Flu

Chapter 19

"I don't have to talk to you," Sophie proclaims.

"No, you don't," Kate agrees. "But you have a problem, Jane Doe, and it's getting worse by the minute. We already have you for assault, but at this very moment, the lab is analyzing the tea Leo told his keepers that you left in his room. I'm sure you know what they'll find. If the charges against you rise to attempted murder before we talk deal, there will be a lot less I can convince the D.A. to do for you."

"Think about it," Castle adds. "If Dino Scarpella was going to send someone to stand up for you, wouldn't he have done it by now? Leo DeNuncio served the family faithfully for years. Dino still sent you to kill him. He'll throw you to the wolves too. He's probably got someone at the women's facility at Rikers waiting to shove a pointy toothbrush into your kidneys. You'll bleed out on a prison floor without ever getting a chance for revenge. Is that what you want?"

Kate pulls her cellphone out of her pocket and lays it on the table in front of her. "Any minute now, I'll get a text from the lab, and your chance at ever having a life again will be over." Concealing his phone beneath the table, Rick presses send, and Kate's cell dings an alert. "In 30 seconds, I'm going to look at that, and your window will be closed. Thirty, 29, 28, 27, 26, 25, 24, 23, 22, 21."

A sob thrusts itself from Sophie's chest through her trembling lips. "Wait! All right! I want to make a deal, but you have to get me a lawyer."

"Fine," Kate agrees, pushing up from her seat. "I'll put that in motion right now." As the door of Interrogation shuts behind Kate and Rick, she reads Rick's text: "Can I kiss the inquisitor?" Rising on her toes, Kate wraps her arms around Rick's neck. "Any time, Babe."

Rita's computer screen ignores her one-fingered gesture, but Chris Carlucci doesn't. "What are you seeing?'

"We're in deep sh*t, Baby. The police have Sophie, and from the communications I can pick up, they expect her to rat. She can give them you, me, and Dino. That is if Dino doesn't send his guys to take us out first. We've both seen that happen. F***! We've helped make it happen. We need to get out of here. Look, I'll dig up some accounts we can charge against for a day or two, and dummy up debit cards for them. It won't take me long. We'll use the cards and cash to finance our trip. Take the battery out of your phone, so they can't trace us. We can pick up a couple of burners on the way."

"On the way to where, Rita? Dino's got connections all over the country, and in Europe, too."

"So we get lost someplace like Micronesia. I was there once when I had a thing going with the Wizard. The country has 600 islands, nice beaches, and no extradition treaty."

"How about the Wizard? Didn't you train with him on his island?"

"He's playing with spaceships now, but I still use some of his back doors. From out there, I can get into accounts that will set us up good."

"How long will it take before we can get going?" Chris asks.

Rita pokes her hands up under his shirt. "Less time than it will take for Dino to figure out we're leaving."

Eli picks up his order at the counter of Java Hut and joins Montgomery in the comfortable chairs of the conversation area. "We've finally got one," Roy announces.

"A safe house?" Eli queries.

Montgomery nods and hands Eli a manilla envelope. "Last I heard, no one's learned how to hack paper yet, so here are all the details. Only a few of my people know when we're moving DeNuncio, and just to make sure, we'll be using a decoy again."

Eli's eyes light up. "Lana Springer?"

"That's right," Montgomery confirms. "I saw you talking to her at the bar. Was something happening there?"

"We were just talking."

"But you want something to happen?" Roy presses.

Eli shrugs. "Maybe. But I have no idea if she does."

"Tell you what," Montgomery proposes. "You could ride with her on the bogus route when we transport DeNuncio tomorrow. It will give you some time together, see how you get along."

"I had no idea you were into matchmaking, Roy."

"I'm just carrying out orders – from my wife. She thinks you work too hard, you're lonely, and need a girlfriend."

Eli takes a sip of his coffee. "Cousin Evelyn could be right."

Returning from almost two weeks out with the flu, Lincoln Frazier thought he might take a day to ease back into work. His boss at Legal Services had an idea closer to plunging in headfirst. That put Linc sitting in a room at the 12th Precinct, tasked with defending a woman alleged to be Dino Scarpella's pet assassin. He's never come up against Detective Kate Beckett and her writer/sidekick/husband before, but he's heard stories. He has dealt with Eli Douglas and rarely emerged with what he'd consider a win.

"Let's start with something easy, Counselor," Beckett suggests. "What's your client's name?"

Linc nods at the woman beside him. "Sophie Conti," she reveals.

"OK, Sophie," Kate acknowledges. "Why did you knock out Maria Gonzalez?"

Linc throws up his hand. "Whoa, Detective. Before my client admits to anything, we need to talk terms."

"Terms will come from me and depend on what she has to trade," Eli inserts.

"Our proffer is simple," Linc announces, "the head of Dino Scarpelli on a silver platter. And for that, my client receives complete immunity."

Eli snorts. "Complete immunity? For that, your Salome will have to do one hell of a dance."

"I guarantee you," Linc asserts, "it will be impressive."

"It will need to be more than that," Eli declares. "It will have to lead to the conviction and imprisonment of Dino Scarpelli. Otherwise, any charges against your client will stand."

In the relative privacy of the break room, Rick hands Kate her latte. "Do you think you got enough out of the malicious maid?"

"It's not just a matter of enough," Kate explains. "She's like DeNuncio. As a co-conspirator or accomplice, her word isn't enough on its own. It needs corroboration. Eli can put together what he got from DeNuncio from what he got from her, to build the case against Dino, Carlucci, and anyone else involved with the crimes of the Scarpella family. But just those statements won't make the case. That's where the evidence we – mostly you – dug up independently comes in. And we're going to need more, what the lab came up with from Leo's room, and the autopsies from the fires."

"Like the one that killed that child. You're saying that we have to talk to Perlmutter, aren't you? He still hates me."

"I can talk to him by myself," Kate offers, "but he usually comes across with more when you're there to get under his skin."

"Are you implying that his fount of knowledge tends to overflow in his quest to prove his dominance over the man he perceives as unworthy of your attentions?" Rick queries.

"I'm saying that when he gets mad, he shoots off his mouth. So are you ready to confront the grizzly in his den?"

Castle raises an imaginary sword. "To shield innocent children from the flames of evil, I will dare to sally forth."