Shared Obsession Chapter 40

Kate sits quietly in her unit outside the Davidson house, gazing at the now-empty front yard. "Are you sure you want to do this?" Castle asks.

"Want to? Of course, I don't want to, Castle. Those kids lost their mother and their father, and now they could lose their grandfather. You get to decide how your books come out. But in the real world, cops don't get to decide how the story ends." Kate slowly opens her car door. "Are you coming?"

"I told you I wouldn't let you do it alone."

Ben Davidson opens the door. "Detective Beckett. Mr. Castle. Did you get the evidence that Sam killed my daughter?"

"We did, Sir," Kate replies. "We talked to everyone involved and put the pieces together – including a piece that wasn't in Detective Sloan's report."

Ben nods. "I see."

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to come to the station with me."

"Who is it, Hon?" Julie Davidson calls from inside. She joins Ben at the door, immediately reading his face. "What is it, Ben?"

Playful giggles float toward the front of the house. "Take care of the girls, Julie. Detective Beckett and Mr. Castle have confirmed what we suspected. But I have some business with them to take care of in the city. I'll call you," Ben promises.

"So you came after me because I asked Ms. Marsh about a freezer?" Ben questions, from his seat in the box.

Kate fingers her folder. "Not any freezer, Mr. Davidson, the one your daughter's body was in."

Ben leans forward, clasping his hands on the table. "For the moment, let's assume that what you say is true. What's the charge?"

"If Ms. Marsh's answer led to Sam Cavanaugh's death," Kate answers dully, "then the charge would be murder."

"Detective Beckett, Mr. Castle, unlike you, I actually knew Sam Cavanaugh. I was there when he ranted about my daughter. I could see the look in his eyes. After Melanie disappeared, I went over and over everything in my mind. What Sam said, how he sounded, and the way he'd looked at Melanie during their last times together. It wasn't the way a man looks at a woman he loves. All I could see was resentment and anger. And that anger grew. So I came to the same conclusion that the two of you probably did, that Melanie never left that apartment alive. Ms. Marsh merely confirmed what I already knew."

"That your son-in-law was a killer," Kate responds.

"But if you figured out what Sam had done, why not just go to the police?" Castle asks. "He would have gone to prison for the rest of his life."

"Would he?" Davidson retorts. "If you talked to Sloan, you know how dismissive the cops were of any theory except that Melanie got back into drugs and took off to join her junkie boyfriend. I can see it on your face, Castle. You know what could have happened, what probably would have happened. And then if the police did arrest Sam, his lawyers would have taken one look at Melanie's history and put her on trial. Are you a father, Mr. Castle?"

"I have a daughter."

"Can you imagine putting her through something like that? I couldn't let it happen."

"So you took matters into your own hands," Kate asserts.

"You can certainly see how a father would want to. How he might follow his daughter's murderer one dark night, and pick a time when no other people were around. How he might confront him with a gun he'd brought back from the war. He might even promise forgiveness in exchange for the truth, but hearing the killer's admission, be overcome with rage. Every time Sam brought the girls to see us, I watched a little bit of my wife die. A visit from your grandkids should be life-affirming, not a reminder of how your only child was murdered."

"Killing him wasn't the answer," Kate insists, not entirely sure she believes her own words.

"I never said I killed him," Ben replies. "I said a father might be justified. The police told me Sam was shot in a robbery, and without evidence, there was little chance his killer would be brought to justice. So I guess we'll find out if that's really true. I'd like to see a lawyer now if I could."

As Kate runs her fingertips over a picture of Melanie, Castle drops into his accustomed seat next to her desk. "Do you think the DA will charge Davidson?"

"He was right when he said he didn't confess. Putting that whole thing as a hypothetical doesn't implicate him. It just makes him an angry, grieving father. The DA would be committing political suicide to charge him on that basis. But there's the gun. It's definitely the type he would have used in the service. If the DA decides to get a search warrant and finds it at Ben's house and the bullet matches what killed Sam, he might be able to get a conviction."

"Couldn't you get a warrant?"

"It's a closed case, Castle. And I have nothing but a hypothetical to base one on. Even if a judge would buy that, which I doubt, Ben's smart enough to have ditched the weapon. There are enough bodies of water around Westchester County to ensure it could never be found."

"You think that Ben will get away with murdering Sam. So why did you bring him in?"

"Because there were questions I couldn't let go unanswered, Castle. I'm not the kind of cop Sloan is. I had to know the answers. Now I do. What happens next is up to the justice system."

"Will that be justice?" Castle asks.

"I hope so."

"So do I. But I know one thing I need to do, call Alexis. She misses me."

"How do you know?"

"Spidey-sense." Pulling his phone from his pocket, Castle strolls away toward the stairs. "No, Sweetie, everything's fine. I just wanted to touch base. You got it. Strawberry face smiley pancakes for tomorrow's breakfast. Mwah! Later." Returning to his spot, he finds Kate staring at a text. "What?"

"It's from the surveillance team. Lochlan Jackson is out in the park running by himself, no civilians to get caught in a crossfire if things get ugly. They want to know if they should pick him up." Kate types a terse reply.

"What did you tell them?"

"To engage."

Kate and Castle peer through the one-way mirror in Observation. From his relaxed posture in the box, Jackson could be watching TV or ordering lunch. That he's handcuffed to the table doesn't seem to affect his expression. Castle leans close to the glass. "He's too calm, Beckett. Didn't the cops who picked him up tell him he was being arrested for murder?"

"According to them, they did. They went through the whole Miranda thing, and he's already been processed."

"Then he's either a psychopath or confident that he can get off the hook somehow," Castle asserts.

"Or both," Kate considers. "But he hasn't asked for a lawyer. Actually, according to the team, he hasn't said one word except a yes to acknowledge his rights."

"So at least we know he can talk. What's the game plan?"

"I have Ryan and Esposito searching his apartment. We can let him sit there until I hear from them. Then I hit him with the DNA evidence and anything the boys might turn up. After that, you know the drill. I suggest that the only way he can help himself is by flipping on his boss."

"Do you think he'll do that?" Castle wonders. "No one has so far."

"There's a first time for everything. But look – oh no!" Foam covers Jackson's lips as his eyes roll back in his head and he slumps to the table. "Get the medics!" Kate shouts back to the bullpen before rushing into the box. But even as she does, she's afraid it's too late.