1055. Chapter 1055

After A Deadly Game

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Would anyone believe it if I said I did own Castle? Rating: K Time: Episode 2.24 but a little AU. Okay, a lot AU.

"Oh, you're that Detective." Knowles' tone was insulting. "Mr. Castle is known for doing "research" with attractive women in the law enforcement field. They are inevitably attractive and willing. The record for the Department of Justice is a DEA Agent named Teresa "Tequila" Paredes from El Paso. She was with Castle for all of two weeks. You must have some special skills to keep him around for a whole year."

"I obviously do, since Castle has never written a best seller about an FBI agent." Kate replied.

"In any case, you're out of here." Knowles said. "The FBI has jurisdiction."

"I don't believe the Bureau has jurisdiction over murders?" Kate said as evenly as she could.

"The Bureau has jurisdiction over what I say it has. Now get your skinny ass out of here. Do you understand me?"

"No, I don't." Said a voice behind them.

"Who are you?" Knowles spun around to face the man.

"James Alonzo, mayor of the Hamptons. And you are?"

"Special Agent Rebecca Knowles, FBI. Now you can get yourself, your little town cops, and these people out of my investigation. Now."

Alonzo just smiled. "Perhaps I should tell you about our little town, Agent Knowles. There are two kinds of people who live in the Hamptons: Multi-millionaires and billionaires. And when people like that get upset about multiple murders in their little town, they call their elected representatives. Not just me, but people like New York Mayor Bob Weldon, who I know rather well since I've hosted fundraisers for his upcoming run at the governor's mansion in Albany. Our billionaires also call their elected representatives in Washington, such as their Congressmen and Senators. Hugo Sperrle, I'm sure you've heard of him: Sperrle and Company; the Sperrle Center for the Performing Arts in Manhattan; the Sperrle Library at Hudson University; and many other places? Mr. Sperrle called the US Attorney General and was assured that everything possible would be done to solve this crime. Now, what do you think Mr. Sperrle would think if I told him that the FBI was starting a jurisdictional dispute with the NYPD?"

Knowles glared at Alonzo, who just smiled. Suddenly Knowles headed for the door. "You two set up the tap on the phone here for the ransom call. I'm going back to the Bureau offices in Manhattan to supervise all of this." And she was gone.

Kate smiled at the remaining agents. "If you need any help, my team will be glad to assist."

"Thanks, but we can handle the tap."

"And if you need anything, Detective, "Alonzo said, "this is my private phone." He handed her a business card. "Call me anytime day or night if you need something. This really is a hot one."

Kate was organizing what they needed to do in her mind when someone else showed up.

"Katherine!" Martha Rodgers said, sweeping into the room. She ran to Kate and put her arms around her. "I am so glad you're here. I wouldn't want anyone else to be in charge of this. You are the best, as Richard always says."

Before Kate could reply, Martha reached out for Alexis and all three were enveloped in a three-way hug.

"Martha, I'm not sure Chief Brady will let you stay here."

"Mike? Don't worry, Katherine. We talked just as that awful woman left. She almost knocked me over. Mike is perfectly happy to have me here. We're old friends."

Alexis pulled away and pulled out her phone. "I just thought of something." She said as she pushed a button on her phone. Somewhere in the house, a phone rang. "I called Dad's number. His phone is here. I think it's in his office." Alexis took off running, with Kate right with her, and the others following behind.

"It's in his desk." Alexis said.

Kate began opening drawers. One was locked. "It must be in the locked drawer. I have a lock pick in my car. Just a minute."

Alexis put out a hand to stop her. "Don't bother." The redhead reached under the center drawer and quickly pulled out a key with tape on it. "Dad hides the key here." She opened the drawer and removed both a phone and Castle's laptop.

Kate checked Castle's most recent calls. "He made two last night. I'll see who they were to."

"Detective Beckett, the second number is mine. Dad called me late yesterday afternoon to see how I was doing at Princeton. I'm pretty sure the second number is for Alfredo's. Dad probably wanted to make a reservation. They get pretty busy in the summer."

Kate began going through his calls for the past month, since he had left her standing there in the precinct. Alexis was able to identify each one.

"That's the last one, Detective Beckett and that's the Hampton's Village Bookstore. Dad probably wanted a book to read."

"Thanks, Alexis and please, I'm Kate."

Alexis blushed slightly. "You're welcome, Kate."

"I'd like to go through your dad's laptop, this being an exigent situation, but I'd feel better with a warrant."

"No need, Dear." Martha said. "I have Richard's power of attorney in case he's ever unable to act on his own behalf. You have my permission to search his laptop, and if anyone complains, I'll have Richard's lawyers tie them up in legal knots so tight, they'll never get out."

Kate checked the laptop. "It's password protected."

"Who do you think set the passwords for Dad?" Alexis grinned. She grabbed a pen and a piece of paper and wrote down all of Castle's passwords.

"I want to have the bodies sent to the local morgue. Do you need anything before I send them off?" Lanie asked.

"No, but check with Braddock and make sure he has no problems with that." She looked at Ryan and Esposito. "You two should canvas the neighborhood. Get the local officers to help. Probably no one heard the shots, but someone may have seen something. I'll work on the computer."

"I should look around the house and grounds and see if anything is out of place." Alexis volunteered.

"And I'll make sure nothing happened to Richard's wine." Martha said. "This has been a very stressful day."

Kate typed in the password and looked over the files. One caught her attention at once: Beckett. For a second she hesitated opening it since it couldn't have anything to do with Castle's disappearance. Then she thought that she couldn't know it was unrelated if she didn't look. Finally, she decided she wanted to know what was in the file even if it was totally irrelevant. She clicked the icon.

It was a picture of her. From her clothing she decided it was from the first case she'd ever worked with Castle, the Tisdale murder. A quick check showed there were 105 photos in the file. All of them were of her. She was a little surprised that none of them were close ups of her ass or boobs, in fact, they all seemed to be well composed, showing her in a very favorable light. She closed the file.

The next file was entitled Nikki 2. Kate dreaded opening it, but did.

Yes, it was more about Nikki Heat and Jameson Rook. Kate went through it as fast as she could. It wasn't the complete book, only a dozen or so completed chapters, parts and outlines of chapters, snippets of dialogue, questions about police procedure and then one frightening six word question: How much does Rook love Nikki? She quickly decided to move on.

The next file was Alexis. There were thousands of photos and videos of Alexis starting at infancy and coming to the present. Kate quickly scanned them, but felt she was intruding too much in Castle's and Alexis' private lives.

She went through the rest of the files and found legal documents and communications from Castle's lawyers and Black Pawn's lawyers, communications from Castle's accountants. She found out that Castle was wealthy enough to command a spectacular ransom. She waded through more files that were of no use to her and the case. But, the last file was password protected. She typed in the password and was faced with another request for a password with a clock counting down thirty seconds. She quickly typed in the password Alexis had given her and the file opened.

It was just a list of names. She clicked on one. There was a photo of a middle-aged man and a few sentences: "Ernst Geisler, ex-East German STASI. Surveillance expert. Very, very good. Spoke with Edvard. Relatively honest." There was an e-mail address in Germany.

Next were two names. She clicked on them. She got a photo of two very attractive young women and a description. "Connie "Sweetie" Pyle and Phyllis Gunderson. Getaway drivers. Only caught once, did five years. Said to be the best in the business. After a ride with them, I believe it. They loved my wedding present to them. Reportedly retired. Contact Benny if needed." Kate had no idea who Benny was.

Kate realized what she had. This was Castle's list of "guys". Castle always claimed he had a guy for everything and this was his list.

She thought about what they knew about the murders and the disappearance of Castle. If two groups were trying to grab Castle, information about them might be in the file. If one was trying to save Castle and the other to grab him, same thing. She just needed to contact them and try to get them to talk. She quickly went through the lists, picking out people with intelligence, military, law enforcement and criminal backgrounds. If she had no luck with them, perhaps she could go back and try people like Castle's favorite Halloween costume designer or the best Cajun cook in New Orleans.

There was a knock on the door. "You should take a break, Kate. You've been at it for several hours."

Kate looked out the window. Alexis was right. "I need to get up and stretch anyway. Are Ryan and Espo back?"

"Yes, and Dr. Parish, too. Oh, and I didn't find anything useful around the house and grounds."

Kate and Alexis walked into the living room. "Did you find anything?" She asked Ryan and Esposito.

"I found the house I want to own, "Espo said, "but that's it. The people were all very cooperative, but not helpful. No one saw or heard anything. "

"Same here." Ryan said. "Except for the part about the house."

Kate checked her watch. "We should be able to interview the people at Alfredo's now. Then we can see about getting motel rooms for the night. I don't really want to have to drive back and forth from the city."

"Katherine, please." Martha spoke up. "You can all stay here for as long as you need to. There's plenty of room."

"Martha, we really can't impose on you like that."

"Impose? Kate, my son is missing. Nothing you could possibly do would be imposing. Now put the idea of a motel out of your minds. You'll stay here."

"We all have spare clothes in our lockers at the precinct. Maybe we could get someone to get them and bring them out here." Ryan said.

"Okay, Kevin. Call the precinct. They have the combinations to our lockers in case they need to get in, like now."

"Wonderful, and we can all go to Alfredo's for dinner. My treat. Well, Richard's treat actually, but you understand."

Once Ryan had arranged for their clothes to be brought to them, they went to Alfredo's.

Alfredo met them at the door. "Signora Rodgers, I have heard about the tragedy at Richard's home. How are you and Alexis doing?"

"We're bearing up, Alfredo. However, we're also here on business. This is Detective Kate Beckett and her team from the NYPD. They're investigating Richard's disappearance."

"Ah! Yes. The real Detective Nikki Heat. I am so pleased to meet you, Detective Beckett. You are even more lovely than Richard said you were."

Kate blushed, but kept to business. "Did you see Mr. Castle last night? Can you tell us what you saw?"

To be continued.