Chapter 31

CANAL STREET

The team arranged by text messages to meet on Canal Street once they had an executed warrant to search Charles Oni's retail shop. Surprisingly, the shop was shut, the roller door down, during standard retail hours. Bolt cutters were used to break the padlocks.

They lifted the roller door high enough to step inside the shop only to find someone had been there before them. Bags and items were scattered everywhere. It certainly didn't represent a retail shop.

"Which one is it? This place has been trashed." Esposito said.

Beckett who searched about the store found a brown bag she picked up. There were heaps of them. She said, "You guys. Look, same Chanel bags."

Castle picked up a bag the same as the one Kate had, saw it had the same tear on its side. He said, "That's weird, shredded like our victim's purse."

Ryan suggested, "Maybe Darcy wasn't using it to defend herself."

Esposito said, "Beckett." He pointed at a symbol crudely painted on the concrete floor of the shop. They gathered around and stared at the floor.

Beckett said, "This one looks different. It doesn't look like the ones we found in the other victims' mouths."

Castle said, "I've seen this symbol before. It's the symbol for death."

"Why would a guy mark his own stall with the death symbol?" Ryan asked.

Castle said, "He wouldn't; this symbol was meant for him. Charles Oni has been marked for death."

Beckett who had resumed her focus on the bags laying about on the floor, said, "The linings have all been cut out. All of this stuff is imported, right?"

Esposito said, "Yeah."

Beckett put her hands to her hips, thinking this out, "You know, knock-offs would be a perfect delivery system for a smuggler."

Ryan replied, "Yeah, but what are they smuggling?"

Beckett said, "The only person who can tell us that has been marked for death."

Esposito said, "Well, if he is still alive, he doesn't have much incentive to stick around."

Beckett, Ryan and Esposito watched Rick as he walked out of the shop. He made a beeline to the other side of the road barely conscious he risked being hit by approaching vehicles.

Beckett called, "Castle?"

He kept going. Ryan asked, "Where's he going?"

Beckett started to follow Castle but paused and said to the boys, "Notify passport control. Get them a sketch of Oni and get them to put his name and aliases on the no fly list."

Esposito nodded and said, "You got it boss."

Beckett turned and hurried after Castle who seemed to be onto something or was totally losing it. She called after him several times and caught up with him on the opposite side walk, where he was staring into an electronics stop window, seemingly at a flat screen television.

Castle pointed at the TV and exclaimed, "I'm on TV."

Beckett stared at him, a little worried, a bit amused, but mostly impatient about what was going on with him. "Are you having a breakdown?"

"Not a breakdown," he replied, "A breakthrough. And I really am ruggedly handsome, aren't I?"

Beckett sighed heavily, briefly wondering how the how the hell she could have fallen so heavily for such a man child. She replied, "I'm waiting for the breakthrough."

Castle waved at the screen, "Look behind me. If that camera's recording…"

Beckett peered at the screen, then looked behind them, "Then we'll be able to see who trashed the stall."

They promptly marched into the electronics shop which was full of equipment from ceiling to floor and in between all that. It was a small joint, but the owner packed it with merchandise.

"What can I say?" The store owner replied minutes later after listening to the detective and writer explain what they wanted. "People like to see themselves on television. I mean, you would not believe the things people do in front of a camera."

Castle keenly replied, "I'm listening." Kate shot him a look that he chose to ignore.

The owner continued, "Like this one chick, she's standing there right in front of the store and she starts to take off her, ah…"

"Just show us the recordings from the past couple of days, OK?" Beckett demanded.

Castle cautiously said, "Her blood sugar gets low, she gets a little cranky."

Beckett said between gritted teeth, "Zip it, Kitten."

"I'm sorry, but I can't show you the recording." The owner said mainly to Beckett, but feeling nervous he looked at Castle, the softer option.

Beckett asked, "You need a warrant?"

"Wouldn't help." The owner replied, "I sold it."

Castle asked, "Sold the camera in the window?"

He gave a nod, "Yeah, some guy rolls in here yesterday asks for that one specifically. I told him we've got other ones with boxes, but he wants the one in the window."

"What did he look like?" Beckett asked.

"Six foot, big, black had an accent."

Beckett unfolded a sheet of paper and held it out for the owner to see. "Was it him?"

He studied the sketch, then shook his head, "No, he owns the stall across the street."

"You know him?" Castle asked pointing at the sketch.

"We say hi. But this guy, he seemed, ah, heavy, not in the physical sense, just something about him, you know. Like he'd seen things. Bad things."

"What else?" Beckett asked.

"He paid cash, retail. I mean at my prices. He didn't even try to negotiate once."

"Would you be willing to work with a police sketch artist?"

"Wouldn't a real picture be better?" He asked.

Beckett replied, "You said that he took the camera and the recordings."

"Lady, this is an electronics store." The owner stressed, "I got cameras all over this place."

"We'll take what you have." Castle replied.

"Give me five. I'll transfer all the footage of have of him to a USB and you can take it with you."

"Thanks." Beckett said. She looked at Rick once the guy had disappeared out the back of the shop.

Castle said quietly to Beckett, "What I don't get is, why would he want the camera?"

"Cause he had the same idea we did." Kate replied.

"We want the camera because we want to find him."

"What was he looking for?" She asked, "In the bags, obviously."

"That we are still to find out."

The team lucked out that afternoon when customs arrested Charles Oni who was scheduled to fly out the country. Oni was brought into the Precinct by uniformed officers and put in the box for questioning. Becket and Castle spent about ten minutes with him. They quickly established he was scared of someone and using his sick mother in his home country as an excuse to escape the USA.

Once they clarified with Oni that he was a target to be killed, he decided it was in his better interest to talk with the police. Oni gave a name.

Back in the bull pen, Esposito and Ryan approached Castle, Beckett and Motgomery who stood by the white board sorting out the latest information.

"Who's he?" Esposito asked pointing at the photo in Beckett's hand.

"His name is Muhkta Baylor." Beckett replied as she slapped a photograph up on the murder board. "In Oni's words he's very bad, very dangerous. He is a former child soldier."

"They call him the Butcher of Benin." Castle finished, passing Kate a white board marker so she could write the man's name beneath his picture.

Beckett said, "He traffics drugs, women, whatever will make him money."

"Oni said its Baylor him that killed Jamal and the Darcy Cho." Rick said.

"Oni's a counterfeiter." Beckett stated.

Castle said, "And he gets papers for illegals - passports, visas whatever they need. A real friend to the community."

Esposito said, "We also just got it out of Oni that he also provided Baylor with documents for his traffickers."

"Sown inside the lining of his purses?" Montgomery asked.

Esposito said, "Yeah, which he keeps in the baggage stall."

Ryan said, "Yeah, only he didn't count on Fashion Scoop Daily."

"The website?"

Ryan replied, "Yes, Cap. The article on Sarah Jessica Parker. Appears there was a run on the purses.

Esposito said, "Yeah. Our first vic Jamal?

"Yeah?"

Esposito nodded at the Captain, "Yeah. He sold bags out front, he didn't know about Oni's scam. When he ran out of bags, he sold the ones from the back.

"Why didn't he just get on and forge more documents?" The Captain inquired.

Castle said, "It takes time, and Baylor doesn't have time.

"Papers are for Baylor's brother in Africa. The Nigerian officials are closing in on him for drug trafficking. If Baylor doesn't get him to the US soon, they'll execute him." Beckett said.

Castle said, "Oni says Baylor operates out of a warehouse downtown."

"Listen, find this dirt ball before he murders someone else, all right? Get a team together and see if you can't haul is ass back her." Montgomery ordered.

"Yes, Sir." They all responded in unison and jumped into it to organise a team.

The raid at the Baylor's warehouse didn't harvest much for the NYPD group. They packed up swiftly and opted to return to the Precinct where they could gather their intel and redirect the investigation.

Once they were in the car and on the road, Rick had it summed up that Beckett was somewhat pissed off at him. She had that ability to not say a word yet convey her message quite clearly to him. The option to remain quiet until she processed it out of her mind was Rick's preferred state of game.

As she drove the block before she was to turn right, she asked, "Where did you get the vest from and when?"

He casually replied, "Like I said before, I got it special order online."

Beckett mumbled, "Writer."

Castle said, "Ah ha, cool huh?

Beckett said, "No, No!"

"You used an exclamation mark," he shot back.

"Well, it's not cool. Like I said earlier, you don't need a vest."

"And, as I said," Castle retaliated, "If you shoot me, do I not bleed?"

"If I shoot you?"

"Well?" He shrugged his shoulders, "But not you in this instance."

"You are not going to get shot because I won't put you in the firing line. I signed an agreement to protect you, Rick."

"Rip it up. I'll rip it up."

"Your lawyer has an original."

"Under freedom of information I will collect it and rip it up.".

"You just won't follow us into a raid again."

"You're pissed off because my ex-wife called me," he stated.

There was a pregnant pause. Only the sound of the engine was heard.

"What? No." Kate hotly objected then bit her lip. He was damn right about that but she wasn't gonna let him know.

Castle watched Kate go through a serious of physical responses as a result of his accusation, partially amused but mostly regretful he'd pulled her up on it. She was jealous. There was no denying it.

"What was she calling about?" She asked with a good dose of nonchalance.

"She called me from the house so I thought it was Alexis. What's wrong?" He asked noting the change in her expression.

"She was at the loft?"

"Seems so."

"Rick. Alexis is at school and your wife is in your house? What if she snoops and finds my stuff?"

"You didn't write your name on anything."

"Okay. True. I will relax."

"Yes, you need to relax," he agreed. "She's in my home, but I'm here. With you."

Kate nodded and gave him a wee smile.

"I will tell the doorman not to let her in my place in future," he assured and glanced to his phone when it began to vibrate with an incoming call. It was his house phone calling again. Alexis would still be in school and she would text him before using the landline.

Castle muttered, "Meredith."

"Again?"

"Mm. Well, she said she's found an apartment to buy and might need me to co-sign a loan." He held up his hand to silence her when he sae Kate's jaw fall open, "I'm not going to cosign a loan for her, don't worry about that. Then I saw the guy in the SUV."

"We wanted details, Castle." She grimly stated.

"Yeah, I knew this was gonna bite me on the ass."

Beckett burst into giggles, "Castle, what did you expect from the guys when you didn't get the plate or at the basics, the model of the vehicle?

Castle said, "Ah there was a matter of being asked to co-sign a loan for one point six million that had me distracted. I have a chance of a future with you, so don't you think it weighed on me?"

"It's weighing on me that your ex-wife, the deep fried twinkie, who wants to have sex with you is at your home."

"She'll leave once my mother gets home."

"Martha doesn't like her?"

"No love lost there. My mother favours you."

"She hardly knows me."

"Oh, she has your number. She says I'm wasting my time with the floozies I date and that I should be asking you out." He paused and looked out the window. "I would like to take you out for dinner, have you dress up in something pretty, me pick you up, show you a good time."

"What year are you in, Castle?" She laughed. "Do you date floozies?" She teased.

He chuckled, "No. I'm raising a daughter. I was always at home for her. Alexis knows I've dated but not much." He fished about in the console and brought out a bag of candy, read the labels. "Pineapples. Care for one?"

"Australian lollies again?" She smiled. "Lollies."

"Yes, pineapples. I guess lollies is short for lollypops. You liked these in the party mix."

"We have to replenish soon." Kate accepted a few pineapples from Rick. When her police phone beeped, Rick picked it up, unlocked it.

"Ryan says they have the video of the store, and wants to know the colour of the SUV. Screw you Ryan." He mumbled.

She laughed. "You know they're going to give you shit about that for days."

"I deserve it."