Not Guilty
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: I am not guilty of owning Castle. Rating: K Time: An AU period a few days after the end of the last episode of season one.
"Are you trying to get arrested?" He whispered.
"No. That's why I went to a great deal of trouble to shake any tails they may have on me, and to look like this. And, no, I don't have my phone with me and my cruiser is at the station."
"What do you want?"
"Tell me why, after looking at my mother's file, you felt compelled to bring the Feds in?"
"That's not exactly what happened."
"Then what exactly happened?" She asked acidly.
"Tony Almeida is one of the guys I know. I was doing some research about how criminals hide their ill- gotten gains and how the Feds find the money. Turns out it involves a lot of accountants sitting in offices reading lots of double entry bookkeeping. I didn't think three hundred pages of Derrick Storm…."
"Focus, Castle." She snapped.
"A few days ago, I ran into Almeida and the two DEA agents. I thought it was accidental then. Tony invited me to have a drink with them and I accepted. I'd never met any DEA agents before. Then Tony starts telling me what he said was a funny story about a guy who wouldn't cooperate with a Treasury agent and how he and his whole family and all of his friends had trouble for years with the IRS. Then Grogan told another "funny" story about a guy who picked up the wrong bag at an airport that was filled with drugs and spent a year in prison before DEA figured out it was a mistake."
"They threatened you?" Kate asked.
"I don't think I could say in court that what they said was threatening, but it felt that way to me. And I'm sure they'd reply that they were just telling stories that they thought an author could use. But they did ask for some help. They wanted copies of your mom's case file."
"Why didn't they just get a court order?"
Castle shrugged.
"Something about not leaving a paper trail, in case they didn't find what they expected. So, I went to the files room and used my phone to copy the file."
"How did you get in the file room?"
"Everybody knows I work with you…" He saw her glare and corrected that. "That I work for you. If you sign into the files room, you have to give the unit you're assigned to, your badge number and a bunch of stuff I don't have. So, they just let me walk in."
"Who let you in that time?"
"I'm not going to tell you."
"Castle, you will tell me and tell me now."
"Again, are you trying to get arrested for obstruction of justice? You complain about someone letting me in to see your mother's file and Grogan will be there in seconds with his cuffs."
She didn't like it, but he was right.
"Okay, what do they want with the file?"
"I have no idea. Don't look at me like that, I really have no idea."
Kate thought for a moment.
"It has to involve drugs and money, but how does that involve my mom?"
"I have no clue, Beckett. Maybe it was a case of mistaken identity. There may be a Johanna Beckett who runs all the drugs in Mexico or somewhere."
Kate glared at him, but had no answer. They had too little information.
"Can I ask you a question?"
"What?" She snapped.
"Why are you so interested all of a sudden?"
"Why? Castle, my mother was murdered. It's certainly not "all of a sudden."."
"I tried to tell you at the hospital that something was going on, but you just screamed at me that we were over and that I should get out of your life."
She took a deep breath.
"I thought I was going to get a Richard Castle theory about extraterrestrial vampire ninjas killing my mother. The Feds being interested is entirely different."
"Hey! I come up with good ideas." He protested.
"A stopped watch is right twice a day."
They stared at each other for a long moment.
Castle spoke. "So, what are we going to do now?"
"I don't know. I can't reach out to my usual sources. Can you contact anyone? Any of the guys?"
"I'm pretty sure I'm being monitored closely. They've probably tapped my phones, maybe even bugged my loft. And a lot of the people I know, they know about. I'll bet they're under surveillance, too. At least the ones who could help."
"Okay. All we can do is hope they let something slip to you. But how will you contact me?"
Castle smiled.
"Leave that to me. I'll think of something."
They parted and Castle stayed in the bookstore for an hour so that Beckett would have time to make her escape. But when he came out, Tony Almeida was waiting for him.
"Get into the car, Ricky." Almeida opened his car's door.
"What for?"
"We have things to see and people to do, Ricky,"
They drove to the Federal Building and went in. Arriving at the Treasury office, he was sad, but not terribly surprised to see Beckett handcuffed to a desk. Her red wig was sitting on the desk.
"Really, Castle. How dumb are the two of you?" Grogan asked. "As soon as it was obvious that Beckett was trying to ditch our tail, we just went to you, knowing she'd show up sooner or later, and she did. So now, I'm going to arrest her for obstruction of justice."
"No, you're not." Castle said.
Grogan smiled.
"And how are you going to stop me?"
Castle smiled back.
"I might go on my blog and tell my hundreds of thousands of fans that the Feds are interested in Johanna Beckett's murder and have arrested her daughter, the inspiration for Nikki Heat, on some trumped-up charge of obstruction of justice."
"And suppose I arrest you here and now for obstruction of justice?" Grogan growled.
"Really? Because I said I might say something? And before I actually do anything? Something that might concern Johanna Beckett's murder? I don't think your bosses would go along with that. And, remember, the courts have been holding that bloggers are a type of journalist. All sorts of First Amendment problems there, don't you think? And suppose you manage to charge me? Do you think any judge will deny me bail, or set it so high I can't make bail? And then you'll have to deal with my lawyers. Excuse me, our lawyers."
"Castle, I can take care of my own legal problems by myself." Kate said.
"This isn't about you and me, Beckett. It's about us and them" He gestured to the three Feds.
"And I can afford some very pricy lawyers. Whole law firms, in fact. And they'll be happily filing discovery motions on everything the DEA and Treasury has done in the last ten years. Plus, just imagine what'll happen when you arrest a world famous novelist and his muse. It'll be a media feeding frenzy. It'll make the OJ trial look like a kindergarten argument."
Castle smiled happily and stared at Grogan.
Grogan stared back and then, very slowly, uncuffed Beckett.
"Okay, Sweetie, now wiggle your cute ass out of here."
"Wrong again, Grogan." Rick said, still smiling.
"Oh? How am I wrong?"
"One, Beckett now knows that you'll need to come up with something real to arrest her for obstruction so she'll get right to work on her mother's case. She's a really good detective, you know. And you do know, don't you? You've done your homework and you know she's the best homicide detective the NYPD has. For my money, she's the best homicide detective on the planet. And she knows her mother's case backwards and forwards. And she knows Johanna Beckett. Something that you might miss, she'll pick up on at once."
"You expect me to take a local cop in on this?"
Castle nodded and then turned to Beckett.
"What do you say, Beckett? You and me, together again, working with the Feds? Unless you're afraid of hurting Grogan's feelings by figuring out things before he does."
Kate smiled. The idea of embarrassing Grogan would be icing on the cake. No matter who found out what, it had to be better than doing nothing about her mother's murder.
"I'm in."
"I think it's a good idea." Almeida said.
Neither Grogan or Madero said anything, but Grogan pulled out a briefcase from behind his desk.
"Take this to your pal, Dr. Clark Murray since he's the best forensic pathologist in the city, and see what he makes of it. And don't look at anything until after he does. Capisce?"
"We'll be happy to." Castle said, taking the briefcase.
"And since you're now a part of the investigation, you can pay Murray's fee." Grogan added.
"Happy to be a part of the investigation."
"And one more thing. Neither of you had ever be caught holding anything stronger than aspirin."
"And be very careful when you fill out your income taxes from now on." Almeida added.
"I have very good accountants as well as good lawyers." Castle replied, still smiling. "And they'll be checking Beckett's tax returns, her father's and anyone in the precinct who suddenly has trouble with the IRS."
Once outside, Beckett asked to borrow Castle's phone.
"I need to call and get someone to bring my cruiser here."
"Don't be silly. We can have a town car from my service here in five minutes."
"Castle…"
"And you won't have to explain to anyone, such as Captain Montgomery, why you need your car in front of the Federal Building while we're carrying a briefcase. We're part of the team now, Beckett."
She reluctantly agreed and in less than five minutes they were on their way to Dr. Murray's.
"Castle, my dad and I can handle our own taxes. I appreciate the offer but…"
"Again, Beckett, this is not about you and me. I'm not going to stand by and watch three Feds cause trouble for people just because they can. It's not right."
A thought whizzed through Castle's mind and was gone before he could analyze it.
"Should we open the briefcase?" Kate whispered.
"It wouldn't surprise me if there's one of those dye packets banks put in bundles of cash. Grogan would love to see us come back looking like a couple of Smurfs."
She rolled her eyes.
"He would. We'll know soon enough, I suppose."
Dr. Murray met them at his office.
"Rick? I was expecting someone from the DEA. At least that's who they said would be coming."
"Clark, this is Detective Kate Beckett, NYPD, Homicide. She's helping the Feds and I'm helping her."
"All right. But if you don't mind waiting outside? I prefer to do my work in private. I have no idea what this is, or how long it'll take, but as soon as I have an idea, I'll let you know."
As a forensic pathologist, Dr. Murray had no patients, but he did have visitors. Rick poured a cup of coffee for himself and Beckett, then sat down to wait.
"Dr. Murray needs some pointers on his waiting room." Rick said. "Where are the ten-year old copies of National Geographic? But he does have the latest edition of the Smithsonian's Air and Space. Ooh! There's an article about the moon landings." Rick was soon engrossed in the magazine.
After two hours, Dr. Murray came out.
"I have some preliminary findings, but I'd like to talk to you about the killings."
"The killings?" Kate said. "More than one?"
"Yes, and one victim was named Johanna Beckett. A relative?"
"My mother."
"Well, come into my office."
TBC