The Other Path
Chapter 21
"That space is part of a network of tunnels and stairs that extend throughout the building," CSU tech Cal Ruiz reports to Kate. "We've vacuumed for trace evidence and lifted any prints we could find. We've also swabbed possible locations of DNA. Squad investigations jump to the front of the line. We should have any fingerprint matches within the hour. And I may have other results as soon as tonight, but definitely within the next couple of days."
Kate nods. "Thanks, Cal. Can we go in now?"
"Knock yourself out, Detective, Mr. Castle. But there's not much to see in there."
"Ah, but what can be seen from there?" Rick considers. "That is the question. Any peepholes?"
"No, but several miniaturized cameras. As far as we could tell, they weren't transmitting. So we couldn't determine the destination of the feed."
Rick strokes an imaginary beard. "Curiouser and curiouser."
Kate raises her Mag-Lite to illuminate the way ahead of them and glances back at Rick. Ready to go in?"
"To explore the dark passages of a mysterious mind, absolutely – as soon as I activate my phone's flashlight app." Rick gazes at the unremarkable walls and floors. "This would be a lot more impressive with the occasional stalactite or distant sounds of dripping water. But I guess David Palomar was a no-frills kind of guy. The prince just wanted to keep an eye on his kingdom."
"But who was keeping an eye on the prince?" Kate wonders as they reach a narrow staircase.
"That's the $64,000 question. Actually, a lot more than that, considering Palomar's net worth. But if we can figure out why we might be able to figure out who. Any ideas?" Rick asks as they reach a landing.
"I've got nothing," Kate admits, starting down a hidden corridor. "Normally, I'd suspect a competitor who wanted to knock Trembler out of the marketplace. But I can't see anyone like that being familiar enough with this building to pull off the murder. Any theory springing to your mind?"
"When in doubt, back to Cannell's big three, love, money, or to cover up another crime. So, do you know if David had a girlfriend or a boyfriend?"
"The other squad members have been interviewing his co-workers. But so far, no one's reported coming up with either one."
"How about his parents? According to his bio, they've been highly supportive of his pursuits. If anyone would know, they might."
"Good thought," Kate agrees. "Simmons made the notification, so I haven't talked to them yet. But we aren't finding anything useful here. And until CSU reports something, speaking with the Palomars is probably our best move."
"And I've always wondered what kind of parents beget a mind like that. That kind of information would make great background material for a story."
"Just so long as it's only background," Kate warns. "You know what you promised Chief Simmons."
Rick sighs. "I am acutely aware."
The apartment of Myrna and Mort Palomar is furnished with high-end pieces but doesn't scream wealth. At best, it suggests upper-middle class. Myrna waves Kate and Rick into chairs at a dining room table as Mort joins them."
"Mr. and Ms. Palomar," Kate starts gently, "I can't begin to imagine the pain you're feeling right now. But the earliest hours of an investigation are crucial, and I believe that David was killed by someone who knew him well. So anything you can tell us about friends, family, co-workers could help. Was David involved with anyone?"
"If you're asking if David was sleeping with someone, the answer is no," Mort bursts out. "I could never get him to even try dating."
"He's always been a loner, ever since he was a baby," Myrna adds."He never wanted to play with the other children. When he was a toddler, he'd do puzzles and shape sorters, way above his age level. He kept trying to climb up to play with Mort's computer. So when he was two, we got him one of his own. He never wanted to leave it. He taught himself to type and to read. He started doing math before he was three. And he was, four, five, I don't know, when he started coding. I don't think he talked to anyone at school any more than he had to. He was in accelerated classes, and then he got into Bronx Science. But I don't think anyone knew what to do with him."
"For a while, we thought he made a friend at Science." Mort picks up. "He kept talking about a Dana. We didn't know if it was a girl or boy. He didn't say. They talked to each other online a lot, even after David left the school. But all that stopped around the time David started working on the algorithms leading to Trembler. And David would never tell us why. As far as we know, that's the closest thing to a real relationship David ever had."
"Could there have been someone you didn't know about?" Rick wonders.
"It's possible," Mort admits. "David moved out the day he turned eighteen."
"I talked him into coming for dinner a few times after that," Myrna continues. "But he would just eat and leave. He always said he had work to do."
"Was there anyone David was afraid of?" Kate questions.
"Not a real person. When he was little, he used to talk about a goblin he said was trying to get into his computer and steal his programs," Myrna explains. "He called it Alucard. And when he got older, he was obsessed with security and firewalls. He covered the camera on his laptop so no one could watch him. Once when he was sixteen, I heard him having a nightmare. He was screaming about Alucard as if he was still frightened of an imaginary monster. But he never mentioned being afraid of anyone else."
"Could someone, like a hacker, actually have been trying to steal his secrets?" Rick probes.
"Hackers are always trying to break in everywhere, aren't they?" Mort replies. "Before David moved out, he told me his firewall was being pinged thousands of times a day. Almost everyone I know has had a password or their social media hacked. There are a lot of jerks out there. But I don't see how or why any of them could kill my son."
"Mr. Palomar," Kate assures him, "The rest of the Homicide Squad and I will do our best to find out who did."
"Alucard is an interesting thing for a little kid to call an imaginary enemy," Rick remarks as he and Kate walk back to her unit. "It's Dracula backward, the secret identity of a blood-sucker."
"David was a very weird little kid," Kate notes.
"But perhaps more aware of reality than his parents gave him credit for. Maybe there was someone out there watching him, menacing him, ready to suck the life – or his algorithms – out of him."
"When he was little? Until he had something worth stealing, why would anyone bother?" Kate argues.
"Mort was right. Some people are just jerks. Hackers appropriate accounts and spread misery all the time, whether there's any money in it or not. But that wouldn't explain how someone like that would know about the tunnels or get into them. And it wouldn't explain why they'd kill David either."
"No, it wouldn't." Kate agrees. "But maybe something CSU turns up will. In the meantime, that gives me a few hours to work on the Slasher Murders."
"Gives us a few hours to work on the Slasher Murders." Rick flexes his fingers. "The search engines await."
