Shattered Lies
Chapter 36
With tears threatening to overflow the rims of his eyes, Jim Beckett stares at the paper Kate gave him. "This is a copy of what was in Bracken's notebook?"
Kate reaches for her father's hand. "It is. I made it myself."
"And you're sure Bracken wrote it?"
The FBI expert checked the handwriting against his papers. And his DNA was all over the original too. You put that together with what his hitman Lockwood told us, and there's no doubt. The notation about Percy Doof matches up with what was in Mom's file about Pulgatti, too."
"So both of the men responsible for your mother's murder are dead, and you want me to help you finish what she was trying to do in her last case?"
Kate squeezes Jim's fingers in her own. "That's right - if you think it won't…"
"Send me diving into the bottle again?'
Kate nods silently.
"It won't, Katie. I can't think of anything better I can do to honor her memory than to help you finish what your mother started. And if I have to go to a meeting every night to get that done, I'm more than willing." He grabs a laminated menu from the stand on the Formica topped table of their booth. "I wonder if they've added anything. I think this may be the first time in 12 years that I've really felt like eating."
"That's great, Dad." Kate pulls out the second plastic-coated bill of fare. "The mushroom burger looks new, and so do the chili cheese fries."
Jim swipes at his eyes with a paper napkin and smiles at his daughter. "I might order both."
Percy Doof regards Castle through the mesh of his holding cell. "I guess I always knew my history would catch up to me someday. I just never thought that it would be a dog that would give me away. Mine have all been precious to me, you know. Including your Custos."
"If it makes you feel any better, Laurie Sullivan, the trainer you recommended, and Custos' very able sitter, Miniver Cracken, are working together with the kennel club to make sure that all your puppies find the right owners. And Custos is happily eating me out of house and home."
"The large breeds will do that. Can you promise me that you'll continue to take good care of him?"
"I guarantee you that my daughter will have my neck if he gets anything less than the best of everything."
Doof slowly sinks to a metal bench. "Good, that's good."
"How's your father?" Castle asks when Kate returns to the 12th Precinct.
"Better than he's been in a long time." She consults the oversized watch on her wrist. "It looks like I made it back here just in time. Agent Murphy is supposed to be coming for a meet. He's setting up a team to explore all the notations in Bracken's book, and he wants to talk to me about what the task force will be getting into next. He said the two are related."
"Bracken was like an evil miasma that permeated everything."
"He was very much flesh and blood, Castle. We both saw that first hand. And he left a very human trail of destruction. Given your contributions to taking Bracken down, I don't believe Murphy will object to you sitting in on our discussions."
"Actually, Seamus and I got pretty well acquainted. We were hanging out together in the woods while the dogs were following Lockwood's stench. He thinks you are something extraordinary, an opinion with which I heartily concur."
Kate reaches around him to grab a handful of firm muscle. "After what happened in the shower this morning, I would hope so."
Kate spreads the contents of the folder Murphy hands her, on the conference table so that Castle can read them.
Murphy waves a hand at the reports. "I'll give you a few minutes to look those over, but the jist of what's there is, Bracken was using his powers as a senator to enable a drug-dealing operation. The matter has international reach because the supplies are coming in from out of the country, primarily from Afghanistan, but there are other sources involved where the synthetic opiates are concerned.
Castle points at a page. "If I read this right, the newly unchained citizens of Little Russia filed a complaint when the dealers began showing up in their neighborhood."
"That's correct, Rick," Murphy confirms. "N.Y.P.D.'s narcotics division picked up two of them, Jamal Jackson and Jesse (Butch) McDonald. They gave us the name and description of the operative that sent them to Brooklyn, a Curtis Green. We're looking for him now. Jackson and McDonald believe that Green knows who the head guy is, but from what we have so far, we suspect it's one Vulcan Simmons. We haven't found him either, but we believe we're closing in on the area in Washington Heights that is his home base. Our working theory is that Simmons was channeling money directly into Bracken's coffers. We have forensic accountants on that now. Detective Beckett, I want you to interface with Narcotics and continue to coordinate the activities of the N.Y.P.D. with those of my people."
"What about tracking down the families of Bracken's victims?" Kate demands.
"I assure you, Kate, we will do everything that we can to accomplish that, and you will be part of it."
Feeling like he hasn't been there for weeks, Castle settles into his chair in his office and puts his feet up on his desk. It's his favorite position for writing, but he's been doing that on the fly whenever he could - creating the details in his head and jotting them down on the notepad he keeps in his pocket. He's ready to balance his laptop across his thighs and properly commit his imaginings to the page, but he has something else he needs to do first.
Rick's phone is already sticking halfway out of his pocket, and his fingers take it the rest of the way before he scans through his contacts. Normally, he doesn't talk to real estate lawyer, Manny Lieberman, very often, but in the past few days, they've had several conversations. Castle's anxious for an update. "Manny, where are we on the Cracken cabin?"
A thick Bronx accent emanates from the speaker of Castle's cell. "Rick, usually you'd have to wait for an estate the size of Bracken's to go through probate before you could buy his property. But in this case, since law enforcement determined that the Cracken cabin was purchased with illegally obtained funds, it's been seized. If you want it, your connections may be more helpful than mine. I can send you an email with the right legal jargon to use to get your hands on it."
"I'd appreciate it, Manny. I have an idea about to whom to reach out. What about the other matter?"
"That's a lot more straightforward, Rick. I've identified several properties that could meet your requirements. As you requested, they're all off the beaten path, but I've located agents who can arrange showings for you. I'll send you the particulars and their contact information."
"Manny, what would I do without you?"
A nasal laugh answers Rick. "You'd have one less fat bill to pay. I'll send that along too."