Papa Jack Chapter 31

Spying Kate already at her desk, Richard rushes from the elevator. "Lab results in yet?"

Disgust twists her lips as she shakes her head. "Not yet. I called Lanie and asked her to give the criminalist working on the wax a little push, but she said they're down two criminalists and backed up like crazy. They haven't even started on the wax yet."

"Why are they down two criminalists?" Richard inquires.

"Lanie didn't have the details, but she heard a rumor that they got offers from a private lab that pays better – much better – than the city."

"Damn! I'm sorry, Beckett." Richard holds up a bag he'd almost forgotten he was carrying. "But these might sweeten the morning a little. Chocolate croissant from Chez Pierre."

"Chez Pierre? Isn't that the bakery that opens at five am and has those sold out by 5:05?"

"Uh-huh. But I went to school with Charles, the owner's grandson. He owes me a couple of little favors and is in training to take over the operation. So he put half a dozen of these delectable treasures aside for me until I could get there. I can go make you a latte to go with. Skim milk with two pumps of sugar-free vanilla?"

"Castle, how did you know that?"

"People watching writer taking in the details, remember? Be back in a flash with the caffeine."

"We might as well both go to the break room," Kate decides. "Nothing's happening here, and if anyone in the bullpen spots the croissants, we'll be surrounded."

Kate stakes out a high table while Castle makes their lattes. "I wish we had another clue to work on while we're waiting for the lab."

"Maybe we do," Richard suggests. "The theft of the van Buttridge was driving went unnoticed until you ran the plate, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"So if a guy wants to drive a stolen van, wouldn't it help if the cops weren't looking for it?"

"Yeah, it would," Kate realizes.

"So, how did Buttridge know how to find a van whose disappearance would go unnoticed?" Richard queries.

"He could have found out from Mildred Romney's family, but they claim they don't know Buttridge. Or…."

"Or found out from someone at the facility where the van was stored?" Richard offers.

The bag of croissants jumps as Kate's fist hits the top of the high table. "Yes! Buttridge must have contacted someone there. I'll have to check the file, but I think the storage place is somewhere up in the Bronx." Kate grabs the bakery bag. "Can you make our lattes to go?"

"Absolutely," Richard replies and grins as he turns back toward the steaming machine.

Richard points to a large complex of storage buildings on the right side of East Tremont Avenue. "That's it! Storage units large and small. I can see a whole row of them big enough to hold a van. Quite a layout!"

Kate drives through the gate and parks her unit near the leasing office. As Kate and Richard walk in, a fortyish woman with "U-Store-It" and "Mary" embroidered on the pocket of her blouse looks up from a high counter. "Looking to rent a unit?"

Kate points to the badge on her waistband. "Looking for information. I'm Detective Kate Beckett. This is Mr. Castle. A van that was stored here was stolen and used for criminal activity. I need to know how the thief could have known it was here and managed to get away with stealing it."

The creases on Mary's forehead and flanking her mouth deepen. "I'd like to know that too. My husband and I put everything we have into this place. We made sure we had state-of-the-art security. If it gets out that we let stuff get stolen, we could lose the business."

"Can you describe your security to me?" Kate inquires.

"Sure. From the gate that you drove in, you can only get to the office and guest parking. To get to the units, you have to use another gate that won't open without a code. Then, you need another code to get into the buildings with the storage units. The units lock as well, with locks we change out each time they're re-rented. Some clients put their own extra locks on their units as well. We have video cameras at the gates, at the entrances to the buildings, and inside the buildings. Signs announce the surveillance. Anyone who wants to break into a unit will know they're on tape."

"And how long do you keep the tapes?" Kate asks.

"We tape over them every month, but before we do, the footage gets transferred to DVDs. We keep those forever."

"So if we wanted to check on who drove off in that van, the images would still be available on those DVDs?" Kate queries.

"Yes, they would," Mary confirms. "If you want to check out the video on a unit, I'll need to know which one."

Kate pulls a notebook out of her pocket. "The van was stored in unit 12-C. I'll need the DVDs going back a year."

"All right," Mary agrees. "We have all the DVDs locked up in the back. The ones you want cover the whole row of ten by twenties. That's 10-C to 15-C. But you should be able to spot anyone approaching 12-C."

"Fine," Kate acknowledges. "Thanks."

"And one more thing," Richard requests. "Who here would have had access to the information about who rented which unit, particularly who was paying the bills?"

"I would. My husband would," Mary responds.

"Anyone else?" Kate asks.

"No – yes. Artie Matthews. He's a friend of my nephew George. They've known each other since kindergarten. He was here with George when we auctioned off the contents of abandoned units, and our computer went down. Artie fixed it for us, so for a little while, he would have had access to everything on it. But he's a good boy. He would never do anything wrong."

Kate nods. "I'm sure he's a fine young man. But I'll need to talk to him anyway. With a case like this, any little detail can help. Do you know how to reach him?"

"Oh yes. I got his number just in case our computer went down again."

"And has it?" Richard queries.

"No, it was just that one time. It's been fine since."

"Beckett, the theft of that van has all the earmarks of an inside job," Richard declares as soon as Kate's unit is beyond the gates of U-Store-it and back on East Tremont Avenue. He stares into the air in front of him. "William Buttridge, or whoever he's working for, needs a van that can't be traced to him but won't be tagged by the cops as stolen. Some thieves regularly check obituaries to target people who are grieving and at their most vulnerable. He sees one about Mildred Romney and the sizable business she built for herself selling Amway. He realizes that she must have had transportation sufficient to deliver her orders. So he checks on the family, maybe attends the funeral, and hears enough conversation to learn about the van and what's going to happen to it. Then he enlists good boy Artie Matthews. Some of the biggest troublemakers I knew growing up came off to adults as 'good boys.' So Artie gets the info while ostensibly fixing the computer – which he might have crashed somehow in the first place. Artie gets Buttridge – or whoever – the info he needs, including entrance codes, and voila, he's got his vehicle. He probably doesn't worry about the video because no one will know the thing is stolen."

"Maybe, Castle," Kate considers. "But we'll need to prove it."