Shared Obsession Chapter 8
Castle flexes his fingers, trying to ease out the kinks. Signing a mountain of legal documents is worse than signing books. He really needs to get up and move.
"Beckett!" Ryan calls across the bullpen as he replaces the receiver of his landline. "We've got a fresh one."
Rising stiffly, Castle heads for Kate's desk. "Hey, Mr. Shadow, sit down," a city lawyer demands. "you're not finished."
"But there's a new case!" Castle protests. "I need to go with Detective Beckett."
The lawyer's jowls wobble as he shakes his head. "Not while the city's still vulnerable to a liability suit. You could get killed before you finish signing."
"I can't sue if I'm dead," Castle grumbles.
The attorney continues undeterred. "But your estate could. So you're not going anywhere until you finish. And you also need to initial the previous page."
Castle groans. "No wonder no one around here can get anything done. They're all buried in paper. OK, where do I sign the next one?"
The clothes dryer creaks as Kate opens it, as if in protest to the weight of its load. She looks up at Esposito. "Do we know how long she's been in here?"
"The lady who found the body said she put her clothes in the washer about an hour ago and didn't see anything in the dryer. But she admitted that she didn't look and she was listening to music, so she wouldn't have heard it."
Lanie crouches in front of the circular opening and examines the woman inside. "No sign of rigor. She was probably killed within the last couple of hours. But the dryer heat will mess with any liver temperature measurements. I'll have to do more tests to narrow it down any more than that."
"Do we have an ID on her?" Kate asks.
"The woman who found her said she's seen her around the building with a boy. She thinks she might be a nanny," Esposito says.
"But the super told me you need a special card to operate the machines," Ryan adds. "The management doesn't want outsiders coming in to use them, so they're only issued to tenants and tenant's employees. If she has hers on her, it should have a code number on it. He gave me a list of which codes go with which apartments. The cards also keep track of how much they use the facilities. The management bills per load. At least the tenants don't have to save quarters. I hate having to do that."
Kate turns toward Lanie. "Can we move her?"
The ME shrugs. "We're going to have to if I'm going to get her back to my lab. Now's as good a time as any. But I need to document her exact position before you touch her." Lanie quickly snaps several photographs. "All right. You can pull her out. But do it very gently. Don't put any bruises on her that could confuse my analysis." She wags her head at the detectives. "That means you, Esposito. We need finesse, not muscle."
"Yes, Ma'am," he agrees meekly.
As Ryan and Esposito carefully lay out the victim, Kate jumps at the "What did I miss?" from behind her.
"Body in a dryer," Ryan explains matter-of-factly.
Lanie searches the dead woman's pockets. "Here's the laundry card, code # 0012FE."
Ryan checks the apartment number against his list. "It belongs to an employee of the Petersons in 12F."
"They may not be home," Castle speculates. "No one who's around for their kids at this time of day needs to hire a nanny – or they shouldn't need to."
"We'll check it out," Kate decides. "You guys canvass the building and find out if anyone saw anything or knew the victim," she instructs Ryan and Esposito.
"You're very good at that," Castle observes as he and Kate take the elevator to the 12th floor.
"Good at what?"
"Giving orders. Esposito has at least a few years on you. Isn't he senior?"
"He was in the military, and he's been a cop longer, but he spent more years on patrol. I made detective faster than he did. And I've also been one longer than Ryan. That makes me senior."
"Is that awkward?" Castle asks.
"What, giving orders to men?"
Castle chuckles. "No, we grow up taking orders from women, our mothers, grandmothers, our teachers, whoever. All my editors have been women, and so is my agent. I mean, giving orders to two cops older and possibly more experienced than you are."
Kate moves closer to the door. "They don't have a problem with it."
Castle strokes the beginnings of stubble on his jawline. "I wonder," he murmurs as the elevator doors open.
Kate raps on the door of 12F. After a moment, a woman with straight blond hair and a career business suit opens the door. "Ms. Peterson?" Kate asks, holding up her badge.
"Yes," Claudia Peterson acknowledges. "Why are you here? Is something wrong?"
"Ms. Peterson, do you employ a woman, a woman who might have been doing laundry downstairs?" Kate asks.
"That would be our nanny, Sara Manning. Did she have an accident? Is she all right?"
"Ms. Petersen, I'm Detective Kate Beckett. This is Mr. Castle, a civilian, um, investigator. May we come in?"
Claudia pulls back the front door and waves Kate and Castle to chairs in the living room. "We can sit. So, what happened to Sara?"
"Why did you think she might have had an accident, Ms. Peterson?" Kate inquires.
"Because she was supposed to pick my son Justin up at school for a doctor's appointment. His allergies have been bothering him. Sara didn't show. Justin called me at work, and I came and took him. We just got home. But it wasn't like Sara. She's never missed picking him up before. I was afraid something happened to her."
"Your son is here now?" Castle asks.
"Yes, he's playing a video game in his room."
Castle nods. "Good. He shouldn't have to hear this from us."
"Hear what?" Claudia demands.
Kate leans forward in her chair, lowering her voice. "Sara Manning is dead. Another tenant found her body downstairs. She was murdered. I'm very sorry."
Claudia presses her hand to her mouth. "I don't know how I'll tell Justin. She helped him with his homework, and they watched movies and played games together. She took him to the park across the street. They really bonded. And a murder in this building? How can we ever feel safe again?"
"We're going to do our best to catch the murderer, but I'm hoping you can help us with that," Kate explains.
"What do you want to know?" Claudia asks.
"Was Sara having problems with anyone, a boyfriend maybe?"
"I wouldn't know about that," Claudia admits. "She didn't share that kind of personal stuff with me. But Chloe might."
"Who's Chloe?" Kate asks.
"She's a nanny for the Harrises, two floors up. They're good friends. They were good friends."
"We'll talk to her. And Ms. Peterson, I have to notify Sara's next of kin. Do you know who that would be and how I could reach them?"
"She said she had parents in Georgia. I heard her call them a couple of times. But I don't have a number for them. It should be on her phone."
"We didn't find her phone," Kate responds.
Claudia points to a backpack leaning against a bookcase. "That's Sara's. It's probably in there."
Kate reaches for the pack. "I'll need to take that."
"Sure, go ahead, whatever you need," Claudia agrees.
"She never asked to call her husband," Castle notes as he and Kate head for the elevator. "Most people like to call their significant other for comfort. Or, if nothing else, she'd have to let him know that they'd be working around not having a nanny. And she wouldn't want him saying the wrong thing to Justin before they had a chance to tell him Sara's dead, either."
"Maybe she wanted to do it in private," Kate responds, rooting through the backpack. "Damn! Sara's phone isn't in here. No number for her parents. But her wallet is. She still has a Georgia driver's license with an address on it. I may be able to track down her parents with that."
"You can't get someone else to make the call?" Castle inquires gently.
"No, I'm primary. It's my job."
"One of the hardest parts?"
"Yeah, it is."