Confession Chapter 32

"That next body could be you, Beckett," Esposito asserts.

"Not with what Castle's been putting out in the media," Kate insists. "If I turn up dead, Bracken will just be adding fuel to the public fire against him. But that's not going to stop him from flying under the radar, killing off anyone who can directly testify against him. You guys keep looking for Cole Maddox. He isn't at the address YY &F has for him. And the phone number was a burner. I already checked those. Go over his financials for credit card charges, ATM withdrawals, anything, that would show he's still in New York. But check flights out first. If he did go back to DC, we'll have to take a completely different tack. I'm going to dig into YY & F, see what Maddox was doing there."

A quick call to Solomon Levy gets Kate an email bearing Maddox's work history with the high-pressure firm. It's short, only two weeks. During that time, Maddox's performance had been below par, managing to sign on only ten new investors. Kate wonders if that was purposeful, to make his firing unremarkable. Levy had attached a note saying that two weeks is the usual period new hires are given to show promise. "A great cover for Maddox's limited presence," Kate murmurs to herself. "But why set up at YY&F?"

Kate quickly googles the firm. As Levy had told her, YY & F had sprung into being as a privately held company five years before. Other than a general statement of the business category and contact information, no further data is listed. Yahoo Finance doesn't have anything more. Kate's sure that her vague suspicions aren't enough to get her a court order – not even from Castle's pal Judge Markway. Under Montgomery, she and Castle could have popped over to the loft and used his resources to dig further. Under Gates, so far at least, that's impossible. It will have to wait until her shift is over.

In the meantime, Kate can search for some reason why Reince Prince would have been at that particular garage at four o'clock in the morning. As the expensive suit and dental work suggested, the Prince family is known to have considerable assets. Reince's presence in the financial district was not unusual. Still, the proximity of his murder to a sketchy firm like YY & F is peculiar. Kate really needs to talk to Castle. She checks the time. Three o'clock. Gates does allow a ten-minute afternoon break. It's enough for a phone call, at least. She can take her cell into the ladies' room – and make sure she looks under the stall doors. Even Gates has to avail herself of the facilities sometimes.

"Why would a member of New York's financial upper crust be hanging out near a company that targets the hoi polloi?" Castle muses at Kate's query. "The obvious answer is that someone, probably your presumed killer, Maddox, arranged a meeting there. But are you thinking there's a more obscure solution?"

"That's exactly what I'm thinking," Kate says.

"Well," Castle considers, "YY&F handles a huge flow of transactions. As money laundries go, it wouldn't be hard to hide a few bucks – or a lot more than a few."

Kate shoves her hair away from her face. "That would be harder than you think. All YY & F's computer stuff is handled by Solomon Levy. From what I can tell, he's a straight shooter. And he told me he was hired at the company's start-up."

"Solomon Levy," Castle repeats, "by any chance an orthodox jew?"

"Oh yeah. The yarmulke, the beard the whole deal. But why would that have anything to do with laundering money?"

"Because he would cease to do any kind of work at sundown on Friday and not go near anything remotely resembling work until sundown on Saturday. That would give YY&F a window to run any crooked transactions without him ever being the wiser. And he could honestly testify in court that he knew nothing about anything like that. It would be the perfect set-up. They have their cover business and someone who could unknowingly cover for them."

"It would have to be unknowingly," Kate considers. "He seemed to have some very definite ideas about lawbreakers getting what's coming to them."

"Excellent! When the time comes, he should be more than happy to render his assistance to law enforcement."

"But Castle," Kate protests, "our whole YY & F - Simmons - Bracken connection is still conjecture. We have no hard evidence."

"We may be able to get some soon. Your dad's protégé Sarah Brockman is going to try to get Tim Wheeler off the hook with the court. If she can get rid of his unwanted ankle jewelry, he can lead us, and hopefully, someone associated with the SDNY to Simmons' fun house. That haven of evil amusement may just be the chink in Bracken's armor that the arrow of justice can penetrate."

"I hope so, Castle."

"Me too. See you soon? Alexis has been lecturing me on the nutritional advantages of eggplant. So I have moussaka in process."

"Castle, moussaka is full of cheese and covered in Béchamel sauce. It hardly qualifies as healthy."

"Precisely the reason it's an acceptable method to serve the dreaded superfood. So are you in?"

"Wouldn't miss it."

As she doffs her jacket, Kate appreciatively sniffs the aroma floating from the loft's kitchen. "It smells wonderful in here, Castle."

"I have a lovely Chardonnay to increase our dining pleasure," Castle announces. "And I happen to know that after dinner Alexis plans to retire to her room to livestream a concert Blue Pill is giving on the West Coast. We shall have the evening to ourselves."

A smile tugs at Kate's lips. "It sounds nice. But have you heard anything more about Tim Wheeler?"

"As a matter of fact, I have. Sarah Brockman called. She managed to get the judge to agree to an evidentiary hearing tomorrow, something his PD probably didn't have the time to contemplate. Tim has pictures to back up exactly where he was and what he was doing. If Brockman can convince the court that nothing criminal was actually taking place, she can get the case dismissed."

Kate's fingers drum against her hip. "How good does she think her chance of success will be?"

"From what she told me, pretty good. Fingers crossed. Any more questions before I call my ravenous daughter to join us in our repast – the non-alcoholic portion?"

"Just pour the wine, and call her, Castle."

As she rests her head against Castle's shoulder, Kate closes her eyes and lets cool Coltrane jazz flow over her. "Where did you get an original recording of Tenor Conclave? I've never been able to find one."

"Actually, a bit of barter. I know a connoisseur of jazz who is also a collector of rare Silver Age comics. I just happened to have a copy of Tales of Suspense #39."

"That's the comic in which Ironman first appeared," Kate realizes.

"Very good, Beckett. I'm impressed."

"But that book would be worth a fortune."

"If it was mint, or close to it, yes. But someone actually enjoyed reading this one very much. So no auction at Sotheby's, but still highly collectible. The album's owner and I made a mutually satisfying trade. Even more satisfying to see you enjoy the results."

"Castle, any more treasures up your sleeve?"

"Not exactly up my sleeve, but you never know what my climate-controlled Aladdin's lair may hold."