He goes home and finds Alexis extremely upset that her summer fling hasn’t called her yet, even though he promised he would as soon as he came back from Europe. Castle tries to reason that maybe the kid thought she had changed her mind and didn’t want him to call. Alexis, clearly frustrated, asks whose he is on and why is he defending the boy? The symmetry with his relationship with Beckett couldn’t be any more obvious and Castle realizes why she is so mad.
Of course that doesn’t stop Castle from doing a little investigating on his own and he finds the same leads and comes to the same conclusion as Kate and the boys. So where do they find him next, but standing at another victim’s apartment? It’s like a really bad joke. Beckett confronts him and he tells her how he followed the leads through different sources and found the same guy in the end. The third victim was in the vending machine business, which just doesn’t add up with the other two vics, who were a high school chemistry teacher and a sculptor. Castle argues that them meeting like that can only mean one thing: the universe wants them to solve that case together and he respected the universe. And that was the coolest line of the episode, bar none!
Beckett agrees to let Castle help them on this one case, but after that he has to leave them alone. He agrees and the next day he brings her coffee and she can’t help but smile very subtly, so he won’t see. She has clearly missed him and is glad that he’s back. They decide to make a bet: if Beckett finds the connection between the three victims first, Castle will have to leave her alone and never bother her again. However, if Castle wins, Beckett will have to take him back as her partner.
Later on, Castle suggests they look into the financials of their third victim and there they finally find something in common between them: all three received $9.500 on the same day. Chloe and Maya (the sculptor) spent small amounts at the same place. Esposito manages to find the address and Beckett and Castle go investigate.
They end up in a burlesque bar and discover all three victims worked there. The owners — Kitty (a tattoo artist) and Earl — tell them that Chloe’s boyfriend came to the bar one night a couple of weeks back and made quite a scene after finding out Chloe danced there. They bring the boyfriend in for questioning, who swears he didn’t have anything to do with the murders. Later they find the murder weapon in his apartment and he says he’s only talking with his lawyer present.
Meanwhile, they find a friend of Maya’s, who tells them she had come to him looking to borrow a gun and that she smelled like meth. Of course they come to the conclusion that what the three victims were involved with were drugs, but Lanie quickly dispels that notion. Sure, they had trace amounts of substances that were involved in meth, but there were missing ingredients. While discussing what a chemistry teacher, a sculptor and vending machine guy could possibly be involved with together, Castle cracks the puzzle.
Money.
They were making money and there was only one missing ingredient in that combination: ink.
So they go back to the burlesque bar to arrest Kitty and Earl, who are already trying to make a run for it. Earl tries to shoot Beckett, but Castle saves her. In the midst of chaos, both Kitty and Earl run and Esposito and Ryan go after them. Beckett tells Castle to stay where he is, but he’s unarmed and worried about what might happen if they come back. Kate reluctantly gives him a gun and runs. Right after she’s gone, Castle sees Kitty running and goes after her, entering the room full of mirrors.
Which brings us back to the opening scene of this episode. When both Castle and Beckett shoot, they weren’t aiming at each other. They shot both Kitty and Earl who were standing behind each of them and it’s a really, really cool scene.
Back at the precinct, Beckett tells Castle he won the bet fair and square. He tries to be a gentleman and tells her that if she wants he can back off. She hurriedly interrupts him and tells him all’s good and she will see him the next day.
And we’re back to normal.
Follow Us
