Chapter 1109 Women’s Prison (Patreon)

The tall female detective stepped forward, blocking the man's path. "Excuse me, sir. NYPD. We need to ask you a few questions—about Dr. Valerie Monroe."

The man halted briefly, glanced at Beckett's badge, and his expression darkened slightly. "If you want to talk about Valerie, call my office."

With that, he slipped between Beckett and Castle and continued toward the restaurant.

"If you don't want to cooperate, then I'll have to arrest you."

Beckett raised her voice slightly. The man didn't turn back—but his hand slipped into his coat.

"Hey. If I were you, I definitely wouldn't make that kind of move with your back to a cop," Jack said, stepping in from the side. One hand grabbed the man's arm, the other clamped down on his elbow.

"FBI. Identify yourself."

Though the movement hadn't looked like he was reaching for a gun, Jack had no problem teaching him a quick lesson. He applied slight pressure, and the man yelped in pain as something dropped from his hand with a clack—it was a black wallet.

Seeing Jack had control of him, Castle stepped forward and picked up the wallet, only to open it and find a gold-on-blue badge.

"I'm Leonard Maloney, Special Investigator with the State Attorney's Office. Let me go!" The man struggled, but couldn't break free. His arrogance had already faded as he hastily identified himself.

"What's going on here?"

"We're investigating Dr. Monroe's murder and we'd appreciate your cooperation." Jack released the man's arm and handed back the wallet Castle gave him.

Leonard Maloney rubbed his numb arm, clearly shaken. "Murder? You're saying Valerie's dead?"

"What was your relationship with her?" Castle asked.

"She worked for me. Undercover." The investigator's answer left the three of them staring at each other, stunned.

—

"This lunch is on me. Sorry for the pain earlier." The three of them now sat inside the restaurant, and Jack offered an apology to Leonard Maloney.

Still rubbing the nerve in his arm with an uneasy expression, the investigator couldn't figure out how he'd been taken down so quickly.

"You've got a grip like a vise. For a second there, I thought I lost my arm."

Though he complained, Maloney didn't seem too upset—he was far more focused on the shocking news of Dr. Monroe's death.

"That's the gist of it," Castle said after explaining the odd circumstances of Monroe's body being found. He added with a hint of drama, "A beautiful doctor undercover in the life of a notorious drug lord—it's like something out of an Alfred Hitchcock film."

"Drug lord?" Maloney looked confused and actually paused while cutting into his steak.

"Caesar Calderón. Wasn't he your target?" Beckett asked, surprised by his reaction.

"Calderón?" Maloney nearly laughed. "There's no way someone at my level would be investigating him. Besides, I've heard he's been out of the drug trade for years."

Then who was his target? Jack had already asked the DEA—Calderón had been "clean" for nearly two decades. In that time, plenty of new players had taken over the cartel scene. There was no reason anyone would still be chasing him.

"It's the county hospital. The State Auditor suspects embezzlement, medical fraud, and equipment theft," Maloney explained, much to their surprise.

Castle's voice jumped an octave. "Medical fraud?"

Clearly, his disappointment stemmed not from any moral objection but from crushed expectations. Compared to secretly investigating a drug lord, an embezzlement case at a modest hospital felt tragically mundane.

Maloney, not understanding the dramatist's dismay, continued. "We couldn't find any direct evidence, so we recruited Dr. Monroe as a confidential informant."

No one wanted to say it, but the thought ran through all three of their minds: would anyone really go so far as to murder someone over a healthcare fraud investigation?

Beckett composed herself and asked, "Did she find anything?"

"No." Though the steak was well-prepared, Maloney chewed like it was cardboard. "But two days ago, she called me out of the blue and said she needed to meet."

Finally, things began connecting. Beckett pulled out the surveillance photo from her file.

"Yes, that's me," Maloney confirmed. "We met at the hospital. She said she'd uncovered something suspicious—that there might be a hidden network of collusion at play.

But she said she wanted to go upstate for the weekend and verify something before making a formal report."

"Upstate?" Castle's eyes lit up and he looked to Jack and Beckett. "Remember her phone's search history? She looked up hotels in Katonah, New York. That's up north!"

—

"But there's nothing in Katonah," Castle groaned back at the 12th Precinct, where the group had spent several minutes poring over a state map in silence.

Located less than 60 kilometers north of NYC, Katonah sits within Westchester County—one of the more affluent counties in the metro area.

But the town itself was small. Most of the wealthier residents lived in large estates scattered through the surrounding countryside. Apart from one art museum, the only thing Castle had found noteworthy about the area was its "charming rural scenery."

Jack poured himself some coffee and found an empty desk to sit at. "There's also Bedford Hills. Remember the last time I was up there? A desperate father kidnapped a billionaire's daughter.

He locked them both inside a security vault tougher to break into than any prison."

"Wait—prison?" Beckett stood and quickly walked over to the map, placing her finger on a spot. "There's a women's prison near Bedford Hills. Could it be related?"

Castle's eyes lit up at the word prison and he immediately volunteered, face full of enthusiasm. "If we're going to a women's prison, count me in!"

Beckett gave him a monumental eye roll. "Completely unnecessary. I'll call the prison now and ask for the inmate roster and visitor logs for the past six months."

Castle's excitement deflated instantly. "If we're just reviewing lists… I'll see myself out."

But Jack wasn't letting him off so easy. "It's already Friday. I only get a few days off, and Beckett won't be able to take hers until this case is closed.

But if you want to skip Vegas entirely…"

"I'll stay and help!" Castle immediately plopped back into his chair.