Very Castle Celebrations

Chapter 33

Three hours past breakfast Pete the Pervert signs onto his forum and scans the entries. Most of them are the same pond scum he's seen before, but one is a description of the seduction of an underage boy in a place called Pookakic. There have been many similar posts, but this one catches his eye because through his love of word puzzles he immediately recognizes Pookakic as an anagram of Kickapoo, Parcival's home turf.

While the location is disguised, if clumsily, as Castle researches the details, they track. There is a youth basketball league as described. The court used is at a recreation center that seems to match an image of a real one. The timing of the sickening event corresponds to when Parcival was on a home visit. Most nauseating is that the post gloats that it is not the first time that Stallion has made a move under the same circumstances. On a hunch, Castle Googles Parcival and Stallion. Sure enough, there was a stallion named Parcival. The horse in question was a champion in dressage - expert maneuvering. It's all falling into place.

Kate doesn't answer her phone until the fourth ring. She's been busy researching killings carried out with an Ari B'Lilah, not just in New York but across the country. It's been difficult because stabbings don't always list the weapon employed and she, with some help from Lanie, has been contacting individual medical examiners, starting with those at places Parcival has been known to vacation. So far, she hasn't had any luck. Castle suggests that she might use the Los Angeles suburb in California where the pharmaceutical company is headquartered as the center of her search. If the knife wielder is in their employ, it is possible that he pursued assignments the area.

He asks if she can take a break from tracking her assassin for a while to check out molestations in and around Kickapoo, especially anything relating to a boys' basketball team. Castle can hear the distaste in her voice as she promises that she will. At least she hasn't had lunch yet either. Whether he can choke down a meal or not, he has to feed Jackson. The weather has warmed up enough to allow his son to get in some time at the park, too.

Jackson has sharp eyes for whatever birds or furry creatures enter his field of vision. Castle suspects the boy notices just about everything. Whether that is a legacy from a detective mother or a novelist father, Castle doesn't know. It's entirely possible that it's both. In any case, Castle can use some fresh air - or at least what passes for it in New York City - himself. He is also craving a very long shower, but that will have to wait for what is becoming Jackson's increasingly shorter nap time.


Castle recognizes many of the faces of the mothers and fathers pushing strollers. He doesn't recall seeing the man sitting on a bench by the playground before. The lurker isn't doing anything threatening; he's probably harmless, but right now any unexplained presence around children makes Castle's skin crawl. He's always been protective - Mother would say overprotective - of Alexis, and alert to any potential danger to Jackson. But this mind-numbing unease is different, and he hates it. He feels like just by making electronic contact with the evil that menaces the young, he's been contaminated and should be scrubbed down by the men in the hermetically sealed suits. He's hoping the feeling will fade once he can step back from his stomach-roiling research.

The lyrics to "Urgent," emanate from his pocket. That's Kate with something that can't wait. She doesn't even bother saying hello. She just tells him that the perpetrator of a stabbing with an Ari B'Lilah has been arrested in Costa Mesa, California. A victim he left for dead, recovered enough to tell the police who stabbed her. The suspect, Benyamin Nussbaum, demanded a lawyer, who subsequently asked to make a deal. From what Kate has gathered, Nussbaum wants to flip on his employer. The D.A. is supposed to be working on it.

It's the best news Castle has heard in a while. If Nussbaum's employer turns out to be the pharmaceutical company, the ties to Parcival will be reasonably easy to uncover by following Parcival's record and the money trail. Once he gives Kate everything he's found, to turn over to the appropriate authorities, he can climb out of the slime pit for good. For good measure, he's going to get rid of the hot spot that's giving him extra IP addresses and get the hard drive of his auxiliary computer wiped. He wants no trace of contagion remaining in Castle territory.


It takes a few days, but Nussbaum's revelations are splashed all over the media. They were picked up first by the Orange County Register, never a booster of Newcomb but known for its independence, then spread through the web and across the country. Vice President Parcival attempted to take off for a fact-finding mission in the Middle East but was turned back by the Israeli government, which was apparently trying to distance itself from the political fallout of the investigation as much as possible. It will take time, but an indictment is pending, and under the watchful eyes of the Secret Service, Parcival will be unable to disappear. The "Stallion" will rear no more. Three executives at the pharmaceutical company have been arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit multiple homicides.


The savory aroma of turkey is drifting through the loft. Castle put the huge bird in the oven at 6 a.m., to make sure that it would be both cooked and rested in time for an afternoon feast. The family all arrives. Cary is with Alexis. They will be joining his parents for an evening meal, so they will be avoiding completely stuffing themselves, but should be able to enjoy the celebration nonetheless.

Kate has been in her glory, gleefully crushing Oreos to make a crust for a triple chocolate ice cream pie. Alexis donated the classic pumpkin variety of the pastry treat and Castle proudly crafted his offering with pecans, some of which also show up in the salad. Jim Beckett brings a sweet and creamy corn casserole, and Mother puts together a tray of raw vegetables, a task during which she could do little damage to Castle's gustatory sensibilities.

After Jim Beckett leads the gathering in an ecumenical version of grace, Jackson screws up his face at the tartness of cranberry sauce but proudly covers everything in range of his fingers with mashed potato studded with bits of turkey.

Kate's father also shows a flair for Pictionary, with artistry his daughter lacks. Castle and Cary are almost evenly matched in speed, but Castle's skill with words eventually gives his team the advantage. Jackson is fascinated with the proceedings. Castle wonders whether it is the drawing, the words or just the excitement that is capturing the baby's attention. Kate speculates that it may be all three.

The highlight of the celebration occurs when Jackson becomes the center of attention, having chosen to walk for the first time, in front of as large and appreciative an audience as possible. A forest of cell phones blooms as pictures and videos are captured en masse and shared with the entire assembly. Castle is sure of one thing. Whatever else Jackson may have inherited, his flair for drama comes straight from the Rodgers side of the family. For at least the next 18 years or so, his son will aim solidly for center stage.

A/N Guest, I guess you missed what I said the first time. Castle never looked at kiddie porn. Did you think he would? It was a forum, not a porn site. He never solicited a child and never admitted to a crime. His name was not on it, and he wasn't associated with the IP address or the machine ID. Why would the cops bother going after him and what judge would allow them to uncover his identity without any evidence of a crime? I would not know if the perverts post those pictures or not. Just to research it could be a crime. But my understanding is that the controls are much tighter on kiddie porn sites just because they are illegal. Discussions are not. So for the purposes of this story, we will assume this is just a forum. I'm sure lots of us have been on forums of one type or another. I have, and I can't recall anyone posting a picture.