Shared Obsession Chapter 28
According to the administrator of the family trust, Laurie Horn marketed about three hundred thousand dollars of stock last week," Esposito reports.
Kate nods. "That confirms it. She knew about the blackmail."
"Laurie Horn's bank records indicate that the funds were withdrawn two days before the murder," Ryan adds.
"And her husband's killed, $250,000 goes missing, and she doesn't say a word. She's into this up to her ears," Castle insists.
Kate turns to Ryan and Esposito. "Get some unis to bring her in, and a warrant to search her house."
Glancing around the cold walls of the interrogation room, Laurie Horn shivers slightly. The cops left her sitting there for more than an hour before Detective Beckett and Mr. Castle walked in, and Beckett started questioning her. She pulls her cashmere sweater more tightly around her shoulders and returns Kate's stare. "Of course, I didn't say anything. It's none of your damn business."
"Even though it might have a significant bearing on your husband's murder?" Kate throws back.
Laurie draws herself up in her less-than-comfortable metal chair. "I have a family, Detective Beckett. Their father is dead. What use is dragging our names through the mud and ending up as fodder for late-night comedians?"
"Lioness," Castle mouths at Kate. "When did you know?" he asks Laurie.
"The trust called to confirm my stock sale. My family values husband had forged my signature thinking I would be too stupid or wrapped up with the girls to notice. When I confronted him, he claimed he needed the money for tax reasons. You'd think he could make up a better lie. Our accountant does our taxes. And since it's mostly my money, I get copied on everything. My grandfather always warned me to keep an eye on the money, because that's where your opposition can nail you. The taxes on what Jeff earned as a councilman were barely worth mentioning, and he wasn't about to tell the IRS about whatever 'contributions' he might be picking up on the side. The asshole claimed that I wouldn't understand the reasons. But I understood all right. Everything we had worked for was going down the toilet because he couldn't keep his fly zipped."
"So what did you decide to do?" Beckett asks.
"I had a choice between public humiliation and blackmail. I chose blackmail."
"So what do you think happened the night your husband was killed?" Kate questions.
"My husband called me. I don't know what happened after that."
"What did he say?" Kate queries.
"That he had the money and he was going to meet the blackmailer to pay him off. Great last words for a husband to speak to his wife, weren't they? That he was going to use her money to get out of trouble for cheating on me?"
"And you're sure he had the money?" Kate presses.
"Yes, why?"
"Because while you've been here, two detectives have been searching your house. They found the money in a Monos Premium Rose Quartz suitcase, part of a set. So if your husband had the money when he was killed, how did it get into your luggage?" Kate leans across the table, holding Laurie's gaze. "You were more than angry, weren't you? You were outraged. Your husband didn't just betray you. He humiliated you."
"And you've been around politics all your life," Castle picks up. "You know that secrets about politicians and their families don't stay secret. Somehow they find their way to the Post or worse the Globe or the Enquirer. Everyone would know. You couldn't handle that, You didn't want your girls to have to handle that, so you decided to make it all go away."
Laurie's well-manicured nails scratch against the surface of the table. "I've seen those wives at the inevitable press conference standing stone-faced next to their husbands. I always wondered how they could do that. How do they just stand there and watch while their whole world melts into a spotlight of shame? I couldn't do that. I didn't want my girls seeing what social media would do to their father, to them."
"And so you killed him," Kate declares.
"No, no, I was home!" Laurie protests.
"You called your husband at 11 pm. What did you say?" Kate pushes.
"I was with my daughters," Laurie insists. "I didn't do it."
"But you know who did," Castle asserts.
"Conspiracy to commit murder is the same as murder, whether you were there or not." Kate declares. "The only way you can help yourself now is to give us your partner who pulled the trigger. Are you ready to deal?"
Laurie sinks in her chair. "Can you keep the press away from my girls?"
"There's no way what happened is going to stay under wraps. You're already all over ZNN. But we'll try our best to keep the investigation and the circus away from your daughters," Kate promises.
"All right," Laurie agrees. "It was my job to call Jeff. I was supposed to tell him that the blackmailer had changed the meet. I was supposed to tell him to go down by the underpass where no one would see. He had it all arranged, even that rug for the body. All I had to do was make a call. He said he would make it look like someone else did it, and no one would ever know."
"Mrs. Horn, Laurie, you have to tell me who he is," Kate urges.
Tears well in Laurie's eyes. "It was not supposed to be like this. We were going to change the world."
Kate directs the marked units to park down the block while she, Ryan, Esposito and Castle go inside the Horn's campaign headquarters. Nesbit looks up from his desk. "I'm afraid there's nothing more I can tell you, Detective Beckett."
"But there's something I can tell you," Kate returns. "Frank Nesbit, you're under arrest for the murder of Jeffrey Horn."
Nesbit springs from his chair as quickly as his bulk will allow. "What? That's ridiculous."
"Mrs. Horn doesn't think so," Kate counters, signaling to the other detectives. "Cuff him."
"Mr. Nesbit, you have the right to remain silent," Esposito begins as Nesbit tries to take off for the door. "Hey, hey!"
Ryan blocks Nesbit's way. "Stop running, Man. The campaign's over."
Castle smiles approvingly. "Good one."
Ballistics matched the gun we found in Nesbit's desk to the bullet that killed Horn," Kate reports to Montgomery. "Nesbit's prints were on the weapon and the clip. After hearing that, his lawyer advised him to confess and go for a plea deal. But I don't think the D.A. is going to cut him any slack. Laurie Horn might have done what she did to protect her family, but for Nesbit, it was pure ambition."
"That won't play well with the press," Castle adds. "And with their father dead and their mother bound for prison, the girls' grandparents took them to the family compound on Long Island. They're going to get private tutors for them for a while, so they don't have to dodge reporters to go to school. It's a sad situation, but hopefully, they'll be shielded from the jackals."
"That's better than most kids would make out with a mother going to prison for killing their father," Montgomery offers. "At least they won't end up in the system."
"In the end, it's all about family values," Castle declares as he and Kate leave the captain's office. "Which reminds me, Alexis has a fencing tournament tonight. I need to get my notes on this case written before the event. So I'm going to go back to the loft and toil over a hot laptop for a while. The tournament's at seven. I don't suppose you'd like to come and watch. The kid has some great moves. And there will be cookies."
"What kind of cookies?"
"Chocolate chip, the big soft kind."
"Sounds like fun."
