Shared Obsession Chapter 175

Castle grins. "I'd like to hear Kate's version of how we hooked up myself."

"Right now we don't have time," Kate insists. "Castle, you know as well as I do that at the beginning of a homicide investigation, every minute counts. So Maddy, first, I'm going to need contact information for all the restaurant staff."

Maddy eyes her old friend skeptically. "Come on, Becks. You think somebody here might have done it?"

"There was no forced entry. That usually means that the killer either knew the victim or was someone who had keys," Kate explains. "So I'm gonna need alibis from everyone – including you. Sorry."

"No, you're just doing your job," Maddy responds. "I was at a party until the wee hours. Lots of people saw me."

"Did you know if Wolf had any enemies, anyone who might want to do him harm?" Kate asks.

"He was the bad boy America loved to hate. I was a guest judge. That's how we met." Maddy's eyes widen at Kate's blank stare. "Seriously? You never heard of Kitchen Wars?"

Kate's feet shuffle against the flawless hardwood floor. "Uh, I don't really get much time to watch TV."

Maddy's lips vibrate with her involuntary exhalation. "This from the girl who'd spend hours watching 'Saved by the Bell' reruns.

Castle quirks a brow at Kate. "Really? What else did you spend hours doing?"

Kate's glare quickly shuts down Castle's inquiry. "The clock is ticking. It's not mystery writer's research time, OK?" She turns her attention back to Maddy. "Did you notice anything unusual about Wolf lately? Anything at all?"

Maddy slowly nods. "There was one thing. Wolf usually worked nonstop. You couldn't tear him away from the kitchen. But for the past couple of weeks, he'd disappear around three and come back just in time to prep at five."

"Did he say where he was going?" Kate asks.

Maddy shakes her head. "No, he said it was personal."

"Hey guys," Ryan calls, approaching the group. "I found something."

Esposito leans on the sink as Ryan points into the deep basin. "Juan the dishwasher was the last one here last night. He swears he finished every single dish."

"Two dirty bowls, two spoons, and a soup pot?" Kate queries.

"Looks like Wolf had some late-night company," Castle offers.

Madison checks out the sink's contents. "That's popcorn soup. It's Domingo's specialty."

"Sounds delicious," Castle says.

"It is," Maddy assures him.

"Who's Domingo?" Castle asks.

"Our line chef. He must have come back after everybody left," Maddy assumes.

"That means he's the last one to see Wolf alive," Kate concludes. "Do you have his address?"

"Of course," Maddy replies.

"All right, track down Domingo," Kate instructs Ryan and Esposito. "See why he was here so late and find out what he saw. Maddy, do you have Wolf's next of kin?"

"I'll have to look in his personnel file. It may take a couple of minutes."

While Maddy checks the restaurant's records, Kate and Castle wait at a table for two. He winks. "High school friend huh? I bet she knows where all the bodies are buried."

"Castle, you can dig all you want. I trust her to keep my teenage secrets. For one thing, I also know all of hers – worse ones. We used to hang out, a group of us. We had fun."

"I thought you spent all your spare time in high school working to earn your motorcycle."

"Before that. Maddy and I met in 9th-grade French class. I wasn't old enough yet to get my working papers."

"Ah, that fits with the "Saved By the Bell" fascination. So what else fascinated you?"

"Pretty much the same things that fascinate me now."

"Except that, your mother was still alive then. So I'm guessing that Kate Beckett – or Becks – was more footloose and fancy-free."

"You have no idea."

"Ah, for a time machine and…."

"Here's Wolf's emergency contact," Maddy interrupts, "David Nicolaides."

"Wolf didn't have any real family," David Nicolaides explains from a seat in the interview lounge. "He spent most of his childhood in and out of foster homes, which is why we're listed as, uh, next of kin. He glances affectionately at the woman next to him. "My girlfriend Cicily and I are about as close as it gets."

"They were like brothers," Cicily adds.

"How long did you know each other?" Beckett asks.

"Since our teens," David recalls. "My father gave him a job in our restaurant as a busboy, when he, uh, got out of juvie. It didn't take long to tell that he had a real gift for food. Been like family ever since."

"Did he have any enemies that you know of?" Kate queries.

"He had a bad boy image but he was actually sweet," Cicily says.

"Winning Kitchen Wars must have been huge for him. How was he handling it?" Castle questions.

"He loved it," David declares. "The fame, the fortune, it was everything he ever dreamed of, except…."

"Except what?" Kate probes.

"I think he might have had some financial troubles."

"What do you mean?" Kate presses.

"When my dad passed away a few months ago he left his restaurant to Wolf and me. It was nothing fancy like Q3, just a little diner in Queens. But about two weeks ago he came to me asking if I would buy him out. I tried to talk him out of it. I even told him I would loan him the money. But he refused. In the end, I gave in and bought out his share."

"For how much?" Kate asks.

"Forty thousand."

Castle's brows rise. "Didn't he just win a lot of money on Kitchen Wars?"

"Well, he put it all into the new restaurant," David explains. "I tried to tell him to hold some of it back. But he was an all-or-nothing kind of guy."

Castle picks up the remote control of the big screen monitor networked to his computer in the loft. "Here we go, relevant footage from Kitchen Wars. Should I make popcorn?"

"No," Kate decides. "If we're looking for clues to Wolf's death, we can't afford the distraction."

"All right," Castle agrees, "but I get hungry just watching this stuff. Lorimoto, the judge who gives the presentation scores, always says, "You eat first with your eyes. Or supposedly that's what he says. All we get is the translation from the Japanese. But his sushi is a work of art and…."

"Castle, can you start the video?" Kate urges.

"Roger that, starting now."

"Jennifer, Wolf, we've scored your dishes," host Alton Green announces. "It was very close, but Balthazar Wolf, you're the winner of Kitchen Wars New York."

Castle pauses the feed. "Look at Wolf's face. See how happy he is?"

Kate studies the frozen image. "Hmm."

"He had no idea that in eight months he'd be dead," Castle continues. "But then your mom had no idea she was about to die. Neither did Celia. It's like what Ferlinghetti wrote: 'In the middle of it comes the smiling mortician.' Sometimes I…."

Kate's cell phone buzzes. "Babe, the bank has the warrant, so we should have his financials in a couple of hours. And if he was having money troubles, we should be able to find out."

Castle's about to restart the video when Kate gets another call and puts it on speaker. "What's up, Ryan?"

"The soup-maker turned up at the airport with $5,000 in his pocket and a one-way ticket to Ecuador. The uniforms are bringing him in now."

"We'll be right there," Kate responds.

"When you toss Domingo on the barbie, do me a favor," Castle requests.

"What?"

"Get his recipe for the popcorn soup."