Chapter Six
Esposito got to the interrogation room door just as Beckett, Castle and Merideth Black walked out.
"Thank you for coming back in Merideth." Kate said as she shook her hand.
"Thank you for working so hard to find this monster Detective." Merideth replied before she walked away.
"Well that was a dead end. Merideth admitted she was at the theater that night waiting to ask Aaron about the announcement she found on his laptop. She was standing wehre Lisa said she saw a woman." Kate said as Ryan walked up to them. "I called the people she was with when the gun went off. They confirm she was waiting in the green room."
"Well I got something helpful." Ryan boasted.
"Bet it's not as good as mine." Espo bragged.
"Bet ya it's better." Ryan retorted.
"Ok. Both of you stop. I get the machoness but we have a murder to solve. Espo what did you find?" Kate asked.
Esposito smirked at Ryan and began. "Well I was going back over his financials like you asked. At first we went back about a week and didn't see any unusual activity. SO you told me to go back two weeks. Well I went back three and that's when I noticed it. Everyday Aaron Summers would stop at an ATM withdraw $20, stop at Java coffee, spend the same amount of $5.98. well two weeks ago the amount went from $20 a day to $60 a day. That's $280 more a week. Not only that, originally he was taking money from the ATM across from the theater at the Java Coffee. So he'd withdraw his money and not even five minutes later debit his order. Well two weeks ago he started using an ATM about 30 minutes away and not only that, his debit card was always rung up five hours later from the same area."
"Good…find out exactly where that ATM is, maybe they have a camera so we can figure out why he suddenly would go 30 minutes away for money and coffee." Beckett ordered "Next?" she looked at Ryan.
"Well 2 things really. One Javi already knows we found a device that fell out of a tree looks like a router of some sort. LT called in the serial number." Ryan said.
"I have someone trying to locate where it came from right now." Javier interjected.
"2nd I spoke to Aiden Michaels, Aaron Summers understudy. As I was walking to the theaer I overheard Aiden talking with Max Heart. He's the producer and owner of their troupe. Turns out Aaron was trying to get out of his contract. He had an offer he just couldn't refuse. He would have to pay $30,000 to break it. Not only that Aiden overheard Max on the phone the day before the murder saying 'Pay or Die'. He wasn't sure who he was talking to, but the timing points to Aaron." Ryan finished.
"Max Heart…you had motive and opportunity. Bring him in. I want to know if it was Aaron on the other end of that conversation and if he followed through on his threat." Beckett ordered.
"I'm on it." Ryan said as he went to his desk.
"So our leading man wanted out of his contract, but $30,000 is a lot of withdraws. An offer he couldn't refuse….new troupe maybe? But why kill him….why not just let him out of his contract?" Castle speculated to Beckett.
"Well I'm gonna guess it's because he is the most wanted theater actor in America right now, according to the reviews I read about him. People came from all over to see him perform. If Max let him go he would be out a lot of money. If Aaron ends up dead he can pull sympathy performances and still get something out of it." Beckett reasoned.
"And that is why you are the Detective and I the lowly writer." Castle quipped.
"Well I need to fill Gates in on everything we have so far. Looks like it's gonna be a late night. Could you run out to Remy's and bring back dinner for everyone? I'll join you after I question Mad Max." Kate asked with authority.
"Anything you say Detective. Is Gates included in dinner?" Castle asked cautiously.
"I'll offer before I fill her in and let you know, but I doubt it." Kate replied as she knocked on her Captain's door.
Half an hour later Kate was in the interrogation room with Max Heart, while Ryan, Esposito and Castle sat behind the glass to watch while they ate.
"Mr. Heart do you know why I asked you to come down here today?" Kate asked in her authoritive tone.
"You want front row seats to the memorial show?" Heart replied smartly.
"Cute, but no I was actually wondering why you would kill off your leading man…literally. Didn't want him to go to the competition? So it's either pay or die right?" Beckett stated.
"Wait! What! You think I killed Aaron? That's ridiculous. Why would I want Aaron dead? We were settled!" Max exclaimed.
"Settled? As in he paid off his contract?" Kate inquired.
"Well HE didn't, but his future father in law did. Though I'm confused I thought he was gonna marry that Merideth chick, but Mr. Kenna set me straight about that. He paid Aaron's early cancelation fee. After last weekend's performance Aaron was free to go. I had no reason to harm him." Max said confidently. "If I were you I'd talk to McKenna. When he left my office I heard him tell Aaron he owned him now."
"So who were you threatening with pay or die?" Beckett questioned.
"I was correcting a producer down in Florida. The correct line was 'pay or die'. I wasn't threatening anyone I was fixing a line to a scene." Max answered.
"Thank you for coming down Mr. Heart. If I have any further questions be available ok?" Beckett said as she walked out.
Ryan, Espo and Castle joined Beckett in the conference room so she could eat and they could discuss.
"Ok, so we now know that McKenna paid off Aaron's contract. We still don't know why he changed his routine and why he went 30 minutes away to do it. McKenna told Aaron 'I own you now', that doesn't sound like a blissful arrangement for future in laws. Where are we at with the ATM footage?" Kate asked Javi.
"They will have it to us by the morning. Along with where that box came from." Espo replied.
"Ok, well it's past 8 pm so let's call it a night. Tomorrow we will start fresh. I will speak to the McKenna's and get some answers hopefully." Beckett said as she stood up. When Ryan and Espo were gone she turned to Castle. "Am I going crazy or are none of these pieces fitting together? I mean an actor getting involved with the mob. No rhyme or reason to it. What could McKenna have on him. Then there is how quickly this all happened…a two week period? I'm getting frustrated Castle…buy me a drink?" She asked with a flirtatious grin.
"I thought you would never ask." Castle replied.