329. Chapter 329

After Anatomy of a Murder

Episode 3.05

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: You can murder me if I claim to own Castle. Rating: K Time: See above, but way after that episode.

Kate Beckett was nearly physically ill when the officer cuffed her hands behind her back. "Too tight?" The policewoman whispered. "Good! I hate dirty cops."

Kate could hear the ADA still arguing with Gates. "Gates, I don't care how well you know the accused. She had an affair, her lover tried to blackmail her and she killed him. Shot him in cold blood to keep her wealthy husband from finding out. The evidence is overwhelming."

As Gates continued to argue, Kate looked over to Ryan. "Kevin? Has anyone heard from Castle?"

The Irish detective sadly shook his head. "No one's seen him or heard from him for two days, ever since…" Ryan couldn't say it.

"Since I was arrested." Kate finished for him.

"Beckett, Espo and I, Gates, everyone... We aren't giving up on you even if Castle has."

"Kev, he hasn't given up. I don't know why…"

She was cut off as the policewoman shoved her towards the elevator. "Move it, bitch. You're headed for the Tombs."

Kate was manhandled into the back of a police cruiser which headed for the Tombs. Halfway there, one of the policewomen started searching through her jacket. "Do you have a cigarette?"

The driver shook her head. "I quit, remember?"

"You quit three or four times a month. Don't you have one?"

"No. We'll be there soon. Tough it out."

"Turn right here. I can buy a pack on the next block."

"Jesus! We're transporting a prisoner. I can't stop."

"Just turn. It's not like I never did anything for you, remember?"

"You never let me forget." The driver grumped, but turned.

Kate was surprised that both of the officers got out of the car to go to the little store. What difference does it make? She thought. My hands are cuffed behind me, the doors and windows won't open from the inside and there's a steel mesh screen between me and the front seat. Plus, I'm still a cop, no matter what they say.

She was interrupted by the rear driver's side door being opened. She turned her head and…"Castle! What are you doing?"

"I'm rescuing you. Breaking you out of jail."

Kate looked around desperately. "Castle, get out of here. Those cops will be back in no time. Go! Go now!"

Castle reached in and grabbed her under her knees and shoulders. He pulled her towards him and lifted her up. "They won't be back ever. They're not cops."

"Castle! You're breaking me out of jail? Are you out of your mind?"

Castle was putting her into the back of a panel truck that had pulled up alongside of the police car. "Yes, I'm out of my mind in love with you."

She ended up sitting on his lap in the back of the truck. Before she could say anything more, he was kissing her. "I love you so much." He whispered while unlocking her cuffs. "Are you okay?"

"I love you, too. But you can't do this. Rick, you'll go to jail, too."

"Kate, you have to know that I know you were framed, right?"

"Of course, but we have to fight this the right way."

"You'd be dead by tomorrow if I let you go to the Tombs. Bracken is behind this. He wants you dead."

"Bracken? He's in prison."

"Sure, but he still has tens of millions of dollars the government didn't find. His lawyers are manufacturing evidence that will show that you framed him. Your "suicide" in the Tombs will be the start of his try at a new trial and rehabilitation."

"How do you know all of this?"

Castle smiled. "I know a guy, remember?"

Suddenly Castle laughed.

"What?" Beckett asked, curious.

"Do you remember the Dr. Valerie Monroe murder? And that male nurse who broke his girlfriend out of prison? Martha told me that the test of true love is whether you'd break your lover out of prison. You said after the case that you'd get me out of prison. But it's me breaking you out of the big house. And when I got arrested you didn't…" He stopped when he saw the look of horror on Kate's face.

"Rick! Do you think I don't really love you? Do you think I did cheat on you?" Kate looked like she was ready to cry.

He shook his head firmly. "No! I know you love me. As much as I love you. And I know you didn't cheat on me. And I'm almost ready to prove it." Castle held her tightly and told her repeatedly how much he loved her.

The van pulled into the underground parking garage of a high rise. Castle helped his wife out and led her to an elevator. The elevator rose to the 40th floor and stopped. They walked out past a pair of burly men who had the look of guards. "Afternoon, sir." One said.

Castle nodded and led Kate into a small, but luxurious apartment. "This will be our home until this is straightened out."

Kate shook her head. "Castle, the NYPD will be searching for us. We have to leave the city."

"You have left the city. Or are about to." Said a familiar voice.

Kate turned around. "Anderson Cross?"

Rick's father smiled. "I go by Jackson Hunt right now. And very soon, security cameras at Newark airport will pick up you and my son getting on a chartered jet heading for London. After leaving US airspace the jet will drop off of the radar. When it doesn't land in London, the NYPD will discover it had enough fuel to get to Africa, and South America as well as Europe. There will be confirmed sightings in a few days of the fugitive Castles in several places in South America. As long as you stay here, no one will know you're not in Brazil."

"We can't stay here forever." Kate said.

"You won't." Hunt said with a smile. "I retired from the CIA. I have my own company now. I'm a consultant for…whoever needs me. Mostly the Agency, of course. A lot of ex-CIA types do that, and a lot of them are my friends. We rented this entire floor. My associates are busy proving you were framed by Bracken. Come over here. I'll explain how they did it."

Kate walked through the apartment to a large office.

"It was no problem to hack into your phone to leave and then erase phony texts and e-mails between you and your so-called lover, James Town. They did a good enough job to fool the police, but not my people. We can prove they were faked."

"The same with the photos of you and Mr. Town. Town ran into a young lady who looks very much like you. He thought he had just run across a really kinky girl who liked to take photos while having sex. The photos were photo shopped using a very sophisticated system to make it look like you. But again, not good enough to fool my people."

"Next was the bullet that killed Town and your DNA at the crime scene. We're sure someone was paid off or blackmailed to steal something you'd touched. There were only a few things in Town's apartment. A strand of hair with a tiny bit of scalp on it. A tissue you used to wipe your makeup off. A coffee cup. And a smudge of body oil with your DNA. If you really were lovers there should either be a lot more DNA, or nothing at all if you were smart enough to clean up after yourself as a cop should."

"What about the bullet from my gun found in Town?"

Hunt held up a crime scene photo. Kate wondered idly how he had gotten a copy of it. "Two halves of a thin wooden tube. It's meaningless." She said.

Hunt shook his head. "No, it's how they shot Town with a bullet from your gun. This is what is called a sabot, the word originally meant shoe. Someone got ahold of one of your expended rounds, probably from the police firing range. You use a 9mm Glock. You take, say a .45 caliber round, remove the slug and put your 9mm round between the two halves of the wooden sabot. Then put the whole thing into the .45 round. The killer fired the .45 into Town, the sabot holds the bullet in the barrel and leaves no rifling marks on your slug. As soon as the sabot leaves the muzzle, it flies apart, leaving your 9mm to hit Town. The two pieces of wood are dismissed as meaningless."

"Okay, but can you prove any of this?" Kate asked.

"We're working on it. We've bugged the offices of Bracken's lawyers and other people he's used as well as their homes."

"That's illegal." Kate said.

Jackson Hunt just smiled.

"I think Kate needs some lunch." Rick said, leading his wife back to the apartment.

At a prison in upstate New York, a guard approached William Bracken who was surrounded by members of a white prison gang. The guard spoke briefly to Bracken who swore and then sent one of his bodyguards off.

After lunch, Kate and Rick had napped in each other's arms on the bed. They were woken up by Jackson Hunt. "Things are starting to pop. The woman who impersonated you for the sex scenes has been found dead of heroin overdose. But, we found two people who probably helped frame Kate from the inside. One is a civilian clerk at the 12th, Sarah Genet. She suddenly became very rich. The other is a Sergeant Ray Doyle. He has a wife. And a sixteen year old girlfriend. And, best of all, Bracken had one of his people call his lawyers. They had a big meeting about what to do now that Kate is missing. We monitored it and we hit gold."

The next morning, the managing partner of the law firm representing Bracken opened his safe and got the shock of his life. The safe was empty. He called another partner who found his safe was also empty. They went to a secret safe, hidden in the floor of a supply room. It was also empty.

"Do you know what this means?" The senior partner said.

"We're screwed. All of the blackmail information was taken. Everything we had to frame Beckett. And all of the account numbers and passwords for Bracken's remaining money. Everything."

"I think we should end our association with Mr. Bracken."

"Absolutely. I hope it's enough."

Later that day, two men intercepted Sergeant Doyle as he left the apartment he shared with his teenaged lover. They showed Doyle some photos. He began to cry.

Another two men spoke with Ms. Genet and showed her some interesting documents. Ms. Genet did not cry, but immediately asked how she could be of assistance.

In a number of banks around the world people walked in and closed their accounts, taking the proceeds in cash. They, of course, had the correct account numbers and passwords.

Kate sat in the DA's office holding Rick's hand while one of the attorneys representing her spoke. "The evidence we've provided is overwhelming that Mrs. Castle was framed for the murder of Mr. Town and for cheating on her husband, for that matter. I see no reason why the charges against her shouldn't be dropped and Mrs. Castle reinstated as a detective."

"Mrs. Castle escaped from custody…" The DA began.

"You have no proof of that. Mrs. Castle was removed from the 12th Precinct by two fake policewomen who have never been found. After that, you have no idea where she was or what she was doing."

"Mrs. Castle has refused to tell us what happened, so we can't …"

"Mrs. Castle cannot be forced to testify against herself. And Mr. Castle can't be forced to testify against his wife, assuming he has any knowledge of what happened to her." The lawyer smiled at the DA. "Tommy, you lost this one. Why not just admit it and we can all go have a drink together?"

The DA looked at his staff. "We'll release Mrs. Castle to her husband until we can process the paperwork dropping the charges."

Rick leaned over and kissed his wife.

William Bracken sat in his cell. Outside were four large, African-American prisoners.

"I hear your white trash pals have dropped you, Fatso." One said. "Maybe you should have made a few more friends in here and not so many enemies.""

Just behind them he could see the smiling face of the soon to be released Joe Pulgatti. Bracken wondered how long he was going to last.