Confession Chapter 22
Castle's face goes dead white when he reads the banner headline of The Ledger's morning edition. Alexis stares at her father with concern. "Dad, what's wrong?" Wordlessly, he turns the paper for her to see.
She reads aloud. "'NYPD Captain Roy Montgomery and His Family Presumed Lost at Sea. While on a family fishing trip, an explosion reportedly took place aboard the Montgomery's boat. The Coast Guard located debris but no survivors and no ships in the area reported picking up any.' Omigod! Maybe it's a mistake and they'll show up."
"Maybe. I hope so," Castle answers. "Beckett may not have seen this yet. I need to talk to her."
Castle picks up a copy of The Ledger from in front of Kate's apartment before knocking. She stands in the doorway, a mug of coffee in her hand. "Castle, what's going on? I thought we weren't getting together until after you got some writing in."
He holds up the newspaper. "This couldn't wait."
Kate quickly takes in the shocking words in 48-point font. "Omigod! Oh, Castle! Do you think Bracken's behind this?"
"I don't know," Castle admits. "But it's not his MO. He and his lackeys are more 'the leave the bodies as a warning,' type. But debris with no bodies is strange, isn't it? If the current took the debris, I would think it would take the bodies as well."
"Unless they were blown to bits," Kate says grimly.
"There would still be some sign. Pieces of limbs, some pretty big fragments could remain. And we know that pieces of the boat did, because of the debris."
"You think someone picked up the bodies?" Kate questions.
"I prefer to think on the bright side that someone picked up survivors. Montgomery was very insistent about wanting time. Maybe he had a backup plan in place."
"But he wanted to nail Bracken. He said he had more tapes and other evidence. Why would he? I don't under…."
"Excuse me, a woman in a messenger's uniform calls from down the hall. Are you Kate Beckett?"
"Yes," Kate answers.
"I have an early morning express delivery for you. But I'll need to see some ID and get your signature."
"All right," Kate says, setting down her mug and quickly returning with her driver's license and a pen.
The messenger examines the laminated card. "Great, sign here."
As Kate affixes her signature, Castle holds out a $20 bill to the messenger. Kate takes a thick envelope. "Thanks."
A bright smile lends sudden beauty to the woman's face. "Thank you, Ma'am, Sir. You two have a great day."
Kate hurries inside with Castle at her elbow, opening the envelope as she moves. "The sender is listed as 'RM.' The captain must have sent it somehow." She dumps the contents on a table.
Castle stares down at documents and microcassettes. "These must be what he was talking about when he said he had more tapes and other evidence. He wants to nail Bracken but keep his family out of harm's way."
"Castle, you're talking as if they're all still alive."
"Unless I see them on Lanie's or Perlmutter's tables, I have to believe they are. But I'm not about to spread it around. So what's the next step? What do you want to do with all of this?"
"Honestly, Castle, I don't know what I should do. But I know one person I can trust to ask."
Castle nods. "Your father."
Jim Beckett listens to a copy of the same tape Kate and Castle heard in Montgomery's office. "No doubt it's incriminating," he agrees, "but without Montgomery or someone else to testify to its authenticity and identify the voices, it probably won't be admissible. It's the same with the documents. You'll need to verify their provenance or they're useless."
"Meaning we'd have to get to one of the dirty cops, who can back this stuff up," Kate says. "McCallister was on the tape. I didn't hear anyone who might have been Raglan. But if McCallister was there, Raglan may have been too."
"Ryan and Esposito dug into them," Castle adds. "They're both retired and still in New York. Raglan was definitely the softer of the two. McCallister had excessive violence complaints against him that didn't have anything to do with their incarceration racket, but Raglan didn't have any. Outside of McCallister's and Bracken's influence, he might even have been a good cop."
"All right, we'll go see Raglan first, see what he says," Kate decides. "But I want to check in with Ryan and Esposito first. We could use some backup."
"With Montgomery gone, who's going to be in charge at the 12th?" Castle wonders.
"The lieutenant down in Robbery is next in the chain of command," Kate says. "So he'd be temporarily in charge. But he's mostly a paper pusher. 1PP will want to get a new captain in there as soon as possible. Still, until then, the boys will probably be on a pretty long leash."
"Yeah, it's a mess around here," Esposito declares, reaching for a jelly doughnut from the large box of pastries Castle brought for the break room.
"No one's sure what to say or do," Ryan adds considering his selection. "We don't even know whether to wear black bands or not. It's not like there's a body. Montgomery still could be alive."
"Sorry, Bro, but with a boat blown to pieces, it's not likely," Esposito says.
"So what are you guys doing?" Kate asks.
"Working our cases as best we can," Ryan replies. "But it's hard to get authorization or even suggestions for anything. The lieutenant from downstairs isn't used to juggling everything the way Montgomery did."
"So can you guys get away for a while?" Castle asks. "Beckett and I are going to drop in on Raglan, but with her on leave it can't be anything official."
Ryan turns to Esposito who shrugs. "Can't see anyone stopping us."
The moment Raglan opens the door, it's obvious the man isn't well. The head of hair he had in photos is gone, with no stubble to indicate shaving. His eyes are shadowed and his body is gaunt. He motions the group of four inside. "I saw a story Mr. Castle put out about Bracken. I figured you'd come around eventually. And I'm betting it's no accident that you're here after Roy Montgomery's out of the picture."
"Are you willing to talk to us?" Kate asks.
Raglan sinks into a chair. "Maybe I can gain back a couple of points with the guy upstairs. I've got nothing to lose. The doc gave me the long face. Lymphoma. The treatment's not working. I've got maybe six months."
"Can you start with my mother, Johanna Beckett's, murder?" Kate asks. "We both know it wasn't random violence. Dick Coonan told me as much before he died. But he never told me who hired him. Was it Bracken?"
"Yeah, it was Bracken," Raglan confirms. "Every damn thing was Bracken. He said what, when, and how and most of the money went into his pockets. Then the motherf****r gets himself elected to Congress and takes that asshole Carmack with him."
"Would you be willing to testify to what you know?" Kate asks. "Can you back up some evidence Montgomery left behind? Identify Bracken's voice on tape?"
"I probably won't live long enough to make it to court," Raglan warns.
"If we record your testimony, dying declarations are admissible," Ryan points out.
"Like I said, I got nothing to lose." A smile ghosts on Raglan's ravaged face. "And maybe it will convince Saint Peter to let me slip in."