Slaying the Beast

Chapter 12

"Castle, who are you calling?" Kate queries as Rick pulls out his phone before taking his customary seat.

"Old friend. He runs a security company. I need him to have eyes on Alexis and mother. As far as we've heard up until now, Bracken hasn't extended his purges to family members, but I need to be sure they'll be safe."

"Of course you do. It's a good idea. You could use some security yourself."

"I'm with the best homicide cop in the city. And Kate, one thing I did learn during my tenure with the company is how to stay alert and watch for signs of trouble. It saved my ass a couple of times. I'll be all right as long as I know that my family is. Did the captain give you more paperwork to do?"

"No, I've been going over all the notes on our case against Vulcan Simmons to make sure there's no way he can wriggle out from under, again."

"So what do you think?"

"I think we have him, Castle. He's going to spend the rest of his life in prison and…" The phone on her desk rings.

Castle can see her eyes widen and her mouth drop open as she listens to whoever is on the other end of the call. "Another case?" he asks as she hangs up the receiver.

Kate digs her teeth into her bottom lip, almost drawing blood. "There's a dead body, Castle, but it's not a new case. It's Vulcan Simmons. He was shanked in the shower."

"Castle squeezes his eyes shut and shakes his head. "Ooh! I don't even want to think about that image. But it fits, Kate. Bracken likes to lop off loose threads. He couldn't know if Simmons would ever decide to flip on him, so he arranged to get rid of him. Do the guards know who killed him?"

"Apparently no one saw anything, but there were only four other prisoners in the immediate vicinity."

"And you want to interrogate all of them."

"As fast as we can make it to Rikers."

Tito Lipper looks more scared than defiant as he's led in to be questioned by Kate. "I already said I didn't see nuthin.'"

"Tito, you're only in for a year, or they would have transferred you to Sing Sing. Don't jeopardize your chances of getting out of here by having it go on your record that you were uncooperative or implicated in a murder. You must have seen something, heard something, even if you didn't witness Simmons buying it. So who entered the shower ahead and behind Simmons?"

"I didn't see. Here you keep your head down. Don't want anyone thinking you're looking at them, maybe wanting some."

"I get that," Kate acknowledges. "You don't want to be anyone's girlfriend. But while you had your head down, what color were the feet you saw?"

"White."

"Anything else? A tattoo or a scar maybe?"

"No tattoos, but there was that stink."

"What kind of stink?' Kate presses.

"I don't know, you smell it on guys around here all the time, like mold or something."

"Or yeast, like bread?" Castle asks.

Tito shrugs. "Yeah, maybe. But that's it. That's all I remember."

Kate nods to the guard. "All right Tito, but you better be telling me the truth."

"Honest, detective. That's all I know."

Kate turns to Castle as Tito is led off. "You've got an idea Castle. You have that look."

"Yeah what Tito said brought back unpleasant memories of boarding school bathrooms and the hazards of using them. That smell, Kate; it's athletes' foot. The fungus spreads very easily in common showers if they're not properly disinfected. Simmons' killer could have it. Caucasian with itchy toes should narrow it down a bit."

Kate bobs her head slowly. "If you're right, it will."

Kate watches Marco Rutoff on camera for a few minutes before entering the room to question him. He looks uncomfortable and not just nervous. He's trying to rub his feet against the legs of his chair - an almost impossible task in shackles. She smiles up at Castle. Looks like you may be right."

"Wouldn't want to play footsie with him," Castle agrees, curling his toes inside his shoes as he starts to itch in sympathy.

Kate strides into the room with the prisoner. Not bothering to take a chair, she glares down at Rutoff. "I know you killed Vulcan Simmons, Rutoff. That means no more pampering at Rikers. You'll be shipped off to spend the rest of your life in a facility that's a lot less accommodating. You have exactly one chance to keep yourself from spending that time somewhere other than the deepest possible hole. Tell me who told you to do it."

Rutoff shakes his head. "I tell you anything and the hole I'll be in will be six feet deep and I won't be breathing. You cops, especially lady cops, just don't understand how things work, here or anywhere. If you actually knew anything, you wouldn't just be talking to me. I'm sure as hell not going to spill anything to you, or any cop, or your playmate here, whoever he is. So you might as well send me back to my cell."

Kate smacks the leather folder she's carrying down on the table. "Fine, Rutoff. You had your chance, and you blew it."

"Rutoff did it," Castle declares as he and Kate make the trek back to where she's parked her unit.

"I agree, Castle, but we haven't got enough to charge him - not yet. And he's just a link in a very nasty chain. What we need to find out is how he got his orders. That means we need visitor logs, recordings of visits, and any security video the prison has on him. In any case, this is an opening for our personal investigation. Whoever told Rutoff to kill Simmons is the next step toward Bracken. And if we get lucky, it might be a giant step.

Halfway back to the precinct, Castle notices Kate's gloved hands tighten on the wheel as her eyes constantly flick to her rear view mirror. "What's wrong?"

"We're being followed, Castle. I thought I saw a car pick us up after we left the bridge from Rikers, but it disappeared. It must have been part of a tag team because we've picked up another tail."

"Kate, we're just going to the 12th anyway, no one is going to learn much from that."

"If we make it, Castle. With more than one car, they could be setting us up for a swoop and squat, or worse and - oh God!"

In the middle of an intersection, the car in front of Kate stops short, and another vehicle boxes her in from behind. She can hear Castle shouting, "Kate, get out!"

Cars are speeding toward both sides of her unit, and she and Castle barely manage to clear the impact zones. She runs toward the sidewalk, drawing her weapon. "Castle come on! Fearful of putting civilians in a crossfire, she avoids ducking into the nearest store and sprints into an alley instead. Castle's long legs bring him close behind her. She takes cover behind a line of steel dumpsters and sends out an officer needs assistance call, not anticipating that aid will arrive in time. She hands Castle her backup piece. "I know you know how to use this." Heavy feet slowly approach. As one man raises his gun at her, she squeezes off a shot. Castle fires twice, and she shoots once more. Four men's blood is staining the pavement. Kate recognizes one of them as a guard from Rikers.