The Other Path

Chapter 18

"Detective Beckett, I signed you on to solve current murders, and so far, you've done an outstanding job. But the squad's plate is full enough. I don't see any reason you should go digging around in the archives."

"Chief Simmons," Kate argues, "about a quarter of the murders in this borough go uncleared. We both know that. And the hardest ones to solve are those with no apparent motive. North Star and cults like it suggest two of them. One is fear of people they see as a threat to their beliefs or even demon-possessed. The other could be escaping the kind of thrall that would have held Leah Jones for life. Taking a fresh look at outstanding cases for those motives could get some of them out of the archives and into the closed pile. I'm just asking to take that look."

Simmons taps his pen against his desk. "All right, Beckett, you can check on your own time and as long as it doesn't interfere with solving present cases."

"Thank you, Sir. And there's one more thing. I'd like to keep the press away from Leah Jones as much as possible. She's trying to put a new life together, and she doesn't need paparazzi in her face. And Ahira Jones confessed. She'll probably never go to trial. There's no reason for more publicity about her case."

"Leah is the victim of a kidnapping. That will be in arrest and court records. Still, with the docket backlog, her case may not come up for years. There's no reason her name should be public at this point. It can be redacted on the paperwork," Simmons offers.

"Thank you, Sir. I appreciate that, and so will Leah. And I won't let my research interfere with my other work," Kate promises.

"I'm counting on that, Detective."


"How are you with kids, Leah?" Rick asks as the two of them are going over another order for Goldstein's.

Leah stares at him. "Is Detective Beckett, um, I mean, are you two expecting…?"

Rick blows out a whistling breath. "No, at least not yet. We've worked together for seven years, but we've been married for less than one. It's a complicated story. But you didn't answer my question."

"I have six brothers and sisters, and Ahira is the only one older than I am. So I spent a lot of time taking care of the younger ones. All the girls in North Star are expected to help out that way. And I liked it, especially the little ones who still ask questions about everything. When they get older, most of them lose the joy of discovering new things. But if this isn't about your family, Mr. Castle, why did you ask?"

"Because when I went down to get the mail this morning, I ran into Mrs. Flavin, who lives down the hall. She was leaving a stack of flyers in the lobby. She has a two-year-old, and she's going back to work. So she's desperate for a live-in nanny. You could kill two birds with one stone: a place to stay and a job. As I understand the situation, it won't be long-term. Her aunt will be picking up the torch eventually but can't get away right now. So when you start school and move on campus, you wouldn't be leaving her in the lurch."

Leah absently chews on the end of her pen. "That would be perfect – if she likes me. But I don't have any references or anything. I wasn't allowed to work anywhere but home."

"You've got me and my wife, the police detective, pulling for you. And as frantic as Mrs. Flavin is right now, I don't think she'll want to do anything except run a $39.95 online background check which will tell her if you've ever been convicted of a crime. You haven't, have you?"

A laugh escapes Leah's lips. "I don't know when I would have had the chance. I think the first time I ever talked to the police was when Detective Beckett rescued me from North Star."

Rick rubs his hands together. "Excellent! Then let's finish filling Goldstein's coffers, and I'll introduce you to Mrs. Flavin."


Kate leans back in her chair as she presses "Save" on Meredith Ramirez's murder report. The paperwork is part of her duty to the Homicide Squad, but she'll have to copy Gates on it. The captain, however, is unlikely to read it for a couple of days. Gates is attending mandatory seminars at 1PP. Ugh! If Kate had decided to go for a captaincy, she would have had to sit through the endless powerpoints on God knows what. Probably updates on paperwork. Gates was grumbling about those before she left the precinct.

According to the time on Kate's screen, it's eleven-forty-five. The detective smiles as she picks up her cellphone. She, Rick, and probably Leah should be able to grab a quick lunch together. If Leah weren't at the loft, the couple might be able to grab more than that. But food that doesn't come out of the vending machine or from the roach coach is still something to anticipate with relish.


Rick grins as Kate finds him in his office. "Your timing couldn't be more perfect! I just put the final touches on a chapter and sent it into Black Pawn's hungry maw. And Goldstein's delivered again. The poor delivery man was so loaded down that Eduardo helped him bring the order upstairs. Can I interest you in a sumptuous mouthful?"

Kate fiddles with Rick's collar. "Are we talking about food?"

He tugs her down to his lap. "We can talk about whatever you like."

"Wait, where's Leah?"

"Hopefully, answering a mother's prayer. She's doing a nanny tryout with Mrs. Flavin. With any luck, she'll be there most of the day. So a quick lunch and – dessert?"

"Sounds delicious."


With a contented sigh, Kate throws her legs over the side of the bed and begins grabbing her clothes.

"Back to the trenches?" Rick asks.

"Actually, unless we get another dead body, I thought I'd take a trip to the basement. Simmons said I could only look into the squad's cold storage on my own time. But my mother's case wasn't alone on the shelf. The precinct has way too many unsolved murders. And while Gates is away is a perfect time to see if any of them might point to North Star or another repressive cult. And I can do some checking on reports of kidnappings that families claimed were false alarms. Those could be women forced into marriage the way Leah almost was."

"A very sizable undertaking," Rick notes. "Want some help? Leah will be fine with Mrs. Flavin. And while the editors at Black Pawn labor over their largely unwarranted criticisms, I'm footloose and fancifully free."

"I don't think that's quite the way the expression goes."

"I've merely made it more applicable to my personal circumstances," Rick claims. "But anyway, you want me to join your voyage of discovery?"

"Sure, that would be great."


"Didn't Ahira say something about silencing a demon?" Rick asks, flipping through a file.

"Yeah," Kate confirms. "As far as I could tell, she believed that's what she was doing when she strangled Meredith Ramirez."

"That was also what it sounded like to me" He taps his folder. "These murders could have a similar motive."

"Murders? How many?"

"Three, all slashed right across the throat. And in each case, the killer left a note saying, 'The evil one will beckon no more.' And get this, Kate. All the victims worked in HR departments. They hired people the way Meredith wanted Heights Software to hire Leah."

Kate holds out a slightly dusty hand. "Babe, let me see that."