The Other Path Chapter 97

Rick hands Kate printouts of information on two New York outgrowths of the 1939 German American Bund. "The parent organization fell apart, but these two bastard children survived. Every so often they pop up at a demonstration, but mostly they work behind the scenes supporting and funding fringe right-wing activities. And look at the quotes from their literature, Kate. Those are the exact phrases Barney keyed into. I believe the bomber emerged from one of these two viper pits."

Feeling increasingly nauseated, Kate examines the documents. "There's a good chance you're right, Babe."

"So what are you going to do about it?" Rick demands.

"I don't know," Kate admits. "I can pass the information on to Captain Gates, but I doubt she'll be able to get through to Fallon. Or I could try some of my FBI contacts, but tips from a cop on leave won't have much juice behind them."

"What if you weren't on leave?" Rick inquires.

"What do you mean? Miv was just born, and she wants to be nursed every three hours. And it's not like the 12th Precinct has a daycare center."

"Not that one would be a bad idea," Rick offers. "But the loft is only a few minutes from the bullpen. What if you returned temporarily to work on this case, perhaps as part of your special duties. You could go around Fallon and home in on these two groups. And I can bring Miv to you. I'm willing to bet Gates would welcome you taking some of the pressure off her. It can't hurt to ask."

"I'm. not sure about that, Babe. Cops are allowed to pump milk because of civil rights legislation. But I don't think nursing on the job is covered in the NYPD manual."

"If it's not in the manual, then Gates couldn't accuse you of breaking any rules," Rick insists.

"I wouldn't count on it."

"We do have a secret weapon. I have a pair of those Gemini dolls that widen her institutional tunnel vision on the way," Rick announces. "They're mint condition, never out of the box."

"When are they supposed to get here?" Kate queries.

"Early delivery tomorrow morning. With any luck, you could have them in hand when you talk to Gates. Or better still, you and Miv and I could go as a family. You saw Gates with Bennie. She's almost as much of a sucker for babies as she is for those horrendous dolls."

"That could work," Kate considers. "We can give it a shot."


"Let me get this straight," Gates responds, pointing her glasses like a spear. "Detective Beckett wants to come back temporarily to work on a possible lead to the Dinkins bombing. And you, Mr. Castle, want to bring a week-old infant into the precinct every three hours."

"Kate would only have to be with Miv for a few minutes, probably twice a day," Rick points out. "That's no more time than most of the cops around here spend on their coffee breaks. They're still wolfing down the doughnuts I have sent in every morning."

"What about the disruption the child's presence would cause?" Gates presses.

"There wouldn't have to be any disruption." Kate offers. "I'll take Miv to someplace private."

"And Miv is considerably less disruptive than a lot of the citizens who come through here," Rick recalls. "Remember when West Side Wally thought Esposito's jalapeƱo pizza was a flying saucer with little green aliens aboard? Actually, they should have been gray. But who puts anything gray on a pizza? Still, disturbances are everyday occurrences around here. Why would one tiny baby be a problem? And anyway, you need Kate, not only to keep the bomber from blowing up anything else but to get Fallon out of here ASAP. And the Precinct has a host of nooks and crannies. In fact," he holds out a package with the two boxed Gemini dolls, "you might want to fill one of them with these."

Gates stares open-mouthed. "How did you? Those are almost impossible to find. They're amazing."

"Nothing is too good for the 12th's captain," Rick declares "who surely can find it in the department's best interests to accommodate Kate in the city's time of need."

"All right," Gates acquiesces. "Detective Beckett can come back with official status to work on this case. But both of you, keep the intrusions into the workspace to a minimum."

"Yes, Sir," Rick and Kate agree in chorus.

The corners of Gates' lips twitch upward. "And let me see that beautiful baby."


Brinkerman's blue eyes flash with anger. "The membership list of Rightful Heirs is confidential. You have no right to take it."

Ryan holds up a court order. "This gives us the right."

"Produce it, or we'll take you in for obstruction," Esposito adds.

"No mongrel like you is taking me anywhere," Brinkerman retorts. "And Rightful Heirs has lawyers. They'll see you in court."

"We'll look forward to it," Ryan replies.

Esposito holds up his cuffs. "So are you going to give us the list or do I put these on you and tear this place apart until I find it?"

"I'll give it to you," Brinkerman accedes. "But your whole department, this whole city will regret this."

"Just hand it over," Esposito responds.

With Fallon still in the conference room, Kate, Esposito, and Ryan meet around a table in the break room. Kate is grateful that the smell of coffee no longer bothers her, but halfway through her cruller, she's already contemplating grabbing a second one. Wiping her fingers on a paper napkin, she studies her copy of the list. "We'll need backgrounds on all these guys. We already know Brinkerman is an architect. That would fit with the placement of the bomb."

"Except that he's at least seventy," Ryan points out. "And he had a cane next to his desk. I don't see him getting under a building to plant the explosives. But his firm is Brinkerman and sons. One of them could have done it."

"But the old man's the only Brinkerman on the list." Esposito points out.

"So we check out all the other members. Let's split this up and look for other architects, builders, demolition experts, anyone who would have known how to plant that bomb," Kate instructs. "And how are we doing with the other group?"

"There is no other group," Ryan explains. "When we went to its offices, there was no one home except a volunteer answering emails, and he was about to close the place up. Apparently, the two groups merged a couple of months back. The list we have has the membership of both."

Kate taps her finger against her pages. "At least we got a break with that."

"You going to get Castle in on this?' Esposito inquires.

"He's going to try to help, but he's taking care of Miv while I'm here. So he can't get much done except when she's sleeping. I'll show him what we've got when he brings her, but let's go at this hard, now. Medina's keeping an eye on Fallon, but he could go off on us any time."


Miv's complaints increase in volume as Rick drives the short distance to the Precinct. "You'll be with Mama soon. And there's a nice chair in the corner of the lounge where you can snuggle and do your thing. And I'm guessing before long, you'll have some new uncles and aunties." Miv cries even louder. "Right, food first, fawning cops later."