Finding the Fit Chapter 37
"Two problems have arisen with our New York City organization," Bracken announces to Speelman. "An NYPD detective has been sniffing around both Simmons and Petrovich. We can close down Simmons' facility and shift operations to the Westchester mansion, out of the NYPD's jurisdiction. That's already underway. Petrovich is more complicated. We need to maintain his connections to our partners in St. Petersburg. He'll need cover until we can relocate him. I need you to take care of it."
"How?" Elmont asks mildly, feeling too good to challenge his boss. "The NYPD is local. I handle state prosecutions."
Bracken flashes his best politician's winning smile. "That's exactly what you'll say you're doing. As far as anyone is concerned, you'll be enlisting Petrovich as a consultant to help you uncover corruption originating in the city, but spreading through the state. Of course, your conversations with him will be so confidential that you'll be the only one questioning him. You can put him up in the Albany house until we can arrange for him to take a long sail on his yacht. It's anchored in Bermuda, and we'll have to bring it to a New York Port. Once he's in international waters, he'll be out of reach."
"Why not just kill him and connect more directly?" Elmont asks with a lazy smile.
"Because we need the continued cooperation of Re-emergence, and they don't take kindly to the deaths of their own – not even by an unfortunate accident. We have to protect him. That will be your job. I'm sure you're up to it."
"Oh, I'm up," Speelman replies with a wink.
"Just take care of business, Speelman," Bracken urges. "I expect results by tomorrow."
"Sure, tomorrow," Elmont agrees. The screen goes dark.
"Speelman is taking his time," Kate notes, looking at her watch.
"He came all the way from upstate," Rick points out. "I'd expect him to take some time to enjoy himself. And he might have needed a fluffer – or a pill. Sometimes guys…."
"I know that, Castle," Kate interrupts. "But there's something else going on in there. I wish I knew what it was."
"Then you can ask him. Looks like he's coming out now. Wow! Look at that smile! Those ladies must excel at their craft."
Kate opens her car door. "He won't be smiling long." She strides rapidly down the sidewalk and lifts the badge around her neck. "Mister Attorney General, Detective Kate Beckett, NYPD. I need a word."
His smile unfading, Speelman's gaze sweeps appreciatively over Kate as Rick catches up. "What can I do for you and your friend, Detective?"
"You can tell me how you came to be visiting a house associated with multiple criminal activities," Kate says.
"It is my job to investigate criminal behavior, Detective," a still-smiling Speelman responds, "but in this case, I was just visiting an old friend. And I'm sorry, I have to go now. Duty calls." Elmont hits a button on a fob to unlock his sedan. He pulls on the handle. "If you have any more questions, you can call my office."
The Attorney General drives away, leaving Kate and Rick staring gape-mouthed after him. "You know," Rick says, "I see that guy on newscasts all the time. He was even on Kimmel once. Even there, he never smiled, not at Jimmy's best quips. The ladies in that house must use some kind of magic."
"Not magic, Castle. When I was at Stanford, I saw a couple of kids react that way to drugs," Kate recalls, "but I never knew what they took."
"I wonder if Mr. Attorney General knew he took anything," Rick muses. "You wouldn't think that someone in his position would want to have a conversation with a cop while high. Having that go into an official report wouldn't do much for his career prospects."
"That's putting it mildly, Castle. But we can't prove that he was high. He could claim he was happy about hooking up with an old friend."
"Perhaps hooking would not be the best choice of words," Rick comments. "But what now, Beckett? Watch for further activity or storm the gates?"
"I don't know, Castle. Speelman's involvement makes this case even more complicated. Normally, if I suspected a high state official was corrupt, I'd take it to a U.S. attorney. But we don't know who's roped into all of this. I'll need some time to figure out my next move."
"You could figure it out over chicken and waffles," Rick suggests.
A giggle erupts unbidden from Kate's lips. "You don't stop, do you, Castle?"
"Depends on what I'm doing. But," Rick adds, "have you got a better idea?"
"At this moment, no."
Rick washes down a bite of waffle with a sip of strong coffee. "Beckett, Ryan knows about drugs, doesn't he?"
"After the time he spent in Narcotics, he should. What are you thinking, Castle?'
"If we could figure out what Speelman took that left him grinning like a pumpkin, maybe we could trace it to the source and find his connection to Simmons, Bracken, Re-emergence, or whomever he's tied up with. Hmm, a tied-up state official, that's not a bad image to pique my reader's interest."
"It's a pretty bad image for an attorney general," Kate points out. "But you have a point. We should talk to Ryan as soon as we get back to the Precinct."
Ryan strokes his jaw. "So Speelman was euphoric?"
"That's as good a description as any," Kate says.
"Well, right off the bat, I'd suspect MDMA, ecstasy. But there are a lot of drugs that get mixed into it, especially what gets sold as Molly on the street. There are also analogs, designer drugs the dealers out there use to stay a step ahead of the police lab. Some of those can be fatal."
"I doubt anyone would have slipped Speelman a street drug," Kate responds.
"He'd be too valuable an asset to risk that way. Could someone cook up a designer version as a way of inducing specific behaviors?" Rick queries, recalling some of the tools used by the Company.
"With enough time and resources, maybe," Ryan replies.
"Castle, are you saying someone drugged Speelman to ensure his cooperation?" Kate asks.
"I'm saying that it fits with what we saw and what we know so far," Rick returns.
"So, if you're right, cooperation with what?" Kate wonders.
"Maybe with trying to fix whatever problem Molava Whittington detailed in her encrypted missives," Castle offers.
"She would have been giving her regular report on Petrovich." Kate figures. "And we questioned her about him. She probably would have reported that too."
"So whatever Speelman was tasked with might have something to do with Petrovich. Damn!" Kate exclaims, "I wish I had some results back from crypto."
"Maybe you should give them a nudge," Rick suggests.
Kate grabs her cell phone from her jacket pocket. "More than a nudge."
"So what did they say?" Rick queries as Kate forcefully shoves her phone back into her pocket.
"That it's a double key encryption. The message gets encrypted by one key as it's sent and decrypted by a second key on the other end."
"So, can they figure out the keys?" Rick asks.
"They think that they were created by a random number generator. They're running some algorithms, but they're not hopeful."
Rick shakes his head. "Damn!"