Kate Beckett, Investigator Chapter 16

As she's nibbling on her disgustingly healthy afternoon snack, Kate's phone gives out Jim Beckett's ringtone. "Hi Katie, how are you?"

"I'm OK, Dad."

"Are you sure, or do I have to call Rick?'

"Dad, you don't have to call Father Hen. I'm OK."

"All right. Then there's something I need you to check out. I subpoenaed Jacques Nellis, and I've been informed by Nesgadol's counsel that Nellis is unreachable."

"Nellis, Nesgadol's fixer?"

"Exactly, and if anyone is neck-deep in Nesgadol dirt, he's the one. If you're up to it, I need you to track him down."

"That will probably be more online work than legwork, Dad. I'm up to it. But as a civilian, I'm not sure I can access all the resources I need. As a cop, I could check with federal agencies to see if he left the country. I can't do that now."

"If he's left the country, we're out of luck trying to enforce a subpoena anyway. Do the best you can, Katie – but without pushing yourself too hard. And Rick always seems to know someone who knows someone with a handle on information. Your mother used to find the damnedest things in his books."

"Yeah. She told me that a couple of times. And he always seems to have a guy."

"There's nothing confidential about the suit now except the names of the parties to it. So you can tell Rick anything he needs to know if he can help."

"And you want his eyes on me while I'm working."

"They'll be there anyway, Katie. Mine were glued to your mother while she was carrying you, and she didn't have your complications. Rick cares about you and the baby as much as I cared about Johanna and you."

"I know he does, Dad. All right, I'll get started on Nellis. Castle's in the middle of writing a chapter right now. But when he comes up for air, I'll talk to him."

"Good. Call me if you find anything."

"I will."

As he and Kate sit side by side in front of his computer, Castle puts the display on the big screen. "So, what do we know about Jacques Nellis?"

"We know that he works for Nesgadol and that, reportedly, no one has had contact with him for more than a week. Nesgadol claims they don't know where he is. He gave the orders to Gidon, but Velma Dinkley's boss there, Wigdor, swears he hasn't heard from Nellis either. Since, as an investigator, I got a P.I. license, I was able to do the skip trace thing with Nellis's accounts. No airline tickets, bus tickets, tolls. Nothing to indicate travel."

"So what did he buy?" Castle asks. "Any special items he'd want, even if he relocated? He must have a yen for something like fine wine, cigars, European cut shirts."

Kate flips open a file of print-outs. "No cigars, and from the price, pretty run-of-the-mill wine. Clothes? He ordered several custom-made suits a few months ago. He probably still has them. Same with shirts. Ooh, this might be something weird. He bought skin pore cleanser – very expensive skin pore cleanser."

Castle reaches for the printout. "Let me see that. Oh, I know that stuff. Gina uses it, or at least she did when we were married. I remember because it's hard to get. It's distributed to spas where it's applied by licensed aestheticians who are supposed to instruct their clients on its use – and get them hooked. From then on, they can only get it by laying out big bucks at exclusive outlets. If I recall, the Sydney Beth Smoothing Salon was one – $250 for a half-hour appointment plus the cost of the fancy goop. If Nellis settled somewhere, it might be close to a salon that hawks that stuff." Castle's fingers fly over his keyboard, and he points to a tastefully packaged product on the screen. "That's it, Deep Depth Youth Reclamation. Now we search for outlets. Hmm. Sydney Beth is still plumbing the depths. Other pushers are in Connecticut, Vermont, and upstate near Albany. Oh, here we go! There's one in the Berkshires, Elemental Revival Spa. I've heard about this place. Mother spent some time there during one of her flush periods, but she didn't like it. She found much of the rest of the clientele, I believe her description was 'expensively maintained mannequins.' From what else she told me, the area is fairly remote. People have cabins up there on a lake."

"Like my Dad's place?"

"I think in that neighborhood, you'd have to add at least a couple of zeros to the price and probably the square footage as well. If Nellis has been socking away ill-gotten gains, it would make one hell of a retreat."

Kate checks through her printouts. "Bingo! Nellis was up there about six months ago and made several purchases, including one at the Elemental Revival Spa. And he filled up his gas tank four times in the area. He must have been doing a lot of driving around."

"Scoping out properties, maybe," Castle suggests.

Kate checks through her file. "I don't have anything showing him purchasing or leasing any real estate."

"He probably did it under a shell company. He could have bank accounts and cards under one, too. Those would let him live up there without showing up on the reports you have."

Kate reaches for the computer. "Let me drive. I've gotten pretty good at hunting down covers like that."

Castle grins. "I bow to your sharply honed investigative skills. I'm going to get some coffee. You want decaf or juice or something?"

"Decaf latte skim milk three pumps of sugar-free vanilla."

"Hmm, an additional pump. An extra spurt of aromatic inspiration it will be."

Castle wanders off toward the kitchen, leaving Kate at his desk. He just hopes she doesn't decide she wants a road trip to the Berkshires. The idea of being more than 20 minutes away from Dr. Scott and Kate's painstakingly chosen hospital scares him to the tips of his toes. But her blood pressure has stabilized, and as yet, Dr. Scott hasn't imposed any further restrictions other than keeping her stress and physical exertions to a minimum. But he also made clear that could change at any time. Castle would bet that right now, it's his blood pressure that's rising.

From the balcony of the second floor of his cabin, Nellis gazes out at the lake. A lone rower is propelling a boat across the surface. The man is out there every day. He doesn't fish or even seem to enjoy the view. He just rows. For the life of him, Nellis can't understand why anyone would put in that much effort with nothing to gain. He knew that he couldn't continue at Nesgadol forever. Gambitto is term-limited, and the fixer suspected that the next mayor might not play along. He hadn't expected some pissant lawyer to file a class action suit against the company, but he had his escape planned. Now he can just enjoy it. He has everything he needs – except that he'll be running out of pore cleanser again soon. But he can get that at Elemental Revival. And while he's there, he can get a steam and a massage. That will make a perfect day.