Shared Obsession Chapter 134

As Kate is about to start the engine, a woman raps on the window. "Are you the cop?"

Feeling the comforting pressure of her gun in her shoulder holster, Kate gets out of the car. She can immediately see the six-inch-heeled shiny leather boots poking out from beneath the woman's long coat. "I'm Detective Beckett."

"I'm Mistress Sapphire," the woman says as Castle comes around the car to join Kate. "So it's true? She's dead?"

"Yes, I'm sorry," Kate replies gently.

Sapphire draws in as deep a breath as possible while wearing a corset. "This weird thing happened last week I think you should know about."

"With one of her clients?" Castle asks.

"Sort of. A first-time client came in for a session but he left after just a few minutes. I found her in the locker room, crying."

"Did she tell you why?" Kate queries.

"No."

"This client, do you remember anything about him?" Kate probes.

"It was a week ago and I only saw him from behind. But he was wearing one of those medical-style shirts," Sapphire recalls.

"Scrubs?" Kate asks.

"Yes," Sapphire confirms, glancing back toward the House of Pain. "I have to go now. I have a session."

As Sapphire moves away surprisingly swiftly on her specialized footwear, Castle catches Kate's gaze. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Jessica's boyfriend discovered her secret identity."

Castle leans against the car, nodding grimly. "And instead of proposing to her, he kills her."

Tyler looks more confused than guilty as he stares across the table in the box at Beckett and Castle. "Jessica was the love of my life. Why would I want to hurt her?"

"Because she hurt you," Kate replies.

Raking his hair out of his face, Tyler shakes his head. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You said so yourself. You wanted her to stop. You were gonna make her study something else. It must have been a real shocker," Kate suggests, "when you discovered that she wasn't just studying that world, she was living in it."

Kate holds up a picture of Mistress Venom that Lady Irena had given her.

Tyler's eyes widen in disbelief. "What the hell is this? This is crazy! You're telling me this is real? You're telling me that Jessica was one of them?"

"Why did you go to the dungeon last week?" Kate demands. "Was it to confront her?"

"The dungeon?" Tyler echoes.

"We have a witness who saw you there," Castle says.

Beckett leans in sympathetically. "It's completely understandable. The woman that you loved lied to you. I can see how you could lose control and go into a jealous rage."

"And then in a panic, stage the body in a manner so unusual we'd naturally assume it was someone in the bondage world," Castle continues.

"I never went to a dungeon!" Tyler insists. "There was no jealous rage because I didn't know. I was going to marry her. We'd just signed a lease to move in together three days ago. If I was so angry with her, why would I do that?"

"Tyler was telling the truth about the lease," Beckett reports to Montgomery in his office. "Not only did he and Jessica sign it, it was notarized."

"That doesn't mean he didn't do it," Montgomery points out. "He could have had her sign to help his alibi."

"Maybe she was afraid of him," Castle submits. "I've been thinking. The dysfunctional relationship she cites in her research – there's a passage where she refers to Subject 'A' being afraid to tell Subject 'B' that she's leaving because he's become dangerously co-dependent. What if she was describing Tyler?"

"Maybe that's why she became a dominatrix," Montgomery speculates, "to give her the courage to stand up for herself."

"We have uniforms combing through the hospital security footage," Kate says. "If Tyler left at any point that night, there should be some trace."

"In the meantime, keep digging through the vic's notes," Montgomery orders. "We're gonna need more than speculation if we want to file charges."

Kate's jaw tightens. "Great."

An alert sounds on Kate's cell as she and Castle return to her desk. "What's going on?" Castle asks as she checks the screen.

"The nationwide BOLO for Brinkman is off. He's been found."

"Alive?"

"Yes. Some cops discovered him just sitting in a car in Arlington, Virginia, with no idea how he got there. He's in the hospital getting checked out."

"Wasn't Bracken essentially controlling Brinkman's office because the senator has dementia? Maybe he just got confused and wandered off," Castle suggests.

"That's certainly possible," Kate concedes, as Castle's cell buzzes.

He listens briefly before the call terminates. "Wow!"

"What was that, Castle?"

"A tipoff from Agent Gray. According to him, just before Brinkman turned up, a dossier was delivered to the DNI, detailing decades of Brinkman's activities – highly illegal activities. From what Gray gathered, it went to the DNI because it concerns both domestic and foreign operations. And the reach is much wider than Bracken's organization."

"How can the intelligence agencies be sure the information is genuine?" Kate asks.

"Apparently the dossier came with recordings. The various agencies are probably checking them against voiceprints as we speak. At least some of the dossier will probably be passed on to the special prosecutor as well. Our can of worms has turned into a whole vat of wrigglers, Kate." A grin slowly spreads over Castle's face. "Which means that taking us out wouldn't do Bracken's operation any good anymore. He'll just be part of a much bigger fish fry."

"You've been hanging around Montgomery too long, Babe. You're starting to use fishing metaphors."

"Point taken. But I'm beginning to feel like about 10,000 pounds was just lifted off my shoulders. You?"

"I'm still trying to wrap my head around it, " Kate confesses. "I hope you're right. But even if we are closer to seeing Bracken brought to justice, we still need to find it for Jessica. So let's go back to digging through her notes."

"Right," Castle agrees. "And maybe we can take some of them home with us. I want to talk to Alexis."

"Still worried about the cheerleading thing?"

"I'm not sure where I got them, but my fatherhood genes won't shut up."

"Maybe your father is out there somewhere worrying about what kind of trouble you get yourself into," Kate offers.

Castle smiles wistfully. "It's a nice thought."

As Castle turns his key in the door, he can hear Alexis inside practicing a cheer. "Doesn't look like she's given up," he mutters. Kate wanders off to the kitchen to give him space with his daughter. He regards the enthusiastically waving pom-poms. "Did you make the team?"

"No," Alexis replies, catching her breath. "Tryouts aren't for a month, but Buttons is letting me keep her spare uniform for a while to get used to the feel of it."

Castle studies the length of daughterly leg revealed by the minuscule skirt, wondering if he could ever get used to it. "So how does it feel?"

"It's totally not me," the teen declares, "which is kind of why I like it."

"It's not you, so you like it?" Castle questions.

"Yeah. You know how in 'Storm Fall' you killed off Storm because you were bored with him?"

"It rings a bell."

"Sometimes I feel that way about me. I'm hiding in my comfort zone. And maybe it's time to venture out a little."

"Does that have to include pom poms?" Castle asks.

"I don't want to look back on high school and feel like I missed out on something." Pale blue eyes plead. "So promise me you'll be supportive."

Castle cups his daughter's cheek. "Yeah, I promise."

"So," Kate asks as Castle joins her at the refrigerator, "feeling any better about Alexis going out for the team?"

"Not really. But I'm thinking about something she said about not being herself. I, well, you and I, have been about pursuing the justice our loved ones were denied for so long it's a part of us. If that justice finally comes, what will we be? Who will we be?"

Kate takes his hand. "I don't know, Castle. But I'm hoping we'll have a chance to find out – together."

In the chill of refrigerated air, he wraps his arms around her. "Me too."