The female detective strode forward, blocking the man's path. "Excuse me, sir, NYPD, we need to ask you a few questions about Dr. Valerie Monroe."
The man paused, glancing at the badge Beckett displayed, his expression darkening slightly. "If you want to talk about Valerie, call my office."
He then sidled past Beckett and Castle, continuing toward the restaurant.
"If you won't cooperate with us, I'll have to arrest you,"
Beckett said, raising his voice slightly. The man made no move to turn back, but reached for his arm.
"Hey, if I were you, I wouldn't do something so dangerous with my back to the police." Jack stepped aside, one hand on the man's arm and the other gripping his elbow.
"FBI, identify yourself."
While the man's hand didn't look like he was reaching for a gun, Jack didn't mind teaching him a lesson. With a slight push of his fingers, the man cried out in pain, and something in his hand clattered to the ground. It was a black wallet.
Seeing Jack restraining him, Castle took two steps forward and picked up the wallet from the ground. He was surprised to see a blue badge on a gold background when he opened it.
"I'm Leonard Maloney, Special Investigator with the State's Attorney's Office. Let me go." The man struggled but couldn't break free. He quickly identified himself, his attitude less arrogant than before.
"What's going on?"
"We're investigating Dr. Monroe's murder. I hope you'll cooperate." Jack released the man's arm, took the ID from Castle and handed it back to him.
Leonard Maloney rubbed his numb arm, a look of shock on his face. "What do you mean by murder? Are you saying Valerie's dead?"
"What's your relationship to her?" Castle asked.
"She worked for me, undercover." The special investigator's response left the three of them looking at each other in bewilderment.
"
Lunch is on my treat. I'm sorry I hurt you earlier." The three of them sat down in the restaurant, and Jack apologized to the special investigator, Leonard Maloney.
The latter gently rubbed the numb tendons in his arm with a lingering look of fear, still unable to comprehend how he had been so easily subdued.
"Your grip was so strong! I almost thought this arm was gone."
Despite his complaints, Leonard Maloney didn't express much displeasure. He was more concerned with Dr. Monroe's murder.
"That's basically it," Cassel recounted the bizarre circumstances surrounding the discovery of Dr. Monroe's body, then sighed.
"A beautiful female doctor secretly lurking alongside a notorious drug lord—it's like something out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie."
"Drug lord?" Leonard Maloney gave a look of "What the hell?" and paused cutting his steak.
"César Calderón, isn't he? Your subject." Beckett was a little surprised by his expression.
"Calderón?" Leonard Maloney nearly laughed out loud. "Calderón isn't someone I could investigate at my level, and I heard he's been away from the drug trade for years."
So who was his subject? Jack asked the DEA, it has been almost 20 years since Calderon came to justice, and there are new drug lords of his level emerging all the time. It really doesn't make sense that he is still being targeted.
"It's the county hospital. The state auditor suspects them of embezzlement, medical fraud, and equipment theft." The investigator's answer surprised the three.
Cassel's voice cracked. "Medical fraud?"
His excitement was clearly driven not by joy but by sheer disappointment. The county hospital wasn't big enough; how could a mere medical fraud case compare to a secret investigation into a major drug lord?
Leonard Maloney, however, clearly didn't understand the great writer's disappointment. He continued, "Yes, we couldn't find any evidence, so we approached Dr. Monroe to ask for her help as an insider." Surely,
they wouldn't murder someone to silence them while investigating medical fraud? The three exchanged bewilderment. Beckett, taking his time, asked, "Did she find anything?"
"No." While the steak at the restaurant was delicious, the investigator's food was bland after hearing Dr. Monroe's tragic news. "But just the day before yesterday, she called me and said she wanted to see me."
Finally, the connection was established. Beckett pulled the surveillance camera photo from his file and showed it to him.
"Yes, I went to the hospital to see her," Leonard Maloney nodded, confirming it was him in the photo. "She told me she'd noticed something suspicious, suggesting a hidden conspiracy at the hospital.
But she wanted to go north this weekend to confirm everything before testifying."
"North?" Cassel's eyes lit up, turning to look at Jack and Beckett. "Remember Dr. Monroe's browsing history? She looked up hotels in Katonah, New York, a town just north of here."
—
"But there's nothing in Katonah." Back at the 12th Precinct, everyone looked at the map of New York State for a long time, lost in thought.
Katonah is less than 60 kilometers north of New York City, encompassing Westchester County, one of the more affluent counties surrounding the city.
However, the town's population is relatively small; the wealthy live in large villas in the surrounding countryside. Aside from an art gallery, all that remains is the charming countryside Cassel described.
Jack poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down at an empty desk. "There's also Bedford Hills. Remember the last time I went there, a father who was eager to save his daughter kidnapped the daughter of a super-rich man.
He locked himself and the daughter of the rich man in an underground safe room that was harder to break into than a prison."
"Wait, prison?" Beckett got up from his seat, walked quickly to the map, and pointed his finger at somewhere. "There's a women's prison next to Bedford Hills. Could it be related to that?"
Cassel immediately became energetic when he heard the word, and raised his hand to sign up with a shameless face. "If you want to go to the women's prison, count me in!"
Beckett rolled his eyes in response. "There's no need at all. I'll call the prison now and ask them to send the list of prisoners and the visitor records for the past six months."
Cassel immediately lost his spirit. "If it's something like a review list, then I'll withdraw first."
Jack obviously didn't intend to let the great writer go. "Today is Friday, and my vacation time is only a few days. Beckett has to wait until the case is over before he can ask for leave.
Of course, if you plan to give up your trip to Las Vegas just like that..."
"I'll stay and help." Cassel sat back down smoothly.
(End of this chapter)