Poison Pen
Chapter 51
Twisting and untwisting her fingers, Rachel gazes around Interrogation while Kate and Rick watch through the glass. "She looks scared," Castle observes.
"That's good," Kate offers. "She'll be looking for a lifeline, and we can throw her one."
Rick regards the prisoner. "I'm surprised she didn't ask for a lawyer."
Kate shrugs. "She had the chance. She still does, but maybe she thinks trying to deal with her situation on her own will make her less guilty. She doesn't know we have her financials. Maybe she doesn't want to reveal that she has the means to hire an attorney. In any case, it's to our advantage that she wants to go it alone. Let's get in there."
Plopping down a pile of file folders, Kate takes a seat opposite Rachel, and Castle slides in beside her. "Ms. Walters, we've confirmed that the medallions you tried to sell last night were the property of the museum. We also have considerable evidence that the sale was not your first offense. You and Will Medina have both been selling artifacts and not always genuine ones, which is what we believe led to Medina's death."
"It was all Will's idea," Rachel claims. "I've been interested in archaeology since I was a kid. I was always digging around in the backyard searching for evidence of ancient civilizations."
"Did you find any?" Castle asks.
"Of course not!" Rachel retorts, "but I did find a ring my mother lost. That got me hooked on looking for other things, and later on learning to preserve them. I was happy with my work for the museum — until Will came along. He had a private patron that funded one of his expeditions. I think that Will might have been helping his money man out in return."
"You mean stealing for him," Kate corrects.
"Sometimes. It was just stuff the museum didn't need and didn't care about. And then there were some times that we couldn't find the relics that Will's guy wanted."
"So you faked them," Castle fills in.
"Yes," Rachel admits. "That's probably what got Will killed."
Kate stands, leaning into Rachel's space. "Who killed him?"
"I don't know who dropped the gargoyle, but I might know who was behind it."
"Who?" Kate presses.
"Will's dig was financed by Adom Gamal, but Will didn't communicate with him directly. I'm not even 100% sure he was Will's buyer. Until I received the request for the medallions, Will always went through a man we called Abdamalek. He might have killed Will, or arranged for someone to do it."
"How do we find this Abdamalek?" Kate queries.
"I don't know where he is. Usually, he would contact Will to ask for a meeting, but if Will had something he thought whoever Abdamalek was working for would want, he'd post a message in an archaeologist's chat room."
"What kind of a message?" Kate demands.
"'Meet me at Omar's.' It's a line from…"
"Raiders of the Lost Ark," Castle finishes.
"What would happen after Will posted?" Kate questions.
"Abdamalek would turn up at the museum."
"When's the last time he was there?" Kate asks. "Would he show up on the security video?"
Rachel shakes her head. "It was six weeks ago, and I remember Will telling me that the security video gets overwritten every month. You can check, but I doubt that Abdamalek would be on it anymore."
"We will check, and if there's no video, I want you to work with a sketch artist. Give us what we need, and I'll put the D.A. in the mood to make a deal," Kate promises.
Rachel leans forward, hopefully. "Whatever you want."
Arms crossed, Rick regards the sketch on the murder board as he strokes the stubble forming on his chin. "Kate, there's something familiar about this face, I just can't put my finger on it."
"Maybe you've seen him at the museum, Castle."
"I don't think so. And it's not the whole face. It's something about the shape of the eyes. Oh, God, Kate! You remember Merriweather Seward?"
"From the Archaeology Society? Sure. She sent us on that wild goose chase after Cacaw Te."
"She has eyes like this, and her nose is similar too. Maybe she and Abdamalek are related, perhaps brother and sister. Think about it. Everything in the archaeology world would pass across her desk. She'd know all the players, and who she could recruit to fill orders."
"It's possible," Kate allows. "I'm going to run a DMV on Sewards and see what pops up, but do you want to head back to the loft? It's almost six."
"Alexis has an English Lit. test coming up, and she and Paige are going to do a pizza and study thing. There might even be some hair braiding involved. They don't need me around for that. I'll check on them later. I could order pizza for us while you run your search," Castle offers.
"Make it Chinese, and you've got a deal."
Pushing aside an empty spareribs container, Kate compares a printout of Winston Seward's DMV photo with the sketch of Abdamalek. It could be him, Castle."
"If it's not, it would be one hell of a coincidence," Castle responds. "You have an address on him?"
"A home address. Probably the best time to catch him there would be first thing in the morning before he leaves for work or whatever he does. What time is Judge Mencas calling court back into session?"
"Ten o'clock."
"We could drop in on Seward around six and see what happens. You might even still be able to see Alexis before she goes off to school."
"You really are getting into the rhythm of the household," Castle grins. "Great! As the sun rises, we shall close in on our quarry."
Grumbling his way to answer the insistent rapping on his door, Winston Seward tightens the sash on his robe. His mouth goes dry as he views the badge in front of his peephole, but he opens the door. If the police had anything substantial on him, they wouldn't just knock.
"Mr. Seward?" Kate inquires, not bothering to get an answer. "I'm Detective Kate Beckett, and I'm sorry for the early hour, but when we investigate a murder, we work 24/7. Can we come in?"
Even as Winston waves his visitors inside, he can feel his skin chill. "I'm sorry, Detective, but I'm afraid you're wasting your time. I don't know anything about a murder."
"Have you ever met a William Medina?" Kate continues.
"What? No. I've never heard of him."
"How about a Rachel Walters?"
"No. Look, Detective, you've got the wrong guy. I'm a scrap iron dealer. The only things I see die are old cars. So if you don't mind, now that you got me out of bed, I might as well get dressed and go to work. I have a load scheduled to ship out of the Port of Newark this morning."
"All right, Mr. Seward. I'm sorry for waking you," Kate apologizes. "We'll leave now. You have a good rest of the day."
"He's lying," Rick insists once he and Kate have gained some distance from Winston's door. "Never heard of Will Medina, my ass! His bookshelf was full of archaeology books, including one featuring Will's finds in the Yucatan."
"I saw it too, Babe. And if he's an exporter, he has a perfect way to smuggle artifacts. Almost anything could be hidden in a load of scrap metal."
Castle pulls out his phone and rapidly types in a query. "Wow! Kate, Scrap metal is one of the U.S.'s chief exports to Egypt. Seward could locate what Adom Gamal wants and send it over in a regular shipment, no diplomatic credentials required. No muss, no fuss, no questions asked."
"But no immunity," Kate realizes. "With Rachel's testimony, we'll have him."