Now What? Chapter 19

"Thank you for coming in, Mr. Shaw," Kate says as the editor takes a seat across from her and Rick at the 12th's conference room table.

"From what you told me about Gordon getting killed trying to break a story, I owe it to him," Shaw declares. "But I don't know what I can tell you."

"Did Burns ever mention the name Harley in any of his stories?" Kate asks.

Shaw emphatically shakes his head. "Never. I vaguely remember a few theories surfacing when that scumbag drug dealer was killed. Interest in him died pretty fast. And at the time, Gordon was embedded with the Second Marine Division in Gulf Two. Stories of real tragedy and courage were unfolding in front of his eyes."

"Mr. Shaw, do the names Swede Anderson or Johnny Farrell mean anything to you?" Rick queries.

"They were both characters in film noir."

Rick smacks his palm to his forehead. "I should have remembered that. Glenn Ford played Johnny Farrell in 'Gilda' and Burt Lancaster played Swede Anderson in 'The Killers.' Those movies were both in a noir marathon I saw at the Angelika five years ago."

"Castle, no one would expect you to remember that," Kate says.

"Uh-huh," Rick responds, even as the muscles of his neck and shoulders tighten. As far as he's concerned, that's exactly the sort of tiny but vital detail a crafter of mysteries should remember.

Rick's rescued from his self-flagellation by Kate's next question. "Why would those two names be important?"

"This guy, Harley, what kind of drugs was he dealing?" Shaw inquires.

"Heroin," Kate replies. "Why?"

"Because the only heroin story Gordon ever chased was the one he couldn't finish. It was about a high-end distribution ring that set up shops in legitimate businesses. When someone needed product, they used a code word. Those words were characters from film noir. It's that story that destroyed him."

"How?" Rick asks.

"Because of the guy who was behind the ring, Cavallo," Shaw explains. "Gordon was after the 'Prince of Darkness' himself." Kate rolls her eyes and shakes her head.

"Who's Cavallo?" Rick questions.

Kate sighs. "He's a street legend or more like a myth. The story goes that Cavallo was mentored by this badass Columbian drug lord, Cozzy the Conqueror, and eventually, he put a bullet in the boss' head, slit Cozzy's children's throats, and took over the operation. But the NYPD's never had any solid evidence that's anything other than a gruesome fairytale."

"It wasn't a fairytale to Gordon or to his daughter," Shaw interjects. "Burns told me he had a contact that was getting him close to Cavallo. The next day, he and his daughter are crossing the street, and a car comes out of nowhere. When Gordon came to, his leg was shattered. Nina was bleeding out 20 feet away, and he couldn't even hold her." Shaw's voice rises. "So don't tell me Cavallo isn't real."

"And when Gordon got too close again, Cavallo killed what was left of him," Rick says grimly.

Kate clips Harley Romero's picture to the murder board, writing "Cavallo?" beneath it.

"No wonder Burns used the Melville alias he did at the Haft," Rick remarks. "He was Ahab, and Cavallo was the white whale."

"Hey Ryan," Kate calls across the bullpen, "when you were in Narcotics, when was the first time you heard about Cavallo?"

Ryan joins Kate and Castle at the board. "Must have been in '03, when all those dealers were getting whacked."

"Oh, that's right, when Harley was killed," Kate says.

"Or the NYPD decided that Harley was killed," Rick reminds her. "That ATM camera captured him alive and deadly. So Harley stages his death, brutally murders the competition, and then starts a whisper campaign on the streets about the new 'Dark Prince of Heroin.'"

"And a legend is born," Kate declares.

"Except, what does all that have to do with Monica Wyatt?" Rick wonders.

"Maybe nothing, Castle," Kate suggests. "Maybe Burns did have a date with her that night."

"I don't buy that, Beckett," Rick insists. "Too many things don't add up, starting with the idea that while hot on a story, Burns would make a date. There has to be something we're missing."

Esposito strides across the bullpen from Tech. "Yo! Wong enhanced the ATM video the way you wanted, Castle. He has it on the screen now."

Rick and the detectives crowd around the screen displaying Burns' hands in mirror image. Kate presses her fingertips to her lower lip. "I still can't make out what he's writing."

Rick pulls a pen and notebook from his shirt pocket and takes a seat in front of the screen. "Can you slow it down and run it again?"

"What are you doing?" Kate asks.

"What I do best: writing." As the video rolls, Rick carefully imitates Burns' movements. "OK, 3, 6. S."

"Could be a five," Ryan offers.

"Kay," Rick acknowledges, "S or a 5, W, 1,2, 7?"

"It's an address," Esposito asserts.

"B, A, S?" Castle continues.

"Basement!" Kate exclaims. "365 West 127th Street in the basement."

"That's three blocks from the ATM," Ryan realizes.

"Police! Nobody move!" Kate shouts as she leads a raid on the address Burns died to write.

"Room's clear," Esposito announces.

"Someone moved out in a hurry," Rick observes. "They left the scales, grinders, all the processing equipment behind."

"Get CSU in here," Kate orders. "Sweep the area. Looks like Ahab found his white whale, Castle."

Rick surveys the room. "This is not the whale, just what it was selling. The whale dragged Burns under, and it's still out there."

As first shift is just getting underway, Rick rushes off the elevator into the bullpen. "Beckett, anything from CSU?"

"The report just came in this minute, Castle. The traces of heroin left in the processing room match half of what's been seized from the smaller dealers on the Lower East Side."

"You put out an APB on Harley?" Rick asks.

"Not yet. If the rumors were right, then he'd have snitches all over the NYPD, so I was holding off until we know more."

"Shaw said that Cavallo was using legitimate businesses to distribute drugs. Burns got onto the story while investigating the battling Nicks, and his body was shoved in Authentic Nick's oven," Rick recapitulates. "He must have figured that a Nick was one of Cavallo's distribution outlets. Gordon traced the drugs to the basement on 127th Street, but he got caught. Harley chased him down and killed him. Still, whichever Nick is fronting for Cavallo is the key to finding Harley and shutting down the operation."

"You could be right, Castle," Kate accepts. "But then, how do we figure out which Nick is peddling more than pizza?"

"It's been a while since we put on one of our little acts to get to the bad guys, Beckett. Not since – you know."

"Yeah, I know, Castle. But what kind of an act will get us to the inauthentic Nick?"

"One from the always intriguing and occasionally enthralling world of film noir. Still, we'll have to pick the right character for the code, and there are a lot of great characters in those films. We'll need another clue from somewhere."

Kate's cell phone buzzes. "Yeah. Great! Thanks. No, not the lab. Bring it straight to me."

Rick quirks a brow. "Something?"

"A uni found Burns' phone in a storm drain."

"Maybe that's the clue we need."

"I hope so, Castle."