Who Are You?

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: As everyone knows, Kate owns Castle. Rating: M, occasionally. Time: Season Seven.

Chapter Twelve

They didn't see Johnson for another two days. When they did, he was standing outside of the loft when Rick and Kate left for the precinct. "I may have something for you. We'll take my car."

The three got in.

"I asked your two detectives to meet us near where we're going. Hope you don't mind, Detective."

"Would it bother you if I did mind?" Kate snapped.

"Not one bit."

"I thought so."

Rick decided he'd better intervene. "Where are we going and why?"

"I got a line on one of the out of town shooters who killed the three cops. He's Reggie Black from Detroit. Reggie was a punk kid then, picked because he was a juvenile. If they got caught, he'd probably get a better deal than older shooters would. Reggie stayed in the life and prospered. He prospered until about three months ago. Reggie felt he got cheated by his boss and they had words. Reggie decided words weren't getting him anyplace, so he put two rounds into his boss's head. The boss's two brothers got upset and put out a contract on Reggie. He's desperate to get into witsec, but not so desperate that he'll take the word of some kind of spook who isn't a cop that he'd get into witness protection. So, I need to get you involved in this."

"Are you sure this guy knows who set up the hit on the cops. Not just that it was Izquerida, but the dirty cop Izquerida got to?"

"Reggie says his boss told him the whole story at a party a couple of years ago. And if he's bullshitting us, we can toss his ass back out on the street."

"How did you find out about Reggie?" Kate asked.

"National technical means." Johnson said unhelpfully.

Kate was about to speak, but Castle beat her to it. "I think that's spook speak for guys who sit in basements in Washington with huge computers and listen to other people."

"Is that where you got word of Reggie?" Kate demanded. "That's not legal."

"I didn't say that, did I?"

Johnson began to slow down to park. "There's Ryan and Esposito, looking like a couple of plain clothes cops. Good thing this neighborhood is full of more or less law abiding citizens, otherwise their cover would be so blown."

Castle looked around. The area was filled with fairly nice condos. "Who does Reggie know here?"

"An old girlfriend. She used to be a mid-level drug dealer, but got out of the life. Now, instead of importing drugs, she imports cheap clothes from sweatshops around the world. It pays just as well and fewer people want to kill you."

They met up with Ryan and Esposito and headed for the condo. "Fifth floor." Johnson said. "Unit 537."

The elevator was just about at the fifth floor when they heard the gunshots. The elevator door opened and they saw a hooded man leaving a unit at the end of the hallway heading for a stairwell. Kate went for her sidearm only to be pushed aside by Johnson. The hooded man fired a shotgun at them and Kate felt a shotgun pellet hit her vest, knocking her backwards.

"Kate!" Castle screamed, grabbing her and also blocking Ryan and Esposito from taking any shots. She did hear the distinctive bark of the Colt, however. By the time Kate got herself unwound from Castle, the hallway was empty.

"Got him, but he's still moving." Johnson said, trotting down the hallway. "See who's in the unit he left."

Kate glared at the retreating back. "Espo, you go with Johnson. Ryan, Castle, you're with me."

"You've been shot." Castle said, pulling Kate back to the elevator. "You need to go to the hospital."

"Look." Kate said, showing her vest to her husband. "One buckshot pellet. It didn't even penetrate the vest. I'll have a bruise later, okay, Castle?"

"Should I kiss it and make it better?"

She smiled at him. "Tonight. Not now."

It was too late by the time they entered the condo. A woman was dead from a close range shotgun blast to the head. A dead man was sprawled across a couch in the living room, one hand almost on a pistol in his waistband. They made sure the rest of the unit was clear.

"Ryan, call this in. Get uniforms out here and get CSU going. We'll need…"

"He got away." Johnson said, coming in with Esposito. "We heard a car racing away so maybe street cams will help. But he left his shotgun behind and I did hit him. Got some real nice blood spatters in the hall and down the stairs. If he's a pro, we won't find any prints on the weapon, and probably no DNA or other evidence."

"Kate, come with me." Rick took her hand and pulled her to a bedroom.

"Castle! We are not making out at a crime scene." She said, shocked.

"You've been shot. You say your vest stopped the slug. I want to make sure. Now come with me."

He tugged on her wrist, but she just glared at him. "Castle, if you don't…."

"You should go, Detective Beckett." Johnson said. "I've seen people who get so charged up on their own adrenaline that they don't notice a serious wound. Go. Nothing's happening here now. Let your husband check you out."

"He'll check her out, all right." Espo said.

"I heard that, Espo." Kate called back over her shoulder.

"And she'll get you for that." Castle added.

Rick and Kate came back a few minutes later. "I'm fine." She announced.

"Fine?" Castle said with smirk. "She's spectacular." That got him an elbow in the ribs even though Kate grimaced when she hit him.

Kate glared at everyone. "Make sure CSU gets that blood spatter. If it's the shooter's and he's in the system. We have him."

He was in the system.

Rick, Kate, Ryan, Esposito and Johnson sat watching their suspect who sat in the interrogation room with his attorney while Gates had left the interrogation room.

Captain Gates came into the room and sat down across from the two men. "Sorry for the delay, but we have some news. Captain McCarty, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but shortly after you called him yesterday morning, your brother, Brian McCarty, killed himself with a gunshot to the head. According to the Miami PD, McCarty removed the hard drive from his computer and dropped it in a vat of battery acid. By the time the Miami officers got to it, it was just sludge." Gates smiled coldly." Of course that's good for you, since you can try to shift as much of the blame as you can onto a man who can no longer defend himself."

The lawyer bridled. "Captain Gates! I object to the characterization of my clients actions. He's come in here…."

Gates cut him off. "Because he would have bled out if he hadn't called for emergency help and he kindly called his accomplices so they could make their getaways. Leaving him as the only person we have now to tell the story. And yes, the DA will always favor the first person to rat out his accomplices, as we all know. Don't worry, you could even get murder two out of this rather than life without parole or the needle."

Gates put her glasses on and checked her notes. "Now, we need to continue the interrogation of NYPD Captain Ronald McCarty. What about the murder of the three officers? Dunn, Borelli and Grenzler."

McCarty shook his head. "Those three were idiots. We told them that the one sure way for a dirty cop to get caught was to walk around with more money than they should have. But would those three listen? No, of course not. They took money and drugs and had parties with hookers. They kept bitching about not having any walking around money."

"So you decided to have them killed?" Gates said.

"That was Brian. First they killed Moncrief. It was a joke, they said. They were just pretending they were going to shoot him, but he pulled a knife and slashed one of them, and they did shoot him. Then the three morons beat up Izquerida and his damned family. They were out of control. So, Brian decided we had to act."

"And what did Brian McCarty do?" Gates asked with just a touch of sarcasm.

"We fed the cops some bullshit story about there being an undercover FBI investigation in the area and that they should not try to retrieve the money until we gave then the all clear. Brian went to the place where Moncrief's body was and put a camera we'd taken from them with photos of them with some hookers on it in the money bag. Also a ledger that one of the idiots was carrying. We hoped that when they investigated the killing of the cops, they'd find the body and the evidence that the three were dirty and that'd be the end of it. Then Brian called Izquerida and told him, without letting on exactly who we were, that we knew he had to do something about the cops who'd humiliated him and his family. We told him the cops would be back at that building to collect some cash and that he'd let them know when. He also explained that things would be different. No more cowboy rough stuff. It was going to be a business proposition from now on. Just a tax for doing business in New York."

"We've been told that Izquerida made Brian McCarty and called him."

"Bullshit. That's just some drug dealer trying to make himself look good. Big, tough guy, messing with the cops."

"So your nephew, Henry McCarty wasn't involved?"

McCarty shook his head. "What? Straight out of the Academy? Not a chance. Even those three morons weren't dumb enough to try to bring him in."

"Do you have any idea where Henry McCarty is now? It seems the NYPD owes him an apology. I'm sure Dunn did send him for ice cream just as he said."

"No idea, Captain. He just up and resigned and disappeared. As far as I know, no one in the family ever heard from him again." He shook his head. "This'll be all over the papers, won't it? Hank will hear about it and he'll really have the last laugh."

Gates looked at him coldly. "Considering how the NYPD and his family treated him, I doubt he'll do much laughing."

Gates looked at her notes. "How did you find out about Reggie Black?"

McCarty sighed. "Another idiot. Trying to play both ends against the middle. He was trying to make a deal with us in case his ride into witsec didn't work out. If I'd gotten there five lousy minutes earlier…."

Gates looked at her notes. "So, Brian McCarty worked at One PP which gave him access to all sorts of useful information while you were in Narcotics. And Detective Oliver McCarty, another nephew, was also in one this? He was in the Police Intelligence Unit?"

"That's correct."

"To handle the actual payoffs, you brought in two other officers? James Moore, now a Detective? Isn't he the brother of McCarty's ex-wife, Carolyn Moore?"

"Yeah, Jimmy was already bitching all the time about how the bleeding hearts were just letting drug gangs and others run wild. Tom Moore, his cousin, was kind of a loose cannon anyway. He'd already been in some scrapes with IA. We McCartys were related by marriage to the Moores even before Hank and Carolyn married, and we were both cop families. It was better to keep it in the family."

The interrogation went on for another hour until Gates was convinced they'd covered everything. Then Captain Ronald McCarty was taken off to be booked.

When Kate opened the door, she found another Detective standing there, her hand raised to knock.

"Detective Moore? What brings you here?" Kate said, trying to block the door.

"I'd like to see my ex-husband, if I could."

"Detective Moore, I don't…"

"I'm not stupid, Beckett. I know he's in here. And I want to talk to hm."

"Let her in. My cover is over anyway." McCarty said.

Kate opened the door fully and led her team out. "We'll leave you two alone." She closed the door.

The two stood there, looking at each other. Finally Carolyn spoke. "You've changed, Hank."

He nodded. "You look about the same."

"I'm sorry. I should have stayed with you, but the whole family, both families were so angry at you….I'm sorry. I'm really sorry."

McCarty shrugged. "Too late now."

"But you're a Fed now? So things worked out? Who are you with?"

"I'm not exactly a Fed. US Army these days."

"With that haircut?" Carolyn tried to keep it light.

"Special Forces. We like to try to not look too military."

"Um, Hank when you go to see your family, I'd like to be there so that…."

He cut her off. "They've had no interest in me for fifteen years and I haven't had much interest in them for about as long." He checked his watch. "I have a few things to do and then I can go over to McGuire Air Force Base and get a bird going back downrange. I'll be out of here by tonight."

"You won't stay for a while? Your family will want to make it up to you. This'll be a huge shock to them to find out both families are….." She stopped. "I guess I have to use the word. Both families are dirty."

He shook his head slowly. "I proved to myself anyway a long time ago that I'm not a coward. Multiple tours in Afghanistan and Iraq and some other shitty places, three Purple Hearts and now I have a whole new set of brothers. I don't need or want whatever it is the McCarty family has for me."

"You won't ever come back?"

He shrugged again. "Maybe in another fifteen years. Who knows?" McCarty looked at her. "It won't be easy for you, you know. Your family being dirty. Everyone will wonder if you knew, or if you were in on it. They'll wonder if your fiancé was being brought into the family business, so to speak. You'll hear the whispers, just like I did. It'll be bad. I hope it doesn't screw up your life like it did mine."

McCarty pushed past her and opened the door. He walked over to Kate and her team. He held out his hand. "You're a good cop, Detective. See you around. I'm headed back downrange tonight."

"You won't stay for…."Kate stopped, not sure what he'd want to stay for.

"Miles to go before I sleep." Was all he said.

He shook hands with Castle, Esposito and Ryan, then waved to Gates who was on the phone. Finally he turned to Carolyn Moore. "See you around, Detective Moore. Maybe."

As he disappeared into the elevator, Ryan shook his head. "Hardheaded son of a bitch."

Kate nodded. "He had help getting that way."

The news that a ring of crooked cops were at the heart of One PP caused a media feeding frenzy. While most of the reporters camped outside One PP, the 12th Precinct was not overlooked. Captain Gates did not win any friends among the media. She didn't care.

In response to questions about Henry McCarty, One PP issued a press release that said, truthfully, if not completely, that the NYPD had been in touch with Henry McCarty and that Mr. McCarty did not wish to have any contact with the NYPD or with the media. No other information was given, and Detective Carolyn Moore, who might have added to the story, remained quiet.

To avoid the media, Rick and Kate snuck off to the Hamptons for the weekend. They were sprawled on the bed in the master bedroom, naked and sated after making love.

"It's ironic, you know." Kate said.

"Use of irony. I'm impressed. In what way is this ironic?"

"Brian McCarty went to Florida to better be able to launder his ill-gotten gains. But he became a millionaire honestly through his security company. In the end, the money he stole just caused him to kill himself instead of going to prison."

Castle nodded. "Very good. I have taught you well, Grasshopper. And everyone else comes out of this badly. The rest of his accomplices have been captured and are facing prison. The McCarty and Moore families have to live with the shame of having dirty cops in their midst, which is devastating for a cop family. Carolyn Moore has to live with the fact that she divorced a man she loved for no reason."

Kate quickly ran her lips over his. "I'll never divorce you if you're ever accused of anything."

"I'll probably be guilty, you know."

Kate kissed him again. "I'm sure you'll be guilty, but I love you too much." She snuggled against him. "And the McCartys who were so embarrassed at Henry's supposed cowardice now know, courtesy of Carolyn, that he's been in more danger than the whole family put together and is no coward. Anything but."

"I wonder how Henry McCarty really feels about all of this? I mean, I was a completely different person until I met you. You changed me utterly and I couldn't be happier. I wonder if he still resents his family and the NYPD, or if he thinks that everything worked out for the best?"

"We could track him down and ask him." She suggested. "Or we could go for round two."

"Round two. I understand Syria is awful this time of year."

Author's note #1. Tomorrow we'll start with After A Deadly Game, a somewhat longer one of my traditional "After…" stories. After that, I'm working on After Captain Kate and the Hurricane, in which we return to Captain Kate Beckett, captain of the pirate ship Revenge. I have several other stories I'm thinking about set in the Castle universe, but haven't written anything on them.

Author's note #2. To the guest who wrote to me about Johnson/McCarty's weapon in Chapter Five. My police experience was in the USAF Security Police in the late 60's, early 70's. We used only .38 caliber ball ammunition in our pistols. Hollow points or any other kind of dum-dums were not authorized. But, our main weapon was the M16 rifle, which could do all sorts of bad things to the body. As I recall, civilian police then also used ball and no hollow points. However, I'll accept that they do use hollow points now. My bad. As for Teflon cop killer rounds, note that Esposito never said that the Teflon made the slugs go through protective vests. He just identified them as cop killers because the slugs had a Teflon coating. He never said that Teflon caused them go through protective vests. I know that the Teflon coating is to prevent wear on the barrels due to the heavy hardened brass/ steel bullets that do penetrate some vests.

Anyway, thanks for reading and commenting.