Castle walks into the living room while Martha and Alexis play a game. Alexis is blindfolded.
Martha: Tell me, Seer, what do I hold in my hand now?
Alexis: You're holding... A wallet.
Martha: Yes! Incredible. Ten out of ten!
Castle: What's going on?
Alexis: Gram's teaching me how to read minds.
Martha: And she is a natural. Much better than you were at her age.
Castle: And I'm very proud. Why the sudden foray into the mysterious realms?
Alexis: It's a genealogy project for school. Half of the assignment is to collect stories from family members. I had no idea that Gram's folks had a mind-reading act on Coney Island.
Martha: Yeah, they were very famous in their day.
Alexis: I love all their codes. How "tell me" means "wallet," and "reveal to me" means "a pair of glasses."
Castle: Yes, you come from a long line of hucksters and charlatans, myself included. But we have high hopes for you.
Castle's phone rings.
Alexis: That must be Beckett.
Castle: How did you know?
Alexis: It's after ten, on a weekday. Who else is it gonna be?
Castle: Oh, she is good.
Martha: Brilliant.
Castle (on cell): Castle. I knew it was you.
The detectives arrive on the crime scene.
Esposito: Victim is Hispanic male, mid-30s. A local spotted him when he was out walking his dog around 10:30. His wallet's missing. If it was a robbery, I'd bet my week's salary that the killer didn't know who he was rolling.
Beckett: You ID'd him without a wallet?
Esposito: Unfortunately.
Castle: You know the guy?
Esposito: Everybody in New York knows the guy.
Beckett: Cano Vega. The baseball player.
Esposito: Yeah.
Castle: Cano Vega? Are you sure?
Esposito: He was my first-round draft pick in my fantasy league three years running, .314 batting average, four Gold Gloves, and one Championship ring.
Esposito holds up the ring on the necklace around Vega's neck.
Beckett: I almost caught one of his homers once. He just came to the States from Cuba and my dad took us out to the bleachers over at Shea.
Castle: I didn't know you were a baseball fan.
Beckett: It's genetic, on my dad's side. He's been taking me to games since I was three.
Esposito: Yeah, mine, too. How about you, Castle? Your dad a baseball fan?
Castle: I really can't say.
Beckett: Castle is famously fatherless.
Esposito: What, were you adopted or something?
Castle: No.
Esposito: Then how do you...
Castle: It's complicated.
Perlmutter: It's not that complicated. Someone used his head for batting practice. Thirty-six ouncer to the back of the head. By the look of the spatter, he was hit multiple times.
Beckett: Time of death?
Perlmutter: Uh, from his temperature, I'd say two, maybe three hours at the most.
Beckett: What's with all this bruising?
Perlmutter: Post-mortem. From the balls.
Esposito: Pitching arm. Ran for a while after he was dead.
Castle: So, you'd think a guy like Cano Vega would have a batting cage in his basement. What would he be doing in a sketchy neighbourhood in Spanish Harlem at this hour of the night?
Esposito: Maybe because it's Cano Vega Field. Local uniforms said that he built it for the community. Wanted to give something back.
Beckett: So, our killer hit him from here.
Castle: And he got blood on his shoe.
Beckett: Have CSU run a sweep, see if anything tracked outside of the field.
Esposito: Right. So, your dad. What is it? Mamma Mia! thing? Early '70s, free love? Yeah, I bet your mom was kind of wild back in the day.
Castle: You really need to stop talking now.
Esposito: Sorry. Done.
Beckett: A big, athletic guy is swinging a two-and-a-half foot club. He couldn't have been that easy to kill.
Castle: Unless he didn't see it coming.
Bobby Fox does a press conference outside the Vega family home.
Bobby Fox: On behalf of the Vega family, I want to thank all of Cano's loyal fans for their love and support. In this time of great sadness, we ask that you please respect this family's privacy.
Reporter: Mr. Fox, who else...?
Inside the Vega's mansion.
Maggie Vega: Twelve years of marriage, all they want from me is a sound bite.
Beckett: I'm very sorry about your loss, Mrs. Vega. Do you know why he'd be in the park last night?
Maggie Vega: Sometimes he'd go there to blow off steam, but never at night.
Castle: Do you know where he was earlier in the evening?
Tommy Zane: He was at my club.
Maggie Vega: Detective Beckett, Mr. Castle, Tommy Zane, Cano's old teammate.
Castle: It'd be hard to be a New Yorker and not know "Freight Train" Tommy Zane.
Tommy Zane: So, you guys got any leads?
Beckett: We're looking into it. Mr. Zane, you said that Mr. Vega was at your club last night?
Tommy Zane: Our club, actually. Cano and I owned it with a couple of other players.
Beckett: Do you know about what time?
Tommy Zane: Dropped by about seven. Left about 7:30. I didn't really see him, I was with a friend.
Zane's cell rings.
Tommy Zane: Excuse me. (on cell) Yes?
Beckett: Mrs. Vega, do you know of anyone who would've wanted to hurt your husband?
Maggie Vega: Used to be everybody loved him, especially in the Cuban community.
Beckett: What changed?
Maggie Vega: The trip. A few months ago, the Cuban Tourism Department approached him. They wanted Cano to be the poster boy for the New Cuba.
Castle: You risk your life to escape Castro's Cuba. Why would you go back to visit?
Maggie Vega: While Cano was down there, the locals treated him like a hero. Their hero. At a state dinner, Castro came over and shook his hand. When he got home, his friends called him a traitor for going, said he was a lap dog for Fidel. The same people who cheered when he built that ballpark came up and told him to go to hell.
Beckett: Did he get any threats?
Bobby Fox: You bet he got threats. Hundreds of them. And all of them courtesy of Alfredo Quintana.
Maggie Vega: Detective, Bobby Fox, Cano's agent.
Beckett: Nice to meet you.
Bobby Fox: Detective, could you do something to get those jackals and their cameras away from Mrs. Vega's house?
Beckett: I'll see what I can do.
Bobby Fox: Thanks.
Beckett: Who's Alfredo Quintana?
Bobby Fox: He's the guy who killed Cano Vega.
At the police station.
Ryan: Thanks, Carlos. Hey.
Ryan hands them a newspaper.
Ryan: Alfredo Quintana, JD, PhD, and editor of Una Nueva Esperanza , a newspaper published by his foundation, primarily for the Cuban community. This is his column from two weeks ago.
Beckett: "Cano Vega Must Pay"?
Ryan: The article's about how Vega betrayed the Cuban community by shaking hands with the monster who butchered thousands of their relatives. Quintana says, "If Vega's going to embrace the brutal regime he once escaped, he would do well to be reminded of its barbarous cruelty."
Castle: Well, that sounds like a threat to me.
In the interrogation room.
Alfredo Quintana: I wasn't threatening him.
Beckett: You turned the local Cuban community against him.
Alfredo Quintana: He turned his back on his people when he gave Castro his nod of approval. If you want me to be sorry about what I wrote because he's dead, I'm not! I wrote the truth.
Castle: Are you sure that's all you did? You said it yourself in your editorial, "Vega should pay."
Alfredo Quintana: It's a free country, isn't it? I'm entitled to express my opinion.
Beckett: Your foundation, Cubans First, is on East 98th Street. That's three blocks away from the field where Vega's body was found.
Alfredo Quintana: You think I had something to do with his murder?
Castle: Well, the pen is mightier than the sword, but a baseball bat can be pretty effective, too.
Beckett: Where were you last night between 7 and 10 p.m.?
Alfredo Quintana: I was at home with my wife.
Castle: Mmm. Wives make such convenient alibis.
Alfredo Quintana: My sons were there as well. As well as my brother.
Castle: Do you have anyone who wasn't blood-related? A notary, perhaps?
Alfredo Quintana: Look, what Cano Vega did is inexcusable, but I am not a murderer!
Beckett: Are you sure about that, Mr. Quintana? You incited an entire community against him, so from where I'm standing, you might not have swung that bat, but that doesn't mean that you didn't kill him.
In the hallway.
Montgomery: Well?
Beckett: We'll check his alibi, but my guy tells me it's not him.
Castle: We should get a warrant, run his subscribers against any hate mail that the Vegas might have gotten.
Montgomery: You sure you got no cop in the Castle family tree?
Castle: No, us Castles are mostly con artists and circus folk, sir.
Montgomery: No, I think there's a little cop in there somewhere.
Beckett: Con artists and circus people, huh?
Castle: Yeah, and mind-readers.
Beckett: Really? So tell me what I'm thinking.
Castle: Ah! You're... You're thinking... You don't care and you want me to stop talking?
Beckett: Ooh, that's uncanny.
Castle: It's in the blood.
Esposito: Yo, Beckett.
Beckett: Yeah.
Esposito: Just got back from CSU. They manages to track the blood trail from the killer's shoe across the park. It dead-ended at the curb.
Beckett: So our killer was driving a car.
Esposito: Yeah. The area was a little muddy, so we were able to pull a partial on the tire.
Beckett: Any make and model?
Esposito: Better. The tire marks are distinctive. They've been patched in two spots. Now, those same tire tracks match a car that was tagged in an aggravated assault last year. The assault was committed with a baseball bat by one Anton Wade.
He hands Beckett a file.
Beckett: Loan-sharking, blackmail...
Esposito: Plus assault with a deadly weapon, and two A and Bs. Assault and battery.
Castle: I know.
Esposito: Right. The guy's one seriously bad dude.
Castle: Whoa, whoa, whoa! Oh, I'm sensing something here, that this guys might just be our killer.
In the interview room.
Beckett: Mr. Wade, we have you at the baseball field. Your car was at the crime scene, not to mention your unfortunate history of hitting people with baseball bats. All of that's enough to send you away, so you can play dumb or you can play ball.
Castle: Pun intended.
Anton Wade: Alright, I was there, but I didn't kill him. He was already dead.
Castle: And you were just paying the corpse a visit?
Anton Wade: He called me and asked me to meet up with him, and when I got there, I knew how it looked, so I bounces the hell up out of there.
Beckett: Why would Vega call you?
Anton Wade: He wanted to make a payment on his loan. He always paid the same way. Cash in a plain envelope. I saw it on him, I took it.
Castle: The guy's a multi-millionaire, you're a petty loan shark. What's he doing borrowing money from you?
Anton Wade: In my business, you don't ask, you don't tell.
Beckett: How much money did he borrow?
Anton Wade: Came to me a couple weeks back, needed 200 grand. In my experience, if you need that kind of coin, he got himself into some real bad trouble. The kind of trouble that gets you killed.
Beckett: Or maybe he couldn't pay your vig.
Castle: And you pulled a little Untouchables De Niro on his head.
Anton Wade: A guy owing you money, killing him ain't gonna get you paid. You take his bling, you jack him for his ride, you maybe even bust his kneecaps. But he made his last installment. Vega made his vig. We were good.
Beckett slams her phone down.
Beckett: Vega's wife didn't know anything about the 200 grand.
Castle: It doesn't make sense. With his assets, a guy like Cano Vega could get a loan from any bank in New York City, so why go to a loan shark for $200,000?
Montgomery: 'Cause bank loans take time. Loan sharks give it to you right away, maybe he needed the money fast.
Castle: Maybe he needed it kept quiet. Loan sharks don't require paperwork, credit checks. Maybe he didn't want his wife to know.
Beckett: Vega didn't want his wife to know why he was going to Cuba either.
Montgomery: So you think his trip and the money are related?
Beckett: Well, a week after he gets back, he suddenly needs 200,000? Stands to reason that the two were connected somehow.
Esposito: Yo, we just finished the search of Wade's apartment. We found a match of the partial shoe print.
Ryan: Yeah, but here's the weird thing. It tested positive for blood on the sole, but negative for blood on the rest of the shoe, and negative for cleaning agents.
Beckett: If Wade killed Vega, then his shoe would've been covered in blood.
Castle: So, Wade's telling the truth. He shows up after the murder, tracks some blood outside of the park.
Beckett: While the real murderer gets blood on top of his shoe and leaves little or no trail behind.
Montgomery: Let's find out why Vega comes back from Cuba and suddenly needs 200 grand.
Beckett: Okay.
Esposito: So where do you want to start?
Beckett: You guys look into Vega's financials, see if we missed anything. Castle and I will start with Cuba.
Castle: Cuba! Good idea! I'll bring the mojitos, you get the beach towels.
Beckett: Oh, I don't know, Castle. Me in a swimsuit under the hot, blistering sun...
Castle: I'd be happy to rub lotion on you.
Beckett: That's okay. I was actually thinking of something a little bit more local.
Bobby Fox (on TV): ... Love and support. In this time.
Beckett: Like the man who arranged the entire trip to Cuba. Bobby Fox, his agent.
Castle: That's a good idea. But the lotion offer still stands.
Beckett: No, thank you.
Castle: I have very soft hands.
At Bobby Fox’s Agency.
Castle: What is it with professional sports? I mean, even the agencies are on steroids.
Beckett: Well, Fox's client list is a veritable who's who of star athletes. 5% of their endorsements and salaries, he could pay for half of lower Manhattan.
Castle: Did you just use the word "veritable"?
Beckett: Yes, I did.
Castle: Sexy.
Beckett: You should hear me say "fallacious."
Receptionist: Bobby Fox Agency, please hold. Can I help you?
Beckett: I need to see Mr. Fox.
Receptionist: Do you have an appointment?
Beckett shows the receptionist her badge.
Beckett: I think he can squeeze me in.
Joe Torre: Rick? Rick Castle?
Castle: Hey, Skipper! I have not seen you since the big move. How are you, Joe?
Beckett is star struck.
Joe Torre: Pretty awful. I just can't believe this whole Vega thing.
Castle: I know, it's sad. And you two were friends. I'm sorry.
Joe Torre: Yeah, he was a great kid. He had the ability to be a Cuban Roberto Clemente. It's just been very sad.
Castle: We're actually here to talk to Mr. Fox about it. This is Detective Kate Beckett.
Joe Torre: Hi.
Beckett: Beckett! Kate. Detective. Thank you.
Joe Torre: Very nice meeting you. Well, good luck on the case. And I'll say a prayer for you guys.
Castle: Thanks.
Joe Torre: By the way, say hi to your mom for me, okay?
Castle: Will do, Joe.
Joe Torre: Okay.
Joe Torre leaves.
Castle: Smooth.
Beckett: That was Joe freaking Torre! I gotta call my dad.
Castle: The office is over... Yeah, his office is...
At Bobby Fox's office.
Bobby Fox: He was a good guy, Cano. He built that field because he wanted to give back. I think that's why he went to Cuba. He wanted to see if he could do something good. But I guess things hadn't changed as much as he had hoped for.
Beckett: What happened?
Bobby Fox: He had spent some time in Havana, with the people. He came back pretty upset, and he told me to give the tourism guys back their signing bonus. First time I ever let a client give money back. But I figured, you know, Cano was reneging on a military dictatorship. These are not the people you want angry at you, especially having defected from them 18 years ago.
Castle: He risked his life to leave. Why would you want him to be the poster boy for the new Cuba?
Bobby Fox: Oh, I didn't. I was just as surprised as anyone that he wanted to do it. After everything I did to get him out back then. Have you heard this story?
Beckett: No.
Bobby Fox: You're gonna like this, Castle. It's like one of your books. It was the '92 Olympics. The Cubans had just won gold in Barcelona, thanks mostly to Cano. And I wanted to get him to the States to play in the bigs. Now, convincing him was the easy part. Getting him onto my plane? That was the hard part. We had to get past coaches, minders, and finally El Pulpo, Head of State Security, 'cause he had his tentacles around everybody. And just as we thought we were home free... Boom! El Pulpo. We were caught. Sunk. The firing squad, I kid you not, was waiting for that kid back in Havana. You know how I got us past El Pulpo? Rolex. I gave him my shiny new Rolex, and he just looked the other way. Just goes to show you, every socialist is a capitalist when backs are turned.
Beckett: Is it possible that he took the Cuba job because he needed the money?
Bobby Fox: Well, it's possible, yes. God knows those guys know how to blow through money. Plus, he has that, uh, club with Tommy that's just a money pit.
Beckett: So, in regards to the Cuba job, who else went on this trip?
Bobby Fox: Well, a couple of low-level Cuban diplomats. I'll have, uh, Cynthia get you a list.
Beckett: So, what made him go to Cuba and then what made him change his mind?
Castle: Maybe Vega worked for the State Department. Maybe he was sent to shake hands with Fidel in a secret attempt to release a bio-toxin into his system. Well, the Russians sprayed sushi with radioactive polonium. What's more far-fetched?
Beckett: Well, I just met Joe Torre, so I guess anything's possible.
Beckett's cell rings.
Beckett: Beckett.
At the autopsy room.
Perlmutter: Cause of death was cerebral hemorrhaging, as expected.
Beckett: Any way to estimate the height of the attacker based on the angle of the blows?
Perlmutter: Normally, yes, but in this case your attacker's first swing landed a little south of his head.
Beckett: How far south?
Perlmutter: Enough to make him a soprano.
Castle: Oh. Should have worn a cup.
Perlmutter: Lacerations around the patella suggest Mr. Vega was on his knees when he was hit on the head.
Beckett: So, our attacker could've been anyone.
Perlmutter: Man, woman, or child. But that's not why I called. Among all the fresh bruising, we also found significant subdermal bruises that weren't quite as fresh. The contusions were all fist-sized.
Beckett: He was in a fight.
Perlmutter: Couple days ago.
Castle: What's this shape right here?
Beckett: He was wearing a ring.
Perlmutter: Not just any ring. Championship ring.
Castle: Left hand ring finger. Just like his old teammate, "Freight Train" Tommy Zane.
At Castle’s loft.
Alexis: You know, Mom's family goes all the way back to the Mayflower.
Castle: What, her persecution complex is genetic?
Alexis: Hey, those are my genes you're talking about, too.
Castle: Well, look on the bright side. Now that you know you're genetically predisposed, you can seek early treatment, prevent future outbreaks.
Alexis: Doesn't it bother you that you don't know who your dad is?
Castle: No. Why, does it bother you?
Alexis: It's like, I have this family tree, and there's a whole chunk of it missing. There's a whole part of my history that doesn't even exist. I mean, really, how could Gram not know?
Castle: My first year of college I, uh, went to a party, I met this girl Alison. In the space of six hours we met, we talked, we danced, we fell in love. Next morning she was gone. I spent a year trying to find her, but I never learned her last name. There's not a week that goes by I don't think about her. Your Gram told me that she loved a lifetime the night she met him.
Alexis: But don't you feel like you're missing out, not knowing?
Castle: No! Oh, no, that's the beauty of the mystery. Right now, my father could be an astronaut, a pirate, a humanitarian, winner of the Nobel Prize. I mean, what one can could live up to all that?
Alexis: You think he ate whipped cream out of a can?
Castle: Yes. And he invented whipped cream.
Alexis: Dad, you're gonna spoil your dinner.
Castle: This is my dinner.
Alexis: No.
At Zane and Vega's Club.
Beckett: Mr. Zane.
Tommy Zane: Detective Beckett. Mr. Castle.
Beckett: You're in a festive mood tonight, Mr. Zane. Honouring the dead?
Tommy Zane: Celebrating a life. The way Cano would've wanted it.
Castle: Yes, nothing says "I'm grieving" like an appletini.
Beckett: You must be the forgive and forget type, Mr. Zane. Especially after that beating that you gave Cano a couple of nights ago.
Tommy Zane: What are you talking about?
Castle: We found the bruises left on Vega's body from where you hit him, including the imprints left by your Championship ring.
Tommy Zane: Twenty-five guys have this ring.
Castle: Do they all wear it on the left-hand ring finger?
Tommy Zane: Some of them, yeah.
Beckett: Do they all have abrasions on that finger that are consistent with assault? What happened, Mr. Zane? Was Cano tired of dumping money into this club?
Tommy Zane: He didn't care about the money.
Beckett: Then what was it?
Tommy Zane: His wife.
Castle: His wife? You and she were...
Tommy Zane: No, but he thought we... Maggie was upset. Said she thought Cano was having an affair and wanted to know if I'd seen him down here at the club with anybody.
Beckett: What did you tell her?
Tommy Zane: I told her no, of course.
Castle: Was that the truth?
Tommy Zane: Look, I've been through this before. Cano was having some kind of crisis. He wasn't gonna leave her, so why tell her the truth?
Beckett: So Vega was having an affair?
Tommy Zane: I'd seen him with a girl. Young, Cuban. You know, I figured after his visit, he was missing home. Anyway, he saw me leaving his house that night and when he asked Maggie why I was there, she got evasive.
Castle: So, naturally, he thought she was having an affair of her own.
Tommy Zane: He came after me swinging. Took a couple of shots to his ribs to calm him down enough before I could tell him the truth.
Beckett: This girl that he was dating. Do you remember her name?
Tommy Zane: No, he never told me her name. But I might have a picture on my phone.
At the police station.
Ryan: What is it with professional athletes and politicians that they just can't keep it in their pants?
Esposito: They're just overgrown teenagers with delicate little egos.
Beckett: It's not that deep. It's just simple math. They just have more opportunity.
Ryan: Well, what are you saying, men are dogs?
Beckett: No, the greater the opportunity, the greater the likelihood. Which means the two of you have nothing to worry about.
Esposito: Ryan has nothing to worry about.
Ryan: Hey!
Beckett: Cano Vega, on the other hand...
Esposito: His wife said that he changed when he got back from Cuba. Maybe it wasn't Cuba. Maybe it was the girl.
Ryan: That could explain the 200 grand. Maybe he needed it for the girl.
Beckett: And why he needed to borrow money from a loan shark without her finding out.
Castle: But Maggie Vega did find out. So, she decides she's not gonna take it anymore. She considers divorce, but thought about the endless hours of scrutiny, the public humiliation in the media...
Esposito: Not to mention that she's only get half.
Ryan: Assuming there's no pre-nup.
Beckett: But if she kills him, she gets everything.
Castle: Mm-hmm. She knows where he's gonna be alone, at night. She goes there. He trusts her, lets his guard down. She moves in close...
Beckett: She smiles, picks up a bat, thinks of everything that he's done to her, starts with the family jewels and ends with the family fortune.
At Vega's mansion.
Maggie Vega: This is crazy. Why would I kill my husband?
Beckett: Because you thought he was having an affair.
Maggie Vega: You know. How?
Beckett: It doesn't matter how we know. What matters is that you didn't tell us.
Maggie Vega: It was a private matter between Cano and me.
Beckett: It's also motive. Mrs. Vega, where were you on the night of your husband's murder?
Maggie Vega: At home. Alone. You can check the security tapes if you want. So, it's true, then? He was seeing someone else?
Castle: We don't know that for sure.
Maggie Vega: I do. He was in love with her. Her name is Lara. Mi Cariño . It means "my love."
Maggie hands Beckett a slip of paper with Lara's info on it.
Castle: Who is she?
Maggie Vega: I don't know. I've torn this house upside down looking for a clue. That note is the only thing I've found.
Castle: 2/16. That's the day before the murder.
Beckett: Yeah.
Maggie Vega: He went into the city that day. Didn't get home until 10:30. That's when I knew.
Beckett: Mrs. Vega, this woman is possibly involved in your husband's murder. Why didn't you tell us this before?
Maggie Vega: Because I... I just didn't want it to be true.
At the police station.
Ryan: Home security videos confirm Mrs. Vega's story and CSU tested negative for blood at Tommy Zane's place.
Beckett: Where are we on the girl?
Esposito: Just finished coming through Vega's internet records. There are no IMs, e-mails or internet browser searches connecting him in any way, shape, or form to a Lara.
Ryan: Phones are a dead-end, too. No one who called or was called by Vega in the last two months remembers him mentioning anyone named Lara.
Castle: Well, for a guy who's supposedly in love, he doesn't do a very good job keeping in touch with his girl.
Ryan: Some guys are just hopeless.
Ryan dials his cell.
Ryan (on cell): Hey, honey. Yeah, I was just thinking about you, thought I'd call you. Well, I just wanted to call to say I miss you. Yeah.
Esposito: Some guys are just pathetic.
Castle: Don't be jealous. He still loves you.
Beckett: Vega met with her the day before he died, so let's put photos out to all precincts and have uniforms canvass the area around the field. Maybe somebody saw her the night that he was killed.
Montgomery: Beckett.
Beckett: Yes, sir.
Montgomery: How we doing on the Cuba angle?
Beckett: Nothing yet. Why?
Montgomery: Just got a call from the lieu over in Union City, New Jersey. Vega was involved in a shouting match at a restaurant in Little Havana with one of their regulars. Apparently the cops were called in to break it up.
Beckett: Why wasn't there an incident report?
Montgomery: Cops kept it quiet at the time at the request of the Cuban Consulate.
Castle: Because of Vega?
Montgomery: No, because of who Vega was fighting with. Mario Sanchez, head of the Cuba Consulate in New York.
Beckett: He was one of the diplomats that took Vega to Cuba.
Castle: What did they fight about?
Montgomery: I don't know, but seeing that they were in Cuba together, I suggest you find out.
At the Cuban Consulate.
Mario Sanchez: On the night of the 17th I was here, at the consulate. You don't really think I killed Cano Vega, do you?
Beckett: Given his change of heart in Cuba, I can't imagine that the two of you were the best of friends.
Mario Sanchez: You could say the same thing about most of the Cuban community here.
Castle: Yes, but how many of them ended up dead after fighting with you in a restaurant?
Mario Sanchez: I was minding my own business. Vega was the one who decided to pick a fight with me.
Beckett: Why?
Mario Sanchez: I was in charge of his schedule in Cuba. I guess he didn't like to be told what to do or where to go.
Castle: Sounds like you kept him on a pretty tight leash.
Mario Sanchez: We did a counter-revolutionary the courtesy of allowing him back on our soil. We weren't about to just let him wander around.
Beckett: So you would know better than anyone else what Vega did on his trip?
Mario Sanchez: It's my job.
Castle: Everyone we spoke to about Vega says he came back from Cuba a different man. What happened to him down there?
Mario Sanchez: He was very emotional the whole time he was there, talking to the locals, feeling sorry for them because they were poor and he was rich. Truth is, he felt guilty.
Beckett: When Vega returned, he borrowed $200,000 in cash. Is it possible that he was trying to funnel money to the island? Help some of the locals out, maybe?
Mario Sanchez: Not on my watch.
Castle: Yeah, you can't have that. Rich people sharing their wealth. That's, like, socialism.
Mario Sanchez: Please. The truth is that Cano Vega, like all Americans, was spoiled. When the poverty was before his eyes, it's an unspeakable tragedy, and then, out of sight, out of mind. He didn't know that I was aware, but do you want to know the thing that interested Vega most about Cuba? A girl.
Beckett: What girl?
Mario Sanchez: He met a lot of locals, kissed a lot of babies. I can only assume it was a pretty young thing he met while he was touring the island.
Beckett: Do you know her name?
Mario Sanchez: Lara. Her name was Lara.
At the police station.
Beckett: So Vega fell in love with a girl in Cuba.
Castle: If you take Sanchez's word.
Beckett: Well, he couldn't have just pulled the name Lara out of thin air.
Castle: According to the note that the wife found, Vega and Lara were supposed to meet the night before he was murdered. Now how were they supposed to do that if she's stuck in Cuba?
Beckett: If she's stuck on the island, how did she end up in that photo with Vega at his club?
Castle: Man, there has to be an explanation that makes this all make sense.
Esposito: There is. The woman standing next to Vega in the picture is not Lara. A resident near the ballpark where Vega was killed ID's her. Her name is Ana. Ana Rivera. She's a waitress in the neighbourhood. Uniforms are bringing her in now.
Beckett: What's her connection to Vega?
Esposito: Cuba. She escaped six months ago.
In the interview lounge.
Ana Rivera: We met at a bar where I work, near his field. He heard I'd just come over from Cuba last year and he invited me out for drinks.
Beckett: Did you know he was married?
Ana Rivera: It wasn't like that. He just wanted to talk, about home. He missed it. I think that's why he wanted to go.
Castle: You were photographed with him after the trip. Did he still want to just talk?
Ana Rivera: Yes. He wanted to talk about my trip here from Cuba. It was like he was obsessed. He wanted to know how I got out.
Beckett: And what did you tell him? Ana, what did you tell Mr. Vega?
Ana Rivera: I said my family knew a man. If-- if you pay him lots of money, Mi Cariño comes and takes you to America.
Beckett: Mi Cariño ?
Ana Rivera: His boat. It takes you to Jamaica, and then you fly to America. It's important that you fly because if you come by boat, then they can send you back.
Beckett: It's the wet foot, dry foot policy.
Castle: Vega was looking for a way to get his new girlfriend out of Cuba.
Beckett: Mi Cariño , 2/16, 8:30 p.m. It looks like he succeeded.
Castle: Mi Cariño to Jamaica 2/16, which means she arrived on the 17th. That's the same day Vega died. That can't be a coincidence.
Beckett: Ana, you told Mr. Vega how to get in touch with the man who got you out of Cuba?
Ana Rivera: Yes. He runs a newspaper, Una Nueva Esperanza , on East 98th.
Beckett: Alfredo Quintana? The editor?
Ana nods.
Beckett: He lied to us.
In the interview room.
Alfredo Quintana: Alright, first you accuse me of killing Vega, then you're saying that I'm helping him, so maybe you guys should make up your mind.
Castle: Well, actually, we made up our minds once we say the $200,000 in your bank account.
Beckett: That's the exact amount Cano Vega borrowed from a loan shark.
Castle: Since what you were doing was illegal, he didn't want there to be any record of it.
Alfredo Quintana: I don't know what you're talking about.
Beckett slams some documents in front of him.
Alfredo Quintana: These aren't my accounts, alright? This is the foundation's accounts. My name isn't even on them.
Castle: Which is why you hid the money there. To make it harder for us to find.
Alfredo Quintana: These were charitable contributions.
Beckett: Where's the girl?
Alfredo Quintana: What girl?
Beckett: Mr. Quintana, you and your foundation are facing human smuggling charges. Do you really want me to add obstruction of justice and aiding and abetting a murderer to that? You like the press, don't you? How are you gonna like being linked to Cano Vega's murder?
Alfredo Quintana: You know what they'll see? That I saved a girl from under Castro's regime.
Castle: For a price.
Alfredo Quintana: Yeah, I would've done it for free.
Castle: Yeah, but you didn't.
Beckett: Are you really ready to stake your entire future on some girl you don't even know?
Alfredo Quintana: Vega had an apartment for her. I took her there when I got her to the mainland.
Beckett: Where?
Alfredo Quintana: Union City. Summit Avenue.
The detectives and Castle break through the door, guns drawn, and search the apartment.
Ryan: NYPY! Police! Police!
Esposito: NYPD! NYPD! Clear.
Ryan: Clear.
Beckett: Clear.
Esposito: Looks like nobody's home.
Castle: This girl's in dire need of a trip to IKEA.
Beckett: This bed hasn't even been made. I don't think she was sleeping here.
Ryan: Beckett.
Beckett: Yeah?
Ryan shines a light on a muddy footprint.
Ryan: Looks like dirt.
Beckett: Get CSU down here. You guys?
She shines her flashlight on blood in the sink.
Beckett: There's blood.
At the autopsy room.
Perlmutter: It's definitely Vega's.
Beckett: And the footprint?
Perlmutter: That's harder to nail down. The composition of the dirt is pretty similar to dirt anywhere in the city.
Beckett: So, we can't actually prove that she was at the scene?
Perlmutter: I just said it's harder. But there were traces of titanium dioxide in the dirt.
Castle: Chalk.
Beckett: Like what they use to trace lines on baseball fields.
Castle: So, she heads to the field, takes a little batting practice on Vega's head, heads home, packs her things, hits the road.
Beckett: Giving a whole new meaning to the term "hit and run."
At the police station.
Beckett (on cell): Beckett. B-E-C-K-E-double T. Badge 41319. I need a TSA hold on a potential fugitive. Yes, I'll hold.
Esposito: Uniforms are circulating that picture of Lara we got from Quintana. They're plastering it on every storefront within a mile of her place.
Montgomery: So, it was the girl?
Beckett: Evidence looks that way. We figure she honey-trapped Vega into giving her tickets out of Cuba, and once she got here, he wanted a little more than she was willing to give, and things went south from there.
Castle: Maybe it was the Cuban government all along. They hated Vega for defecting, so they sent a beautiful spy for him to fall in love with. It works. He smuggles her back home, and bam, he's dead.
Montgomery: Sounds like a Castle story.
Esposito scoffs.
Castle: I'll call it "Corazón de Fuego."
Beckett (on cell): Yes, I need a detain-and-contain. All no-fly protocols. Thank you.
Castle: Though we really should stake out the consulate.
Beckett: Way ahead of you. Surveillance has been there for about an hour. If she killed him out of self-defense, then she'd go back to the devil she knows.
Ryan (on phone): Yeah, thanks.
Castle: And yet I'm sensing skepticism on my theory. Mind reader.
Ryan: Well, you're both geniuses. That was our guys at the consulate. They just spotted Lara walking right through the door.
Mario Sanchez: I don't know what to tell you. I've never seen that girl before.
Castle: Well, then you should invest in some corrective lenses. Our surveillance team saw her coming in here not half an hour ago.
Mario Sanchez: Surveillance team? You're watching us now?
Beckett: Only within the scope of the law.
Castle: The watcher becomes the watched. I'm a big fan of irony. Ask her.
Mario Sanchez: She's a Cuban citizen requesting asylum.
Beckett: She's a suspect in a murder investigation.
Mario Sanchez: And you expect me just to hand her over to the American authorities?
Beckett: Mr. Sanchez, as I'm sure you're well aware, a country's consulate and its embassy have a different set of rights and privileges. This is only a consulate. You do not have diplomatic immunity. Produce the girl now, or I will get a search warrant and make a public spectacle of your government harbouring a criminal on American soil.
Castle: Ouch.
Mario presses the speaker on his phone.
Mario Sanchez: Speaking Spanish.
Woman: Sí, señor.
The door opens and a woman sends Lara in.
Beckett and Castle sit across from Lara in the interview room while Esposito paces behind them.
Lara: No, I… I did not kill him. Please, you have to believe.
Beckett: Then why did you run? Why did you try to go back to Cuba?
Lara: I was afraid the man will kill me, too.
Beckett: What man?
Lara: The one who come the night he died, he come to... El piso.
Esposito: The apartment. Came to the apartment.
Beckett: There is a man who came to the apartment the night that Vega died, and that's why you were running?
Lara: He kill my father.
Castle: Your father?
Lara: Vega.
Castle: Cano Vega is your father?
Beckett: Okay, Lara, take us from the beginning. Des del principio.
Lara: Vega and my mother...
Esposito: Está bien...
Lara: Speaking Spanish.
Esposito: Vega and her mother were engaged when he defected.
Lara: Speaking Spanish.
Esposito: She was supposed to come, but she didn't. As punishment for what Vega did, they threw her mother in prison.
Lara: Speaking Spanish.
Esposito: She was pregnant with her at the time.
Castle: Did Vega know about this?
Lara: Speaking Spanish.
Esposito: Not until a couple months ago, when he heard a rumor that he had a daughter.
Castle: Well, that's why Vega went to Cuba. To see if he really did have a daughter.
Lara: Speaking Spanish.
Esposito: They didn't actually meet because the government was watching them.
Lara: Speaking Spanish.
Esposito: But he got her a message saying that he would get her out as soon as he could.
Lara: The first time I meet my father was three nights ago, and I want to tell him how much suffering he caused. Speaking Spanish.
Esposito: She grew up believing that her father had abandoned her mother to get rich, but he told her that wasn't true, that he only defected because her mother said that she was going to as well.
Lara: Speaking Spanish.
Esposito: But that she had changed her mind at the last minute. All these years he had thought that she had turned her back on him. He never knew that they... That the government had made an example of him to all the other players.
Lara: Speaking Spanish.
Esposito: He never knew that she had died in prison.
Lara: My father is very upset when I tell him this. He said he need to talk to someone. He, uh, give me money for food. I never see him again.
Beckett: You said earlier that there was a man at the apartment?
Lara: When I go to the market to go guy food, when I come back, I see a man at the, um, apartment. Not my father. I was so scared, so I leave. Then I hear Cano Vega is dead. So I run and I hide. I just wanted to go home. He kill my father.
Beckett: This man who came to your apartment, can you describe him for me?
Lara: Yes.
At Bobby Fox Agency.
Bobby Fox: L… Let me get this straight. An illegal, claiming to be Cano Vega's daughter after being in this country for less than 24 hours, identifies someone who kind of looks like me, from a distance, at night. Well, gee, guys, what am I... What, do I sign my confession right now or after the big, uh, press conference?
Castle: Now's good.
Bobby Fox: Come on, kids, come on. You know he was my friend, not to mention a hefty commission. What's my motive?
Beckett: The thing about people who have a lot, Mr. Fox, is that they have the most to lose. I'm sure Vega felt betrayed when he learned the truth.
Bobby Fox: The truth? About what?
Castle: Your favorite story. Barcelona, 1992, only you left out the part where you lied to Cano Vega about helping his fiancée defect.
Bobby Fox: It's not my fault that she changed her mind, alright?
Castle: Truth is, you couldn't get her off the island, but you did know that he'd rather be there with her than here making big bucks for you in the Majors.
Beckett: So you let him believe that she had changed her mind, and to keep him from ever finding out the truth, you had her put away.
Bobby Fox: Put away? In Cuba? Come on! I have a lot of pull, but, uh, influencing a military dictatorship isn't as easy as getting a dinner reservation at Le Cirque.
Castle: You'd influenced their people before. Manuel Gutierrez, AKA El Pulpo, "The Octopus." You walked away with the star player of the Cuban national team for a Rolex.
Beckett: We did a little research. He was the chief witness at her trial.
Castle: Was denouncing Vega's fiancée always a part of your plan with El Pulpo, or did you have to pay extra for that? I've heard you're a killer negotiator.
Bobby Fox: You can't possibly be serious.
Beckett: When Vega figured out what you had done, he called you from his club and told you to meet him. I think he came after you and threatened to destroy you, and that's why you killed him.
Bobby Fox: It's a hell of a story, kids. I paid El Pulpo to take care of my player's girl when the Cuban government was sending away people every day? That's a hell of a tale. It's pure conjecture.
Beckett: You know what's not conjecture? The blood that we found on the driver's side floor mat in your car. That was Vega's blood.
Castle: As much as you tried to clean those $5,000 pair of shoes you were wearing while you smashed Vega's skull in, you didn't quite get all of it.
Fox picks up the phone on his desk.
Bobby Fox: Hello, Cynthia. Call my lawyer. You tell him he's about to earn the outrageous, obscene amounts of money I pay him.
Beckett pulls out her cuffs.
Beckett: Turn around. Turn around. Robert Fox, you're under arrest for the murder of Cano Vega.
At the police station.
Castle: What's gonna happen to Lara?
Beckett: She can stay in the States for a year and then decide whether she wants to apply for citizenship or not.
Castle: Well, I can't imagine her staying when her last bit of family is gone. I mean, the only person that she knew here is dead.
Beckett: Well, there is one more person that she should meet.
At Vega's mansion.
Maggie Vega: So you're Lara?
Beckett: She was born in Cuba right after Mr. Vega defected.
Castle: She's not his girlfriend. She's his daughter.
Maggie Vega: Cano had a daughter?
Lara: My father didn't know how you would like to have me here. He-- he had fear to tell you about me.
Lara looks to Esposito.
Esposito: It's okay.
Lara: Yo sé que mi papa la quería mucho y non...
Esposito: She says she knows her father loved you very much, and he didn't want to hurt you.
Lara: Pero yo espero ...mi papa que ...forma una familia.
Esposito: And that she hoped and he hoped that together you could be a family.
Maggie takes Lara's hands.
Maggie Vega: Yo estoy Maggie. Mi casa e su casa.
Lara: Thank you.
Maggie and Lara hug.
At’s Castle loft.
Alexis: Hey, Dad.
Castle: Hey, Daughter. What are you doing up so late?
Alexis: Waiting for you.
Castle: Did I do something wrong?
Alexis: No. I was just thinking about what you said about your dad. How he could be anything you imagines him to be, and astronaut or a pirate.
Castle: Whipped cream inventor.
Alexis: Or whipped cream inventor. But there's one thing he can't be.
Castle: What's that?
Alexis: A dad. Just a regular dad. Teaching his son how to ride a bike, or helping him with homework, or having a catch. Makes me sad you didn't get to have those things.
Castle: Well, I can't miss what I didn't have.
Alexis: What if you could have it?
Castle: You have a time machine behind the kitchen counter?
Alexis pulls out two baseball gloves.
Alexis: What do you say, Son? How about a game of catch with your old man?
Castle: Yeah, I'd like that.
Alexis: Good.
Alexis goes to the other side of the room and they put on the gloves.
Castle: You ready?
Alexis: Ready.
Castle throws the ball and hits glass.
Castle: Oh.
