Chapter 24: What Is Integrity?

Watching her subordinates escort the five gang members out and rescuing the couple tied up on the sofa, Beckett finally breathed a sigh of relief, shedding the immense pressure from public opinion and her superiors.

She casually pulled out her phone to update her boss, Captain Roy Montgomery, who was anxiously waiting for results back at the police station.

"Yes, Captain, the robbers have been captured, and the stolen money has been fully recovered. We're about to head back now... Alright, Captain, I'll give you a detailed report when I get back to the station!

Thank you... Captain!!"

After hanging up, Beckett approached Castle, who was still milling around, and spoke seriously, "Mr. Castle, although I appreciate your help in solving this case, is there anything you'd like to tell me?"

Knowing he had left many loose ends, Castle avoided eye contact: "I'll come to the station tomorrow morning and tell you, is that okay?"

"That's fine, but I hope you have a good explanation... When I report back to Captain Montgomery later, I'll temporarily withhold the fact that you had already met the robbers," Beckett responded, eager to get back to the station to report, confident that Castle wasn't going anywhere by morning.

She already suspected Castle was hiding something and thought to scare the pretentious know-it-all a bit. Clearly, solving the case so swiftly had put Beckett in a great mood.

"Oh no, how could I have forgotten about seeing Vanessa and her gang that day? What should I do?" Castle, dodging about, did not return to the station with Beckett but instead called Bell to take him home.

Once home, Castle immediately felt troubled.

"I need to find a way to bamboozle her, at least to get her off my back about those slip-ups... But how?

Maybe I can do this???"

They say a man becomes especially cunning when trying to deceive a woman, and Castle, just recently agonizing over his lies, suddenly came up with what he believed was a perfect excuse.

"Ding... System has detected that the host helped the female lead, Beckett, solve the bank robbery case and is issuing a random reward!

Congratulations, host, you have acquired Vanessa Lopez's driving skills!!!"

The normally silent system decided to make its presence felt.

"Huh, Vanessa's driving skills? This reward isn't bad at all! Much more useful than the last one, 'Mastery of Sichuan Cuisine,' especially since this foreign body can't handle my homeland's spicy food, which drives me mad! Luckily, today's reward is quite handy." Castle was pleased with the reward, momentarily forgetting his worries about convincing Beckett the next morning.

Back at the station, Beckett was receiving praise from Captain Montgomery: "Beckett, you did a fantastic job. You know? The Chief of Police and the Mayor's office both called. They are thrilled that we solved this case and caught the robbers so quickly.

This is great news, and the Chief has asked us to hold a press conference ASAP to announce this to the public. This will definitely boost the NYPD's image.

Tell me, how did you manage to find the robbers so quickly?"

Beckett had prepared her response on the way back to the station, her pride not allowing her to lie: "Captain, actually, Mr. Castle played a crucial role in us finding the robbers so quickly."

"What? Castle? What does he have to do with this?" Montgomery was baffled.

"Yes, Mr. Castle.

In fact, he started investigating this case on his own from the day of the first robbery. The day after the crime, he even found the garage where we caught the robbers today and saw them!

However, since we weren't aware that the robbers were four women at the time, he didn't think much of it and didn't tell me.

But you know, he was the first to suggest checking the vehicle and the possibility that the robbers might quickly alter their getaway vehicle's appearance.

After this morning's robbery, he and I pursued the fleeing robbers. After we lost them, he consulted a taxi driver friend about where in Manhattan one could get bulletproof tires changed.

Honestly, it was luck that we just happened to find the robbers while checking out West Sicaco!

Also, Captain, we've figured out why the robbers managed to escape our pursuits. The two hostages we rescued are a couple; the husband is a city sanitation worker. He drives a garbage truck daily.

The robbers kidnapped them to have the husband transfer the stolen money using his garbage truck after their heists. The robbers then quickly changed the vehicle's color and their clothes. At that point, the money, the vehicle, and the robbers were all separated—who would suspect four attractively dressed women?

That's why we failed to catch them in two pursuits!!!"

Beckett straightforwardly recounted today's events to Captain Montgomery.

But

 for some reason, Beckett didn't disclose everything to Montgomery, especially her suspicion about Castle having seen the robbers before without telling her.

"Hmm... For the press conference, let's downplay Mr. Castle's role in this case. After all, if the public thinks a volunteer has outperformed the police, it could negatively impact our image.

As for Mr. Castle, I'll speak with him when he comes in," Montgomery concluded, needing to consider the NYPD's overall image.

"Yes, Captain. If there's nothing else, I'll start interrogating the robbers now!" Beckett was a firm follower of orders and didn't think concealing Castle's contributions was stealing his thunder. She knew this was also protecting him from potential retaliation.

However, she didn't realize that with Castle's capabilities and his high regard for his own life, plus having a one thousand cubic meter personal space filled with enough arsenal for a small war, who would actually be at risk if retaliation occurred was still up in the air.

"Tomorrow, I'll definitely grill you properly..." Beckett felt guilty for hiding part of the truth from her respected superior and was determined!

Having decided how to bamboozle Beckett, Castle arrived early the next morning at the police station, carrying two cups of coffee.

"Good morning, Detective Beckett. Here, your coffee! Non-fat latte, no sugar!" Adhering to his belief that flattery could never be wrong, Castle handed the coffee to Beckett.

"So, have you figured out how to reveal your secret?" Beckett seemed in good spirits from the quick resolution of the case, joking as she accepted the coffee.

"Actually, I don't really have any secrets. It's just that I might be a little more informed..." Castle, determined to stand his ground from the day before, wasn't about to let Beckett coax anything out of him.

"By the way, have you finished interrogating the robbers? What did they say? Did they confirm my guess about their escape method? Tell me about it!"

Castle cleverly changed the subject, hoping to divert the conversation.

"..." Beckett straightened up, gave Castle a meaningful look, and began, "From the interrogation, we now know they arrived last week from Brazil. The leader, who drove the car, is Vanessa Lopez, a well-known name in the Interpol database!

She's robbed many banks in South America, thanks to her exceptional driving skills. The reason they decided to rob in the U.S. this time was because the banks there didn't have much cash. Before being caught, they planned to rob up to ten million dollars here. In the first two attempts, they had already stolen close to eight million and were planning one last heist before disappearing for good. They didn't expect us to corner them in that garage."

Beckett took a sip of her coffee and continued, "Your 'guesses' were all correct, including their method of escaping police pursuit by changing the car's color, and your prediction that they would continue robbing. You were even better than me, a professional detective.

So, Mr. Castle, can you now explain how you, a mere writer, were able to so accurately predict the robbers' actions?"

"Heh... heh..." Castle chuckled nervously, knowing he hadn't managed to evade Beckett's scrutiny. Luckily, he had slipped away the day before, giving himself enough time to concoct an excuse to ease Beckett's suspicions.

"Detective Beckett, look, I'm a detective novelist by profession. My job is to imagine all sorts of crime scenarios in my head daily. You won't deny that, right?" Castle began to perform his deception.

Without waiting for Beckett to respond, he continued.

"After we visited the scene of the first bank robbery that day, didn't I leave? You know from yesterday that I called Bell right after. I just wanted to confirm a suspicion about where in Manhattan one could alter a vehicle's color.

Bell told me then that West Sicaco was a likely spot for the robbers to modify their vehicle.

The next day when I came to the station and we discussed how the robbers might have escaped, although I had some suspicions, I decided to check it out myself to avoid interfering with your investigation.

I did see those four robbers at the garage, but they were dressed so scantily, I was too busy admiring their long legs to connect them with the robbers!"

Castle spun his tale with earnest, crafting a mixture of truths and fabrications to convince Beckett. And as for integrity? To Castle, who hailed from a culture of epicureans, only three questions mattered about integrity: "What is it? Can you eat it? Is it tasty?"

If he could just keep Beckett convinced, he'd consider it a victory!

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