CBs

Chapter 24

Moochie Pritchard was big. His shoulders were the width of a linebacker's with full padding. His hands were the size of catcher's mitts. His feet took up half the space under the table. Even hunched in his chair he stared down at Ryan and Esposito from a height. Moochie was also nervous. His shaven bald head glistened with sweat and the huge hands had made a mangled mess of the edge of his mega sized t-shirt.

"So Moochie," Ryan inquired. "you like swinging things at people's heads?"

"Oh man," Moochie sighed. "One time, it was just one time time. Guy was hitting on my boyfriend in a bar. Kept staring at his ass when he leaned over the pool table. I asked him to cut it out, but he wouldn't stop. So I took a cue and tapped him a little."

"Tapped, meaning he needed ten stitches," Esposito pointed out.

"I'm sorry, alright? I'd had a few beers and I let things get away from me. But he's fine and I served my time, so what do you guys want with me?"

"You drive a Malibu, Moochie?" Ryan queried.

"Yeah," I wish I could afford something bigger. I barely fit. But gas prices, you know? Most of the time I just take the subway. Why?"

Ryan and Esposito ignored the question. "Were you driving it Tuesday morning?" Esposito demanded.

Moochie waggled his large head as fast as inertia would allow. "No, I took the train to work. I take the "Double C." It's almost empty and it gets me to the Bronx without changing trains. Hey, you can check my metro card. You can check with my boss too." Moochie passed a card for a sporting goods store across the table. "I was there, usual time. Sales were rotten, but I was there. Whatever you guys think I did, I didn't."

"Believe me, we will check," Esposito assured him.

Kate came out of her office as Ryan put down the phone at his desk. "How's your suspect's alibi holding up?"

"He was telling the truth," Ryan replied. "He was at work during our kill zone. Probably a good thing. I'm not sure the cuffs would have fit. The next one should be coming in any time."

"Gritch McFeely was a string bean - and mostly string. He was tall enough to have smashed Ridley Mason's head from above, but Ryan doubted that he could hit hard enough to do much damage. That he had a record for assault was confounding. Gritch seemed equally confounded by his presence in the precinct. "What is it I'm supposed to have done, Detectives?"

"First, Gritch, you were charged with assault. How did that happen?" Ryan inquired.

Gritch rolled his eyes. "That again? I thought that was finished. Look, I work in the Garson Building. It has one of those heavy revolving doors. One day I was going through and this lady claims I slammed the glass right into her. She was yelling and screaming. She told me she was going to have me arrested. I didn't believe her until the cops showed up at my desk. She wasn't hurt and there was no evidence I did anything other than go through a door. The judge dismissed the case. So what do you guys want with me now? Is there another crazy lady?"

"You drive a Malibu, Gritch?" Esposito questioned.

Gritch squared his thin shoulders with pride."Yeah. I like driving Chevies. Great cars. Buy American and all that. What about it? Somebody driving a Malibu get into a fender bender?"

Ryan leaned over the table. "We're homicide cops, Gritch. We don't care about fender benders. What we do care about is dead bodies, and someone driving a Malibu made one happen. So were you driving yours Tuesday morning?"

"Yeah," Gritch admitted, "I had an appointment with a client. I drove there. But I didn't kill anyone. I can give you his name. You can check."

Esposito passed a pad and pen across the table. "You do that."

Kate surveyed the murder board. "So your top two suspects alibied out?"

"We're working through the rest of them, Captain, but they all have clean records," Ryan replied. "There's not much to go on."

"Ryan and I have interviews set up all day," Esposito added.

"Well keep at it," Kate urged. "Something is bound to shake out."

Castle strode out of the elevator carrying a box of assorted pastries. "Babe, what are you doing here?" Kate asked.

Castle's face fell in mock dismay."Some way to greet your husband, especially when I'm bringing goodies for you and your merry band of sleuths. I'll just put these in the break room, but I do want to talk. My research may be proving fruitful."

Castle gratefully sank into the couch in Kate's office. She could see that his energy was still below its normal ebullient level. "Castle, you could have just called. You didn't have to come over here. You're still supposed to be taking it easy."

"I wanted to see you. You left before I woke up this morning. A note with a lipstick kiss is nice but in person is better, much better. Anyway, I did a three way with Balazs and Bill."

Kate raised a questioning eyebrow. "Switching teams Castle?"

"Kate," Castle reproved, "a three way conference call. So we've been looking at which officials would be capable of engineering the kind of graft we've been looking at. We've been going through the budget process. It starts with the mayor, but if Bob were going to be crooked, Bracken's people wouldn't have knocked him out of the gubernatorial race. They just would have used him against us. The City Council is the next layer down, but they preside over the big picture. They rarely have a hand in the details. Then there's a stage in the process where the budget goes to the Responsibility Center. They control the funds allocated to each agency. They would have an effect on things like community centers and support systems. Next we have Capital Expenditures. They take care of buildings and maintenance. Bribes from Trimp would most likely have gone there. City financial records are public and Balazs is going through them. I believe Alexis is doing more than a little cheer leading for his efforts. The financial records of the city employees are private. So Bill is getting together a list of likely targets for warrants. He will be sending that on to you, but even Markaway would have to be feeling very friendly to sign off on the paperwork. Other than what we've got on Ridley Mason, there isn't much that's solid. I've been thinking I should host a poker game and provide proper alcoholic lubrication."

"Babe, this has got to be costing Richard Castle Investigations a bundle. I don't think you're going to be able to recover any of it," Kate worried.

"Then you underestimate my brilliant and entrepreneurial daughter. She's been calling firms that have been competing with Trimp and losing. They're willing to kick in some large bucks to prove he's been illegally underbidding them. Alexis has dug up six of them already, and there will probably be more. When things get blown wide open, the winners will be my clients - and the citizens of New York."

Kate sat beside him, laying a hand on his arm. "Babe, I sure hope so."