"Found something? I would consider that an understatement.", Ryan spouted and turned around in his chair, before meeting the rest of the gang by the murder board, bringing several sheets of paper along.
When he arrived there, he reached for the black marker to draw an arrow from Harrison's picture to Lafayette's.
"So, as it turns out, Lieutenant Harrison was indeed a supporter of the Veteran's Support Network Center. Apparently, he spent quite a bit of time volunteering and participating in food drives. At first, I thought it was because of his own military background but his file seemed pretty nondescript. He served one tour of two years after signing up with the Army, then spent the following six years in reserve. He was never involved in an actual battle situation according to his record. Once he left, he joined the force twenty-three years ago. But the weird thing is, according to the VSN secretary, he didn't start supporting the Veteran's Center until six months ago."
"Could he have suffered from PTSD or lost a friend with PTSD in that timeframe?", Castle pried, receiving an approving nod from Beckett.
"I thought the same thing, but his Psych Evals all came back clean. I am checking with the 48th as we speak to see if they knew of anybody who died by suicide that may have been inside Harrison's circle."
"Did he ever donate any money?", Esposito inquired from behind the group, casually leaning against Beckett's desk.
"This is where it gets even more interesting. I checked his accounts and even though I couldn't find any wire transfers or checks made out to the Center, I did notice regular bi-weekly cash withdrawals, starting six months ago with the last one being two days ago…and they were all in the exact same amount."
With a triumphant smile, he handed the document over to Beckett, who gasped in surprise.
"That's a lot of money even for a Lieutenant.", she said before handing the paper over to Castle.
"Two grand every two weeks for the past six months? You can go on a nice vacation for that."
"This doesn't make any sense.", Esposito countered skeptically, eyes narrowed to tight slats, "This guy had a wife and kids. Why would he spend that kind of money on Lafayette's place? They're probably qualifying for so many grants, I don't even understand why they would need donations at all."
"It's possible he didn't donate all of it. He could have used some of it as his private spending money."
Even though Castle's hypothesis made sense to an extent, Ryan was grateful when Beckett shook her head, knowing that the withdrawals screamed of something fishy going on.
"I think it's time we pay a visit to both, the Veteran's Center and Harrison's family. Espo, I want you to come with us, see if we can get some answers out of Lafayette. Ryan, can you cover the family?"
"You bet. Castle, you're coming with me then?", he asked matter-of-factly, causing the writer's head to snap up, looking back at him like a child ready to get dragged to the principal's office.
"I think…I think I better help Beckett out. If we step into the proverbial hornet's nest with Lafayette, these two here might need my…my backup."
Ryan nodded hesitantly, brows furrowed, his eyes meeting Beckett's warm smile.
"It's ok, we'll take him off your hands. Good luck with the family.", she reassured the detective and gathered her coat, then headed toward the elevators, "Let's see if we can find our killer."
