The Other Path

Chapter 5

Captain Gates tosses her glasses on her desk, picks them up, and then throws them down again. "Councilman Snodgrass? You want to investigate Councilman Snodgrass?"

Kate plants her feet more firmly on the floor. "Yes, Sir. We believe that Drew Anniston was receiving payments from him and that Arlie Spinrad may have known about them."

"And when you say we, you mean you and Mr. Castle," Gates presses.

"Yes, Sir. But you know he's been right many times before."

"And he's also been wrong."

"But he's the one who tried to talk me out of going after Bob Weldon. And he was right. He's not anxious to go after City Hall again. Neither am I. But at the moment, Drew's payments from Snodgrass are the only clue we have to two murders. I can't ignore that, Sir. I doubt you can either."

"No, I can't." Gates concedes. "But try to proceed as quietly as possible until you have something more solid than Castle's interpretation of an entry in a victim's ledger. So what's your next step?"

"Castle thinks we should talk to Bob Weldon. He hasn't been out of office long, and he still knows all the players. He had to work with Snodgrass for a long time. He should be able to give us some insights on how the man operates."

"And after the last time, do you think Weldon will be willing to talk to you?" Gates queries.

"He and Castle are still friends. Bob's been at the loft for poker games when I've been at the table. He'll at least talk to Castle, and I'll be there."

Gates plunks her glasses on the tip of her nose. "All right. See what you can get, and we'll go from there."

"Yes, Sir."

"Are we on?" Rick asks as Kate returns to where he's waiting at her desk.

"Well, we knew she wouldn't like going after Snodgrass, but yeah. She knows we'll be talking to Weldon about him."

"Good, because I already made a reservation at Weldon's favorite restaurant. He can't resist a good brisket."

Kate winks. "Me either."


The high barriers surrounding the booths allow for some privacy in the crowded eatery. Still, Weldon keeps his voice down. "Snodgrass, it figures. I never saw any actionable evidence of graft, but I had glimpses. He was hand-in-glove with city contractors all of the time I was in office and probably still is. I doubt I'd have to tell either of you there are vast amounts of money involved. New York's the largest municipal and regional economy in the world, ahead of some states and countries. He could have his thumb in the pie without anyone noticing some missing plums."

"Which city contractors?" Rick asks.

"Building, maintenance, clean-up, you name it. And he's been in on every zoning change too. That's another pot he could dip into. With all of it, you'd be talking millions or even billions."

"Which means that paying $10,000 a month to Drew Anniston wouldn't mean that much to him. But what about Arlie Spinrad?" Rick queries. "What did she have to do with Snodgrass?"

"Probably as little as possible," Weldon responds. "He's old school, likes his cronies, preferably male cronies, to display the traditional accouterments of power: custom suits, private club rooms with cigars and brandy. He wasn't subtle about his contempt for Arlie. And she avoided him when she could."

"When she could," Kate repeats. "So their paths had to cross on occasion?"

"Yes," Weldon confirms. "While I was still in office, Arlie was working on plans for a community center. Snodgrass didn't like the idea, particularly the inclusion of walk-in mental health services. But the project had a lot of popular support. Eventually, we worked things out. In fact, I believe the official opening is scheduled for a couple of weeks from now."

"Could there have been something off on the financing of the project?" Rick wonders. "Something Snodgrass would need to hide?"

"Not while I was keeping an eye on it," Weldon declares. "But after I left…."

"Anything else?" Rick inquires. "You said Snodgrass is into everything."

"Yes, I did," Weldon confirms, "and the community center is just one project. There are many others. And I'm sure some went into the pipeline after I was gone. Still, the center is the only one I'm aware of with a direct connection to Arlie."

Kate takes a sip of cherry cola. "It's a place to start."


Kate lays her jacket on a chair and sinks down to sit on the side of the king-sized bed she shares with Rick. "We need to find a way to look into that community center without tipping off Snodgrass."

Rick takes a seat beside her. "We will. There must be plenty of public records, and Snodgrass can't monitor every search. And I can think of other ways of going at it that couldn't reach his attention at all."

"Like what?"

"Kate, as much as I adore the public library, as a father, I couldn't spend all my time there. I have a daughter I had to feed and nurture. So I've accumulated some fairly impressive research tools available from my own desk. Not everything pops up on Google. Or what you're looking for may be lost among thousands or even millions of hits. But I have other options. And tomorrow morning, I plan to start using them."

Kate runs her fingertips down his thigh. "Tomorrow morning? What did you plan on doing now?"

Rick toys with the top button on her blouse. "It would have to be a joint venture."

She swings her legs across his lap. "How much of a joint venture?"

Unfastening more buttons, Rick fingers the lacy edge of Kate's bra. "One involving the full engagement of both parties."

"And which parties are we talking about? The ones sitting on this bed or the girls you're teasing?"

He presses a kiss to her cleavage. "Yes."


Padding into Rick's office, Kate inhales the freshly showered scent of Rick's neck before catching sight of the screen of his laptop. "What are you looking at?"

"Archives of the New Amsterdam Howler, most aggressive neighborhood paper in the city, and much more likely than the Ledger to cover the details of the community center."

"Find anything?"

"Usual stuff, the location, size, projected facilities, that kind of thing. But according to this, the reporter tried to get an interview with Snodgrass and was turned away cold. I'm going to see if she had more luck with a follow-up."

Rick's fingertip moves over his touchpad. "Yeah, here it is. According to this, LaNeda Brown waited outside his office for six hours. Then she hid behind his door, so he'd think he could get away clean. LaNeda caught him and asked him why the construction contract was awarded to Crewland Enterprises when Summerland Builders put in a lower bid and promised to hire local workers."

"And what did he say?"

"That the bidding process was complicated and Crewland was better qualified. But according to this, Brown looked into the qualifications of both companies. Not only did Summerland have other successful projects under its belt, it had a cleaner safety record. Crewland was actually fighting off claims from injured workers and had previously settled multiple injury lawsuits. From what Brown wrote, the city had no good reason for awarding the contract to Crewland and every reason it should have gone to Summerland. We should talk to LaNeda Brown."

"My thoughts exactly."