Chapter 4: A new approach
"This is bull and you know it Captain." Detective Henderson said in Captain Gates office the following morning. He stood there with his hands on his hips and looked at her with fury in his eyes. "Mr. Castle used his influence to end this investigation."
"From my understanding detective, it was the commissioner that end it." Captain Gates replied to the accusation with a straight face. Yet on the inside she was smiling because the bastard was getting his due. "From what I hear, it wasn't much of an investigation."
"Don't get sarcastic with me Captain, the mayor may be on his last terms, but Mr. Castle is still one of his best friends." Detective Henderson answered the Captains comments. He still didn't move from his spot. "He put the idea in the mayors….."
"Now listen to me Henderson, you had no reason to investigate my best detective, her family or fellow detectives." Gates stated with force in her voice. She walked around her desk and stood in front of him. "I still have contacts inside IA and they tell me this was a witch hunt pure and simple. You may have your problems with Detective Beckett, but take them up with HR. Now get the hell out of my precinct."
Henderson took a step back and walked out of Captain Gates and past the group of Rick, Kate, Kevin and Javier. They saw him the board the elevator they just came off and throw daggers at them with his eyes. They walked back towards their desk, where Captain Gates was waiting for them.
"My sources at IA before Mr. Castle made his phone call got back to me. It's a witch hunt pure and simple." Captain Gates told the ensemble who gathered around desks. "Commissioner can't suspend him though. Says the order came down from 1PP somewhere outside his office."
"1PP has a mole within its ranks." Ryan said getting a nod from Captain Gates.
"Not our concern right now, it's the murder you were all set up for." Captain Gates told them. They heard the ding of the elevator again and saw a couple of uniforms wheeling in boxes of evidence. "This is everything that IA has. My source there says everything is good."
"Right thanks Captain. Maybe we should get digging." Kate said getting a nod from the captain. She and her team began to unload the boxes and started to place the materials on their desk. Castle went and got the whiteboard.
It took a hour of work to sort through everything, but they had put photos, worked out a rough timeline and a photo of their Russian suspect on the board as well.
"Well at least we have a better understanding of what they have and don't have." Castle remarked getting nods from the rest of the group. He picked up a file off the desk and began to flip through it. "Did they interview the widow?"
"I don't see a statement sheet anywhere." Esposito said looking through the stack of paper. He scrummaged around some more. "Got it. Just the usual basic questions and ask if she recognizes any of us. Just you Castle from the media."
"Figures." Ryan replied looking through some of the as well. He threw a file down with some exasperation on to his. "Henderson screwed the pooch, completely ignoring the Russian."
"Well he is IA after all." Kate remarked with a smirk. She was looking through the files as well. She stopped on a witness statement report. "This is from Josh. Says he saw a white male causicsan about 6'5 wearing a hoodie walking up to the car and shoot the driver."
"Sergei isn't 6'5, he is 5'10." Castle remarked getting a look from the group. "Looked it up."
"Anyway, lab is going over both cars. Ryan where's the surveillance footage from the where the murder took place?" Kate asked
"Got it right here." Ryan held up the DVD. "About to give it Tory."
"Good, then you and Espo go scour that crime scene again for anything that IA may have missed." Kate told them. Ryan and Esposito nodded and grabbed the photos of the crime scene and headed to the elevator. "Castle you and me are going to have a little chat with the widow again."
"You think see will remember something that she didn't tell IA?" Castle asked following his wife towards the elevator. "She is emotional already Kate, doubly so because of being pregnant."
"I know that, but verify." Kate said as she and Castle board the elevator. The journey took them about 30 minutes with the New York traffic. Kate knocked on the door which opened partly. "Miss. DeGarmo, Detective Beckett, Mr. Castle NYPD, can we come in."
Ms. DeGarmo nodded and let them into the apartment. "I don't know how I can help you detective, I already told the other detectives what I know, which isn't much."
"Yes I understand Ma'am, but we were reassigned to the case so we are verifying the information." Kate told the widow who had sat down rather gingerly because of the pregnancy. "You stated that your husband often picked up extra jobs through the security company?"
"Yes it was a way for us to earn a little extra income." Ms. DeGarmo stated as she looked over at Kate.
"Two nights ago, he was providing security for this group at Rizzo's. Do you recognize anyone?" Kate asked handing over a still shot of the video that they had taken from the video.
"Just my husband, and Dr. Nigel." said looking at the picture. She was about to hand the picture back when she looked it at one more time. "I recognize you detective."
"Yes, we were there celebrating my mother's good review from a play." Castle remarked with a smile that made the widow feel at ease. "Did you or your husband know the doctor?"
"No." Ms. DeGarmo stated handing back the picture to Kate. "If he wasn't working at his job at Rockefeller Center, he was picking these jobs up. I have been out of work for a few months."
"Ms. DeGarmo, did the previous detectives ask about me, Mr. Castle or anyone else in the photo?" Kate asked.
"They did, but no we didn't know you. Mr. Castle I know from his books, we are big fans." Ms. DeGarmo answered with some tears in her eyes. "Other than that, they seemed convince that you weren't involved."
"Thank you. We are trying to clarify the information. If I may ask Ms. DeGarmo, is there anything that you can recall as strange over the past couple weeks?" Kate asked. She was wondering why Castle wasn't asking anything.
"Now that you mention it. Bradley said he thought he was being followed a few nights ago." Ms. DeGarmo said. She struggled to get up but Castle helped her to her feet. "He asked me one night to snap a picture as he came into the building." She walked over and handed a camera over to Kate. "Last picture."
Kate scrolled through the photos and found the one that she was told about. She looked at it for a moment and then handed it over to Castle. "It's Sergei."
"Who?" Ms. DeGarmo asked.
"A bad Russian dude." Castle stated as he handed the camera back to Kate. He looked at his wife who nodded. "He was there the night at the restaurant."
"Oh no." Ms. DeGarmo cried as she sat back down on the couch.
"Kate, maybe Ms. DeGarmo should leave town for a few days." Castle stated.
"I agree. Ms. DeGarmo do have friends and family that you can stay with?" Kate asked getting up and walking over towards the widow.
"Yeah my folks who are in upstate New York right now." said getting help from Kate and Rick. "When do you want me to leave?"
"As soon as possible." Kate replied. She got contact information from the widow after helping pack. She and Castle left shortly afterwards. "We normally don't allow that, but I feel so bad for her."
"I agree Kate, so do I." Castle answered his wife's comment. He took her hand and gave it a squeeze.
Within a little while they were back at the precinct, and saw that Esposito and Ryan had return and were going over the information from IA. Kate sat down at her desk, while Castle went to the break room to get some coffee.
"How did it go at the crime scene?" Kate asked pulling out her notebook and started jotting down what she learned from the widow.
"Not much else there. Tory has the footage from the surveillance footage." Esposito stated as he went continue to go through the work that IA had put in. "Lab reports from the casings come back to a Russian Makarov."
"I know I maybe the jealous husband here, but what was was Josh doing on that side of town?" Castle asked walking back into the bullpen with his and Kate's coffee. He got a playful slap from his wife.
"Trust me, I agree with Castle. Josh has an Upper West Side Apartment, works at Roosevelt." Ryan stated after looking over Josh's interview notes. He passed them to Kate. "What the hell was he doing down in that neighborhood?"
"Maybe a clinic he volunteers at?" Esposito asked looking up from the lab reports and walking over to the desk.
"No clinics have him on record. There is a record of every doctor that does." Ryan answered the question while looking at Kate.
"Girlfriend maybe?" Castle asked.
"Nope, happily married to the CEO of Brice Pharmaceuticals." Kate answered Castle question as she handed over the folder to Castle. Kate rubbed her temples with the palm of her hands. "This doesn't make any sense. None of it."
"Maybe we should look at this from a different angle." Castle said getting up and going to the murder board. He studied it for a moment. "Everything has happen because somehow we are interconnected somewhat."
"What do you mean Castle?" Ryan asked.
"Dinner at Rizzo's, the victim is there. The victim is the boyfriend of the girlfriend of the man who kidnapped Alexis." Castle said pointing to each of the main points on the murder board. "Josh being someplace out of the ordinary. It's all interconnected."
"Castle's right." Kate said, getting up and looking at the file again. She flipped it over to a second page. "Josh said he was driving a 2004 Mercedes."
"So maybe it's wife's car." Ryan stated.
"Not her. She drives a 2014 BMW 4 series." Esposito said looking up the CEO's DMV record. Esposito also looked up from his computer. "Josh still has his Harley, and he has a 2014 BMW 4 Series as well."
"Okay so we need to look at this for what it is." Kate said looking at the murder board. She pulled out a surveillance photo that IA had taken of the group at a party for Kate and Rick. "This is about us, not for criminal cases, but someone is after us."
As Kate placed the picture on the board, Tory came by the murder board with a look on her face. "You guys have to see this."
The group made their way into the conference room where Tory had set up her equipment with the screen. Tory brought up some surveillance footage from the day of the incident.
"Watch the guy at the corner her as the victim made the turn." Tory said. The video played at normal speed. "Did you see it?"
"The guy was talking on his phone, big deal. Everyone has a phone in New York." Esposito said as the video rewound again.
Tory played it at a slower speed and zoomed in on the gentlemen at the corner. Kate noticed it first. "He placed a call as soon as the victim started his turn."
"Right now, watch this." Tory said as she moved to another footage from another camera. She played it at normal speed. "Watch the bike messenger and the Mercedes there at the end of the street."
"The bike messenger intentionally darted out in front the Mercedes." Ryan said as the footage played on. They didn't notice Captain Gates come in the room as well.
"Play that back Tory." Captain Gates said. Tory did as she was told and the footage began to play again. "The Mercedes wasn't even going until the bike messenger started to move."
"Tory did you zoom….." Kate started to aske.
"In on the driver of the Mercedes. Yes I did, and it is Dr. Heartthrob." Tory replied to the start of the question. She handed over the picture of Josh to Kate who gave her a look. "What a girl can dream."
"Tory can you play that one more time but in slower motion." Castle asked Tory who nodded. Castle watched the footage as it went to the collision. "Where did the shooter come from?"
"Haven't seen yet, but he comes in right here." Tory answered pointing to an area just outside the camera's field of view. She looked at the ensemble group. "He came from a blind spot in between the two cameras."
"Run a height analysis on the shooter and see if you can match height to Sergei." Kate told Tory who nodded.
"So now the question is, what is Josh doing involved in a hit on a security guard?" Ryan asked the group.
"The bigger question is; what does this have to do with us?" Castle added.