686. Chapter 686

After Witness for the Prosecution

Episode 8.10

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth is that I don't own Castle: Rating: K Time: See above.

Castle poured his wife another glass of champagne. "To us." He said, raising his glass.

She raised hers in return. "To us." She took a sip. "And to you. I can't tell you how proud I was of you. Caleb Brown tore you apart on the stand the other day. Other men would have sulked and been angry. Instead, you thought. And saved an innocent woman from prison." She raised her glass again.

"We saved an innocent woman from prison." Castle smiled and drank. "You know, that Caleb Brown is quite a guy. Up until I met him, I was with Espo and Ryan as seeing defense attorneys as people who just wanted to get the guilty off so they could go on being criminals. Brown isn't like that at all."

Kate said nothing. She had an idea what Caleb Brown was really like and it was nothing she could tell Rick.

"I think I'll try to get to talk to him."

"What?" Kate had almost missed what Rick had said. "Why?"

"Insight. To see how the other half sees life. Maybe I could have Nikki and Rook run into a Public Defender like Brown. I've looked into the guy after he destroyed me on the witness stand. He left a law firm where he was making six figures to be a Public Defender. That's impressive. We always see Nikki and Rook as so sure who the bad guys are. It might be nice to mix things up."

Kate shook her head. "I'm not sure that's such a good idea. I think Nikki and Rook do just fine without any superstar PDs."

Castle smiled. "Yes, but I'm the ruggedly handsome, world famous, best selling novelist in the family, remember?"

"And I'm your muse, the real life Nikki Heat."

"Even so, a talk with Brown can't hurt, can it?"

"Well, you are a part of the 12th Precinct. You could accidentally disclose information to him about cases."

He shrugged. "He'd learn about anything like that in discovery, wouldn't he? Besides, I'm not in the 12th Precinct anymore. And this would be good for our cover story. I'm not with you, I'm with the other side." He laughed. "You're not afraid I'd really get a new muse, are you? You're my muse, now and forever."

"Rick, I'd really like for you not to talk to Caleb Brown. Okay?"

He frowned. "Okay, but why?"

"Can you just do this for me and not ask why?" Kate was realizing that this was starting to go badly and to go into dangerous territory.

"I thought we agreed no more secrets, Kate. The only thing…." Kate could almost see the lightbulb go on over Rick's head. "Loksat! Caleb Brown is Loksat?"

Kate was close to panicking. "No, he's not Loksat. Rick, can you just let this go? Please?" Even as she said it, she knew Rick Castle never let something like this go.

"Kate, I can't not remember this. I can't not think about this. Caleb Brown is somehow involved with Loksat. Am I right?"

Slowly, Kate nodded her head. "Rick, please, I'm begging you. Don't talk to Brown, don't investigate him. Don't do anything that has anything to do with him. What I told you before about losing you was the absolute truth. I could never go back to the life I lived before I met you. I was miserable and alone, but I thought it was okay because then I could do nothing but be a cop, and if I couldn't solve my mom's case, I'd solved others. Losing you would kill me, one way or another. You've given me so much joy and so much happiness and so much fun, I couldn't live without you. Please, babe. Please." Tears were starting to well up in Kate's eyes.

Castle pulled her into a hug. "Absolutely. I will never, ever have anything to do with Caleb Brown. And you will never, ever lose me. And I will most certainly dedicate my life to making you happy."

Kate cried on his shoulder.

"But, can we at least talk about Loksat and Brown? I mean I know about him now, maybe I can help."

Kate ran her hand over his cheek. "You never give up, do you?"

"No, and when I never give up, good things happen, like I marry you."

"Okay, we know Brown is connected to Loksat, and because of your case, we know that Brown is passionate about doing good. That's his weakness. I don't know why someone working for Loksat would have that weakness and I just don't know how to exploit that weakness."

Castle frowned in thought. "That is odd. He works for some CIA big shot who sends killers out to kill people who are also doing good? Like your old team and you, and yet he wants to do good?"

She nodded. "Weird, isn't it?"

Castle thought furiously. "Loksat was Bracken's partner, right? Well, look at Bracken. He wanted to do good."

Kate frowned and pulled away from him. "Castle, he had my mom murdered."

"Hear me out. Bracken really wanted to help the environment and provide a safety net and make the world a better place. Think about it. Every American President since Washington has done something that got people killed. Think of the war time presidents, Lincoln, Wilson, and Roosevelt. They gave orders that killed hundreds of thousands, millions even. Hell, the last two Presidents authorized missile strikes on US citizens fighting with Islamic terror groups. So that's how Bracken justified it to himself. He kills a few people, but it's for the greater good of millions of other people. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

"Bracken was a sociopath." Kate said harshly.

"Agreed. But that's what he was thinking. That's why he could want to do good and still be a monster."

Kate thought for a moment. "Okay, so where does that leave us?"

"Your Loksat is with the CIA?"

"Yes."

"So every day he sits in his office and he gets reports, hell, not just reports, but videos, of huge civilian casualties from Libya to Afghanistan and beyond. People being beheaded, women raped and sold into slavery, death and destruction all over the world. And one day, it's all too much. He says, to hell with it. I'm not going to just report this anymore, I'm going to do something about this. Somehow, he runs into Bracken, or vice versa, and they start to make the world a better place, one murder at a time. In his mind, he's doing good, on balance."

Kate shrugged. "So, where does this get us?"

Rick frowned and thought. "No place, really. The usual financials won't get us anyplace. This Loksat doesn't have a bigger house than his salary would indicate, he doesn't have a huge yacht, or take his Russian underwear model girlfriend on romantic cruises."

"Poor Svetlana." Kate said softly.

"Loksat spends all of that money on doing good in the world, by his standards. The problem is that he's doing things the CIA does. Sending weapons to Kurdish fighters in Syria, or running an intelligence network in Somalia. I don't think the CIA is going to tell us what they're doing in Syria so we can check if more weapons are getting there than the CIA thinks."

"So we're nowhere?"

Castle smiled. "For Loksat, but not for Caleb Brown. I'm sure Brown, on some level, would like to help some Syrian who's being beheaded because he's of the wrong religion, but I bet his interests are closer to home. I'll bet any funds he gets go to, say, soup kitchens, or homeless shelters, shelters for battered women, and such. Start looking into Brown's life and see what charities he's close to. Maybe you'll get lucky."

Kate took his hand. "Oh, I already got lucky." Her face became serious. "But remember what I told you. Do not look into anything to do with Brown yourself. I can't lose you. I can't."

"I swear."

"Pinkie swear?" She held out her pinkie finger.

He wrapped his pinkie around hers. "I swear I will never look into anything having to do with Caleb Brown or Loksat or anything that would upset my wife."

"Thanks."

"Always."