The Death and Life of Teresa Wyler
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: Do I really have to tell you I don't own Castle? Rating: K Time: Shortly after the episode Still.
After lunch, Sarah, Kate and the unpumpable Rick Castle returned to the courtroom. The presentation of the DNA evidence, although long and complex, went off without any further interruptions by Congresswoman Leonard and her party. That didn't stop them from glaring at all and sundry throughout the rest of the hearing. Rick thought that the massed glares were vastly inferior to a Kate Beckett glare.
At last, the evidence was all in and Judge Wollmer spoke.
"I will prepare and release a full written decision at a later date; however, the evidence is clear that Mrs. Teresa Wyler, now Mrs. Teresa Gordon, is not deceased and is in the courtroom today. Accordingly, the conviction of Mr. George Wyler for the murder of Teresa Wyler is hereby vacated and declared null and void. Mr. Wyler, you are free to go."
The reporters pressed around Mr. Wyler for a statement, but his attorneys explained he was tired and wanted to relax and enjoy his first night of freedom. They did promise a press release later in the day, in time for the evening news.
When Rick, Kate and Sarah walked out of the courtroom, they found that Congresswoman Leonard was giving an impromptu press conference.
"…and when I am elected to the Senate I will at once begin and honest, impartial and thorough investigation of this entire proceedings. I will leave no stone unturned, as I have during my entire career as a public servant of the great state of New York, and I will…
"It sounds like you're being insulted." Rick said softly to Kate.
"Not really." Said a man from behind them. "She mentioned no names and only promised an honest, impartial and thorough investigation. That's what any politician would say. She's certainly not going to say that she'll conduct a dishonest, biased and slipshod investigation. I'm afraid there's nothing slanderous there that Detective Beckett could sue for."
He held out his hand.
"I'm Mike Dunn of Dunn and Fillmore, representing Mr. Wyler. You are Detective Kate Beckett and you're the writer Richard Castle, am I right?"
"That's us." Castle said.
"You did a very good job interviewing Mrs. Gordon. Thank you."
"We were just doing our jobs." Kate replied.
Sarah held out her hand.
"I'm ADA Sarah Green, Mr. Dunn."
Dunn shook her hand.
"We shouldn't be seen together since Congresswoman Leonard is sure to take it as a sign that we're in cahoots."
"ADAs talk to lawyers all the time. This case was a slam dunk, but you'll have trouble getting Wyler's property back since there are no precedents."
"But there is." Dunn said. "It goes back to a case from 1947. A World War Two Marine named Frank Cooper had what we'd call PTSD now days. He lived on a farm he'd inherited from his parents in upstate New York. He had a habit of acting out violently, but he was mostly left alone. But a fifteen-year-old girl named Sandy Allan used to visit him. She was last seen entering his house and she disappeared. The police were never able to bring charges against him, but her family brought a wrongful death suit against him and got his farm. Two years later, Sandy is arrested for prostitution in Chicago. Seems she was not the sweet and innocent girl her parents claimed. Anyway, Cooper sued to get his property back and won. By that time the farm had been subdivided and seventy-two houses were built on the land. The homeowners sued everyone involved but ended having to lease the land their houses were built on."
Dunn smiled.
"Accordingly, we look forward to Mr. Wyler getting everything back. As it happens, his home and the cabin upstate were held by WyChem, not George personally. When the Graces took over, they did the same thing. Ms. Wyler's condo, their condo in Miami and the ski lodge in Stowe, Vermont, are all owned by the company. As are Ms. Wylers Ferrari, the Graces' matching Mercedes and Mrs. Grace's shocking pink Aston-Martin."
"Shocking pink?" Castle said, truly appalled.
"Shocking pink." Dunn confirmed.
Rick and Kate went back to the precinct to write up their final report and then went home.
After dinner, they snuggled on the couch.
"Penny for your thoughts." Rick said.
"A penny? And you're a millionaire?"
"That's how I stay one, but okay, breakfast tomorrow for your thoughts."
"I was just thinking about Melissa Wyler. She's what, five, six years old and she's told her dad killed her mom, and then Mom shows up admitting that she just walked away from her daughter because she wanted something else?"
Castle nodded.
"She's young and adaptable. She'll get over it."
"I hope." Kate added.
However, they got a call the next morning as they were having breakfast.
"Beckett."
"Kate, this is Sarah Green. I just got a call from an attorney representing two of the witnesses that testified that they saw George Wyler put something that looked like a body wrapped in a rug into the trunk of his car. He wants to meet with me and the two of you at the 12th Precinct in two hours. Can you be there?"
Kate sighed.
"We can be there."
"Why would they want to talk to us or to the DA's office?" Rick asked.
"I can think of a lot of reasons, none of them good. But we'll find out."
Rick and Kate met with Sarah Green before going in to see the attorney and the two witnesses.
"I'm sure they want to talk about their testimony fifteen years ago and how far it was from the truth." Sarah said, "I just hope we can settle this quietly. The DA's office is very embarrassed about this and wants it gone ASAP."
They then met with the lawyer and his two clients.
"Good morning. I'm Teddy Pirelli, attorney-at-law and these are my clients, Thomas Gregory and Eleanor Crawford. Mr. Gregory is an attorney, but he specializes in maritime law. Mrs. Crawford is a retired banker."
"Maritime law?" Castle said. "That'll come in handy if this involves barratry."
"Barratry?" Kate said.
Gregory laughed.
"Barratry is an unlawful act or breach of duty by the master of a ship or the mariners to the injury of the owner of the ship or cargo. Not many people know that one, Mr. Castle."
Castle preened a bit.
"What with the piracy off the Horn of Africa these days, I've done a bit of research on the subject of maritime crime. Maybe there'll be a book someday,"
"Very interesting." Pirelli said. "But I'd like to get down to business. My clients have some information they'd like to share, but they want immunity from prosecution."
"There were three witnesses to Mr. Wyler's alleged actions. Is there some reason you only represent two of them?" Sarah asked.
"I never said that this had anything to do with the Wyler case, but I do know that the third witness in that case, Ms. Clare Morton, passed away several years ago. I've written out the immunity agreement, if you'd be so good as to sign it?"
Sarah took the form and read it.
"They could be the worst serial killers in history, and this would absolve them of any wrongdoing. I'll need more than your say so that this is important to sign this."
"In that case, perhaps we should be going." Pirelli rose from the chair.
"I could subpoena them, you know."
Pirelli, still standing, nodded.
"Yes, and my clients are well aware of their legal rights, including the right to counsel and the prohibition against self-incrimination."
The two stared at each other. Sarah was the first to look away.
"I'll need to talk to the District Attorney first. If you'll excuse me, I'd like to make a phone call in private." That said, she left the room.
'Why exactly did you come to the 12th Precinct rather than to the District Attorney's office?" Kate asked.
"If there were to be any blowback on this, I thought it would be nice if I had a famous writer for a witness and his muse."
"Blowback from Congresswoman Leonard?"
"I never mentioned her name, Detective."
Sarah came back into the room.
"The DA has agreed, and I'll sign it. But this had better be good." She signed the agreement.
"And if we could have Mr. Castle and Detective Beckett sign as witnesses?" Pirelli asked.
Both signed.
"Okay, now, talk."
Gregory and Crawford looked at each other.
"We committed perjury when we testified at the original trial for Wyler."
"How?" Sarah asked.
"It was dark and the streetlight closest to Wyler's place was out. The car we saw was a dark colored four door sedan like Wyler's, but we couldn't tell if it was his. And we couldn't tell if it was Wyler, either. It kinda looked like him, but in the dark and at that distance, it could have been a lot of people."
"And what he put in the trunk didn't seem big enough to be a body." Mrs. Crawford added.
"And why did you lie?" Sarah demanded.
"The police."
"The police?" Kate yelled.
"We told them what we'd really seen." Gregory said. "But then an officer talked to us and told us that they had rock solid evidence that Wyler had killed his wife but due to a technicality, they couldn't use it. He said that if we didn't help convict Wyler, he'd walk and he'd probably kill again. We thought we were doing the right thing."
"What was the name of the officer?" Sarah asked.
"We don't remember." Gregory said, with Mrs. Crawford nodding. "He may have told us, but it was a long time ago."
"Can you describe him? Was he in uniform or in civilian clothes?"
"Civilian clothes. He was redheaded with a receding hairline and looked a bit overweight."
"How tall was he?"
"We couldn't tell. He was sitting down the whole time."
"Was anyone else there? Did anyone else hear him?"
"No. It was just him and the three of us."
"Okay. We'll investigate this. We may need to talk with your clients later, Mr. Pirelli."
Once the three had left, Rick, Kate and Sarah went to brief Captain Gates.
"They were told to lie by a police officer? Do we have any evidence of this other than their statements?" She demanded.
"No, Captain, but I've asked Detective Beckett and her team to investigate further." Green said.
"Don't you think it's time to bring in Internal Affairs?"
"No, Captain. The District Attorney's office is doing it this way because there is a lot of political pressure to have Detective Beckett and Mr. Castle investigate the whole affair."
"Look at the bright side, Captain." Rick said. "If there is any political blowback, it'll fall on me, mostly, and it can't do my political career any harm since I don't have any political ambitions."
"Very well, then." Gates said grumpily.
Kate's team spent the rest of the day looking at the photos of police that had been assigned to the 12th precinct at the time pf the Wyler case.
"This has got to be him." Kate said, holding up a photo. "He's the only redhead that's got a receding hairline. Actually, the only male redhead here at the time."
"Sergeant Tom Phillips, retired." Ryan said, reading the print on the photo. "Still lives in the Bronx. Won't be hard to find."
After briefing Captain Gates, they called Sarah Green.
"I'd like you to do a photo lineup for out two witnesses first." Green said. "Just to make sure. "I can be there tomorrow morning. Will that work for you?"
"Of course." Kate said. "I'll call Pirelli and ask him to have his clients here.
The next morning, after the photo lineup, they briefed Captain Gates.
"They did what?" Gates demanded.
"Both of them instantly picked out the wrong photo. No question in their minds who it was. And we had them look at the lineup separately. They both picked out the photo of Detective Ed Holloway."
"Could it be Holloway, then?" Gates demanded.
"We made sure that couldn't happen. None of the other officers we used was with the NYPD then. In 1998 Holloway was in the Navy and on a ship in the Persian Gulf during the whole Wyler affair. No way it was him."
Gates looked like steam was about to come out of her ears.
"Get Phillips in here and see what he has to say."
TBC