Chapter 6: Ch 6
When we sat down at the dinner table Martha had already prepared everything and all we had to do was eat. Dinner was big, it included turkey and a lot of vegetables cooked in different ways, from grilled to boiled to sauteed, all in all, I was very happy about this, I always loved to eat vegetables.
Alexis, looking very excited by the prospect of another detective show, egged her father to tell us everything he and Beckett were working on, in the end, unable to resist her, he had to concede.
At the end of the long-winded explanation, Alexis' eyes roamed to me but I just kept eating.
"So, you got anything?" she asked me after a while gaining the attention of her father.
"Me?" I feigned indifference to which she deadpanned
"Come on get on with it, we both know you have something" I sighed, am I a walking circus now? Is my whole existence built for her amusement?
"Well, political murders are always a difficult subject to touch as they completely stray from common MOs and common motives, that is why you have to tread carefully at the most rotten and inner desires of people. These types of murders are greed, control and power oriented so you have to walk in that direction if you want to find the truth." Castle nodded while Alexis frowned
"Why are they so different from common murders then, I thought greed and power dynamics were in all murders," asked Alexis
"And you would be right, but the direction those feelings are oriented towards and their intensity are different. Let me make you an example: a normal murder of infidelity is very easy to deconstruct and only deals with rage, emotional instability, desire to regain power in the family, and the desire to put the family back together by eliminating the cause of trouble, and last but not least the desire to get back at the offender. A political murder with infidelity has to deal with public shame of the offended on not being able to reign in his husband or wife, the loss of the political power and status gained, anxiety for all the scorn you might be dealt with and the desire to take back that power yourself. See how different the dynamics are?"
"So politics fuck things up then" she said
I sputtered "Harsh, but true"
"Go on then you obviously have something to say" I rolled my eyes at her egging but I do not remember the case, like at all, so all I had to do was to make educated guesses.
"Well there are a few question marks I would like to point out"
Castle intervened "By all means, your track record with crimes at the dinner table is good enough for me to officially ask you to help out"
"The first is where the hecc did he get the money" Castle nodded
"Indeed he doesn't have them on his own, and his manager won't give us a list of the top donors to check if someone helped him"
"Umh" both pairs of eyes immediately turned to me, talk about pressure
"Have you tried asking his wife?" time stopped, and Castle was looking at me as if looking at an alien, I shrugged and continued
"I mean, you know women, you live with two, they always find out, no matter how good you try to hide things, they always find the way to know, it would have been in her best interest to give the money and shut the investigator up. Also, it would be a very easy search.
"To be completely honest it is also interesting that this happened when he was already losing by a couple of points, if I have to be completely honest it all looks too suspicious. The wife takes her husband's mantle, effectively profiting from his death to come ahead in the most recent poll. If I was the wife going through what she went through I would have killed the infidel myself not only protecting my image but also ensuring my win the race by pity. Whoever did it was very stupid in using that carpet, it would have simply passed as a simple break-in."
Castle shot up from his seat, and went to take his jacket "Good thinking Jack, I gotta go check the wife, goodnight family" and with that, he was off, again.
Alexis started giggling like a madman
"Sometimes I feel like you ask this just to watch your dad comically run away with haste" she laughed even more
"You have to admit though, this returning gag is something" I rolled my eyes, Martha who had been silent up until now spoke again
"Have you thought about what to do when it comes to the Alternating School-Work module?"
Alter sting School-Work is a recent policy my school decided to workshop on, in my old world it wouldn't come until 2015 but my school decided to experiment early on, as the name suggests you have to do some school-approved work in the afternoon until you have accumulated a certain amount of hours
"Yea, I would like to join the 12th precinct, I might need to pull some strings though, as it is not normally something a 15-year-old can do."
"Gasp, and help in dealing with murders?" asked Alexis clearly excited
"Well no, of course not, I will have no power over the decisions, as it will be most likely paperwork, desk jobs, and sometimes hopefully a couple of field trips to the murder location." she nods clearly understanding
"Ah well, Gina can certainly get you in if you use the excuse of keeping an eye on Castle for her, to make sure he is writing his book" she winked and stood up
I widened my eyes and turned to Alexis "Your grams is a genius, did you know" she giggled
"She has her cool moments"
After that, we finished eating and talked some more, why was it that with her we could have a conversation for days without ever getting tired?
...
In the end, the murderer was arrested, which was done by the manager of the campaign with the ok of an enraged wife.
A family man doesn't cheat on his wife, if you want to give yourself a particular image you have to pull it through to the end, in politics none wants someone who actually reasons and can change ideas in case of facts change, no, what people want is someone who does for his beliefs no matter how wrong they are, no matter how insane they are, no matter how hypocritical they are. If you want to be a politician choose your ideals and go through with them till the end, if you are pro-life you can't accept abortion, a middle ground does not exist and cannot exist.
Middle ground, reasons, and truth, in politics they do not matter, emotions matter way more, political belief is more visceral than intellectual no matter your side.
In the end, humans are just humans they make mistakes, there are good people and bad people no matter the political aisle, that's why a family man betrays his wife, and a shrewd man decides not to publish incriminating images because he is winning anyways and it is useless to ruin a family and a life just because. In the end, our "glorious leader" and their "tyrannical dictator" are both of the same kind, people.
...
"So has he arrived?" asked Gina through the phone
"Yes aunty he has, Becketr has also arrived and he is gawking like a goldfish, wow, she IS hot" I could "hear" her rolling her eyes
"Tom, for the love of the creator, get a grip," we both laughed knowing well how these things go
"By the way, I have a meeting with the chief of the 12th precint today, I will ask him about Castle and about you, await the good news"
"Cool! That's big news" I heard her laugh and a smile came to my face
"Thanks, Gina, seems like you helped me yet again"
"That's the least I can do, just keep an eye on Castle and we are even. His book needs to come soon after all" I laughed a bit
"Oh, things are getting spicy over there, see you lateeer~" I teased
"Oh stop it, later Jack" she sent me a kiss as she closed the call
...
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