Shattered Lies
Chapter 51
Kate turns over in bed to see Castle sitting up against the tufted headboard. "You're awake early, Babe."
"Um. I was wishing we could go to the archives and check the records - you know - from the park."
"You know they're not open yet and since we don't have an official reason to be there while I'm on duty, we'll have to at least wait until lunch. You could get the dust masks."
"I already got them, a whole box, rated for airborne dust, allergens, oil, just about anything."
"A little overkill, don't you think?"
"I don't want to be driven out by the protests of our respiratory systems like we were last time. I'm going to look until I either find something or decide there's nothing to find. If you need to return to work, I'm going to stay, even if I have to duck the guardian at the gate. Now that what that pervert tried to do - did do - has come back to me, I need to see finding him through."
"And what if you can't?"
"At least I'll know I didn't sit on my ass whining but doing nothing."
Kate grabs her watch from a bedside table. "It's not even six yet. We could go back to sleep for a while."
"Or we could use the extra time to drop off Jada Bergeron's effects at Out of the Cold before you go on shift. The DNA analyzer is supposed to be all hooked up, and we have Lanie's dream man to run it for us."
"You're right. And the sooner we find out if we'll have a trail to follow, the better. You want the first shower?"
"No, you take it while I get our massive doses of caffeine in process. I have a feeling we're going to need them. And I want to take Custos for a walk. We can both use the air."
Castle finds himself wishing that cases were filed by the location of the crime rather than by date and category. But both of the latter are useful in winnowing down his search.
He and Kate could barely make a dent during her lunch hour, so he stayed in the archives. He's been there for hours, his gut twisting as he reads report after report. He's always wondered how human beings could commit such acts, many of them more heinous than anything that his personal boogie man had managed to do to him. Still, he hasn't found what he could peg as a match until he pulls out a file almost buried under the others in a box.
Bile rises in Rick's throat as he views the picture clipped to the inside. It's the face that rose from the depths of his memory as he stood on the shore of the lake in Mississippi. The named attached to the image is Don Epstein. He was picked up in Central Park on suspicion after several parents reported that he'd tried to approach their sons while they were playing in the park. A couple of high school students had even identified him as lurking around during a period when another attack took place. But the boy involved had been unable to identify Epstein, and the molester had never been charged.
Rick studies Epstein's vital statistics. He was born in 1951. That would make him almost 60 by now, but he would still have a driver's license or I.D. card. He'd most likely still be in the workforce. Even if he'd found hunting grounds outside of New York, he shouldn't be difficult to track down. But then what? The statute of limitations has long passed on Rick's assault. With Kate's help, he'll figure something out. He has to.
Castle turns his showerhead to a needlelike spray that pounds his bare skin. He can wash away the dust, but he can't scrub away the specter of Don Epstein. He wishes Kate were with him, but she and the boys caught a case. She could be gone for hours. If he can ever force himself to step out of the water, he can trace Epstein himself. With a name, birthdate and a current or former residence, he can sort through the many Don Epsteins that will come up in a background search. He's just hoping he can hold it together while he does.
Rick towels off slowly and finds himself unable to make the simple choice of a T-shirt to put on, but finally dressed, he sinks into his desk chair. With Custos at his side, he opens his laptop. The country is full of Don Epsteins. He'd expected that. The detailed search he bought of public records for $39.95, lists many with matching birthdates, but only one with a former residence that matches what was in the police report. As Castle suspected he would, Epstein moved out of state. He's made multiple state-to-state moves over the years. Castle hates to think about why. Now Epstein is in Ohio, a six-hour drive or even shorter plane ride away. But Rick isn't sure what he could do if he got there. He needs Kate. He doesn't know if he's ever needed her this much before. It's going to be a long night.
Kate hadn't expected to find Castle awake, but he's lying in bed staring into the darkness. The death she and the boys had been called to investigate had turned out to be a mix of an accident and natural causes. It hadn't looked that way when she first saw the body at the foot of a flight of stairs. Greg Curlin was covered in bruises as if he had been beaten. But Lanie determined from the records available from the company that provided his medical alert pendant that the unfortunate man had a blood disorder causing excessive bleeding. The disease accounted for the bruises and made his fall down the stairs fatal. Kate had filed her paperwork and put the case to bed, where she had expected to be shortly.
Before he says a word, the look in Rick's eyes speaks volumes. "You found him."
"I know who he is and where he is. He lives two states away, the last of many moves around the country. I just haven't a clue what to do about it. I want to confront him, make him understand what he is."
Kate climbs in beside Rick, intertwining her fingers with his. "It sounds like he's been running. He probably knows what he is and has managed to stay one step ahead of being caught. But would it make you feel better to see him; to face him with what he's done?"
"I don't know. It's not like a murder, Kate, where you can get the guy no matter how long it takes. He's been slithering away for decades. What if he doesn't care what he did? What if he just smiles at me? Kate, I don't think I could handle that. But I couldn't handle just letting him go, to keep doing what he did to me either."
"I know you couldn't. Look. We can go see him together. Whatever happens, I'll be there with you."
Castle draws her tightly against his body. Kate, I don't know what I'd do without you. I can't even begin to imagine how I could live a life without you in it."
Kate presses her cheek into his chest. "Hey, very soon now we'll both be vowing that you'll never have to.