At Authentic Nick's.
Nick, Jr.: Come on, let me show you my place, huh?
The couple enters the pizza place.
Ginger: I gotta tweet this. No one'll believe I'm with the Terrific Nick.
Nick, Jr.: Uh, Authentic Nick. I'm not terrific. Okay? I mean, uh, we're the best.
Ginger: I'll bet.
Nick, Jr.: Mm-hmm.
Ginger: And it smells so good.
Nick, Jr.: It does smell good. Somebody here? Dad?
Ginger: Smells like ribs. Is that barbecue pizza?
Nick, Jr.: No. We don't do barbecue pizza, alright? That's for the hacks like Terrific Nick.
Nick opens the oven to find a baked body. The girl screams.
Castle's frying something in the kitchen while Alexis sits at the counter.
Castle: Nice and crispy, just the way you like it.
Alexis: You eat it. I'm not hungry.
Castle: You've never said no to turkey bacon. What's wrong?
Alexis: Nothing.
Castle: Something. Don't make me tong you. Not even a smile. Must be serious.
Alexis: It's Lauren's birthday party. I'm not going.
Castle: What? You've been talking about that party for weeks. It's gonna be the party of the century.
Alexis: Yesterday, Lauren came up to me and, in front of everybody, told me I was disinvited. It was humiliating.
Castle: Why would Lauren do something like that? She's one of your best friends.
Alexis: She was one of my best friends. I have no idea why she's acting like this. And she refused to talk to me and Ashley's still invited, and so is everyone else, and it's like I'm a social leper.
Castle: Well, Ashley's not gonna go without you.
Alexis: Just because I have leprosy doesn't mean he should.
Castle: Well, I think you should throw a rival party and invite all your friends to that one instead.
Alexis: The party's tonight. And she has a live band performing. I can't compete with that.
Castle: Well, then I'll call Lauren's mom, and I'll…
Alexis: You're joking, right? What? So I can be a leper and a tattletale? I'm seventeen; I can deal with this on my own.
In the street.
Castle: It's just... Every instinct in my body is telling me to protect her.
Beckett: Yeah, but when it comes to teenagers, not even you can protect her. Alexis is gonna have to deal with backstabbers her whole life, but she's intelligent enough to rise above all of that.
Castle: I don't know. She looked like she ready to commit murder.
Beckett: Speaking of murder.
At Authentic Nick's.
Beckett: I thought Terrific Nick's on the East Side was number one.
Castle: Uh, no, that's Authentic Terrific Nick's. This is just Authentic Nick's.
Beckett: This isn't terrific?
Castle: No. Just authentic. It's also not Terrific Authentic Nick's, but that's across the street.
Beckett: Well, what's the difference?
Lanie: The difference is, this one has a dead body in the oven.
Beckett: Okay. That is really...
Castle: Well done.
Lanie: Another couple of hours, maybe, but luckily for me, he's only half baked. Male, mid-forties. That's about as much ID as I can give you. Based on the oven setting and the body's core temperature, I'd say he went in no sooner than 2 a.m.
Beckett: I'm afraid to ask, cause of death?
Lanie: It wasn't the oven. The stab wound through the chest says he was dead when he went in.
Esposito: No sign of forced entry, but we're running the prints on the door handle just the same.
Beckett: Alright. Run then on the oven as well. Who found him?
Esposito: Uh, Nick Junior. Authentic, not terrific.
Castle and Beckett sit across from Nick Junior.
Nick, Jr.: No, I got no idea who he is. I mean, I open up the oven and bam, there he is.
Beckett: And who were the last ones here last night?
Nick, Jr.: My dad and me. Close around eleven. And then I head up to Kadar Lounge, met up with a lady friend, and then we came back here to, uh, have a slice.
Beckett: And when was that?
Nick, Jr.: I don't know. 4:30?
Castle: Where's your lady friend now?
Nick, Jr.: She's kind of throwing up a lot. So, the paramedics had to take her in. Oh, but I kept her number.
Nick Junior pulls out the napkin, but doesn't want to let go when Castle tries to take it.
Castle: I… I don't think there's gonna be a second date.
Nick, Jr.: Yeah, you're right.
Castle: I'm sorry.
Beckett: I'm gonna need a list of all of your employees and delivery staff.
Nick, Jr.: You don't think it's one of our guys in the oven, do you?
Beckett: As soon as you get me that list, I'll start making phone calls.
Nick, Jr.: Augh.
Ralph Carbone/Authentic Nick: I don't believe this. You gotta be kiddin' me.
Nick, Jr.: Dad, these are the cops.
Castle: You must be Authentic Nick.
Ralph Carbone/Authentic Nick: The one and only.
Beckett: Nick? I have the proprietor listed as Ralph Carbone.
Ralph Carbone/Authentic Nick: Yeah, that's me. Everybody calls me Nick.
Beckett: Why?
Ralph Carbone/Authentic Nick: Because that's what everybody calls me. I can't believe those bastards put a body in my oven!
Beckett: I'm sorry, Mr. Carbone, you think that you know who did this?
Ralph Carbone/Authentic Nick: Yeah, sure! I bet it was that jackhole!
Ralph points at a man standing across the street wearing a Terrific Authentic Nick's apron.
Castle: Terrific Authentic Nick?
Nick, Jr.: Sal Malavolta. Used to work for us years ago before opening his own lousy pizza shop right across the street.
Ralph Carbone/Authentic Nick: Stole my frigging recipes. It's Sal that done this along with the other two.
Beckett: The other two?
Ralph Carbone/Authentic Nick: Yeah, that vulture there.
Ralph points to a man wearing Terrific Nick's shirt on another corner.
Beckett: Terrific Nick?
Nick, Jr.: Vinnie Delfino.
Ralph Carbone/Authentic Nick: And the other dirt back there.
Ralph points to a man stepping out of an Authentic Terrific Nick's delivery van.
Castle: And Authentic Terrific Nick.
Ralph Carbone/Authentic Nick: Luca Sabalini. All three of them! They're thieves. They live off our name, and they're not even real Nicks! I'm the only real Nick!
Castle: And your real name is Ralph.
Ralph Carbone/Authentic Nick: Exactly. They've been trying to run me out of Dodge for years, and now this. Who's gonna buy my pizza now, huh? Hey! Hey! You happy? I'm outta business!
Beckett: Mr. Carbone, what makes you think that one of them did this.
Ralph Carbone/Authentic Nick: Two weeks ago, one of them snuck a gallon of soap into my secret sauce. Cost me a whole day of returned pies. Now, look, uh, I may or may not have retaliated. But if I did, them putting a cadaver in my oven, that's, uh, them retaliating back.
Beckett: Mr. Carbone, that's not a cadaver.
Ralph Carbone/Authentic Nick: What do you mean? It's, uh, they prob… They… Got this from some medical school.
Beckett: No. This isn't a prank. This is murder.
At Authentic Nick's.
Esposito: We got through to all their employees. Everybody's accounted for.
Beckett: Lanie, what are the chances of getting an ID?
Lanie: Not hopeful on fingerprints. We may have to wait for missing a persons report and dental records.
Esposito: We also started a canvass to see if anybody saw anything last night.
Beckett: Alright, let's get statements off all of the employees, especially the ones with keys. I'd like to know what they were doing last night.
Castle: Shouldn't we look into the other Nicks, too?
Esposito: Come on, bro, you don't really think this is about some kind of pizza rivalry, do you?
Castle: Competition to be the best in New York? Clear animosity? Carbone said they'd broken in before. If we are looking into everyone with access, we should look into them as well.
Ryan: He's right, you know. Pizza's serious business in this town.
Beckett: Alright. Great, you talk to them.
Ryan: Wait, me? No. Why… Come on.
In the break room.
Castle: You have to admit, a pizza oven? Very clever way to get rid of a body. In At Dusk We Die, I had my psychotic paralegal kill her abusive boss and put him in a pottery kiln. He was reduced to ashes in a matter of hours. Of course, you already know this, don't you?
Beckett: That's probably what our killer planned on doing until Nick Junior showed up.
Montgomery: Did I hear right? You found a body in the oven at Terrific Nick's?
Beckett: Authentic Nick's.
Montgomery: Authentic Nicks? Oh, thank god. The wife loves Terrific Nick's. I didn't have the heart to tell her it now came in full bodied flavour.
Beckett rolls her eyes.
Castle: Oh, I liked it. I liked it!
Ryan: Hey. So, we ran through all of Authentic Nick's employees. They alibied out, but I did find a bunch of stuff on the other Nicks.
Beckett: Criminal complaints?
Ryan: Yeah. Dozens of them filed back and forth between all the Nicks over the years. Uh, bricks through front windows, slashed deliver car tires. Ooh, flaming bags of poo.
Beckett: Thank you.
Ryan: Yep.
Castle: What, that's it?
Beckett: Flaming bags of poo? Soap in secret sauces? Come on, Castle. What, do you think these guys suddenly graduated from frat pranks to murder? Beckett.
At the autopsy room.
Lanie: As expected, the body was too badly burned to get any prints, but I did find this. You see here, where the shin bone should be? Those are titanium plates.
Castle: So, killer cyborg sent from the future, resistance fighters intercept his coordinates, redirect into a pizza oven, saving humanity.
Lanie: The plates had serial numbers. I ran them through the surgical database and got an ID.
Beckett: Gordon Burns?
Castle: Gordon Burns?
Lanie: Yes, Castle, Burns. Go ahead, make your joke. Get it out of your system.
Castle: Gordon Burns as in New York Ledger?
Beckett: You know him?
Castle: Well, not personally. He was a reporter. I used to love his work. D'you find anything else on the body?
Lanie: A melted cell phone belt clip, but there was no cell phone.
Beckett: Yeah, it wasn't at the crime scene either.
Lanie: And that's his wallet.
Beckett: Credit cards, driver's license, all melted.
Beckett pulls out an only partially burnt photo.
Beckett: Girlfriend? Wife?
Lanie: Burns is listed as divorced, no next of kin.
Castle: He was a war correspondent, an investigative reporter. What was he doing in a pizza oven?
Beckett: Maybe his editor knows.
In the interview lounge.
Walt Shaw: We were friends. When I became editor of the paper, he was my first hire.
Castle: The kinds of stories he wrote, he must have stepped on his fair share of toes.
Walt Shaw: Not for years. He'd been out of the game for a while.
Beckett: Why's that?
Walt Shaw: His kid was killed in an accident. She was ten. After that, he finally gave into his love affair with the bottle.
Beckett: We see that you still had him on the payroll.
Walt Shaw: He did the occasional human interest story for our lifestyle section. Poor waste of his talent, but it let him make rent, keep his insurance.
Beckett: Mr. Shaw, was he working on anything recently?
Walt Shaw: Just a puff piece I'd assigned him last week.
Castle: About what?
Walt Shaw: The pizza wars. You know, those Authentic, Amazing, Terrific guys always fighting over which one's the best. It wasn't Afghanistan, but Gordon was Gordon. Called a few days ago and said it was much bigger than I thought.
Beckett: Bigger how?
Walt Shaw: He didn't say. But. I mean, it's pizza wars, how big could it be?
Castle: Big enough to kill for.
Near the bullpen.
Beckett: Let's dig deeper into all of the Nicks. Terrific, authentic, and otherwise. And let's also run background checks on all of their employees.
Castle: You know, this guy survived Afghanistan, the invasion of Iraq, even Tiananmen Square. To be killed doing a puff piece on pizza?
Esposito: It's like being a cop, bro. You survive a firefight with a dozen armed gangbangers only to be hit by a car while writing a speeding ticket on the LIE.
Ryan: Hey. Ran a trace on Burns' missing phone. It's either out of battery or turned off.
Beckett: Alright, run LUDs and financials, I want to find out where he was and what he was doing last night.
Ryan: On it.
Castle: This has to be about something bigger than who has the best pizza.
Beckett: You know, Burns probably had notes and drafts of his story in his apartment. If we can find them, we can figure out what he was up to last night.
Castle: Let's go.
At Burns' apartment.
Esposito: Door's been kicked open. Room's clear.
Beckett: This place is trashed.
Esposito: I gonna check with the neighbours, see if anybody heard anything.
Beckett: Okay.
Castle: These drawers have been emptied. If there were files or notes, they're gone now.
Beckett: Well, whatever he was working on, someone didn't want us to find it.
Castle picks up a framed photo using a cloth. It's a picture of Burns with a little girl.
Beckett: You okay?
Castle: Yeah. No, yeah, um...
Castle flips the photo around to show Beckett.
Castle: I think I met her. I went to a book signing of his, the one he did on the, uh, Seriova snipers. She was... Colouring next to him while he was signing books.
Beckett: He must've been a good writer for you to stand in line.
Castle: Yeah. He was.
Beckett: Come on. Let's go get CSU.
Esposito: Hey. I got something weird. Burns's neighbour, she says she's been holding his mail for the last week. Apparently Burns told her he was going out of the country for a while
Castle: Out of the country? We know he's been here.
Beckett: You know, that's the kind of lie that you tell people when you don't want anyone looking for you.
Castle: And if he's been staying somewhere else, there's a chance we could still find his notes.
Beckett: I'm gonna get a hold of his editor, find out where he might have been staying.
Esposito: How does a story about pizza send somebody into hiding?
Beckett: Or get them killed? Beckett.
Ryan: Hey. I just got the CSU report back. The back door knob at the pizza shop was wiped clean, but they did find Nick's prints all over the pizza oven.
Beckett: Well, that's to be expected. I mean, he worked there.
Ryan: Not Authentic Nick. These prints belong to his neighbour across the street, Terrific Authentic Nick.
In the interrogation room.
Beckett: So, Nick. Or should I say, Sal? Know this guy?
Sal Malavolta/Terrific Authentic Nick: Yeah, I know him. That's the reporter doing the story on us.
Beckett: And what did the two of you talk about?
Sal Malavolta/Terrific Authentic Nick: Who's the real Nick? And I told him about my grandpa Nick. How he was an authentic Ellis Island immigrant who was flipping his terrific dough on. Street the very day he arrived.
Castle: What else?
Sal Malavolta/Terrific Authentic Nick: That's it. Why?
Castle: It just doesn't seem like a good enough reason to kill.
Sal Malavolta/Terrific Authentic Nick: Kill?
Beckett: We found your fingerprints, Sal, all over the oven.
Sal Malavolta/Terrific Authentic Nick: You found my prints?
Beckett: Yeah. So, why don't we back up and you tell us why you killed Burns.
Castle: And this time, hold the extra cheese.
Sal Malavolta/Terrific Authentic Nick: I… I can explain. I was there, but I didn't kill nobody. Ralph thought I was soaping his sauce, so he broke into my place, took all the breakers out of my electrical panel. Now, he's always bragging about his oven, so I thought I'd...
Castle: Put a body in it.
Sal Malavolta/Terrific Authentic Nick: No, steal it. I went over there a couple nights ago to see what I'd need to get it out.
Beckett: You're kidding me, right?
Sal Malavolta/Terrific Authentic Nick: I was in O'Meary's on Staten Island last night. Till closing. Okay, it was dart night. I took third place. You want to look at somebody? Look at Ralph.
Beckett: Why Ralph?
Sal Malavolta/Terrific Authentic Nick: What, do you think he makes that money with his crappy pizza? He's connected. That's why I left. All he cares about is laundering money for his wise guy pals.
Castle: You didn't happen to mention this to Burns, did you?
Sal Malavolta/Terrific Authentic Nick: As a matter of fact, I did.
In the interrogation room.
Ralph Carbone/Authentic Nick: Money laundering? Whoa!
Beckett: We ran you through the federal database. We know about the FBI investigation in the 90s and about your connection to the Spolano crime family.
Ralph Carbone/Authentic Nick: My connection? My second cousin once removed. I see him at Thanksgiving once every five years. And the Feds never found anything.
Beckett: The Feds didn't. But maybe Burns did.
Castle: So, what happened, Ralph? Did he threaten to expose you? You make him disappear until your-- your kid showed up before that over you're so proud of could finish his job.
Ralph Carbone/Authentic Nick: I make money with my pizza. You want to look at my books? Go ahead. You're gonna find exactly the same thing the Feds found. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Sal put yous two up to this. Right? Sal's the one brought the Feds in in the first place trying to shut me down. You should be looking at him.
Beckett: Sal had an alibi for last night. What about you, Mr. Carbone?
Ralph Carbone/Authentic Nick: I'm at home in bed. You could ask my wife. That reporter, all he asked me about was pizza.
Near the bullpen.
Castle: That guy is guilty of something.
Beckett: Not until we have proof. Hey, Ryan. Any luck on where our victim was last night?
Ryan: Oh, still waiting for info from his bank, but I got his LUDs. Nothing last night and only a few calls to his editor in the previous days.
Castle: A reporter chasing down a story? No, there should be dozens of calls.
Beckett: Well, maybe he was making them from wherever he was staying. Any leads on the girl in the photo?
Ryan: No, but I got in touch with Burns' ex in Portland. They hadn't seen each other in years.
Esposito: Yo. Pay dirt. I canvassed Burns' building. At first it was all, "He's so quiet. He just keeps to himself." But this other neighbour who just came home said that she saw Burns and another guy having a knockdown drag-out yelling match just before he left.
Castle: About what?
Esposito: All she remembers is the other guy yelling, "If you try to print that, I swear to God I'll kill ya!"
Beckett: Did you get a description?
Esposito: And I'll give you a hint. He's authentic. And terrific.
In the interrogation room.
Luca Sabalini/Authentic Terrific Nick: So me and Burns argued, so what? It's a free country.
Beckett: Free speech doesn't cover death threats, Mr. Sabalini.
Castle: Or murder.
Luca Sabalini/Authentic Terrific Nick: I told you. I was home last night.
Beckett: Yeah, you did. But your wife tells us a different story.
Castle: It seems she remembers you sneaking out before midnight, after you thought she was asleep.
Beckett: She told us you were "off to see that whore mistress of his over in Flatbush." And when she confronted you about it this morning, you told her that you went into the city because the store alarm was going off.
Castle: We checked. It wasn't.
Beckett: So, who were you lying to Luca? Me, or your wife?
Luca Sabalini/Authentic Terrific Nick: My wife. I was with Angie last night, you can ask her.
Beckett: I could. But it doesn't mean I'm gonna believe her. What were you and Burns fighting about?
Luca Sabalini/Authentic Terrific Nick: He was gonna write something about me, destroy everything I've worked for. I had to stop him.
Beckett: And what was he gonna write.
Luca Sabalini/Authentic Terrific Nick: About my pizza. About what makes my fat-free pizza taste so good. It's made with real cheese, there's nothing fat-free about it.
Castle: You were gonna kill for that?
Luca Sabalini/Authentic Terrific Nick: It's an expression. Besides, Burns called me last night. He said he'd consider not running it if I'd do him a favour.
Castle: What favour?
Luca Sabalini/Authentic Terrific Nick: Hey, he didn't say what. 'Supposed to stop by today to talk about it.
Beckett: You said that he called you yesterday? From where?
Near the bullpen .
Ryan: Okay. Got it. The incoming call on his cell was from the Hotel Beta in Midtown.
Beckett: Alright. Let's go.
They enter and Castle hands the bellhop a tip.
Castle: Thanks.
The bellhop nods and leaves.
Castle: Paid in cash, signed in under the name Melville. This guy's definitely flying under the radar.
Beckett: Castle, there's his computer.
Castle: Okay.
Castle and Beckett sit down on the bed and he opens the laptop.
Castle: "New York's Authentic Terrific Pizza Wars." Sharp narration. Delicate prose. This is not an exposé.
Beckett: It's a puff piece.
Castle: Mm. I can practically smell the garlic, but there's nothing in there that's about anything heavier than pizza.
Beckett: Or what got him killed.
Castle: Mmm. This must be some notes. Pizza, recipes, inter…
Beckett: What?
Castle: Look at that.
The notepad reads 4/3 @ 10 PM 212-555-0222.
Beckett: That's last night. He was meeting with someone.
Castle: Someone from that phone number just before he was killed.
Beckett: I'm gonna run that down.
Beckett pulls out her phone.
Castle: You have an ap for that?
Beckett: Yeah, NYPD issue, we just got it.
Castle: Can I… ?
Castle reaches for the phone.
Beckett: Whoa!
Castle: Fine. Then you don't get to play my Angry Birds. And they just came out with a new one.
Castle flips through more of the notepad.
Castle: Johnny Farrell. Swede Andreson. How do I know those names?
Beckett: I don't know. But recognize this person?
Beckett shows Castle her phone ap results.
Castle: That's the woman from Burns's wallet.
Beckett: Bingo. Monica Wyatt. And if she met with him last night, she might be the last person to have seen him alive.
Castle: I wonder if they went out for pizza.
At Monica Wyatt's apartment.
Beckett: A little upscale for the pizza world.
Castle: Unless you use a middle man.
Beckett looks at Castle.
Castle: For the money laundering operation. She transfers the assets out of country into Swiss bank accounts using the names Johnny Farrell and Swede Andreson.
Beckett: Or she's just a real estate agent as she claims to be.
Castle: Well, that's just a cover to avoid scrutiny of the Feds.
Beckett: You had a lot of imaginary friends growing up, didn't you?
Castle: Still do.
Monica opens the door.
Monica Wyatt: Hi. Can I help you?
Monica looks at the half burned photo of herself.
Monica Wyatt: I can't believe he still had this. He actually took this on our first date.
Beckett: And how long were the two of you together?
Monica Wyatt: Just a couple months, but...God, this had to be three years ago.
Monica hands the photo back to Beckett.
Monica Wyatt: I saw him once or twice after his daughter's accident. He was different. It's like he just drifted away.
Castle: What made you see him last night?
Monica Wyatt: I… I didn't see him last night.
Beckett: Well, according to his notes, he met up with you at 10 p.m.
Monica Wyatt: Well, that wasn't a meeting, that was a date. But he didn't show.
Castle: You said you hadn't seen him in years, how did you end up on a date?
Monica Wyatt: We bumped into each other on the street the other day. It was weird, because it was in the village and I never go down there and he said he doesn't go down there either, but... He was working on a story.
Beckett: Did he tell you what it was about?
Monica Wyatt: No.
Castle: How did he seem? Worried? Distressed?
Monica Wyatt: He seemed like himself. Like his old self. Like he was onto something. He'd just come from the Hall of Records and whatever he found, he was really excited about.
Beckett: The Hall of Records?
Monica Wyatt: Yeah.
Castle: Ms. Wyatt, do the names Johnny Farrell or Swede Andreson mean anything to you?
Monica Wyatt: I can't say they do.
Beckett hangs up the phone.
Beckett: Monica Wyatt checks. Her brokerage house says that she complains about commissions more than they'd like, but other than that, she's clean. Find anything else in there?
Castle keeps flipping through the notepad they found in Gordon Burns' hotel room.
Castle: No. The rest is just pizza.
Ryan: Hey. I just got through Burns' financials.
Beckett: Any activity last night?
Ryan: Yeah, something odd. At 11:15 p.m., he used his ATM card.
Beckett: Where?
Ryan: A not so good neighbourhood about 15 blocks away from Authentic Nick's. But here's the odd part. He never finished the transaction.
Castle: You mean, he cancelled it.
Ryan: No. No, he never finished it. He popped in his ATM card, but then after about a minute of inactivity, it ate his card. It's almost as if…
Castle: Something happened.
Beckett: Get ATM surveillance. Let's find out what. I'm gonna go to the Hall of Records tomorrow morning, see if we can figure out what Burns was up to.
Castle comes in to find Gram comforting a crying Alexis on the couch.
Alexis: What do I do?
Martha: Well...
Castle: What happened?
Martha: Alexis decided to crash Lauren's party, against our better judgment.
Castle: And I take it that the, uh, party crashing didn't go so well?
Alexis: None of this would've happened if Lauren wasn't the most conniving bitch in the entire world.
Castle: Whoa...
Martha: It's warranted.
Alexis: When the band was performing, Lauren brought Ashley up on stage with her and she kissed him in front of everyone.
Castle: Bitch!
Alexis: How could she do this to me? To Ashley?
Castle: What did Ashley do?
Alexis: He was mortified. He ran off stage and we left and he was apologizing a thousand times and said he had no idea that she was gonna do that and it's like she's been trying to break us up this whole time. It's been her master plan
Martha: Yeah, well, she didn't succeed, darling. You and Ashley are stronger than ever and-- and she looks like a fool.
Alexis: Yeah, I wish that were true. According to the internet, Ashley cheated on me. She already posted the pictures of them kissing all over her website. It's a nightmare.
Castle enters with his usual coffee cups. Beckett's not at her desk.
Castle: Where's Beckett?
Ryan: Uh, Hall of Records. Tracking down what Burns was looking for.
Castle: Great.
Castle hands Beckett's coffee for Ryan.
Castle: Listen, if I gave you a website, could you have your friends at Tech hack into it and take some pictures down?
Ryan takes the slip of paper Castle hands him.
Ryan: Did someone find naked pictures of you again?
Castle: No. Not me. It's Alexis.
Ryan looks at him. Castle tries to recover.
Castle: This is for Alexis.
Ryan: Uh, this just got awkward. What's this about?
Castle: Okay. Mean girl at school kiss ambushed Alexis's boyfriend and then posted the photographic proof on her website. Alexis very upset.
Ryan: Mmm. I… I could have my friend Tony take care of it. You know, off the record.
Castle: Thanks. And, uh, no need to mention this to Beckett. You know how she gets with these things.
Castle and Ryan smile and move to sip their coffee. Beckett appears and grabs her cup from Ryan.
Beckett: Things like abusing police resources for your own personal agenda?
Castle: Whaat? That's ridi-- No, you don… No. That's… That's…
Castle gives Ryan the OK sign as he follows Beckett to her desk. Ryan slips the slip of paper into his vest.
Castle: So! Uh, what'd you find? Anything on Nicks?
Beckett: Uh, not exactly. Burns requested files relating to the 2003 murder of a drug trafficker named Harley Romero. AKA Harley Playful. Also known as Handsome Harley. Judging from those photos, I'm guessing it was ironic.
Castle: What's a guy who's been dead for eight years have to do with pizza?
Beckett: Hmm. Hey, Ryan?
Ryan: Yep.
Beckett: Did you get a chance to look into all the Nicks and their employees?
Ryan: Oh, yeah. Just going over the reports right now. Mostly minor stuff.
Beckett: Any drug charges?
Ryan: No. Nothing about drugs.
Castle: Romero. You think maybe it's some kind of mafia tie in with Authentic Nick's?
Beckett: According to the file, there's no connection to any of the families.
Castle: Someone didn't like him. Says he was shot a dozen times, dumped in an oil drum, and set on fire.
Beckett: Yeah. Word on the street was that a dealer killed him over a turf war.
Castle: So, why was Burns looking into him?
Esposito: Yo. Bank just sent over surveillance footage. You guys gotta see this.
The team watch the ATM video. Burns jogs up to the ATM and checks for someone following him.
Beckett: Looks like he's running from something.
Esposito: He's running from something, alright. Watch this.
Burns looks up at the camera, then starts writing on an envelope.
Castle: He knows he's on camera.
Beckett: He's trying to tell us something.
Ryan: He's writing it.
A man with a knife tackles Burns from the side and pulls him out of sight.
Castle: Whoa!
Beckett: K, take it back.
Esposito rewinds and plays if forward in slow-mo.
Beckett: And freeze there. He's got a knife.
Esposito: He was trying to send us a message, but he recorded his own murder.
Beckett: Close up on the face.
Esposito zooms in.
Beckett: Castle, look at that face.
Castle: That's Harley Romero.
Beckett: And he is very much alive.
Near the bullpen.
Montgomery: Why would he stop to write a message? Why not just keep running?
Castle: Well, that street empties onto a blind alley. Maybe Burns thought he couldn't get away.
Montgomery: Any idea what he was writing there?
Beckett: We're seeing if Tech can enhance the image, but we found no connection between this Harley and the pizza joints.
Montgomery: Maybe pizza has nothing to do with it. Maybe Burns knew Harley from an old story.
At the conference room.
Walt Shaw: Mmm, no. I… I don't recognize him at all.
Beckett: Did Burns ever mention the name Harley in any of his stories?
Walt Shaw: Never. When this guy supposedly died, Gordon was embedded with the second marine division in Gulf II.
Castle: Mr. Shaw, do the names Johnny Farrell or Swede Andreson mean anything to you?
Walt Shaw: Yeah. They do. They're both characters from old film noir movies.
Castle: Right! Uh...Johnny Farrell from the movie Gilda, Glen Ford's character. And Burt Lancaster played Swede Andreson in The Killers.
Beckett: And why would these two names be important.
Walt Shaw: This guy Harley, what kind of drugs was he dealing?
Beckett: Heroin. Why?
Walt Shaw: Because the only heroin story Burns ever chased was the one that he could never finish, about a high end distribution ring in New York that sets up shop inside legitimate businesses. When someone needed product, they use a code word. Their code happens to be names of characters from film noir. It's that story that destroyed him.
Castle: Why?
Walt Shaw: Because of the guy who was behind the ring. It was Cavallo.
Beckett rolls her eyes.
Walt Shaw: Gordon Burns was gunning for the Prince of Darkness himself.
Castle: Who's Cavallo?
Beckett: It's a… A street myth. An urban legend. Anytime a dealer gets whacked, people always say it's Cavallo, but he's not even real.
Walt Shaw: Cavallo's real.
Beckett: Come on, Shaw. We've all heard the scary stories.
Castle: I didn't.
Beckett: So, the story goes that Cavallo was mentored by this badass Columbian drug lord to kaze the conqueror. And eventually he put a bullet to his boss's head, slit all of his kids' throats and took over the operation. But, I mean, it's a fairytale.
Walt Shaw: Not to Burns. Not to his daughter. Burns told me he had a contact that was getting him close to Cavallo. The next day, he and his daughter were crossing the street. This car appears out of nowhere. When he came to, his leg was shattered. Nina was twenty feet away, bleeding out, and he couldn't even crawl over to hold her. So, don't you tell me Cavallo isn't real.
Castle: It sounds like Burns was Ahab and Cavallo was White Whale.
Beckett: Well, he did sign into the hotel as Melville.
Castle: You know, it's that kind of sly humor that Burns was known for. And while I am loath to profile, the name Cavallo - also the Italian word for horse - might suggest a link back to the four Nicks.
Beckett: Hey, Ryan? When you were in Narcotics, when was the first time you heard the name Cavallo?
Ryan: I don't know. Probably around, uh, '03, around all the time all those dealers were getting whacked.
Beckett: Well, that's right when Harley was killed.
Castle: So, Harley stages his own death, brutally murders his competition, and then starts a whisper campaign on the streets about the new Dark Prince of Heroin.
Beckett: And a legend is born.
Esposito: Yo. Tech was able to blow up and enhance that ATM video. They're sending it up now.
The team watches the enhanced video.
Beckett: I still can't make it out.
Esposito: Mm-mm.
Beckett: Run it again.
Castle grabs a pencil.
Castle: Can you flip it and slow it down?
Esposito: Yeah.
Beckett: What are you doing?
Castle: What I do best. Writing. Okay. Three. Six. S.
Ryan: That could be a five.
Castle: Okay, S or a 5. W. One. Two. Seven?
Esposito: It's an address.
Castle: B-A-S…
Beckett: Basement. 365 West 127th Street in the basement.
Ryan: That's three blocks from the ATM.
365 west 127th street, basement.
Beckett: Police! Nobody move!
Esposito: NYPD!
They move in and check the dark room with flashlights, guns at the ready.
Esposito: Room's clear!
Castle: Somebody moved out in a hurry.
Esposito: Coffee grinders for cutting, envelopes for packaging.
Ryan: All the earmarks of a well-organized heroin processing house.
Beckett: Get CSU in here. Sweep the area. If anyone saw anything, I want to know. Looks like your Ahab found his White Whale.
Castle: And it took him under.
At Castle’s loft.
Alexis: Hi, Dad. Bye, Dad.
Alexis tries rushing to the door for school.
Castle: What, no kiss?
Alexis stops, walks to her dad, kisses his cheek, and tries to hurry off. Castle notices the bruises on her face and catches her wrist before she can get away.
Castle: Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Alexis, what happened to your face?
Alexis: Nothing.
Castle: That's not nothing. What happened?
Alexis: Lauren. She cornered me in the bathrooms at school, said I ruined her party, and then she accused me of hacking into account and deleting those pictures she took. As if!
Castle: And--and then what happened?
Alexis: Well, I called her a backstabber, and then she...scratched me, so I...
Castle: You what?
Alexis: I punched her.
Castle: What were you thinking?
Alexis: I don't know. This isn't me. I don't crash parties. I don't get in fights with people. I-- But, dad, she made me so angry.
Castle: I know she did, but... Retaliation is not the answer. You get her back, she gets you back, and then one day one of you ends up dead in a pizza oven. Is that what you want? Look, the point is you're gonna have to deal with mean, backstabbing girls your whole life. You need to learn to be smart enough to rise above. Okay?
Alexis: Okay.
Castle: Come here.
They hug.
Castle: Did you kick her ass?
Alexis: Kinda did.
Castle: Good girl.
At the precinct.
Castle: I should've gotten involved much sooner.
Beckett: Why? Lauren would've still found a way to make Alexis's life miserable.
Castle: Lauren isn't a criminal mastermind. She's just a teenager.
Beckett: Oh, Castle, never underestimate the power of a woman on a mission.
Castle: No, I don't. I have the alimony checks to prove it.
Montgomery: Beckett. Just hung up with the lab. That trace heroin from the processing house matches most of the dope being peddled on the Lower East. Any word on this Harley?
Beckett: Sir, if half of the rumours about this guy are true, then he's got snitches all over the force, so I was thinking of holding off on an APB until we knew more.
Montgomery: Keep me posted.
Beckett: Yes, sir.
Montgomery leaves.
Castle: You know, Shaw said that Cavallo was using legitimate businesses to distribute product. You think he could be operating out of one of the Nicks?
Beckett: Yeah, but I can't get a warrant for a fishing expedition. We're gonna have to have something more concrete.
Esposito: Yo. CSU swept the tenement basement top to bottom. There's not one print anywhere.
Beckett: Any witnesses see Burns getting chased?
Ryan: In that neighbourhood, nobody sees nothing. But one of our uniforms did find this in a storm drain near the ATM.
Ryan pulls a phone in an evidence bag out of his pocket.
Beckett: Burns' phone?
Castle: Does it strike anyone else as strange that a seasoned war correspondent would suddenly develop butterfingers, drop his phone while being chased?
Beckett: You think he purposefully dropped it?
Castle: So that whoever chasing him wouldn't get his phone.
Beckett: Or what was on it.
Near the bullpen.
Beckett: The last call he made was 9-1-1 and he didn't press send.
Beckett pulls up the phone's photos on the computer.
Castle: Outside the drug lab. He was casing the joint.
Beckett flips to the next picture of a woman exiting the building.
Beckett: That's Monica. She's involved.
Beckett pounds on Monica's door.
Beckett: Monica Wyatt! NYPD! Open up!
They hear a crash and a woman's scream.
Beckett: Monica!
Esposito: Step back!
Esposito kicks in the door.
Esposito: NYPD!
Beckett: Monica?
The team enters to find Monica sprawled on the floor, her head and arm cut and bleeding.
Monica Wyatt: He tried to kill me!
Ryan: Window!
Esposito: Let's go!
Ryan and Esposito run out the window and down the fire escape.
Castle: Monica, who did this to you?
Monica Wyatt: If I tell you, then I'm dead.
Beckett: I think we're past that. Who did it?
Monica Wyatt: Cavallo.
Monica sits on the bed with a towel to her bleeding head.
Monica Wyatt: I wasn't lying before about Gordon. We did date years ago and I thought it was real, but he was just doing it to get close to Cavallo. I never imagined...
Castle: What's a Midtown real estate agent doing mixed up with heroin dealers?
Monica Wyatt: Their labs are mobile. They need new places for the processing centers every month or so and I had access to all the information that they needed. Look, this is not who I am. I mean, I never meant for anyth…
Beckett: How did it start?
Monica Wyatt: I had some problems a few years back. I owed some people money. A man came to me and he told me that he could make it all better. I just had to do a favor for him every now and then. And at the time, that actually sounded harmless. But this man knew things about me. I mean, things that nobody could possibly know. And I wanted to leave, but after what happened to Gordon's kid I just... Gordon found me a couple days ago. He said he needed my help. He said that I could end this and that we both could be free. All I had to do was take him there. And now Gordon is dead and I am next.
Beckett: Cavallo, who is he?
Monica Wyatt: I've never seen him.
Castle: Didn't he just try to kill you?
Monica Wyatt: If I knew who Cavallo was, don't you think I would've told Gordon? I've only ever dealt with Cavallo's right hand man before. That's who was here trying to kill me.
Beckett: And who is his man?
Monica Wyatt: His name is Harley.
Beckett pulls out a mugshot of Harley.
Beckett: Him?
Castle: Harley is Cavallo. So, Cavallo's hiding right under everyone's noses.
Beckett: How do I find him?
Monica Wyatt: He finds me.
Beckett: Monica, Gordon was right. We can end this. But we need your help. We believe that Cavallo is trafficking drugs through a pizzeria, but we need to know which one.
Monica Wyatt: I'm sorry, I don't know which one.
Esposito: Yo. We covered the whole area.
Ryan: Whoever he was, he's in the wind.
Beckett: Alright, why don't you guys take Monica to the E.R., get her checked. And then get her over to Narcotics, let them talk to her.
Castle: One last question. Johnny Farrell and Swede Andreson.
Monica Wyatt: It's how Gordon got onto this story in the first place. He heard somebody at one of the pizza joints using those names and he knew it was Cavallo's code. Those were last week's names.
Beckett: Do you know this week's names?
Monica Wyatt: No, but Gordon said they were from his favourite film, The Maltese Falcon.
Near the bullpen.
Nick 1: You're a sneak!
Nick 2: I'm a what?!
All of the Nicks are bickering in the bullpen.
Esposito: I don't care if these guys could've recognized you. You hold them much longer, there's gonna be another murder on our hands.
Street.
Beckett: Relax, we're almost done. We got two Nicks down, two to go. K, call you in a bit.
Beckett hangs up.
Castle: Wonder if I should've used Sydney Greenstreet's character, Kasper Gutman. Now there's a guy who loved his pizza.
Beckett: Well, we already put our money down on Bogey, so let's just play this through.
Castle and Beckett approach the take-out window for Terrific Authentic Nick's Pizza.
Cashier: Slice?
Castle: Uh, no. Pick-up, actually for Spade. Sam Spade.
Cashier: Of course, Mr. Spade. We have your order right here.
The cashier turns around to get the pizza. Beckett and Castle exchange a look.
Cashier: Here you go, Mr. Spade. We put it on your tab.
Castle: Thank you.
Castle takes the pizza box, turns around and opens it as the cashier walks into the shop. It's full of heroin packets.
Castle: Winner, winner, pizza dinner.
In the interrogation room.
Beckett: Possession, trafficking, conspiracy to distribute. That right there is thirty years easy, Sal. Thirty Terrific Authentic years.
Castle: It's life if you're an accessory to Burns's murder.
Sal Malavolta/Terrific Authentic Nick: No, I had nothing to do with that, I swear.
Beckett: You swear. So, what are you trying to tell me? Are your trying to tell me that Harley had the idea to put the body in your rival's oven?
Castle: You're a pizza man, Sal. Body in an oven sounds more like your speed.
Sal Malavolta/Terrific Authentic Nick: No. No, no, no, no. It was him. It was all him.
Beckett: So, what? Now you're a victim?
Sal Malavolta/Terrific Authentic Nick: Look, my place was struggling. He came to me. He said the man that he worked for could help. All I had to do was let him use my shop for a couple of months. Then he would make... My dream come true.
Castle: Your dream?
Sal Malavolta/Terrific Authentic Nick: Yeah, he said, uh, after it was over, the man he worked for would, uh, b--burn down Authentic Nick's. This ain't me. I never even smoked a joint. But all those other Nick's, the stuff they were doing, it was driving me crazy.
Beckett: How did Burns' body get in the oven?
Sal Malavolta/Terrific Authentic Nick: Harley called me that night. Said he needed to throw something in my oven night. Didn't say what it was.
Castle: Yeah, but you knew it wasn't a tray of lasagna.
Sal Malavolta/Terrific Authentic Nick: And I said "No way. No way, I never signed up for cremation services." I never dreamed what I turned away would end up in Ralph Carbone's oven.
Beckett: You want our help, Sal? You want me to put in a good word with the D.A.?
Sal Malavolta/Terrific Authentic Nick: Yeah.
Beckett: Then help me find him. Help me find Cavallo.
Sal Malavolta/Terrific Authentic Nick: (sigh) You can't find him. He finds you.
Beckett: That's not helping me, Sal.
Sal Malavolta/Terrific Authentic Nick: You don't get it. When I run out of product, I call him. He delivers.
Beckett: Make the call.
Harley arrives in a car and brings a case to the order window. Beckett steps into it with a gun to his head and badges him. Ryan and Esposito appear behind him, guns raised. Harley puts his hands behind his head.
In the observation room.
Castle: Harley Romero, AKA the legendary Cavallo.
Beckett: He won't talk without a lawyer.
Montgomery: With the evidence from the ATM video and Sal's testimony, he's gonna need one.
Castle: You know, it's brilliant when you think about it. The unassuming middle man does all the dirty work while everyone stays busy looking for the menacing mythic overlord…
Beckett: Who no one ever meets, because he's not really real.
Montgomery: Well, real or not, he's going away for a long time. Good work.
In the hallway.
Ryan: Hey. Narcotics just finished with Monica Wyatt. She cooperated fully.
Beckett: Okay, process her out.
Montgomery: And put a patrol car outside her building for the next few nights just in case Cavallo has friends.
Montgomery and Ryan leave. Beckett sees Castle's pensive face.
Beckett: What's up?
Castle: I was just thinking about Burns. How close he came to catching the guy who killed his daughter only to come up short.
Beckett: Well, if it's any consolation, there's justice now.
Castle: Yeah. You know what's still bugging me?
Beckett: Hmm?
Castle: That guy is running for his life. Why does he ditch his phone?
Beckett: Well, he probably knew that he was gonna get killed and he wanted at least someone to know the truth.
Castle: What truth? It wasn't like there was a picture of Cavallo on it.
Beckett: No, you're right. The only person he had...a picture of was...
Monica struts down the precinct hallway into the elevator and smirks. Beckett shoves her hand into the doors just before they close.
Beckett: Just a few more questions, Miss Wyatt.
In the interrogation room.
Monica Wyatt: I've been waiting over an hour.
Beckett: You know, the funny thing about this case is that nobody is who they claim to be, not even you.
Castle: Monica Wyatt. It says here you moved to New York in 2002 from L.A.?
Monica Wyatt: Yeah, so?
Beckett: So, we did a little bit of digging and the only Monica Wyatt that we found was a heroin addict who was shot point blank and then dumped in the L.A. river.
Castle: Six months later, word of a new and brutal kingpin started sweeping the streets.
Monica Wyatt: And you're saying that's me? (laughs) I'm a real estate agent. Have you seen my apartment?
Beckett: Oh, yeah, we saw that one. But all of the other ones can only be previewed online.
Monica Wyatt: What are you talking about?
Beckett: Your apartment sales to Walter Neff, Frank Chambers, Richard Harlan, they're all characters from noir films. They aren't real. You made millions in heroin holdings, which you turned into millions in real estate holdings, all clean.
Castle: All the while, perpetuating the myth of Cavallo.
Monica Wyatt: Gordon didn't die chasing a myth.
Beckett: Oh, yeah. Gordon. Well, there's something that you didn't completely lie about. You did meet him a couple of years ago. But not as a boyfriend. He was a pain in the ass reporter that just kept getting a little too close…
Castle: Until a car came out of nowhere and killed his daughter.
Beckett: That got him out of your hair for a couple of years, but then he caught your scent again at Nick's Pizza.
Castle: And that forced you to get rid of him permanently. And then you fed us Harley, the sacrificial lamb to throw us off your trail.
Monica Wyatt: Harley attacked me.
Beckett: Oh, yeah, and then he managed to run down the fire escape with such incredible speed that two of New York's finest detectives were incapable of seeing him, never mind catching him.
Castle: Beating yourself up was a nice touch. You know what I just realized, all those noir films that Cavallo draws his names from, they all have one thing in common. A femme fatal.
Monica smirks.
Monica Wyatt: I'd like my lawyer now.
Castle enters with a pizza while Alexis reads on the couch.
Castle: Ah, great. You're still up.
Alexis: Couldn't sleep if I wanted to.
Castle: That makes two of us.
Alexis: Is that from Stefano's?
Castle: Mm-hmm.
Alexis: You went all the way across the bridge for a pizza?
Castle: Not for just anyone. Fresh basil and sausage. Any updates on, uh...
Castle touches Alexis's bruised face.
Alexis: Ah, um... I called a mediation session with our school counsellor today and it turns out Lauren was just jealous of all the time I was spending with Ashley. She thought I had ditched our friendship.
Castle: So... What'd you do?
Alexis: We hugged it out.
Castle: And now you're friends again?
Alexis: It's too soon to tell.
Castle puts his arm around Alexis and they cuddle.
Castle: Hurts like these take time to heal.
Alexis: Time. And pizza.
Castle and Alexis each grab a slice, giddy with anticipation.
Castle: Cheers.
