CBs

Chapter 20

Kate's mood at the meeting of the CBs was somber. "First, at least for now, nothing I'm about to tell you can leave this room. You are all aware of the recent flooding in this building. That minor catastrophe exposed a much larger problem." Kate began passing file folders around the table. "I'm keeping all of this in hard copy right now, I have no idea who is involved and paper can't be hacked. I've handed you a lot of information and it will take some time to digest, but I'll give you a short summary.

"An investigation of that mishap uncovered a very frightening pattern. Even maintenance that has been done on schedule in our city hasn't produced the results it should have. That isn't limited to the water department. Many other departments appear to be involved. There is widespread corruption going on that is both endangering and draining the resources of our citizens. Now some of you, such as Mr. Garrett, may have the tools to contribute a lot to this investigation. For others it may be completely out of your wheelhouse. Whatever may be the case, I'm asking all of you to be aware of what's going on beneath the surface. Now I'm going to give you some time to scan through the data I've given you and then I'll take questions."

Everyone around the table except for the Castles, who had already read it, scanned through the information they had been given. His hands slightly scented by sanitizer, Castle brought in fresh coffee while they read. In a departure from his usual addiction, Castle drank honey laden tea. When she'd made it through the vanilla latte Castle crafted for her, Kate opened the floor for queries. "Captain, where'd all this come from?" Esposito wondered.

"I'll let Castle explain that," Kate responded.

Castle cleared his throat before giving a quick rundown on the information gathered by Bradley Hinkle. "I've started conducting my own investigation as well," Castle informed them. "I've been sifting through news reports for the last ten years, looking for anything suspicious. There have been a number of occurrences, some of which have turned out to be innocent results of unforeseen events. There are others that emit the foul stench of graft. We unfortunately may be seeing at least one death as well, from the collapse of a staircase in a public building."

"Ryan, Esposito, that would potentially involve homicide," Kate added. "And Detective Lopez, the community centers intended to discourage young people from joining gangs have been affected as well. Some of the intended programs haven't come to fruition. Sergeant Seacrest, it appears that funds supporting crisis intervention centers have also been diverted. Now at present we have no idea who's behind all this or where the money is going. It may be funding or supporting other criminal activity, or criminal activity may be providing funds to cause public officials to look the other way, or both."

"Have you had any input from a forensic accountant?" Bill Garrett inquired.

"I've hired one privately," Castle explained.

"As we get far enough into our investigation to determine whom we can trust, I may be able to enlist those services from the city and/or the FBI," Kate offered. "But for the moment we're keeping our cards very close to our vests. I'd like you all to take as much time as you need to study the file I've given you, then we can work out some kind of a plan."

Castle pulled out his handkerchief as the CBs filed out of the room, and captured a body wrenching cough. Kate brushed back the hair on his forehead as she felt for fever. "Babe, I'm pretty much over the cold we picked up from getting soaked, but I think you're getting worse. You should get some rest, or maybe see if the doctor thinks you need an antibiotic or something. Mine never went to my chest the way yours has."

Castle's head was pounding and he'd developed a tickle in the back of his throat that refused to relent, despite a pocket full of cough drops. He hating looking weak in front of his wife, but he was pretty sure she was right. "I'll see if Dr. Shapiro has an opening," he agreed. "But I need to check in at my office too. I have a couple of cases going, embezzlement. I have the forensic accountant on those too. He's really young, although everyone's looking younger to me these days, but Kovacs is really quick. Not what you'd expect when you hear the word accountant. He'll probably have something I can report to my clients. He does the work and I get to claim the credit."

Kate nodded, her face still creased with concern. "Take care of yourself. I'll check in with you later."

Alexis looked up from her tablet as Castle entered the reception area of Castle investigations. "Dad you look like hell."

"Thank you," Castle returned, an edge of annoyance added to the rasp of his voice."What are you doing?"

"I'm going through a reference Belazs Kovacs recommended. It's really interesting," Alexis replied, bouncing a little in her chair.

"Excuse me, am I suffering a feverish hallucination or did you just refer to a treatise on accounting as interesting?"

"It's not just the accounting, Dad," Alexis insisted. "With forensic accounting it's following a trail, tracking down clues. It's like what you do in the field except without someone pepper spraying or trying to shoot you. You know I've always been a mathlete. This is kind of the best of both worlds. I get to use my skills with numbers and chase down the bad guys. I like it. Oh, and there are dead tree versions of Balazs' reports on your desk."

"Okay, I'll go through them and make the calls to our clients. And as far as my looking like hell, I'm taking care of it. I promised Kate I'd see Doctor Shapiro but I couldn't get an appointment until four this afternoon. So after I justify Castle Investigations' retainers, I'm going to try to grab a nap. Don't buzz me unless the alert level reaches at least an orange."

Castle would have loved to use a couple of fingers of scotch to down what was labeled as a maximum strength cold and flu capsule. But the ridiculously tiny print on the package warned against alcohol intake, so he settled for bottled water before picking up Kovacs' reports. He considered Alexis' newest interest and decided he liked it too. If she wanted to chase criminals from behind a desk instead in the mean streets of the city, he was all for it. He'd certainly sleep better knowing his daughter was out of the line of fire.

Castle worked his way through the figures and Kovacs' explanations, which were in remarkably clear prose. Castle was impressed. Fortunately, so were his clients. Except for impromptu booty calls with Kate, the couch in Richard Castle Investigations' hidden room had never issued a more compelling invitation. Huddling under a blanket to fight off the chills that had decided to fight his headache for attention, Castle hoped that Dr. Shapiro could offer something more effective than his selection from the drugstore cold and flu aisle. He fell into a restless sleep.