Unexpected Appearance Chapter 12
"Leman Jones told you some other dude messed with the car, didn't he?" Esposito asks, pointing at what's left of Amir's cab.
"Yeah, he did," Kate confirms.
"Well, the CSU guys here just figured out why," Esposito continues. "The car had cameras, pinhole cameras, and microphones too."
"Can we rewind to last night and see who did the dirty deed?' Rick inquires.
Esposito shakes his head. "No way, Man. The hard drives and all the video data were all ripped out."
Kate gazes around the crime scene. "What the hell is going on here?"
"Mother, you look insufferably pleased with yourself," Rick observes after returning from a fruitless afternoon of questioning anyone connected with Amir about the cameras. "What have you been up to?"
"I scored two incredibly hard-to-get spots at the Oasis of Serenity."
"Ah, the longing for serenity. I know it well. Where is this oasis?" Rick inquires.
"Nestled in the Catskills," Martha explains. "It's a sanctuary, a place for getting in touch with your inner self."
"Gram wants to shed her ego in preparation for teaching her acting classes," Alexis explains.
"Yes, and who better to do that with than Alexis?" Martha enthuses.
"Alexis does have more than a little skill at sticking pins in the overinflated," Rick notes.
"We're not talking about you, Richard," Martha retorts. "She and I would be staying in luxury yurts and have meditation classes and yoga lessons. We go tomorrow night – that is if you will allow her."
From behind Martha, Alexis shakes her head, mouthing something.
Trying to recall his minimal lipreading training, Rick watches her mouth. "Fizz? Physics? Alexis, don't you have a physics exam coming up?"
"My physics exam!" the teen exclaims. "I almost forgot. It's on Monday. I haven't studied yet, and it's 20% of my grade."
"Carpe diem! Seize the day!" Martha proclaims. "Clearly, I didn't teach that to my son." She gazes at Alexis. "All right, Darling, well, another time. I guess I'll have to find my inner self by myself." Martha strides toward the stairs. "I can do it."
As Martha disappears into her room, Alexis stretches up to kiss Rick's cheek. "Best dad ever!"
Rick strolls up to the murder board and hands Kate a coffee. "Anything more on the taxi version of 'Candid Camera?'"
"Just that they were installed by a pro," Kate replies. "CSU is running serial numbers to find out where they came from. But a guy with surveillance in his cab and a fat roll of bills doesn't add up."
"His financials don't add up either," Ryan says. "He had medical bills out the wazoo, but then five days ago, take a look." He clips an underlined printout to the board.
"A cash deposit for $10,000," Kate notes.
"What was a struggling cab driver doing with that kind of cash?" Rick muses, half to himself.
"Yo!" Esposito calls from his desk. "I just found something weird. I logged onto Amir's GPS account to track where he drove the day he died. At 4:07, Amir made a pickup at 15th and the Avenue of the Americas."
"Other than it's at the far end of the city from Washington Heights or the warehouse, what's so weird about it?" Rick asks.
"The passenger rode for 26 minutes and then got dropped off at the same corner. It would have run 30 bucks to drive in a circle."
"If someone wanted to talk to Amir, it would be a good way to do it," Kate says. "We should check the traffic cams to see if we can ID the rider." A uniformed cop hands Kate a file. "We got a match on the cameras in Amir's cab. They were ordered a week ago by a company called Techno Pro Systems. Come on, Castle. Let's go."
A young tech fidgets nervously under Kate's gaze. "I don't know what you guys are talking about. I didn't install any hidden cameras."
Kate holds up a document in front of his face. "Your name's on the purchase order, Craig."
"As is your signature," Rick adds.
Kate pointedly fingers her badge. "I could arrest you for violating The Expectation of Privacy Act. Did you know that?"
Craig gulps. "Yeah, I mean no."
"Or you could just tell the nice detective who hired you to install the surveillance equipment," Rick offers.
Craig jams his hands in his pockets. "I promised him I'd keep it on the DL."
"Is that promise worth going to jail?" Kate presses.
Craig swallows again and shakes his head. "Amir Alhabi."
Rick's eyebrows jump. "You put them in for Amir?"
Craig nods vigorously. "Yeah."
"Why would he have you put cameras in his cab?" Kate questions.
"He said security reasons. That's all I know," Craig insists.
Kate's phone buzzes as she unlocks her unit. "Beckett."
"Hey, we caught a break from the traffic cam at 15th and Avenue of the Americas," Esposito reports. "We got a pic of Amir's passenger. Nice suit, but not cut well enough to hide he was carrying. Ryan's running a canvass to see if anyone knows the guy."
"Great, let me know," Kate requests. "Turns out Amir was the one who had the cameras put in the cab. Castle and I are going back to see his wife."
"I keep track of the expenses for the cab. There was never a bill for cameras," Nazihah says.
"If you take care of the money, what do you know about the $10,000?" Kate asks.
"The first time I heard about the money is today," Nazihah claims. "I can't imagine where it came from."
"Money, cameras, Washington Heights. Nazihah, your husband was clearly hiding something from you. Do you have any idea what it was?" Kate questions.
"No, No!" Nazihah insists. "I don't understand this at all."
Kate shows Nazihah a picture on her phone. "Do you recognize this man? He was riding with your husband in his cab."
Nazihah presses a hand to her mouth. "Y – yes. He was here."
"When?" Kate asks.
"Last week. He and Amir were talking on the street."
The hairs on Rick's neck rise. "Who was he?
"I asked Amir. He said the man had mistaken him for someone else," Nazihah answers.
"Someone was mistaken," Rick mutters.
"Amir obviously knew the guy. Clearly, he was keeping secrets from his wife. Protecting her maybe?" Rick wonders as he and Kate leave the Alhabi home.
"Or protecting himself," Kate returns as her text alert goes off. "Ryan's canvass got a hit on the mystery passenger. He frequents a coffee shop on 14th Street and shows up every afternoon at two for Arabic-style coffee."
"Hmm, with cardamom. That's a favorite with Syrians," Rick recalls.
"Another one of your fun factoids, Castle?"
"Something like that. Anyway, stakeout time?"
"Stakeout time," Kate confirms.
"It's 1:45," Kate notes as she and Rick sit in her unit down the block from the café. "So what book did you use Arabic-style coffee in, Castle? I don't remember reading about it."
"I didn't use it in a book. I just ran across it somewhere. I don't remember where."
"Hmm. Usually, you remember exactly where you picked up your little tidbits of information. So I guess the human database has its gaps."
"We all have gaps, Beckett. Actually, I had a bigger one the first time I tried to play hockey. I knocked out my two front teeth. Fortunately, Mother had just done a big movie and could afford…. Beckett, there he is!"
Kate springs out of the car.