Confession Chapter 17

Kap hands Castle a sealed manilla envelope. "This is my report on the Lockwood matter. There's also a password in there to access the encrypted electronic version I sent along with your invoice."

Castle takes the envelope. "Thanks, Kap. I'm not sure anyone else could have pulled off what you and your people did."

"That's what you're paying for, Castle. But the sniper, Lockwood, is no criminal mastermind. He's just the hired help. How do you know his boss won't send someone else?"

"I can't be 100% sure, but Beckett and I put together a plan to make it as unlikely as possible. I have information that I started releasing to my contacts in the press pretty much the moment the news of Lockwood's attempted shooting broke. It ties Lockwood to Jimmy Carmack and by implication, Carmack's boss Senator William Bracken. Bracken can try disavowing it. Disavowing, ooh, cool word – like Mission Impossible. But the mission would fail. If anyone else tries to come after Beckett and me, or anyone connected to us, Bracken will be under a magnifying glass. Not the place a potential presidential candidate wants to be."

"The news cycle is short, Castle. Any implied implications against Bracken won't last long."

"I know," Castle acknowledges. "That's why I'm digging hard into all of Bracken's filthy history. As soon as the public starts forgetting just how corrupt he is, I'll release another story. Politics may slow down the justice system in bringing charges against him, but the stream of bad news will keep Bracken from entirely ducking legal scrutiny. Sooner or later, he will have to answer for what he's done, but trying to come after Beckett and me, would just push him over the cliff that much sooner."

Kap claps Castle on the shoulder. "I have to say, I'm impressed. But if you do need my services again, you know how to reach me."

"If I didn't, my accountant would disconsolately remind me."

Castle raps tentatively on the door of Kate's apartment, unsure if she'd want a visitor so soon after her return to what she regards as home. The steps of her bare feet are almost noiseless as she approaches the door. "Who is it?"

"Me, Beckett."

Kate releases the lock. "Hey, Castle."

He holds up a cupholder and a bag streaked with shimmers of French fry grease. "I went by Remy's. Burgers, fries, and milkshakes."

"Did they have strawberry?" she asks hopefully.

"When I told the young man behind the counter that it was for you, he threw in a few fresh berries in to go with the ice cream. I think he's got a crush. But then, who wouldn't?"

Kate reaches up to grab the front of Castle's shirt. "Get in here! I'm starved."

Castle starts pulling wrapped burgers and overflowing cardboard fry scoops from his bag while Kate jams a large-bore straw into the lid of her shake. She closes her eyes in bliss. "That is so good!"

Castle's brows do "the wave" above playful eyes. "Well, if you can't have sex…."

Kate lays her drink container on the table and reaches up to touch his face. "Castle, I'm sorry."

He kisses her fingertips. "Nothing to be sorry about. It just gives me more impetus to go after Bracken. And anyway, I have a recording of Gina screaming at me for my next chapter. Playing it immediately banishes all thoughts of sex from my mind."

The corners of Kate's mouth tug upward. "I suppose that's comforting."

"Just don't tell Gina."

"I wouldn't dream of it. And hey, I read your first article about Lockwood in the online version of The Ledger. It's going to have a lot of people asking questions."

"Which will give us time to find more answers. I want to find out more about Carmack and the merry band of Bracken's NYPD sycophants."

"That's going to take a lot of digging. Those records would have been buried pretty deep."

"Well, I've got a big spade – metaphorically speaking. Hmm, did that sound dirty?"

"Everything having to do with Bracken is dirty."

"So true. But I thought I'd start with the folks who'd have the strongest motive to spill the beans on the 'distinguished senator from New York.' As a DA, he sent a lot of guys off to prison who wouldn't or couldn't meet his terms. I'm guessing that some of them would be willing to tell their stories, for revenge if nothing else. And I wouldn't be surprised if the name Vulcan Simmons popped up more than once or twice either."

"My dad told me the full story about the records he gave you to go through. Have you finished with those yet?"

"Not entirely," Castle admits. "There's still a stack of boxes in the little office I rented, that I haven't gone through yet."

"How about if we go through them together?"

"Kate, those boxes weigh about 50 pounds each."

Kate rolls her eyes. "What are you, channeling Graciela? I'm not planning on lugging around boxes, just looking at the files in them. You can use your manly muscles to do all the heavy lifting."

Castle strikes a bodybuilder pose. "At your service. And there was one file I saw that I haven't had a chance to follow up on. You know that before Coonan murdered your mother, she was looking into the case of Joseph Pulgatti."

"Yeah, there is something about that in the papers I have from her. He claimed he was framed for murder. But he pleaded guilty, which cut off a lot of the usual avenues for appeal."

"Right, but your mom looked further into the case anyway. Pulgatti believed that dirty cops were involved. She thought that might track with what she was uncovering about Bracken. But her final notes were from right before she was killed. She never got to finish her investigation. I checked. Pulgatti's in Attica serving a life sentence."

"We need to go talk to him," Kate declares.

"Kate, it's a six-hour drive each way. Are you up to it?"

"Damn right, I am."

"Well, actually," Castle considers, "there's a nice lodge up there. I found it when I was researching Hail Storm."

"Hail Storm? I must have missed that one."

"No, you didn't. I deep-sixed it after Alexis informed me that a weapon necessary to the plotline violated the laws of thermodynamics. But by that time I'd already found the lodge. And calling it a lodge creates something of a false image. It's less mounted moose heads and rough-hewn furniture and more heated bathroom floors. The food's not bad either. We could drive up, have our tête à tête with Pulgatti, stay overnight at the lodge, and drive back the next day."

Kate grabs one of Castle's fries and sucks up the last of her milkshake. "I guess we could do that. This Joe Pulgatti, did my mom really believe he's innocent?"

"Of that particular murder, yes. But he was a mob enforcer, so it was a lot to swallow."

"But that would also make it easier to force him into a plea rather than tossing the dice with a jury," Kate muses. "Bracken could have seen him as the perfect patsy."

"From what we know so far, I think Bracken considers a large proportion of the population as perfect patsies." Castle grabs his last fry. " But he is going to find out otherwise."