Shared Obsession Chapter 123

Cano Vega's home looks comfortable but not as ostentatious as those that Castle's seen of others with that much star power. As Kate and Castle arrive, a gray-haired man with overbright blue eyes is trying to convince reporters to leave. "On behalf of the Vega family, I want to thank all of Cano's fans for their love and support. In this time of great sadness, we ask that you please respect his family's privacy."

"Mr. Fox. who else is…?" a reporter attempts to ask as he retreats inside. Beckett flashes her badge at security at the door and she and Castle follow.

Maggie Vega gazes at the news trucks lining the curb. "All they want from me is a soundbite."

"I'm very sorry about your loss Mrs. Vega," Kate says. "Do you know why your husband would have been in the park last night?"

Confusion spars with the grief in Maggie's eyes. "Sometimes he'd go there to blow off steam, but never at night."

"Do you know where he was earlier in the evening?"

A sturdy, athletic man steps forward. "He was at my club."

"Detective, this is Tommy Zane," Maggie explains, "Cano's old teammate."

"It would be hard to be a New Yorker and not know 'Freight Train' Tommy Zane," Castle notes, recalling the figure from one of Martha's fundraisers.

"So, you guys got any leads?" Tommy asks.

"We're looking into it, Mr. Zane," Beckett replies. "You said that Mr. Vega was at your club last night?"

"Our club, actually," Tommy responds. "Cano and I owned it with a couple of other players."

"Do you know about what time he was there?" Kate inquires.

"Dropped by about 7:00, left around 7:30. I didn't really see him. He was with a friend." Zane's cell phone trumpets from his shirt pocket. "I'm sorry, I have to take this. Excuse me." He walks away to answer the call. "Yeah?"

"Mrs. Vega, do you know of anyone who might want to hurt your husband?" Kate asks.

"Used to be, everybody loved him, especially in the Cuban community." Maggie's shoulders hunch as she sighs.

"What happened?" Kate inquires.

"The trip. A few months ago the Cuban Tourism Bureau approached him. They wanted Cano to be the poster boy for the new Cuba."

"You risk your life to escape Castro's Cuba. Why would you go back to visit?" Castle wonders.

"While Cano was down there the locals treated him like a hero – their hero. At a state dinner, Castro came over and shook his hand. When he came home, his friends called him a traitor for going, said he was a lapdog for Fidel." Maggie rakes the hair out of her face. "The same people who cheered when he built that ballpark came up and told him to go to hell."

"Did he get any threats?" Kate probes.

"You bet he got threats," Bobby Fox interjects, "hundreds of them. All courtesy of Alfredo Quintana."

Maggie nods toward him. "Detective Beckett, this is Bobby Fox, Cano's agent."

"Nice to meet you," Kate replies, recognizing the name from baseball fandom.

"Detective, could you do something to get those jackals and their cameras away from Mrs. Vega's house?" Fox requests.

"I'll see what I can do," Kate promises.

Fox favors her with a smile. "Thanks."

"Who's Alfred Quintana?" Kate queries.

"He's the guy who killed Cano Vega," Fox declares.


"Something's not right about Fox," Castle says as Kate starts her unit for the drive back to the 12th.

"What do you mean?"

"Aside from the fact that he looks like the guy who killed Laura Palmer on Twin Peaks?"

"Definitely besides that."

"He's an agent. Agents not only know how to handle the press, they manipulate it to their clients' and their own benefit. He wouldn't need you to step in."

"And all I can do is get unis to keep them off private property," Kate considers. "They have every right to park their trucks on a public street."

"Which I'm sure Fox knows and has taken advantage of multiple times. He also couldn't wait to give you a suspect."

"Perhaps he was just playing up to Maggie," Kate suggests. "She'll probably be handling Cano's estate."

"You may have a point," Castle acknowledges. "The value of anything connected with Cano Vega will rise exponentially with his death, and a slick agent like Fox will probably get a healthy slice of the proceeds. Still, he was awfully anxious to hand us Quintana."

"Unless he knows enough about Quintana to be sure he did it. I've already asked the boys to dig into him. If there's something there, we'll go after it."


Ryan's just ending a conversation on his landline when Kate and Castle arrive in the bullpen. "Thanks, Carlos. Hey, Beckett, I just got the rundown on Alfredo Quintana. He's got quite a resume: J.D., Ph.D., and editor of La Nueva Esperanza. That's a newspaper published by his foundation, primarily for the Cuban community. His column from two weeks ago should be printing out now."

"I'll get it," Castle volunteers. He trots over to the bullpen's shared printer and returns to hand a document to Kate.

She reads the headline. "'Cano Vega Must Pay!' This article's about how Vega betrayed the Cuban community by shaking hands with the monster who butchered thousands of their relatives. Quintana says, 'If Vega is going to embrace the brutal regime he once escaped, he would do well to be reminded of its barbarous cruelty.' Looks like Bobby Fox pointed us in the right direction, Castle."

"That sounds like a threat to me," he agrees.

Kate's eyes flick toward interrogation. "Let's get Quintana in here."


Castle hands Kate her favorite vanilla latte. "Assuming Quintana's in his office uptown, it will still take the unis a while to pick him up. Might as well grab a few minutes to breathe."

Kate indicates the espresso Castle made for himself. "That won't help."

"No, but between the screw-up from the Special Prosecutor's Office and this case, it's not as if we slept last night. I'm just trying to keep my brain functioning. Something about this case still doesn't ring true."

"So far, Bobby Fox has been on the money."

"Uh-huh, so far. But what I don't understand is why Cano Vega agreed to go back to Cuba. He must have realized the backlash it would cause. And if he didn't, Bobby Fox would have and tried to talk him out of it. There's a bigger picture, Beckett. We're just not seeing it."

"Maybe, Castle. Or maybe what happened with the Special Prosecutor is making you look for conspiracies. Let's see what we can get out of Quintana and go from there."

"All right," Castle agrees. "But I think I'm going to need another espresso."

Kate gives him a quick peck on the lips. "I think you'd be better off with decaf."


"I wasn't threatening Vega," Quintana insists.

"You turned the Cuban community against him," Kate points out.

Quintana grasps the edge of the table. "He turned his back on his people when he gave Castro his nod of approval. If you want me to be sorry about what I wrote because he's dead, I won't. I wrote the truth."

Castle leans into Quintana's space. "Are you sure that's all you did? You blazed it across your paper, 'Vega should pay.'"

"Unlike Cuba, it's a free country isn't it?" Quintana retorts. "I'm entitled to express my opinion."

Kate pushes a photo of the murder scene in front of Quintana. "Your foundation, Cubans First, is on East 98th Street, three blocks from the park where Vega's body was found."

Quintana recoils. "You think I had something to do with his murder?"

"The pen is mightier than the sword," Castle quotes. "But a baseball bat can be pretty effective too."

"Where were you last night between seven and ten?' Kate presses.

"I was home with my wife," Quintana claims.

"Mmm. Wives make such convenient alibis," Castle opines.

"My sons were also there, as well as my brother," Quintana returns.

"Do you have anyone who isn't a blood relative? A notary perhaps?" Castle snipes.

"Look, what Vega did is inexcusable, but I am not a murderer," Quintana insists.

Rising, Kate holds up the murder scene photo in front of the suspect. "Are you sure, Mr. Quintana? You incited an entire community against him. You might not have swung that bat, but that doesn't mean you didn't kill him."


"Do you think he did it?" Castle asks Kate, as LT escorts Quintana to the elevator.

"Actually swung the bat? No. But," Kate adds, "I'm going to check his alibi."

"And I'm going to check on Mother and Alexis."