the suits do it."
Sere took a step towards Rick.
"You know, I think you and your girlfriend could have some fun together with me. You could drop by and..."
She was interrupted by a loud squeal from Rick.
"You groped me." He said. He turned to Kate. "She did. She grabbed my...Well, she did."
Kate was laughing so hard she could barely grab Rick's arm to take him towards the elevator and out of the FBI's office.
"Thank you, Sere, for everything. Even the last thing. That was priceless."
Once they got back to Kate's car, Rick discretely checked himself.
"That wasn't at all funny, Beckett. It was humiliating. And stop laughing."
With a great deal of effort, Kate did stop laughing.
"She probably just wanted her to sign her boobs. When have you ever objected to that?"
"One, she has no boobs and, two, I only sign one woman's boobs now. Yours."
"Some child thinks that Cummings was in Canada?" Gates raged. "We'll see about that. Find Tory Ellis and get her on it. I want some qualified tech to look at the evidence."
"Sir, there's more than just the information from the computers. He supposedly has witnesses, credit cards receipts, surveillance videos from the hotel he was at and from restaurants..."
"Get Ellis on this now, Detective!"
Rick and Kate went to find Tory Ellis.
The IT specialist shook her head.
"Serendipity Gruber? She's like the gold standard of hackers. I hate to say this, but she could fake everything and I'd never be able to tell. She's that good."
Kate nodded.
"Gates wants it done, so we'll have to do it. Maybe we'll get lucky."
Tory shrugged and went off.
"Beckett, we have something for you."
"Thanks, Espo. How's the di Falco case going?"
Esposito grimaced.
"It isn't. Even with the info you got from Vinnie the Scar, we have nothing. But, we have the records of one Sarah Blum for you. Twenty seven arrests and two convictions." He handed Kate a file folder.
"That many arrests and only two convictions?"
"Afraid so. She was repeatedly arrested for protesting against what she called the Nazi thefts of art. She targeted museums, art galleries and private collections. Her attorneys managed to convince most of the judges that her actions were covered under the First Amendment as free speech. The two convictions were plea bargained down to misdemeanors. She paid fines in both cases."
"Not exactly a hardened criminal." Castle said.
"But someone used to getting their own way where the law is concerned." Kate replied.
"According to the Blum Gallery's website, they're having a charity art auction tonight." Espo added.
'And I have an all access pass." Kate said, holding up her badge.
"That's not the way to get into a high end charity auction." Rick pulled out his phone and dialed. "Allison, how are you? Rick Castle here. I understand there's a charity auction at the Blum Gallery tonight." There was a pause. "I do have rather eclectic tastes in art you know." Another pause. "At the door. Yes, two tickets." Pause. "Who am I bringing? You'll just have to wait and see."
TBC