Under and Over Chapter 95
"Detective Beckett," Wong calls across the bullpen, "I have something."
Leaving her instantly abandoned chair rolling backward, Kate rushes through the sea of desks to Tech. "Do you know the identity of the hacker?"
"No ID, but I have the location where the hack originated," Wong explains. "It's at 3751 87th Street in Jackson Heights, Queens."
"Have you checked what's there?" Kate asks.
"It's Chop, a Peruvian restaurant, supposedly one of the oldest in the city."
"Could the owner be the hacker?" Kate wonders.
Wong shrugs. "The place has wi-fi, Beckett, it could have been anyone there, or even in close proximity outside."
Kate nods. "That still narrows it down a lot."
At the alert of a video call, Rick puts down his second mug of coffee. "Kate, a midmorning tête à tête. This is a pleasant surprise. Have you discovered the identity of the Zycot Shard Killer?"
"Not yet, Castle, but Wong came through with something you could help me check out."
Rick's eyebrow quirks. "I thought I wasn't supposed to be in the precinct or on the street for this case."
"You won't be unless you count driving your car. What do you know about a restaurant called Chop?"
"The Peruvian place in Queens?"
"Uh-huh."
"I was there once. I was dating this model, Fabiana, half Peruvian, half Japanese, all…." Rick catches Kate's dark look. "Never mind Fabiana. About the restaurant, I could have done with fewer onions in the Peruvian version of a beef stir fry, but overall the food wasn't bad, and the service was good. Why? Do you think Chop is the secret den of the Zycot Shard Killer?"
"Wong said the hacker who first accessed Checker's address was working from that vicinity. So I thought we could go have dinner and scope the place out a bit, get an idea of the territory."
"And check out the internet connection?" Rick suggests.
"That too, and see how far the restaurant's wi-fi access goes."
"Fine with me," Rick agrees, "but I'm not ordering anything with onions."
Kate bats her eyes. "That should make the evening even better."
"We've got fifteen minutes until our reservation," Rick notes pulling into Chop's small parking lot. "You want to see if you can get on the net from out here?"
Kate's already pulling out her phone. "I've got four bars without going cellular."
"I'm no hacker," Rick admits. "In our family, Alexis has any skills in that direction. But to me, it seems like that's a strong enough signal. I could drive around a little and see how far we have to go to lose it."
"Good idea," Kate agrees, keeping her eyes on her screen. "Try going south toward that apartment building. OK, stop!" she orders as Rick drives half a block. "I'm losing it."
"That's a pretty small radius," Rick notes, turning around. "But someone in an apartment closest to Chop or in a couple of the stores on the other side could have used their connection besides anyone logging on in the restaurant itself. While we're waiting for our table, we can keep our eyes open for any suitably shady characters."
"I doubt if anyone's going to have an 'I'm a hacker' sign around their neck, Castle."
Rick offers his arm as Kate emerges from the passenger seat. "You never know."
As Kate peruses the menu, Rick studies the restaurant's other patrons. "The clientele isn't dressed as formally as I remember. There were a lot more suits and ties and fewer shirts with slogans the last time I was here. And I can't understand most of them. Maybe we should have brought Espo."
"I don't know. When he was in the chat room, he wasn't crazy about the Peruvian dialects."
"And that tough guy stare of his does sort of scream cop," Rick adds. "Oh, Kate, that guy coming in has a shirt I can understand."
"There are 10 kinds of people, those that understand binary and those that don't," Kate reads. "Ten kinds of people? I don't get it."
"Ah, a missing piece of your education, or merely not hanging around a computer-literate daughter. It's not ten, Kate, it's one zero, that's binary for two. That's just the kind of gag a proud hacker might display on his chest, don't you think?"
"You could be right, Castle. Whenever he leaves, let's follow him."
"I doubt Montgomery would be happy to have me involved in that."
"As long as the press doesn't see you, he'll be fine. Besides, he wants the case solved yesterday. That guy may get us closer to doing it. Let's order something we can eat fast."
Rick sighs. "The very prescription for spoiling a fine dining experience. But a sacrifice we must make in the interest of pursuing justice."
Castle lingers over the rich coffee that accompanied his tres leches cake. Kate didn't have to worry about finishing dinner before their possible quarry. The man's savoring what looks like a slice of Peruvian apple pie while scrolling through whatever is on the screen of his phone. That's a sign that he's probably aware of the wi-fi connection. Not that its presence is a secret. It's noted on a little card tucked into the menus as well as a placard in the waiting area. Finally, the possible suspect forks up his last morsel. Rick reaches for Kate's hand. "Look!"
"I see, Castle."
"I paid the check already," Rick notes unnecessarily. "We can go at any time, probably as soon as he pays his."
"Right. It looks like he's leaving cash. Get ready to go."
The gag-shirted man slips on his coat and heads for the door, with Rick and Kate not far behind. He crosses the lot without getting into a car and starts down the block."
"He must live in one of the apartments in the building covered by the signal," Kate whispers.
"You want to try to follow him in?" Rick asks.
"No. I don't want him to spot us and get suspicious. He could destroy evidence. There aren't that many apartments at that end of the building. I can use a backward lookup to figure out who he is or at least cut it down to a few possibilities. Running the DMVs will take care of the rest. I'll put a surveillance team on him, but I don't think he's going anywhere. Tomorrow morning, we should have enough to bring him in."
Fingertips tapping on the metal table, Cisco Chavez looks around Interrogation, taking in the camera and microphone. He shakes his head. Not the newest electronics, but then not much he's seen so far around the 12th Precinct is the newest version. He guesses that the good stuff goes to the higher-ups. Someone in authority always has their hand out or sucks funds in their direction. Given the inferior quality of their equipment, he's surprised that the detectives were able to track him down. But it doesn't matter. He didn't steal anything or hurt anyone. He just did a favor for a friend, a very dear friend. But he's not about to say who or why. He doesn't know anything else for a fact anyway."
Kate takes a seat opposite Cisco with Ryan and Esposito on either side of her. If Cisco wants to claim he doesn't speak English, Espo can jump in. And of the detectives, Ryan is the most computer savvy. She has no doubt that Cisco Chavez is the hacker who found Checker's address. But she doesn't see him as Checker's killer. Theoretically, under the right circumstances, anyone can be a killer. But after all her years in the box, she's found that most murderers have certain vibes of danger, desperation, anger, or ice-cold blood. Cisco has none of them. But for now, that's something she'll have to ignore.