Slaying the Beast

Chapter 4

Callie Mercer's eyes are dry, but her nose is red and sore, and there are teeth marks on her bottom lip. "I can't believe this happened. Who would want to kill George?"

"Honestly, Ms. Mercer," Kate replies as gently as she can, "we were hoping you could tell us. Why was your brother in New York?'

Callie pulls at the hem of her shirt. "I have no idea. My parents have wanted him to come to Maine for months, but he's always said he was busy in DC on some project for Senator Collinwood. Have you contacted her office? They might know."

Kate leans forward, making her voice fall to its lowest register. "Unfortunately, they don't know either. Ms. Mercer, has your brother ever mentioned a Simmons, or perhaps a Vulcan?"

"No Simmons. But a Vulcan? I heard him talking on the phone once to someone he called Vulcan, but he's always been a Trekkie, ever since he was a little boy. I thought he was just geeking out."

Kate braces herself for Callie's reaction to her next question. "Has your brother ever used drugs?"

Callie grasps the sides of her chair and begins to rock back and forth. "He got into them for a while when he was in college. He was doing track and field and developed a stress fracture in his foot. He started taking pills for the pain and things just escalated. But he went to one of those 12-step programs. I thought he was clean. He graduated cum laude, then he went to work for Senator Collinwood as an intern and graduated to being a paid staffer. He seemed to be doing so well. Do you think this had something to do with drugs? Was he talking to that Vulcan about drugs?"

"Ms. Mercer, I really don't know, but we have to follow every lead. Do you remember when the conversation took place?"

Callie swipes her hand over her face. "It might have been a year ago, maybe. We were both at our parents' house. George was assuring Vulcan that he was on board or something. That's another reason I thought about Star Trek. I believed he was talking about some imaginary spaceship."

"He could have been," Kate soothes.

"Ms. Mercer," Castle inserts, "I'm quite a Trekkie myself, and we talk about spaceships, well starships, all the time. It's not that unusual."

"Mr. Castle is right," Kate agrees. "But we will be checking out every possibility, and we will do everything we can to find out who killed your brother."

Callie sniffles. Castle offers her a nearby box of tissues, and she blows her nose. "Thank you. And thank you, Detective Beckett. I do appreciate everything you're doing and so do my parents. You will let me know what you find out?"

"Yes of course. Can we get you a coffee? The ride from LaGuardia can be brutal."

Callie nods. "Thanks again."

What do you think, Castle?" Kate asks as he artfully operates the espresso machine.

"I think Vulcan Simmons was George Mercer's supplier, or possibly a lot more, and it was one of those relationships that can end only one way."

Kate closes her eyes and shakes her head. "I was thinking that too. For the sake of Callie and her family, it would be nice if we were wrong."

"It would be," Castle agrees, "but in this case, I don't believe the universe will be that kind. I think we need to know more about Susan Collinwood. She would be the link between Bracken and Mercer if there is one. I originally dismissed her because she didn't seem to have a New York connection. Now I'm rethinking that decision."

"Castle. If you want to research Susan Collinwood, you go ahead. I'm going to talk to CSU about what they found at the Simmons' store - aside from the warring stenches. Check back with each other later?"

"Count on it."

Castle stretches in his beat-up seat next to Kate's desk. He's tried sitting in her chair a couple of times, but with the five-inch difference in height, the way she has it adjusted doesn't fit him at all, and when he's attempted to change her settings, she hasn't reacted well. His ribs are beginning to protest again, and his hand isn't too fond of him either. He thinks about taking one of the lovely pills the doctor prescribed for him, but he wants to stay clear. Over-the-counter will have to do. By the time he manages to get a bottle of water from the recalcitrant vending machine, Kate is back. "Anything interesting from CSU?"

"Very, Castle. There were no stashes of drugs, but there were traces, matching heroin from Afghanistan as well as fentanyl - domestically produced from what they could tell. There was also DNA matching George Mercer and Vulcan Simmons. Vulcan would have left some at the store anyway, but a sample was with George's. There's a very good chance that Vulcan killed Mercer. He might have been the one that signed in Frankie Lesmore, not José. That could have been an attempt to provide himself with an alibi of sorts, but there were no usable fingerprints on the employee time log."

"So Vulcan Simmons kills a possibly ex-drug user and has him at the store he runs with his brother. How does this connect with Bracken or even Susan Collinwood?"

"I don't know, Castle - yet. What did you find out about the senator from Maine?"

"She has a fascinating history. Her father was a fisherman - lobsters. He went to an early and watery grave. She and her mother struggled along, but Susan managed to earn herself a scholarship to Michigan State University - in poly sci."

"Like Bracken."

"Exactly. They would have been classmates. MSU was a top school for that major, and they both had their eyes on a political career. They ended up at the same law school too, before Susan returned to Maine. She worked her way up from city councilwoman until she landed in the Senate for a reunion with Bracken."

"Any chatter about a romantic relationship?"

"There's always chatter about everything. Every couple of weeks some Nikki Heat fan swears that you're pregnant with my baby." Kate's eyes darken as she grits her teeth. "Hey, I'm just the messenger, and I always do my best to dispel such rumors, not that I wouldn't be proud if they were true. But there's no real evidence of an illicit liaison between Bracken and Collinwood. They're both married. She just uses her maiden name. I think it's more a comradery of the ruthless. She is often seen as a swing vote, which is a strong position to hold. People cater to her, make promises. Being her crony would be extremely useful for Bracken. It would not be unlikely that he would get to know her staff, perhaps quite well. And if Bracken knew through Simmons about Mercer's drug problem, past or present, he could very well have had a hold on him and used him to do his bidding."

Kate nods slowly. "That sounds surprisingly plausible, Castle."

"But perhaps," Castle continues, "Bracken asked Mercer to do something George just couldn't stomach. George might even have threatened to go to the N.Y.P.D. about Bracken's connection to Vulcan Simmons' operation. Maybe that's why he came to New York. Bracken is officially a resident here. But Simmons took Mercer out before he could blow the whistle. He stashed him in the store for a while before dumping him in the alley, which brings us to this moment."

"It's a good story, Castle, but for now, except for Vulcan Simmons' involvement, that's all it is."

Castle pushes out of his chair. "Then we'll just have to find a way to make it more than that."