Shared Obsession Chapter 169

"OK, Lanie. We're here. Whose prints are they?" Kate asks.

Lanie frowns at the body on her table. "A guy who's supposed to be dead."

"Who?" Kate demands.

"An NYPD officer named Ike Thornton."

"Beckett, wasn't that the name of Esposito's partner at the 54th?" Castle queries.

"It was, and apparently still is," Kate responds. "Ghosts don't leave fingerprints. He was supposed to be after Racine. And now Demming, another cop from the 54th shows up."

"From the 54th," Castle repeats. "Kate, do you have a picture of that metal thingamajig you found in Finch's car in your file folder?"

"Yeah," Kate replies, digging into her tote. She unzips the black leather and hands Castle the 8 X 10.

"Lanie, can you make a copy of this I can draw on?" he requests.

Lanie shrugs. "Fine." She runs it through her printer copier, gives Kate the original, and Castle the copy.

"You have a marker?" Castle asks.

Shrugging again, Lanie picks up a marker from a nearby tool assortment and gives it to the writer.

"We extend the line from the curve and add a little bit here and, voila!" Castle holds out the augmented photo to Kate.

She stares at the image. "Fifty-fourth, it's a broken fifty-fourth."

"Like maybe a fob from a keychain," Castle suggests. "I noticed Demming has a keychain but all it has on it is the control to unlock his unit. Maybe he used to have something else."

"If it is from the 54th, then Espo would know," Kate realizes. "We need to ask him."

"Kate, we're going to have to break it to him that the partner he thinks Racine had killed is still alive," Castle says softly.

"Yeah. I'll do it. He'll take it better hearing it from me."


Esposito stomps through the tight aisle of the bullpen. "I went to his funeral! I held his wife's hand. I've tried to be there for his son at games and stuff. And now you're telling me that he's alive? That he worked for Racine?"

Kate lays a hand on the detective's arm. "I'm sorry, Javi. It was a perfect disappearing act. He knew that everyone would think that Racine had killed him and dumped the body somewhere."

Esposito brings his fist down on the nearest desk. "No! I don't see how he could do it, to the badge, to me. I would have taken a bullet for him."

Montgomery edges up, followed by a man with an unfamiliar face. "Esposito, this is Lieutenant Holliwell from Internal Affairs."

"We've met," Holliwell announces.

Esposito turns to Beckett. "You called IA?"

"No!" Kate protests.

"I called them," Montgomery declares, "for your protection."

"I'm sorry, Detective. I don't enjoy being proved right," Holliwell says, the sympathy in his words unreflected in his eyes.

Esposito glares at the intruder. "No, of course not."

Castle eyes Holliwell. "I take it you were the investigating officer when Ike Thornton disappeared."

"I was," Holliwell acknowledges.

"What put you onto him in the first place?" Kate asks.

"Racine was always one step ahead of us like he knew what we were thinking. It didn't take too much to figure out that he was being tipped off by a cop. Luckily, we had an informant at the time that confirmed it, but before we were able to arrest Thornton, he disappeared. Most likely found out we were coming for him. When we found his car, we just assumed Racine had killed him. Looks like he brought him into the family instead. Esposito, has he contacted you?"

"What do you mean, contacted me?" Esposito retorts.

Ryan steps between Esposito and Holliwell. "Whoa, whoa! What exactly are you accusing my partner of?"

"I'm not accusing, I'm asking."

"Asking what?" Esposito demands. "If I knew about it all along? If I was part of it? The answer is no."

Holliwell moves into Esposito's space. "It was such an elaborate hoax. It seems like it would take a lot of planning, need a little help."

Esposito stares directly into his face. "I just told you, I didn't know. What do you want me to do, take a poly?"

"Would you take a polygraph test?" Holliwell returns.

"Wait a minute!" Montgomery interjects.

The furious detective ignores him. "If it will get you off my back," he tells Holliwell.

"Esposito, you don't have to do this," Montgomery insists.

"I want to," Esposito declares.

"Good. My office, one hour," Holliwell orders.

As Holliwell leaves the bullpen and Montgomery returns to his office, Kate slips Castle's marked-up photo from her folder. "Javi, does this mean anything to you?"

Esposito pulls his keychain out of his pocket. "Yeah, I have this one like it. Back in the day when I was at the 54th, everyone used to carry one of these with them. It gave us a sense of pride, you know?"

Castle throws up a hand. "Wait a minute! You carried them for a sense of pride? If Ike Thornton turned his back on Esposito and the 54th, and his oath as a cop, why would he still carry something like that? It makes no sense."

"No, it doesn't," Esposito agrees. "None of this makes any sense."

Ryan drapes an arm around his partner's shoulders. "You know you can talk to me, right, Bro? I'm here for you."

"We're all here for you," Kate adds.

"You know," Castles says, "Thornton's pulled a ghost routine for years – gave up his wife, his friends. Holliwell may be right about one thing. A guy can't pull a disappearing act like that without help."

Esposito swallows. "Maybe he did have Racine's help."

"Well, Racine or no Racine, you said you held his wife's hand at the funeral and that he has a kid. The wife, at least, must have known."

"I saw Carol last month. She doesn't know anything," Esposito asserts.

"You sure about that?" Beckett asks.

Esposito scrubs a hand over his face. "Hell, I'm not sure of anything anymore." He starts toward the elevator.

"Where are you going?" Ryan calls after him.

"To take a poly, clear my name."

Kate watches the elevator doors close behind the stricken cop. "Ryan, go pick up Thornton's wife. Let's see what she knows."


Carol Thornton glares defiantly at Kate. "I'm sorry, I don't believe you."

"His thumbprints are on the body, Carol. There's no other explanation," Kate insists.

"Well, they never recovered Ike's body. Maybe they cut off his thumbs or something," Carol argues.

"Yes, they could have done that, but why?" Castle asks. "To plant prints on a body years later? Racine's style is more about dumping bodies in the Meadowlands. Why would he, or anyone, go to that much trouble? You know they didn't. Come on, Carol. You're a very attractive woman, and it's been years. It's hard to believe you haven't found someone else."

"It's not that easy when you're a single mom, not that it's any of your business," Carol throws back. "You know what you get when a cop dies with a warrant out on him? Well, I'll tell you what you don't get. You don't get a folded flag and you sure as hell don't get a penny of his pension."

"And yet somehow you manage to make mortgage payments," Kate inserts.

Carol straightens against the hard metal of her chair. "If Ike is alive, that means we're still married. And you can't compel me to testify against my spouse."

Castle watches as Carol stalks away from Interrogation. "She knew he was alive. But did she know he was working for Racine?"

"She's a cop's wife and she knows her rights," Kate says. "We're not going to get anything out of her."

"She might talk to me," Esposito offers, coming toward the pair.

"Oh, look who passed his poly," Ryan grins.

"Yeah. Had the feeling Holliwell was kind of disappointed," Esposito confides. "But Carol knows me. I might be able to get her to open up."

"OK," Kate agrees. "take a run at her in the morning. And I'll get a unit to the house in case Ike decides to show up."


"Betrayal, lies, deceit, lot of that been going around," Castle says as the bullpen begins to empty out. " What?" he asks when Kate seems oblivious to his commentary.

"I was trying to figure out what was so important in that damn safety deposit box that Finch and his partner would risk their lives that way and not even touch the money. What would mean that much to Racine? Maybe we can find out something about Finch that will give us a clue. We need to go over the records from his old arrests."

"Something Demming apparently didn't do," Castle notes.

"Yeah. He said he was going to check Finch's financials, but he hasn't called with anything."

"Maybe he wants to offer some tidbit when he thinks he can get another shot at you."

"Well, if he does have anything, I want to know now. I'm going to call him."

Castle sighs. "If you must."