Flu

Chapter 21

From the doorway of his office, Montgomery beckons Kate and Rick inside. He gestures toward a man appearing less than comfortable in an off-the-rack suit, white shirt, and tie. Detective Beckett, Mr. Castle, this is Special Agent Rex Matheson, of the F.B.I.'s Cyber Crime Unit."

Kate regards the visitor, absently wondering how long it will be before a supervisor makes him cut hair that's already brushing his collar. Maybe the techs get a little more leeway from the bureau. "To tell you the truth, Agent Matheson, I'm surprised the F.B.I. didn't get into this sooner, but concerning organized crime, not hacking."

"The bureau is into the organized crime angle, Detective," Matheson explains, "attached to the Southern District. But you've managed to haul in a black hat we've been after for a long time, Rita Coppolla, aka Cyber Rita."

"Wow! As in Francis Ford Coppolla?" Castle asks. "Ooh, and Nicholas Cage."

"Both distant relatives," Matheson confirms. "But Rita doesn't make movies about criminals; she is one. From the construction of her code, our people believe she trained under the Wizard."

"Lucky her!" Castle exclaims. "I heard his friends get first shot at seats on the commercial space cruiser he's building, but I'm on the waiting list for a flying car. I didn't know he's into criminal activity."

"He's not – officially," Matheson explains. "The back doors he built into his company's products aren't illegal. They're supposed to be for maintenance purposes."

"But Rita put them to less innocuous use," Rick guesses.

"That's right, and across state lines. That puts her in our territory."

Rick can almost see the daggers shooting from Kate's eyes. "And here, she was an accomplice in an attempted murder. And we believe she may be a key witness against the Scarpella family. She's not going anywhere until I question her."

"Hey," Montgomery interrupts, "with this flu, the last thing we need to do is waste resources in a jurisdictional squabble. Why don't you question Rita together and see what you come up with."

Matheson shrugs. "I can go with that – for now."

"Fine," Kate agrees. "How about Chris Carlucci?"

Matheson raises questioning eyebrows.

"Her boyfriend, accomplice, Dino Scarpella's collector, and all-around go-to boy," Castle inserts.

"Sounds local. All yours," Matheson allows.

Rick can picture the sharp edge in Kate's voice dripping blood. "Great. Thanks."

Leo grimaces at the thin layer of dust on the miniblinds in his new quarters. Between the stained carpeting and the smell imbedded in the upholstered chairs and couch, the place needs, at a minimum, a steam cleaning. If his alternative weren't a cell, he'd consider just burning it down. At least his keepers agreed to get him a heavy-duty vacuum and some cleaning supplies. He'd love a five-gallon bucket of Ever-So-Clean, and the A.D.A, Douglas, implied that Leo could earn one.

Wary of being followed, Douglas won't be visiting Leo in person. He's scheduled a Skype for that afternoon. In the meantime, Leo will do what he can to make the house bearable. At least he has a pair of heavy rubber gloves.

While Lana is shedding her DeNuncio persona, Eli does a rapid search on his phone. "Want to grab a coffee?" he offers when Lana's back in uniform.

The decoy cop checks her watch. "As long as it's quick. When I checked in with my watch commander, she told me that another one of the guys just went home with the flu. I need to fill in ASAP."

"Yeah, I have to get back to my office, too," Eli acknowledges. "Ten minutes?"

"That will work," Lana agrees.

Eli cautiously sips a cup of hot brew. "'Revolver' is playing at the Angelika tonight. According to the reviews, it's a great ski movie. Would you like to go? Showings start every couple of hours, so you'll have plenty of time to finish your shift."

Eli can't tell if Lana is smiling behind her mug, but her eyes are brightening. "Sure, sounds like fun. When I get back to my precinct, I can text to let you know when I'm off-duty."

Leo pulls a card from his shirt pocket and passes it to her. "That's my private cell."

Rita isn't crazy about the odds in the room where she's being questioned. The free lawyer on her side of the table looks like he's barely out of grade school. Between Detective Beckett, her writer pal, and the fed, even one of the consigliere's guys wouldn't have an easy time, and her attorney is sweating. But the damn cops froze all her accounts, and courtroom geniuses don't work for nothing, at least not on cases like hers.

Greg McClellan has had less time to prepare for cases – a lot less. He's had a fascination with hackers since he was in fourth grade, and when he was offered a chance to defend one, he jumped at it. It's not that he expects to get her off. She was caught with her hand in the N.Y.P.D. cookie jar, and that's probably just the tip of the iceberg. If an F.B.I. agent made the trip from D.C., Rita Coppolla must be a suspect in some pretty heavy crime. What Greg wants is to get inside her head. As yet, he's barely had a chance to say more than hello, but working on her defense with her, he'll have more than ample time to dig deeper.

"Are you ready, Counselor?" Matheson asks.

Greg turns to Rita, who shrugs and nods.

"Ms. Coppolla," Matheson begins, "some of the staff in my office have expressed a certain admiration for your talent. I think they're making a mistake, but we have a hell of a time finding agents with your skills."

An unladylike snort issues from between Rita's feline lips. "You don't have anyone with my skills."

"Obviously, the N.Y.P.D. does," Kate interrupts, "since we caught you breaking in and tracked you down. But unlike Agent Matheson, I don't give a damn about how good you are at a keyboard. What I want to know is what you can give us on Dino Scarpella and his connection to Leo DeNuncio. We already know about Sophie Conti's fake I.D. and how you got her into the room next to DeNuncio's. We also know you're playing house with Dino's errand boy."

"Chris is no errand boy!" Rita protests, as Greg attempts to block her outburst.

"So, Carlucci is big with Leo, just like you are, or were. Is that why the two of you were trying to sneak out of New York together?" Castle presses. "You both screwed up big time, and you know what Dino does to screwups."

"You may not realize it," Kate adds, "but right now, your best friends in this world are sitting right here at this table. The more you give us, the more we can convince the powers that be to give you. Think about it, Rita. This is one mess you can't hack your way out of. I know the N.Y.P.D. won't let you near anything with an internet connection. I suspect the F.B.I. won't either."

Matheson leans across the table. "Unless you play ball. And we know you can play one heck of a game, Ms. Coppolla."

Greg pulls himself up in his chair. "I need time to confer with my client."

Rita glares across the table. "Yeah. Get out of here. I need to talk to my lawyer."

Kate exchanges glances with her F.B.I. counterpart. "Fine. Tell the cop at the door when you're ready to give us something worth our time."