Original subtitles

[groans]

[gasps]

Sorry to keep you waiting, Detective Beckett.

Not a problem, sir. You're a busy man.

Tell that to the Attorney General.

He just had his first grandchild and now wants to show me pictures.

So, Agent Stack spoke very highly of you.

Smart, tenacious, innovative thinker.

Said you were a good candidate for the opening on the AG investigative team.

Well, I appreciate his confidence, sir.

You don't agree?

No, sir, it's just that, um...

I'm a Homicide detective. I don't have any federal experience.

Attorney General's not looking for federal experience.

He wants people who can get the job done.

And from everything I've read, that might be you.

Well, that's very kind of you, sir.

It's not kind. It's what you believe to be true, isn't it?

It's why you got on the plane this morning.

Because given your background, your qualifications, and your track record,

you know that you're headed for bigger things.

Just like you know that opportunities like this

come along once, maybe twice in a lifetime.

But if that's not what you believe,

if you think that you're just a homicide cop,

door's right over there.

No, sir. I know why I'm here.

Well, take a seat. Let's get started.

-Dad, we need to talk. -Which of these do you like better?

Dad, I'm serious.

I like the green one,

but it kinda looks like a giant green lizard is attacking the city.

Which is cool, but it's not what the book's about.

So I either rewrite the book to make it about a giant lizard, or...

-Dad. -Magenta. You're right.

It's classic, it's cool, it tells the story.

-[clears throat] Dad. -What?

Professor Rankowsky still hasn't received the check

for my Costa Rica trip.

-He didn't? That's so weird. -You didn't send it, did you?

Why do you want to go study the rainforest for six weeks anyway?

Dad, we talked about this.

I know, but you're going to be staying in the middle of a jungle.

Miles away from the nearest phone, hours from the nearest hospital.

You could be bitten by a poisonous spider, or a poisonous snake.

I looked it up. Toucans are extremely aggressive this time of year.

Is this about Paris?

I will admit to being

slightly overprotective in light of recent events.

Dad, I can't stop living my life because of what happened.

And, yeah, I still have nightmares, but that's one of the reasons I want to go.

I don't want to let fear win.

No. No, of course, you're right.

I'll write the check.

But it's not gonna stop me from worrying about you. Or missing you.

[sighs]

And I wouldn't want you to. But it's only six weeks.

It's not like I'm going away forever.

[cell phone rings]

No, but it sounds like someone has.

-[Castle] Always a pleasure. -Hey, Castle.

-Good to see ya. -Hey.

[indistinct radio chatter]

-Hey, Sito. -Hey.

Where's Beckett?

How the hell should I know?

Aren't you two practically living together now?

Well, she left me alone for a couple days so I could finish Deadly Heat,

which, by the way, is both deadly and hot, thank you very much for asking.

I didn't.

Right.

Hey.

-Sorry I'm late. -Everything OK?

Um... Yeah, fine. So, what've we got?

This way.

The Cedric's your pretty typical no-star residential hotel.

Mostly transients and foreign tourists that don't know any better.

Guests started complaining of a strange-colored water

and also a foul odor coming from the pipes this morning.

When maintenance finally checked it out, they found her.

-Hey, Lanie. -[Lanie] Hey.

So, we've got a Caucasian female. Probably 20, 21 years old.

-How'd she die? -Not sure yet.

There's evidence of blunt-force trauma to the head,

but I won't know cause until I get her back to the morgue.

CSU found traces of blood and hair on that ventilation fan.

-They're running it for a match. -[camera clicking]

So someone smashed her on the head and then dumped her in the tank?

Looks like it. They found blood at the base of that ladder,

and on the hand-railing. Also, a bloody partial print.

Who else had access to the roof?

[Esposito] Pretty much anyone.

The latch on the door has been busted for years,

and often the residents will sneak up here for a smoke.

And what do we know about her?

The building manager identified her as a resident named Crystal Sky.

Checked in 10 days ago to a room on the 18th floor. Paid with cash.

[Esposito] Crystal Sky?

That name's so fake it sounds like something out of one of your books.

Right? Whoa. What is that supposed to mean?

What do you mean, "What is that supposed to mean?"

Derrick Storm, Nikki Heat, Jameson Rook?

Would it kill you to name someone "Gonzales" every once in a while?

Well, with no ID found on the body,

and no purse, wallet, or phone in the room, it's hard to know who she is.

She's been here for 10 days. She must have made some friends.

[Ziff] Yeah, I knew her.

You know, we'd talk sometimes in the laundry room.

Did she tell you anything about herself, like where she was from?

Texas. Lubbock, I think. But, you know, things were bad at home. Her dad...

Any idea what she was doing in the city?

Oh, I can tell you what she was doing. The girl was a prostitute.

She wasn't a prostitute. Why you gotta say that?

Because it's true.

The way she dressed,

the sounds coming out of her room at all hours of the night. We all knew it.

What kind of sounds?

Her with her johns. Walls here are pretty thin.

Hey, you don't know what you're talking about, OK?

Ziff, I know you liked her.

But somebody killed that poor girl. These folks need to know the truth.

When was the last time any of you saw her?

I saw her yesterday, around 11:00 p.m. She was heading for the laundry room.

-Was anybody with her? -She was alone.

OK, thank you.

Yo. CSU just finished their sweep.

Did they find anything?

It's what they didn't find. There were no prints.

It's like the place has been wiped down.

The killer must've come back to the room to get rid of the evidence.

All right, set up a canvass,

see if anyone else entered or exited that room.

And let's pull surveillance footage from the security cam in the elevator.

Maybe it will tell us who she was with.

Right on.

It doesn't take a best-selling mystery writer to figure this one out.

Small-town girl with big city dreams ends up turning tricks to survive.

It's a tragic yet all-too-familiar tale.

Except that's not this girl's story.

We just got a fingerprint match off the victim's body.

Her name's not Crystal Sky, she's definitely not from Lubbock, Texas.

-Well, who is she? -Erika Albrook.

She's an honors student at Harvard.

[Beckett] Our skid row hooker is a Harvard honor student?

Like I said. A tragic, yet not-so-familiar tale.

This makes no sense.

She was supposed to be in Europe, backpacking with her friends.

I mean...

We dropped her off at the airport.

-When? -[woman] Last Monday.

The same day she checked into that hotel.

Any idea what she'd be doing in the city?

None. And why would she stay there? My sister has a place in Midtown.

Were there any personal issues that we should know about?

Did she have any problems with drugs or money?

Erika would never use drugs and she had...

And she had plenty of money in her bank account for Europe.

Is it possible she met someone in the city? A new boyfriend?

She would've told us.

Are you sure about that?

I don't know anymore.

The only thing I do know is

our daughter would never stay in a place like that.

Detective, this isn't her.

Straight-A student, no history of trouble, on a dream European vacation,

turns into a hooker in a ratty hotel.

There is no way I'm letting Alexis go to Costa Rica now.

Maybe she broke under the pressure of being perfect.

Or maybe she just decided she needed a change.

Honors student to prostitute in less than a week? That's quite a change.

Yeah. It doesn't make any sense.

-Hey, where were you this morning? -What do you mean?

Just called you a bunch of times.

Uh, my phone must have been off.

Hey, guys. Come check this out.

[Esposito] 11:00 p.m., the night Erika died.

She takes the elevator down to the laundry room.

Now, this is 11:05.

She takes the elevator back up to her room.

Seems perfectly normal.

Yeah, but watch. This is just after midnight.

She takes the elevator up to the top floor.

Alone. But watch what happens when she gets there.

Looks like she's making sure no one sees her.

[Esposito] Or following her. But that's it.

She doesn't come back down.

And no one goes back up there until 4:00 a.m.

What about earlier?

Nope, the last person to go up to the top floor

was another hotel guest an hour earlier. But the guy is 80 years old,

there's no way he's climbing a water tower with a body.

Sounds like whoever killed her used the stairs.

Hey, so no recent activity on her phone.

She'd left it with her parents, since she was supposed to be in Europe.

But check this out.

A credit card charge?

Yeah, from two days ago.

It's her only transaction since checking into the hotel.

Margo's. That's a restaurant in Midtown. It's expensive.

Yeah, and she wasn't alone.

Turns out she split the check with a Talia McTeague.

OK, run her down. Maybe she can give us some answers.

Hey, is there anything on the canvass?

Nothing useful.

None of the occupants of the hotel

admit to seeing anyone going in and out of her hotel room.

But given what they heard coming from her room at night,

it's pretty clear she was a prostitute.

If she was a prostitute, she wasn't very good at it.

Seriously? You can tell that?

Prostitution usually means sex, and there's no evidence of sexual activity.

But what I did find were defensive wounds,

bruising around the neck and evidence of multiple blows to the head.

I'm guessing someone held her by her throat,

and slammed her head into that ventilation fan.

Lack of water in the lungs indicate

that she was dead before she went in the tank.

Then why bother even putting her in there?

Water has a great way of washing away things like trace DNA.

[Beckett] Wait a minute, I don't understand.

If she wasn't having sex,

then what were all of those sounds coming out of her room?

[woman moaning]

OK. So she wasn't really a hooker,

she just wanted everyone to think that she was. Why?

I don't know, but not everyone thought she was a hooker.

That guy next door. He was pretty adamant she wasn't.

So what did he know that the others didn't?

I already told you what I know.

Not everything, Ziff.

How did you know she wasn't a prostitute?

Please. Look, I don't want any trouble.

-Did you murder her? -What? No!

Then nothing you say is gonna get you into trouble.

Well, I heard those sounds, you know.

Come on, Ziff.

There's a hole in the wall in the back of the closet.

You were spying on her?

What did you see?

Well, that's the thing. I heard all those sounds,

but there was nothing going on.

It was just her sitting on the bed all night,

fully dressed, with her headphones on, typing on her laptop.

There wasn't a laptop in the room.

There used to be. She'd be on it all night, staring at the screen.

Did you ever see anyone else in there with her?

No. It was always just her.

Thanks for coming in, Ms. McTeague.

Of course. I can't believe she's dead.

So, how did you know Erika?

We were friends from Harvard.

We were both computer science majors.

Do you know what she was doing in the city?

No.

But you had lunch with her two days ago. Why?

[McTeague] It was weird.

That morning, I was getting coffee from this place in the Village,

and I saw her in this big argument with some guy.

She was dressed very different.

Sexed up and her hair was pink.

Anyway, he storms off, and I go up to her to say hello,

and she just looks at me with this panicked look on her face and bolts.

Later that day, she tracked me down, called me at my office,

and said that we needed to meet up right away.

So, what happened at lunch?

She begged me not to tell anyone that she was in the city.

That if people found out, she could be in a lot of trouble.

And did she say why?

I kept asking her what was going on, but she wouldn't talk about it.

She said she was on some sort of a mission.

A mission?

This guy that she was arguing with.

Do you know who he was or what they were arguing about?

No.

I just heard him say,

"You have no idea what you're up against.

"These people don't mess around."

Can you describe him?

Yeah.

Uniforms are canvassing The Cedric. But so far, nobody recognizes him.

[Ryan] Here's what I don't get.

Why go through all the trouble of creating a fake persona

when you're just going to be on your laptop all night?

Wait. Does The Cedric have Wi-Fi?

Yeah, that's about all it has.

Computer science major, hours on her laptop.

She's a hacker. Which is why she was staying at The Cedric.

She could pay in cash and remain anonymous

-while she was using the IP address. -Exactly.

And whatever she was hacking into was either so illegal or so dangerous

she had to make sure they couldn't trace it back to her.

And even if they did trace it back to her,

they'd still have to find her amongst hundreds of residents.

[Beckett] So she created a whole false persona.

And who's going to look twice at a runaway hooker?

I mean, she's like the girl with the dragon tattoo.

Only they did find her. Which is why we can't find her laptop.

Whoever she went up against killed her and took it.

Problem. We don't know who she went up against

and none of her friends seem to know either.

OK, contact The Cedric's Internet provider

and get a list of all the IP addresses

accessed by residents over the past two weeks.

There's gotta be an answer somewhere in there.

How about I take a break from writing tonight,

you come to my place, I open a bottle of wine.

Detective Beckett. Can I have a word?

[Beckett] Yes.

-I'll catch you later? -She's all yours.

-Sir. -Shut the door.

Have a seat.

I, uh...

I just got a call about you.

From the Deputy Director of the FBI.

Apparently you had quite the interview in DC this morning.

-Look, sir, it was... -I just want to tell you that...

I gave you my highest recommendation.

You did?

Kate, this is the kind of work you were meant to be doing.

You'd be on the national stage, utilizing all your talents.

This is an incredible opportunity. I would've killed to have a shot at

something like this when I was your age.

Thank you, sir, but it was just an interview.

I mean, it's a long shot at best.

No, I wouldn't be so sure about that.

From what I hear, you're on a short list.

And with any luck, this could be your last case.

[gasps]

Oh, girl, you scared me. What are you doing here so early?

I just wanted to see if you had anything new on the victim.

Well, I was able to place time of death between 12:00 midnight and 1:00 a.m.

Oh, and I found traces of creosote under her fingernails,

which is probably meaningless,

since the boiler room is right next to the laundry room

and it could've gotten on her hands when she went down there.

But...

That's not why you're here, is it?

OK, what's wrong?

Nothing. [sighs]

Yet.

Lanie, if you had the opportunity to do something that you wanted to do,

but it would mean that

everything in your life might change, would you take it?

Well, it depends. How good is the opportunity?

Great.

Really, really great.

But the job's in DC.

And you're worried about Castle.

[sighs] I mean, we're in this relationship,

but we never talk about where we're going.

And that's OK right now. It's just...

But if I get that job...

Then you're gonna have to.

Yeah.

Maybe that's not such a bad thing.

Yeah, but what if it is?

[cell phone rings]

[beeps]

Hey, Castle.

Yeah, no, I just wanted to get an early start on the day,

I didn't want to wake you up.

OK. All right, I'll meet you there.

So I ran down all the IP addresses that were accessed

through the hotel's server to find out what our victim was up to.

Any luck?

The majority of the IPs were to porn sites.

Really? Which ones?

I took the liberty of ruling those out, as well as normal commercial sites.

Google, Amazon, YouTube.

That narrowed it down to a couple hundred sites.

So we're still looking for a needle in a haystack.

Not necessarily. I took those and went back,

looking for multiple unique site hits that coincided with the dates your victim

was checked into the hotel. That left about 20.

Now we're talking, girl. I can deal with 20.

You might not have to. Of those 20,

I looked for IPs that were accessed late at night, during the period

when your witness claimed the victim was on her laptop.

This is your most likely candidate.

The server IP was accessed multiple times a night,

nearly every night Erika was at the hotel.

And who does it belong to?

IP was traced to Banks and Bauer. It's a boutique law firm in Midtown,

represents high-level politicos and corporations.

Maybe Erika was some kind of online Erin Brockovich, you know.

A crusader for good, delving into the seedy underbelly of the legal system,

in order to uncover some seamy truth.

Or maybe she was just hired by a rival firm

to steal privileged information.

Now, why must you be so cynical?

It's in my job description.

Which is why you need me.

OK, why don't you dig into Erika's life.

Castle and I will hit the law firm and see if there's any connection.

Thank you?

No. I've never seen her before in my life.

Ms. Banks, you're sure?

I'm positive. Mitch!

This is my partner, Mitch Bauer. Do you know this girl?

No. Should I?

The police think she may have hacked our server.

-Why? What did she access? -We don't know.

-Well, is she in custody? -Sort of.

-What do you mean, "sort of"? -She's dead.

Actually, she was murdered,

and we believe it might have to do with whatever it was

she was trying to access from your system.

Security software and firewall protection don't indicate any incursion.

Yeah, but if the hacker is good, your software may not pick it up.

Is there any way to trace network activity on your server

-for the past week? -Yeah. [typing]

There. Between 11:00 p.m. and 3:00 a.m., all last week.

But according to the usage logs, no one was signed onto the system at that time.

Are you telling me this girl had access to our records

for the past week and a half and you have no idea what she was doing?

I'm afraid so.

[Beckett] Are there any cases or litigation

that your firm's involved in currently

that might hinge on privileged information?

Are you kidding me, Detective? We're a law firm. All of them.

So no one at the law firm knew what she was looking for either?

Either that or they're covering something up.

But the only evidence of what she was up to is on that missing laptop.

So without it, we're dead in the water. Much like Erika.

[both] Too soon.

Hey, guys. I got something.

That phone call that she made to her friend to arrange lunch

had me wondering exactly where that call came from.

Turns out, it was a payphone at the hotel.

So I ran down the other calls made from that phone. One of them popped.

Ian Blaylock?

Yeah, he was an attorney at Banks and Bauer until he was fired six months ago.

She made three phone calls to him from that phone,

each lasting over five minutes. This is Blaylock.

[bangs]

Mr. Blaylock, NYPD!

Mr. Blaylock? Open up!

[whispers] I think our plot just thickened.

-[camera clicks] -I'm pretty sure this wasn't a suicide.

How can you tell?

See that diagonal ligature mark running up his neck?

-[Beckett] Yeah. -Well, that's what we'd expect to find

because the weight of the body pulls the cord into a vertical line.

-But... -But this other faint ligature mark,

see how it runs horizontally across his neck?

He was strangled first.

Then strung up.

So we have a second murder.

Well, technically, it's the first murder.

Given temperature and decomposition,

I'd say he died at least a day before our lady in the water tank.

[Ryan] Beckett.

So I was going through Blaylock's recent activity

and I found this chat exchange between him and an anonymous user.

"Changed my mind. Can't live like this anymore.

"Will tell you everything I know.

"Where can we meet?"

Person replies, "There's a place near where I'm staying.

"Cedric Hotel. Rooftop. At midnight."

She asked him to meet her up there.

She must've thought it was a location she could control.

Guys, look what time he sent that message.

[Ryan] 10:00 p.m. the night she was murdered.

Right, but according to Lanie's time of death, Blaylock was already dead.

So this was sent by whoever killed him.

They lured her out.

Then killed her, too.

So the folks at the law firm claim that they have no idea

why anyone would murder Blaylock, or why Erika was looking for him.

Did they at least tell you why they let Blaylock go?

Only that it was a personal issue.

Well, must have been pretty serious. We checked with friends.

Apparently, he was a rising star at the firm.

Till about a year ago, when out of the blue,

he just became distant, withdrawn,

marriage fell apart and he started doing drugs.

It's like something happened.

[Beckett] So Erika was looking into the firm.

Blaylock used to work at the firm. Now they're both dead. Why?

Hey, just heard back from Erika's parents.

The law firm rang a bell.

Turns out that Erika's best friend from high school

interned there last summer. A Pam Bonner.

OK. Maybe she can give us some answers. Where do we find her?

Mount Hope Cemetery in Westchester.

She was killed last summer in a car crash.

What were the circumstances?

Well, there were no witnesses, but according to the police report,

she was driving home from the firm's summer party,

she lost control and crashed into a tree.

Autopsy indicates that she was intoxicated at the time.

But Erika never believed the official account.

Any reason why?

Well, she believed that Pam would never drive drunk.

And when they found Pam, she was wearing high heels,

and Erika said she never drove in heels.

Three deaths, all leading back to the law firm of Banks and Bauer.

Is it just me, or is this starting to smell

like a John Grisham novel?

A single car accident with no witnesses?

Guys, this is a classic conspiracy cover-up.

Though only a lowly intern,

Pam stumbles onto something that the firm is doing.

Something big and nefarious. She has to be silenced.

Only after the accident, Blaylock can't take the guilt or admit the truth.

So his only bastion is to escape into the sweet oblivion of drugs.

And then when Erika starts coming around,

they realize they're gonna have to act by eliminating them both.

But what are they covering up?

Whatever it is, the only possible evidence is on Erika's laptop,

-which our killer took. -Yeah.

Wait. Are we sure about that?

Erika was meeting Blaylock on the roof, right?

A guy who, according to the emails, she didn't know very well.

If I'm Erika, I'm hiding that laptop.

Well, we searched her room. It wasn't there.

Wait. Do you guys remember the footage from the elevator?

Yes. She went down to the laundry room first.

And Lanie said that she found traces of creosote under her fingernails

from the boiler room next door.

[both] The laptop's in the basement.

Man, this was Castle's theory. How did we draw the short straw?

I don't know. Let me ask you something.

You notice anything weird about Beckett?

What do you mean?

Well, she's different.

Something's off.

What are you saying? Like she's pregnant or...

What are you talking about? Where did that even come from?

Well, you said she was acting different. They're consenting adults...

Beckett is not pregnant. Come on, man.

What's so wrong about being pregnant?

You know, I can't even talk to you about this right now.

OK. Well, try to get over it before Jenny tells you the news, OK?

What? Are you serious?

Wow! Congratulations, man. That's great.

Thanks, bro.

[metallic clank]

Hold up. There's something up here.

-What's that? -That's a laptop.

OK, no, that's great. Thank you.

So, they found the laptop.

I knew it. So what was on it?

Well, the hard drive is encrypted, so techs are going through it now.

Well, somewhere on that computer

is a conspiracy of lies so heinous, so deadly...

-What's this? -What's what?

-Boarding pass. -Castle...

You fly to DC yesterday?

Yes. I did.

Why?

I was invited down for an interview.

What kind of interview?

For a position with a federal task force.

I'm sorry.

You interviewed for another job in another city and you didn't tell me?

I didn't tell you about it because it was just an interview

and I knew that you would be upset.

Yeah. You're damn right I'm upset.

Castle, I just wanted to see what was out there. What's wrong with that?

What's wrong with it is that you hid it from me.

In fact, you lied about it. I wouldn't do that to you.

Castle, this isn't about you.

This is about me. This is about my life.

-So you're seriously considering this? -Yes.

This is a wonderful opportunity. It'll be a chance to do more.

Without me.

Castle, please don't do this. Please don't make this about us.

I'm sorry, tell me how this isn't about us.

You get this job, you move to DC, I'll never see you.

That's pretty much the end of our relationship, isn't it?

You don't know that. And I probably won't even get the job.

That's not the point. The point is, you knew what this could mean,

and it didn't occur to you to include me.

Or worse, it did occur to you,

and you chose not to.

Now, what does that say about us?

Not much, if you ask me.

Castle.

I can't be here right now.

[door slams]

-Hey. -Hey.

You OK?

Yeah.

Where's Castle?

I don't know.

We had a fight, OK?

What, like a regular fight, or...

How bad?

Hey, guys. We got something.

Once your victim hacked into the law firm,

she started with the basics, emails, calendars, payroll.

Then she moved on to client and personal files.

Do we know what she was looking for?

Hard to say. But for the last few nights,

Erika became very focused on the firm's accounting department.

The accounting department?

It appears that she was looking into Ian Blaylock's billable hours records.

Focusing exclusively on one week last summer.

Wait a minute. That's the same week as Pamela Bonner's car accident.

Right. Now, check it out. The highway patrol determined that

Pam Bonner's accident occurred between 1:30 and 2:00 a.m.

And Ian Blaylock billed for an incoming phone call from a client at 1:45 a.m.

So, you think one of his clients might have been involved.

Maybe ran her off the road.

According to the highway patrol, it was a one-car accident.

You guys, what if Erika was right?

What if Pamela wasn't driving drunk or in her high heels?

In fact, what if Pamela wasn't driving at all?

Someone else was driving.

Someone who crashed and didn't want to be blamed for Pam's death.

So he put her behind the wheel, fled the scene.

And then called their lawyer. Who made that phone call to Blaylock?

For security, the firm replaces its clients' names with codes.

This one's 47BGO.

OK, that firm's never gonna give up that information.

Let's see where else that code shows up. Cross-reference it.

-See if we can ID our person from there. -[typing]

You don't have to look too far. Blaylock billed that very same client

for a round of golf the day after the car crash.

Well, that would be a perfect place to discuss details.

No one would overhear them.

[Beckett] So according to the starter at the pro shop,

Blaylock was playing golf with another member, Colin Rigsdale III.

-Of the Rigsdale political family? -Yeah.

Word is, Daddy's grooming him for a state Senate run.

Not if this gets out. A fatal car crash with a college chick?

-Nah, he'd be done. -That's why he was covering it up.

With Blaylock's help, until the guilt set in.

And then Erika started poking around, and people started dying.

It says here Rigsdale's still represented by Banks and Bauer.

Give them a call. Tell them I'm coming.

Right.

Hey. What's going on? Where's Castle?

Don't ask.

Thank you for meeting with me, Mr. Rigsdale.

Well, when Jessica told me someone had hacked into their system,

I was, of course, concerned.

I think we all know what my political opponents might do

if they managed to access confidential information.

So the girl who hacked into our system, did you find out what she was after?

Yes, and we also believe we know why she was killed.

Are you familiar with a girl named Pamela Bonner?

Detective, what is this about?

Mr. Rigsdale?

Name's not familiar.

Really? I understand that she was an intern here at the firm last year.

Isn't that correct?

And isn't it also correct

that you attended the Banks and Bauer summer associate party last year?

[Banks] Don't answer that. Detective, what are you doing?

The same thing that my victim, Erika Albrook, was doing.

Trying to figure out how her best friend, Pamela Bonner, actually died.

Her death was an accident.

Really? Then why do we have a record of Ian Blaylock,

Mr. Rigsdale's attorney at the time,

receiving a phone call from him at 1:45 that night?

Detective, this is privileged information. It's inadmissible.

And we're not in court.

This meeting is over. You need to leave. Now.

Just tell me, how am I supposed to trust her?

How am I even supposed to be in a relationship with her

-if she won't let me in? -Well, Richard...

After everything that we've been through together, I...

I just don't understand.

I hate to say it, kiddo, but I do.

Look, the truth is Katherine is a bright, ambitious woman.

She should be interviewing for that job.

Whose side are you on?

You want her to put you first

when neither one of you know where the relationship is going.

Do you know how absurd that is?

I mean, that is as bad as your not signing that check for Alexis' program.

This isn't about me.

Are you sure?

I know you. You do not hold back.

Except this thing with Katherine.

It took you, what, three years to tell her how you felt,

another year to act on it.

And now, the first sign of trouble, you're ready to run. Why?

And you're having a good time. You both are.

And I know you say you love her.

But, darling, this is who she is.

So is it possible that the reason you have held back

is because somewhere deep down inside,

you don't think this is going to really work?

I take it he didn't confess.

I didn't need him to. I just needed to see his eyes. It's him.

Well, the evidence begs to differ.

His prints are in the system from his arrest

at a political protest a decade ago.

I ran them against the partial. It's not a match.

And the papers put him

at his family's compound in Maine during Erika's murder.

Yeah, well, he'd never do this himself.

And hiring someone else is too risky for a public figure.

He'd get a close associate or a trusted friend to do it.

So why don't we dig into his life and find out who.

-All right. -[cell phone rings]

Beckett.

Detective.

Deputy Director Anthony Freedman calling.

Remember? From the interview.

Yes, sir. Yes, I do. What can I do for you?

You can say yes. Detective, you got the job.

Hey, where's Beckett?

She took off about an hour ago.

Something's going on, but she wouldn't tell me what.

Well, I was looking into Rigsdale's known associates

when I came across this photo.

That is Martin Tillage, Rigsdale's half-brother

and the black sheep of the family. Look familiar?

Yeah, we interviewed this guy. He was one of the guests at The Cedric.

He must've checked in to try to find her

and then hung around so his departure didn't look suspicious.

He's gotta be our guy.

I'll have uniforms pick him up.

-See if you can find Beckett. -Yeah.

Sounds like a great offer.

Yeah, it is.

Your mom would be proud.

Hell, I'm proud.

So, what're you going to do?

I don't know, Dad.

It's like I'm standing at a crossroads

and I have to choose between two possible futures.

Why do you think you have to choose?

Because, Dad, he's right.

If I take this job, then there's not gonna be time for anyone else.

And then if I don't...

It'll be because of him, and you'll end up resenting him for it.

Or worse.

Dad, I don't know what we have.

I don't know if it's real.

It's like we've been doing this dance for the past five years and...

I mean, what happens when the music stops?

What if all we were in love with was the dance?

You know, your whole life you've never had a relationship go this far.

You know, somewhere around here you always end them.

Now, why is that?

Look, Katie, I know you.

When you get scared, you hide in your work.

And I just want you to be sure, whatever decision you make,

it's because it's what you want. Not because you're afraid.

[whispers] This job. It's what I want.

Then tell him.

[sighs] He's gonna hate me, Dad.

That's something you'll have to live with.

[cell phone chimes]

My last case.

I better go end it.

There you are. I'm sorry it took me so long to write it.

Go have fun.

Thanks, Dad.

Dad, are you OK?

Yeah.

You seem sad.

No. I'm fine.

It's only Costa Rica. I'll be back before you know it.

Oh, that's sweet, but, no, it's not about that.

It's something your grandmother told me.

Comes a point in our lives when we have to stop fooling ourselves

into thinking life's gonna be the way we want it to be.

Start seeing things for how they really are.

So, I was there. So what?

I needed a place in the city to stay for a couple of nights. Is that a crime?

No. But killing a girl is.

What did your brother promise you, Martin?

Respectability for the black sheep? A place at the family table...

I told you, I've never seen this girl before in my life.

You're wasting your time.

Do you have any idea how many people have sat across that table

and confessed their sins to me?

What makes you think that you're any different? Any smarter?

You've only been in this room for one hour.

But this room...

This room has been my life. My home.

And I will not let you sit there and lie to me in my own home.

This is a partial print found at the crime scene, in the victim's blood.

It's a match to yours, Martin. Am I still wasting my time?

I've got enough to convict you.

So the question is, how many years of your own life

are you gonna sacrifice for someone else's future?

Or are you ready to deal?

He's prepared to give a statement implicating his brother in both murders,

as well as the accident. Would you guys mind taking it?

-Yo, Kate. -Yeah?

-What's up? -Yeah. What's going on?

[sighs]

Look, there's something that I have to tell you guys,

but there's someone else that I have to tell first.

[cell phone rings]

-Castle. -[Beckett] It's me.

We need to talk.

Yeah. We do.

I'm sorry.

I shouldn't have kept secrets.

It's who you are. You don't let people in.

I've had to scratch and claw for every inch.

-Castle... -Please, let me finish.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about us, about our relationship.

What we have. Where we're headed.

I've decided I want more.

We both deserve more.

I agree.

So, whatever happens,

whatever you decide,

Katherine Houghton Beckett,

will you marry me?