Unexpected Appearance Chapter 5
A man in a nice but off-the-rack suit hurries across the lobby toward Rick and Kate. "I'm Lyle Prescott, the manager. May I help you?"
"I hope so," Kate replies. "We're investigating a murder." She holds up the damaged picture. "Do you recognize anyone in this photograph?"
"The boy is Zane Talbot. It looks like the woman with him might be his mother. That's her general style of dress and body type. I saw them not long ago. They're both alive and well. Who was murdered?"
"A woman named Eliska Sokol," Kate replies. "Did you know her?"
Prescott nods. "She worked here until just a few days ago."
"In what capacity?" Kate inquires.
"She started off in the laundry room. A few weeks ago, we promoted her to Client Services. This is a concierge building. We have a staff of over 75 providing our tenants with round-the-clock attention."
"She was undocumented," Castle says. "It would have been illegal for you to hire her, let alone promote her. Seventy-five is a large staff for a building like this. Do you keep your costs down by paying less than the minimum under the table?"
"Eliska showed us a green card. A lot of our employees do. It's not our responsibility to check on how she got it," Prescott retorts. "And she was an excellent worker – until recently."
"What happened recently?" Kate asks.
"There was an incident with one of the tenants, Mrs. Talbot, actually."
Cameron and Melissa Talbot sit together on a high-end couch while Rick and Kate occupy chairs opposite them. "Poor woman," Cameron says. "Do you have any idea who killed her?"
"We're working on it," Kate answers. "Mrs. Talbot, Mr. Prescott told us you had some kind of an incident with Eliska."
Melissa shakes her head. "It wasn't much of an incident. I believe the whole thing got blown way out of proportion."
Kate leans forward. "Can you tell us what happened?"
"It was last Wednesday, I think. I was with Zane in his room. Eliska came in to change the towels in the bathroom. I got up to answer the phone, and when I came back, the door was closed. I went in and found Eliska sitting on the floor with Zane. Maybe they were playing. I don't know. But he had a lollipop in his mouth. She'd given him a lollipop! You don't give someone else's child candy without permission. They could be allergic or diabetic. As a doctor's wife, I'm very aware of hazards like that."
"Maybe she was just trying to be nice," Castle suggests.
"You have to understand," Cameron jumps in. "We hardly knew this woman. It wasn't like she was our housekeeper that we saw every day."
"I didn't say anything," Melissa continues, "but I think she sensed I was upset. She got all flustered and couldn't get out of there fast enough. Zane seemed fine, so I decided to let it go. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized Eliska had been overly familiar with Zane."
"Overly familiar?" Castle questions. "Did you think Eliska was looking to molest him?"
"No, no," Cameron returns hurriedly. "Nothing like that. She was just giving him more attention than was appropriate to her position."
"Did you ever think it might have been cultural? That Eliska was acting the way people do with children in her country?" Kate questions.
"Of course," Melissa insists. "All I did was mention to the manager that someone should talk to her about what was appropriate. I didn't know she had been fired until you told us. Now I feel horrible."
Cameron's pager goes off. "I'm sorry. I'm on call. If there's something else, Melissa can tell you."
"No, I think we have what we need," Kate says.
"You don't suppose her being let go had anything to do with what happened to her?" Melissa asks.
Kate stands up to go. "We can't rule anything out. She might have been hard-pressed for money and gotten into something she shouldn't have."
"Then it's my fault," Melissa exclaims.
"No," Kate insists. "It's the fault of the person who killed her."
"Sons of bitches," Rick mutters as he and Kate leave the building.
"You mean the Talbots?" Kate wonders. "Melissa seemed genuinely upset about what happened to Eliska."
"No, I don't mean the Talbots. I mean the management of their building. They hire undocumented workers they know they can take advantage of and pay them in cash, so there's no paper trail. They see them as disposable. They fire one, they hire another one."
"Prescott said Eliska had a green card, but her prints weren't in the system. They should have been."
Rick snorts. "Of course, her prints weren't in the system. Her paperwork was phony. I wouldn't be surprised if half the little stores we visited could tell their customers where to get it. When I was in California once, I saw a guy standing right down the block from the DMV and hawking green cards. A lot of businesses thrive on being able to higher cheap – unfairly cheap – labor. Who the hell needs 75 people just to change the towels in the bathroom?"
"Castle, don't you have a housekeeper?"
"Yes, I do. Her name is Alicia, and she's been working for me since Alexis was a baby. I couldn't get my work done, be there full-time for Alexis, and do the housework. So, I paid Alicia to do the housework. But Alexis still had to learn how to make her own bed and cook a meal. I saw what happened to some of the nanny-raised kids of the actors Mother worked with. They were both entitled and useless. I didn't want that for my daughter. So, I hired a housekeeper. And we still need her. Mother makes almost as many messes as Alexis did as a toddler. Alicia is an immigrant, but I sponsored her to renew her visa, and she eventually became a citizen. I doubt the owners of the Talbot's fancy building are about to sponsor anyone."
"Castle, I never would have expected you to be so passionate about an issue like that."
"Beckett, the characters I write about in oppressive countries may be fictional, but I couldn't research my books without knowing that people trying to escape from them are real enough. Often, they just get another kick in the teeth."
"And you think that's what happened to Eliska?"
"I don't know who killed her, but it's pretty clear that she was taken advantage of and then disposed of like the other garbage that was in that sewer. It happens too often, and not just in fancy New York City concierge buildings – all over the world. Eliska and all the others like her deserve better."
"Castle, the most that we can do for Eliska now is see that she gets justice. Since we have a name, I have Ryan and Esposito looking further into her background. Maybe they'll turn up something." Kate's cell buzzes. "And speaking of – hey Esposito, what have you got? Oh. That's interesting. I'll meet you, and we can pick him up."
"What?" Rick demands as Kate tucks away her phone.
"Eliska had been married."
Rick nods. "And the odds would say the killer is the spouse – or ex-spouse."
"Maybe an abusive husband who decided to finish the job," Kate guesses. "Let's go find out."