Shared Obsession Chapter 67

"Did you notice the guy who was turned on by the money you were dropping on the wine?" Kate asks as she and Rick return to their room.

"Oh, yeah. He reminded me of the owner of Foniglio's, mentally totaling up the receipts while the diners are still at the table. And he was dressed as a supervisor, not a member of the serving staff. He could be Quistel's eyes on the ground. But he was too far away for me to read his nametag. Did you catch it?"

"I did when we were leaving. It said Max Stevenson, Guest Services Manager."

"Great eyes, Kate. And Guest Services covers a lot of ground. He must have an office."

Kate quickly uses an old-fashioned metal key to unlock their door and points to the emergency escape map posted on the inside surface. "Guest Services, right there."

"According to the handy dandy guest guide, this place is lights out at 10 pm, to give the patrons quiet time for prayer. If we wait until then and use the back stairs, we could get there without anyone seeing us," Castle observes.

"Are you suggesting we break in?" Kate asks.

"In keeping with the simplicity theme, this place has regular locks, not the electronic variety. And," Rick pulls a small case out of his pocket, "picks, a legacy from Powell's tutelage. Unless you'd rather use police issue."

"It's illegal either way. And nothing I find as a cop would be admissible in court."

"I could go as a private citizen."

"I'm not letting you conduct a break-in on your own. For all we know, someone could be lurking in that office and attack, or worse, shoot you. Then Montgomery wouldn't have to discipline me for going along with this. Alexis would probably dose me with some exotic poison."

"Hmm, poison is generally the preference of female murderers, but knowing my daughter, she'd be more hands-on. She'd probably try to run you through. But I'm going to check out that office, Kate. Are you in or not?"

Kate sighs. "I'm in. But," she checks her watch, "we've got a couple of hours until we can go down there. You want to go over the details of Cynthia Dern's murder?"

"I think until we can talk to our presumed Susan Mailer, Mary Wright, we've beaten that horse to death." Castle gazes around the room. "No TV, no video, no gaming."

"Guests are supposed to be spending their time meditating on the Bible," Kate reminds him.

"I've spent more than enough time meditating on Manna's Bibles. Hey! You like space stuff. I've got 'Galaxy on Fire 2' on my phone. We could play."

"All right, but I get to take point as Maxwell."

"Kate, you can take point any time."


As Kate's shot misses its target, her cheek brushes Rick's. "Damn! I couldn't get the right angle."

Hip to hip, Castle can feel the heat of her body against his side. "Maybe you need to get closer."

"The only way I could get closer is by sitting on your lap."

"You'd hear no objections from me."

"Castle, we're working on a case – two cases. We need to keep our minds in the game."

"I take it you're not referring to the one on the screen. But," he checks the time, "we still have an hour before we can commit our B&E." His hand cradles her cheek. "We could allow our minds and whatever else we have to wander a bit."

Exhaling her regret, Kate pulls away. "As tempting as that sounds right now, with what we're planning to pull off, we can't afford the distraction."

"But you are tempted."

"Yeah. But this is the wrong time. So let's just start a new game and play until it's time to go."

"As you wish."


Kate shines a Mag Lite on the lock while Rick uses his picks. "You are pretty good at that."

"According to Powell, I'm so slow that I probably would have been caught on my first job. These came in handy when one of Mother's suitors hit my booze a little too hard and passed out in the bathroom. But fortunately, I never tried using them for anything illegal."

"Until now."

"Always the cop." The lock clicks open and the pair shine twin beams of light around the room. Rick's sweeps over a large oak filing cabinet. "Looks like the locks aren't the only thing old school around here. The record storage is too." He pulls out a file drawer. "Can you put your light in here? Ooh, purchase orders for Bibles, Christian study materials, devotionals – all from Manna Central. Wow! Two hundred dollars for a Bible. Seven hundred for a set of DVDs. So Quistel invests the money here, and that's how they send it back, clean and pressed. And the prices they charge here make for a great cover."

"Castle, overcharging the customers may be awful, but it's lawful. What we need is a clue to where the money Quistel sends comes from."

Castle points to another cabinet that is steel and locked. He pulls out his picks again. "If there's anything incriminating it's more likely in there." A drawer creaks on its rollers as he pulls it open. "These are records of transfers from banks, a lot of them, all over the place."

"Castle, we need to get pictures of as many of them as we can. If we can trace even one of them through Quistel to Bracken, with the evidence we got from Lochlan Jackson's Manna Bible, everything will connect up."


Kate and Rick are almost finished when footsteps sound in the hall outside the office. Kate presses a finger to her lips and turns off her flashlight. "Hide!" As Rick extinguishes his light as well, they both squeeze into the space beneath Stevenson's desk. The footsteps continue down the hallway until they hear the sound of a door opening and a faint flushing sound. After a few moments, the steps return and fade off into the other direction."

"The one guy still on duty had to pee," Castle deduces.

"We'd better get out of here, just in case there's another one," Kate figures.

"I'll be right behind you, mostly because there isn't room for both of us to get out from here at the same time. But as hidey-holes go, it isn't bad."

The dark hides Kate's smile. "Let's just make sure everything is back where we found it."

"Copy that."


After making sure their room's door locks behind them, Rick and Kate fall on the one bed, together. Kate stretches to work out the kinks from cramming herself under Stevenson's desk. "I can't believe we did that, Castle."

"Neither can I and – ow!"

"What's wrong?"

He pokes at his neck. "Cramp!"

Kate reaches up. "Here, let me." Her fingers dig deep at Rick's nape, working out the knots. "Better?"

"Mmm. Just a little more."

Kate moves in closer, feeling Rick's breath on her face. Her lips meet his, a feather touch. His arms gently guide her toward him, alert for any resistance. He feels none. The kiss deepens and the world falls away.


Rick gropes for the room phone when it rings at five am. "Dawn meditation in a half hour", a cheery voice announces. "We'll gather outside for the inspiration of God's sunrise."

"Right," Castle mumbles. "Thank you."

"Begin a blessed day, Mr. Castle," the voice returns.

"What was that?" Kate asks.

"Our call to reassume our roles. Or did we never drop them? Kate, last night, were we just caught up in the exhilaration of the moment?"

Kate turns his face to hers for a morning kiss. "If we were, I'm still caught."