411. Chapter 411

After Disciple

Episode 6.09

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I'm a follower of Castle, but I do not own Castle. Rating: K Time: See above.

"So, let's assume that Tyson is dead."

Kate looked up at him. "Wait! I thought you were all hot on the idea that Tyson is still alive? What changed?"

"Nothing's changed. I said let's assume that Tyson is dead, not let's take it as a proven given that he's dead, okay?"

Kate nodded. "Okay. So, Tyson is dead. He fell off of that bridge and died. So?"

"Let's also assume that Kelly Neiman is not just some plastic surgeon with an unfortunate taste in clients who just decided to skip town on the spur of the moment for perfectly innocent reasons."

"She's in this up to her neck."

"She's in it over her head." Castle agreed. "So, why go to all the trouble of stealing Tyson's records. Okay, if she is a serial killer like he is, and I'm betting she is, she might be making a little shrine to Tyson in her basement somewhere. You know, with burning candles and incense, and a photo of the dear departed looking all beatific. But that's unlikely. So, why?"

"If she's his partner…"Kate thought for a minute. "Then she's involved in his other crimes."

Castle nodded and smiled at her. "Classic Tyson misdirection. Everyone concentrates on Jerry Tyson or on the other killers he uses as partners. But he only uses those partners for a few jobs, then they're gone. Like Marcus Gates or Carl Matthews. But no one is looking for a permanent partner." Suddenly Castle smiled to himself. "Let's take this a step further. Suppose that Dr. Kelly Neiman is the boss and Tyson is the number two in their crazy little serial killer game."

"3XK isn't really the serial killer?" Kate asked, not sounding at all convinced.

"No. I'm sure that Tyson is a crazy serial killer and that I analyzed him correctly that time in the motel. He's killing his mother, over and over and over. But let's assume that Kelly Neiman found Tyson and realized what she had. The perfect tool for her own serial killings. She's smart, very smart and is quite competent in many areas. Martial arts, boating, and medicine, of course. She's the grey eminence behind the throne, so to speak. She finds the victims, she plans the killings, does all of the thinking, or at least a lot of the thinking, and Tyson does the rest."

Kate nodded. "Okay. It's a good theory and it explains the theft of all of the Tyson files. Kelly Neiman was afraid that somewhere there was something in those files that would link her to Tyson's murders."

"It fits as a story, too. Tyson is smart, but he's egotistical as well. It's not enough for him to be smart, he has to show everyone how smart he is. That's why he, or they, come up with these ungodly complex plans involving changing people's looks, so that they're perfect copies of Lanie and Esposito. Why make a perfect copy of Lanie right down to her tattoo? Do you think the file clerks are going to ask to see Lanie's tattoo to prove she's who she says she is? Of course not. They did that so they can say to the world, look at how smart we are. How thorough. How complete. How we've thought of everything."

"There really was no need for Pam Hodges to have a tattoo just like Lanie's, was there." Kate said, frowning in concentration.

"Do you want to hear a story that makes sense for getting rid of the Tyson files?" Castle asked.

"That's what you do best, Butch." Kate teased.

"Thanks, Sundance." Rick teased back. "No one pays any attention to the old case files. They sit in a box in a basement somewhere. So, hire a couple of thugs, dress them as cops, and make up some home made napalm. You can do that with gasoline and some liquid soap. Walk in, knock out or kill the file clerk and burn the files to a crisp. And, it has the advantage of burning a lot of other files. No one can tell what files were your target. Quick, clean and simple. But it doesn't say, "Hey! It's me, 3XK! Look at how clever I am. Aren't you impressed?"

"Okay. That makes sense. But what do we do now."

"We try to find some connection between Tyson and Neiman that will help us catch them, or her. There must have been something in those files she didn't want to see the light of day. We have to find it."

The next day, after work, Beckett and Castle huddled with Ryan and Esposito and explained their theory.

Ryan nodded. "Makes sense. Why take the files if there wasn't something dangerous to them in those files. Neiman wanted us to connect her to Tyson or Carl Matthews, or she just didn't care. She knew that just connecting her wouldn't prove anything. But all of the files are gone. How do we reconstruct them?"

"We detect. We know the names of the victims, their next of kin, addresses, where they worked. See if we can find anything. Try to reconstruct those files." Kate said.

Two weeks later they were back at Kate's desk.

"It's no good, Beckett. Surprisingly, Gates hasn't been giving us a hard time about the amount of time we can't explain by saying we're working on current murders. But asking questions of witnesses, years after the fact, is getting us nowhere." Ryan said.

"As much as I want to get both of them for what they did to Lanie and me, I agree with Ryan." Espo said sourly. "Besides, if your theory is correct, Neiman was behind the scenes. She never would have been seen by any witnesses. She'd have been completely out of sight. Tyson and his murderous pals would have been the public face of this."

Kate nodded. "Okay. I have one more thing to try. But, thanks, guys."

"Lanie?" Kate stuck her head into the morgue. "Got a minute?"

"Sure. Come on in and pull up a steel table."

"Lanie, you know I wouldn't ask this of you if it wasn't important, but we've been working…"

"On the Tyson and Neiman case, right?"

"How did you know?"

"Espo. He told me. So, what do you need, sweetie?"

"I want you to look at the remaining records we do have and try to see something in the records that indicates a doctor was involved. Look as a doctor, not as am ME."

Lanie shook her head. "I can't help you, Kate."

"Lanie, please."

"I already tried to help you. I had Javi give me a copy of all of those files. Even the ones you've been putting together from witness statements. I didn't find a thing. Not one damned thing that would tell us why Tyson and Neiman would want those files. I went over them and over them and found nothing."

Kate's heart fell. "Oh. Thanks, I guess I should have known Espo would tell you."

"Yeah. He made me make a copy and hide it here when I took the files home at night. I made another copy and hid it at home. We're getting paranoid about those two."

Kate laughed and shook her head. "I have a file hidden under one of my desk drawers and another copy in my safe at home. There's one in Castle's safe and one in his safety deposit box. He has at least two other copies and he won't tell me where they are. I do think one's hidden in the Hamptons house." She shook her head sadly. "They are making us paranoid.'

"Aloha, Mrs. Wells."

The woman known locally as Mrs. Claudine Wells smiled at the young man who was delivering her groceries. "Hello, Kimo. How are you today?"

"Just fine. What are you reading?"

"Just a report."

"Sounds boring." Kimo said with a grimace.

"Oh, I find it quite interesting."