Shared Obsession Chapter 126

Kate regards the drinks Tommy and his retinue are holding. "You're in a festive mood tonight, Mr. Zane."

"Celebrating life, the way Cano would have wanted it," Zane replies.

"Nothing says I'm grieving like an appletini," Castle notes drily.

"You must be the forgive-and-forget type, Mr. Zane," Kate says, "especially after the beating that you gave Cano a couple of nights ago."

Zane's grip on his drink comes perilously close to shattering the glass. "What are you talking about?"

"The ME found the bruises left on Vega's body from where you hit him, including the imprints left by your championship ring," Castle replies.

"Twenty-eight guys have this ring," Tommy retorts.

"Do they all wear it on their left hand ring finger?" Castle questions.

"Some of them, yeah," Zane throws back.

Kate points at the hand holding the appletini. "Do they all have abrasions on that finger consistent with the assault? What happened, Mr. Zane? Was Cano tired of dumping money into this club?"

"He didn't care about the money," Zane insists.

"Then what was it?" Kate presses.

"His wife."

"His wife?" Castle echoes. "You and she were…?"

"No, but he thought… Maggie was upset. She said she'd thought Cano was having an affair and wanted to know if I'd seen him at the club with anyone."

"And what did you tell her?" Kate asks.

"I told her no, of course."

"Was that the truth?" Castle queries.

"Look, I've been through this before. Cano was having some kind of crisis. He wasn't gonna leave her. So I figured why tell the truth," Zane explains.

"So Vega was having an affair," Kate assumes.

"I'd seen him with a girl, young, Cuban. You know. I figured after his visit he was missing home. Anyway, he saw me leaving his house that night, and when he asked Maggie why I was there, she became evasive."

"So naturally, he thought she was having an affair of her own," Castle figures.

Zane nods. "Came at me swinging. Took a couple of shots to the ribs to calm him down before I could tell him the truth."

"This girl he was dating, do you remember her name?" Kate asks.

"No, he never told me her name. But I might have her picture on my phone."

"All right, I'll need you to send it to me. You said Cano was at the club with a friend before he was killed and you didn't see him. So I'll also need any surveillance video you have," Kate adds.

"We only have video at the exits and over the till. But I'll see you get what there is," Zane assures her.

As Ryan, Esposito, and Castle cluster around, Kate clips Zane's photo of a girl to the murderboard.

"What is it with professional athletes and politicians that they just can't keep it in their pants?" Ryan muses.

"They're just overgrown teenagers with delicate little egos," Esposito declares.

"It's not that deep," Beckett offers. "It's simple math. They just have more opportunity."

"Well, what are you saying? Men are dogs?" Ryan asks.

"No, the greater the opportunity, the greater the likelihood," Kate responds. "Which means you two have nothing to worry about."

"It's hardly unique to men, Beckett," Castle points out. "You've met… well, never mind."

Kate's expression softens. "I get it, Ba – Castle."

Ryan and Esposito exchange glances. "You know, it's cool, Beckett," Esposito says. "We know about you and Castle."

"We're happy for you," Ryan adds.

"How?" Kate asks.

Esposito draws himself up. "We're detectives."

"Well, good, then let's get back to detecting," Kate returns. "So, what more do we know about Cano Vega?"

"His wife said he changed when he came back from Cuba. Maybe it wasn't Cuba. Maybe it was the girl," Esposito offers.

"That could explain the 200 grand," Ryan says. "Maybe he needed it for the girl."

"And why he needed to borrow money from a loan shark without Maggie finding out," Kate puts in.

Castle frowns at the board. "But Maggie Vega did find out. So she decides she's not gonna take it anymore. She considers divorce, but thinks about the endless hours of scrutiny, the public humiliation in the media."

"Not to mention she'd only get half," Esposito speculates.

"Assuming there's no prenup," Ryan says.

"But if she kills him, she gets everything," Kate guesses.

"Mm-hmm," Castle agrees. "She knows where he's gonna be alone, at night. She goes there. He trusts her, lets his guard down. She moves in close."

"She smiles, picks up a bat, and thinks of everything he's done to her," Kate continues. "She starts with the family jewels and ends with the family fortune."

"Minus Fox's – and the IRS's – cut," Castle remarks.

From the couch in her living room, Maggie stares incredulously at Kate. "This is crazy! Why would I kill my husband?"

"Because you thought he was having an affair," Kate replies.

"You know?" Maggie asks. "How?"

"It doesn't matter how we know," Kate says. "What matters is that you didn't tell us."

"It was a private matter between Cano and me," Maggie insists.

"It's also motive," Kate points out. "Mrs. Vega, where were you on the night of your husband's murder?"

"At home alone. You can check the security tapes if you want. So it's true then? He was seeing someone else?"

Empathy pokes at Castle's gut. "We don't know that for sure."

Maggie pushes herself off the couch and walks to a side table. She pulls a piece of paper out of a small drawer and hands it to Kate. "I do. You can see. He was in love with her. Her name is Lara. It says mi cariño. That means my love."

"Who is she?" Kate asks.

"I don't know. I've torn this house upside-down looking for a clue," Maggie confesses. "The note is the only thing I found."

"This is dated 2/16. That's the day before the murder," Castle notes.

"Yeah. He went into the city that day, didn't get home until 10:30. That's why I knew."

"Mrs. Vega. This woman is possibly involved in your husband's murder. Why didn't you tell us before?" Kate questions.

Maggie sinks back onto the couch. "Because I didn't want it to be true."

"Home security videos confirm Maggie Vega's story," Ryan announces, adding another document to the murderboard. "And CSU says Zane's place tested negative for blood."

"Where are we on the girl?" Kate asks.

"Nothing on the video from the club yet," Esposito reports. "Just finished combing through Vega's internet records. There are no I.M.s, emails, or browser searches connecting him in any way, shape, or form, to a Lara."

"Guess he wasn't a Superman fan," Castle comments.

"Oh, right, Superman's birthmother on Krypton," Ryan says.

Esposito scowls at him. "So what have you got?"

Ryan shrugs. "She might as well be from Krypton. Phones are a dead end too. No one who called or was called by Vega remembers him mentioning anyone named Lara."

"Well, for a guy who's supposedly in love, he didn't do a very good job keeping in touch with his girl," Castle observes.

"Some guys are just hopeless," Ryan asserts, pulling out his cell phone. "Hey, Honey. Yeah, I was just thinking about you. Thought I'd call you. Just wanted to say I miss you. Yeah."

Esposito smirks. "Some guys are just pathetic."

"I don't know. About 7:00." Ryan continues.

Castle puts a hand on Esposito's arm. "Don't be jealous. He still loves you."

Ryan puts his phone away as Kate loudly clears her throat. "Vega met with her the day before he died. So let's put out photos to all the precincts and have unis canvass the area around the field. Maybe somebody saw her the night Vega was killed."

Castle studies the picture. "She doesn't look more than a couple of years older than Alexis. And she's not made up like a woman meeting her lover – at least until, um, after."

Kate eyes the photo. "Men go for all kinds, Castle."

"True. I knew this guy once who was turned on by women with hairy arms. He said it was an Asian thing or something. But Cano could have had pretty much any woman he wanted. He chose Maggie. This girl doesn't look anything like her. Not even close to the same vibe. And Maggie is definitely a full-grown woman."

"Castle."

"But not half the woman you are. I'm just saying, it doesn't fit. We're missing something."

"Well if we are," Kate declares, "we'll find it."

A/N Castle fans took lots of notice when actors Nathan worked with before appeared on Castle. However, it passed largely without comment that Chandra West, who played Maggie Vega, had played Nathan's wife in a movie called Water's Edge. In fact, Nathan played a writer in that one too.