Unexpected Appearance Chapter 27

"You think this is a joke, Castle?" Montgomery accuses.

"No, Sir. I just thought if Beckett is going to engage in genuine vacation activities, fine dining could be one of them."

Montgomery snorts. "Right. Well, when Beckett is working mall security, I guess following her around isn't going to have quite the same allure. Both of you come home. Now!"

"Well, that was awkward," Seegar remarks as a loud click emanates from his phone.

"Unless there's something else, I think we should go now," Kate says.

"And keep right on going to the airport," Seegar advises.

"We have to pick up our things at the hotel," Rick replies. "And our concierge is a wizard at bookings, but there may not be seats available. The airlines have been cutting back on flights."

"Just get out of my city as soon as you can," Seegar orders. "I'd hate to hear what Captain Montgomery will have to say if you don't."

Rick gives a little shudder. "You have a point."

"Detective Beckett, one last thing," Seegar calls as Kate starts toward the Ferrari. "Did you find what you were looking for?"

Kate glances at him over her shoulder. "Wrong house."

"Would Montgomery really fire you?' Rick asks as Kate plops into the passenger seat.

"Yeah," Kate confirms.

"So, we're going back to New York?'

"Hell, no, but I need to talk to the boys. At least they're still officially on the case, and if Violet Young is in New York, maybe they can track her down."

At the end of her call with the real Ryan and Esposito, Kate studies an image on her phone. "What have you got?' Rick asks.

Kate holds up her cell. "A capture from a TSA camera. It's a photo of our killer."

"Beckett, from the way you're glaring at your screen, if looks could kill, he'd already be dead."

"Yeah," Kate agrees. "Too bad they can't."

At a sudden niggling at the back of his mind, Rick pulls out his own phone. "Found him!"

"Neil McCauley?" Kate questions.

"If only, but I figured out who the mystery man in Violet's photos is. I knew I recognized the building he was coming out of. It was the bad guy's headquarters in "Primal Fury, Primal Vengeance." I did a little internet search, and bam, said the lady, discovered it's the home of Kelvin North America, some kind of R&D facility. The CEO is Charles Kelvin. Guess what his hobbies are?"

"Corgis, wine, and surfing. Violet was studying him – and not for any zombie movie."

Rick scrolls swiftly through pages on his phone. "Ah, portrait of a manly CEO. According to this, he has a regular date with a surfboard on a beach in Santa Monica. If we hurry, we should catch him communing with the waves."

"Mr. Kelvin," Kate calls from across the sand, "We need to talk to you."

"This is my surf hour," Kelvin declares. "So whatever you have to say can wait until I'm done."

"No, it can't," Kate counters. "I'm Detective Kate Beckett. This is Mr. Castle. We're conducting a murder investigation." Kate holds up Violet's headshot. "Do you recognize this woman?"

Kelvin's lips pull back in anger. "I recognize her, all right. We met in line for coffee last Friday, and," he glances at Castle for male support, "I mean, look at her. I asked her out. The date seemed to be going really well. She was interested in a lot of the same things I am. She even knew the names of Queen Elizabeth's corgis. But then she went to the bathroom and never came back. She stuck me with quite a check, too. We went to Spago's. But what's this all about? Did something happen to her?"

Rick presses play on Violet's digital recorder. "Does this mean anything to you? It sounds like your voice."

"That bitch!" Kelvin exclaims. "That phrase is the key to our high-security vault. Violet must have pieced it together from words I said during our date. I've got to get back to the office."

"We'll follow you," Kate says.

With Kate and Castle close behind, Kelvin dashes into a vault containing rows of empty shelves. "No! They're gone!"

"What was in here?" Kate queries.

"That's proprietary,' Kelvin declares.

Spying a reflection from the floor, Rick picks up a bullet. "I'm guessing that this dissolves."

Kelvin's mouth gapes. "How do you know about that?"

Kate's gut clenches. "They were used in a murder."

"God! We created them to try and land a defense contract in ultralight ammunition. The dissolving property was a complete accident," Kelvin explains. "Unfortunately, it rendered the bullets useless to our military."

"But valuable to someone else," Kate realizes.

"With less than pure intentions," Rick adds.

Metal rings as Kelvin slams his palm on an empty shelf. "How the hell did this happen?"

As Rick drives away from the beach, Kate shoves her phone into her pocket. "The boys think they have a lead on Violet Young, but it may be hours before they know anything."

"In that case, we should go to Spago's," Rick suggests. "I told Montgomery we have a reservation. Seegar heard it. So, if he has any eyes on us, at least we'll be where I said we'd be."

"I don't know, Castle. If the boys get anything we can use from Violet, I want to be ready to move on it."

"We do have a refrigerator and a microwave in our suite. We can always get doggie bags to finish up later. Besides, in a way, Spago's is sort of a crime scene. At least it's related to our investigation. Indulging in fine dining is better than wearing a track in the hotel's very plush carpeting. As fine as the hotel kitchen is, Spago's is steps above room service. Come on, Kate. You're using your vacation time. You should spend at least an hour or two actually enjoying it."

"All right, Castle. Spago's it is – until we hear something from the boys."

"I'll make sure our server has containers on standby."

Kate lounges back in her seat, drinking the last of the espresso that goes with her chocolate crepe soufflé. "This was nice, Castle."

"Glad you enjoyed it."

"I just wish we'd heard something from New York."

"They're three hours ahead, Kate. It's already the middle of the night there. If their clue didn't pan out, the guys are probably in bed. And there's one where Espo's definitely been spending some time."

"You mean Lanie's?"

Rick nods.

"Those two have been dancing around each other for years," Kate says.

"They're not the only ones," Rick mutters.

"What?"

"Never mind. Are you ready to go back to the hotel?"

"If I can move."

"I will happily assist you in any way that I can."

Rick clips Violet's photo to the whiteboard Maurice provided. "Picture this. Violet Young, a gullible and struggling actress, is desperate to make a name for herself. She meets a mastermind…."

"Mike's murderer," Kate fills in.

"Probably," Rick acknowledges. "Anyway, she meets him at a club. He needs someone to wheedle the voice code out of Kelvin and figures she'd be perfect for the job. So he tells her he's a producer. Mother's always warning her students about scum balls claiming to be producers. This one promises Violet he'll make her a star if she helps him play a practical joke on a friend."

Kate nods. "And she doesn't even realize she's participating in a crime until afterward. She can't call the cops. Still, Simmons made sure that Royce's name was floating around as someone good at helping out, so she calls him."

"But McCauley, or whoever he really is, finds out," Rick says.

"So Royce tries to change the game," Kate picks up. "He goes to New York for the home-field advantage. But the way McCauley could just pick up a gun there, it wasn't advantage enough. Damn!"

"But McCauley screwed up, Kate. If he'd just shot Royce with conventional bullets from a cheap, untraceable gun, he would have been anonymous. But he had the hubris to show off and leave a calling card. That hubris will help us get justice for Royce."