Very Castle Celebrations
Chapter 23
It is evident to Castle that the Zionist Times operated on a shoestring in 1969 and isn't doing much better now. The morgue indeed is a morgue, as in where newspapers go to die. There are no microfiche, and nothing was digitized until the publication went online around 2010. Until then, it was strictly dead tree with the emphasis on dead. Apparently, in the choice of paper, every expense was spared, with the high acid content turning back issues yellow and crumbly.
Castle slips an issue from May 1969 into a clear protective sleeve so he can handle it without destroying it. He doesn't have much time. Alexis is with Jackson, but she has two tutoring sessions scheduled for the afternoon. He needs to relieve her in two hours or less, and he promised Kate that he'd stop by City Hall to pick up the milk she expressed on her break that morning.
He pulls a magnifier lit by a circle of tiny LEDs out of his pocket. For a newspaper shot, the resolution of the black and white photograph he is examining isn't bad. With some help from old pictures Zev loaned to him, he is able to pick out Havah by her hairstyle, the shape of her nose and general body type. He imagines that a facial comparison program might be able to do better, but he's pretty sure he has the right girl. There are several flying body parts in the picture, and one of them is a fist approaching Havah's temple. He had half expected to see it attached to a young Beth, but it clearly belongs to a teenage boy. Is it Gidon? Why would he want to hit his girlfriend?
Castle notices what looks like a mark on the back of the hand of the boy aiming the blow. It could be a flaw in the picture, perhaps an artifact from the printing process, but Castle remembers noticing a birthmark on Beth's hand. If it is a family trait, one of her brothers might have one as well. He remembers the video sweep of Beth's office that he took for Kate. It included a group shot of the practice. If he recalls correctly, there is a copy of the same picture on the Kallen Psychiatry Practice website. He brings the site up on his phone and uses his thumb and forefinger to enlarge the image. He still can't make out the shape of the mark, but Beth appears to have one. So does her brother, Russell. Could he be the source of the flying fist? Castle can ask Kate to run background on Russell and then do some checking of his own when he returns to the loft.
Jackson is unhappy. It's not like Kate has never been out of the loft before, but he seems to sense the change in routine and doesn't like it. A fresh supply of Kate's milk from that morning helps a bit, but Castle can understand that it's not the same as cozying up to the source. Castle feels the same way. There's nothing like the real Kate Beckett. He decides to put aside his research and distract his son with a walk - the bumpier, the better.
The holiday storm provided a respite from the July humidity, and there's even a slight breeze blowing as Castle takes the route he knows has the most cracks in the sidewalk. It goes past the produce market which is always an interesting place. When Alexis was little, he used it to teach her shapes and colors.
He doubts that Jackson can retain anything he tells him, but he decides to go through the lesson anyway. The shop smells good, and the Castle household can always use some fresh fruit. Kate loves to pop grapes into her mouth, and he enjoys watching her. Sometimes he enjoys it too much. Unfortunately, the New York grape harvest isn't until August. Apples, cherries, plums, raspberries, and strawberries are in stock. He can make the lesson about red and purple, and he can undoubtedly portray round. As a bonus, Kate is pretty sexy eating cherries too.
Castle's chest expands as Jackson babbles an "ah" when he shows him an apple. It could be meaningless, but the boy may also have an oratorical future. In any case, the infant is in much better humor than he was when they left the loft.
When they return, Castle sets up the baby swing next to his desk. With Jackson's calm maintained by the rhythmic motion, Baby Daddy can get back to his research. Russell Kallen appears to be quite a bright light in the psychiatric community. He's published multiple papers. His specialty seems to be anger management in the workplace. Castle wonders if Russell's expertise with anger springs from firsthand experience. As tantalizing as his speculation may be, the academic treatises are of no help. Any profiles of Russell that accompany them are strictly professional, and there aren't any pictures.
Castle shifts to social media. Russell isn't on Twitter or Facebook. He does have a LinkedIn page, but it only has a headshot and his qualifications as a shrink. There has to be something else. If he was at the parade, could he be into folk dancing like his sister?
Booyah! Look who's on the board of the Society for the Support of Middle Eastern Performing Arts. There is Russell in all his glory, complete with a history of his interest in Israeli folk dancing. Sure enough, it dates back to his teen years. There's also an old picture of Russell executing a dance move in which the boy scoops the girl up in his arms. The mark is clearly visible on the back of his hand, but he doesn't seem to be enjoying the experience much.
Castle searches for more recent pictures of Russell tripping the folk fantastic. He finds him in a circle of men doing something called a Flying Horah. He is supporting another man who is being lifted off the ground by the force of the dance. The caption identifies all the dancers in the picture. Castle can feel his mouth drop open. The flying dancer clinging to Russell's arm and shoulder is Gidon Arad. Havah's forbidden love was named Gidon. It can't be a coincidence. Maybe the case was never Romeo and Juliet, perhaps it is Romeo and Mercutio. Castle continues his search, not discovering anything that will either support or disprove his theory, but Kate has access to information that is blocked to him.
He glances down at his son. "We both want Mommy to come home, don't we? You want to latch on and snuggle up. I wouldn't mind latching on either, both to her personage and whatever info she's managed to glean on my prime suspect. And I want to watch her eat some of those cherries you found so fascinating."
Castle can see Jackson's gaze shifting up at him. The baby babbles "eh."
Cherries? Could his son be trying to say cherries? He decides to run his own little test. He dangles a cherry in front of Jackson who repeats, "eh." Unfortunately for his theory, when Castle produces an apple, he gets the same response. So maybe the kid isn't a linguistic savant. It took a little while for Alexis' brilliance to assert itself. He'll just have to see what happens next.
