464. Chapter 464

After A Deadly Game, Part Two

Episode 2.24

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Really? Rating: K Time: See above.

Author's note: Silly me. Yesterday's chapter was shown as After a Deadly Affair. My bad.

The first thing Kate did the next morning was to call the precinct to see if any news of Castle had come in. None had, but she found that Captain Montgomery had put a couple of uniforms on the phones to continue checking emergency rooms for news about Castle.

She left without eating and decided to trace Castle's route to the precinct. He most likely would have taken a cab and she was sure she knew where he had gotten the coffee, at a Java Joint near the precinct. She drove to the loft and headed to the precinct from there, driving slowly, much to the annoyance of other drivers. When one particularly angry driver pulled up alongside of her, she smiled and then flashed her lights and the siren. That was all it took.

She hadn't really expected to see Castle standing on the street corner someplace on her route and didn't. She parked in front of the Java Joint and went in. She held up her badge for the barrista. "Detective Beckett, NYPD. Did a Richard Castle come in here yesterday? He's about six three, brown hair…"

"Mr. Castle?" The young woman replied. "Sure. He comes in all the time. Yesterday was about lunchtime. Bought one coffee, grande skim latte, two pumps of sugar free vanilla, and left."

"Was anyone with him?"

The barrista shook her head.

"Did you see where he went?"

She shook her head again, but the young man next to her spoke up. "I saw him. I was outside washing down the sidewalk and the windows. Mr. Castle pulled up in a cab, went inside, then came out and walked north."

Kate nodded. He was walking towards the precinct. "Did you see anyone with him, or paying a lot of attention to him? Like following him?"

He shook his head.

Kate walked out and called the precinct, getting Ryan. "Kevin, Castle took a cab from the loft to the local Java Joint, then left here and headed for the precinct. Find out which cab company he used and talk to the driver. Castle may have done something or said something to him. And have someone pull the traffic cam footage between here and the precinct. I can see some security cameras from here and I know there are more. Have Espo get the footage from them and talk to anyone who might have seen anything. Have him start at the precinct and work towards me. We'll meet in the middle."

By the time Kate and Espo got back to the precinct, Ryan had already talked to the cabbie who had driven Castle.

"Anything?" Kate asked.

"Nothing. The guy's Ukrainian. Hardly speaks English. If Castle said anything to him, he didn't catch it. Did you two get anything?"

"No one saw anything, but we got lots of security cam footage." Kate replied. "Kevin, see if you can get help scrubbing the footage. Espo and I will go back out and check alleys and trashcans."

"Why me?" Espo asked.

"Because you're so tough and macho." Kate shot back.

Kate and Espo found nothing at all, but when they got back, Ryan had found something. "Beckett, you need to see this."

Sitting in front of a computer was a young, dark haired woman who Kate vaguely knew was a new tech. She was running footage from about two blocks from the precinct.

"Here he is." She said. Castle came strolling into the picture, coffee in one hand and a smile on his face. Two men stepped in front of him and stopped him. Two other men got out of a large, black SUV and stood behind Castle. After two minutes, Castle got into the SUV which drove away.

"All four are wearing sunglasses and baseball caps. We won't get any facial recognition from that." Espo said. "They know what they're doing."

"Can we get a good enough picture to lip read?" Kate asked.

The tech worked on the video. "No. The only one talking is behind Castle and his buddy is blocking him. Castle is turned away from us, talking over his shoulder."

"Did we get a license plate?"

Ryan nodded. "From a traffic cam at the next intersection. The car is a Mercedes-Benz GL 450 with Jersey plates. We're already running the plates. Using the traffic cams, we've tracked the car to New Jersey, but lost it. I put out a BOLO on it."

As Kate was getting ready to brief Montgomery, Ryan came up to her. "I leaned on the Jersey DMV. The car is registered to a Gulf Services, Inc. The address is a PO Box in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. It was bought two months ago from a dealer in Ridgewood, New Jersey."

Beckett went to Montgomery and briefed him.

"We have a kidnapping across state lines, Beckett. We'll need to call the FBI."

Kate nodded.

Special Agent Diana Winwood had rubbed Kate the wrong way from the moment she had walked in to the precinct. She was one of those agents that seemed to feel they were doing you a favor by investigating your crime. She looked at the evidence that Kate's team had assembled with an air of disinterest.

"This is what you think establishes a kidnapping?" She said, dismissively.

"Four men wearing sunglasses and ball caps so they can't be identified by facial recognition stopped him." Kate said.

"It's May. It's sunny. People wear sunglasses. And it's baseball season, so people wear baseball caps. Castle talked to them for…"She checked her notes. "For two minutes and seventeen seconds. No evidence of a threat or weapons."

"They aren't going to pistol whip Castle in the middle of a busy street. They threatened him or his family." Kate snapped.

"And you can see the threats on this video?" Winwood asked sarcastically.

"An SUV was used that's registered to a company from the United Arab Emirates."Espo noted.

"New York City is full of cars owned by companies from outside the US." Winwood said smugly.

"I know Castle…." Kate began.

"The Federal government is also aware of Mr. Castle. In 2005, he was apprehended at the Groom Lake facility…"

"Groom Lake?" Kate asked.

"Erroneously referred to as Area 51, in Nevada. Mr. Castle arrested riding a mule and with a rather disheveled Las Vegas showgirl. He was released without charges for some reason. In 2007 he somehow got the US Consul in Guadalajara, Mexico involved in an escapade involving damage to a bull ring. In 2009, he was…"

Kate had heard enough. "None of those would preclude him from being kidnapped. Castle has been my partner here at the NYPD for over a year, and in that time…"

"Your partner?" Winwood scoffed. "He's a civilian who writes books and not a cop. Detective, just because your boyfriend has run off is no reason to take up the FBI's time. I don't see…"

Before Winwood could continue, Montgomery walked in. "Special Agent Winwood? I'm Captain Roy Montgomery, commander of the 12th Precinct. I'm glad Paul sent you over so quickly. We expect good things from you."

"Paul?" Winwood asked, frowning.

"Paul Navarro, your Special Agent in Charge. What's your plan?"

Winwood looked around. "We'll tap and record Castle's home phone and coordinate with the New Jersey authorities."

"Excellent." Montgomery said as he walked out.

After Winwood had left, Kate stuck her head in Montgomery's office. "Sir, do you even know the SAIC?"

"Of course I do. And I did call him, too. He even remembered who I was."

"Thank you, sir."

"All part of the job."

Later that afternoon, the New Jersey State Police found the Mercedes abandoned on a street in Patterson. The SUV had been sprayed with bleach and there were no cameras of any sort for blocks. They had nothing.

"I'm going to talk to the dealer in New Jersey that sold the SUV. Maybe they know something."

The manager was cooperative, but had little information. "We got an e-mail from the buyer stating exactly what he wanted, which was basically all the bells and whistles. He didn't even try to negotiate. Paid in cash, too. I as a little worried, but he was an Arab gentleman and he said the liked cash."

"Do you have any security cameras?" Kate asked.

He nodded. "However, they only cover the outside. We want to make sure no one steals or vandalizes the cars. After a couple of days, we erase the tapes and reuse them. We've used the same tapes for years."

Kate cursed to herself. The tapes would be useless. "Did you get any personal information about the buyer?"

To her surprise the man nodded. "We made sure he had a valid license and insurance before we let him drive it off the lot. We have his home address. Hassan Abu Bakir, Suite 1817, 505 Lexington, in the city."

Kate smiled. "Thank you so very much."

As soon as she could she called Esposito and gave him the address. "It's an office building in midtown. Find out who's there. We'll go pay them a visit."

When she got back to the precinct, she saw Espo and Ryan sitting glumly at their desks. "What is it?"

"You'll never guess what company is at that address." Espo said.

"Not Gulf Services?"

He shook his head. "It's the offices of Black Pawn Publishing."

"Dammit!" Kate said. "They're mocking us."

"Still, we should go talk to them." Ryan said.

She nodded. "I'll go by myself."

Kate would not looking forward to seeing Gina Cowell again and apparently Gina felt the same.

"Are you out of your mind, Officer?" She snapped.

"No, I'm not. "Kate said as calmly as she could. "I've explained what we've found and what we've concluded. I realize there's only a tiny chance that Mr. Abu Bakir was ever anywhere near Black Pawn, but we have to check every lead. It could be important. Castle's life could depend on it."

"And you still insist that you have no idea where Rick is?" Gina said angrily.

"I'm just trying to find him."

"Well, why don't you do what you did to find him the first time? Just spread your legs."

Kate shot out of her chair angrily, but her training kicked in. I have to remain professional. I've had people insult me worse than that. I have to put Castle first. "Ms. Cowell, I'll need to talk to your employees."

Gina glared at her. "Do any damned thing you want and then get out of my sight."

Talking to the employees Black Pawn was no use. None of them had ever heard of Mr. Abu Bakir, and the rather vague description she'd gotten from the auto dealer could have been any one of a million people. Whoever these people are, they're smart. They'd look up Black Pawn on line rather than drop by.

Back at the precinct again, Kate found there was little news. As expected, the SUV had been gone over by CSU who had found nothing. They had found two empty bleach bottles in a dumpster, but they were spotlessly clean. The FBI had advised them that the phones in Castle's loft were now being tapped, his landline as well as Martha and Alexis' cell phones.

"Alexis is back from Princeton?" Kate asked.

Espo nodded. "Martha said she called her this morning. Castle's car service picked her up and drove her back to the loft. I thought you'd probably want to be the one to talk to her."

Kate nodded and checked her watch. "I should go over there before it gets too late. Alexis will be terrified." More terrified than I am, but not by much, I imagine.

The door to Castle's loft opened as soon as Kate knocked. Alexis was standing there. She had been crying. "Have you found Dad?" She demanded.

Kate shook her head. "No, but we're doing everything we can."

Alexis began crying again. Kate reached out and took the sobbing girl in her arms. Martha rushed over and enveloped both women in a hug. A dozing FBI agent looked up and then went back to sleep.

After a minute or so, Kate extricated herself. "I need to tell you what we've found. It isn't much, but you should know."

"Alexis made some spaghetti and meatballs, dear. You should eat while you talk."

Kate shook her head. "No, I really shouldn't impose."

Martha looked a bit upset. "Katherine! How could you ever think you're imposing on us? It'll just take a few seconds to heat in the microwave. I'm sure you haven't been eating properly and you need to keep your strength up."

Remembering that all she'd had that day was a sandwich from a machine, Kate allowed herself to be led to the kitchen by Martha while Alexis heated the dinner. As Kate ate, she told the two redheads what they had found.

"Martha, would you mind if I looked around the loft?"

"Of course not. What are you looking for?"

Kate shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. Maybe Castle saw something…wrote something down. I don't know. I'm just grasping at straws, I suppose."

"Go ahead, dear."

Kate checked Castle's office but found nothing. What did I expect to find? A nice typed note from Castle describing some men who were following him? These people are professionals. They aren't stupid. And that's a good thing. Professional kidnappers are in it for the money. They won't hurt Castle. He'll be okay.

She searched his bedroom. She had looked into it when she had stayed with Castle after the bombing, but hadn't really seen it. It's not what I expected. No mirror over the bed. No mini-fridge for bottles of champagne. God! What am I thinking? Castle would never bring a woman here with Alexis around. Does that mean I'll never share this bed? She pushed that thought out of her mind.

In the master bath, Kate imagined herself getting ready for bed with Rick. A sexy negligee? One of my oversized tee shirts? Nothing at all?

She checked the rest of the loft and found nothing. She hugged both redheads, promised to do all she could to find Castle and went home to her lonely apartment.