Author's note: This fic has now passed beyond the chronology of 4x01 "Rise". Canon cases that are not related to Beckett's mom's murder are present in the background; there will be occasional references to them.

Chapter 5

Precautions

Wednesday 21 September 2011, evening

"What's that?" asked Beckett, as Castle slipped into the study, carrying a package and setting it on his desk.

"I'm not entirely sure," said Castle, running a box-cutter along the tape and opening the box. "But I think it's... Ha, yes! — the Halstead files."

Beckett looked at him in slight surprise. "I thought we were pausing to let me catch up..." She waved at the now-reduced pile of files beside her chair. "...and to take steps about security. Speaking of... I've asked my dad to come over on Friday evening so we can talk to him, if that's okay with you."

"Sure, no problem," said Castle. "And we are paused, but I had already asked—" He cut himself off. "I had already... taken steps to obtain these on Sunday afternoon. Before Smith called."

Beckett raised an eyebrow at Castle's conversational swerve, but forbore to comment. "Fair enough, but is there anything else in motion that I should know about?"

"Uh... just getting a PI to try quietly to locate Pulgatti, like we discussed," said Castle. "I started that on Friday while you went to the precinct to talk to Gates."

"And is that all, Castle?" asked Beckett pointedly.

"You don't need to give me that look!" said Castle, then started slightly. "Oh, well, actually," he added sheepishly. "There's also what I told you about trying to get a database of the people who worked at the US attorney's office in the early nineties, to go with my other databases. But I started that weeks ago. I haven't begun anything new since Smith called. And I won't until we've talked about it."

Beckett smiled. "It's okay, Castle." She nodded at the box of files. "So, without going into details of how you got them, what exactly do you have there?"

"Well, it should be a sample of fire investigation reports by Halstead, four each year from '95 up until he transferred to FDNY in 2005. I'm gonna scan all of them, then return the originals. Then I'll burn a disc to send to my consultant in Oxford."

"You think email is not secure enough?"

Castle huffed. "No, it's just that I think Professor Calder is brilliant when it comes to chemistry, but she's probably a little too old-fashioned for encrypted email. When I started corresponding with her in the nineties, it was all by snail-mail — well, snail-air-mail... or air-snail-mail...?" He caught Beckett's look. "Anyway, I think the writing of Storm Fall might actually have been first time she sent me comments on a scene outline by email. So, lacking encryption, snail... physical mail is more secure."

Friday 23 September 2011

"I don't like it, Katie," said Jim. "I've been so close to losing you already."

They were talking in the study; Castle had put it at their disposal and was busying himself elsewhere in the loft. Kate had spent thirty minutes bringing her father up to speed on the general situation of the case and their investigation. She had also told him for the first time exactly what had happened with Captain Montgomery at the hangar, and had also explained about Smith and his account of the file and the deal.

Kate reached out to take her father's hand. "Dad, I understand. But I have to."

"Katie..." Jim trailed off, then started again. "Katie, don't you think you could manage to... to..."

"To leave mom's case again," Kate supplied.

Jim nodded.

"Maybe I could leave it," admitted Kate. "But it would be the wrong thing to do." She shook her head slightly. "I don't mean morally wrong, although there is that side to it. I mean just on a pragmatic level, it's wrong. You see, Dad, we have this story that 'Smith' told us, but we don't know for sure whether it's true. But supposing it is true... Smith seemed fairly confident that he is safe, but we don't know whether he's right. We don't even know whether the file is damaging enough to keep me safe in the future... two, three, five, ten years down the line? Maybe he — the Dragon, the person behind all this — will someday be in an unassailable position and the file won't be a threat. Or maybe he'll be facing some other situation where he'll think the damage from the file will be a price worth paying to ensure I'm not around to cause him trouble."

"You think that even if it's all true, the file might only buy you a breathing space."

Kate nodded somberly. "I'm afraid so. And the longer this goes on, the more likely I am to wake up one day and find I'm a target again."

Jim stared at the floor for a couple of minutes, deep in thought.

"All right," he said. "I don't like it." He laughed humorlessly. "In fact, I hate it. But you're right." He lifted his eyes to meet Kate's. "You've said you're going to be careful, but I want you to promise me that you will not run into anything without talking it over with Rick first."

"When did Castle become the voice of reason?" Kate tried to make it a joke.

"Katherine." Jim spoke in a tone Kate hadn't heard in years, and she recoiled slightly before he continued in a more normal voice. "I came to Rick about a week before you were shot because I knew then he was the 'voice of reason', as you put it. Or, more precisely, the one 'voice of reason' whom you might actually listen to. I knew you wouldn't listen to me, or Captain Montgomery, or Javier, or Kevin, or Lanie. That left Rick."

Kate didn't say anything.

"So, if you're going to do this, I want you to promise. You will at least discuss any actions with Rick, and you will listen to him. I want your word on this, Katie. Please."

Kate closed her eyes, drew a breath and exhaled slowly. "You don't trust me on this."

"Not to look after yourself. When it comes to your mom, you can be almost as bad as I am with a bottle." Jim had taken Johanna's death hard, and had sought solace — or at least temporary oblivion — in alcohol over the following years. "In the days before Montgomery died, you seemed to be disappearing down the rabbit-hole again... Just like when you started at the NYPD..." Jim sighed and put his free hand over his eyes. "Not that I was in any state to help you back when you joined the force."

"I didn't help you either," said Kate flatly. Only after Kate had managed to pull herself away from Johanna's case had she been able to help her father on to the path to sobriety. "And this time you tried to help me, by talking to Castle. Then you helped him while I was in surgery. Then you helped me see I had to help him. And I think we ended up helping each other, and, well... here we are." She gave a half-hearted smile, then sobered. "Dad, you're right. I was falling down the rabbit-hole."

"But you're not any more?"

"I don't think so," said Kate. "I had a lot of time to think, during the summer. Yes, Castle and I will work on the case. But I've learned the cost of running straight at it. If I had been more cautious, maybe Montgomery wouldn't have had to—" She broke off and chose a new direction. "The very fact that this investigation must be slow and steady and secret is gonna help me. I think. I hope." She took a slow breath. "Plus, I've... decided to see a therapist." Jim's eyebrows rose at that. "The same one I saw for my psych eval. Twice a week, at least to start with. Obviously I can't talk to him about this case, but I need to get better... steadier."

"Just to help with this case?"

"No," said Kate. "To help with everything." She looked away. "The first case I worked after I came back, last weekend... I froze up when a suspect... when we confronted a suspect. I panicked— well, it was something like panic. That's part of what I need to figure out."

Jim looked at her. "All right, Katie. That all sounds good... it'll be good for you, I mean." He paused for a moment. "But I still want your word."

"We actually plan to tell Ryan and Esposito and Lanie about this too, and I think they'll want to be involved," said Kate. "If I give my word to talk to some of them — if Castle isn't available, say — will that be enough for you?"

Jim looked back at her contemplatively. "Only if Rick isn't available. And if you talk to Javier or Kevin, you talk to them as friends, not as the lead detective of the team."

Father and daughter held each other's eyes for several seconds, then Kate nodded. "All right, Dad. You have my word."

Jim moved his free hand so that Kate's hand was clasped between both of his. "And I want to be kept updated about your investigation. I understand from what you've told me that you can't call or email about it, but I want to know."

"We'll figure something out. Regular dinners at my place, maybe."

Jim nodded. "And I have one thought — or query — about what you've told me so far about the case," he said.

"What's that?"

"You said that Raglan and McCallister and Montgomery were running this kidnapping operation, and that they set up the money-laundering operation. You know, the 'JGR Group' and so on."

"Right."

"You also know that three men tried to kidnap Pulgatti, and you said that Montgomery admitted that he shot Bob Armen during the struggle. But do you know for sure that Raglan and McCallister were the other kidnappers that night?"

"Montgomery said McCallister was there that night — he said McCallister pulled him into the van and told him — well, in effect told him — not to worry about killing Armen. He also said that, unlike Raglan and McCallister, what happened drove him to try to be a better cop — to try to make up for what he did, which suggests that Raglan was there too." Kate frowned slightly. "And Pulgatti thought that Raglan was present... But I suppose that, strictly speaking, we don't know for certain that Raglan was the other kidnapper."

"But even if the three of them were the kidnappers that night, what makes you think they were the only three cops involved by then? Even if they started it — which the money-laundering set-up indicates — it could have developed into... I don't know, a franchise operation by then. Or different kidnapping teams working in shifts."

"Montgomery didn't say anything that even hinted at that!" objected Kate.

"What makes you so sure Montgomery would have known?" asked Jim simply. "You said he was a rookie back then. The other two might have brought in others without telling him. And even if he did know, you had about a minute's conversion with him, most of which was discouraging you from pursuing the case. He was hardly going to tell you about other possible leads."

Kate stared at him for a moment, then looked away and sighed. "You're right." She shook her head. "Do you mind if I ask Castle to join us at this point?"

"You'll doubtless be pleased to hear that my dad has identified yet another uncertainty," said Kate ironically, once Castle had settled behind his desk. She recapitulated Jim's question and reasoning.

"But you pointed out that the financial records show that the flow of laundered money was pretty steady right up until December '91, when Bob Armen died, and then it dropped off," said Castle. "If they had brought other people on board, you'd expect more kidnappings and more money."

Kate had noticed the change in the sums of money being laundered as she went through the records Castle, Esposito, and Ryan had gathered. During the summer, the three of them had been intent on uncovering the structure of the financial network and hadn't paid attention to how the amounts had varied over time.

"Not necessarily," said Kate. "Maybe they just split the kidnappings with another crew. Maintained the numbers but divided the work, I mean."

"Sorry, could you back up a bit?" asked Jim. "Do you know if they completely stopped kidnapping after Bob Armen died?"

"We're not sure," said Kate. "The money flow dropped for a while — presumably because they had paused their kidnapping operation as they waited to see how the FBI would deal with the Armen case — but it increased again in February and March '92. But it's not enough for me to say for sure that they had resumed kidnappings. They could have just been pushing cash they already had on hand through the system."

"We're hoping to locate a source that will give us some more information about the kidnappings," said Castle.

Jim stared at Castle, his eyes narrowed in thought. "Pulgatti," he said, after several seconds. It wasn't a question.

"I see deductive skills run in the family, Beckett," said Castle.

Kate gave him a look, then frowned sharply. "Pulgatti." She looked to the side; it was clear that she was processing some new idea. She looked back at Castle. "When McCallister was telling us about kidnapping Pulgatti and other mobsters, he said that they would set 'bail' for releasing them, and set it high."

"Yeah..." said Castle.

"But Pulgatti was just an enforcer, not a capo or something," said Kate. "He wouldn't have enough money for 'bail' on him."

"Probably they didn't target capos or higher-ups anyway — they'd have security."

"So they'd be collecting ransoms for people like Pulgatti. Enforcers and so on. Ransoms that would have to be delivered by others."

"And that would take time," said Castle. "Twelve, twenty-four hours? For each kidnapping?"

"And all three of them were married. They couldn't have spent huge amounts of time watching their prisoners."

"Not on an ongoing basis, anyway," said Castle. "There would be too much risk that one of their wives would call their precinct and it'd come out that they hadn't been pulling extra shifts or all-nighters on some important case."

"So there likely was someone else involved, if not on the kidnapping side, at least on the holding-and-ransoming side."

Jim had watched the back-and-forth deduction with interest, a slight smile forming. "Before you get too excited, let me point out that part of your argument is shaky," he said. "You suggested that they couldn't devote a lot of time to guarding prisoners because one of their wives might call the station, expecting them to be there, and it'd all come out. Objection number one: this was 1991 to '92, right? Cellphones were around, although they weren't common; their wives might not have needed to call the station. Objection two: someone at the station might have been covering for them. Objection three: their wives might have known what they were doing. Objection four: they may just have locked their prisoners up somewhere, without guarding them."

Kate frowned. "The last objection... McCallister said they beat up the mobsters they took. His expression was 'tune them up', wasn't it?" She looked at Castle, who nodded. "So that suggests that at least someone had to be present for at least part of the time. As for cellphones... the phones and the service contracts would have been expensive back then. I think a cop using a cellphone would've drawn attention."

"And I don't recall any payments for cell service contracts, either from the corporations or from their personal finances," said Castle.

"What about their wives knowing what they were up to?" asked Jim.

"All three of them?" said Kate, skeptically. "Evelyn really doesn't strike me as the kind of person who'd go along with that. And from what we know, none of McCallister's marriages was happy. Would he have trusted his wife enough?"

"Okay," said Jim. "But I think you need to shore that up. What about my other objection? Someone covering for them?"

"If someone was covering for them, it still implies another cop was involved," Castle pointed out. "At least in a limited way."

Kate ran a hand through her hair. "Maybe Pulgatti can clear some of this up. How they were holding their prisoners, how they were guarding them, at least."

Jim nodded. "If he's willing to cooperate with you."

"If we can find him."

There was several seconds of silence, which Jim broke.

"If I can change the subject...? Katie, when you were telling me about the case, you said you were concerned about my safety if the Dragon were to find out about your investigation, and you said you wanted to run something by me?"

"If I may...?" asked Castle. Seeing Kate's nod, he continued. "Well, it's like this... You specialize in patent law, right, Jim?"

"Yeah..."

"I put out some quiet feelers, and I've come across a project that you would be ideally suited for," said Castle. "It would involve traveling to several countries in Europe to undertake research on behalf of a US company considering its long-term investment strategy. As I understand it, it's about potential conflicts between the portfolio of patents held by this company and by certain EU companies, and the interaction of EU and US patent law, and..." He trailed off as he saw Kate's "you're heading off on a tangent" look. "Anyway, the details were lost on me. But I can arrange for it to be contracted to your firm on the understanding that it would be assigned to you personally.

"You'd need a visa for the Schengen Area — you know, the European Union passport-free travel zone. But once you are in, you can largely disappear and travel from country to country inside the Schengen Area and it'd be difficult for anyone to track you. In a lot of countries, hotels are required to maintain records of the IDs of guests, but according to my sources the records mostly aren't centralized. And I can give you a supply of prepaid debit cards, so there would be no way to track you financially. I can also give you a secure laptop with a virtual private network set up, so it shouldn't be possible for anyone to tell where you're emailing from."

"How long would this take?" asked Jim.

"Probably half a year, maybe a couple of months longer," said Castle. "The contract and the visa and so on would be for a year. You could stay over there for the whole period."

"I'm not sure I'd want to be away for that long," said Jim. "Especially knowing what you two will be doing in the meantime."

"But it's a plausible reason to get you out of harm's way, Dad," said Kate. "You've been to Europe before for extended research trips."

"Still..."

"You don't have to decide right now, Jim," said Castle. "Take a couple of weeks to think about it."

"There is something else, Dad." said Kate. "If you really don't want to leave, I mean. In that case, we have to consider the possibility that we become aware of an immediate threat and you have to get to safety."

Jim nodded slowly. "What do you have in mind?"

Kate hesitated. "You pretend to have relapsed and go into rehab."

A look of anger flickered across Jim's face, but he said nothing.

"It's a place I know," said Castle quietly. "It's a secure facility, with a huge emphasis on privacy. I know someone — a public figure — whose son recovered there, and there wasn't a peep of publicity. They won't even know your real name. And you wouldn't have to undergo any treatments or therapies; you could just live there for — well, I'd hope for just a short while."

"It's just that everyone I know will think I fell off the wagon," said Jim bitterly.

"Jim, I hope we'll never have to use this contingency," said Castle. "And if you can think of a different way you could plausibly disappear on short notice, please tell us and we can make arrangements. But if you don't take option of going to Europe, we have to have something in place for... you know, if and when." Castle paused, then smiled slightly. "If it makes you feel any better, the emergency plan for my mother is similar. But you don't need to be concerned," he hurriedly added. "She'd be going to a different place. Don't worry, I know what it's like to live with her, and I wouldn't inflict that experience on anyone I like."

"Castle!" said Kate sternly, as Jim's lips twitched involuntarily.

Tuesday 27 September 2011, evening

Tracking down Pulgatti had taken a little time, mainly because it had to be done quietly. Careful to keep everything anonymous by working behind corporate shields, Castle had set the wheels in motion the day after his discussion with Beckett on her return to the city. The instructions to locate Pulgatti had percolated through two layers of corporations, to an out-of-state lawyer, and finally to a New York-based private investigator. As a precaution, to encourage the PI to keep his inquiries as quiet as possible, he had been warned that Pulgatti might object violently to being located. Although it had taken several days before he started work because of the layered security precautions, the PI was a skilled investigator, and took only a few days to find Pulgatti's current address and the name of a bar where he regularly drank and watched baseball.

"You think it's okay to talk to him?" asked Castle.

"I can't see Pulgatti informing the Dragon," said Beckett. "He was under arrest or in prison while the Dragon was becoming what he is, as Montgomery put it. Remember that he thought it was one of the original kidnappers who killed my mom, so he's probably not even aware of the Dragon's existence. Even if he is, basically the Dragon left him to languish in prison both when he blackmailed Raglan, McCallister, and Montgomery, and when he had my mom killed."

Castle nodded. "Makes sense. But it's probably best if I go talk to him alone."

"Alone?"

"Well, the PI said there seem to be quite a few ex-cons living in the same apartment building as Pulgatti. So I'm thinking it's better to try to speak to him at this bar." He pointed to the PI's report on his laptop screen. "And... well, not to put too fine a point on it, Beckett... You'd be noticed... remembered... walking into a bar like this."

"Okay then, Mr Forgettably Anonymous," Beckett grinned. "When were you thinking of trying to meet him?"

Castle was searching for upcoming baseball games. He scanned over the results, then nodded. "I'll try going there tomorrow night."

Wednesday 28 September 2011, evening

At the bar the PI had identified, Castle slipped onto the stool next to Pulgatti and looked up at the TV.

"Please just keep enjoying the game, Mr Pulgatti," said Castle quietly. "I don't think we're being watched, but let's be careful anyway."

Pulgatti stiffened slightly, then finished his drink and turned to place it on the bar, glancing at Castle as he did so. His eyes narrowed briefly in recognition, then he signaled the barman for another beer and looked at the TV again. "I remember you. Rick Castle, right? You work with Detective Beckett." He spoke just as quietly as Castle had. "I'm no friend of cops generally, but you and her... You're responsible for me getting out of prison. I'm sorry about what happened to her. How is she?"

"She's recovering well."

"I'm glad."

"Mr Pulgatti—"

"Joe."

"Okay, Joe. I'm Rick," said Castle. "I'm here to ask a favor. When we met you in prison, you told us that around the time Bob Armen was killed, the five families had a truce, because there was what you called a 'ghost crew' of kidnappers targeting all of you."

"That's right."

"We need to know more about those kidnappings..." Castle trailed off as the barman brought Pulgatti's beer. Castle ordered a Glenlivet.

"What more about them do you want to know?"

"When did they start? End? Dates, places, ransoms paid, names? How long did they hold people for?"

"You're not asking for much, Rick," said Pulgatti, with quiet sarcasm. "Why do you want to know?"

"You know Raglan and McCallister were two of the kidnappers, right?" said Castle. "We think there were other people involved. People who are now high up. We think they had Johanna Beckett killed to prevent their exposure. We need to go through the records and figure out who could have been involved. But we need more data. Right now, we only know about one attempted kidnapping — yours. That's not enough to start narrowing down the possibilities." The conversation paused again as Castle's whiskey arrived.

"Well, I could tell you a couple more guys who were kidnapped. Don't remember the exact dates," said Pulgatti.

"Not enough, Joe. We need more. The dates of the first and last kidnappings are particularly important. Can you reach out to anyone, gather some more information?"

Pulgatti sighed, without taking his eyes off the game. "There was a file. Once the families realized what was happening, they made the truce and started exchanging information. I don't know how accurate it was. They might have changed names, or massaged the ransom amounts to save face. But I'm pretty sure the dates and locations and so on would be accurate, because we all wanted to get those guys."

"Can you get that file for us?"

"I could try. I'd have to ask some old friends. No promises. I don't even know if it still exists. It's been almost twenty years."

"It has to stay quiet. If someone snitches, if the guys behind this find out..."

"Then it won't just be prison for me," said Pulgatti. "I understand. But I'll try — quietly. I owe you and Detective Beckett. More importantly, I owe Johanna Beckett."

"Thanks. When I get up, I'll leave an envelope on the stool. There are contact details you can use to reach me — a burner phone number and a disposable email address. Do you need any money for expenses?"

"It might cost a coupla hundred. I might need to buy a few drinks, maybe travel upstate to see some... retired colleagues." He smiled, as if at some private joke. "And I imagine I need a burner phone for myself."

"There's a thousand in the envelope. Contact me if you need more."

"All right, Rick. I'll be in touch. Might take a few weeks."

Castle inclined his head in acknowledgement. "Thanks, Joe. Let me just finish my drink and I'll be on my way."

Three minutes later, Castle was walking out of the bar and Pulgatti was slipping the unopened envelope into his pocket.

Author's note: (1) In canon, Beckett and Castle confronted Halstead on the same day that Smith called Castle (going by the fact that Castle is wearing the same shirt). In this AU, they met Halstead a day earlier, because Beckett didn't have to take a day to find Castle at a book-signing.

(2) In 3x13 "Knockdown", Ryan said that Raglan was a widower and McCallister said that he sacrificed his "best years and worst marriages" to the city. This fic supposes that they were both married in the early 1990s.

(3) I have no idea what game Pulgatti was watching; I only checked that there was at least one Major League Baseball game that evening.

P.S.: I said that I aimed for one chapter every week; it looks like one chapter about every ten days will be more realistic. Apologies. And thank you to all readers, followers, favorite-ers, and reviewers.