Very Castle Celebrations

Chapter 17

According to Esposito, the Walter Clapper who showed up at Castle's beach house is not Staff Sergeant Walter Clapper. He didn't respond to some of the lingo that is secret shorthand among the noncoms in the forces. He also didn't hold himself right and just didn't react like someone who's been in combat. The man is an impostor but doesn't seem to be aware of it.

A story spins in Castle's imagination and flows from his mouth. "A second Clapper was created for a reason. Perhaps duplicates of other Americans were produced as well. It's no secret that the Soviets maintained villages to raise spies to speak and act like Americans. Perhaps embryos were obtained to generate agents who could be trained to be swapped in for their doppelgangers. As former KGB, Putin would likely be intimately familiar with such a project. Officially, Fort Hamilton serves as a support for local military functions. If something was being stored there, say perhaps a new anti-terrorist weapon that the Russians wanted to get a look at, they could send in their Walter Clapper. If he was programmed well enough and trauma or injury put him into a fugue state, he might think he actually is William Clapper."

Kate finds Castle's narrative only slightly more believable than his clone theory but admits that it does fit at least some of the facts. She still is wondering how the real Walter Clapper ended up dead.

Esposito has a theory about that. He admits that there have always been rumors about prototypes of weaponry for domestic use being stored at Fort Hamilton. The real Clapper could very well have been part of a security force there. Devices such as tear gas grenades which might also be stocked on-site had caused fires in the past.

Castle continues his speculation. "The original Clapper discovered Clapper II and was knocked off his game by the man's appearance for the few seconds it would take to put him at a disadvantage in a fight. He still got his shots in at his opponent, inflicting a head injury, but a dazed Clapper II knocks out his twin and manages to get away before fire engulfs the storage space where Clapper I perishes in the flames."

Esposito nods slowly, and Kate reluctantly agrees that the scenario is possible but points out that they still don't have a scrap of proof. Castle isn't sure why they'd need any, for such a magnificent tale, but suggests that Lanie might have some ideas about some kind of physical markers that Clapper II might have that would yield some clues as to where he was raised. He recalls that Perlmutter found something like that in the dental work of Eliška Sokol, a murder victim on a case he, the boys, and Kate worked together. Snapping his fingers, he remembers an article he read about tracing geographical locations by the ratios of oxygen and strontium isotopes in hair.

Esposito snorts. "Bro, you really are a geek! But I should be able to get a sample off Clapper II. Right now he wants to know what's up even more than you do. It's his life, not just some chapter in your next book. But I don't know about getting Lanie to run it."

Castle claps the cop in the shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I know a guy."


To Castle, the museum feels almost like home. On his weekend forays there, with Alexis, the exhibits were at least as exciting to him as they were to his daughter. The assorted bits and pieces of arcane knowledge he gleaned from his visits have occasionally come in useful when writing his stories as well. Through his financial support of the institution, he's also managed to make the acquaintance of people who warm his nerdish heart. He's going to see one now.

He has Jackson along, riding high in his backpack. He doesn't expect the infant will remember dinosaurs or ancient artifacts, but the heady atmosphere may penetrate his baby consciousness. If nothing else, Castle's giving Kate a little time to herself, although if he knows his wife, she'll use at least some of it to stay up to date on what's happening on the task force. He suspects that despite her adoration for their son, if it weren't for having mysteries to solve, she'd be ready to climb the walls by now. He gets it. If he didn't have the release of writing, he would have a galloping case of cabin fever himself.

Castle picks up his pace as he strides toward his meeting with Marvin Tutupu. He recalls his fascination on several previous occasions when he's been lucky enough to have conversations with the museum's resident anthropologist. Marvin met Margaret Mead when he was very young and was taken by both the woman and her profession. He's a mountain of information on both obscure cultures and equally obscure analytical techniques. Fortunately, the museum has the facilities to perform them. Marvin also loves a good mystery enough to be a Richard Castle aficionado. When Castle called him, he immediately invited the writer to send him Clapper II's hair sample. He'll be giving Castle the results this morning.

Marvin is an impressive figure. Although the savant has claimed that he's small for his family, Castle would be surprised if Marvin weighs in at less than 300 pounds. Castle suspects that the brightly colored signature lab coats Marvin affects, are custom made. Why not? Marvin is unique. There's no reason why the uniform he chooses to adopt shouldn't be as well.

Marvin invites his visitor to take a seat on a high backless stool where Castle can keep Jackson atop his back. He explains that he's a fan of babies hitching rides with their parents. He's noted that in cultures where the babies accompany their mother's or fathers through their workdays, the offspring not only seem happier but tend to develop fewer maladies like colic. Marvin laments that with encroaching what he refers to, with air quotes, as civilization, such societies are becoming harder to find and study.

Castle reminds him about the hair sample. Marvin picks up a printout from his desk and hands it to Castle while explaining his findings. The hair itself is what he'd expect from someone with European ancestry if generations back. The isotopes, however, are another matter. In his opinion, whoever sprouted it lived in Asia fairly recently, most likely in Russia west of the Ural Mountains.

Castle can't help grinning. Marvin's findings may not confirm all of his theory, but they lend it a lot of weight. If he can find out if there's a training center for spies in the area Marvin mentioned, he should be able to convince even his skeptical wife that he's on the right track. More important than that, he may be able to provide some useful information to pay back the CIA. He and Kate still owe the company for their protection of Kate, the unborn Jackson, and himself. It would be satisfying to be able to come up with some useful tidbits of intelligence in return. He might even make Jackson Senior, wherever he might be, proud. If there is a facility west of the Urals, it should show up on spy satellite photos, especially if an analyst is searching for it. He pulls out his phone and enters the code to reach agent Danberg.

A/N While an embryo from the same batch as Clapper's might be expected to be a fraternal twin, not an identical one, there are a couple of ways in which the scenario I've portrayed could take place. One is if a fertilized egg splits before implantation. This could theoretically occur on Day Two, at the two-cell stage. The other way would be if the embryo is artificially split at the blastocyst stage. This is considered ethically unacceptable for in vitro fertilization purposes because it can produce nonviable embryos. However, who knows what might happen at a shady lab? Somehow embryos were ripped off for use by a foreign adversary. That implies at least one bad actor. Either way, Clapper II would not be biologically impossible. How likely, dear readers, I leave to you. This is an alternative universe story.

During my teen years, I lived about five blocks from the Museum of Natural History in New York City. Nerd that I am, I remember a date with an even bigger nerd (the guy on whom the character of Dr. Morris in A Different Shade of Pale was based) to a lecture by Margaret Mead. She was a remarkable presence.