Unexpected Appearance Chapter 13

"Sir! In the cream suit! Stop! NYPD! Turn Around!" Kate orders.

Completely unruffled, the subject of her commands turns with his arms in the air and faces her.

Kate grabs a gun from under his jacket and hands it to Rick. "It's a 9 mm, the same caliber that killed Amir." She stares at her suspect. "Do you have a concealed weapon permit?"

"Inside left pocket of my jacket along with my credentials," the man replies, still completely calm.

Kate inspects his ID. "Fariq Yusef, Syrian Consulate. Put your hands down."

Fariq inclines his head. "Thank you."

"The Syrian Consulate is miles uptown near the United Nations," Rick says. "Your favorite café must be excellent."

"It is," Fariq acknowledges. "And I also have business to tend to in this part of the city. But those are matters of a diplomatic nature, beyond the jurisdiction of the NYPD."

"Homicides in this city are in my jurisdiction," Kate returns. "Two days ago, you were driving in a cab with Amir Alhabi. He's been murdered."

"I am saddened to hear that," Fariq replies, sounding genuinely sincere.

"You were in that cab for half an hour," Kate continues. "What was the nature of your relationship?"

Fariq frowns his impatience. "I have diplomatic immunity. You have no stand…."

Kate leans in. "Who killed him? Was it you?"

"In questioning or detaining me," Fariq finishes.

"Answer my question!" Kate commands. "Did you kill him?"

"I'd like my pistol, please," Fariq replies mildly.

"You can collect it at the 12th Precinct," Kate declares.

Fariq nods. "And so I shall."

"There are evidence bags in the glove compartment, Castle," Kate says from behind the wheel of her unit. "Put that gun in one of them. I'll have ballistics put a rush on it."

Rick drops the gun in a bag and gives it to Kate to date and sign. "Ballistics will tell the tale, but I don't think he did it, Beckett."

"And why is that, Castle?"

"Because if the Syrians wanted Amir dead, they could have killed him before he left Syria. Or they could have taken him out any time in the years he's been here. Doing it now makes no sense. And what would they have to torture him about? Secrets gleaned while driving a cab? And why shoot him at a warehouse in the Bronx? With diplomatic immunity, Fariq could have taken him down anywhere and, at worst, been shipped home. He's keeping secrets, but not about killing Amir."

"We'll find out when we get the ballistics," Kate says. "But right now, Fariq is our best suspect."

"Because he's your only suspect," Rick mutters.

Kate scowls at a report from ballistics. "Yusef's gun doesn't match the bullet that killed Amir Alhabi. But he could have more than one."

"He could and probably does," Ryan says. "His official title at the consulate is head of security."

"In that line of work, he's probably broken a few fingers," Kate guesses.

"Could be," Esposito agrees. "But he didn't kill Amir. The night of the murder, he was with the Syrian ambassador at a soccer game at Bennett Field. There are photos online to prove it."

"Then we're back to square one." Kate stalks up to the murder board. "OK, so Amir and Yusef take a tour of Lower Manhattan. Then, later on that night, Amir calls his wife and tells her he'll be picking up theatergoers, but instead goes up to Washington Heights."

"And ends up dead at the warehouse with his hard drive ripped out," Esposito adds.

Rick taps his finger against the board. "But he also writes down C4121652. That had to be important to him. Otherwise, why bother? Wait! I know what it means – or part of it. He drove to the 1600 block of St. Nicholas Ave and parked midblock. So, what's at 1652 St. Nicholas Ave?" Rick pulls out his phone. "It's one of those storage places, North Manhattan Storage. The bigger ones are in cheaper neighborhoods like that part of Washington Heights – less cost per square foot."

Kate nods. "C412 could be the number of a storage unit."

Rick stares at the sturdy padlock on C412. How are we going to get in?"

"If all else fails, I've got bolt cutters in my trunk," Kate says. "Standard NYPD issue. We never know when we're going to have to snip something."

Rick winces. "I was hoping you just had your picks with you."

Kate pulls a small evidence bag out of her pocket. "Better. I've got Amir's keys from his effects. Hopefully, this is his locker.

"If the killer was looking for something he thought Amir had, strange he didn't take them," Rick muses.

"Yeah, it is kinda," Kate agrees. "But maybe we'll know why when we look inside."

"Be careful. Maybe it's something dangerous like the Ark of the Covenant. You don't want to melt your face off."

"If it was the Ark of the Covenant, wouldn't Amir have melted his face off?" Kate asks.

"Good point," Rick concedes.

Kate turns a key in the padlock and slides the metal door upward. She shines her flashlight inside. "It's a crate."

"The Ark of the Covenant was in a crate," Rick recalls. "Be careful."

"All right, but help me with this." Together, they pull the top loose, revealing guns and packs of explosives.

"It's C4," Kate says as an alarm screeches from a monitor on her waistband. She checks it with her flashlight. "Castle, get out of here, now! Go as far away as you can get!"

Kate runs for the door, jerking it down behind her. "This is Kate Beckett, badge number 0334. A civilian and I have been exposed to high levels of radiation. We need emergency services now."

The sound of Kate's alarm fades as she and Castle reach the edge of the parking area. "How bad is it, Beckett?" he asks.

She holds up her monitor for him to see solid red. This doesn't have a scale in it. It just triggers on exposure. But it triggered pretty fast."

"So we could both be walking dead," Rick realizes.

"We won't know until emergency services get here and test. We could be OK."

"Or we might have been better off just having our faces melt. At least it would have been over fast."

Kate sinks down to sit on the curb. "They'll be here soon. Know any amusing factoids about radiation exposure?"

Rick sits next to her. "Sorry. Factoids, yes, but nothing amusing."

Rick gazes around the temporary shelter where he and Kate were taken by men in radiation suits. "At least my will is in order. Alexis will get to go to her dream school – whatever that turns out to be. But I hope I get to say goodbye to her and Mother. And I could make a video for my fans resurrecting Derrick Storm and revealing his future. You must want a chance to say goodbye to your father. Is there anyone else? How about that motorcycle boy you dated?"

"He's not a motorcycle boy, Castle, he's a doctor."

"All right, Dr. Motorcycle Boy. Do you want to say goodbye?"

"I don't know if I can. He went off to Haiti to help the hurricane victims. He'll be out of communication, and I don't know when he'll be coming back. He's gone off before, and I never really minded. When he always had one foot out the door, I could too. But sometimes I…."

"What?"

"Sometimes I wish I had someone who could be there for me and I could be there for him and we could dive into it together."

"We certainly dived into this together, Beckett," Rick points out. "I just hope we get a chance to surface together."

"Yeah," Kate agrees, "me too."