Shared Obsession Chapter 106
"Could you give Emma and me a few minutes alone?" Jeremy asks. "I need to know some things. And from what Emma's said, they wouldn't have anything to do with what happened at the gallery."
"Of course," Kate allows – "if it's all right with Emma."
"It's fine," Emma agrees.
"If you need anything, we'll be right out in the bullpen," Kate says before she and Castle leave the ex-couple alone.
"Why did I sell my business?" Jeremy asks.
"That's one of the many things you'd stopped sharing with me," Emma replies. "I thought you loved it."
"I'd stopped sharing. Is that why we broke up?"
"Wow! I've ranted to girlfriends for hours about that," Emma admits.
Jeremy smiles ruefully. "I'm guessing I didn't come off so well in those rants."
"You were a jerk."
"I figured."
"But," Emma adds, "so was I. The truth is we probably got married too young."
Jeremy takes a step toward her. "Look, I'm sorry that I don't recognize you but you seem incredibly nice and you're gorgeous. And I'm certain it was entirely my fault that our marriage fell apart."
"You know what I see now?" Emma asks. "You're like the man I fell in love with, funny, self-deprecating. It's like whatever happened to you hit some kind of reset button."
"More like the reset you get when you cut the power on a computer without shutting it down first and trash the memory," Jeremy responds. "But sometimes things get so messed up that's the only way you can fix them." He rubs a still tender spot on his head. "But I might have chosen a less desperate approach."
"So you still remember some things, like how computers work."
"That's supposed to be some kind of ingrained neural pathway because I went over it so many times. But I can't remember what really seems to matter."
Kate knocks on the door. "Excuse me, but we were hoping to retrace Jeremy's steps to figure out what he was doing at the gallery the night of the murder. Emma, do you know what Jeremy had been doing with himself recently?"
Emma looks apologetically at her ex-husband. "As far as I know, he was dating the youngest, hottest women he could find and not bothering to put the toilet seat down."
Jeremy winces. "Ouch!"
"And do you have any idea what he might have been doing at the Victor Fink Gallery in Chelsea?"
"No, I'm sorry, but we haven't spoken in about a year."
"Um, well, Castle and I thought we'd take Jeremy to his apartment to see if it sparks anything. You want to come along? You might be able to put things in context."
"Anything I can do to help," Emma agrees.
A delivery girl with her arms piled high with pizza boxes exits the elevator as Beckett's expedition goes to step in. Castle sniffs appreciatively. "Sausage and basil. If that doesn't spur our teenage elves to produce a beautiful tree, nothing will."
"I thought Santa's supposed to pay his elves in hot chocolate and cookies," Kate says.
"Whatever makes them happy," Castle declares, as Jeremy and Emma exchange smiles.
Castle goes through the keys Jeremy had in his pocket to find the one to open the apartment. "This must be it, but it's slippery like someone sprayed it with a lubricant. Maybe the lock sticks." He inserts the key. "Hmm, turns easily enough."
"Maybe whatever was on the key did the trick," Jeremy suggests.
"Maybe," Castle responds thoughtfully, as they enter the supposed bachelor pad. "Look familiar?"
Jeremy gazes around. "Not at all. I must be the worst witness ever."
"You're doing fine," Kate assures him.
Castle points toward a desk. "Hmm, a wallet. I don't think you were mugged."
"Do you mind if I open some drawers and poke around a bit?" Kate inquires.
"Mi casa es tu casa," Jeremy responds. "Hey, look at me rocking the Spanish."
"We did our junior year in Madrid," Emma says.
Jeremy sighs. "Sounds nice."
Castle pulls a volume from a built-in bookshelf. "Here's the rest of your Russian literature collection. You are an ambitious reader Mr. Preswick."
"You always wanted more time to read," Emma tells Jeremy.
Jeremy regards his library. "Guess I'm going to have to start over."
"Not such a bad thing," Castle offers. "What I wouldn't give to read The Cask of Amontillado for the first time – or any Stephen King. Oh, and you get to read all of my books for the first time again."
"Finding anything?" Jeremy asks Beckett.
"No, it's pretty sparse, like a guy who spent a lot of time alone," Kate offers.
Emma studies the furnishings. "Yeah, I'd thought you would have had more of a slick pad, done up with more stuff."
Castle points to a lone painting. "Hey, that's a Taglia! Pretty pricey. Emma, do you know if Jeremy bought that at Fink's gallery?"
"No, but that's the one painting I did know he bought – actually we bought it together on our honeymoon in Siena. I can't believe you still have it."
"Why?" Jeremy asks.
"Well, part of our settlement was to sell it and split the cash. It appraised for over 200 grand. You sent me my half."
Jeremy stares at the colorful canvas. "That's funny. There's something so familiar about it. Or maybe I just like it."
"Castle!" Beckett calls as she pulls a gun from a drawer. "This is a nine-millimeter. And there are five bullets missing."
Beckett and Castle huddle with Lanie in the morgue. "Ballistics confirmed that the gun found in Jeremy's apartment was the same one used to kill Fink. We need to know if it's possible that Jeremy was the shooter."
"Well, CSU did find gunpowder residue on Jeremy's coat," Lanie reports. "But that could have happened if he was close to the gun when it went off. And we know he was because he got shot."
"Or a fine piece of Russian literature did," Castle says. "But what if Jeremy was holding the gun, struggling with Fink? Could Fink have managed to turn it around toward Jeremy?"
"Those abrasions on Fink's wrists would certainly be consistent with that," Lanie allows.
"Well, then why would he have left the gun in his apartment?" Kate wonders. "He was found near the gallery. So he walks home, puts the gun in a drawer, leaves his wallet, and goes back to the gallery to be picked up by the cops? It doesn't make sense."
"Holloway did say Jeremy was in a fugue state," Castle reminds her, "like sleepwalking. He could have dropped the gun off and gone out again."
"OK, am I missing something?" Lanie asks. "When you catch the killer you're supposed to be happy. You two look like you've lost your best friend."
"Someone who could have been a friend, anyway," Castle says, "maybe a good one."
Jeremy looks through the wire mesh of his cell at Kate and Castle. "Why'd I do it?"
"We don't know why," Kate admits. "You'll be appointed a lawyer. I know that Emma wants to help hire someone and I don't think money will be an issue."
"Well, thank you," Jeremy says.
"I don't know why you're thanking me, Mr. Preswick," Kate replies. "We just arrested you for murder."
"Yeah, well it's not your fault," Jeremy insists. "You guys have been nothing but nice to a babbling idiot who thought he was a victim. It's like I tricked you."
"Good luck, Jeremy," Castle says.
"Hey, if you figure it out, will you let me know?" Jeremy asks.
"Of course," Kate assures him.
The prisoner leans his head against his cell door. "It would just be easier knowing."
Castle plops down in his chair by Kate's desk. "The guy is guilty of a murder he can't remember. That sucks, Kate. It really sucks. I mean if you're gonna kill someone, get caught, and spend the rest of your life in prison, at least you have the satisfaction of knowing why you did it. Hatred. Revenge. Something. Hell, maybe he even cut you off on the highway. But Jeremy won't even have that. Even if we do find a motive he won't remember why it meant anything to him."
"I'm with you, Castle. It sucks. But I doubt Jeremy would be going to prison anytime soon. Even a fresh-out public defender would argue that he's not capable of participating in his own defense. And Holloway would probably swear to it."
"Wait a minute, Holloway's the one who said he was in a fugue state because of the head blow plus psychological trauma. And then he said the head blow wasn't serious, right?"
"Right. What are you getting at, Castle?"
"If Jeremy wanted to kill Fink, why would it be traumatic enough to put him in a fugue state? And how did he get the bump on his head? He was fighting with Fink, but that was frontal, or at least that's what the abrasions on Fink's arms would suggest. Missing motive aside, there are pieces of this puzzle that just don't fit."
"What are you suggesting, Babe?"
"How about another look at Jeremy's apartment? Once you found the gun, we didn't look any further."
"We can do that, but do you really think we'll find anything else?" Kate wonders.
"I think it's worth trying."