Shared Obsession Chapter 101

Two months later

Castle pushes back a strand of hair that is threatening to invade Kate's mouth as she silences her alarm. "You were restless last night. Something bothering you?"

"Just the same thing that bothers me all the time. Waiting to hear something from Yancy about the damn special prosecutor's investigation."

Castle kisses her palm and folds her fingers over it. "Believe me, I get it. But from what I've been able to find out, a couple of months isn't long for things like this. They tend to take more like a couple of years."

"But that's for investigation of crimes that mostly involve money," Kate protests.

"A great deal of money," Castle agrees. "Sometimes enough to buy a medium-sized country."

"Even so, the wheels can afford to drag on something like that. Dick Coonan may not be the last assassin Bracken has running around. More people could die while we wait for the hammer to fall."

"And if you start making more noise about it, that hammer could fall on you," Castle points out. "Look, it's almost Christmas. We should do it up right, let every inch of this place scream joy. We can certainly use some. And if Montgomery isn't too much of a scrooge, we could work on sprucing up the bullpen a little – at least until we get another case. You never know what's going to come through the door, Kate."

"Is that supposed to cheer me up or scare me?" Kate asks.

"Hopefully, the former. But even if it's the latter, at least it will be a distraction."


Castle points at a large dog tied to a lamp post in front of a gallery housing the latest murder scene. I wonder what that poor thing is doing here. The gallery's probably been closed for hours. And who would tie up a dog to go visit an art gallery anyway?" He drops to one knee in front of the pooch. "That's a good girl. Aren't you beautiful? Yes, you are."

"Am I being replaced, Rick?" Kate teases.

"Totally impossible," Castle declares. "But she looks like she needs a friend."

"She needs more than that. I'll call Animal Control," Kate decides, "but we have to get in there."

Castle shrugs. "I doubt that the victim is going to get any deader."

As Lanie conducts her examination, Castle regards the body of a man lying in front of a wall of carefully framed and lit paintings. His clothes have the flair of the Boho community. "Obviously, he was into art."

"Victor Fink, 43, gallery owner," Esposito confirms. "There's no sign of forced entry. Tenant upstairs called in the gunshots to 911 at 10:14 pm."

"Any idea what he was doing here so late?" Kate asks.

"No," Esposito replies, " but Darius Langley, his assistant, says they close at eight. And as far as he can tell, there's nothing missing off the walls or from the back."

Castle points up at a security camera. "Anything on the video?"

Esposito gives his head a disgusted shake. "The camera's a fake, not even hooked up."

"Lucky break for the killer," Kate notes.

"Yeah, the camera looks real enough. Or maybe the killer knew it's a fake, just like he knew Fink would be working late," Castle speculates.

"Or made plans to meet him," Kate considers. She glances at Esposito. "Check with the assistant."

Lanie looks up from the body. "He had some fight in him. Abrasions on the forearms, on the hands."

"And then he made a run for the stairs," Kate figures.

"Only to be shot in the back," Castle continues.

"Twice. Nine millimeter. Shooter fired from over here," Lanie adds, pointing.

Esposito returns to the scene, accompanying a young man. He signals to Kate. "Detective Beckett, this is Darius Langley. I was just asking him if Fink was meeting somebody."

"Was he?" Kate questions.

"He wasn't even here," Langley insists. "He'd left by the time I locked up at eight."

"How long have you been Mr. Fink's assistant?" Kate queries.

"Two months. I'm an art student. I take night classes at Tisch," Darius explains.

"Is that where you were tonight?" Kate asks.

"Yeah," Darius replies. "Mr. Fink totally supported me being in school. He'd let me leave early. That's where I was when you guys called."

"Do you know if Mr. Fink had any enemies? Any unhappy artists or clients?" Kate inquires.

"Nothing out of the ordinary. I can give you a contact list if you like," Darius offers.

Kate nods. "Yes, please."

"OK," Darius responds and begins to walk away as Ryan approaches. "Hey, we've got a little problem."

Kate rolls her eyes. "So what else is new? What problem?"

Ryan holds out his hand. Two bullets lie in his palm. "We dug these slugs out of the wall."

"They're not very fragmented," Kate observes. "See if ballistics can run a match on any other shootings in the city."

"Sure," Ryan agrees, "but that's not the problem. You add these to the slugs Lanie pulled out of the vic and you get four. But we found five shell casings."

"Maybe there's a second vic," Kate suggests.

"There's no blood trail leading out of the building," Castle notes, walking over from the entry.

"And not a drop of blood outside the spatter from our vic," Ryan adds.

"So there's no second victim," Kate surmises.

"So where's the fifth bullet?" Castle wonders.


"The vic's wife is on her way up," Kate announces, hanging up her landline.

"The uniforms are still canvassing, but they haven't found any signs of blood trails outside the gallery," Esposito reports.

"And CSU swept the gallery twice," Ryan adds, "no sign of a fifth bullet."

"Anything helpful?" Kate asks.

"We checked Fink's cell phone records," Esposito says. "He got a call from a blocked number at 9:19, an hour before he was killed."

"Phone call records indicate that it originated here in New York, but it was an international call, satellite phone registered to Bahrain Cellular," Ryan continues.

"Good luck getting a warrant from the government of Bahrain," Castle says.

"Run down Fink's artist and client list. See if any of them had international numbers," Kate instructs.

"Gotta make a stop," Esposito says, heading for the men's room.

Officer Marino, with a tall, confused-looking man in tow, steps off the elevator. "Hey, Ryan, got a sec?"

"Witness?" Ryan inquires.

"Not exactly. Hang here a minute buddy," Marino tells his charge.

"OK," the man agrees.

"I found him on the canvass by the art gallery," Marino explains. "I mean the guy's got no wallet, no ID."

"Did you ask him his name?" Ryan queries.

"Yeah, I asked him his name. I asked him where he lives. Here's the funny part. He says he doesn't remember."


Kate hands Angelica Fink a cup of tea and takes a seat opposite her in the interview lounge. Castle sits off to the side. "Yeah, my husband had enemies," Angelica confides. "Every artist who couldn't get into his gallery and every artist who could get into his gallery. He'd sell like five pieces and they'd want to know why he didn't sell six."

Kate holds out a box of tissues. "Mrs. Fink, I know you're upset."

Angelica cups her augmented breasts. "What am I supposed to do with these, huh? I didn't want them. I did them for him. And now he's dead."

"Mrs. Fink, can you think of anyone who would hate your husband enough to shoot him in cold blood in the back?" Castle questions.

"Rocco," Angelica spits out.

"Rocco, was that one of the artists?" Kate asks.

Angelica shakes her still carefully coifed head. "His assistant."

"I thought Darius Langley was his assistant," Kate says.

"His old assistant. Victor fired Rocco a few months back."

"Why?" Kate questions.

"He fired that little insect over money. And boy did Rocco go crazy. He started making all kinds of threats. 'I'm gonna get you, Fink.' But you know what, no. Rocco wasn't even a man. He was more like a flea. Victor didn't even think twice about it."

"You know," Castle tells Beckett as a uni escorts Angelica out, "fleas can be dangerous. After all, they do carry plague. That can kill a hell of a lot of people."

"But they don't shoot guns. Still, I'm going to get Rocco in here."

"And speaking of fleas, I wonder what happened to the dog?"

"Your crush?" Kate asks. "Probably in a cage at animal control by now."

"Well, I hope they can find the owner. I hate to think – I mean one death from that gallery will be enough."

"And Babe," Kate reminds him. "That's what we need to concentrate on."