Chapter 2
Mickey D's
As they left Grand Central the morning commuters flooded the streets and sidewalks. Beckett and Castle had exited onto 42nd and Castle was talking away. For some reason he blindly started to walk out into traffic, Beckett instinctively reached out and caught his shoulder brief case. He was mid-step when she hauled him back onto the sidewalk, papers spilling onto the ground.
"Castle, are you trying to get yourself killed?" She stared menacingly at him.
"I, I was thinking about..." He stammered, looking at the papers that had spilled onto the ground.
"No, you weren't thinking, you need to pay attention." She realized she was now speaking to the top of his head, he'd knelt down to pick up the mess.
She knelt beside him in the crowd. Thinking, "this guy is Mister Magoo, he shouldn't be let out alone."
"Is this important?" she asked, calming her tone.
"Yes, very," But he didn't make eye contact.
It was nearly the last piece of paper, and Beckett held it out, it was a child's drawing, "Is this your daughter's?"
He laughed, "Yeah from years ago...I like to have it with me."
He looked at her for a moment, and then away, "Detective, its later than I thought, I need go."
"OK, ah, maybe we'll run into each other on the train, and..." but she realized she was speaking to his back as he slipped into the crowd.
"Good job Beckett!" she muttered to herself, "Why didn't you just cuff him to save his life." She huffed and started walking towards her office.
Upon arrival at the Precinct she sat at her desk, pushed papers around and re-thought the conversation, especially about how Castle scoured financials to keep his clients out of trouble. Maybe he could help. Maybe she had missed something. She pulled up the Lilly's case and started looking over the computer records.
XX
Castle arrived at his office early, despite his comment to Orletha's friend. He thought about the Grand Central scene again. He'd never walked out in the street before. He was never that distracted. If Alexis did that, never mind, she wouldn't. The cop just threw him off. She was too in his face. He only agreed to the conversation because of Orletha, but once they were alone, he wished he hadn't.
Work at Anderson & Webb had been good. From time to time he'd kick himself for not completing the CPA testing. But he reasoned, he was busy and didn't really want to add the task of studying for the tests to his daily schedule. But more than the testing he didn't really long for the accountant's life. They made more money, and yeah, they had more prestige, but they paid a price for the glory. He on the other hand was a financial detective, he lived in the trenches and liked it there.
His task was digging, searching records and figuring out the games the clients were playing. Numbers didn't lie, people did.
At the end of the search there was no drama, no arresting the client and taking them away. Just a subtle course correction, along with a stern discussion about how the IRS was always looking for a 'poster child', or some big fish to send off to prison under the bright lights of media cameras. The goal of Anderson & Webb was to prevent their client's from ever experiencing such humiliation.
His mind drifted back to the bulldog cop. She reminded him in some ways of Alexis' Mother, he called it the center-of-the-universe complex. Meredith had always been about Meredith and Alexis was only a footnote to her life story. But to him, Alexis was the story, she was the future. She was bright, intelligent and warm. He wondered at times if she had been switched at birth. She wasn't really like either of them.
Alexis' arrival had changed everything for him. He'd been having fun doing his thing. He'd gotten through college and was studying for the exams and then he met Meredith. They'd been hot and heavy until she found out she was pregnant, which brought an abrupt end to anything hot or heavy. Meredith immediately began worrying about her weight. Rick was worried about their unborn child. He had argued she could lose the weight later, but not remake the baby. He tried to get her to focus on what was important. In the end she conceded, but did so with reluctance and constant resistance.
The wedding had been a small affair. Her parents were not only displeased with their daughter being pregnant but also showing at the wedding. But worse was that they were not happy about the father of this child, Rick. That was always made abundantly clear.
Meredith had been raised in beauty pageants. She'd taken ballet as a young girl. Her parents wanted her to go far, not get knocked up. They'd pushed her into drama in school and then community theater auditions where she'd landed several roles. The parents hoped for the big screen for her, with them as her managers. Then along came the in-pregnantor, Richard Rogers. At times he wondered if they realized she had participated in getting pregnant, and that it wasn't a germ she'd caught from him.
He laughed to himself at this, he hadn't thought about Richard Rogers for a while or why he'd changed his name and where the dreams had gone.
His phone speaker interrupted his thought, "Rick you have a call. You want to take it?"
"Monica, just take message, please."
"Ugh, it's a cop, she sounds rather, you know, insistent." The assistants voice was apologetic.
"A cop! What? Why is a cop calling me? He asked incredulously.
"She says you know her, the name's Beckett."
"You gotta be kidding me!" He was silent as he considered what he should do.
"OK, put her through." Sounding resigned to whatever transpired.
"Mr. Castle, this is Kate Beckett from the 12th, I'm sorry to bother you but I was..."
He interrupted, "This is creepy Detective! I only met you a couple of hours ago, and here you are on the phone. How'd you find me?
"I'm a cop Mr. Castle, it's what I do."
"In two hours! And stop calling me Mr. Castle."
"Listen, I'm sorry about yelling at you earlier. I just was afraid you were going to get hurt and ..."
"No need to apologize for keeping another New Yorker alive for one more day." Trying to lighten the mood, and get the call over.
"Again no apology needed, but thanks for the call." Nearly ready to hang-up.
"Actually I called for another reason." She paused, wanting to approach him with her request, in the correct tone this time.
He took a deep breath, he'd said too much already. Orletha's suggestion that they talk ended up more like an interrogation. It just didn't have that friendly feel to it. He replayed the conversation in his head and tried to figure out if he'd given away something that was, not his to give. It dawned on him that she wasn't speaking,
"Detective?" He ventured, "Are you there?"
"I need your help." Her tone was kind, almost pleading. It scared him. The switch was so fast, he thought she might be just playing him.
"What...ah, what kind of help?" Cautiously taking the bait
"Today on the train you said you review records, financial records, looking for things...how did you say it, things out-of-place?" She waited but he said nothing, thinking, "Oh crap, he's gonna refuse."
She pressed on, "I have a case, it's unsolved, sorta like a cold case. Do you know the difference between the two?" She fished hoping he hadn't hung up and that she was not talking to dead air.
"I'm not sure I understand the distinction." He volunteered, still racked with the same sinking feeling.
"A cold case is one where there's not an active investigation. Unsolved is one that's still being investigated but on a limited basis. Like one that's still on my desk and that I keep looking at hoping for a break-through."
"I'd like to tell you a little about the case and see what you think."
"Detective, I'm not a cop, I'm essentially a bookkeeper."
She laughed, "I think you're disobeying Orletha and understating your abilities."
"Would you have time to stop by the precinct, say for a half-hour to look at what we have. I just keep feeling I'm missing something but don't know where to look."
"Just to entice you I can offer some of the worst coffee on the planet." She relaxed a little when she heard him chuckle on the other end of the line.
"I'd suggest we talk on the train, but the papers I need to show you, can't be reviewed in public."
Without taking a breath, "Mr. Castle, I mean Castle, I really need some fresh eyes on this case. Our conversation today made me think you might...be able to help."
"What time Detective?" He thought, at least he wasn't being questioned, he hoped.
"You tell me, I'll wait for you."
"It's Friday and we close early, which means around 4:30 usually. I could be there by between 4:30 and 5:00."
"Oh, Castle, I forgot you have a daughter. Do you need to get home early for her?"
"How did know about her?" The tightness returning to his chest.
"Hum, the drawing this morning and remember her pink sweater, the one falling out of your bag a few weeks ago? I overheard you and Orletha talking."
"I'm OK, my daughter just sent me a text, asking if she could have dinner with her friend, they're working on a school project together. So I'll be fine, but thank you for asking." His fears dissipated with her concern for Alexis.
"I'll see you later Castle, just ask for Detective Beckett at the front desk, they'll get someone to bring you up to my floor."
XX
Richard Castle stepped into the 12th Precinct lobby. He was greeted by a uniformed officer who directed him to a window, it looked thick enough to take a direct hit from a shotgun. He picked up the phone and spoke to a female officer behind the glass.
"I'm here to see Detective Beckett."
"Do you have an appointment?" A tone of disinterest in her question. She never bothered to make eye contact. do."
"What's your name?" Now looking at Castle like he was a bank robber.
"Rick, Richard Castle." He was nervous again, and wondered what he'd gotten himself into.
"Have a seat, I'll check and see if she's in." Pointing Castle to a line of chairs along the wall.
He sat and smiled to himself. This station was worse than he'd imagined, he wondered, how could anybody work in a place like this?
Before he could mull over the thought, a door swung open and a man in street clothes stepped out, looked at him and said, " You Mr. Castle?"
Rick stood and was ushered in. He immediately discovered the inner sanctum wasn't much better than the lobby.
"My name is Esposito, I work with Beckett." He stuck out his hand to shake.
"I'm Rick Castle," taking the mans hand.
They rode in silence to the third floor. When the door opened he was lead to a desk in the middle of an open office. Kate Beckett was talking on the phone but pointed at the chair next to her desk. He sat.
She hung up, "Mr. Castle, ah sorry...Castle thank you for coming in."
"Hope I can help." He'd decided to keep it all business, and then get out of there.
She stood pointing at a door and said, "Let's go over there, I've got things laid out for you."
XX
The Detective had placed files on a table in a medium size room. To Castle it looked like a place you saw criminals interviewed on TV. There were neat stacks in folders, but none were open. There were four chairs around the table, a door and two large windows, but instead of glass they were mirrored.
"One year ago we got a call and went to the apartment of a young bank teller, she'd been strangled. We did what we always do, as far as investigating goes, but quickly came to a series of dead-ends. I'd show you the crime scene photos but there's nothing really to see. At least nothing that I think would help you."
"Detective, I'm not sure I can help, or how I'd help." He looked directly at her and was struck by her green intent eyes. She pressed on.
"The bank provided her computer and a record of all activity for the last three months. We looked through those but everything looked, you know, normal just tedious bank business. Debits, deposits and the like, on a couple hundred bank accounts."
"What was the womans actual job?" Castle asked leaning forward, starting to be interested.
"Mainly she was a teller." Beckett stood and started to pace around the room.
"She also handled new accounts, did some PR things and then looked over random accounts to verify the accuracy of deposits and withdraws."
"Anything else?"
"No, Well maybe make a pot of coffee. But that pretty much covers her work with the bank. " She sat again.
"And you have those accounts she reviewed for the last three months?"
"I have a zip drive with the account records. We had to subpoena them, for the banks protection and only the police can review them."
Castle looked around the room. "You have a tablet or laptop so we can look at them?"
Beckett laughed, "We're lucky to have desktop computers," she stood and opened the door, "we're not a big dollar accounting firm, just lowly public servants."
He stood to and smiled at her joke, "So where can we look at them?"
"My desk," as they exited the room.
Castle took a deep breath, he didn't like the conference room, and was happy to move back to the larger office area. He wasn't even sure why they'd gone in the room in place, he glad to leave it behind.
Beckett pulled the chair beside her desk around to face her computer screen.
"Castle you take my chair, I'll sit here." Pointing to the chair he'd sat in earlier.
After sitting down, he asked, "Do you mind if I adjust your chair, I feel like I've been put in time-out."
She smacked his shoulder, and he surprised her by jumping. "Castle, calm down, of course you can adjust my chair."
She wondered to herself, where'd his guy come from? And then thought, he's either not at ease here, or not at ease with me.
Castle started hitting the page down arrow and zipped through the records faster than Kate could even read the pages. She wondered if he was simply pretending to look at things and would then head for the door.
Once through about a hundred pages he hit a couple of buttons and was again at the top of the set of documents.
Turning to face her he said, "These aren't the complete records."
"Why do say that?"
The summary columns are off. If it were an Excel sheet you'd be able to tell columns had been cut."
"I can't tell you if it means anything, but you'll need the raw records, without any editing to see what the teller was actually reviewing."
Beckett turned and looked at him. "Castle, you've been here barely 20 minutes and already found out my evidence is crap?"
"Detective, I..." but she cut him off.
"Castle, stop! Please just call me Kate or Beckett, but not Detective. I feel like your addressing Mother Superior every time you say it."
"Then...Beckett, I don't know if it's crap, I just know it's not complete."
"If you were to get a Balance Sheet, you need the supporting documents to verify how assets and liability are calculated. In the records we have, you'll need to make sure you have every column on the page is included or if one or two are missing, we end up in the dark. You know, like a checkbook."
"Speaking of checkbooks, did you find anything in the tellers?" His face curious as he waited for her response.
"It looked pretty mundane, but if you could, I'd appreciate you taking a look. I'll have to get it out of the evidence."
"Did the written and electronic records match?"
"I'm 99% sure they did, but you've stolen my peace now on my review of the evidence we have so far."
He laughed again and smiled, "I'll look them over next time."
"Thank you." She said standing, "Looks like we're stuck until I get you some non-crap evidence."
He laughed again, "We don't know what's crap and what's not yet!"
"You can call me when you get the rest. My office is pretty close but, you already know that, don't you." Now she looked away.
He stood and grabbed his old brief case, "I can find my way out."
"Castle, thank you. I really want to find this girls killer."
She smiled as he headed for the elevator.
XX
"Yo Beckett, who's that geek anyway?"
"Shut up! That geek may have just found our first lead on the Lilly Francine case." She shot back at her partner.
"No way, I'm surprised he could find his way to the elevator." Esposito laughed at his own joke.
"And Beckett, where'd you find him, under a rock?
"Espo are you having a sugar rush? Eating to many Junior Mints again?" Laughing at her partner as she watched him throw the empty box of candy into the trash.
Not to be outdone he quipped, "Hey, does doctor boy know you're trolling for nerds?"
She just glared and shook her head.