[Castle] Ch: 77 [The Vanishing Act] (Patreon)

[12th Precinct]

Kate stood beside her desk with the phone pressed against one ear, listening to hold music while she flipped through the preliminary information they had gathered on Zalman Drake.

Travis walked over with his notebook in hand and stopped beside her desk. "Found a night owl across the street who was up around 1:00 A.M. He saw a white van idle outside Drake's, and a few minutes later, the security gate rolls up."

Kate covered the phone with one hand. "Did he get a look at the driver?"

“No, he didn't get a clear look,” Travis replied. “He thought it was just a late-night delivery and went back to his business until we started flashing badges.”

Kate glanced toward the notes already spread across her desk. "So the van arrives right at our time of death, and the gate goes up without any signs of forced entry."

"Which means our killer either had a key, or Zalman invited them in,” Travis said. “You tackle the rival magicians and the angry assailant, and I'll track down where he's been pulling his vanishing act this last month. Oh, anything on his family?"

Kate nodded before reaching toward another file. “According to the system, Drake only has one surviving relative. A brother up in Poughkeepsie."

Travis raised an eyebrow. "Well. Not exactly a sprawling family tree, is it?"

“His name is Edmund Drake,” Kate said while sliding the page toward him. “Meaning if we want to dig into Zalman's personal life, our options start and end right there.”

Travis glanced at the information before handing it back. “You dig info on the brother and the magician drama. I’ll follow Zalman’s disappearing act. Oh, and also...” He walked closer and whispered. "You are definitely going to have to show me that thing you do with ice."

Kate smiled faintly. "You've been waiting all morning for an opening to bring that up, haven't you?"

"Hey, you can't just casually drop a bombshell like that and expect my imagination not to run completely wild."

The voice on Kate’s phone finally returned, and she uncovered the receiver while giving Travis an amused look. He stepped away and headed toward his desk.

...

[Later That Day]

Travis sat at his computer with Zalman Drake’s MetroCard information open on the screen. He already knew about this case, so instead of wasting days over it, he planned to wrap it up as fast as possible. And to do so, he had to go through proper legal procedures.

The card had been soaked inside the victim’s wallet, though the serial number had survived well enough for transit records to recover its recent usage. Travis went through the travel history and quickly noticed a pattern.

Zalman had repeatedly taken the same route.

More importantly, he always got off at the final stop.

Travis checked each trip against the days Eliza remembered Zalman leaving the shop for hours at a time. The dates lined up often enough that coincidence became unlikely.

He leaned closer to the monitor and continued digging. 

A couple of weeks earlier, a power outage had interrupted service along part of Zalman’s usual route. That day, instead of using the MetroCard, Zalman had charged a town car to his credit card.

Travis pulled the transaction records and contacted the company.

The trip had a destination attached... An address.

A satisfied smile appeared on his face as he wrote it down.

"And... bingo."

A few minutes later, Travis found Kate standing near the coffee machine while she waited for another cup to finish pouring.

He approached quietly from behind, slipped one arm around her waist, turned her around, and kissed her quickly before she could react.

Kate smiled against his mouth before pulling back. "You know, sneaking up on a heavily armed homicide detective is a spectacular way to get yourself shot."

"I was banking on you recognizing my aftershave before you drew your weapon."

“That’s a lot of confidence.”

Travis kept his hand at her waist. "You love my confidence."

Kate picked up her coffee and looked at him over the rim. “Sometimes I tolerate it because the rest of the package is attractive.”

Travis smiled. "Oh, so you think I'm attractive?"

“I live with you, Detective. Don’t start fishing for compliments during work.”

"Just performing routine relationship maintenance."

Kate took another sip before narrowing her eyes slightly. "You didn't sneak up on me just for a make-out session by the espresso machine."

"The kiss was a critical tactical objective."

"And your secondary objective?"

Travis pulled the folded paper from his pocket and held it between two fingers. "I found out where Zalman's been pulling his vanishing act."

Kate immediately lowered her coffee. “How’d you find it?”

“We recovered his soggy MetroCard from the wallet, so I ran the travel history,” Travis explained. “Zalman kept taking the same route and getting off at the last stop. The trips line up with several of the days Eliza said he vanished from the shop.”

Kate looked toward the paper. "Okay, that gives us a neighborhood. How did you pull an exact address?"

“A couple of weeks ago, there was a power outage that interrupted his usual trip,” Travis replied. “Zalman hired a town car instead and paid with his credit card. The company still had the destination in its records.”

He handed her the address.

Kate read it once before looking back at him. “So whatever Zalman was doing during all those disappearances, there’s a good chance he was doing it here.”

“That’s what I’m thinking.”

Kate set her coffee down. "Then let's go find out what was so important it kept dragging him away from his magic shop." She began to walk toward the elevator.

Travis smiled as he followed her. "And here I was, foolishly holding out hope for a secondary tactical kiss before we hit the road."

Kate glanced back at him with a teasing smile. "Solve the murder first, and I'll take your application under advisement."

"That sounds suspiciously like a quid pro quo."

"Feel free to file a formal grievance."

“With whom?”

Kate kept walking. “Your girlfriend.”

Travis followed her with a grin. "Yeah. The appeals process there is notoriously brutal."

...

[Meanwhile]

Castle stepped into the loft later that noon and found Martha and Alexis sitting together on the couch, both of them reading. He had barely made it three steps into the living room before Martha lowered her book and fixed him with the kind of look that immediately told him she already knew something.

“Richard, would you care to explain why I had to hear from someone else that you and Gina had a rather spectacular argument at Le Cirque?”

Castle stopped and slowly removed his coat. “Define spectacular.”

“Spectacular enough that the whole restaurant noticed,” Martha replied as she closed her book. “And you didn’t think this was something worth mentioning to your mother?”

Castle draped his coat over a chair and tried to sound casual. "It wasn't exactly front-page news, Mother."

Martha reached over the table and picked up the newspaper. Castle sighed.

Alexis looked up from her book. “Was it really bad?”

“It was more of a disagreement.”

Martha raised an eyebrow. “A disagreement that ended with her storming out before the soufflé?"

Castle sighed and moved farther into the room. “Fine. We had a fight.”

Martha watched him carefully. “Have you spoken to her since?”

Castle hesitated just long enough to answer the question without saying anything.

Martha’s expression became incredulous. "Oh, you haven't."

“I’ve been busy.”

“With murder investigations?”

"Exactly!"

"And these dead bodies somehow physically prevented you from picking up your phone?"

Castle sat down on the edge of the coffee table. "I'm giving her space to cool off."

“You’ve been avoiding her,” Martha corrected.

Castle looked toward Alexis for support, though she was already giving him the same unimpressed expression.

“Et tu, Alexis?”

Alexis closed her book and rested it on her lap. "What were you even fighting about this time? I thought you two were trying to get back together."

Castle rubbed one hand over his face before answering. “We were fighting about how much we’ve been fighting.”

Alexis and Martha stared at him. 

Castle looked between them. “When I say it out loud, it sounds considerably worse.”

“It sounds exactly as bad as it is,” Martha replied.

Castle reached over toward Alexis with sudden purpose. “You know what? I think we should change the subject.”

Before she could react, he reached behind her ear and produced a coin between his fingers with a flourish.

Alexis looked at the coin, then slowly looked back at him. “Dad, I’m not six.”

“It still worked.”

Alexis took the coin from his fingers, closed her hand around it, then waved her other hand dramatically over her fist.

Castle narrowed his eyes.

She opened her hand.

The coin had become a twenty-dollar bill.

Castle stared at it.

Martha’s eyebrows lifted with obvious approval.

Alexis smiled as she folded the bill and slipped it into her pocket. "Atleast start with twenty."

Castle pointed toward her. “Where did you learn that?”

Alexis picked her book back up. "A magician never reveals her secrets."

Martha smiled and reopened her own book. "Well! At least someone in this family knows how to conjure something of value, rather than making their relationships vanish into thin air."

Castle gave her a wounded look. "Ouch. That was unnecessarily targeted."

Martha turned another page. “Call Gina, Richard.”

Castle sighed and leaned back. “I knew I should’ve stayed at the precinct.”