Papa Jack Chapter 65

"Maybe Nikki could try to remember with the help of a therapist," Richard murmurs as much to himself as to Kate. "The department would make her go to a shrink before she's allowed to go back to work, wouldn't it?"

"It's going to make me go see one," Kate replies. "It'll be more than a month before I have to go, but I know who it is. Mike Royce, my TO, had to go see him once after he got winged. He told me about him. He said he was a large black man, with a voice almost as deep as James Earl Jones'."

"So far, he sounds like Vulcan Simmons."

"Not really. Mike said he reminded him of Worf."

"From Star Trek the Next Generation?"

"Uh-huh. But Mike's stories are always larger than life, so who knows?"

"Even scaled back to believability, the shrink would make an interesting character to interact with Nikki. I'll sketch out a scene and see what I get. And when you do have to see him, you can tell me if I'm anywhere close. But in the meantime, we need Nikki to search for the truth in a more exciting way than talking to a shrink. If the police had caught the guy who shot her, it wouldn't be much of a mystery. So she'll have to track him down. And as she chases down clues, the pieces could start to fit together in her memory."

"Which would make her luckier than me," Kate notes.

Richard rubs the stubble forming on his jawline. "Maybe not. The doctor said you forgot because you're protecting yourself, right? As she remembers, Nikki would lose that protection and start falling apart. That's when she'll need Rook the most. They'll have to find the killer and the truth together. That search will, of course, be dangerous. Otherwise, again, there wouldn't be much of a story. The challenges they face together along the way can either pull them apart, bring them closer together, or both. Hmm, if we insert whatever other cases Nikki has to work on, we could have two or three books here, maybe more. I could base the cases on the murders you and the boys pursue. Assuming the books sell, that would make Black Pawn happy."

With her hands tightly gripping the arms, Kate leans forward in her chair. "Would it make you happy, Castle? Working with me that long?"

"Why wouldn't it?"

"Hanging around with cops that much, wouldn't you get bored after a while?"

"Maybe, if I had to hang too much with Ryan and Esposito or listen to too many of Montgomery's stories. Kate, I can't imagine ever being bored around you. But how about you? Would you get tired of having me dog your steps?"

"Castle, sometimes your secrecy about your sources can get annoying and frustrating. But one thing you never are is boring."

Laugh lines fan from Richard's eyes. "Good to know. So, how do you feel about going to dinner with a frustrating but non-boring writer?"

"Where?"

"That's a secret."

Laughter bubbles from Kate's throat. "Castle!"

You OK up there?" Richard asks as he helps Kate onto a high stool at a counter where a Japanese chef is showcasing his knife skills while preparing savory meat.

"Fine. But this is your secret? How did you even get us in here? I heard there's a two-month wait for reservations."

Richard's eyebrows do a wave above the blue-grey depths of his eyes. "Another one of my secrets. No, wait!" he protests as Kate smacks his arm. "No secret. The owner, Akio, is an old friend from high school. I helped him clean up the writing on his term papers, and he helped me out in AP bio. He was actually able to use a scalpel to separate all the mouthparts of a grasshopper. I never could have done that in a million years. He used his skill and knowledge of blades to get this place – and the ones in Atlantic City and Vegas – going. I helped a little with the write-ups and made some introductions. He still personally trains the chefs. That's where he is tonight, training chefs for the restaurant he's opening in LA. But I have something like a Wonka golden ticket – without the Oompa Loompas. I can get in anytime. Um, Kate, are you staring at the chef or his knife?"

"Both, but I was thinking about Eric Donnelly's murderer. Even the most skilled chefs get cut sometimes, don't they?"

"Yeah. Akio has the scars to prove it."

"Do you know how murderers who use knives are tracked down, even if they wipe their fingerprints off the weapon and leave it behind?"

"Sales records? Matches to previous crimes? Snitches?"

"Yeah, all of that. But if the killers cut themselves while they're stabbing their victims, the blood seeps down into the handle of the knife. It doesn't wipe off. It doesn't wash out, either. When the lab takes the knife apart, they can test it for the killer's DNA."

"And clang goes the cell door. But Donnelly's killer didn't leave the knife, Kate."

"No, she didn't. But if it turns up, even if she doesn't have it anymore, it could tie her to the crime."

"Meaning that if she did plant it to frame someone, she could be caught in her own trap."

Kate smiles her satisfaction. "That's exactly what I mean. And when does this guy stop showing off and give us our dinner? I'm starved."

Richard signals to the chef and points at Kate. "I have observed," he says as the chef prepares a plate of perfectly grilled meat and vegetables for her, "that following a trail always gives you an appetite for food as well as justice."

"Are you going to put that in a book?"

Richard flutters his lashes. "Nikki will have many appetites. I intend to explore them all."

"Hey, Bro, we got lucky," Ryan announces as Esposito returns from the breakroom with his morning jelly doughnut. "Donnelly's phone records show a two-minute call to him the morning he was killed. He and the killer could have been setting up a morning run together."

"Who made the call?" Esposito asks.

"Melissa Jergen. She lives at Allen and East 10th."

"Which would put her a block from the nearest park where Donnelly could have gone running." Esposito realizes. "The perfect location for a running partner."

"Or any other kind of partner," Ryan quips. "I googled her. She works for Donovan and Draper, that big brokerage on Wall Street. She has a bio on the website. The pic was only a headshot, so I couldn't see what her build is like. But it's business hours. She's probably there now."

Esposito grabs his jacket. "Then let's go check her out."

"Can you finish your doughnut first?" Ryan requests. "I don't want powdered sugar all over our unit. If Jenny sees it on me, she'll think I'm cheating on our diet."

Esposito smirks. "Oh, Man! Has she got you!"

Ryan pulls on his own jacket. "I know, but I like being got."

Shaking his head, Esposito stuffs the last of his doughnut in his mouth and wipes the sugar from his lips. "We may have this case wrapped up by lunchtime without any more help from Beckett – or Castle. Let's go."

Ryan nods. "Right behind you, Bro."