Chapter 21
A/N at end of chapter. Thank you once again ebfiddler, beta extraordinaire! Thank you for your help. I will get the hang of all the grammar, eventually...
Chapter 21
Bingo, Baxter's remaining stooge, was biting his filthy fingernails down to the quick as he sat alone in Interview Room One. There was a faint gleam of sweat on his shaved head and shaggy upper lip and his eyes never rested for more than a moment on anything in the room. Kate chewed her lower lip thoughtfully as she regarded him through the one way mirror. He was jumpy as hell. Nervous, bordering on terrified. Likely more open to talking and making deals than Baxter. If she played this right, they might get something useful before the morning was out. She watched her prisoner switch from his right thumb nail to his left and bite down.
"He's going to draw blood in a minute," Ryan mused from Kate's right, from which wafted the smell of cheap precinct instant coffee. He had just returned to the Twelfth after a very early morning shift keeping surveillance on Carmichael, and this was his second cup of coffee in about as many minutes. He had claimed that his need for coffee was so great, he didn't even have the strength to play around with Castle's coffee machine for a better cup. The smell was pungent and sour in the air. "Doesn't look like it will be too hard to get him to talk though."
"Trick will be to get him to talk sense. Guy like that's likely to say just about anything to get the heat offa himself." Espo added from Kate's left. She heard the soft grunt as Ryan acknowledged the truth of his partner's words. And that was the thing really, wasn't it? Kate thought, getting the man to give them the truth, rather than what he thought they wanted to hear. Because if he wasn't handled correctly his words might end up being as useful as Baxter's silence.
"Yeah. True," Ryan spoke again. "Still, we should get something without Carmichael hanging around to keep him quiet." Thanks to Castle, Kate thought.
"Yeah," Espo responded. "How long until his lawyer shows? - oh! Oh crap."
They all watched silently as the door opened and a uniform politely showed Bingo's lawyer into the room. It was Carmichael's attorney. Damn. Kate felt she should have seen that coming; it explained why the man was still in city. They all watched as the smartly dressed woman sat down by her client and opened her briefcase. Then she turned to the nervous wreck of a man beside her and spoke, lips moving silently - too quiet to be heard in the observation room.
"Damn, we need Castle back here to lip read for us," Espo said and he stepped closer to the window, as if that would help him decipher what was being said. Castle. Kate was feeling his absence this morning and with every passing comment like Espo's, it was becoming more acute. Quite apart from her worry for him this morning, he had become their fourth voice, and the conversation in the observation room was lacking without his exuberant presence. For a second, she allowed herself to be selfish and wish he was next to her instead of accompanying his mother to her audition. "What is she saying?" Espo spoke again, interrupting her self-indulgent moment.
"How should I know! That's Castle's thing." Ryan returned, sounding exasperated, but still so awed by their absent partner's hidden skills. "Our man Bingo is paying attention to whatever it is, though."
"OK." Kate had had enough of waiting. Every passing second in the company of his dubious legal 'representative' was reducing Bingo's usefulness to them. "So, now we know why Carmichael is still hanging around, but the moment he's sure his work is done here he will be in the wind. Kevin, you need to get back on him and stay there."
"Sure," Ryan said, nodding.
"Espo, I need you to dig into our favorite attorney here. She might be working for the same people as Carmichael. Let's find out who she really is." Kate took a breath. "I'll get started with Bingo here, before Ms Barnes digs her claws in any tighter."
"Right," Espo returned, and they all exited Observation. Kate headed straight for the door to the interview room and entered without hesitation. The whispered conference stopped immediately.
"Ms Barnes." Kate acknowledged the other woman with a nod. Bingo had stopped chewing his fingernails and was instead leaning towards his latest protector and smirking, his furtive gaze steady now with a new confidence. He watched Kate take up her position opposite him and sit. She placed her closed file folder in front of her.
"Detective Beckett." The attorney responded to Kate's greeting. " My firm will be representing Mr Dubois from now on, and I have notified the public defender to this effect. I want all materials pertinent to my client and the charges listed to be made immediately available to me. Here is my card." Patricia Barnes slid a crisp white business card across the table, pushing it towards Kate with a finely manicured finger. It was unnecessary, given that the lawyer had already provided a card when she represented Carmichael, but Beckett said nothing and the woman went on: "I will expect the aforementioned materials to be in my hand before I leave here today. I don't want to hear any excuses: justice delayed is justice denied, Detective." She paused for a millisecond, to let the swipe at the competency of Kate, her team and the Twelfth (maybe even law enforcement in general) linger. "We will of course be pleading not guilty to these ridiculous charges. My client was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, a victim of his own addiction, nothing more."
Kate resisted the urge to blink as Barnes brought her abrupt and forceful opening salvo to a sudden end and resumed her cool poised bearing across the table. She instead, made a show of unhurriedly picking up the other woman's business card and inspecting the embossed typeface with the same dour scrutiny she reserved for evaluating the long rap sheets of habitual offenders. Barnes was a formidable presence, her superciliousness not without justification, and she knew it. Kate and her partners had been shown up once already when she bulldozed them aside and secured the release of Carmichael. That could not happen again. If Kate was to succeed here, she would need to use every weapon, every defence, she possessed - even the petty and passive aggressive over-scrutiny of the business card.
"Yeah, victim of his own addiction!" Bingo, Mr Dubois, suddenly spoke up from where he was victoriously grinning beside his new bestest buddy. Kate wondered if he knew what he was saying and how he had just admitted guilt to one of the several charges he was facing. He pointed a finger at Kate's closed file folder, leaning forward over the desk. "Write that down, De-tec-tive. Victim of his oooown addiction. A vic-tim! Yeah, that's me!" Kate raised an eyebrow at the man, for Barnes' benefit not his. She blinked and shifted her gaze to the lawyer. Seriously?
"Mr Dubois," Barnes spoke, voice still calm and clipped, not appearing at all perturbed. "There is no need to speak to these people. They have wrongfully charged you and that will become clear in a very short time. I would ask that you simply sit back and enjoy the show." Bingo liked that. He sat back, as instructed, grinning more broadly now. Kate had to hand it to Barnes: she knew her man, and had immediately picked up that simple flattery, simple promises that he was protected and on the winning team, were all that were needed to gain his immediate co-operation. He was easily led. Suggestible. Desperate and none too bright, and therefore malleable. And Barnes had him in the palm of her hand.
Well, Kate tried not to smile herself as she opened her folder and looked down at the charge sheet and the copy of Bingo's prolific and mostly petty criminal record that lay there. Two could play at that game.
With an ease borne of long years of repetition, Kate ran through the formalities that would begin the official interview. She listed his charges: unlawful possession of controlled substances; resisting arrest; assault with a deadly weapon; assault upon public employees (i.e. police officers). All throughout Bingo didn't stop grinning, wolfish and giddy, so sure he was going home in a matter of hours. And maybe, somehow, he would be. Barnes had trumped them before, and maybe she would again. But if it came down to that - and Kate would do everything in her power to prevent it - then neither Barnes nor Bingo were going to leave this interview without her learning something from them.
"Well, Mr Dubois," Kate looked up from her folder, "you've gone up in the world it would seem. Until now, you seem to have been content with burglary, a few possession charges and quite a lot of acts of public indecency. What brought about the change? A life of petty crime too boring? Thought you'd step up with the big boys?
"Well, you have certainly achieved that. You are looking at double or even triple digits inside this time. No few months or years. And it won't be soft time either. This time it will be Rikers, with the really big boys. And this time when you go in, you won't come out until you are older than dirt."
Dubois was still smirking, but Kate did not miss the subtle tremor in the man's body that indicated that his leg had started bouncing under the table. His cheek twitched slightly and he folded his arms across his chest.
"Yeah, but I ain't going in -" he stated, chin thrust forward in defiance.
"Mr Dubois!" Barnes interrupted her client, her tone more cutting this time. "I remind you that you do not need to talk to these people. Now, sit back and let me do my job." Kate watched Dubois settle back in his chair, chagrined this time. Clearly embarrassed at being brought to heel publicly, and in front of a cop too. Kate did not miss the slight flash of anger in his eyes as glanced at his lawyer. Ah ha. She turned slightly, glancing to her side, before remembering with a pang that Castle was not there to share the observation. Squashing down a strange and sudden feeling of aloneness, Kate looked back at her file notes. Dubois' criminal record was filled with impetuous acts. Apart from his drug arrests and his brief stint as an informant, the commonality across all his crimes was impulsiveness. Hot-headed, rash and stupid with little to no consideration of consequences. She needed to prod him again. And quickly.
"And Detective Beckett, l expected more of you," Barnes continued. "Attacking my client, threatening him? You know better than that, or are you so short on actual evidence you need to trick my client into confessing?" Dubois blinked, startled, at Kate, then scowled as he realised he had been played. He folded his arms over his chest again.
"Not at all Ms Barnes. Your client needs to know the reality of what is facing him if he does not cooperate." Kate kept her voice calm.
"What is facing him is walking out of that door if you do not produce this evidence."
Kate nodded slightly and turned to Bingo.
"Very well then, Mr Dubois, let's start at the beginning. How do you know Mr Tyeis Baxter? He's a little out of your league I would have thought. The last time he was inside it was for assault. He took on three opponents at once, hospitalized all of them and destroyed half a downtown bar. He has a reputation as a hard man, an enforcer. He deals directly with some of the heaviest hitters in this city, Mr Dubois. What is man like that doing partnering up with someone whose last conviction was for," she made a show of checking his convictions, "public urination and other lewd acts outside a shopping mall?"
"Nah, nah, nah. Uh uh, De-tec-tive. You're trying to get at me again!" Bingo was bristling now, sitting bolt upright in his chair and shaking his head. He pointed his finger again. And fell into yet another obvious trap - admitting he knew Baxter, and moreover, that he was in that house with the man, not as an impulsive act of addiction. "Ty and me? Nah. Yeah, me and him, we go waaay back -"
"Mister Dubois!" Barnes interjected, finally showing some irritation as she drew out and emphasized the title, m-i-s-t-e-r. "I would remind you - again- to stay quiet."
"Remind you shit!" Dubois retorted, as Barnes stole away the man's moment yet again and tried to make him heel. In his agitation he thrust his finger in Kate's direction again. "She's getting at me and you ain't doing nothing about it! Some fancy assed lawyer, you can't even do your job. You s'posed to be protecting me, not sitting on your fancy ass talking all lah-dee-dah fancy ass lawyer talk." Bingo jabbed a finger at Kate yet again. "Now, she's dissin' me, telling me I can't be running with Ty, and you tell me I got to sit here and take it? And you don't say nothin'!"
"Yes, Mr Dubois, you are supposed to do just that! Don't let her get under your skin. I told you -"
Kate couldn't quite believe what she was seeing, or hearing. This was like shooting fish in a barrel; getting Dubois to lose his cool and buck Barne's control was far too easy. In fact, as Espo had warned, it might even become a task in itself to find that balance that would get the man to talk (despite Barnes' presence) without having him spin off into useless ranting.
Still, she had hit on a nerve and if she pressed, perhaps she might get more information before Barnes could rein him in properly and shut the interview down. And it looked like Barnes was getting ready to do just that.
"This is bullshit!" Bingo suddenly blurted out and slapped the table. "I want a different lawyer. One with goddamn balls!"
Oh, this was even better! Kate squashed the delight she felt before it rose to her face - now he wanted rid of Barnes. Bingo was all but handing himself over for breakfast. All by himself.
"Detective Beckett, I am requesting a break in the interview so that I may further consult with my client," Barnes said.
"Goddamn fancy ass lawyer talk!" Bingo interjected. "I don't need to talk to you no more. I want a different goddamn law-YER!"
"Mr Dubois," Kate snapped, catching his attention. "It is your right to seek alternative legal representation -" I will make every effort to help you get it, Kate thought.
"That will not be necessary Detective!" The hot shot lawyer interrupted her, finally looking a touch unravelled at how suddenly, and successfully, her witless client was managing to get rid of her.
"Don't you tell me what to do!" Bingo retorted. "I want a different lawyer. That guy that Baxter had, the tall skinny fella. What's his face: Carbuncle? Yeah. I want Carbuncle."
" As I told you," Barnes said. "I am representing you in behalf of Mr Carmichael because he is unable to be here."
"What the hell you talking about?"
"Mr Carmichael can't be here. I'm all you've got, unless you want the public defender back," Barnes almost roared at him, her eyes like razor blades, and the man stopped abruptly, his own eyes widening in alarm. Kate looked at him closely, thinking that this was not the first time he had been on the receiving end of Barnes' temper and it had unnerved him enough that he was stalled. Damn the man for being so easily manipulated. "Now, I suggest we take a moment to collect ourselves. Detective, five minutes if you will."
"Is this what you want Mr Dubois?" Kate pushed him. "It is your right to have someone else represent you." It was hopeless, though, the spineless man was rattled. He shrugged.
"I can talk to her I suppose." He said, then suddenly rallied his barely existent pride and added some golden words as he pointed his finger again: "But, just so you know: me and Ty, we go waaay back. We do. We hang out. Go for beer and watch a game. Get into some serious shit too. We do. 'Cause we're buddies, partners. Him and me: we're family."
CASTLECASTLECASTLECASTLECASTLE
Beckett left Dubois and his lawyer to 'talk' and headed back into the bullpen, mind latched on Bingo's words. One word in particular: family. It made sense. There was little else that would put someone of Baxter's criminal reputation with an idiotic, hot-headed petty criminal like Bingo Dubois. Family. Yes. But how? Brothers, cousins, nephew and uncle, linked through a relative's marriage? All her instincts told her that this was going to be the key, not only to making the right connections that would lead to good convictions, but also to revealing just who Carmichael was, who he worked for, and what he was holding over Baxter.
"Beckett, yo!" Espo called out as she neared their desks. He canted back in his chair, resting a hand on one armrest, an elbow on the other.
"Anything?" Beckett asked as she neared him.
"Yeah, but nothing tasty. Looks like Barnes is legit. Senior partner at Shaw and Perini on Park Avenue; long track record in the City as a big time defence attorney - she doesn't usually get involved in homicide cases, which is probably why we haven't heard of her. Very public profile though. Charity work all over. Pro Bono work up the wazoo. There's rumours she wants to run for Governor in a few years. She has a nickname too: The Shark." He shrugged. "There's no obvious link between her and Carmichael, or Baxter either. But her firm did sit down for lunch with Joey Barbero a month ago."
"Isn't he Mob?"
"He's connected, but not Family. He has some legit business holdings in the Warehouse District and a restaurant off Broadway."
"How legit?"
"Enough." Espo shrugged, gruffly apologetic at the lack of anything useful. Kate nodded. She had suspected as much. Barnes was just too sharp, she loved her work too much, to be obviously dirty - if she was even corrupt at all. "But no links I can see to Carmichael, Baxter or Baxter's victim."
"OK, good work Javi," she nodded at him.
"Anything from Bingo?"
"Yes, actually. Although not directly. He said something right after Barnes requested a break. He said that he and Baxter were family."
"As in crime buddy family? Old Neighborhood family?"
"No, I don't think so. There was something in the way he said it. I think it's more than that."
"You think they are actually blood?" Espo raised an eyebrow in open skepticism. Kate didn't blame him. Two more different men could not exist than the skinny impulsive Bingo and the silent man mountain that was Ty Baxter.
"I don't know. It's possible."
"In the Twilight Zone maybe."
"Maybe," Kate conceded. It was a stretch and Espo was entitled to his disbelief. But still the nagging feeling would not abate. This was important. This was key. "Still, I think it's something. More something than we've had in this whole twisted affair anyway."
"OK, Boss," Espo nodded. "I'll look into it some more. There was nothing at Baxter's digs, or in his records, that connected him to Bingo. But then, we weren't really looking for that. There could be something."
"OK," Kate nodded. "Time to go. Barnes' five minutes is up." She turned to leave, then turned back. "Oh, and check in with Kevin. Depending on what happens with our Bingo Dubois, I have a feeling Carmichael might be about to make his next move."
"Will do." Epso was reaching for his cell as she turned back to make the short walk to Interview.
When Kate re-entered the room, it was to a much different scene than before. Bingo was all but cowering in his chair, mouth pressed into a tight bloodless "no comment" line. If he had had a tail, it would have been between his legs. And Barnes was back to her confident cool self, poised with pen in hand and slight crocodile smile fixed in place. Damn.
"Mr Dubois is ready to proceed with the interview Detective Beckett," Barnes said.
The rest of the interrogation was a waste of time.
CASTLECASTLECASTLECASTLE
Kate sat back from her laptop with a sigh, and straightened up to stretch out her spine. Ugh. The human body was not built to be hunched over desks. She rubbed bleary eyes. On her laptop screen, the results of a fruitless morning were now glowing back at her in a crisp clear report friendly font. Barnes had shut Dubois down, reducing the man to a puppet that only knew two words of English: no and comment, and only in that particular order. Still, she had him partly hooked with his inadvertent confession to being at Baxter's safe house for the purpose of seeking and taking illicit drugs and to being linked to Baxter by more than just a place of arrest; and the eyewitness accounts of several police officers that Dubois had at least pointed his gun at them would keep him locked down until forensics could tell them if his firearm was responsible for anything else they could charge him with. And until they could dig up something more on Dubois' claim to family ties. As yet it was not clear what exactly that was, but the pull of family was strong; the motivation to create it, hang on to it, to protect it, was intense. She had investigated numerous cases where links to family had been the key motivator for the crime, or led to a key beneficiary. She hoped that whilst she was stuck doing paperwork, Espo's return to Baxter's and Dubois' residences was revealing more of this connection.
So, Bingo was back in custody, but Barnes had won.
For now.
Kate rolled her shoulders again, muscles stiff. She had to check in with the people Captain Montgomery had assigned to Castle's 'hate mail'. The detectives assigned had been briefed by Montgomery, and then later she had unofficially, quietly, briefed them further and more specifically. She had not looked at the content of the material that Gina had sent over, and wasn't looking forward to seeing or hearing about what craziness Castle was attracting. Mostly because she would want to go start arresting people, whether they had actually broken the law or not. But, she would look at it because, well, how could she not? As unlikely as she felt it was, if that murderer (or someone equally as dangerous) did turn up amongst the crazies and the trolls and was missed, she would never forgive herself.
So, as of right now, Espo was following up on Dubois' claim to familial ties with Baxter, and Ryan had reported in that Carmichael was still in the City - doing nothing as far as he could see. So that left her with checking on the mail team and finishing up her report and - oh crap!
Kate hunched down again with a jerk, and raised a manila folder in front of her face.
The auditor! The man that had been lurking around to check they were accommodating Castle's special needs, had just stepped out of the elevator. What was he doing back here? Wasn't he done tormenting her, them? She peeked over her folder. The man was looking around the bullpen, his clipboard folder raised, pen in his free hand poised as if he was about to mark the entire precinct down for failing to salute as he entered the room. Was he looking for round two with her? Crap. Crap. This was not what she needed right now. OK, so she had to just slip off her chair. Like that. Don't forget to lock the lap top. Going well. Keep the folder just so. God, this was so childish. She felt like she was thirteen again, hiding from a crush she was too embarrassed to talk to.
Just got to get... to the breakroom. And -
The door snicked behind her as Kate slipped inside the room and let her folder lower from face level. She immediately turned, peeked through the blinds that covered the window on the door, and saw the Mayor's man heading towards Montgomery's door. Oh thank god! She turned back and -
"Sir?" she squeaked, surprise raising her pitch in an undignified manner as she came eye to eye with Captain.
"Detective?" Montgomery responded, sounding strangely startled himself.
"Ah, I was just looking for someone to -" she floundered.
"- getting coffee. It's been a long morning-," he spoke at the same time, their words jumbling together.
They stared at each other.
So busted.
"Is he still there?" Montgomery suddenly said, moving up alongside her to peek through the blinds as well. Kate blinked: both busted?
"What? Oh, um, he's gone down the corridor. Looking for you I think," Kate said, breathing out her relief that she wasn't the only one playing hide and seek with the auditor, and watched Montgomery straighten up, letting the blinds snap closed. He exhaled through pursed lips.
"Security let me know he was on his way up," he said, looking chagrined and embarrassed at the same time, "and I just - And that man is just - !"
"Like a mosquito, sir?"
"Well put. Yes." His expression shifted from self-conscious to a confidence more fitting his Captain's rank. "I know it has to be done. Protocol. And it is right and proper that everyone's needs are met. And Bob really needs all his t's crossed and i's dotted right now, but... How is it coming with the Baxter/Carmichael investigation?"
"Not as well as I would like, but we have some leads."
"Good. Good. Castle made an excellent call with Carmichael, it would be a shame to lose track of him now. I look forward to reading your report. Keep me up to date Detective."
"I will sir - Sir?" Kate prompted as her Captain's attention was caught by something happening through the uncovered window to the right of the door. She turned too, fully expecting to see the auditor staring at them through the window. Instead her attention was caught by Castle as he charged between the elevator doors, not waiting for them to open fully, and into the bullpen. And the look on his face -
Oh my god... Oh no! Her breath caught in her throat even as she lunged for the door and wrenched it open.
"Castle?" Please let everyone be all right! Castle kept scanning the room, evidently not hearing her, then his eyes found his target and he came racing in her direction. He grabbed her upper arms, each finger digging into her flesh, panting, trying to speak and failing, and sucking in more air, coughing and wincing. He was flushed, sweating, eyes flashing with something that looked like -
"I - know -" he pulled in another breath.
"Castle, slow down. What do you know? Is it Alexis? Martha? Did something happen?" she demanded back, bending her elbows so that she could raise her own hands and grab back at him. She took fistfuls of his light woollen coat sleeves. They clung to one another.
Castle shook his head. "No, no. Ever-y-one OK. Just - ran all - way."
"From where? Why?" Kate asked, only comforted by degrees by his breathless reassurances. Castle shut his eyes and took a few long controlled breaths. When he opened his eyes again, she realised that rather than alarm, his wild-eyed look was burning bright with a familiar gleam: epiphany! Abruptly, she felt the full weight of her body again, and of his too as he leaned into her, as her knees wobbled with spent adrenaline and relief.
"I - know. What we - miss - Baxter!" He sucked in a breath and blew the exhalation out with slower deliberation; fighting to control his breathing. He grimaced with the effort.
"OK, Castle." Montgomery spoke from beside Kate and she startled at the sound of his voice. "Just calm down, take a moment. Then tell us." The Captain's quiet voice was gentle, but commanding, and Castle nodded, trying to regulate his breathing. They waited. Then -
"Baxter. I was waiting for Mother, at her audition. Thinking. Baxter." Castle drew in another breath, coughed and flinched, before continuing in a long uninterrupted stream of consciousness. "What motivates someone to kill? What motivated Baxter to kill? Can't be anything personal in it, as far as we know Baxter didn't know the guy. Had never met him. Then there's Carmichael: seems to be pulling some strings. And then I thought: I'm thinking about this all wrong. It's not about Baxter's motivation to kill. It's about his fear of talking about it." Castle coughed again as his breath started to run out, this time pulling an arm free to brace against his side. "Ow!"
"Castle-" Kate tried to interrupt the flow of words as his bruised ribs protested their abuse, but her partner was on a roll, only partially in the here and now. The rest of him was caught up in his mind, his face alight and intense through the beard scruff and bruises. It was so good to see that joyful mystery solving passion again that she let him brush her concerns for his injuries aside. And anyway, she was becoming infected with his excitement and she really wanted to see where his thoughts had taken him. She missed it. Even in the handful of days since everything blew up in their faces, she had already begun to miss this ebullient puzzle solving side to their partnership.
"So, I'm thinking: what made him kill and what made him afraid?" Castle went on. "Baxter doesn't strike me as the sort that scares easily, even when facing the huge sentence he is looking at, so it has to be something big. Really big. Bigger than his desires, bigger than his needs. So, it's not about money. That comes and goes. It's not about protecting his friends and colleagues, there's no need to fear that - that's a noble thing. It's not about what could face him inside: he's been there before and from what I understand he was amongst friends there. Can't be about Carmichael threatening him: that sort of thing is just a job hazard to someone of Baxter's ilk and Carmichael would have to know that Baxter would never voluntarily talk to law enforcement - on point of honor. So what could it be?
"Then, Alexis messaged me that Pinky was going to take over the worm, and it hit me-"
"Hold on, Castle: Pinky? Take over the worm?" Montgomery asked.
"Alexis?" Kate blinked, struggling to make any connection that made sense.
"Pinky and the Brain! The Cartoon!" Castle admonished them, as he waved both his hands around in exasperation. "It's not worm, it's world. And it was lucky she messaged me in the loft elevator, or I would have called out the National Guard. But... Don't you see what this means?"
"Not entirely sure I am following you Castle. Maybe you should sit down." Montgomery said and Castle released Kate's arm to wave off the suggestion.
"No, no. It means that Baxter has a -"
"Baxter has a kid!" Espo's voice barrelled right through them, blending with Castle's, as he strode rapidly across the bullpen to their little group, waving a file folder. Castle jabbed his finger in a 'yes!' motion, not at all upset at having his thunder stolen. Espo gave him a frown as he shouldered just passed the writer:
"Hey, Castle. You look like shi- er crap. Anyway, yeah, he has a kid. A daughter," Espo went on. Behind him, Castle punched the air in triumph and winced as his injuries must have protested. "Did some digging through Dubois' pad - I am never going to get the stink outta my clothes - and found a photo stuck to the fridge." He produced a polaroid and they all crowded around to see it. "You were right Beckett, Bingo wasn't lying about being family."
There in the photograph was Dubois, all toothy grin holding a can, next to a woman who looked so much like him it was unsettling. His sister? It seemed like they were at a backyard party of some sort, by the background clutter of streamers, stacked beer kegs and the people clustered around a BBQ. But it was the girl between Dubois and the mystery woman that captured Kate's notice. Standing tall between the two adults, an arm around the woman, the girl must have been all of 10 and still very much a child in her pink t-shirt and flowery headband. Her coloring and the shape of her nose was the image of the woman she was embracing- her mother, must be - but in every other feature Kate could see Baxter. The resemblance was startling in its strength. Still...
"Javi, this is a great find, but -"
"Check out the background, over Bingo's shoulder." Her partner said, eyes smiling with his own quiet triumph. Kate did as instructed and found the solid brick wall that was Baxter staring back at her from the group of people around the BBQ. But no, he wasn't staring at the camera, he was looking at the girl with an expression she had seen on Castle's face more than once when Alexis was in the room - a total and all-consuming adoration. She glanced up to see Castle recognizing the same thing, and she watched his expression slip from exuberant and triumphant to something much quieter and more thoughtful.
"He's protecting his daughter, Bingo's niece," Kate breathed, answering for them both. "That's why he's not talking, that's why he's scared."
"Carmichael is using Baxter's daughter to keep him in line," Montgomery concurred, nodding. "This is good work people. Do we know where this girl is? If we can find her, bring her in, protect her - "
"We might be able to get him to talk," Kate finished for him, nodding herself. This was good. "This just might be the key to everything."
"Let me talk to him. To Baxter," Castle suddenly spoke, still staring at the photo. He looked up at Kate, then Montgomery. "I can do it. Beckett. Captain. I can do this. Let me talk to him: father to father."
"Barnes will never let him talk, bro," Espo said. "And it would be too dangerous for Baxter's daughter to question - "
"I know," Castle interrupted him, holding up a placating hand. "I know. But I could do it unofficially. Just Baxter and I. In the cells if necessary."
"This is very sensitive, Castle," Montgomery chipped in. "Persuading Baxter to talk, despite what we know, is not going to be easy and a lot is riding on it being done right. Sharing fatherhood is not necessarily going to be enough to get through to him."
"I know." Castle said, nodding, expression serious. "But, I think I understand what he's going through -" Castle caught himself and took a breath. "I can do this, sir."
"Detective Beckett?" the Captain deferred to her with a prompt. It said a lot about the esteem the Captain held Castle in that he was even considering his proposal. Kate was surprised by that, and took a second to gather her thoughts.
"I think Castle could be an asset here Captain," Kate nodded, concurring. Even aside from her pleasure at having Castle returning to her side for the investigation, her partner was right about understanding Baxter's motivations - better even than the Captain knew. After all, he had been silently protecting his own daughter from harm all these years; hiding and shielding her from the murderous figure he had been victim to in the woods so many years ago. So, yes, Castle just might be able to pull this off.
"Very well," her boss said, looking at Castle. "You have already provided key inputs into this investigation - in more ways than one. A little more would certainly be appreciated. But, not alone. Detective Beckett will be with you. All the way. Just - don't provoke the man - again." The Captain suddenly glanced away from them, behind their huddle, then back at Castle. "In fact, while arrangements are made to talk to Baxter and find this daughter of his, you can starting being useful."
"What?" Castle asked as Montgomery pointed over his shoulder. The writer turned to see and was brought up short by a familiar suited man.
"Ah, Mr Castle!" The auditor beamed up at her partner as he hurried over to their huddled group, over articulating his words. Kate watched as Castle's eyes grew round. "Just the man I was looking for!"
End of Chapter
A/N: I wasn't really sure about this chapter. It was a tough one to write. I hope it works. Please R&R and let me know.