Very Castle Celebrations

Chapter 32

Between rotating IP addresses and a new computer, Castle has managed a reasonable disguise of his identity. It wouldn't fool law enforcement for long, but it should serve to give him an in as Pete the Pervert. He's worked his way well into a bottle of antacids while working out the predilections of his online avatar. His gut wrenches every time he thinks of someone like the deviant he's creating ever getting anywhere near Jackson.

Pete has a preference for boys whose secondary sexual characteristics are just developing. He likes the beginning traces of facial hair and is totally turned on by the squeak of a changing voice. He tells a sad tale of wanting to use video arcades in malls as hunting grounds, but with the malls disappearing, being reduced to thinking about pizza parlors that specialize in children's parties and still feature a wide array of games. That would add the additional complication of alert parents and staff members.

Pete also posts his wish of becoming the assistant coach for a boys basketball team in a depressed neighborhood. For the most part, the boys would come from single-parent families, with the breadwinner, usually the mother, often working two jobs just to get by. On many afternoons the boys would be left completely in his charge. He wishes he was grooming one he'd found promising as a sexual partner, now.

The tummy pills are no longer doing the trick and Castle runs for the bathroom. Insinuating himself into the sick society he's chosen as the place to gather his clues is going to be more painful than he imagined, but he's hoping that his efforts will not only serve to bring down Parcival but others of his ilk. Who knows how many of them are lurking in sports groups, youth organizations, schools, and among the clergy?


Castle has to take a break while both his stomach and his mind settle. Jackson is happily engaged in his new activity ball gym. Castle took a safety gauge to every single one of the 30 balls to make sure there was no chance Jackson could swallow one, but now that he's satisfied his son will be safe, enjoys watching him master the various activities. An added bonus is that even though Castle can see everything the baby is doing, the walls of the enclosure are too high for Jackson to breach - at least this week.

While Jackson is occupied, Castle starts planning Thanksgiving. Usually, he starts the day after Halloween - if not before - but he's had to give a little on all the holidays since Jackson was born. That's been OK. Family has always been the most crucial part, and this Thanksgiving will be no different. According to Kate, her father will be returning from the seminars he's been teaching in London in time to attend the family celebration. Mother's play will be dark on Thanksgiving so she can be present as well. As a civilian, Kate won't be obliged to put in a shift, Alexis will be on a break from school, and Black Pawn will be closed. Jackson may be able to manage his first bites of turkey and will love the mashed potatoes, both to eat and to indulge his artistry on his high chair tray.

Castle puts in an order to get a fresh turkey shipped overnight from Amish country in Ohio to New York. He and Jackson can do the produce shopping together. Alexis will probably take charge of dessert, but if she doesn't, he and Kate can collaborate on pies. She likes taking out her aggressions by banging cookies into crumbs for sweet crusts, and he has developed the perfect mixtures for fillings.

Entertainment will be another consideration. No one in the group is a fan of the football games that fascinate a lot of American families following the ritual feast. Castle is thinking tabletop amusements, but none with any pieces small enough that Jackson might grab them and shove them in his mouth. That lets out almost anything with tokens or dice. Cards of one sort or another would be fine. The most Jackson would do would be to mouth the corners. Or they could move away from the table to charades, Pictionary, or Balderdash. Somehow, he can't picture Jim Beckett letting loose enough to play charades and Mother would have an unfair advantage. The word games will work. He'll just have to remember to set up a whiteboard they can scribble on.

Decorations are a conundrum. Anything he can put up high will be fine, but scented candles or arrangements of autumn leaves on tables would be a terrible idea around his endlessly curious son. He does have some twinkle lights in fall colors put away somewhere. If he can find them, they should add to the festive atmosphere.

He's procrastinated long enough. He needs to post to the "They're Best While They're Fresh," website. At least now his stomach is empty.


Kate has some exciting news. Her task force has uncovered two cold cases in which the victims were found in a very similar condition to the way Lisa was. Not only were they shoeless, but they also appear to have been killed with the same type of blade - an Ari B'Lilah. The knife was developed for all kinds of military and law enforcement purposes in Israel and has no real civilian equivalent. That makes perfect sense to Castle. The pharmaceutical company that has been funneling money to Parcival started in Israel before moving its headquarters to California. An assassin who did time in Israeli forces of one sort or another would be a logical suspect. Almost everyone who comes of age in that country is required to serve. There would have to be at least a few bad apples.

Castle likes the path of Kate's investigation a lot better than his own. The killer is someone with Israeli roots who has been in the U.S. for some time and is allied in some way with the pharmaceutical company in question. Tracing that back to Parcival is a lot more palatable than exploring the vice president's other activities.

Still, whether Parcival is ultimately responsible in some way for Lisa's death or not, if Ward was right about him that fact must be uncovered and exposed - but not tonight.

Kate's decided to prepare her Nonna's meat sauce to top linguine. That will be an event to be savored. He can help out with the salad and some crusty Italian bread that Jackson can teethe on. He can also get the fresh fruit washed and ready for dessert.

While Castle normally does most of the culinary chores - and did even before his wife returned to work - Kate seems to genuinely relish her time in the kitchen. Even before they were together, she told Castle about the Sunday brunches Johanna used to make for her family. Perhaps between her grandmother and her mother, some of the joy of cooking rubbed off. Or maybe she's just trying to compensate for the time she has to spend away from him and Jackson. It could be both. Whatever Kate's reasons, she takes on a glow that Castle basks in while she's standing over a saucepan. And happily, sometimes her propensity to stir things up lasts well into other heat-related activities they can pursue together.

A/N Guests, Castle is not viewing kiddie porn. I never even mentioned kiddie porn in this story except as part of a Drake Bentley tale where they got the bad guy. Castle is not relating any real events. His avatar is expressing fantasies. That is not illegal, just disgusting. When the cops who hang out in chat rooms collar someone, it is in relation to an actual crime, such as showing up to meet with a minor. Essentially, they conduct a sting. If Castle catches wind of a real plan for any crime or sees a confession for one that has already been committed, he will, of course, pass the info on to the cops, probably through Kate or Ryan. I think I've also made it clear that Castle made himself hard to trace unless law enforcement got very serious about it. Even so, they would need a warrant to get info from the provider of the secondary internet link he's set up. They would have very little basis to obtain one. They'd have a lot of bigger fishes to go after. And when you get right down to it, Castle has committed no crime, and that would be pretty damn easy to prove. He hasn't done anything or conspired to do anything, and his whereabouts would be entirely verifiable.