The Other Path
Chapter 4
After quickly slipping on a pair of gloves, Kate feels for Drew's pulse but doesn't find one. She looks over her shoulder at Rick. "She's dead, but the blood on the carpet is still damp. I'd guess TOD is pretty recent. But Lanie can tell us for sure. I'll start securing the scene and get some unis to keep any looky-loos out of the way."
"You going to get the boys up here?" Rick wonders.
"Yeah, they can set up a canvass. But I want Lanie and CSU in first to get any evidence the killer left while it's still fresh. And we need to keep our contamination of the area down as much as possible."
"There's a lot of blood. Can you tell the COD?"
Kate shakes her head. "I can't see a wound, and I can't move the body until Lanie gets here. I'm going to take photos, but we should move around as little as possible."
"She was stabbed," Lanie reports, "and very efficiently. The blade penetrated the thoracic aorta. That's unusual and with a high mortality rate, even if the patient is treated right away."
"So the killer knew what he or she was doing," Rick assumes.
"Unless it was a lucky thrust, yes," Lanie agrees.
"Contract killer, not someone Drew knew," Rick speculates. "Otherwise, why pick the lock? She would have opened the door."
"Unless whoever it was wanted to take her by surprise," Kate considers, "or wanted to make it appear a stranger committed the crime. We may know more when the boys finish their canvass. The only security camera I noticed was in the elevator. If we're lucky, it caught the killer. But this is only a second-floor apartment. Whoever it was might have taken the stairs. I'll have CSU check those too. But even if the killer used the handrail, it's probably covered with tenants' prints."
Kate slaps a folder on her desk in disgust. "The murder weapon was a hunting knife available almost anywhere they sell sporting goods. CSU found no usable fingerprints or DNA. Nobody of interest showed up on the video, and the neighbors were all at work during the kill zone. No one saw or heard anything. We have no clue who killed Drew Anniston. And assuming she did, Drew Anniston can't tell us why she killed Arlie Spinrad."
"If we can't look at the who, maybe we should look at the why," Rick suggests. "Convicted or not, Drew Anniston was probably a crook. Crooks kill to cover up a crime. And other crooks kill that crook for the same reason. So, if we figure out what crime Drew was trying to cover up, it could point to who killed her."
Drumming her fingers on her folder, Kate nods slowly. "We don't have anything else. CSU is done with Drew's apartment. We should go sort through her stuff. There's got to be a clue there somewhere, starting with how she paid the rent. She has no employer of record, and her bank deposits were always in cash."
"Sounds like she was up to her old tricks," Castle offers. "And Arlie found out about it."
Kate grabs her jacket. "It's as good a guess as any."
"This is a cool desk," Rick enthuses as he goes through some of Drew's papers. "Lots of neat cubby holes and some like this have a spring that – bingo! Kate, I found a hidden drawer with what looks like a ledger. Yeah, there's a whole list of payments received here, but the sources are either initials or some kind of code." Rick quickly pages through the entries. "These would more than pay the rent. She could fill her larder with upscale goodies and take a very pleasant vacation now and then. Although from the dates in here, it doesn't look like she's taken off anywhere recently. Whatever her scam, she's worked hard at it."
"Good job, Babe. All right," Kate decides, "let's finish sorting through the rest of Drew's things. Then we'll take the ledger back to the precinct and see if we can decipher the notations."
Rick tosses his pencil on the conference table and rakes back his hair. He runs his finger over the entries in his copy of Drew's ledger. "I don't think this is a code. You know I've studied a lot of them. They usually have a substitution pattern or some indication that they're based on a key like a book. These have neither. And she didn't bother to disguise the amounts of her presumably ill-gotten gains. I'm pretty sure these are initials, nicknames, or maybe a little of both."
"Fine, but whose?" Kate wonders.
"The only connection to Drew that we have so far is Arlie, right?"
"Yeah."
"So maybe at least some of them are people Arlie would have contacted, other toilers in the anthill of city government. We should be able to get a roster of City Hall employees. They're paid with public funds. The list should be public."
Kate sighs. "Somehow, I doubt it's that simple, but I'll ask Gates to put in a request."
Gates stares at Kate over a pile of reports. "You think City Hall employs a murderer? Detective, do you have any idea what kind of quicksand you could be walking into poking around in City government?"
"I do, Sir. I've been there before when Bob Weldon was a murder suspect."
"An innocent man who was splattered with mud just by the suggestion of guilt," Gates recalls. "If you wrongly point an accusing finger again, your next suspect might not be so forgiving. The department could find its budget stripped to the bone – or worse. And God only knows what could come down on you. I might not be able to protect you."
"Sir, I'm not accusing anyone. The killer might not have anything to do with City Hall. But I have to start somewhere. All I want is the list of employees, as a taxpayer if not a cop."
"All right, Detective," Gates allows. "But if you find any suspects on that list, keep me in the loop. And don't let Mr. Castle go off half-cocked either. We'll need to be very careful about how we handle the investigation."
"Yes, Sir. I'll keep that in mind."
Rick gazes at the name he's matched to Drew's notation. He has little doubt that it fits, but Kate may not like it much. Chances are that Captain Gates will like it a lot less. He's hoping that a fresh latte may smooth the way a bit when he presents his finding to Kate. Stiffly, he rises from his workspace at an unassigned desk and rubs his neck. He could use some fresh coffee too. If he's lucky, something might even be left from his daily contribution to the breakroom. However, from the powdered sugar on Espo's shirt, he has his doubts.
Kate glances up to take the mug Rick extends to her. "Thanks, but why do you look like someone just stole your puppy?"
"Unless I missed something, I don't have a puppy. But I could use one right now. I found my first match, but it could mean trouble."
"Then we'll deal with it, Babe. Just tell me who it is."
"Unfortunately, one of the most deeply ensconced of the city's power brokers."
"Who?" Kate demands.
"In Drew's ledger, he's CDSG. It's Councilman Desmond Snodgrass. No one else fits. And if Drew's figures are accurate, he's been paying her ten grand a month. She must have been doing some interesting work for him."
Kate groans. "I'll have to take this to Gates."
"You can drink your coffee first. I shaved a little chocolate into it."
"Thanks, I can use it."
