CASTLE: There are two kinds of folks
who sit around thinking about how to kill people:
Psychopaths and mystery writers.
I'm the kind that pays better. Who am I?
I'm Rick Castle.
Castle. Castle.
I really am ruggedly handsome, aren't I?
Every writer needs inspiration and I found mine.
I'm Detective Kate Beckett. Beckett.
- (GROANS) - Beckett?
Could you get some backup, please?
And thanks to my friendship with the mayor,
- I get to be on her case. - (GASPS)
Do I look like a killer to you?
Yes, you kill my patience.
And together we catch killers.
I hate this case.
I know. Isn't it great?
What about Ashley? I mean, shouldn't I tell him?
Darling, in matters of the heart, it's best not to over think things.
That's your advice, Mother? With your track record?
What chasm of doom has she led you to by way of her tips on romance?
As it happens, we were discussing secret admirer etiquette.
You have a secret admirer?
I always thought it was silly, but now I'm kind of intrigued.
And there is no need to tell Ashley.
How exactly does a secret admirer express his admiration?
He left a note in my locker.
"As you walked down the hall,
"a shard of sunlight glanced off your rope of flaxen hair and set it aglow.
"And I was enchanted."
Oh, that's so poetic.
I figure the rope of flaxen hair is my French braid.
Which I only wore after gym class.
Which means he saw me in the hall on the first floor
between fourth and fifth period.
Wait a minute, what are you doing?
- Narrowing down suspects. - You can't do that.
No, that'll ruin the secret.
No, it's like a mystery novel.
You don't just go to the last page, do you?
Yes.
You do?
Well, you shouldn't... That's not... You can't...
The joy doesn't come in knowing who did it,
the joy comes in the journey.
In allowing the ending to blossom
like some magnificent Himalayan blue poppy. It's...
Okay, okay.
I'll let him stay secret.
Mark my words, you'll thank me.
Mmm.
(PHONE RINGING)
Castle.
BECKETT: So our victim is Linda Russo.
She's a customer relations worker at a cable company.
Maybe someone was unsatisfied with their service.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking.
You were?
Oh!
Sanitation workers found her body under a couple of boxes.
She lives two blocks away over at 24th and 10th.
Looks like she was on her way home.
- Hey, Lanie. - Hey.
What?
Uh...
It's nothing.
No, what?
Well, she just looks so peaceful.
There's nothing peaceful about what put her here.
She was strangled.
With rope?
So it appears.
Castle, do you have a theory that you would like to share with the class?
It's just that...
Pretty blonde girl, strangled,
laid out like she was asleep.
That was four years ago.
Yes, but he was never caught.
This is his MO
and she is certainly his type.
I researched him for When It Comes To Slaughter.
Yeah, well, then you should know that he killed his victims
inside their apartments, not in alleyways.
And he posed them in a funereal pose,
with their hands clasped in front of them.
Maybe he's switching up his act.
Or this just could be a crime of opportunity
where a young woman was murdered.
Mrs. Russo, did your daughter ever talk to you about being followed?
No, nothing like that.
Can you think of anyone that might have wanted to harm her?
Any relationship problems?
She wasn't even dating.
Pretty much all she did was work.
- At the cable company, right? - Mmm-hmm.
Did she have any issues with anyone there?
There was a man at her office.
What was his name?
She didn't say.
But he stared at her a lot. Like some pervert.
(CELL PHONE RINGING)
- That was quick. - 9-1-1 has that effect on her.
What did you find?
I pulled all the files on all his past murders,
just like you asked.
I believe that was my idea.
Yeah, but I only listen when it comes from her.
Anyway, you were saying?
He choked them, using a 3-strand twisted quarter-inch rope.
Based on the fibers found embedded in the skin,
we know that the rope was green and white nylon.
I don't remember that.
Those details were never made public. Now check this out.
The marks are identical.
I found the exact same green and white fibers.
It is him.
The Triple Killer is back.
For those of you living in a cave four years ago,
the Triple Killer, or 3XK,
got his nickname by strangling three women in a week,
dropping out of sight for a month and then killing three more.
Then he disappeared.
I served on the task force that investigated those six murders.
An FBI profile was as close as we came to ID'ing a suspect.
The Feds say he's a white male, 25 to 45 years old...
Could be me.
...with a dysfunctional relationship with his mother.
Still me.
He has a menial, unimportant job.
Definitely you.
Just for that I'll base my next book on Esposito.
He'd learn their habits, and then gain access to their apartments
by disguising himself as a security guard or a repairman.
And then he strangled them
and he posed their bodies as if they were lying in a coffin.
What do you think that's all about?
Probably re-enacting some terrible early trauma.
Two final points,
the Triple Killer seems to be back after four years,
there must be a reason.
Maybe he just got out of prison, or returned to town.
He may have altered his MO.
But let's assume that he's working under the same clock.
Three murders, one week.
Based on Linda Russo's time of death, we're already into day three.
Let's move on this, people.
Hey.
That perv the mom told us about?
Linda's colleagues knew who he was right away. Paul McCardle.
He works at her office as a horticultural technician.
A what?
You know, he's the guy who waters the plants, dusts the fake ficus.
Or at least he was, until he quit yesterday.
BECKETT: That's interesting timing.
I see domestic complaints by the double digits.
Filed by his wife.
Ex-wife. They were divorced last month after being married for four years.
So, in a way, he did just get out of prison.
RYAN: Gets even better.
Linda's neighbors said they remember seeing a red Sentra
parked outside of her apartment a few days ago.
Same vehicle McCardle has.
Let's get him in here.
So what's this about?
Linda Russo. Where were you two nights ago between 6:00 and midnight?
Oh.
I was bowling with some buddies at Galaxy Lanes.
So why did you decide to abandon your career as a horticultural technician?
I just wanted to move on.
Because you used that job to watch Linda, to stalk her,
and once she was dead, why stick around?
That is not true. I'm innocent, here.
Well, you don't look innocent.
As a matter of fact,
you give new meaning to the phrase sweating a suspect.
Okay, yeah, I perspire a lot, okay?
I have a medical condition.
Well, that's the least of your problems, Mr. McCardle.
Your fixation with Linda Russo was well-known,
as was your history of violence against women.
Your car was seen outside of her apartment
and now she's dead.
I never touched her!
I had a thing for Linda, okay?
I had a thing for Linda and I parked out in front of her place,
but I haven't been anywhere near there in three days, okay?
Not since that guy threatened me.
What guy?
I got rousted by some security guy
and he told me to move on.
And it really freaked me out and I haven't been back there since.
I swear that's the truth.
So Sweaty-Von-Sweats-A-Lot, his alibi's holding.
The manager at Galaxy Lanes
has him throwing gutter balls from 5:00 until close.
What about the security guard?
Ryan checked into that.
Turns out, that there's only one building on Linda's block that uses guards.
According to the security company, no incident report was ever filed
against McCardle or his vehicle.
So McCardle was lying.
Maybe not.
You know, in the past, the Triple Killer posed as a security guard.
Maybe our guard wasn't a guard after all.
Maybe he was the Triple Killer, moving McCardle off of his turf.
Well, whoever he is, he's sticking to his schedule.
We have a second victim.
LANIE: Her name's Kim Foster, 28, an interior designer.
Same rope marks on her neck.
Same everything.
When did she die?
LANIE: Based on liver temp, I'd say sometime last night.
Probably early evening.
A neighbor saw a gas repairman leave at 7:45.
No doorman on the building,
so the Triple Killer calls Kim Foster on the intercom,
says he wants to check a gas leak.
She buzzes him in.
Let me check the incoming caller IDs.
I don't get it. Why did he return to the old MO?
Nostalgia.
He killed Linda Russo in an alley.
She didn't have a doorman either,
why didn't he just kill her in her apartment like all the others?
Maybe she was special somehow.
The vic's last incoming call was at 7:35 from the front door.
She must have let him in and boom, he just overpowered her.
Maybe it wasn't that easy, look at those throw pillows.
ESPOSITO: What's wrong with them?
Kim Foster's an interior designer.
These pillows have been arranged with a barbarian-like gracelessness.
Like a man would do it. So she put up a fight.
They struggled right here on the couch.
And then he reset the pillows to cover it up.
He's out of practice, so he's not so neat.
- (CASTLE EX CLAIMS) - What?
I found a penny.
Under the circumstances, is this still lucky?
Wait, I think I found something, too.
"Vince."
Think it belonged to the killer?
Maybe it's been here for weeks.
I'm gonna have to get CSU to process this area.
Sir, a Mr. Townsend wants a word.
Bring him in.
Cal!
Good to see you.
How's Marie?
She's okay.
We're split up now.
I'm sorry to hear that.
Reporters...
They keep coming to my door and asking me how I feel about
the man who killed my daughter
and might be on the loose again and you know...
After Sara died and all through the investigation,
you were always straight with me and I just need to know,
I mean, what they're saying...
Is it true? I mean...
Is he back?
Yes.
Cal, we got leads. We got good leads
and we're doing all we can to chase them down.
If we make an arrest, you'll be the first to know.
I promise you.
(CHUCKLES)
Sara would've been 29 next week.
Don't let him do this to another family.
Hey!
Hey, there's no news from CSU on the nametag,
not that I was expecting any.
Makes you wonder why he didn't pull
that whole gas leak routine on Linda Russo.
I know why. The answer's in here.
A transcript?
From four years ago.
I took a look at calls made to the Triple Killer tip line
and this one stood out for me.
It's from May 21 st, 2006.
Which was a week after the sixth murder.
A woman called and left a message,
but she was too afraid to leave her name.
But she did mention that she lived at 24th and 10th.
The same corner as Linda Russo.
She was riding an elevator with a cable repairman,
who so creeped her out that she got off a floor early
just to get away from him.
Yeah, but cable guy and creepy, that's a job requirement.
Except he wasn't a cable guy.
She said he wasn't carrying the right tools.
And working for a cable company, Linda Russo would know that.
Which is why I took a look at Linda Russo's phone records
from four years ago.
She's the one who made the call to that tip line.
So Linda Russo was special.
When she got off a floor early, he knew that she made him,
so he dropped out of sight.
Which also explains why he attacked her outside.
He knew there was no way she'd let him into her apartment.
Linda Russo saw his face and he came back four years later,
that's a special kind of ruthlessness.
CSU's got a partial on that nametag.
We got a match.
The man that we're looking for is Marcus Gates.
Forty-two, six-foot-tall, 180 pounds, with light-brown hair.
He also has a snake tattoo running down his left arm.
A print match ties him to Kim Foster's murder.
Our prison psych evaluation calls Gates a brutal,
highly intelligent sociopath.
He's done time for manslaughter and attempted murder.
His last conviction was for breaking a bottle over a man's head in a bar
almost killing him,
for which Gates served four years in Sing Sing.
He just got out last month.
No known address, no family.
His mother died when he was four years old
and he was placed in a series of foster homes since then,
so he will not be easy to find.
Listen, four years ago, this guy took the lives of six women
because we didn't stop him.
We know who the Triple Killer is.
We know he's out there targeting his third victim.
Let's get him before he gets her.
(DOOR OPENING)
- Hi, Dad. - Hey.
Must be quite a case if it's keeping you out this late.
You know, someone died, someone else did it.
Secret admirer?
As a matter of fact, it is.
Figure out who it was, yet?
I took your advice and decided it's better not knowing.
And he left another note in my locker.
He said if I like the rose,
I should show him by wearing it at school tomorrow.
Isn't that sweet?
Well...
Is that a good idea?
What would your boyfriend Ashley think?
I get a feeling it's not Ashley who has the problem.
I'm just not sure it's smart to go wearing some flower
when you don't know who it's from.
Your school is not exactly Fort Knox, all right?
Anyone could have put that note in your locker.
Your secret admirer could be some
pervert watching you from afar with high-powered binoculars.
I'm going to bed now.
Good night.
Could you lock your windows for me, please?
Yes.
Please?
I'm gonna check, make sure they're locked.
No. I had it all set up. It was in this pile.
I don't understand your system.
- You're messing up my system. - Hey, guys.
Any news on Gates?
- My system is efficient. - And dumb.
- I already went through this one. - It's on your stack.
- It's part of my system. - Your system is dumb.
So nothing?
No, we tracked down an uncle in Jersey,
but he hasn't seen Gates in 20 years.
So I'm on the phone with Sing Sing to chase down prison associates.
MAN ON PHONE: Detective Beckett, are you still there?
Yes, I'm still here.
Okay, and is he still doing time?
First time drug offender. Got it. Thanks.
"Jelly Tyson"?
It's "Jerry," Castle.
When Gates got released, he gave all his stuff to Jerry Tyson, a fellow inmate.
So if the two of them were friends,
Jerry might be able to tell us where we can find Gates.
Now, it's Jerry.
(DOOR UNLOCKING)
I got three months left in this hell-hole.
All I wanna do is do my time, get out and go see my girl
and it's never gonna happen if Gates gets wind that I talked to cops.
He won't.
You don't know that.
He's got reach in here.
He'll have me taken out.
Here's the deal, Jerry. Whether you talk to us or not,
I'm willing to sit here all day.
So, it's gonna look like you were spilling your guts to us.
All right, but I want to be back in my cell in two minutes.
Fair enough. Were the two of you friends?
I guess. Whatever that means in here.
I work in the kitchen. I snuck him fruit so he could make pruno.
And in return he agreed to protect you?
Yeah. Now he's gone and I'm in here, going it alone.
Every con I've ever known dreams of what he'll do
and where he'll go once he gets out.
Gates ever talk to you about that?
I remember him talking about some strip clubs
and there's a place he liked to go drinking.
In the Meatpacking District.
What was it called?
Hog something.
Something about hog.
I just did some recon. He's at the bar, nursing a beer.
MONTGOMERY: How many in there?
Five total. Gates, the bartender, a waitress and two drunks.
MONTGOMERY: He may be armed.
We take him quick, don't give him a chance to get any hostages.
ESPOSITO: It's him!
Let me see your hands!
Let me see your hands, right now! Let's see your hands, right now!
Put your hands up! NYPD!
- Put your hands up! - Hands in the air right now!
You heard the man, put your hands in the air
and get on your knees while you're at it!
Wow! Brought out the old guy, huh? Can only mean one thing.
You want me in a bad way, right?
MONTGOMERY: Shut up.
Don't forget to read me my rights.
It'd be a shame to get turned loose on a technicality.
ESPOSITO: Let's go.
CASTLE: Cold, implacable.
The Triple Killer remains at ease.
Calm in the lair of his enemy, with a resting heart rate of 50.
Set to match wits with his interrogators.
I just wanted to bring in literary flair to the moment, you know?
The bartender told us where Gates lives.
He's had to put him in a cab on more than one occasion.
Ryan's got a warrant and he's searching his place right now.
We can't count on circumstantial evidence to carry this case.
We need to get this guy to run his mouth.
The only hard evidence we have on him is Kim Foster's murder.
Pin him down on where he was when she died.
Castle.
Not this time.
Mr. Gates, I'm Detective Beckett.
Not my type,
but I would make an exception.
Do you know a Kim Foster?
Doesn't ring a bell.
BECKETT: Have you ever seen this woman before?
Mmm. She has nice hair.
Have you, or haven't you see her?
New York City is a big place.
I mean, I could've passed her on the street, I guess.
BECKETT: I'm actually talking about a more intimate interaction.
Have you ever been in her apartment?
I've been to a lot of apartments.
This building is at 35th and 8th.
She lived in 301.
Were you ever in that particular unit?
No.
Well, then perhaps you can explain to me how we found this nametag
with your fingerprint on it lying next to her body.
As a matter of fact, I can.
Can't wait to hear this.
I work at The Empire Prop House.
And?
And they rent props for movies and TV shows.
I know what a prop house is.
So that's my job, I stock props.
Tons of nametags just like this one,
I bet I've touched a hundred of them.
Run that down, see if he's for real.
On it.
There's no record of you having this job.
They pay me under the table.
Oh!
Maybe you can get me for tax evasion.
This prop house where you say you work,
do they have uniforms there?
(SIGHS) Sure.
Like gas company uniforms?
Any kind of uniform you can think of, they got it.
And have you ever taken any of these uniforms home?
Do you have any in your possession?
Are you guys searching my place?
Yes.
So if there are any uniforms there, you may as well tell me.
Wow. I'm gonna want to see the search warrant.
What for?
It's my legal right.
And I'm done talking till you show it to me.
So, you better get with Affirmative Action back there
and come up with a new game plan.
BECKETT: He wants the search warrant to get a peek at our cards.
How is that giving him a peek?
The warrant lists ropes, uniforms, and other personal effects
belonging to Kim Foster, Linda Russo
and the other six Triple Killer victims.
By looking at the warrant,
he can gauge where we are in our investigation.
That's not giving him a peek, that's showing him our whole hand!
He'll know we think he's the Triple Killer.
He already knows.
(DOOR OPENING)
Yo! Empire Prop confirmed that Gates works in their warehouse
and had access to those tags.
He clocked out at 7:02 the night of Kim Foster's murder.
Now, Empire is in Lincoln Square.
Which means he had enough of time to get to her apartment
and push the intercom button by 7:35.
Show him the warrant.
Odds are, he will lawyer up. But try to stop him.
How is she supposed to do that?
(DOOR CLOSES)
I don't think she can.
Turns out, you've got a lot more on your mind than just Kim Foster.
I see the names of seven other women here.
(CELL PHONE RINGING)
Ryan.
Tell me you got something.
Not so far.
No rope, no uniform.
Nothing that ties him to any of the victims.
Keep looking.
The thing is, this nametag is the probable cause for bringing me in.
But I've explained the fingerprint.
And by now, I'm sure you've checked out my story.
Actually, we're still verifying that.
I know how this works.
You do not have probable cause to hold me.
Is that right? Can't we hold him?
Only in the movies.
So he can just walk out of here?
Unless she can catches him in a lie, that gives her cause to keep him.
I want to leave now.
Okay, fine. You can do that.
But the second that you lawyer up and leave
you become the focus of a major investigation.
It will disrupt your life in ways you can't even imagine.
I'm already the focus.
Yeah, well, you don't have to be.
Look, the truth is,
we don't have any evidence that connects you to those murders.
It all boils down to Kim Foster.
Even if your fingerprints got on this nametag by accident,
with your record, you still look like a suspect to us.
So Kim Foster's a problem for you.
But you can get that problem out of your way.
You said you've never been to her apartment.
Where you were at 7:35 last night?
What's in that for me?
If your alibi checks out, then we move on.
We go after the real killer.
I left work at 7:00. I walked home like I always do.
I got home maybe 7:30, and I stayed in all night.
BECKETT: And you're sure about that?
Absolutely.
This is off of a traffic cam across from Gates' apartment.
This is it. This'll prove that he was lying.
At 7:35, he was on his way to Kim Foster's apartment.
Wait. Whoa, whoa. Stop... Stop there.
That's him. 7:31.
No, that can't be.
It is. Look.
Same sideburns.
And there's the snake tattoo.
Well then, he slipped out the back and went to Kim's.
How would he get from 101 st to Midtown,
and change clothes in four minutes?
I don't know. But he did it.
Can we enhance this video?
You can enhance it all you want.
It doesn't change the facts. We gotta cut him loose.
Sir, I just...
MONTGOMERY: I don't like this any more than you, Detective.
But he alibis out.
Looks like we got it all wrong. You're free to go.
With this Triple Killer fella running around,
you all better keep your loved ones close.
I sure hope you catch him.
(CHUCKLES)
Put a surveillance detail on him.
I don't want that son of a bitch out of our sight.
Oh, don't you look adorable this morning.
I meet my secret admirer today.
I can just picture the scene.
You and your secret admirer agree to meet in the cafeteria.
You scan the array of pimply faces. Which one is his?
Your secret admirer uses the prearranged signal
of a double-helping of mashed potatoes on his plate.
He's handsome, charming.
In an asexual, non-threatening kind of way.
Nice try, but it'll be so much more mysterious.
Listen to this.
"If you want to meet, I'll be at Strawberry Fields at 5:00.
"I hope you'll be there, too."
No. No, no, no.
No, you're not going.
Before, you were practically forcing me to find out who he is.
CASTLE: Not in the park, not by yourself.
But I've been there a million times.
Whoa. Wait, wait, wait.
The first note you got,
"Rope of flaxen hair." Rope! Flaxen! Flaxen is blonde!
Dad, I'm a redhead. You are totally overreacting.
I'm meeting my secret admirer and that's all there is to it.
Richard, darling, she's right. You are being utterly irrational.
(SIGHS)
It's like when I was doing Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
And I thought my understudy was trying to poison me.
Oh, yeah. The daily blood tests I paid for.
Wait, she did poison you!
The Swiss chocolate she gave you was a laxative.
It added a certain urgency to my performance.
But, the point is, you indulged my paranoia.
So therefore, I am going to be in the park, 5:00,
at a discreet distance to make sure
that Alexis's secret admirer is not an ax murderer.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
(CELL PHONE RINGING)
Tell me you've arrested Gates.
BECKETT: Not even close.
I mean, I don't know how, Castle, but he killed Kim Foster.
And he's going to do it again.
There's been no developments? Usually, you call me with news.
You called to seek my counsel.
I wouldn't say it exactly like that...
No, no, no.
You were hoping I had some wild theory,
some sort of penetrating insight that would lead us to a breakthrough.
Well, do you?
I got nothing.
I just need some piece of evidence.
I mean, someone that he talked to. Anything.
What if Gates confided in Jerry about the previous murders?
Yeah, well, Jerry's not gonna talk to us.
He got beaten up in the prison yard this morning.
And he thinks that Gates had something to do with it.
Sounds like Gates is afraid of what Jerry Tyson knows.
Get the hell away from me.
Listen, Jerry. We just need a little more information on Marcus Gates.
Don't you guys get it?
I'm a dead man, thanks to you!
Not if we get you out.
The DA has agreed to get you an early release and police protection.
Gates knows about my girlfriend.
Donna Gallagher. He could get to her, too.
Well, then, we'll make sure he doesn't.
We got to move on this, Jerry.
Last chance.
Okay. I'll do it. I'll take the deal.
We need to know.
Did Gates ever talk to you about attacking women?
There was this one time he told me about this chick, Sara,
down in SoHo.
CASTLE: That could be Sara Townsend.
He told me about how he busted into her place
and things got out of control.
But it must've been pretty bad
because Gates said he was worried that the cops were after him.
So he busted a bottle over this guy's head to get himself locked up.
That way he'd be under the radar for a while.
That's a good start.
My name is Detective Ryan, I'm your new best friend.
The hotel's under surveillance.
For your own safety, you cannot leave or use the phone.
Right now, you and I need to go over everything Gates ever said to you,
even if it seems stupid or unimportant.
Jerry's story squares with the facts.
Sara Townsend was Gates' sixth victim and she lives in SoHo.
What about assault-with-a-deadly-bottle?
It fits, too. It came a week after Sara's death.
Looks like Gates sent himself up the river on purpose.
That's still not enough to arrest him, is it?
No, but if Jerry has more tidbits like that, it may help us get there.
We can't locate Donna Gallagher, and she's not picking up her cell.
Sir, where is Gates now?
At his apartment. Surveillance says he hasn't left the building.
Contact Donna's friends and family, find out where she is.
I told Jerry we'd keep her safe.
Right.
Can't you just arrest this guy? I mean, you know he did these things.
He has an alibi. We can't put him at the murder scene.
He used partners sometimes. You know that, right?
Partner?
We never ran across anything about a partner.
Oh, yeah. He said a partner helps him get away with things.
Though I get the idea he never uses the same partner twice.
Jerry said that Gates used a partner.
A partner? That's why he has an alibi.
Tell your guys to arrest Gates. I know how he killed Kim Foster.
Gates said he walks home every night at the same time, right?
So this traffic cam footage from the day before...
Wait, there he is. There he is.
Okay. That's Gates on the right,
the night of Kim Foster's murder.
On the left, Gates from a night earlier.
What's wrong with this picture?
- He's too short. - He's too short.
So, either Gates shrank...
Or this is his partner.
CASTLE: He wore Gates' clothing.
Gates would've had access to wigs and disguises from the prop house.
That's how Gates can be at two places at once.
Wait.
What's that?
Uh... It's a reflection. From...
From sweat. Sweaty-Von-Sweats-A-Lot.
That's Paul McCardle. That's why he was watching Linda Russo.
He's the partner. He was working with Gates.
I'm gonna put an APB on McCardle.
You'd better add Marcus Gates to that list.
- Sir? - When officers busted into his place,
all they found was a rope ladder
going down to the rooftop of the building next door.
Gates is gone.
I got uniforms searching the area. No sign of Gates.
Maybe he's going after Donna. That way, he could punish Jerry, too.
We got any leads on her whereabouts?
Esposito's talking to her friends right now
but she's still in the wind.
So is Paul McCardle.
His car's gone and he is, too.
Ex-wife has no idea where he is, either.
But I did find out how he and Gates are connected.
They were in a foster home together.
So McCardle could be with Gates.
Get photos of Gates and McCardle to airport, bus and train stations.
(PHONE RINGING)
- Beckett. - One of Donna's neighbors
just told me she's house sitting at her cousin's.
Do you have an address?
Yeah, but so does Gates.
Some guy dressed as a messenger said he had a delivery for Donna.
Get there now.
NYPD!
- (GRUNTING) - (DONNA CRYING)
Get off her.
I'd like to see you talk your way out of this one.
I'll try not to disappoint you.
We found the same kind of rope in your pocket
as was used by the Triple Killer.
Last I checked, a man's allowed to carry rope.
I think you wanted to get caught, Marcus.
There's nothing left for you out here.
But in prison, people fear you.
You're a shot-caller. And you wanted to be king again.
All that's left for you to do is to clear the air of all these murders
and be done with it all.
Nice try.
This guy's never gonna give it up.
Sir, I need leverage and I don't have any.
There's no witnesses,
there's no proof that connects him to any of the murders.
The only thing that I've got him on is an assault charge.
Hey.
We just got a hit on McCardle's APB. He's at St. Benjamin's Hospital.
Maybe Gates got to him.
Sir, if I can get McCardle to roll...
- Go. - Yeah.
I... Yeah...
Okay, fine, Castle. Go.
Just stay out of his way.
And, Ryan, get me something I can break him with.
Excuse me. I'm Detective Ryan.
We'd like a word with Mr. McCardle.
You can't have one. He just got out of heart surgery.
RYAN: What for?
DOCTOR: Congenital valve defect.
Would that cause excessive sweating, by any chance?
Among other more serious symptoms.
He's been in dire need of surgery for over a year.
So why get it now?
He finally came up with the money.
It's kind of a costly procedure.
How costly?
About $ 100,000.
Who footed the bill?
That's confidential information.
You spoke to his ex-wife. She didn't even know he was here.
She hated the guy.
So who sent the flowers?
(ON PHONE) Beckett.
McCardle's surgery had nothing to do with Gates.
In fact, Gates sent him get-well flowers.
Which means he cares about his foster brother.
That's your leverage.
You still need us to wait and talk to McCardle?
No.
Tell Jerry his girlfriend's fine
and he doesn't have to worry about Gates anymore.
GATES: You keep coming back for more.
I look for that in a woman.
We found Paul.
He's at St. Benjamin's.
We know that he pretended to be you the night of Kim Foster's murder.
And I'm gonna get him to testify against you.
You don't know Paul.
Well, then we'll go another way.
I'll charge him with accessory to murder.
- (LAUGHS) You can't do that. - Actually, we can.
Sing Sing might have been a picnic for you.
But how long do you think Paul is gonna survive in there?
Paul didn't know what was going on.
He only did what I told him.
The only way to prove that is by telling me the whole story.
Only if Paul gets immunity.
And I want that in writing.
Is that him?
That's him.
BECKETT: Mr. Gates, did you kill Kim Foster?
Yes. I killed all of them.
BECKETT: I want their names.
GATES: Linda Russo.
Before that it was Sara Townsend.
Five other women.
RYAN: Gates confessed to everything.
We get to chalk one up for the good guys. Why the long face?
Because if this were a book, I still wouldn't understand the operation.
A valve replacement. It's no big deal. My dad had one.
Yeah. It is if you don't have money. Who paid for it?
I'm guessing Gates did.
Maybe he stashed away some money from before prison.
Yeah. But he was out of prison for a month.
Why wait till now to do McCardle's operation?
He needed McCardle to help him with Linda Russo and Kim Foster.
I guess.
RYAN: Packing up?
Just getting my stuff together.
All that stuff from prison?
You accumulate a lot of stuff, you know, even in the slammer.
You were right about Gates.
He did try to go after Donna.
But she's okay.
And Gates?
He confessed. It's all over.
Thank God.
Aren't you going to ask what happened?
To your girlfriend, Donna.
You didn't ask about her. You just asked about Gates.
That doesn't make any sense unless...
She was supposed to die.
I don't know what...
And McCardle didn't get the money for the surgery
until after you got out of prison.
He's removing all evidence he was even there.
It was him all along. He's the real Triple Killer.
(GROANS)
Guilty as charged.
Excellent work, Detective.
Thank you, sir. I hope you say the same to Castle.
Where is he, by the way? I thought that they would be back by now.
Maybe he and Ryan went out for a cold one.
After a day like today, that's what I'm doing.
You care to join me?
Yeah, I'd love to.
Let's hit it.
CASTLE: That story about Gates getting arrested.
That was your story, wasn't it?
You were afraid you were gonna get caught, so you hid in prison.
Too bad you didn't figure that out sooner.
Too bad you didn't leave sooner. The cops will be here any minute.
Looks like Detective Ryan called the precinct just before you got here.
There won't be anybody missing me for a while.
By the time they do, I'll be long gone.
You won't get far.
They already have your name, know your face.
I'll change those. I've done that before.
That's part of the fun of it.
Fun, like setting up Gates?
Paul McCardle was the only person in the world that he cared about.
Once I learned that, the rest was easy.
You never know when you need one of these.
Besides, Gates liked prison.
You taught Gates everything he needed to know to take the fall
for the Triple Killer murders.
After that, all you had to do was pay for Paul's surgery
and you could walk away scot-free. That's a beautiful plan.
Undone by a duffel bag.
I'm not undone. I'm right here. I'll relocate. I'll start over.
It must eat you alive
knowing that you came so close to catching me.
But this is a winner-take-all type of game.
Oh! Jerry.
Shooting?
It's not your style.
You really don't know me at all, do you?
It's not complicated.
You were raised by a single mother.
She was blonde. She was beautiful.
But she never wanted you.
When you were, what, 12, I'm guessing, she died suddenly.
Let's say drug overdose.
You go into foster care, the bad kind.
You have so much hate.
So much hate towards your mother for abandoning you
that you kill these women to get back at her.
But you leave them looking peaceful
because, as much as you hated your mother,
you loved your mother.
Am I getting warm?
You're drawn to death.
You like to be around it 'cause it thrills you.
Now where does that come from?
Your own suppressed impulses?
How close to death
do you want to get, huh?
(CELL PHONE VIBRATING)
Don't say anything you shouldn't.
Hello.
Darling, I just wanted you to know,
your conspiracy theories are completely unfounded.
My conspiracy theories?
Uh-huh!
Alexis's secret admirer is Ashley, her boyfriend!
Oh, that's great. Thanks.
And he's a very charming young man.
So, anyway, no need to worry, all's well that ends well.
Richard?
I love you.
I don't think there's anything more to say.
(GUN COCKS)
(TIRES SCREECHING)
- Castle? - It's clear. He's gone.
I'm fine. Ryan needs an ambulance.
RYAN: No, I don't.
ESPOSITO: Hey. What happened here?
I'm so glad that you're okay.
He's the Triple Killer. He set Gates up to be a copycat.
I know. I did the math
when you and Ryan didn't come back from talking to Jerry.
How did you know to come here?
Your mom called. She said that you told her that you loved her.
And she figured something must be terribly wrong.
I figured she might.
Good girl.
(INDISTINCT CHATTERING)
Here you go.
Thanks.
Mmm-hmm.
Tell me something, Castle. Why did he let you live?
To punish me.
To make me pay for ruining his plan.
Now, he's going to kill again, all because I couldn't stop him.
And I feel so...
I know the feeling.
I know you do.