Castle 3.06 “3XK” Recap

They bring him to the precinct and Kate interrogates him on her own because Captain Montgomery tells Castle to stay out this time. The guy is the picture of calmness and has a very plausible explanation as to why a nametag with his fingerprint was found at Kim Foster’s apartment. He works at a prop house, stocking props all day, so he must have touched hundreds of nametags. Beckett asks if he has any other props in his possession, like uniforms. He asks if they’re searching his apartment and Kate confirms it. Gates says that he wants to see the warrant, so Kate goes to the Captain for permission. They explain to Castle that showing Gates the warrant basically tells him exactly where they are in the investigation and it will tip him off that they think he is the Triple Killer. The Captain argues that he probably already knows so they’ve got nothing to lose.

Beckett shows him the warrant and he even mocks her saying she knew a lot more than she was letting on and this was not just about Kim Foster as she had previously said. He then tells her that the only reason she had to bring him in was the fingerprint, which he already explained, so she couldn’t hold him there. Kate tells him that in order to go he needs an alibi, which he promptly gives her. He was home. And his alibi checks out so they have no choice but to let him go. Beckett is sure he is the Triple Killer and orders a surveillance detail on him to keep track of his whereabouts.

The next morning, Kate calls Castle and when she doesn’t have anything new on the case, he realizes she called to seek his advice and see if he has any wild theories that might help. He teases her mercilessly about it, but unfortunately he’s got nothing to offer. Then he suggests that maybe Gates told Jerry Tyson about the murders, but Kate says that even if he does know, he won’t say anything because he had already been beaten up that morning and thinks that Gates had something to do with it. Castle says that it looks like Gates is afraid of what Tyson might tell the police.

So they go pay him yet another visit, but he doesn’t want anything to do with them. Only when Kate offers to get him out of prison early and police protection for him and his girlfriend Donna that he starts to talk. He says that Gates said something about this girl Sarah once. That he had gone to her apartment and things got out of control. Afraid that the cops were after him, he busted a bottle on this guy’s head to get himself locked up so he would be off the radar for a while. And that’s a start

Ryan takes Jerry to a motel where he would be protected and he could tell him everything he knew about Gates. Back at the precinct, Esposito says that they can’t locate Jerry’s girlfriend, but the Captain reassures them that Gates hasn’t left his building. At the motel, Jerry says Gates used a partner in his crimes and Ryan calls Beckett to tell her that. Castle tells her he knows how Gates killed Kim Foster. He works at a prop house, right? So his partner dressed exactly like him and went to his building to make it look like he was arriving there at the time Kim Foster was killed. And guess who Gates’partner is? Sweaty Von Sweats a Lot! Everyone is excited they’ve finally made a breakthrough when the Captain ends the party by telling them that Gates escaped.

So now both Gates and McCartle aka Sweaty Von Sweats a Lot are missing and so is Jerry’s girlfriend, who Gates is probably after. Esposito finally finds an address of where she may be and when he gets there, Gates is trying to strangle her. Esposito stops him and arrests him. Once at the interrogation room, Gates still refuses to talk. After all, they still have nothing to prove he is the Triple Killer. They can only hold him for assault. Ryan finds McCartle’s whereabouts and he is in the hospital. In fact, he also found out how they are connected. Apparently they were foster brothers. So Castle and Ryan leave for the hospital to interrogate McCartle. When they get there, however, they discover that he has just undergone heart surgery. The doctor says that he had needed that surgery badly for over a year, but only now got the money to pay for it: one hundred thousand dollars. The funny thing is McCartle’s ex- wife didn’t know anything about the surgery and he doesn’t have any relatives, but there were flowers on his bedside table. They come to the conclusion that Gates was the one who sent them and also paid for his surgery and that’s the leverage they needed to break him.

Castle calls Kate to tell her and when she uses that card on Gates, he cracks. But not before asking for McCartle’s immunity, claiming that he only did what he said and didn’t even know what was going on. When they grant it, he confesses everything. The Captain congratulates Beckett on a job well done and she says she can’t take all the credit; after all, Castle helped too. In fact, he and Ryan are taking way too long to come back. Captain Montgomery says they probably went to get some drinks and even invites her to do the same.

Meanwhile, Castle and Ryan go to the motel where Jerry was staying. When they get there, Jerry is putting his things in a duffel bag. Ryan says that his girlfriend is okay. However, Jerry only asks about Gates and neglects to ask what happened to his girlfriend. Castle notices that and before Ryan can pull out his gun, Jerry knocks him out and points his gun at Castle.

After tying Castle to a chair, Jerry confesses he is the real Triple Killer and that he used Gates as escape goat. He taunts Castle that they got so close to catching him only to let him slip through their fingers once again. Castle — surprisingly calm — profiles him and tells him he does that because of a bad history with his mom. She never wanted him and died when he was still a kid, which landed him in foster care. He hated her so much for ruining his life that he sought women that looked like her to punish her.

Jerry taunts Castle that he likes to be around death, was even drawn to it. So what did that say about him? What sort of feelings was Castle suppressing that he liked to be around death so much? Just as he’s getting into it, Castle’s phone rings and it’s Martha. Jerry tells him to answer normally or he will shoot him. He does and Martha proceeds to tell him that Alexis’secret admirer was actually her boyfriend Ashley. When he is too quiet, she asks if he is okay and he tells her he loves her and Jerry hangs up. He points his gun at Castle and we cut to commercial.

The next time we see Jerry, he is leaving the motel, just a few seconds before Kate and the team arrive. She runs straight to the room and kicks the door open. When she sees Castle, the relief on her face is abundantly clear. She tells him she is so glad he is okay. When he asks how they knew where he was, she says that his mom called and said that he had said ‘I love you’, so something must have been terribly wrong.

A while later, Castle is sitting by the pool while the team finishes processing the scene. Kate brings him a cup of coffee and sits with him. After a moment, she wonders why Jerry let him live. Castle says that it was to punish him, so that he would live knowing the Triple Killer is still out there murdering other women all because he let him escape. Kate comforts him, touching his knee, and says that she knows the feeling. He takes her hand in his and they sit there trying to find comfort in each other’s company.