Unexpected Appearance Chapter 35
"Hey guys," Ryan calls as Rick and Kate return to the bullpen. "I ran financials on everyone associated with the prison: guards, civilian employees, medical staff."
"I found a guard named Ryker," Esposito interjects. "He's underwater on his mortgage, he maxed out on his credit cards, and he was about to lose his condo."
"Ryker, I know Ryker," Kate says. "He's a nice guy. Last time I was at the prison I thought he was working up to asking me out."
"Maybe he was waiting until he could afford to pick up the check," Esposito suggests. "The day before Ryker was transferred into the general population, he received a wire transfer for $50,000."
"I need to go to the prison and talk to him," Kate decides.
Esposito shakes his head. "He's not there. He didn't show up for work this morning."
"Got a home address?" Kate asks.
"Yeah."
Kate starts for the elevator. "Let's go."
Rick points to Ryker's slightly ajar front door. "Around here, that's not a good sign."
"Ryker, Mr. Ryker!" Kate calls. "NYPD!"
"Other than the sanitation truck outside, I don't hear anything," Rick says.
Kate nods at Ryan and Esposito and points inside the condo.
"NYPD!" Esposito shouts as they enter.
"NYPD!" Ryan echoes.
Rick waves at a chair facing away from them. "There's someone sitting there."
"Let me see your hands!" Kate commands, raising her weapon.
"Your hands!" Esposito repeats.
"Come on," Kate says, keeping her gun trained on the seated figure. As the group moves in front of the chair, it's clear that the occupant is no longer capable of moving his hands or any other part of his body.
"Bullet through the head, very efficient," Rick remarks.
"We'll see," Kate says. "As soon as Lanie takes care of the body, I'll have CSU go over this place from top to bottom. Maybe they'll find some trace or fibers to lead us to Lockwood and his buddies. Guys, secure the scene. I'll get Lanie in here now."
While they're waiting for the ME to arrive, Rick motions Kate into the hallway. "Have you been thinking about where that tape might be?"
"Other than getting a fix on Lockwood and Bracken's mercs, I haven't been thinking about much else. My father gave me a few of my mother's things, that I've been through about a hundred times. But he kept the rest of her stuff. He said he couldn't bear to lose anything else. He put it in a storage unit."
"The tape could be in that unit somewhere," Rick speculates. "Despite the trauma of our last experience with a storage unit, While Lanie and CSU are doing their work, maybe we should go see your dad about getting in there."
"Yeah," Kate agrees, "we should. He'll be in his office. He always is this time of day."
Almost bloodless lips pressed tightly together, Jim Beckett stares at his daughter. "Katie, you have the same look on your face that your mother did when she decided to dig into Joe Pulgatti's conviction. Can't you just let this go and let some other cop look into it? I don't think I could handle losing you too."
"Dad, this bastard, Bracken, who was behind Mom's murder, already has me in his sights. His hitman, Lockwood, as much as told me so. And he'll have everyone else who can expose him in his sights, too. The only way I can stop them and myself from getting killed is to put him behind bars."
Jim gazes at Castle. "We've never met before, but I know you two have been working closely for years. Is there any way she can step back from this?"
"Not one that I know of, Sir. As far as I can tell, the only way to keep your daughter safe is to get that tape and throw Bracken into the deepest hole we can find."
"All right, then," Jim says, pushing out of his chair just enough to reach into his pocket for his keys. "The storage unit is on 51st Street near MOMA. Your mother always loved the museum. I figured she'd like to have her things nearby." He slides a key off the ring. "It's B-30. This will get you in. But Katie, be careful."
"I will, Dad. I promise."
At her desk, Kate studies Lanie's and CSU's preliminary reports. "The bullet entered through the back of Ryker's head, exited through the forehead, and landed in a cabinet. The time of death was about nine o'clock last night."
"He must have been the second target of Lockwood's mission," Rick figures, looking up from a printout. "Ryker made four phone calls to the same burner cell Lockwood called from prison."
"He was probably negotiating prices," Kate guesses. "He had no idea who he was dealing with."
"Any chance of getting a voiceprint off Lockwood's call?" Rick queries. "It could have been to Bracken himself or maybe Zussman. But I'd go with Bracken. Zussman could have talked to Lockwood face to face."
"I'll look into it," Kate says. "If we can find Montgomery's tape, we'll have to use voice printing to prove it's Bracken on it. So we might as well hook up with an audio expert now."
"Wouldn't Montgomery's word be enough to verify the tape's authenticity?" Rick wonders.
"Bracken's lawyers will do their best to discredit Montgomery as a dirty cop. And if he hung around with Raglan and McCallister they could at least try for reasonable doubt. We'll need the forensics. CSU does some of that, but they usually call in a professor from Hudson to testify, a Dr. Krumholtz."
"Dickie Krumholtz?" Rick asks.
"In court, he's Richard Krumholtz. Why? Do you know him?"
"I do. Remember in my novella Sonic Storm, Derrick was checking out all those diplomats who developed weird symptoms after hearing strange sounds in their hotel rooms?"
"Yeah, I remember. Turned out the sounds were supposed to be a system of delivering encrypted messages, but it went wonky."
"Right! Well, anyway, Krumholtz helped me work out some of the details about penetrating walls, that kind of thing. He got a real kick out of it. And his consulting fee didn't hurt either. He took his wife on a Star Trek cruise for their anniversary. She loved it. She got to meet the non-evil, if different spelling, Riker."
"Let me guess. The wife's a professor, too. Physics?"
"Home Economics, actually, with a specialization in adaptive clothing for the disabled. And she's a wiz at making cosplay outfits."
"Figures. If there's enough on the recording from the prison for a voiceprint, Dr. Krumholtz can work on it. And if we find the tape, he can work on that one, too."
"When are we going to the storage unit?"
"When I'm off-shift. I don't want my father on Bracken's radar, and if we don't find the tape in there, he won't be."
"And if we do?"
"Until we bring in Lockwood and his pals and have a solid case against Bracken, we'll have to keep a lid on it."
"And what happens when we do have a solid case? Arresting a sitting congressman running for senator will sweep the media faster than the Enterprise at warp nine. It's going to be a circus, Beckett."
"I thought you liked circuses, Castle."
"Not when Bracken's Russian friends may be hiding behind clown makeup."
"We'll take it one step at a time," Kate says. "We'll go through the storage unit tonight."
"Great! But I want to check in with my family first. Alexis has been on edge. She has a big exam tomorrow. Amid her studies, I want to make sure she eats a decent dinner. Why are you smiling?"
"I just like you as a father, that's all."
"Yeah. Well, I like being one. Meet you at the storage unit at sevenish?"
"I'll be there."