A/N As always big thanks and lots of beer go to Crys, once again she turned this into something bearable to read.
Chapter 5 – The Photo Shop
Kate ran her hand through her hair frustrated. The partial print had been a bust; not enough points on it to return a match from the database.
Then there was the victim. The guy was a ghost. All of the IDs they had found were fake. Each one with a new alias, therefore they had nothing, it was like he never existed in the first place. No family, no friends, no known associates.
Kate's only hope was that the ME could deliver something more after the autopsy. She went to the brake room for a coffee, hoping to gain some time to herself to help her think of what to do next. She was no good at sitting around waiting for things to fall into her lap.
Time for herself at the precinct had become very rare since Castle had walked into her life a few weeks ago.
"So, any ideas?" Think of the devil...
"No Castle," Kate retorted letting out a groan of frustration, "At this point in time I'm even willing to listen to one of your crazy theories."
"I was actually going to propose going back to the crime scene. Maybe walking around there, retracing the victims last moments cloud help us get somewhere?"
"I can't see how, CSU is going through the entire apartment with a fine toothed comb, if there's something else there, they will find it."
"It's still better than sitting here waiting. For what I've seen in the last weeks, I'd say you're not the kind of person who likes to sit around waiting for things to happen."
Kate took a sip of coffee, looking with narrowed eyes at Castle. She hated it when he pointed out her character traits, especially when he was right. "Fine, if it gets you of my back, we'll go."
"Great!" Castle beamed like a child who had just received a birthday present, "You know, there is this amazing pastry shop on the way there, they have the most delicious bear claws..."
Kate looked at him rolling her eyes, "We just had lunch. You're already hungry?"
"I didn't get desert," Castle said in mock hurt.
"Unbelievable"
Kate parked the car nearby and they exited heading for the crime scene.
Having talked Beckett into calling in at the bakery on the way, Castle was holding his huge bear claw, scarfing it down at an alarming rate.
"I can't believe you're eating another one," Kate said shaking her head in disbelief.
"It's not my fault you didn't want yours. It's a shame to throw away such a precious delicacy."
"I didn't ask you to buy me one."
"It's your loss," Castle said taking another mouth full.
Kate looked at him grimacing. "Really, how much more sugar do you need?" she asked keeping her voice low.
"What?"
"Nothing, just finish your bear claw so we can go to the scene."
They stood at the entrance to the building while Castle happily polished off the rest of the pastry and a very frustrated NYPD Detective waited for him. He took his time, fully knowing how much more annoyed Kate was becoming with every passing second. He just loved to push her buttons.
It was then however, that he noticed something on the other side of the street, directly opposite the building. "Detective Becket, look at that."
"What?" she snapped at him.
"Really Beckett, look. The camera store across the street."
Reluctantly, she looked as Castle asked and after a few seconds she noticed what he was trying to show her. "There's a surveillance camera pointing this way. I don't remember seeing it when we first came here."
"That's because it was pointed towards the store entrance when we arrived this morning," Castle said popping the last bite of bear claw into his mouth triumphantly.
"That is odd," Kate frowned, "let's pay a visit to the store and talk to the manager. Perhaps something good may come out of this useless field trip after all."
"And if it doesn't, at least I ate two amazing bear claws." Castle said grinning.
They crossed the street and entered the store. Kate took a quick look around, but there was no one in sight. The store appeared to be unattended.
She did however notice three more cameras. One was pointed at the counter, another on the back wall of the small store, probably offering a wide angle view that would capture most of the shop, while the last was behind the counter and would be directed at any customer approaching it.
"Excuse me," Kate called, looking towards a door that presumably to lead to an office in the back.
"Oh my God, these are all vintage cameras!" Castle said picking one up from an accessible shelf.
"For God sakes Castle! Do you have to touch everything? Put that down!" Kate admonished just as an African-American man in his late 50's appeared from the office.
"You have very good taste sir," he said to Castle, "That there is a Hasselblad 500el, it's the very same model NASA used during the Apollo program."
Castle looked in awe at the camera, "You mean this was the camera they used to take pictures on the moon?"
"Not that one particularly, since it was manufactured in 1982, but it's the same model. They say the astronauts left twelve of those cameras up there."
"That is so awesome!" Castle said beaming at Kate.
She looked at him, her eyes narrowed and ready to say something back, but then she decided that ignoring him would be a better option. Instead she turned to the man behind the counter. "I'm sorry sir, we're not here to do business."
"Speak for yourself," Castle said still intently studying the camera.
Kate ignored him again and continued to speak to the man, showing her ID, she introduced herself, "Detective Kate Beckett, NYPD."
"Curtis Owen. What can I do for you Detective?"
"Are you the owner of the store?"
"Yes I am mam, it's been mine for the last 24 years. If my son had his way though, he'd have had me sell it a long time ago, 'No one cares about old film cameras anymore dad,' that's what he keeps telling me." The old man said with a sad smile. "He doesn't understand how hard I had to work to open this store. Photography was always a passion of mine, has been since I was a kid. For me it's not only taking the picture or even capturing a moment in its perfection through your composition, it's also about what comes next; developing the film in a dark room, the skill of achieving the perfect exposure, of seeing the picture take shape in front of your eyes. You cannot photoshop those experiences Detective.
"Anyone can take photos with a digital camera or those fancy new smartphones everyone uses these days, but taking a good picture on film, not everyone can do that and it's worth a thousand digital images."
Kate smiled back at Curtis, amused by the old man's rant.
"But you're not here to listen to me ramble about photography, are you Detective?"
"No, I'm not Mr. Owen, but I think you're right about old cameras and the merits of using film." That earned her a full smile from Curtis, before she pressed on with her enquiry. "I was wondering about that surveillance camera you have outside, does it often face the building on the other side of the street?"
"Those damned kids," he mumbled and immediately disappeared back to the small office.
Kate looked at Castle in surprise at the old man's reaction. "What's got into him?"
Castle shrugged also surprised by the old man. He didn't have time to answer because soon after, Curtis appeared from the office with a small ladder, marching outside with Beckett and Castle in tow.
He quickly set the ladder, making sure it was securely adjusted before climbing. "Local kids, they think it's funny to turn the camera, this is the third time this week," he explained at last.
"I'm sorry Mr. Owen, but can you tell me which direction your camera was facing last Tuesday?"
"To where I'm going to point it now Detective," He answered as he climbed and set to work to re-adjust the angle of the camera to once more cover the entrance to the store.
Satisfied with the positioning, Curtis descended and then stepped off the ladder, "May I ask why are you so interested in my camera?"
"We're investigating a crime which occurred in the building on the other side of the street. When we saw that your camera was turned that way..."
"You were hopping I had footage of that building," Curtis concluded before Kate could finish.
"Exactly" Castle said has they went back to the store.
"From that camera, it would be hard to have footage of any kind," Curtis said chuckling.
"Why is that?" Castle asked.
"Because it's a fake."
Castle and Kate looked at each other in disappointment. "Well I'm very sorry to have bothered you Mr. Owen. Anyhow, thank you for your help," Kate headed for the exit motioning for Castle to follow her.
"I didn't say that I didn't have any footage, Detective."
Kate and Castle stopped in their tracks.
"You just said the camera was a fake and that's the only one you have outside. The other three cameras you have inside wouldn't have a view of the building. That is if they're not fakes too."
"They are also fakes, Detective." Curtis confirmed with a grin.
Kate was starting to feel the frustration of having no leads and Castle's continuous efforts to annoy getting to her. On top of that now she had to deal with added layers of contradictory crypticism from Curtis, which was serving only to great on her already agitated nerves. All she wanted was for him to get to the point and explain what he meant.
"Mr. Owen, please, could you get to the point?" she said sounding a bit harsher than she had intended.
"Well, someone got out on the wrong side of the bed this morning," the old man replied taken aback by Beckett's reaction.
"She's been like this all day. You have no idea what I have to put up with," Castle said in a sympathetic tone.
Kate turned to Castle, shooting daggers at him with her look. Then she looked back at Curtis.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to be harsh, I apologise. But please, would you care to explain what you mean by, and I quote, 'I didn't say that I didn't have any footage.'"
"It's okay Detective we all have our bad days" Curtis said in a sympathetic tone "You see, last year I had a brake-in here at the store. Those who did it sprayed the security cameras with black paint making the footage useless in attempting to identify them later. Thank God, they only took the money I keep in the small safe I have in the back office. They left the camera stock untouched. They had no idea of how much they're worth."
"Don't tell me you installed new hidden cameras after that break-in and left mock shells as decoys?" Castle said excited.
"Exactly! You see that old Ensign Selfix 820 over there on that shelf, with the back facing the store window?" Curtis pointed to the one he meant.
"The viewfinder of that camera is actually one of those new wireless cameras. It transmits to a computer that I have in the office. My son is a tech buff, he installed it for me after the break-in. I have another one displaying the door and three more monitoring the inside of the store. The devices at door and in the store window should give you a good perspective on your building entrance, Detective."
Kate was surprised by the old man's resourcefulness. "And you have footage from last Tuesday?"
"The software my son installed keeps the footage on the computer's hard drive. Every Monday I copy the previous week's footage to DVD to free space on the hard drive. It should be no problem getting what you require," Curtis said smiling at the Detective.
"Can you copy the footage from last Tuesday, from around 9am to midnight?" She asked just before their conversation was interrupted by her phone. "Excuse me," she said turning away to answer, "Beckett"
"Yo Beckett, where you at?" Esposito asked.
"I'm with Castle checking a possible lead near the crime scene."
"Good, you better get over there ASAP. Sandy from CSU just called, they found something interesting."
"Great, thanks Espo," Kate hung up and turned back to Curtis. "Mr. Curtis, we have to go, but if you could provide a copy of the footage from the period I mentioned, we would appreciate it very much. Can we come back latter to pick it up?"
"Sure, no problem Detective Beckett."
"Thank you sir," she turned once more starting for the door. "Let's go Castle, CSU found something on scene."
"You go, I don't mind staying here with Mr. Curtis. I can help him sort out the right footage to copy. You can pick me up when you finish."
Kate furrowed her brows, still she decided not to comment on his decision. "Suit yourself Castle," and with that she exited the store and made her way to the victim's apartment.
When she arrived there she was spotted by Sandy, who greeted her, "Detective Beckett, welcome back."
"What have you got for me Sandy?"
"Well, we almost missed this," She said holding up a ziplock back containing a small scrap of paper. Handing it off to Beckett, she continued "it was in the pocket of a pair of trousers. The guy had a pile of dirty laundry in the bathroom, apparently we wasn't a big fan of taking care of his clothes."
Kate examined the faded print on the battered slip, "A receipt for a storage facility out in Queens, dated from four months ago. About the same time he rented this apartment," she looked at Sandy with a pensive expression. "Have you guys found a key that might belong to that storage facility?"
"Already ahead of you Detective" Sandy said handing Kate a bunch of keys, "These are all the keys we found, except for the apartment keys and the key to the building entrance which I have already separated from that set."
"Excellent," Kate said smiling at Sandy, "nice work." The technician smiled back, flattered by the praise.
Kate took her phone from her pocket, "Espo, I need you and Ryan in Queens. I'm going to text you the address, meet me there. It seems our vic rented a storage locker."
"On our way."
Kate hurried to exit the building, almost bumping into Castle on her way out.
"Woah Beckett! What's the rush?"
"Castle, let's go, we're going to meet Javi and Ryan in Queens."
"What's in Queens?" He asked turning on his heel to follow her. She filled him in on the details on the way back to the car.
"Hmm, a secret hideout perhaps?"
"Yeah Castle, I'm sure he kept lots of cool spy gadgets there," Kate snorted. "Did you get the footage?"
"Right here," Castle said tapping in his jacket pocket.
Kate laid her hand out. "Hand it over."
He raised an eyebrow, "Don't you trust me Detective?"
"Of course I do," she gave him a warm smile which suddenly turned to a stern look, "Now, hand it over."
"Only because you asked nicely" Castle pulled the disk from his pocket and put it in Kate's hand.
Javi and Ryan where waiting for them when they arrived at the storage depot.
"Okay guys, we're looking for locker 27. According to the manager it's this way, then left. It should be the second door on the right." Ryan said leading the way.
Reaching the roller door, Kate sorted through the set of keys Sandy had given her. She tried the first key with no success. She flipped through the bunch trying each in turn, when she got to the fourth key, the lock released.
Rolling the door up, they saw a stack of unmarked crates which filled almost half of the storage space.
Esposito took a knife from his pocket and jimmied the lid off one of the crates. Revealing the contents, he reached inside removing one of them; a jar with a large screw-top lid containing a clear liquid inside. The case was full of eleven others. He carefully took the lid out and smelled the contents. "I'll be damned!"
Castle approached Javi giving a sniff to the jar's contents, then he put a finger inside it and sucked on it. His eyes opened wide in excitement.
"Moonshine!"