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“I was very sorry to hear about the attack on the courthouse,” he says. His tone is much lighter. “Were you there?” He puts his elbows on his desk, his hands together as he leans forward.
“Yes,” I reply. “But I was shielded from the gunfire.”
“That’s fortunate,” he says. “Glad to hear it, for your sake.”
“It’s actually the reason I wanted to meet with you,” I say. I need to get Castille to talk about the attack without asking him if he had anything to do with it. “I wanted to ask you if you’ve had any security issues of note. Have you had any threats or concerns recently?”
“Hm,” Castille nods, then tilts his head slightly. “We haven’t had anything out of the ordinary. Nothing we’re really worried about.” He leans back in his chair. “With all due respect, Ms. McKenna -- I’m not surprised if Nicoletti is, though.”
“Why do you say that?”
“He’s definitely not afraid to poke the bear,” Castille smiles wryly. “He really enjoys taunting the mob.”
“What would you do if you were in his shoes?” I ask.
“I’d tone down my ego if I were him.” He says it bluntly. It doesn’t come across as a threat. Nicoletti is well-known to take every chance he can get for publicity. He’s built his brand on being larger-than-life and bombastic.
“If you want to take down the mob,” Castille continues, “take down the mob. It doesn’t help to taunt them while you’re doing it. Men like him are always looking to take credit before they even finish their job.”
I nod. Nothing he’s said is controversial. Nicoletti himself would agree with half of it.
Castille leans back over his desk and looks me in my eyes. “Are you looking to get behind someone else for DA? It must be getting tense under Nicoletti.”
“Not necessarily,” I reply.
“You know, you’re not the first person in Nicoletti’s office to come talk to me,” Castille says as he leans back in his chair again. He raises his eyebrows slightly as he sets his elbows on the armrests of his chair and brings the tips of his fingers together in front of him.
“Really?” I can tell he wants to share more information.
Castille nods. “Blaine Roycroft showed up in this office just a few weeks ago. Eager to discuss opportunities if I were to win the election.” Castille grins. He obviously enjoys the idea of people abandoning Nicoletti before the election has even happened. “Roycroft had his eyes set on Assistant DA if I were to win.”
“Hmm,” I reply. “Do you think you have a strong chance of winning?”
Castille’s grin drops. “You tell me.”
I shrug in reply.
Castille sighs. “I did. I think Blaine did too, before the attack on the courthouse. The polls were much closer then. Events like these tend to favor the incumbent, though. And Nicoletti has squeezed a lot of good press out of it.”
He’s right. Nicoletti has surged in the polls since the attack. And it looks like it’s really eating at Castille.
“Well,” Castille says breaking away from the thought of his election chances sliding away. “I need to get ready for my next meeting.”
“Thank you so much for your time,” I say, standing from the chair and shaking his hand across the desk. “Let me know if you do see anything out of the ordinary.”
Castille nods in reply. I leave his office and walk back to work, wondering what to make of the conversation.
Castille didn’t seem like someone who would set up this kind of attack. His military background might give him the means, but I didn’t really get a sense that he had a motive. Hedoesn’tseem like someone interested in ‘poking the bear,’ as he put it. And staging a shootout/kidnapping on the courthouse steps is slapping the bear while your head is in his mouth.
He also seemed resigned to the probability that an incident like this would destroy his shot at winning the election. Castille likes the idea of people abandoning Nicoletti, but now I think it just wouldn’t make sense for him to have anything to do with the attack.
I almost laugh to myself when I think of Blaine visiting Castille. He’s that shady. I’m sure he was trying to cover his ass just in case Castille did win.
Right as I get back to the office, a text from Mateo buzzes my phone. I haven’t talked to him since we went to Mission Billiards a couple of days ago. I’ve wanted to reach out to him. But I also know that I should stay away from him as much as I can. Yes, he can help me get information about the attack on the courthouse. And maybe he can help me find out what happened to Gina. But he’s also Mateo Barone. He’s the last person I should even know, much less get involved with.
If he wasn’t the Underboss of the Italian mafia, it might be different.
What if he was him, but I didn’t work for the DA? Would that change things?
