Forty-Seven: Chapter 10
DISCLAIMER: None of these characters are mine, but they are memorable. Thank you, Mr. Marlowe.
Today, Tuesday, March 27, 2012 – back at the 12th Precinct
"You think that our thieves were looking for Mr. Smith?" Gates asks her lead detective. "Why? And why now?"
"I don't have an answer for your timeline question," Kate replies. "But here is what we know. If Castle is right, and I have no reason to believe that he isn't, then there are two reasons I am even alive today. First, because . . . because Castle has kept me from my mother's case."
Her pause does not go unnoticed by the group, and Castle silently wonders if there really is any possibility at a relationship with this woman. Yeah, they've been through a lot together, but they have also withheld a lot from each other as well. And those withholdings are now coming to light, and neither is dealing well with them.
"Second," Kate continues, "I'm alive because the information that Roy had, that this Mr. Smith now apparently has, has not fallen into the hands of the people behind all of this. According to Castle, if they had the information they wanted then Smith would be dead, and likely so would I. I believe this to be true, also."
"So it follows, then," Castle begins, "that the way for them to find the information is to find the man who holds the information."
"But why now?" Esposito asks. "Captain is right. Almost a year goes by and we hear nothing, and now all of the sudden –"
"Dammit," Castle interrupts suddenly, drawing all eyes to him. "Man I cannot believe what an idiot I am," he comments as he comically smacks himself on the forehead.
"No problem man . . . I can. Kev?" Javier chuckles, trying to bring levity to the room.
"Ditto," Ryan smiles, and nervous laughter is heard throughout the captain's office. Except for Kate. She is eyeing Castle, who looks absolutely crestfallen.
"What is it, Rick?" she asks.
"What the Captain said. What Javier here just said. That almost a year goes by and we hear nothing from these people. That's wrong. Oh God, that's so wrong. I've been so stupid!"
"Rick, what is it?" Kate asks again, this time with a bit more force.
"A few months ago . . ." Castle begins, wiping his brow. "A few months ago, do you remember when Mayor Weldon was being framed for murder?"
Heads nod in the conference room, and Kevin Ryan speaks up. "You mentioned how the mayor told you that was all an attempt to discredit him."
"Yes," Castle replies. "But there was more to it than that. Far more. I'm just now putting together everything he said to me, everything Smith said to me. That whole scenario with the mayor was connected to the cover-up for Beckett's mother's murder."
Kate can't help but release an audible gasp. Suddenly, everywhere she turns, everything seems to touch her mother's case.
"Mayor Weldon was involved in my mother's –"
"No, no," Castle replies quickly. Bob was just another casualty of the on-going cover-up regarding your mother's murder. You have to understand how high this conspiracy – Johanna Beckett's murder - goes. Smith had told Bob this without actually telling him – and Bob just didn't put it together. Neither did I. Not until right now. I was so focused on . . . other things," he says, glancing at Beckett, who now blushes.
"I missed this completely," he continues, and the sadness is evident on his face. "Smith insinuated to me that someone – someone fairly high up – had decided that Bob wasn't going to play ball, and so his upward trajectory had reached its limit. That was the whole purpose of framing the Mayor. Bob had gubernatorial aspirations and Smith said the goal was to eliminate those opportunities. But, Smith also told me that whoever was behind this also did not want Bob out of office. In fact, they needed him in office. He was adamant about this, because Bob's influence as mayor is what was keeping me here at the 12th. Without Bob, you would have kicked me to the curb," he says, now looking at Captain Gates again. She merely nods her head.
It's uncomfortable, to say the least.
"Smith told me that with me here at the 12th, then Kate continues to stay away from the case. But if I am not here, then there is no one to keep Beckett from looking into the case again. They wanted me here. And that meant that – even discredited – Bob had to keep his job as mayor. They stopped short of taking him out of office. But his dreams of becoming governor were dead."
Like the Captain before him, Castle slams his fist on the table.
"Déjà vu," Esposito muses aloud.
"Smith tried to tell me this, but I just wasn't listening," Castle broods. Suddenly his face goes ashen, and he stands quickly, then sits just as quickly.
"Mr. Castle?" Gates wonders aloud.
"Castle?" Esposito adds.
"Rick?" Kate asks. "What's –"
"Whoever this is," Castle begins, but has to stop. His breath is catching and his forehead is flush, damp with nervous perspiration.
"Rick?" Kate asks again.
"Whoever this is," Castle continues, finding his breath, finally. "He or she is high up. Very high up. Very likely they hold an important political office."
"Where do you get that, bro?" Esposito asks.
"I'm just putting the pieces together, Espo," Castle replies. "Whoever is behind all of this was also behind killing Bob's future as a politician beyond being the mayor of New York City," Castle replies. "That means whoever has done this is higher than the mayor's position. Bob's glass ceiling and Kate's lifeline are linked. Whoever did this kept him out of the governor's office. So it follows that this person is probably higher than the governor's office. Or in a tertiary branch. That means we are talking about a congressman. Or a senator. Someone in a cabinet position. Maybe someone high up in the FBI or NSA. Or the CIA."
It scares Castle that someone potentially in the political realm is playing such a deadly and ruthless game of cat and mouse. And Kate is the mouse. It goes far beyond anything even he would dream up for one of his books.
"But the CIA can't get involved in domestic affairs," Gates states, thinking out loud.
"Yeah right," Ryan laughs, and Castle nods in agreement, his author's imagination now kicking into full overdrive. He glances over at Kate, who's already-normally pale complexion has matched Castle's blood-drained look. This can't be easy for her. A robbery gone bad, a blackmailing gone awry. Yeah, she can deal with those. But potentially a deadly politician – one of our elected officials – the very idea of someone in one of those positions being involved, much less the mastermind . . . well, all too often powerful politicians are among the blessed untouchables of the country.
He knows where her mind is going now, and he can't find a single word to encourage her otherwise.
"Captain Gates?" officer Raul Garza says as he knocks on the door to the captain's office, interrupting the discussion.
"You said you wanted to know when Mrs. Montgomery arrived," he continues. "She's here, sir."
"Evelyn's here?" Kate asks aloud.
"Yes, thank you, Officer Garza," Gates responds, nodding at Kate. "Show her in."
A few seconds later, Evelyn Montgomery walks into the room.
"Evelyn," Kate says with affection, her arms wrapping Roy Montgomery's widow in a soft embrace before she can even think about it.
"Kate," Evelyn replies warmly. "It's been too long," as she returns the hug with one arm, her other hand holding on to a box she has brought with her.
"I'm sorry, I know I should have –"
"Don't apologize, Kate," Evelyn tells her. "The girls and I have been busy staying busy. We know you have a lot on your plate."
"I'm sorry that your home was broken into," Kate continues. "I'm just glad the girls weren't there . . ."
Kate pauses, now seeing – for the first time – the bruises on the side of Evelyn Montgomery's face. She touches the woman's face with her fingers, softly and gently.
"Oh Evelyn, I'm so sorry," Kate tells her.
"Like you said, Kate," Evelyn counters. "I'm just glad the girls weren't there either."
"You didn't get a good look at either of them?" Castle asks, interrupting the reunion.
"Well, the dead one, yeah," Evelyn replies, and nervous laughter is heard in the captain's office. It's just their way of letting off a little steam.
"The other was just too fast," she tells the team. "I did get a scratch on him, though," she adds. "Lanie is already working on testing skin she retrieved from underneath my fingernails. Told me she should have something by tonight."
Evelyn turns to Captain Gates, now extending the box under her arm toward the captain.
"I can't be sure yet what else was taken, but this wedding album was opened and you can see that one picture is missing," she tells Gates, opening the wedding album to the affected page.
"What picture was here?" Kate asks, pointing at the blank spot on the page.
"I wish I could tell you, Kate," Evelyn replies. "I haven't looked at this . . . in a few months. I looked at it quite a few times after Roy . . ."
Her voice tails off, and Esposito puts a supportive hand on her shoulder.
". . . but not in the past few months," she concludes.
"No worries, Evelyn," Gates tells her. "I know this was taken a long time ago, but you wouldn't possibly know where the negatives are, would you?"
"I can do better than that," Evelyn replies, now reaching into her purse. She retrieves an old envelope, the kind photographers used to use to store negatives in after pictures were developed. "Once I noticed a picture was missing, I searched for the envelope Jerry stored the negatives in."
"Jerry?" Castle asks.
"He was the photographer for our wedding," Evelyn continues. "Old high school friend of mine who started his own photography company."
Castle nods as Captain Gates searches through the negatives, lifting them toward the light to see them better. She compares the negatives with the photos in the book until she finds the right one. The missing picture. She punches a button on her phone, and within seconds Raul Garza reappears.
"Yes, captain?" he says, sticking his head in the office once again.
"Please take these down to the lab, or outside to a film developing company, but I need this string of negatives developed within the next hour or two. As soon as possible," she tells the man who is already out the door.
"I suggest that we all take a break for now," Gates tells her assembled team. Once we have something tangible from Ms. Parish, and once we can take a look at the picture that was stolen from the Montgomery house . . . well, until then anything we offer up is pure conjecture."
All agree and head to the door, when Captain Gates looks toward Kate with a request.
"Detective Beckett. A moment, please," Gates tells her.
"Sure thing, sir," Kate replies, then looks toward Castle who is leaving the office.
"Rick, I'll just be a few minutes," she says, glancing back at Gates for confirmation.
"Not even that," Gates confirms, but Castle is already moving away.
"I . . . I have a couple of things to do," he tells the two women. "I need to check on something."
With that, he's gone, walking away from the desk, toward the elevator to make his way out of the precinct building. Kate idly wonders what's on his mind, but is quickly brought back to the present moment by Gates.
"I need your honest, professional answer, Detective," Gates begins. "No posturing or grandstanding. Can you work this case? I need to know now, because if you can't, believe me I would not think less of you. But we cannot afford a –"
"I'm good, sir," Kate tells her, her eyes even with the Captain's, her voice strong and firm. "You need me on this, and I need to be on this. I'm good."
Gates considers her for a few seconds, then gives her lead detective a small smile, then turns from her, putting her focus now on papers sitting atop her desk.
"Glad to hear it," Gates tells her. "I will pull everyone back in once we have something firm to discuss."