A Fly in the Garden: Chapter 19
DISCLAIMER: None of these characters are mine, but they are memorable. Thank you, Mr. Marlowe.
Monday, February 20, 2012 – 7:05 p.m. – At Richard Castle's Home in Sausalito
Kate Becket sits at the dinner table next to Richard Castle, and across from Detective Jennifer Blackard. Two empty pizza boxes adorn the table, with a couple of cans of beer and two half-full glasses of wine. Jennifer picks up a can of beer, taking one last swig before tossing it in the trash can some eight feet away.
"Impressive," Castle muses.
"Warrior fan," she smiles.
"I'm sorry to hear that," he smiles in return.
"Don't be," she challenges. We're going to be pretty good in another year or two, mark my words. Curry is for real."
"He should have been a Knick," Castle replies. "The Warriors took him with the seventh pick. The Knicks wanted him with the eighth pick. One lousy pick."
"When in Rome, Castle," Jennifer chuckles. "Get with the program, you live in the Bay Area now."
"So, I love the NBA as much as the next girl," Kate says, with a roll of the eyes. "And I'm sure Espo and Ryan would be weighing in on this conversation –"
"You bet your ass they would," Castle offers with a wink.
"Guys, do I need to leave already," Jennifer laughs, with a wink to Kate.
"Well, now that you –"
"Castle!" Kate exclaims, with an under the table kick that finds Castle's shin. He rewards the women with a yelp and a chagrined, chastised look.
"Don't worry, I will make that up to you," she whispers.
"You'd better," he whispers in return, and then turns his gaze toward the SFPD detective.
So goes the dinner this evening. They are relaxing, releasing pent-up energy after an interesting and productive day. They glance at each other one last time, before breaking into smiles. It's time to get down to business, reviewing their findings for the day.
Castle goes first, letting them know that he has promised the mayor that they would get back to her tonight with whatever they have found.
"I want to get back to her at a decent hour," he tells them. "We aren't the only ones who have had an interesting day."
Kate and Jennifer both nod their heads. This leads into a discussion about the mayor's press conference earlier this afternoon. Mayor Sandra Clooney was more forthcoming than any of them had imagined, talking about her belief that this is a human trafficking issue, that the women are believed to be alive, followed by a commitment on her part to do all possible to find these women. They – like the press contingent – had zoned in on the mayor's closing statements.
"And one final statement, ladies and gentlemen of our city. To the parties responsible for these nefarious deeds, and to the parties who are paying what I can only imagine are exorbitant sums of money to . . . interact with these unwilling women, I can promise you that we are taking every step, and will pay any price to find these women. Rest assured, we will find you – each of you – and publicize your involvement, no matter your position in our communities and workplaces, and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law. Whether you hide within the walls of our alleys, our precincts, or the walls of city hall, we will find you."
It was a clear volley across the bow aimed at anyone in city hall, anyone in her administration who may be involved in any way. A clear shot aimed at the city's police department.
"I have to admit I was stunned," says Castle. "She went much farther than I ever dreamed. I'd love to be a fly on the wall to witness the fallout from that."
"I liked it," Kate says aloud. "She put both the perpetrators and the customers on the clock. Now she waits for someone to make a mistake, or for someone to panic."
"Which brings us to what we have found," Jennifer says. "You were right, Castle. I have only watched three of the videos so far. Trust me, you thought watching Eddie's surveillance videos was painful, this is time-consuming and tedious watching every second of every video starting around midnight for each video. But so far, on each of the three I have managed to watch, there is a definite pause – a definite point where the video stops – is shut off and then comes back on. In each case, there is about a two minute pause, according to the running timeclock."
"That's fantastic," Kate tells them. "This is what you thought we would find, Castle."
"We definitely want to view those videos, Jennifer," Castle agrees. "If we know those are the stopping points, then we can check the videos to verify that our women actually boarded the bus during those –
"They did," Jennifer interrupts, cutting him off. "In each case, there is clear visual evidence of our women in question getting on the bus. What we do not see," she continues, "is our women disembarking from the bus. One minute they are there, on the bus, sitting in a seat. The next moment on video, they are gone."
"People don't just disappear," Castle says. "Unfortunately. That would be so cool," he adds with a wink to Kate.
"Well, that confirms it then," Kate tells her, smiling at Castle. "I already told this to Castle, but Lindy and I were able to bug Mara Blankenship down at the wharf. The best I had hoped for was just to get a sense of her movements, what her day is like so we know what to look for that would be out of the ordinary in the future. My plan was to spend a lot of time in the next few days down at the wharf, just watching her."
"Instead," Jennifer adds, "you were able to listen in on a conversation between Mara and Jimmy – and subsequently give me the warning that they are on to me."
"Technically, not yet," Kate corrects her. "They know that the police are asking questions about Jimmy's bus and bus route. They know that the police are investigating MUNI. They don't know which police officer was involved, though."
"That's child's play for them," Jennifer tells them. "We have to assume they have a picture of me – either taken by Neil Francis or some surveillance in the building of me coming and going."
"Which is why you are here, indefinitely, with us," Castle reminds us. "I see you brought your travel bag. Good. You will be staying here with us until we put this thing to bed."
"So," Kate begins, "we know that these girls who were taken on the buses were on Jimmy's bus at the time. That's something we can be pretty sure about now, given what we now know from the video surveillance you have seen," she says with a glance toward Jennifer, "and Mara's conversation with her husband. And something else to file away – just a side note – I didn't get the impression that the Mara and Jimmy union is a perfect one. Very snippy conversation between the two."
"Is that something you think we can exploit?" Jennifer asks.
"I think we definitely keep that as an option in our back pockets," Kate replies. "An option high on the list."
"What we don't know," Castle reminds them, "includes two very important pieces of information. First – we don't know where these women have been taken, where they are being held. That is an empty box we have to fill. Finding our women is the top priority. I admit, this has been a good day, but we need to find them, and soon. If the people behind this know that someone is closing in, they may panic and bolt. We may never find the women then. We need to get out to the island quickly – as in tomorrow type of quickly."
"Agreed, Castle," Kate says, nodding her head along with Jennifer. "What is point number two?"
"Point number two," Castle replies, "is the identity of some of the key people who are now – how did Clooney refer to them?"
"Customers," Jennifer replies.
"Yeah, that was it," he agrees. "We don't know who these customers are. We have a list of potential suspects, but that list is still just a big maybe."
"A 'maybe' or not, it is all we have on that front right now," Kate interjects. "Given that we have been correct about the buses, and about the Blankenships . . . what can it hurt to take a leap and just assume that these people – Clooney's chief of staff, the city councilman – let's just for a moment assume they are involved. They are new customers for whoever is running this operation."
"Beckett," Castle whistles. "Nice leap," he smiles, admiring how differently Kate thinks now with the shackles of police procedure stripped away.
"I don't mind taking that leap," Jennifer agrees. "We already know that they are customers of prostitutes. We know that they have already gone down that road. Assuming that they could decide to spend their money elsewhere within the profession really isn't that hard, is it?"
"But why?" Castle asks. "That's the question. Getting caught with your hand in the cookie jar is one thing. Why graduate to a snare, to an animal trap like sex with women you know are there against their own will? Why go that route with all that a potential congressman or a rising star in city hall have to lose?"
"And the answer to that question is something we might not know until the very end, Castle," Jennifer tells her. "But if we are going to take that so-called leap, we should probably start watching each of them, don't you think?"
"Yes, probably so," Castle agrees. "The problem is we are running out of bodies . . . as in our bodies. The three of us can only do so much. Following Adams and Bartlett around the city – that takes two of us, leaving only one left. And trust me, any of us heading out to Angel Island by themselves is lunacy. If that's where the women are, then it's got to be fairly heavily protected."
"And well-hidden," Kate adds.
"What about some of your people, Castle?" Jennifer asks, knowing that both Mike Monroe and Lindy Matthews have been extremely helpful in the past couple of days.
"I want to, I really do," Castle tells her. "But I have to be conscious of how much time they are spending away from the complex, along with the reality that they need some down time also."
"That goes for you, too, babe," Kate tells him. "You've spent a lot of time away from the complex in the past three, four days as well. They need you out there more than anyone else."
"Not really," he argues. "Well, yes, you are right. I've spent a lot of time away since last mid-week or so," he agrees. "But I disagree on your second point. It's far more important that Samantha be there, that Mike and Lindy are there, that Dawn and Colin are there. Given everything we are running into out here, I think the smartest – or maybe luckiest decision I made out here was bringing in the big guns for security."
"Any new residents?" Jennifer asks.
"Not since Pamela Hamilton checked in last week," Castle replies, "thankfully." He gazes ahead, lost in thought. Kate has learned to allow his these little wanderings. A few seconds later, he continues.
"So . . . and hear me out before you shoot me down," he begins.
"It's a horrible idea, Castle," Kate warns him, drawing raised eyebrows from Jennifer Blackard.
"Okay, now that was creepy," she chuckles at the couple. "What is a horrible idea?"
"Hear me out," Castle repeats. "We want to use all of our available resources, right? And he's already proven to be –"
"Horrible idea, babe," Kate tells him again. "Sam is certainly not anyone that I think any of us could control. At he's certainly not at our beck and call."
"Oh," Jennifer sighs in recognition. "I hate to say it, but I think I agree with Kate on this one, Rick," Jennifer says, trying to soften it somewhat. "Keep in mind, Sam plays the quid pro quo game. He helps us, he will expect a favor in return in the future."
"Well, we are short of resources," Castle grumbles under his breath. "We don't know who to trust in your precinct, I'm wary of pulling any of my resources out again . . ."
"Where are Espo and Ryan when you need them?" Kate laughs.
"You'll have to tell me about this Espo and Ryan someday," Jennifer says with a smile. "Not the first time either of you have brought them up."
The discussion momentarily breaks down back into a series of non-business topics, as more wine is poured and another can of beer is opened. It is dark outside already, what with sunset tonight roughly an hour and a half ago. Laughter is heard through the open windows of the home.
Off the driveway in the street down below, however, there is a different kind of laughter."
"No, sir, no one has come back out," Benny offers his boss. Next to him, Randy chuckles at the video game in his hands, following the munching yellow circle around the screen. Benny shoots him a quick elbow, quieting the man.
"No, sir, I think it's safe to say they are in for the night," Benny continues. "You want us to go inside?"
"No Benny," Donovan replies calmly. "Your instructions tonight are to just keep an eye on them. The plan remains the same. We approach Castle's complex tomorrow evening."
"Yes sir," Benny replies, and hangs the call up. "A little while longer here, Randy," he tells his partner in the passenger seat of the dark gray Porsche SUV. The darkened windows hide them well, and Benny decides to pull up another twenty feet beyond the house.
"Never hurts to be too cautious," he tells Randy who is questioning him with his eyes.
"I don't get why we don't just hit the complex tonight, be done with it," Randy offers.
"Because Castle is here, at his house, you dimwit," Benny replies with a roll of the eyes. If Randy weren't so good with a knife and hand-to-hand combat, Benny would have dropped this joker years ago. As it stands, Randy has saved Benny's bacon more times than he can remember, so he allows the slightly younger man his . . . idiotic moments.
"We will make sure that Castle is there tomorrow evening," Benny tells him. "And then we strike – and hopefully cop a couple of women for our troubles."
Randy simply smiles, and returns his focus to the video game, while staring in the rear view mirror now, watching to ensure no car pulls down the elevated path leading up to Castle's house.
Unfortunately for Benny, that extra twenty feet he has pulled forward takes the black BMW out of range of his rear view mirror. The hunter does not realize he is a prey this evening.
"No, sir, they are still here, Mr. Carlos," the black man in the driver's seat tells Sam Carlos on the phone. A toothpick hangs from his lips, as he gazes ahead at the car that now sits parked, some forty yards ahead around the bend.
"I thought they were leaving, but they just pulled ahead a bit and parked again, so I have dropped back."
He nods his head a couple of times, and glances at his watch.
"Gotcha, Mr. Carlos," he smiles. "I'm here until they leave – if they leave."