[Castle] Ch: 79 [The arm blueprints] (Patreon)

[Later that day]

Back at Beckett's desk, she learned Jerome Aspenall had filed a lawsuit, but the judge threw it out the day before.

Jerome is brought in and states he was suing Zalman for Slander, defamation of character, and ruining his life. Beckett asks how he did that, and Jerome tells them that he read his mind in front of 300 people at a charity ball. He told everyone, including his wife and in-laws, that Jerome had been in Atlantic City the previous weekend with someone named Rita. Now Jerome is living in a motel, and even Rita won't return his calls because his wife called her. However, when told that Zalman is dead, Jerome says justice was served.

Well, without any evidence, they had to let Jerome go.

As they walk out of the interrogation room, Castle wonders how Zalman figured it out so quickly during his act. He comments that Zalman must have picked Jerome's pocket.

Beckett holds out Castle's phone and says, "Like this?"

"How did you do that?" Castle is amazed she did that without him knowing. Suddenly Gina calls. Kate shows it to Castle; he takes it and sends the call to voicemail.

Later, Kate asks Ryan if he's made any progress.

Ryan says that Jerome's alibi checks out because he was at a bar the entire night. Also, there were no fingerprints found on the tank except Zalman's. 

Travis shows up and states that the lab found fingerprints all over the suicide note. They belong to a Charles "Chuck" Russell, a street magician who was reckless with pyrotechnics in his act, and someone got hurt. Zalman had him thrown out of the American Magician Guild, and Russell hasn't been able to book a gig since.

Kate explained Jerome's side was a dead end.

Just then, he got a call from Lanie. She found something about the body. 

"Well, I'll check out with Lanie," Travis said.

"I'll get Chuck," Kate said.

...

[Morgue]

Travis stepped into the morgue and found Lanie standing beside Zalman Drake's examination table, studying the open autopsy report with a satisfied expression.

"You sounded excited on the phone," Travis said as he approached. "Please tell me our dead magician finally revealed his last trick."

Lanie looked up. "He did, and the suicide theory just disappeared."

She motioned him closer and pointed toward the report. "There was no water in Zalman's lungs. He didn't drown inside that tank."

Travis stopped beside her. "So somebody killed him first."

"Definitely," Lanie replied. "The petechial hemorrhaging initially suggested drowning because asphyxiation can present the same way. Once I opened him up, though, the lungs told the real story."

Travis glanced toward Zalman's covered body. "What actually killed him?"

"Smothering," Lanie said. "Most likely a hand pressed over his nose and mouth until he stopped breathing. I found subtle pressure injuries around the lower face that support it. Whoever killed him waited until he was dead, suspended him upside down, put him inside the tank, and staged the suicide note."

Travis slowly nodded. "So our killer wanted everyone focused on the magic trick instead of the actual murder."

"Exactly."

He smiled slightly. "Looks like a smart killer."

Lanie stepped closer. "You sound impressed."

"I'm appreciating professional effort."

"You better appreciate something else while you're here."

Travis raised an eyebrow. "That sounded promising."

Lanie caught the front of his shirt and pulled him down into a kiss.

Travis reacted immediately, sliding one arm around her waist as the kiss lingered. Lanie smiled against his mouth before kissing him again, slower this time, while his hand moved down to her butt cheeks. He gave them a couple of nice squeezes.

When they separated, Travis kept his forehead near hers. "I thought you told me to behave at work."

"I changed my mind."

"That seems medically irresponsible."

Lanie laughed quietly and glanced toward the doorway. "Come with me."

She led him toward the changing room, closing the door once they were inside. Travis barely had time to turn before Lanie wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him again. He pulled her closer while she leaned against the lockers, their kisses becoming a little aggressive as he grabbed her boobs. She moaned into his mouth as her right hand dropped down to his bulge. 

After a few minutes of tongues clashing and above-the-clothes petting, Lanie finally broke away with a breathless laugh and pressed one hand against his chest.

"You need to leave."

Travis stared at her. "You dragged me in here and gave me a boner..." He raised an eyebrow. 

"I know exactly what I did," Lanie replied, smoothing his shirt. "And if you stay another five minutes, I'm going to forget I still have hours left on my shift and just..." She looked down at his bulge. "...push you down on the floor and ride you."

Travis grinned. "Tempting."

"Go solve the murder, Detective."

He kissed her once more before opening the door. "Tonight?"

Lanie smiled as she followed him out. "Definitely tonight."

...

...[4 PM]...

Kate got Russell. He was not in the interrogation room.

Kate placed the suicide note on the table. Castle sat beside her.

Russell said that he had no idea what they were talking about. She told him about Zalman being dead, and Russell was surprised he had committed suicide. They want to know why Russell's fingerprints are all over Zalman's note. Russell was silent until they threatened to walk out, and he admitted he gave Zalman the note.

Kate explained that Russell gave him a note suggesting suicide, but Russell said that they need to look at the other note on the paper. They should use a blacklight to examine it.

After she gets the blacklight, they discover the note is an invoice for C4. Zalman promised Russell he would be reinstated in the guild if he obtained it for him.

Kate states that whoever grabbed the paper probably didn't realize it wasn't blank. She wanted to know what the C4 was for because it's enough to blow up half a city block. However, Russell doesn't know; he thinks it might've been for a magic trick.

When Kate showed doubt, Russell explained that Zalman wasn't just a shop owner and corporate magician, but he also designed intrinsic tricks for other magicians, specifically Tobias Strange, who Castle says is the "Johnny Depp" of magic.

...

[Tobais' theatre]

Kate and Castle talked to Tobais who told them that Zalman was poached, and he stopped working for him a month ago despite the fact that Zalman had been designing Tobias' tricks for 15 years and created some of his most famous tricks.

After Kate asked about C4 magic tricks, Tobias told her that C4 is too unpredictable for magic tricks, which means it kills people. He asked if they had found Zalman's workshop because if he was working on something dangerous, it should be there. 

"We found the workshop and got some blueprints. We still don't know what the blueprints are for. Can you help us?" Kate said.

"I'd love to, but I can't spare any more time today..." Tobais said as he pointed out at the practice prepup. "I have a big show tonight, and I need to be at my best. So, maybe tomorrow I can come by and check it out?"

"Sure," Kate nodded. 

...

[Late Evening] [12th Precinct]

By the time Kate stepped out of the elevator, most of the precinct had settled into its quieter evening rhythm.

Castle had headed home on the way back from Tobias Strange’s theater after announcing that he needed food, a shower, and several uninterrupted hours to consider why anyone would put military-grade explosives anywhere near a magic trick.

Kate walked toward her desk and saw Travis.

What did surprise her was the scene covering several desks near the murder board.

The surviving pieces of Zalman’s blueprints had been spread across two adjoining tables. A huge sheet of white paper covered most of the remaining space, while rulers, photographs, evidence copies, pencils, and several different colored markers were scattered everywhere.

Ryan sat beside Travis with one elbow resting against the desk and a marker held loosely between his fingers. He looked like someone who had been staring at geometric shapes for considerably longer than any homicide detective should reasonably tolerate.

Travis stood over the white paper, drawing another straight line between two measurements copied from the original plans.

Kate slowed as she approached.

“What are you guys doing?” She asked.

Ryan looked up first and gave her a tired smile. “Wilson thinks he can find out what the blueprints are for.”

Travis barely glanced away from the paper. “What he says.”

Kate looked over the mess. “So, find anything interesting?”

Travis capped the marker and finally straightened. 

“We know he was building something complicated enough to need custom schematics and C4,” Travis replied as he pointed toward several photocopied blueprint fragments. “The problem was we kept looking at each piece like it belonged exactly where we found it.”

Ryan rotated one of the copies on the table. “Then we noticed the measurements repeat.”

Kate looked down. “Repeat how?”

“Same support distance here and here,” Ryan explained while indicating two separate fragments. “Same mounting points too, except one section is reversed.”

Travis picked up another piece and placed it against the white paper. “That made me think these aren’t separate mechanisms. They’re sections of the same structure viewed from different angles.”

Kate’s interest sharpened immediately.

She leaned over the table and followed the lines Travis and Ryan had reconstructed. Several missing portions remained blank, though Travis had extended measurements across the white sheet using dotted lines. What had originally looked like unrelated pulleys, compartments, reinforced walls, and mechanical supports was slowly becoming one much larger shape.

“You reconstructed the missing sections?”

“Some of them,” Travis replied. “We used symmetry where the design repeated, then compared dimensions from the workshop photographs. Zalman labeled enough measurements that we could estimate where several missing pieces should connect.”

Ryan rubbed his eyes with one hand. “By ‘we,’ he means I spent forty minutes telling him his lines were crooked while he ignored me.”

Travis reached for the marker again and drew one final line across the lower portion of the paper. Then he rearranged all the papers in order. 

Kate watched the shape take form.

"This is it..." Travis said with a satisfied grin. "This is the schematic design for a mechanical animatronic arm that can be controlled remotely. With this, Zalman, or whoever he made this for, can trigger explosives or drive a car or plane." 

"We should check out for recent explosions or accidents involving explosions..." Kate said as Travis turned toward her.

"That way we can figure out if the C4 has already been used," Travis replied. "And..." He checked his wrist watch. "It's way past our duty time. So, let's go home, and we can start looking tomorrow."

--

AN: Next one will end this case. And then time for auction and new house.