Shared Obsession Chapter 173
Kate studies the freshly arrived fax Montgomery hands her. "Sir, how did you get it?"
"Pulling strings and calling in favors," the captain replies with an air of self-satisfaction. "Rank does have its advantages."
"But this can't be right! In the investigation against Ike Thornton three years ago, Holliwell lists his informant as Detective Javier Esposito."
"Sonofabitch!" Montgomery exclaims.
"Javi would never turn on a friend like that," Kate avers.
"No, he wouldn't," Castle agrees. "Which means…."
"Holliwell was lying," the pair asserts simultaneously.
"And there was no informant," Montgomery adds.
"Sir, is there any way to find out if Holliwell ever served at the 54th?" Kate queries.
"Damn straight there is," Montgomery replies, "and I'm on it!"
With an almost silent torch, Ike burns through the door of Racine's safe. Esposito fidgets nervously. "Come on, Bro. What's taking so long? I could have chewed through that by now."
"Almost there," Ike murmurs. "In!" He jerks the door open, pulls out a book, and flips through a few pages. "This is it! We got it!" He skims more entries.
"We can go through it all later. Let's get the hell out of here!" Esposito urges as the door to Racine's office opens.
Holliwell barges in, pointing a gun at them. "Nice thing about IA. It's our job to monitor other cops. You should have turned off your cell completely, Esposito, you know, with GPS and all."
"All this time it was you," Esposito accuses.
Holliwell gestures toward Ike's find. "I figured you'd come for that sooner or later. Toss the ledger over here." He emphasizes his point with his gun barrel. "Throw it!" Ike tosses the bound volume and Holliwell catches it with his free hand. "See, if I were you, Thornton, I would have stayed dead."
"You're not me!" Thornton retorts. "I'm a cop, a real one."
Holliwell smirks. "I beg to differ. You're a wanted criminal. Just ask Esposito over there. He died trying to apprehend you. My only regret is that I showed up too late to save him."
"You dirty s**t!" Esposito grinds out.
"Look," Ike interjects, "there's something I want to say before we're done here." He gazes toward Esposito. "Thanks for backing me up."
Esposito spreads his hands. "Lot of good it did!"
"No, I'm serious, Man," Ike insists, "thanks for having my back."
Esposito's eyes flick to the gun stuck in the waistband at the small of Ike's back. He grabs it. Esposito's and Holliwell's shots split the air simultaneously.
Clutching the ledger and his gun, with his blood dripping to the floor, Holliwell staggers out of Racine's office. Beside Castle with her weapon drawn, Beckett confronts the shooter. "Thank God you're here," he gasps. "They tried to kill me, Esposito and Thornton, they're both in on it."
"Drop it or I will drop you," Kate commands.
The gun slips from Holliwell's blood-slicked fingers, but desperately clinging to the ledger, he tries to run. Ryan blocks his path. "Nowhere left to go, Holliwell." The IA lieutenant painfully raises his arms. "On your knees! Hands behind your head." Ignoring the dirty cop's winces of pain, Ryan ruthlessly snaps cuffs on Holliwell's wrists.
"Lieutenant Holliwell," Beckett announces, "you're under arrest for the murder of Paul Finch."
"Where's Esposito?" Ryan demands. Holliwell clamps his jaw shut. "Where's Esposito?" Ryan repeats as he and Castle rush toward the door where Holliwell emerged.
"Here, partner," Esposito calls. "We've got a cop, a real one, down."
Ryan pulls out his radio. "William 16, William 16, need an ambulance at 3471 Houston."
Ike looks up with a rueful smile. "I'm cool. It was a clean shot."
"Holliwell?" Esposito asks.
Ryan grins. "Yeah, we got him and the ledger."
Esposito grins back. "Good. Ike, this is my partner Ryan and my other partner, Castle."
Ike nods. "Good to see you."
Kate starts unclipping documents from the murder board and loading them into a banker's box. "With Holliwell's testimony and the ledger, we now have enough evidence to arrest Racine – along with a lot of others. There are entries in that book going back decades, including Holliwell's time at the 54th."
"Also covering Bracken's many misdeeds," Castle adds. "The DA is OK with turning that over to the feds. Some of what's in there crosses state lines, so it's their jurisdiction. And they've also been wanting to get their hands on Racine for a long time. Gonna be some Feebie corks popping."
"OK," Montgomery allows, "but what I don't understand is how Esposito ended up in Racine's office with Thornton."
Esposito gulps. "Sir, I…."
"I'm sorry, Sir, I thought I made that clear" Beckett interrupts. "Esposito and Ryan were with Castle and me at a restaurant on Houston when a call came in about a robbery in progress at Racine's office. We were the closest units, so we responded."
Montgomery eyes her skeptically. "Uh-huh, and who made the call?"
"The call was made by a private citizen who wishes to remain anonymous," Castle responds.
"Well I may need a private citizen to help me write up this damn mess," Montgomery grouses.
Castle inclines his head in a demi-bow. "I would be happy to lend my expertise."
"So…?" Esposito inquires.
"Just get all this out of here, the sooner the better," Montgomery instructs.
"I know you're not turning me loose," Ike Thornton says through the mesh of his holding cell.
"This is a furlough," Esposito explains.
"We've got something we want you to see," Ryan adds.
Esposito and Ryan steer Thornton to where he can see Kate lead in a handcuffed Racine while everyone in the bullpen applauds. "You did it, Bro," Esposito says. "And the best news is, you're free to go. With Finch dead, the DA isn't wasting resources on the robbery of an empty safety deposit box. The case is closed. And the ledger clears you of any involvement with Racine."
"And I don't see Racine pressing charges anytime soon," Castle adds. "He's trying to deny the ledger's his. But even the feds don't believe that. Not when it has all sorts of juicy nuggets for their cases – including some of special interest to Detective Beckett and me."
"It's time for you to go home," Kate says, as Carol and Tim run across the bullpen toward Ike.
"Omigod!" Ike exclaims, embracing his family.
Castle motions Beckett aside. "But we'll have somewhere to go besides home. While you were dealing with all the paperwork to facilitate the happy reunion, I took a call from DC. Bracken's on a rocket docket. We're going to be testifying even sooner than we thought."
"When?" Beckett asks.
"Could be as soon as next week," Castle replies.
"Wow! I can't believe it's finally going to happen."
"And you know what I can't believe," Castle says, "is why Montgomery let that asshole Demming transfer to the 12th. Even if he's a nice guy with underprivileged basketball players, he hasn't exactly been on top of his cop game, or Monica Finch wouldn't be a widow. And Holliwell would never have gotten his hooks into Thornton again."
"I might have overheard a conversation between Demming's lieutenant downstairs and Montgomery," Kate confides.
"Oh? And what might you have heard?"
"That the transfer was a favor to the captain at the 54th. It seems that Demming got a little too close with one of the detectives there. The captain wanted to keep her, so Demming had to go. They didn't have anything solid enough for a reprimand, but they didn't need that for a transfer."
"Mmm, seems like the transfer didn't make Demming change his tail-chasing ways any."
"No, but I might have slammed some sense into him in the gym. And anyway, I think Montgomery's going to unload him as soon as he can. In the meantime, we'll try to have as little to do with Robbery – and Demming – as possible."
Castle plants a quick kiss on the top of Kate's head. "Amen to that."