American Crime Stories

Arc two, Chapter thirteen

TWELFTH PRECINCT BULLPEN

The next day, Beckett and Esposito were standing in front of the murder board, trying to piece things together, when Castle called Esposito.

"Hey bro, where are you? We thought that you would come in today."

"I'm at home. As I told you yesterday, I have no intention to come to the precinct when Gates is there."

"Gates is at 1PP today. Anyway let me put you on speaker phone, Beckett is with me."

"Anything new on our victim?"

"We rechecked Orlando's rap sheet. Montgomery wasn't involved in any of his old arrests. That break-in wasn't personal," Esposito told him.

"What about the call he made before he was killed?"

"It's from a burner phone. There's no registered owner."

"Okay."

"Hey." Ryan walked up to the detectives.

"Hey bro. We have Castle on speaker phone," Esposito told his partner.

"Hey man," Ryan greeted Castle. "So we may have been wrong about why they hit Montgomery's," Ryan told them. "Witnesses saw a Hispanic male fleeing the alley in an old maroon DeVille. Apparently he had gang ink on his neck. A lion framed by a C," Ryan explained to the others.

"Cazadore?" Beckett asked.

"The very same gang our victim ran with," Ryan confirmed.

"Gangs," Beckett muttered. There seemed to be a connection. Esposito had the same idea. "If this guy was in that alley, odds are he killed Orlando."

"Did we get a license plate?"

"Uh, no. But according to gang task force, the ride matches the car of one Vincente Delgato. High level shot caller for the Cazadores. And get this, his cousin, Diego Guetierrez, was busted by Montgomery for a double homicide back in '95," Ryan answered Beckett's questions.

"His lawyers filed a motion for retrial a month after Montgomery was killed," Ryan told them.

"Find him," Beckett ordered and walked away.

Castle listened to the detective's conversation. That new information could help to convince them that this whole robbery had nothing to do with Beckett and her mom's case after all. 'Though he really didn't believe that himself. "Huh, didn't see that one coming," said Castle over the phone.

TWELFTH PRECINCT INTERROGATION

Later that day, Beckett and Esposito were interrogating Diego Guetierrez who Esposito and Ryan had apprehended.

"I already told you. I was nowhere near that alley. Fact is, your witnesses are blind," Diego said.

"The fact is, you knew Orlando Costas," Beckett told him harshly.

"Yeah, I knew him, once. Before he turned his back."

"When was the last time you heard from him?" Esposito asked.

"Not in years."

"Hours," Beckett said. "Just before he was killed Orlando called a burner cell, same phone that we found on you. So why don't you just admit to it and save yourself thirty years? You had him break in to Roy Montgomery's house and steal your cousin's case files and then you shot him."

"What you got, chica? Huh? The gun's not going to be a match. So that leaves you with what? A phone call? A couple people saw a very common car. You want to know why you can't pin this on me, chica? I wasn't there."

"The hell you weren't," Beckett exclaimed. Before she could say anything else, someone knocked on the glass. Esposito turned, Beckett didn't. Instead she grinned and looked Diego straight in the eyes. "That's gonna be ballistics. Last chance to make a deal."

Diego stared her down, but didn't say anything. He was not biting.

Beckett and Esposito walked out of the interrogation room where Ryan and to their surprise Castle were waiting for them.

"Castle, what are you doing here?" Beckett exclaimed.

"I brought you guys' lunch," Castle replied and pointed to the cantons of Chinese on Beckett's desk. Truth was, Ryan and Esposito had called him to update him on the upcoming interrogating of Diego Guetierrez. Bringing lunch was his way to explain to Gates - should she for whatever reason come back to the precinct - for why he was there.

"Thanks." Beckett said and turned to Ryan. "Book him on the drugs and weapons charge and tell the DA I'm going to want to file for murder 1," she ordered him.

"It wasn't him," Ryan responded.

"What do you mean it wasn't him?" Beckett asked incredulously. Esposito looked a bit surprised too, but Castle wasn't. Ryan had told him about his findings when he met the writer.

"The skin tissue that Lanie was able to scrape from underneath our victim's fingernails, the lab was able to pull DNA. We ran it against Diego. It's not a match. In fact, it wasn't a match to anyone in the system," Ryan told them, handed Beckett a file and continued, "but it did match DNA trace evidence found at another crime scene."

"Well at least that's something. What was the crime scene?" Beckett asked.

"It was a shooting." Ryan said. Ryan looked straight at Beckett. "Beckett, it was your shooting. DNA confirms that the man who killed Orlando Costas in that alley is the same man who put a bullet in your heart." Beckett was feeling a mixture of emotions - there was shock, confusion, phantom pain and panic. She sat down. "No leads for 11 months and now this," she murmured.

Everybody was silent for a moment. Ryan broke the silence.

"Should we call and tell Gates? She has ordered us to keep her up-to-date, and now that we have a connection to you-."

"No!" Beckett forced out. "We don't tell her. If she finds out this is a match to my shooting she'll take me off the case."

Although Castle knew it would be futile, he tried to use this opening. "Maybe you should be off this case." Beckett looked at him like he was crazy, but he continued speaking before she could response. "They tried to kill you once, Beckett. You keep going on this they…" Castle paused and sighed, "what's to keep them from trying again?"

"What's to stop them now? No. I've been waiting a year for this and I'll be damned if I let someone else screw it up." Beckett stated heatedly, stood up and left. Castle didn't move.

"Man, this just feels wrong. We need to tell Gates," Ryan stated.

"Why? So she can send Beckett home? You think that's going to work? You think that's going to stop her? She's going to investigate this case, Kevin, whether she's on it or not. The least we can do is have her back." Ryan thought for a moment and said. "I know Javi, but I don't like it." There was a short silence while the detectives looked at each other.

"Neither do I, bro."

Castle could see doubt at Beckett settle into them. Beckett didn't know it but she was on her way to lose the trust of her team members.

TWELFTH PRECINCT HOLDING AREA

LT lead Diego into a cell while Beckett observed him.

"We got enough on the drugs and weapons charges to put you away for at least five years." She walked closer to the cell. "Five years of your life." She opened the door to walk into the cell, walked past him to sit on the bench. Diego remained silent.

"What's that worth? I know you didn't kill Orlando. But he called you and he talked to you for 2 minutes. And you were in that alley. Why?" Diego still didn't move or say anything.

"There's nobody in here but you and me. There's no cameras, no microphones. No one's listening. I can make all those charges go away." At that Diego looked up to Beckett. "Five years of your life back. But you gotta tell me what you know." Diego turned and sat down next to her slowly.

"He called last week, talking about how times were bad. So I told him 'I can get you some work'. But he knew if he came back to the Cazadores there'd be no leaving this time. And all he really wanted was a loan and could I help him out for old time's sake."

"Did you give it to him?"

"No. He begged me. Said he was good for it. Said he had something big coming up. Something that would make him whole."

"Did he say what?"

"No. But that morning my phone rings. And he said it had all gone wrong. He was desperate, talking about that they wanted to kill him."

"Who's they, Diego?"

"Don't know, but he was scared."

"And why did he call you?"

"Protection, chica. Said if I helped him out he'd come back. And he knew that was the price. So I told

him where to meet. But by the time I got there he was already dead."

"And you told him where to meet?"

"That's right."

"And you didn't tell anyone else?"

"No."

Beckett thought for a moment. "Did you see anything there?"

Diego nodded. "White guy, 6 foot. Caught a glimpse before the night swallowed him whole."

TWELFTH PRECINCT BULLPEN

Esposito and Castle watched as Beckett added the information to the murder board. "They must have been tapping Orlando's phone. That's the only way they got there first. But how did they know to target Orlando for the job?" She asked them without turning.

"Because he was desperate for money," Castle said.

"Yeah, but how did they know that? How did they know his background?"

"Because they knew him from the military. He was hired by someone he knew," Esposito theorized.

"That's a place to start."

"But whoever's gotten close to that secret is dead. I think it's clear that we're in over our heads here," Castle tried again to get them to stop them investigating. He got a dirty look from Beckett as an answer.

Ryan walked up to them. "Orlando's financials just came in. He was underwater and overdrawn, until last week when a wire transfer for $10 grand hit his account."

"Let me guess: untraceable?" Beckett asked and Ryan confirmed it.

"So it's a dead end," Castle stated.

"The deposits are, but the debit withdrawals are not," Ryan explained.

Castle glanced at the paper. "Right when the money came in his girlfriend Marisol started using it to pay bills."

"Wait, if Marisol knew about the money –" Beckett started to say and Esposito finished. "Then she knew Orlando was up to something."

"She lied to us."

"Not only that, but according to the bank she cleaned out the entire account an hour ago," Ryan told them. "She's on the run."

Beckett was off to look for Marisol, Ryan and Esposito started to follow. Esposito stopped and turned to Castle. "You comin', bro?"

"No, go ahead. I have something else to do. I'll be back later."

DISTRICT ATTORNEY OFFICE

Castle went to "Carries", bought a few pastries and went to his next meeting. During the day it had become clear that it was time to start the next phase of his plan.

Castle arrived at the DAs office where he asked to see ADA Reagan. He knocked at her office door. "Come in."

Erin was surprised to see Rick Castle standing in her office. "Mr. Castle?"

"Hello, Ms. Reagan. Do you have a few minutes? I brought coffee and pastries?" He showed her the mentioned goodies. Erin looked at her watch. "Sure, I have a few more minutes before I have to be in court. Please take a seat. What can I do for you?" They had met before during some investigations and were relatively friendly with each other. She had thought that those circumstances had changed when she tried to convict him of murder a few weeks ago. That's why she was surprised to see him here in her office.

"Officially, I am here to stress the fact that I bear no ill-will against the DAs office or you personally for your part in the investigations of Gina's murder." Castle said plainly.

"I appreciate that. And I want to offer my condolences for your loss. I wasn't able to do so the last time we've seen each other."

"Yes, you were too busy trying to convict me of murder," Castle deadpanned, but his smile took the sting out of it. "And thank you."

Erin looked at him and put down her glasses. "So, you said that's you're official reason. What's the real reason?"

"Ms. Reagan." "Erin". "Okay Erin. Then it's Rick." She nodded.

"Okay, the actual reason I'm here is that I need your help in a rather delicate matter."

"And that is?" She asked hesitantly.

"I need to speak with your father as soon as possible without anybody from his office knowing so."

"What?" That request instantly change the friendly tone of this meeting, it made her angry. She didn't like it when people tried to use her to get to her father and there were a lot of people. In fact, she hated it. Frank Reagan was the NYPD Commissioner after all. Rick could see the anger building and tried to defuse it. "Wait, let me explain." She nodded hesitantly. Castle turned around and looked out of her office trying to identify if anybody was listening.

"Look, I don't want to get into it here right now. I have information about corruption in the NYPD up to the highest ranks and other city employers and most importantly information about the death of several active and former members of the NYPD." Erin looked at him incredulously and he could clearly see that she thought that this was one of his phantasies. "Yes, I know how that sounds, especially from a mystery writer like me. You don't know how I wished that it was all a figment of my imagination, but it's not." Normally, she would have told him where to go. Polite, but rather clear. His tone, in fact his whole demeanor, however, made her hesitate.

"Let's pretend for a moment that I believe you. Why do you want to talk to my father about it? Why don't you talk to Captain Gates? She was the head of IA before getting the post at the 12th precinct. Or why don't you talk to the FBI?"

"I don't want to talk anybody else in the NYPD because currently there are only a few members I trust completely and that I'm absolutely sure of to be not involved with the corruption and murders. Also, I already talked to some people from other federal agencies."

Erin couldn't believe that she was actually considering that the writer's words could be true.

"But you trust my father? And if what you say is true, you don't want to contact him directly."

Castle nodded. "And you trust me in some way, otherwise you wouldn't have told me anything and tried to find another way." Another nod. "Why is that?"

Castle looked Erin straight in the eyes. "Because the murder of your brother Joe is part of this whole conspiracy."

"WHAT?" She asked him heatedly.

Joe Reagan was the oldest brother of Erin. Like any male members of the Reagan family, he had been a cop, too. He was involved with the FBI investigating a group of corrupt NYPD cops who were operating within a fraternal organization called the "Blue Templar". These corrupt cops murdered Joe when his covert investigation had been getting too close to getting evidence against some members.

"Look Erin. I don't want to be here much longer and cause someone to get suspicious. The fact is, Sonny Malevsky may have killed your brother, but it didn't end there. There is much more going on. The fact that your brother was murdered by those people tells me more than anything that you're family isn't involved." Okay that was a white lie. Marcus and his team had checked into the family as discrete as possible. "That's why I want to meet your father. In fact, I'd like you and your brothers to be there, too. As I said before, I have already talked to FEDs. I want to set up a meeting with all the people I trust and present all the facts I have. However, this meeting has to be as secretive as possible. So, I ask you to talk to your family only where you're sure you can't be overheard. Lives may depend on it, your lives." Erin wanted to scoff at the last sentence, but Rick's whole demeanor told her that he was dead serious. Pun intended.

"Okay." She didn't know what else to say.

"Oh, could you ask your brother Danny not to waltz into my home or walk up to me anywhere else and demand answers?" Castle said, only half joking. From all accounts, Danny Reagan was a hot head. He didn't need someone making a scene, not at this time. It was risky enough that he had come here today to speak to Erin, while the others were investigating a case probably involving the "Dragon".

Erin nodded, half amused, half shocked about the writer's accusation.

"I will let you know the details of the meeting as soon as I can." Castle stood up and made his way to the door. He opened it and turned around, "Thank you for your time, Ms. Reagan. I'm glad that we could clear all misunderstandings. Have a nice day."