Shattered Lies

Chapter 42

Manchester Gregor Salmon stares at a document emailed by the manager at Jerrold's Gem Galleria. "What the hell!" He presses the icon on his phone for the direct number of his organization's chief counsel.

Bertrand Manning knows he has a problem even before he picks up the phone. Salmon never calls before his midmorning coffee unless he is thoroughly upset. And when Salmon is upset, the syndicate is swimming upstream. "What can I do for you, Chester?"

"Jerrold's, one of our best New York outlets just received a subpoena for all of its records; sales, importation, banking - everything."

Manning presses his palm to his elongating forehead. "Who issued it?"

"Damn! I don't know. Wait a minute." Salmon rereads his email. "The U.S. Attorney from the Southern District of New York."

Air hisses through Manning's teeth as he clamps his jaw. "That's bad. The Southern District handles a lot of banking. They have jurisdiction over Metro Corp. The records from Jerrold's could lead them to a hub of our operations."

"So what do we do?" Salmon demands.

Manning rubs a temple that is rapidly beginning to throb. "We can file a motion to quash, but that will only slow things down. If Southern District is going after Jerrold's, they have something solid. The best thing to do is shift as much of our operations as we can out of reach; shut down transactions between Cypress and Metro Corp. and have all our people lie low. Our outlets should be instructed not to sell any more merchandise received from us and dump their inventories in a hole where the investigators can't find them."

"We'll lose a fortune!" Salmon explodes. "Can't we go at this more directly; find out who's spearheading the investigation and take them out of the picture?"

"Again, that may slow things down temporarily," Manning advises, "but in the end, it will just open up more avenues for inquiry. It would be better to cut our losses and go quiet until the whole thing blows over."

Salmon's fingers redden as they tighten around the edge of his phone. "I'm not sure we can do that."

"You look perky this morning for someone whose investigatory path has been blocked by legal maneuvering," Castle comments as Kate grabs an apple out of the fruit bowl on the counter.

"I talked to my dad while you were getting the coffee started. He says there's no way the judge will go along with the Manning motion, but it may take a day or two to get a ruling. I decided to take some personal time. Dad tracked down the family of another one of Bracken's victims. They live in Iowa now, but I'm going to Skype with them this morning. Other than that, I thought we could spend some time together away from the precinct and dead bodies. Alexis has her summer program all day."

"And Mother has her summer stock," Castle adds. "We can be all by ourselves with Custos standing guard - unless you want to go somewhere. We could get one of those suites at the Four Seasons with a supersized hot tub - suitable for all manner of activities."

Kate cups the pertinent part of his anatomy. "I think we can find enough to do right here."

Castle pulls her tight against the target of her tease. "I do believe that we can."

Jackson studies the man loitering down the block from Richard's building. As far as he can tell, the lurker is not concealing a gun, but there are many ways to kill a human being, none of which require anything more than one's hands or even fingertips. And some weapons can easily be hidden in a pocket.

There is nothing particularly noteworthy about the object of Jackson's attention, other than he has no business to be where he is. He smokes a cigarette now and then, to appear as if he has a reason to be out on the sidewalk, but neither his fingers nor teeth are stained. He rarely takes a puff and doesn't have the look of a nicotine addict. He's neither tall nor short, fat or thin, handsome nor unattractive- just the kind of guy who fades into the background until he makes his move.

Jackson knows that Richard and Kate are inside the loft. Chances are that they'll be safe until they emerge. If they have fun and games for the newly engaged planned, that could be a while. Alexis walked the dog before she left that morning, but he'll need another one eventually. Richard and possibly Kate will take him. Whether the smoking man can get past the shepherd on a city street is a question. But he could very well try.

Castle rubs Kate's shoulders as she closes her laptop. "How was your Skype?"

Kate sighs, grasping one of his hands and pressing it against her cheek. "About what you might expect. The family is grateful for closure but is also reliving its grief. The healing can begin now, but it may take a long time."

"You know that better than anyone. You want to talk about it?"

"Not the least little bit. What can your depraved mind think of to distract me?"

Rick swivels her around to face him. "How about a game of Twister?"

"Castle, are you serious?"

"Let me rephrase. How about a game of naked Twister? Right hand blue, left foot red and whatever, whatever?"

Kate's eyes begin to take on a greenish glow. "Sounds like just what I need."

Castle sprawls on the brightly dotted thick plastic, trying to get his breath. "That was - amazing. I've never seen anyone in that position before. Ooh, I take that back. I saw something similar once it a porn flick, but I thought it was faked. What you did couldn't have been more real."

"So you liked it?'

"Like doesn't even begin to describe. Kate, if you ever find cold cases too chilling, you could always try for a career as a contortionist. Maybe you could go on America's got talent - dressed of course - in something with a lot of stretch to it."

"Dressed or not, I'm not doing that in front of Sharon Osborne and definitely not for Piers Morgan. He'd probably criticize the angle of - never mind. My performance was strictly for an audience of one."

"And that one greatly appreciated it - and what followed." A bark vibrates through the air from the direction of the door. "Sounds like Custos needs an outing. I'll take him as soon as my legs work again and I can get some pants on. I'd ask if you wanted to stretch your legs too, but that would be redundant. Feel like a walk? You could wear that sundress that is totally inappropriate for a police detective, but perfect for a lady of leisure - however temporarily."

"All right, Castle, I'll slip into it while you find your jeans. We don't want to keep Custos waiting too long."

"Right. With the amount of food he consumes, the pooch probably has plenty to let loose. I get the extra-large bags."

"As long as you're the one who does the scooping. He's your dog."

"A dog that led us to Bracken - more or less," Castle points out. "If I must wield the scoop, I will consider it an honor."

Kate smacks him on what she can reach of his bare behind. "Just go get dressed."