Shared Obsession Chapter 199

Kate studies a copy of Todd McHutchin's probation records. "McHutchin's P.O. noted that McHutchin settled down enough to get himself a fiancée. Her name is Ana Marie. Can you guys track her down and get her in here?"

"On it!" Ryan responds.

"I've got the forensics on a blood smear from Maya Santori's apartment," Esposito says. "It's a match for Todd McHutchin. CSU found some of McHutchin's blood on Maya's shoe, too."

"Castle, that means that your sculptor was at McHutchin's place either during or after the murder," Kate says as gently as she can. "And I ran down those cab receipts from Maya's pocket. According to the taxi company they picked her up outside McHutchin's apartment yesterday and took her somewhere in the Bowery. Then 20 minutes later they picked her up again and took her home."

"She must have called me just after that," Castle realizes. "What the hell is in the Bowery?"

"Maybe Ana Marie will know," Kate suggests.

From a chair in the lounge, Ana gazes at photos of Maya and Chloe on the low table in front of her. "I'm sorry, I've never seen either of them before."

"Are you sure?" Beckett asks.

Castle gestures at Maya's photo. "We know that your fiancé was, um, acquainted with her. And he does have an um, history. Is it possible that they could have been involved in something, uh, illegal?"

"Todd was a good man," Ana declares. "I know he did some bad things in the past, but he got himself his own business. He was totally legit now. Only…."

"Only what?" Kate asks.

"A couple of months ago Todd hurt his back and couldn't work. The bank wanted to take away his business. So he borrowed some money from a guy in the neighborhood. This guy, he's no good."

"Did he threaten Todd?" Kate queries.

"Todd was making payments but he fell behind. A couple of weeks back the man came to Todd's place with a gun. He said he was going to kill Todd if he didn't pay back what he owed."

"Does this man have a name?" Castle questions.

"Carbino, Dean Carbino."

Carbino sprawls defiantly in his chair in Interrogation. "I loaned McHutchin money –15 Gs. So what?"

Kate zips open her black folder. "Mr. Carbino, we have a witness who says you threatened to kill him."

Carbino shrugs. "So?"

Castle passes a photo of Todd's body across the table. "So now he's dead."

Carbino regards the 8 X 10. "I can see that. But look. First off, 15 Gs is not an amount of money worth killing for. Not unless you have exhausted all other avenues, which I had not. And secondly, more to the point, your boy here paid me back the entire sum – plus interest."

"Do you really expect me to believe that?" Kate presses.

"No, I don't, Sweetheart," Carbino admits. "That doesn't mean it ain't true."

"Carbino's alibi checks," Esposito confirms to the gathering at the murder board. "He was in Jersey all day yesterday shopping with the missus."

Kate rolls her eyes. "Wow! Lucky lady."

"Doesn't mean he didn't do it," Ryan points out. "He could've hired someone."

"Yeah, to kill McHutchin," Kate agrees. "But why Maya and Chloe?"

"Maybe they witnessed the hit," Ryan offers.

"Maybe they co-signed the loan," Esposito suggests.

"Do we have all the financials in now?" Castle asks. "With $15,000 involved, if there's a connection that's where it's got to be. Carbino said McHutchin paid off his debt in full plus interest."

"If he was telling the truth," Kate cautions.

"Yeah, but if he was, McHutchin was getting the money from somewhere. Maybe finding out where is the clue we need."

"It's possible you're onto something, Babe," Kate admits. "Let's set up in the conference room and go over all three. Maybe we'll get lucky."

Kate holds up a printout. "All of McHutchin's accounts were overdrawn and then suddenly, two weeks ago, $9500 appears in his savings."

"Two weeks ago?" Esposito queries.

"Yeah, on the seventh."

"There was a deposit in Maya Santori's account for an equal amount on the same day," Esposito reports.

"And Chloe Whitman too," Ryan adds.

"Which means that they were all receiving money from the same source," Kate concludes.

"And spending it in the same place," Castle announces. "Both Maya and Chloe had charges on their cards for a place called KCBC, both of them on the 9th and the 16th. But they weren't exactly going on a spending spree. The charges were small, less than $20."

Kate flips through her papers. "Same with McHutchin."

"A restaurant where they met?" Esposito wonders.

"Call up the bank," Kate orders. "See if they can help us track who made those deposits. And contact the credit card company. See who this KCBC is."

"On it!" Ryan says, already half out of his chair.

"Bad news," Ryan announces as Kate fills in the new information on the murder board. "According to the banks, our victims' deposits were made in cash. There's no way to trace the payments. And since the amounts were less than $10,000, there was no report made to the IRS."

"So they were deliberately flying under the radar," Castle says.

"Which means they must have all been involved with something illegal," Kate deduces.

"Which does kind of match up with the whole shot-to-death thing," Castle notes.

Kate taps her marker against the board. "So what illegal activity involves a school teacher, an artist, and a vending machine operator?"

"You couldn't write anything I'm thinking of right now on the board," Castle replies. "Not with the occasional influx of citizenry. Even some of New York's finest might be offended. But it looks like KCBC is the center of the tangled web that captured our victims."

"Have we got an address?" Kate inquires of the male detectives.

"I talked to the credit card companies. KCBC bills through an internet card processing center," Esposito says.

"So, no address?" Kate assumes.

Esposito's rapidly expanding chest pushes against the snug fit of his shirt. "I didn't say that. There's no address on file, but they do register the ISP of every swiped card transaction that goes through. So I had Tech track it down." He clips a slip of paper to the board. "Whoever ran those charges did it from that address."

Castle eyes the paper. "Wait a sec." He pulls out his phone. "Once more to Google Earth. Yeah, it looks like some rundown building off an alley. Not a bad place for a hideout."

"A hideout that runs credit card charges?" Ryan questions.

"Depends on what they're hiding," Castle responds.

"Well, whatever is there, we need to find out," Kate says. "Road trip, Castle?"

"Better a road than a boat. I've still got sunburn. All right, Beckett, once more into the breach!"

Kate checks out the unmarked metal door matching KCBC's location. "You know, it does look like a hideout." She knocks but there's no answer.

"I think I hear music," Castle says. "Some sort of merriment is taking place inside." He points to the pad beside the door. "You think that's the way in? Maybe we need a secret code."

"Or maybe we already have it," Kate suggests, entering some numbers. The lock releases with a click.

"Wow! Score one for Beckett. What did you punch in?" Castle asks.

"The number that Chloe had on her hand, 227."

"Outstanding! Well, Detective Beckett, shall we?"

"We shall."