CBs

Chapter 7

Ryan and Esposito came to the open doorway of Kate's office. Ryan knocked softly on the door frame and Kate looked up from her newest deluge of emails. "What have you got?"

"The name and address of the guy who rented the P.O. box are bogus," Ryan reported. "There are surveillance cameras but they only keep the video for a few days and it's been longer than that since anyone picked up the mail from that box. The clerk says it only gets collected about once a week, if that."

"What about a description?" Kate asked. "Did the clerk see him?"

Ryan shook his head. "The box was rented years ago and they've been through five clerks since then. The mail's picked up after hours, so no one ever sees who does it. We'll have to scrub the video from every night until someone shows up again. That will probably take days."

"Espo?" Kate inquired.

Esposito shook his head in disgust. "Those hearts are sold to stores all over town and all over the country. Most of them do engraving. I'm working my way through the list, but unless I get lucky..."

"Okay, stay with it," Kate instructed. Ryan and Esposito started to walk away when Kate's phone rang with a call from the lab. "Guys, hold on a minute."

Kate listened to the report. "What?" Espo questioned when she'd finished.

"The lab got some DNA results off the hearts Lily had. It took a while because there wasn't much and they weren't sure they'd amplified it properly. Neither one was in the system, but they said it looked like father and daughter."

"That's not so weird," Esposito opined. "It's probably Ted and Lily Merchant. They're supposed to be close right? Maybe Ted's DNA got on the hearts somehow."

Kate was unconvinced. "Yeah, maybe."

Castle joined them, breathing hard after skipping the elevator and running up the stairs. "Alexis came in this morning and I was telling her about my so far fruitless search for Matthews. She remembered something. Ted Merchant signed his check 'M. Edward Merchant.' We checked. The 'M' stands for Matthew."

Kate chewed on her lip. "All this could still be a coincidence. Castle can you get a sample of Lily's DNA, get Mandy Lewis to give you her toothbrush or something?"

"Of course," Castle responded.

"And I'll get the lab to run the DNA from the hearts against the envelopes we got from Theresa." Kate added. "Ryan, stay on top of the video from the P.O. box store and Espo, track down who got those hearts engraved. Meanwhile, let's get Ted Merchant's DMV photo and distribute it to the CB's, especially Morano and Lopez. Let's find out if any of their contacts have seen him."

"I'll make sure Angela gets it," Esposito put in hurriedly, to Kate's amusement.

Kate waved Ryan and Esposito away from her office. "Okay, get to it! Castle, stay a minute." Castle closed the door behind him and sat on the couch. Kate leaned forward in her chair, her forearms on her thighs. "Babe, there's one thing that doesn't make sense. If Ted Merchant is behind all this, why would he hire you?"

Castle sighed. "Actually it makes perfect sense. He knew I was involved with the investigation. He plays the concerned father. He has me give him regular progress reports. What better way to monitor the investigation? He's playing me, Kate. It's not like it hasn't happened before."

Kate went to sit beside him, taking his hand. "Babe, it's happened to both of us. I'm the one who believed Vikram that Rachel and the others were dead. And I believed Rita when she told me she was your stepmother. I moved on from that and we caught the guy behind all of it. If Ted Merchant is the one responsible for these disappearances, we'll get him too. I promise."

Castle smiled halfheartedly. "Good thing Ted's check cleared."

"So what are you going to do now?" Kate asked.

"I'm going to act like a P.I. and run a deep background check on Ted Merchant. I'll read his articles too. Maybe something will lead us to the kids."

Kate hissed in frustration. "I'd love to put a surveillance team on him, but under the new budget rules, until we have more, I can't justify the cost."

"I can ask Hayley to do it," Castle suggested. "She knows how to take care of herself and if it turns out Ted really is our guy, I'll have Alexis send Ruby Merchant the bill."

"Fine Castle," Kate agreed, "but stay close, okay?"

Castle caressed the back of her hand, making little circles with his thumb. "As if I'd ever want to do anything else."

Hayley Shipton parked her van at a discreet distance from the building where the Merchants owned their apartment. She was prepared for a long wait. She had drinks, snacks, and portable facilities. With Ted doing his writing from home, she didn't expect him to emerge too often. She was also unconvinced of Castle's suspicions, but she would do the job he paid her for, and even though she'd had to indulge in some dickering with Alexis, he paid pretty well.

The door of the building was easily visible though binoculars, but it would be difficult to watch it that way for any period of time. She'd planted a camera at the entrance that would send a signal to a monitor in the van and also to her tablet. She had only to sit, watch, and wait. She opened the wrapping on a generously stuffed kosher pastrami sandwich and took a bite of a huge pickle. Working in New York did have its advantages.

Castle leaned over his computer at his office, studying the writings of Ted Merchant. There was a lot that appealed. Castle had already picked up some great tips on making lump free gravy and maintaining spotless crystal. But whatever the domestic advice, there was a continuing theme: perfection. Unlike some of the cooking shows which featured a handful of this or a sprinkling of that, Ted was always precise. Measurements had to be dead on level, or better still by weight. The ribbon on a wreath had to form a flawless bow and place mats always coordinated with stoneware or china. And Ted never, never, allowed substitutions.

Castle wondered how Ted had made it through the messy, imperfect years of raising a daughter. Or maybe he didn't. Maybe that's why Lily was so close to Mandy. With a mother whose sole focus was on business and a father obsessed with perfection, a child would look for a more understanding surrogate. Ted's tales of the vagaries of raising his daughter could have been just that. So what would he want with a bunch of teenagers? The case grew more confusing by the minute. Discouraged, Castle closed his laptop.

Alexis had gone back to Columbia to catch a night lecture. It was well past time for Kate to be off shift and with the prohibitions against overtime, there was no reason she shouldn't be at the loft. He pulled out his phone to check. Kate sounded distracted. Ray Edelson, the lieutenant from robbery, had come to the aid of a mugging victim and had been injured. Kate didn't know how bad it was, but she was on her way to the hospital to check on him. Castle told her he'd meet her there.