CBs

Chapter 27

Castle distributed a new round of espressos to the droopy-lidded denizens who still remained at the conference table. His watch showed eleven P.M.. Alexis and Balazs had left two hours before for a late dinner, so Alexis could be alert for class the next day. Bill Garrett had succumbed to eyes that refused to be forced to focus and Ryan had returned to a increasingly annoyed Jenny. Esposito and Angela Lopez were still at their task, although it was obvious that Esposito was hoping for a more pleasant one.

Sipping at the intense dark brew, Castle retook his seat next to Kate. The creases between his brows deepened as he stared at an entry listed as a payment. "Something, Castle?" Kate inquired.

"Maybe," Castle replied. "This is a check from a Trimp minor subsidiary to a right wing political group, Guardians of Our Future."

"Trimp gives lots of political contributions. Why would that one be significant?" Kate puzzled.

"Because he's very savvy about it," Castle explained. "He gives money to people who can expand his influence, boost his business. He donates on both sides of the aisle. But this group is considered fringe even on the fringes. They're rabidly against all forms of contraception. They surround clinics and try to grab prescriptions out of women's hands. They would have objected to the crisis center that got monkey wrenched. They've even picketed a few drugstores for selling condoms. If anything, association with them would damage his business not promote it. This looks like something personal."

"I'll have Sylvie look into that," Kate decided. "That really is her area."

Castle rubbed his fists against his eyes and yawned. "Good."

Kate put a hand on his shoulder. "Babe, I think you've had it and I know I have. At least you found one needle in this haystack. We can start looking again tomorrow." She gazed over at Esposito and Lopez. "You two should go home too."

Esposito seemed more than willing to comply, pulling out Angela's chair for her. Castle looked after the couple as they headed for the elevator, leaning against each other. "I wonder whose home they're going to?"

Kate laughed. "I think people used to wonder that about us, Castle. But right now they may be too tired to care."

The morning came too soon for Kate, but she was surprised to find Castle already up and working at his laptop. "What are you looking at, Babe?"

"Trimp's association with Guardians of the Future kept nagging at me. So I decided to look into his background to see what would cause a man like him to have anything to do with an organization like that."

"Did you find anything?" Kate asked.

"Nothing confirmed, but there was some gossip about wife number one."

Kate stretched and pushed her hair back from her face. "How many has he had? I've lost track."

Castle reached for her hand and tucked a kiss into her palm. "I can't throw stones. I didn't find my charm until number three, but he's on number four. Though from what I've read, for Trimp, Lila, number one, was the true love of his life."

"So what happened?" Kate wondered.

"She died. That's where Guardians of the Future may come into it. The story goes that she had one of those old style IUDs, the ones that were eventually banned for medical reasons. It was reported that she developed an infection and eventually went into septic shock and died. Trimp went crazy with grief. I can understand that. I would if anything happened to you."

Kate brushed back a lock of hair that had fallen across his forehead. "Right there with you, Babe."

Castle reached up to caress her cheek. "Anyway after Lila passed, Trimp developed this obsession against birth control, any kind of birth control. That's probably why he has ten kids. It's also why he'd be a supporter of Guardians of the Future."

"And opposed to a crisis center," Kate realized. "They were slated, besides providing counseling, to hand out morning after pills and give support to the women, and unfortunately sometimes girls, who had to use their services."

Castle sighed and shook his head. "It's a weirder twist than anything I've put in a book, and more tragic. But it doesn't really get us closer to any solid evidence against Trimp."

Kate chewed on her lip. "What we need is something to prove that Frampton killed Ridley Mason. If we can get that, we can work it backwards to Trimp."

"What if you get Gritch McFeeley to flip on him?" Castle suggested.

Kate's eyes began to take on some sparkle as she pictured the scenario, "Castle, I think I know how I could make that work."

If such a thing was possible, Gritch McFeeley looked even thinner than he had on his previous visit to the Twelfth. As Kate glared at him, he wiped his palms against his pants. "Mr. McFeeley," Kate asserted as Castle sat beside her, "your alibi has fallen apart. We know Bart Frampton lied to us, and if he lied to us, it follows that you lied to us. The killer of Ridley Mason drove your car. You never reported it stolen or said that anyone borrowed it. You were the one driving it and you were the one who killed Ridley Mason."

"I never laid a hand on Ridley Mason," Gritch protested. "Why would I? I didn't even know him."

Kate stood up and leaned over the table, her face inches from Gritch's. "Then how do you explain your car? If you didn't kill Ridley Mason, who did?"

"Gritch swallowed hard, shrinking away from Kate. "I think I want a lawyer."

"Fine," Kate told him, "but if you call a lawyer, he's going to tell you to shut up. And if you do that, I won't be able to tell the D.A. you helped us out."

Gritch pushed up from his chair, his reed-like body swaying. "So if I tell you who actually killed Mason, I can make a deal?"

"I'll put in a good word with the D.A.," Kate assured him.

Gritch settled back in resignation. "Alright, this is what happened. Frampton told me that Trimp told him that Mason had turned on him and that it would cost Trimp and Frampton a fortune."

"Wait a minute," Castle interrupted, "you're saying that Frampton told you he talked directly to Trimp?"

Gritch's head bobbed vigorously on his pencil-thin neck."Not just talked to him. He showed me a note from Trimp, handwritten. It said, 'Take care of Mason,' with that huge 'T' that looks like a square. I thought we were just going to talk to Mason or something. I mean after all those years working construction, Bart can look pretty intimidating. But when we left the car, Bart grabbed a piece of pipe. He just hit Mason once, but it looked like Gallager smashing a watermelon. Frampton even got sprayed with blood. He told me he was going to have to burn his clothes. There was some blood on the passenger side of the car where Mason was sitting too. I tried to clean it up, but I couldn't get it all. There wasn't any on the driver's side where I was. You can check."

"I will do that, Mr. McFeeley," Kate promised. "Then I believe the D.A. and I will have a lot to talk about.