Finding the Fit Chapter 60
Kate leans across the table toward Montgomery. "As part of the prep for bringing Bracken in, we, Castle and I, have been doing a lot of research. We've been looking into how widely the corruption spread while Bracken was DA. We know that he took over an NYPD extortion racket that already existed. There was a cop named Gerald Dulaney who we think was looking to blow the whistle. Dulaney ended up with a bullet in his head. Officially, Bracken had a cop named Marcus Donovan investigating the racket. But Donovan didn't go after Raglan and McCallister, cops we know were involved. He had another list of cops, one he gave to the tabloid press. You were just a rookie, but you were on it. Sir, what was going on back then? Why would Bracken send Donovan after you, and why haven't you said anything?"
Montgomery cradles his face in his hands. "Raglan and McCallister recruited me. You're right, I was just a rookie – young and idealistic. The city was a cesspool, and I wanted to pump it out. I was naïve or maybe just stupid, but I really thought those two and all the other cops in the organization were on the right track. I was there when Bob Armen was killed. No one knew he was an FBI agent or expected he'd have a gun on him just to grab a smoke in the alley behind his club. But he did, and when he tried to keep from getting grabbed, the gun went off, and he was killed. Raglan, McCallister, and I were all on him. To this day, I don't know who pulled the trigger. Armen might have pulled it himself. But he died during the commission of a felony, so that made us all guilty of murder, even if it wasn't our intention. I was sick and threw up right in the alley. If CSU had used DNA back then, they would have known I was there. But it was easy to hang the shooting on Joe Pulgatti. He was in the alley with Armen. His prints were there. I think all the Spolanos, the family whose territory it was in, knew Joe didn't do it. He didn't know Armen was a fed. Hell, they were friends! That's why they were out in the alley together.
"After that, I didn't want anything to do with any of the kidnappings or whatever else Raglan and McCallister were doing on the side. I just wanted to do my job, my real job. But Bracken found out what the dirty cops were doing. He made sure Pulgatti took the fall. And he not only wanted a cut of the ransoms, he wanted to take over the whole operation. I wanted no part of it. I just wanted out. I told him that. I even had one of those mini tape recorders in my pocket when we talked. But he said the only way I was getting out was feet first. Not only that, he would sic his hitmen on Evelyn and any kids we would ever have. He had Donovan put me on the list to show me how easily he could smear me as a dirty cop no one would miss. After that, I told him I had the tape and some other evidence incriminating him. So we made a deal. He would keep Donovan off my back and leave me and my loved ones alone. In exchange, I would make sure that the tape and the evidence against him never came out.
"Beckett, when your mother started looking into the Pulgatti case, I played the tape for her. I knew she couldn't use it in court because there was no way to authenticate it without my testimony. Mostly, it was to warn her about just what Bracken could do and have her take a step back before it was too late."
Tears glisten in Kate's eyes. "But she didn't take a step back. My mother never would."
"No, she didn't," Montgomery agrees. "And it got her, and the others who knew about the case killed. There was nothing I could do that wouldn't result in the same thing happening to Evelyn. When Bracken got elected to Congress and left the DA's office, I thought, I prayed, that I'd be out from under. He'd be in DC, away from the city and away from me. He'd have bigger fish to fry than some police kidnapping operation. But I was wrong. He used his position in Congress and then later in the Senate to expand his operations, including the drug trade. And every so often, he'd send one of his guys to remind me how important it was to keep my mouth shut and that if I ever did let anything get out, I'd be killing my family. I'm sorry, Beckett, I just couldn't risk saying anything."
"Where's the tape now?" Rick asks.
"In a safe in my home office with the other evidence I gathered on Bracken."
"You need to turn it over to Waterhouse or Weston," Kate insists.
"I can't," Montgomery argues. "Bracken still has people out there. I'd have to put my family in hiding. Evelyn would have to give up a job she loves, and the kids would have to leave their friends and their schools. I can't do that to them. And even if I did, there's no guarantee that Bracken's people wouldn't find them. The only way they can be safe is if Bracken's whole operation is taken out and he's in the deepest hole a judge can find."
"How about Bracken's hitters, besides Coonan? Do you know who any of them are?" Rick asks.
"I know the guy that Bracken would send around to remind me how easily he could take out my family. I mean, I don't know his name, but I know what he looks like. One night he got into my house. I don't know how he did it. The security system was on. He came to me in my study, holding up my son's teddy bear. He told me he could just as easily be holding up the boy's dead body. I've never seen eyes like that before, they were like ice. I realized that he wouldn't hesitate to kill my boy or anyone else, including me. He'd enjoy it."
"You think you could help with a sketch of him?" Kate queries.
"Maybe," Montgomery considers, "but I can't use a police artist. I don't dare. And you have to swear that you won't let it get out that you got anything from me. Bracken could have someone watching my family right now."
"Not a problem!" Rick declares. "The sketch, I mean. There's an app for that. I use it sometimes to work out what my characters will look like."
"Castle, do you have it on your phone?" Kate asks.
"No, I like to look at a more life-sized image. But I have it on my computer at the loft." He turns to Montgomery. "If you're willing to take a shot – ooh, bad choice of words – we can get in a cab right now."
"All right," Montgomery agrees. "It's way past time to get this done. But do you still have that great Scotch you served at the poker game?"
Rick pushes out of his chair and heads for the stairs. "As it happens, I do."
Montgomery trudges after him. "I'm going to need it."