Chapter 5: Breaking down the lie
"I say we go over to Josh's apartment, slap the cuffs on him and charge with accessory to murder." Esposito stated as the group was at their desk.
"And before we get two words out of him, his wife's lawyers will have him out on bail." Ryan stated as he sat on the edge of his desk. He looked over at Kate. "We need something more."
"Like what? Video surveillance; his lawyer will argue that he stopped to take a call, and started to move once the call was over." Beckett said leaning back into her chair and looking over her friends and husband. "You have been awfully quiet Castle?"
"I was thinking back when I was researching one of my Derek Storm books. The character was in the same situation, and Storm told the character the same thing that was told to Woodward and Bernstein." Castle said picking up the folder that held everyone's financial records. "Follow the….."
"Money. No way IA would request financial information on a witness." Ryan stated getting off the edge of the desk and moved to his computer screen.
"I'm going to check to see exactly when did Dr. Heartthrob start working at Roosevelt." Esposito said getting onto the phone at his desk to call the hospital.
Beckett got up and walked over to stand next to Castle at the murder board. "What are you looking for?"
"Something to break this down." Castle said looking at the murder board. His demeanor was quite attractive to Kate, who rarely saw him like this on a case.
"Well in his statement Josh said we was in the neighborhood scouting for places for a new clinic." Beckett said after reading the statement again. She looked at the board. "He also said the bike messenger darted out into traffic and he swerved to avoid hitting him."
"Well I don't know how he drives, but generally I slam on the brakes first." Castle said with a smirk on his face that Kate notice, but didn't do anything about. "Why would he be scouting for clinics that early in the morning?"
"Because he wasn't dog." Esposito answered the question after getting off the phone. He walked over to the board. "Josh started working at the hospital two weeks after he returned from the Amazon. Highly respected surgeon, who is on the verge of becoming chief surgeon. Doesn't need to set up a clinic in that neighborhood, because the hospital already has one there."
"So what was he doing there then?" Beckett asked.
"Whatever it was, he got a deposit of five thousand dollars from an off shore bank yesterday." Ryan stated coming back over to the group and putting the printout on the board. "Yet other than that nothing too suspicious."
"There has to be something there." Castle stated.
"Detective." A uniform said handing over an interoffice message envelope.
"Thanks." Kate answered the uniform handing the envelope over. She opened and read the report. "Casings match the murder weapon found in the car, and the Mercedes was reported stolen the night before."
"Shocking that IA failed to find that out." Ryan said sarcastically walking back over to his desk. He picked up the phone and dialed a number which he hung up a minute later. "I called the garage, they are going to start processing the Mercedes."
"Esposito, you and Ryan take a couple uniforms with you and bring in Josh." Beckett told Esposito. She walked over and sat down and put her head in her hands as Esposito and Ryan left. "Castle, by now we have some sense of what's going on, but the deeper we go…."
"The less it makes sense." Castle replied rubbing her neck. He stopped and looked to the murder board. "That's it Kate. We have to look past the money."
"What do you mean Castle?" Beckett asked getting up.
"Generally other people getting involved in mob hits means a way to settle a debt. What if it's not money?" Castle said pointing to the board. Castle wrote on the board. "Protect someone you love."
"You're thinking it's not Josh, but the wife that is having the money issue." Kate said getting a nod from Castle. She reached for her phone and dialed the DA. "I need a financial warrant on Karen Brice, of Brice Pharmaceuticals."
Within a half of hour of Kate's phone call, Karen Brice's financial records were on Kate's desk, and she and Castle were going through them.
"Here it is I found it." Castle said highlighting a portion of the financial information. He passed it over to Beckett. Beckett took it from him. "She hid it as a business transaction, but that business is located in Brighton Beach."
"Home of Little Odessa." Beckett replied to the statement as she looked more and more. "She has at least a half dozen of these transactions every month."
"Ms. Brice has a gambling habit." Castle said taking the records back from his wife. He put them all together. "Looks like poker, and she stopped playing because she probably couldn't afford it anymore."
"Or more than likely she kept taking out loans, and fall behind." Beckett surmised as she looked at her husband. She smiled at him. "Large pots, and anything taken out of the business funds, or other accounts would draw a red flag."
But before Castle could answer, the elevators opened and Esposito, Ryan, and a handcuff Josh walked into the bullpen and towards interrogation, with a lawyer in tow. Castle and Kate walked towards the observation room.
"Wife called the lawyer as we arrested Josh at home on his day off." Esposito said staring through the window. He was handed a stack of paperwork. "What's this?"
"Josh isn't having the problems with the Russians, the wife is." Kate replied to the question. Ryan and Esposito looked at her with some confusion. "Whatever it was, Josh got involved to protect his wife."
As Beckett and Castle left observation, Esposito looked at Ryan. "This is not going to be pretty."
Beckett and Castle walked into the interrogation room. Josh's lawyer stood up from behind the table. "Lawrence Kerpowski of Kerpowski, Miller and Baxter. I have advised my client not to answer any question."
"Nice to meet you Mr. Kerpowski. Nice to see you again Josh." Beckett said sitting down in the chair across the table from Josh and his lawyer. "Okay before we begin, I am giving you the opportunity to help yourself out here and just come clean."
"Detective, my client is innocent of anything you're accusing him of." Mr. Kerpowski replied to the statement from Kate.
"Of course he is. He is innocent of accessory to murder, conspiracy to commit murder, possession of stolen property, grand theft auto, lying to a police office, and lying on a official police report." Castle said with a smile towards the lawyer and not looking at Josh. Then he looked at Kate. "That about sums it up."
"Just about. Oh and we have these lovely surveillance photos of the innocent doctor behind the wheel of said vehicle during the murder." Beckett answered her husband state with a smile of her own. She slide the photo over to Josh for him to look at. "That's a pretty good likeness."
"My client received the car from a friend, to which my client did not know it was stolen." Mr. Kerpowski countered Beckett's argument. "I know about the history between my client and you detective."
"That doesn't matter at this point, because I have surveillance footage that shows your client at a dead stop then starting the car forward to which the accident occurred and my victim murdered." Kate said leaning forward in the chair. She looked at both Josh and his lawyer. "There was no phone call he was answering, nothing to distract from seeing the bike messenger. Plus we have this."
Kate slide over the finianacl records of Josh's wife to the lawyer. The highlighted portions clearly visible on the sheets. "Monthly payments to a business in Little Odessa to a business that has no ties to her business."
"Those are investments detective." Mr. Kerpowski said tossing the records back at Kate. He then glanced over. "Charge my client or we are…."
"You see counselor, you're not leaving. Those businesses are front for the Russian mob, and I bet if I go poking around by asking OCCB, the FBI, what do you think may turn up?" Kate asked the both of them. That got Josh's attention and in observation Ryan and Esposito knew that Kate had him.
Castle jumped in as well. "Your wife had a gambling problem didn't she?"
"Josh you don't have to answer…" Mr. Kerpowski started to say before Josh cut him off.
"Shut up Lawrence." Josh said to his attorney while turning in his chair. He then turned back towards Rick and Kate. "I found out about her addiction a couple months before our wedding. I thought she was cheating on me, but she was playing in high stakes poker games but only during nights when I was working the night shift."
"What did you do about it?" Beckett asked making notes.
"We sat down and talked about it and she went into gamblers anonymous." Josh replied to the question looking down at the table. "It was an embarrassment for her, not professionally but personally because she felt she let me down."
"How much did she owe?" Castle asked.
"You have to understand. She would draw attention if she drew it out of the business or personal accounts, so she took loans out with the house." Josh said looking back up at Beckett and Castle. "She owed somewhere about 15 million dollars."
"That is why the payments to Little Odessa." Castle said getting a nod from Josh.
"But she couldn't keep up and they demanded prompter payments." Josh replied shifting in his chair before continuing. "I went to them to see if I could work something out. The man who I met with said he be willing to forgive the debt if I will be willing to help them out with something."
"Before we go any further, I want a deal in place." Mr. Kerpowski pleaded.
"Your client was instrumental in leaving a 9 month pregnant woman a widow, and a child without a father. I'm not willing to deal yet." Kate snapped at the lawyer. She then turned her attention back to Josh. "Go on."
"Trust me I did not have any idea that they were going to murder that man." Josh said pleading to Castle and Beckett, who still looked unconvinced. "They texted me with the date, time and place to be. I was told to call 911 after the accident. I thought they were going to kidnap him not kill him"
"Why didn't you come to us Josh, we could have helped." Castle stated.
Josh shot them a look before answering. "Come crawling to my ex-girlfriend and writer husband to help me with my wife's problem with the Russians. Not on your life Castle. Not after everything you put her through. You don't deserve her."
"Watch it Josh." Esposito said from behind the glass with Ryan nodding
Beckett didn't leap from her seat, but remain stoned face. She started to rise from her seat. "I do deserve him Josh, because he has been way more understanding than you ever where. No deal, in fact I going to talk to the Feds. Maybe they be willing…"
"Wait a minute… The feds?" Josh said with a little bit of panic in his voice.
"Yeah. All those charges that she read. Turn you over to the feds, becomes a capital case." Castle said getting out of his seat.
"Wait I can give you a name." Josh replied with whole lot more panic in his voice. Castle and Beckett returned to their seats. "He said he wanted revenge on the person who killed a cousin of his."
"What's the name Josh?" Kate demanded.
"The name of the man who was killed was Gregory Volkov. That is who he wants revenge for." Josh stated. Castle's eyes widen and he quickly got up followed by Kate who moved quickly towards the door. Ryan and Esposito also were moving quickly.
The group nearly ran into each other as move towards their desk to places calls.
=====================I hope everyone is enjoying the story. I appreciate the reviews I am getting. Please keep them coming.=======================