Shared Obsession Chapter 193
"Robert Menschel, Ph.D., brushes away as much sand as he can without disturbing the bone. It's not human," he declares. "It's not well enough adapted for full upright locomotion."
Chief Brady blows out a deep breath. "OK, then! No problem. Case closed. I have to go manage the extra weekend traffic in the village. My sergeant says it's even heavier than usual this year." He strides away across the sand to the firmer ground, where he was able to park his unit.
"So if it isn't human, what is it?" Castle queries.
"I'm not a paleontologist," Menschel reminds him. "As a Platinum Circle member, you know that. But because the bone seems unusually light for its size, I'd guess Arctodus simus, a short-faced bear. They inhabited this area during the Pleistocene as the largest land carnivores. And they were roughly the same height as today's humans, so the dimensions of the bone would make sense."
"The Pleistocene, Castle repeats. "So why would it show up in the sand now?"
"I don't know," Menschel admits, but fossils do turn up in the strangest places. And," he continues thoughtfully, "there was a story about a lost research vessel."
"What lost research vessel?" Castle questions.
"The Howe, out of the UK. Years ago it was here gathering fossils from short-faced bears, giant beavers, and other extinct denizens of the area. But it never made it home. It sent out an SOS during a Nor'easter, but the Coast Guard lost radio contact with it. When they finally made it to the ship's last reported position, there was nothing there. And the wreck's never been found."
"Wow! A seafaring mystery!" Castle explains. "Outstanding! But what about this bone?"
"I should be able to get some of the paleontology students interning at the museum to come out and retrieve it properly. They'd love to notch their belts with a find, especially one like this. Femurs can still have usable DNA unavailable from other types of fossils."
"Do you remember my daughter Alexis? Do you think they'd allow her to observe the process?"
"As long as she's careful not to damage anything, I don't see why not," Menschel responds. "I'll make some calls and start the ball rolling."
"Castle, you're grinning like a pumpkin," Kate observes as Menschel moves away pulling out his phone.
"Well, yeah! Beckett, this is better than virtual reality. It's the real thing. Alexis will love it! And the tale of a fateful trip – minus Gilligan's Island. What could be more fun than exploring that? And," he adds, "it is a distraction from waiting for a Bracken verdict. Not that we haven't had some other exceptional distraction this weekend."
Kate strokes her finger over the flesh revealed by the V of his T-shirt. "Yes, we have."
"But wouldn't it be nice to investigate a case where you don't have to go through notifying grieving next of kin and filling out paperwork?"
"Yeah, it would," Kate admits. "All right, Castle. Let's see what we can dig up about the Howe's disappearance. But isn't the local library closed for the holiday?"
"Normally, yes, but I have special privileges. You know me and libraries. I'm a very big supporter."
"Of course you are."
Castle taps excitedly on a black and white photograph in a book on sailing history. "Kate, look at this! It's the Howe! And the author devotes part of a chapter to it. 'The HMS Howe, staffed with paleontologists and students from the University of Edinburgh came to Long Island to work a dig on the property of the late Nicholas Cardano, an acknowledged supporter of paleontological research. The expedition worked through the summer in the Cardano compound, unearthing a wealth of fossils including – listen to this – an almost complete skeleton of Arctodus simus, commonly known as the short-faced bear. The ship set sail back to Scotland on August 24, a week before the season when most Nor'easters occur. But it was apparently caught unawares when a storm grew to unexpected proportions.
"The Coast Guard responded to the Howe's SOS. However, upon arrival at the ship's last broadcast position, found nothing. Not only was there no ship, there was none of the debris they would expect if the ship was swamped and sunk. The coast guard searched for days, following the currents that might have swept away bodies or debris, but still found nothing. Eventually, the search was called off.
"Over the years, a few salvage operations have looked for the Howe with no success. Since the boat carried little of value except the fossils, which were assumed to be lost or destroyed in the storm, interest in further salvage expeditions has been minimal. As yet, no identifiable traces of the Howe have been discovered.' Until today!" Castle hoots.
"Castle, did you notice the name of the owner of the property where that expedition was digging?" Kate questions.
"Nicholas Cardano. Ooh, Kate! Do you think he was part of the Cardano family? I mean, Vinny Cardano is still here in the Hamptons."
"How many unrelated Cardanos could there be?" Kate questions.
"I have no idea. But if I recall, there's a great book here on local crime family history. If Nicholas Cardano was part of the family, he should be in there. If I recall, it's just an aisle over."
Castle spreads the glossy volume on a table where he and Kate can study it together. "Booyah!" Castle's exclamation echoes off the walls. "'During the FBI clamp down on organized crime in Chicago, Nicholas Cardano moved eastward, settling on Long Island. After acquiring a large parcel of land from the heirs of suddenly deceased owners, Cardano built a compound from which he supervised operations throughout the tri-state area.
"Cardano was known for indulging his substantial appetites for food and women. He also invested considerable funds into an interest unrelated to the family business. After spending a vacation in Montana as a young man, he became enamored of the fossils found there. Fossils became a lifelong fascination to the extent that Cardano funded a dig on the grounds of his compound. It was reported that the dig was highly successful but that the ship transporting the finds was lost at sea. After that, Cardano only allowed family to stay at his compound. Shortly before his death, he is rumored to have handed responsibility for the family business over to Vincent (Vinny the Scar) Cardano. At this writing, Vincent is a resident of the Hamptons.'"
Castle stares into the empty space above the table. "What if the naturally curious researchers found more than fossils at the Cardano compound? Victor Racine had his ledger. Nick Cardano must have had records. Perhaps members of the expedition knew more about the Cardano family's ill-gotten gains than Nick could allow. So he plants explosives aboard the HMS Howe to make sure those secrets are never revealed and the ship's loss is blamed on the storm."
"But Castle, if he loved fossils so much, why would he let them go to the bottom of the ocean?" Kate protests.
"You're right! He wouldn't. But he could have sent a boat out to retrieve them and scuttle the Howe. Perhaps his people missed a bone or two or lost them as they fought the storm to make it back to shore. Or perhaps they didn't make it back to shore either. The rest of the fossils could be on the ocean bottom somewhere or slowly making it to land like the bone we found. Either way, it's still a great mystery."
"And how do you propose to solve it?"
"I thought I'd call Sal Cardano and ask him if he could set up a friendly lunch with Vinny. If anyone will have a clue as to what happened, he will."
"He's not about to incriminate his family, Castle."
"No, but we can see his reaction when we tell him about stumbling on that femur. It will be a start."