Shared Obsession Chapter 34

"Beckett, what's involved with your request to check if the DNA from the eyelash matches anyone in the military database?" Castle asks as Kate drives down the 1-87 back toward Manhattan."

"There was a act passed in 2002 that opened the database up to law enforcement, or I might not be able to do it at all. But I will still need an order from a federal judge."

"Which means doing paperwork and possibly going to court," Castle assumes. "That could take a while."

"Yes it could, but it is for a murder case. That could get a judge's attention. I'll fill out an affidavit when we get back to the precinct. Then we'll see what happens. But as soon as I submit that paperwork, I want to go see the original detective on Melanie's case."

"Right. Sloan. Do you know him?"

"He was before my time."

"But he's still around."

"If you count being a sheriff in New Jersey, then yeah, he's still around."

The Waffle Barn on the main road into town is open 24 hours a day, which suits Sheriff Clay Stone just fine. Before he starts his shift in the morning he can have a good breakfast with free refills of coffee. When he gets off duty, he can come back for a bite before going home for the evening. Right now he'd rather be going home, but he's stuck talking to an overeager NYPD detective and some writer about a case he closed five years ago. He rakes his fingers through silver grey hair and stares across the table at Kate Beckett and Richard Castle. "Melanie Cavanaugh, so she was finally found – or did she just slink back home?"

"She didn't slink anywhere," Castle rejoins. "She's still in the city, dead, and probably has been since you concluded she ran away."

Kate shoots Castle a cautionary glance as she jumps into the conversation. "We found her body."

Sloan keeps his eyes on Kate. "Sorry to hear that. From the moment I took the case, I had a feeling it was gonna end bad."

"Melanie's parents led us to believe that you were convinced she'd run off," Kate responds.

"Her being found dead and running off aren't exactly incompatible," Sloan retorts. "Not with her history."

"Her parents also believe you never made it past that history," Castle interjects.

Sloan glares at the interruption. "I was on a missing persons, not a murder. You have a body. All I had was a woman with a drug habit and a history of disappearing."

"And a husband who didn't report her missing for over a day," Kate points out.

Sloan's coffee cup clatters against its saucer as he slams his palm on the table. "Don't you dare play Monday morning quarterback with me! Look, sweetheart, he cooperated. He voluntarily allowed CSU into their apartment. Anything I asked, he did."

"After giving himself time to cover up anything that might have happened," Castle points out. "Did you know that he's dead too?"

Sloan's mouth gapes.

"He was gunned down on the street over a year ago," Kate fills in.

"Look, what do you want from me?" Sloan demands. "We had reports of her in Philly with a meth-head ex-boyfriend."

"But you didn't go and check it out," Kate notes.

"Didn't have to," Sloan argues. "Had reports."

Kate taps the file in front of her. "Right, from a Charles Wyler, Sam Cavanaugh's best friend."

Sloan grinds his jaw. "So?"

"So, not exactly an impartial observer," Castle asserts.

"The guy owned his own business. Plus he was a war vet. I had no reason to doubt him," Sloan insists.

Castle snorts. "Except for his direct connection to the spouse, who would normally be the most likely suspect in Melanie's disappearance – particularly since he took his time reporting it. And Philly's a long drive."

"What suspect? She was only missing back then," Sloan contends.

Kate rises from her seat. "No, Sheriff, she was already dead. You just didn't know it yet."

Castle settles heavily into the passenger seat as Kate hurriedly starts the car. "If I ever disappear I sure don't want that guy on my case."

"I hate cops like him!" Kate spits out. "With guys like that, things only make sense if they fit in a box. So they make them fit – like Detective Raglan who investigated my mother's death – and murderers go free."

"Wait, Beckett. Raglan? I heard that name from the detective who investigated Celia's death, McCallister. I overheard him calling Raglan to meet him. It was at Murphy's Bar if I recall. I remember that it pissed me off that he could be thinking about going to a bar when he was supposed to be finding out who killed Celia."

Kate pulls the car to the curb. "Castle, I remember the name McCallister. Raglan talked to him like a partner."

"So we have two cops who knew each other, investigated similar murders, and wrongly attributed both of them to random violence," Castle recounts. "Beckett, that can't be an accident. If Bracken was pulling the strings of the killers, could he have been pulling Raglan and McCallister's strings too? It would have made it a lot easier to cover up his murders for hire."

"Yes, it would," Kate agrees. "We need to talk to Raglan and McCallister. But first, we have to talk to Wyler. If Melanie was dead, he couldn't have possibly heard she was in Philadelphia. He was lying, probably to cover up for Cavanaugh. We need to get the truth out of him." She checks the time on the dashboard clock. "But it's getting late. You should be home with your daughter, and I want to check in with my dad before he goes to bed. If Wyler's still running a business, he'll probably be there tomorrow. We can try and catch him before we track down Raglan and McCallister."

"How about the results on the eyelash from the military database?"

"At best, we'll hear from the judge in the morning. But after that, it shouldn't take long to find out if there's a match or not. We'll just have to go with it when it comes."

Castle smiles ruefully. "There's a lot of hurry up and wait in cop work, isn't there?"

"Too much," Kate agrees. "But we've both been waiting for years. At least now we're getting leads."

"I just hope they get us somewhere."

"Oh, God! You know, we've been so caught up in Sloan's investigation of Melanie's disappearance that I forgot about Ryan and Esposito's canvass of the homeless at the construction site. Homeless aren't usually too forthcoming to police. Still, they might have found someone who was willing to talk. But they've been off shift for hours. I know Esposito has weekly dinners with his grandmother and Ryan has the look he gets when he's seeing a new woman."

"Is that what that is? I thought maybe he got some bad sushi."

Kate can't help giggling. "No sushi. But neither one of them would have hung around off the clock. I'll have to get with them first thing tomorrow to see what they have."

"Sounds like it's going to be a busy morning."

"Will you be at the precinct?"

"As soon as I see Alexis off to school, which should be early. She's working on a science project, spatter patterns, before her first class."

"Blood spatter?"

"Not quite. She's bringing a mallet, ten pounds of tomatoes, and a rain poncho."

"Sounds like fun. I wouldn't mind giving something a few whacks with a mallet right now."

"Me neither."