"Living room, 9:03 P.M." "EMF level spiking off the chart." "Hello?" "Is anyone there?" "Mercy..." "I can see it." "Mercy..." "No!" "No!" "Dad, are you using me as a shield" " against flesh-eating zombies?" " No." "No." "I just wanted you to have a better view." "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." "Where are you going?" "I think" "I really think we're safer in pairs." "Sorry, dad." "You're gonna have to fend for yourself." "I'm skyping with Ashley." "What?" "Right in the middle of father-daughter zombie time?" "Can't you do it later?" "He's not available later." "He's got a dorm meeting and then a seminar after that." "I know he's busy, and you are very thoughtful to be so accommodating, sweetheart, but a healthy relationship is based on mutual respect." "I mean, think about what kind of signal you're sending if you're the one always rearranging your schedule at the other one's every beck and call." "I mean, if you just drop everything... the very moment that-- I'm sorry." "Oh, hang on." "Detective Beckett." "I'll be right there." "I'm worried about Alexis." "I think her not getting into Stanford has upset the balance of power in her relationship with Ashley." "Oh, Castle, I wouldn't worry about that." "I mean, Alexis is a girl, and Ashley's a teenage boy." "I'd say she still holds most of the power." "The "Ghost Wranglers" are here?" "Okay, that's why I love these guys." "Body's not even cold, they're already tracking down the ghost." "Why doesn't it surprise me that you actually watch that ridiculous show?" "Ridiculously awesome." "Jack Sinclair is hands down" "America's most accomplished ghost hunter." "Um, Castle..." "Jack Sinclair is the name of our victim." "And the hunter becomes the hunted." "He was here doing a special about the house, you know, for his TV show." "Why this place?" "It has a bit of a history." "You mean, paranormal history?" "Look, detective, I'm not saying" "I believe in that stuff, okay?" "But I've owned the McClaren house for over 20 years, and when the phone rings about this place, odds are, it's not a busted toilet." "Anybody live in there now?" "Not for years." "It's hard getting tenants to stick around." "So when this Sinclair guy called," "I figured, what the hell?" "Maybe he could clear the place up, make it rentable." "But after what just happened..." "Wh-what exactly did just happen?" "His throat was slit almost from ear to ear." "Jugular, superior thyroid, common carotid, left and right-- you name it, it's been severed." "Well, that explains all the blood." "Here's what I can't explain-- depth and nature of the wounds tell me that the killer got up close and personal." "So then where are the footprints?" "Not just that." "Look at the blood spatter." "You cut all those arteries, and the spray is gonna come fast and it's gonna come strong." "I'll say." "It went everywhere." "But it shouldn't have." "Some of it should've landed on the killer." "Yet every drop of it landed on the floor." "This spray is completely unobstructed." "Exactly." "It doesn't make sense." "Unless the blood passed right through the killer." "Are you saying a ghost did this?" "Please don't encourage him." "I'm saying, maybe Mr. Sinclair finally met a wraith he couldn't wrangle." "Lanie, who called this in?" "I'm..." "Jack's producer." "I worked with him for the last four years." "Okay, Lulu, we just need to know everything that happened before you called 9-1-1." "Okay." "Jack went in the house at around 7:00." "And then he went on lockdown a few minutes after that." "Uh, he locks himself into the house for the night." "It's standard protocol for ghost hunters." "Uh-huh." "And was he in there alone?" "Yeah." "We always do a clean sweep of the place right before we start." "So he--he locked the doors, and then" "I went into the tech van to watch the feed." "And were the cameras rolling the whole time?" "The infrared cameras are to detect unexplained thermal anomalies." "Living room, 9:03 P.M." "EMF levels spiking off the charts." "That's an electromagnetic field meter." "That's a tool of the ghost busting trade." "It's used to measure spikes in paranormal energy." "Let's just watch." "Hello?" "Anyone there?" "Mercy..." "I can see it." "Mercy..." "It sounds like he was begging his killer for mercy." "What happened?" "That--that's it." "That's when all the camera signals cut out at once." "And what could explain the picture suddenly going out like that?" "I don't know." "It's never happened before." "Well, there was that last episode of "The Sopranos."" "No, there's no way." "Jack had to have been in there with someone else." "Did he have any enemies, anybody that he was having problems with recently?" "No, not that I know of." "He... he did show up to lockdown upset." "Do you know where he was coming from?" "No." "He pulled up in a cab and grabbed his gear and just went inside." "Did anyone else have keys to this place?" "Just Jack and Barry B." "Barry Bavetta." "That's Jack's cameraman." "Where is Barry?" "Doesn't he usually do lockdown with Jack?" "He and Jack had an argument this afternoon." "Things got pretty heated, and then Barry just quit." "Could he have programmed the cameras to turn off like that?" "Actually... yeah, he could." "Barry Bavetta checked out of his hotel in a hurry at 7:30." "Mm." "That's enough time to make it back to the house by 9:00 when Jack was killed." "Barry's phone is still going straight to voice mail." "Well, the manager gave me his credit card info, so if we're lucky he's out there using it." "All right, I'm gonna start scrubbing this footage from inside of the house." "Maybe there's something in there that can implicate this guy." "Right." "Hey." "We're still on for dinner tomorrow night, right?" "Oh, yeah." "Jenny's totally psyched." "She's never really hung out with Lanie before, so cool." "Well, just to let you know," "Lanie's gonna be getting off a double shift, so she could be a little cranky." "Oh." "Maybe we should reschedule." "I mean, isn't the whole point for Jenny and Lanie to get along?" "Nah, she'll be cool." "Just, you know, don't say anything controversial." "Like what?" "What's controversial?" "Bingo." "Bingo?" "Don't talk about Bingo?" "Barry Bavetta's been busy, and so has his lap." "Dude has racked up a hell of a tab at a strip club by the airport." "First charge, an hour after the murder." "Sorry to interrupt your fun, Barry." "We heard you were racking up quite a bill." "Or is that billing quite a rack?" "So what, getting a lap dance is illegal now?" "Look, I was just blowing off some steam." "Haven't had the best day." "Yeah, so we heard." "Your producer said that you and Jack Sinclair had a falling out today." "So this is about Jack?" "Yeah." "We got into it." "Wasn't the first fight we ever had, but I made sure it'll be the last." "Why don't you tell us what happened, Barry?" "Jack screwed me over is what happened." "He told me last-minute" "I wasn't going with him on lockdown tonight." "Any reason?" "The only one he gave was, he's the boss." "But... it's 'cause he's jealous." "Worried I'm gonna walk off with all the credit." "Why is that?" "Because the episode we're doing tonight, the McClaren house, was my idea." "I did all the research." "Jack didn't even want to do the damn show." "Why wouldn't Jack want to do a show about a haunted mansion in New York?" "That sounds like ratings gold." "Jack's weird about New York." "He was brought up here, but he's got some strange aversion to coming back." "He tried to torpedo the whole thing, said he wouldn't be caught dead in that house." "And you decided to prove him wrong?" "What?" "Jack Sinclair was killed in the McClaren house tonight." "Killed?" "Barry, why didn't you give your keys back to the owner?" "Uh, I'm--I was" "I was, uh, upset." "I forgot." "Is--is--is he really dead?" "You were the one who set up the cameras, right?" "Yeah." "So?" "So you knew exactly where they were placed and how to avoid them when you snuck back in the house." "You even knew how to program them to turn off at a certain point." "Whoa, whoa." "I did not kill Jack." "I wasn't even there." "I got stuck in the security line and missed my flight to LA." "I went to the strip club right after that." "You can check that." "So TSA has Barry going through security at 9:15 at JFK." "There's no way that he was in the house at the time of the murder." "Plus, tech checked out those cameras." "They weren't programmed to turn off." "The only thing Barry's guilty of killing is time at that strip club." "So... if Barry's not our guy," "I think it's time we revisit the possibility that our killer's a" "If you say ghost, I'm sending you home." "Apparition-American." "Have you figured out another way to explain the blood spatter?" "No, I haven't, but I will." "Apparently Jack Sinclair was very upset when he arrived in a taxi cab tonight, so let's find out where that cab picked him up and what he was doing there." "Roger that." "You'll see, Castle." "This will turn out just like every other murder investigation." "Once we find out more about our victim's life, the details surrounding his death, everything will be explained." "Um... maybe not everything." "I was reviewing the footage shot inside the house tonight looking for signs that someone else was there-- a-a shadow, a reflection, something." "Instead, I found, uh, well, you better see for yourself." "So I slowed down the video." "Watch the tripod in the background." "There." "You see it." "Wh--um..." "I'm sure there's a perfectly simple explanation for all of that." "There is." "They're here." "Whoa." "Did you get any sleep?" "Not a wink, but it was worth it." "After researching the history of the McClaren mansion," "I think I know what happened to our victim, ghost hunter Jack Sinclair." " That coffee's for you, by the way." " Oh." "Oh, the--the other one." "That's... that's" "I'll make you a-- I'll make you one." "Um, since the McClaren mansion was built in 1898, bodies have been piling up faster than a Tarantino movie." "Eight killings in all, starting with the original owner, Robert Pettigrew, strangled, 1903." "All the way to Melanie Benton, hacked to pieces in 1991." "The current owner, Steve Fuller, tried to have the house torn down, but it was declared a landmark by the society for historic" "I'm sorry, Castle." "I appreciate your work." "I do." "But what does this have to do with our case?" "Just getting to that." "It seems that in almost all of these killings, the killer claimed that there was a--ready for this?" "That a demon was responsible." "A demon?" "Really?" "I'm not making this up." "It's in the books." "Fine." "A demon killed Jack Sinclair." "So what's our next step?" "Are we gonna stake out the house, wait for the demon to show up, zap him with our proton pack?" "That's not a real thing, you know, that real ghost hunters use." "Real ghost hunters?" "Isn't that a contradiction in terms, bro?" "Okay." "Does anyone have anything pertinent to our case?" "I do." "Okay." "I tracked down that cab our vic took last night." "The driver's trip log says that he picked up Jack on the corner of 38th and 9th." "Have uniforms canvass the area with Jack's photo." "Let's see what he was up to." "Oh, and phone records, too." "Maybe that'll shed some light on things." "I think I can shed some light on why Jack didn't want to do the show here." "Talked to an old high school pal that Jack had breakfast with a couple of days ago." "Turns out that our vic actually used to live right near the McClaren house." "Said that he used to walk a couple blocks out of his way just to avoid walking past it." "Said it gave him a creeped out feeling." "You see?" "I am telling you, there is something going on with this house." "The last people... well, to-- the last people that lived there moved out four years ago in a hurry." "Why?" "I don't know, but I think it's time we found out." "Knock yourself out, Castle." " You're not coming?" " No, I've got a murder to solve." "I'll go." " Ooh." "That's a look." " Yeah." "I get these a lot." "Just start walking." " Let's go." " Faster." "I just saw Ryan downstairs." "I can't believe you let him go chasing ghosts with Castle." "Yeah." "Maybe Shaggy will keep Scooby out of trouble." "Besides, you never know." "Maybe they'll come up with something useful." "Oh, you want useful?" "Because I just spoke to CSU." "They found fingerprints at the scene from a real live person, so..." "His name is Ron Berger." "He lives in Queens." " They're picking him up now." " Does he have a record?" "Yeah." "Chuckles did eight years for armed robbery with a knife." "He's also dabbled in BE, which makes breaking into a locked house no problem for this guy." "When did he get out of prison?" "Five weeks ago." "Ohh, finally a lead that makes sense." "Oh, it gets better." "Ron has a history with our vic." ""Ghost Wranglers" did a piece on five points correctional, and Ron was featured." "Claims he was sharing his cell with a spirit." "Well, that's prison overcrowding for you." "Apparently, Casper was being a little too friendly, touching Ron in all the wrong places." " Molested by a ghost." " Mm-hmm." "Wow." "Some people will do anything to get on TV." "Yeah, except it backfired on him." "Ron became the laughingstock of the prison yard." "He got all pissed off, and he wrote the show a letter." ""I'm gonna make Jack Sinclair bleed for what he did to me."" "I wrote that letter, yeah." "But that was as far as it went." "I-I didn't kill him." "Where were you last night at 9:00 P.M.?" "I was at home, watching cartoons." "Hmm." "You can ask my mom." "Well, we have a problem, Ron, because we found your fingerprints inside the McClaren house." "I-I-I can explain that." "I'm waiting." "I-I can't violate my parole." "I can't go back to Five Points, not--not in that cell, not--not with that... thing." "You're worried about your ghost?" "Ron, you're looking at murder." "You've got a flimsy alibi." "Your fingerprints are all over the crime scene." "You had means, motive, and opportunity." "All right, all right." "I was there." "Just, uh, not last night." "About a month ago." "I was there because of Jack." "He--he called me after I got out." "Jack Sinclair called you, after you threatened him?" "To apologize for the prison show thing, and he--he had a request." "What kind of a request?" "Uh, it was a strange one." "He wanted me to take pictures inside the McClaren house." " Why you?" " It was locked up." "So, uh..." "I had to break in." "Did he give you any reason for asking for those pictures?" "Okay." "We're gonna need to see the photos." "Hmm." "So tech analyzed the SD card." "Time/date stamp was not messed with." " So then Ron was telling the truth?" " Well, about the photos." "I'm still not buying the whole "touched by a phantom" routine." "I wonder what Jack wanted with all these photos." "You know, all of the pictures are of just one room-- the living room." "That's the same room as the crime scene." "So Jack hired Ron Berger to take pictures of the very room he was gonna die in." "That's creepy." "That's not creepy, Castle." "I'm sure it can all be explained and I bet you that living room has absolutely nothing to do with ghosts or demons." "The living room, definitely." "That was the epicenter of the activity." "Ms. Boyer, when you say activity..." "We didn't buy it either." "We had heard all about the McClaren house, it's history." "We laughed about it." "At first, everything was fine." "Then it started-- lights going off, strange noises, doors slamming." "Did anything violent ever happen?" "One night, uh, we heard noises from the living room, we went downstairs, found the whole room trashed." "Tables flipped over, books ripped apart, pictures smashed." "Oh, my God." "That's terrible." "Is that when you decided to move out?" "Not without a fight." "We found this woman." "This, um, ghost hunter." "Said she was the best." "Said all other ghost hunters came to her for help." "But she took one look, and told us to run like hell." "Yeah, what was her name?" "Um..." "Mercy." "That's right." "Mercy Lagrande." ""Mercy, I can see it." "Mercy."" "Maybe Jack Sinclair wasn't begging for mercy when he died." "He was saying her name." "Mercy Lagrande, real name, Mercedes King, runs an unlicensed business doing paranormal consultations." "There's a reason why she's unlicensed." "Check out this rap sheet." "We've got ID theft, fraud, check fraud, and impersonating a religious official." "Look at where her business is located--38th and 9th." "That's on the same block our vic caught that cab." "So Jack paid Mercy a visit, and then goes to the McClaren house upset." "Hours later, he says Mercy's name right before he dies." "So the question is, how is she involved in all of this?" "Uh, well, you know, uh," "Ryan and I would be glad to go check this out if you guys are too busy solving that murder." "I did what I could to help him, but I'd say it wasn't enough." "Why did Jack Sinclair come to see you?" "I've been in the McClaren house." "He was going to face whatever's in there, and he wanted my advice." "Which you gave him... for a fee." "I'm not a charlatan, detective." "Someone with Jack Sinclair's experience wouldn't be seeking my counsel if I was." "Please." "If he was that good, why would he seek your help?" "This was not like any other house to him." "When he took the assignment, the dreams started." "Just glimpses at first, bits and pieces of a room, but then the dreams became nightmares-- figures, bodies." "Whose bodies?" "He didn't know." "But the more we talked, the more it became clear to me, these weren't dreams." "Well, what were they?" "Memories." "He witnessed great evil." "Repressed it all these years." "But the memories were too strong." "They were coming back." "And what was he remembering exactly?" "A woman, a lot of blood, a man with a knife." "Who was the man?" "He said the face was blurred but getting clearer." "I told him, if he returned to the room where it happened, it might all come back to him." ""Mercy, I can see it." That's the murderer's face." "Jack recovered the memory just before he was killed." "The last murder in that house was 20 years ago." "I read about the case." "There were no witnesses." "Oh, there was one." "Jack Sinclair was there the night that woman died." "He was there." "The pictures aren't pretty." "Melanie Benton, sliced up in the McClaren house on the night of April 20, 1991." "One guess where she was found." "The living room." "Give that man a prize." "So 1991, Jack Sinclair is what, 11?" "Still living in the neighborhood." "I'm betting this is the murder he witnessed." "Yeah, but how did he witness a murder without the killer knowing?" "I did some digging." "Jack had a paper route, and the McClaren house was on it." "Okay, so Jack shows up, maybe to collect money, hears screams, and he peers in through those windows." "He started having dreams about what he'd seen all those years ago, and he wanted to make sense of them." "And that's why our vic hired Ron Berger to break in and take pictures of the living room." "Was there ever an arrest made?" "No, which means the killer is still out there." "So Jack Sinclair is just about to recover his memory and possibly ID our killer, and he's silenced." "Who was the investigating officer on the case?" "I've been retired ten years, and I still think about this one." "I was the first one on the scene, and I gotta tell you, the pictures don't even do it justice, what Matt Benton did to his poor wife." "Matt Benton?" "You think that Melanie was killed by her own husband?" "Well, the neighbors complained about constant fighting." "We put out an APB on Benton the night that Melanie was murdered, but he got away, and he's been on the lam ever since so it doesn't take a genius to put it together." "Did you ever hear anything about his whereabouts after he disappeared?" "We got one tip once about him being in Europe." "But that--that's gotta be a good 15 years ago now." "So somebody spotted him?" "No, he sent postcards to his brother." "They were postmarked Vienna." "What did they say?" "Do you remember?" "They all said the same thing" "Benton claimed he wasn't responsible for his wife's death, something about a demon." "Really?" "He claimed there was a demon involved?" "I know." "Like anyone's gonna fall for that, right?" "I mean, what kind of jackass did he think he was dealing with?" "Did you ever follow up on any of those postcards, detective Smith?" "We got Interpol involved, but without any hard evidence against the guy-- no murder weapon, no witness-- you know," "I don't think they ever took it too seriously." "And what if a witness came forward now, would that change anything?" "That would change everything." "It sounds more and more like Matt Benton found out about Jack and decided to keep him quiet." "But how did Matt find out that Jack was recovering his memories?" "I have an idea about that." "I was rechecking our vic's phone records." "It turns out, a week before he died," "Jack Sinclair called the law firm of Lockhart, Whelan and Benton." "Benton?" "As in" "Pete Benton, Matt's brother." "That's the brother that Matt was sending those postcards to and" "Pete could have easily alerted Matt that someone was asking questions, the wrong kind of questions." "My brother sent me those postcards over 15 years ago." "I gave them to the cops." "I haven't heard from him since." "And no contact since then, Mr. Benton?" "No." "Not even after talking to Jack Sinclair?" "Jack Sinclair?" "The ghost hunter." "He was killed in the McClaren house last night." "I never spoke to Jack Sinclair." "Well, his phone records show otherwise." "I get calls every year from some TV producer looking to exploit my family's tragedy and the legend of the McClaren mansion." "Look, it's a shame, whatever happened to this guy." "But if he called here, I did not talk to him." "And I certainly haven't spoken to my brother." "So if we check your phone records, we won't find calls to Vienna?" "We're an international law firm." "We have clients all over Europe, including Vienna." "We're gonna need access to those phone logs." "Then you need a warrant, and you don't have enough to get one." "Mr. Benton, your car is downstairs." "The law firm's car service of choice is Execu-drive." "Here are Pete Benton's billing slips going back a month or so." "Was there any unusual activity?" "Uh, daily routine's the same to and from work, except for four days ago, when Pete authorized a pickup at JFK, international terminal." "Okay." "So maybe Pete did have his brother on speed dial." "Where'd they go?" "Fairwyck hotel." "All right, let's take this down to the Fairwyck and see if anybody recognizes Matt Benton." "Actually, I had tech mock up an aged-up version of the photo," " you know, Matt 20 years later." "Mm." "Wait a minute." "Don't you guys have dinner plans tonight?" "Uh, we can move it to... some night when Lanie's not coming off a double shift." "Uh, actually, Lanie's really looking forward to it." "You know what?" "No worries." "It's on my way home." "You sure?" "That I don't want to be the one to blame for ruining Lanie's night out?" "Oh, yeah." "I am sure." "Honestly, Richard, how do you plan to solve a 1-day-old murder by reading a book about a 100-year-old house?" "You sound just like Beckett." "There has to be a reason why all these things happened in the living room-- all these murders, uh, the tenants who had their furniture smashed, all in the same room." "Maybe that demon of yours did not like the furniture." "You bring in a decorator, snazz up the place..." "All this nonsense might stop." "Less like Beckett." "Oh." "No need of snazzing up here." "Look at you." "Wow." "You're really taking these Skype dates with Ashley seriously." "I'm going to a party." "Ash was supposed to call me hours ago, but I'm tired of waiting." "Oh, good for you, sweetheart." "Have a good time." "Thanks, dad." "I'll be back by midnight." "Thank you." "Bye." "Wow." "Did you see that outfit?" "Should I be worried?" "Ashley's the one who should be worried." "Trust me, if he could see how she looked going out now, he wouldn't be so quick to leave her hanging." "Oh, isn't this funny?" "It's Ashley." "Decline." "It's almost as if he was listening in to our conversation." "Listening in." "The architect for the McClaren house, he's from Scotland." "I-is that important?" "It's the key." "Two words-- laird's lug." "Laird's lug?" "Literally "lord's ear."" "It refers to the hidden alcove above a dining hall of many Scottish Castles." "The host could use it to eavesdrop on his guests." "I think I've either had too much wine or not enough." "Seamus McClaren, builder of the McClaren house, grew up right next to Edinburgh Castle, notable for its laird's lug." "The concept so tickled him, he put modern versions of it into several of his houses." "So you're saying that the McClaren house has a hidden alcove?" "It explains everything." "How come the killings only happen in that one room?" "How does the killer seemingly appear and disappear at will?" "Answers that have, thus far, remained elusive." "Speaking of which, how did your canvassing go?" "I came up empty." "There's absolutely no evidence that Matt Benton was ever at the Fairwyck." "Maybe the evidence of his return will be in that alcove." "It's worth a shot." "We'll go first thing in the morning, see what we come up with." "You want to go now?" "Well, unless, of course, you're afraid." " Yeah, right." " No, I get it." "I mean, it is a haunted house." " I'm not scared, Castle." " No, no, you're right." "You're right." "I mean, the demon has tasted fresh blood." "Its--its thirst may not be slaked with just one victim." "Okay, come on." "Listen, if-- if you're not scared," " just say it." " No." "Come on." "You know you want to." "I don't want to say it, Castle." "For me." "Please." "I ain't afraid a' no ghosts." "Thank you." "I don't know, Castle, there have been a lot of murder investigations in here over the years, and I think they would've found a secret room if there actually was one." "Not if it was hidden well enough." "You know, you're gonna regret it if we actually find this room." "Why is that?" "Because then you're gonna have to admit that there is no demon behind all of this." "There's nothing more than a boring psycho killer hiding in a a room." "Well, unless it's a psycho killer posessed by a demon." "Why are you so determined to find the supernatural in all this?" "Why are you so determined not to?" "You know what?" "I am just following the evidence wherever it may lead, and as a cop, I'm going to consider every possible worldly explanation." "And what if there is none?" "Well, then I'm open to the alternatives." " You?" "Skepticus Maximus?" " You know what?" "Just because I don't talk about it nonstop doesn't mean I don't believe in another plane." "I've actually had my own experiences." "Get out!" "Like what?" "When I was a little girl, my parents rented a cabin by a lake and when I had to go to the bathroom" "You know what?" "You're just gonna think I'm crazy." "No, no, no." "Go ahead, tell me." "And on the way there" "I heard this voice whispering" ""Kate, Kate."" "It was coming from this room that the owners had locked up and told my parents." "never to go in it." "Except that night there was this weird glow underneath the door." "Then I heard the voice again: "Kate"." "And so I walked up to the door and this time it wasn't locked." "And I turned the doornob and I opened it up and then I saw it." "What was it?" "What did you see?" "Ah, ha ha." "Very funny." "Yes, you got me." "How long have you known me, Castle?" "Of course I don't believe in ghosts." "What was that?" "Well, that's odd." "No, that's more than just odd." "This is the same sequence of events that preceded Jack Sinclair's murder." "Except Jack only had an EMF meter." "I've got a gun and a flashlight." "With dead batteries." "I could swear I just put in new ones." "I know I saw some matches by one of these candles here." " Wow, Castle." "Mature." " Right." "Sorry." "Yeah." "Here we go." "Castle..." "That was not me." "Okay." "So maybe there's a draft here." "Right?" "Wait." "I think I feel it right here." "Give me a boost." " Okay." "Ready?" " Yeah." "Oh, God, Castle." " Oh, yeah, this is easy." " Ohh." "Castle, come on." "Just hold still." "Jeez." "That's the noise on the tape right before Jack Sinclair was killed." "Okay." "I'm gonna go up." "Ready?" "Grab my legs." "Castle, I said legs." "Okay?" "Oh, legs." "Sorry." "Not as sorry as I was." "I'm around dead people all day." "When I get home, I want a live one." "I was tired." "I can't believe we waited this long to do this, babe." "Yeah, yeah." "It really did turn out to be a perfect night." "I would like to propose a toast." "I know that it's kind of corny, but it's me so, well, there we go." "Uh, to best friends, now and forever." "Cheers." "And to the future newlyweds." " Cheers." " You are so thoughtful." "You know, Kevin said you guys made a great couple, but..." "I had no idea." "So..." "When are you two getting married?" "Isn't this awkward?" "Yeah, well, secret passageways aren't supposed to be the most convenient of places." "The killer could have hung upside down from this bar when he slit Jack Sinclair's throat." "That would provide you with your demon-free explanation of the undisturbed blood spatter." "Look, Castle, I appreciate the assist, but I could do without the massage." "What are you talking about?" "Aren't you rubbing my neck?" "No." "Deep breaths, Castle." "It's just a rat." "There's something over there." "Come on." "Hidden passageways, secret rooms?" "I don't know, Castle." "The mystery of the McClaren mansion's looking less supernatural by the minute." "What is this?" "It's a magnetic field generator to knock out the video feed to the cameras." "Boy, someone planned very carefully how to kill Jack Sinclair the night he was filming here." "It's taxing the power supply." "That could explain the lights flickering just before Jack's death." "You know, the magnetic field would also explain that tripod moving that we saw in the video." "Castle, look at these marks." "There was a bed here." "Matt Benton could've been here for days before Jack even showed up." "You know, this house has been largely unoccupied since the Melanie Benton killing." "Maybe the reason they couldn't find Matt Benton is because he never left." "He could've been living here the whole time." "And maybe he's here right now." "Open the door." "Oh, my God." "My heart." "I was so scared." "What?" "Really?" "!" "Really?" "I am throwing away this coat." "Look, his cuffs are monogrammed." ""MB."" "Looks like you were right, Castle." "Matt Benton never did leave the McClaren mansion." "Dental records confirm it." "That's Matt Benton." "Tech really needs better software." " Cause of death?" " Don't know yet, but I'm guessing it wasn't the world's longest game of hide-and-seek." "How long was he in there for?" "Still waiting on the test results, but the prelim reports on the tissue samples suggests he died about 20 years ago." "Okay, so then odds are he was killed at the same time his wife Melanie was." "So the killer hides Matt's body, making it appear as though he fled, framing Matt for his wife's murder and throwing everyone off the trail of the real killer." "And it worked, too, for 20 years." "Yeah, until Jack Sinclair showed up." " Let me know about the test results." " Okay." "How'd that double date go?" "I-I just..." "You guys... one thing." "If Matt was killed 20 years ago, then how'd he send those postcards to Pete 15 years ago?" "I think it's time we took a harder look at Pete Benton." "Don't ask about the date." "Look, I said I'm sorry, okay?" "I didn't mean to jinx the dinner." ""This really is the perfect night."" "Jenny got a little caught up in the moment." ""When are you two getting married"?" "That's a question you do not ask." "All right, you know, it's-- it's not entirely you guys' fault." "You guys have a big fight after?" "Big fight?" "No." "Mega fight?" "Yes." "The point is... we, um, we decided that we're gonna cool things off." " What, you mean split up?" " Yeah." "Just until we both figure out what we want." "Man, I'm so sorry." "Anyway..." "Look, brother, if you need me for anything, you know I'm always here to-- what?" "Well, maybe nothing, but... this lightbulb... is brand-new." "Are you kidding me?" "Detective, this is bordering on harassment." "I told you everything I know about my brother." "Not everything." "You were engaged once, weren't you, Mr. Benton?" "To a Melanie Wendell." "Until Melanie broke it off and married your brother instead." "Things didn't work out for us." "I didn't expect Melanie to stay single forever." "But you never married, because you never got over her, did you?" "Who really sent those postcards, Pete?" "Did you send 'em yourself?" "What the hell are you talking about?" "My brother sent me those postcards." "You and I both know that's not possible." "Your brother has been dead for 20 years." "What?" "We found his remains in the McClaren house." "It's over." "You think I killed my brother?" "You think I killed Melanie?" "Where were you that night, Pete?" "I'll tell you exactly where I was." "I went to dinner with my friend Marie" "7:30, Cafe Jouer." "We were out by 9:00." "We stopped at Dorian's for a drink." "I had a 7 and 7." "Our server was Patrick." "When something like that happens, it's burned into your brain, every detail of what happened the night you heard." "I couldn't forget it if I tried." "We're gonna have to verify your story, Pete." "So... my-- my brother didn't kill Melanie?" "We don't think so." "I've always assumed that he did." "Matt had a terrible temper." "He was convinced that Melanie was cheating on him." "Was she?" "Wouldn't surprise me if she was." "Matt thought it was somebody at work." "It wasn't someone Melanie worked with." "I just tracked down George Banner," "Melanie's manager at Fly-Wide Travel from 20 years ago." "He said Melanie had two coworkers, both guys... uh-huh." "Married... still." " To each other." " Oh." "Well, Fly-Wide was in a high-rise in midtown." "So maybe it was someone else in the building." "Let's get a list of all the tenants that were there when Melanie worked there." "I'm not sure that's necessary." "Remember the lightbulb I took from that secret room?" "Yeah." "Well, I traced the serial number." "It belongs to a lot that was sold by the manufacturer directly to Fuller estate management." " As in Steve Fuller?" " Owner of the McClaren mansion." "That means that Fuller knew about that room and didn't tell us." "There's only reason why he wouldn't tell us." "Because he's the killer." "Maybe Matt Benton was right about Melanie having an affair, only wrong about who she was having the affair with." "And when things went bad, he killed her, killed Matt, and stashed his body in his own house where he knew no one would find it." "And he planned on destroying the evidence." "He wanted to have the house torn down right after those murders, but it was declared a landmark." "So he used that passageway to scare off tenants like the Boyers, growing the mansion's legend so that no one would want to live there." "And then when Jack Sinclair came sniffing around, he had to kill him, too." "You guys." "Great story." "The DA will never buy it." "It's all circumstantial." "She's right." "Anyone could've put that bulb in there." "We have no proof." "But we will." "And I think I know just how to get Mr. Fuller to give up the ghost." " Think he'll show?" " I don't know." " You told him about tomorrow, right?" " Yes, Castle." "He thinks we're going through that wall in the morning." "So if Fuller's our guy, he should be coming for Matt Benton's body tonight." "If he's our guy." "I mean, he might not be our guy." "And yet, there he is." "Of course, he might just be here to fix a busted toilet." "Need a hand with that, Fuller?" "Detective Smith?" "Detective Beckett." "It was... you... all this time." "Why?" "You know, he was abusing her." "Terrible things." "I don't think a month went by, we didn't get called up to this house." "And one day, I stopped by in the afternoon to check on her." "You were the affair." "It wasn't an affair." "It was love." "Then why'd you kill her?" "I didn't mean to." "It just..." "She wanted to call it off with me." "And I couldn't let that happen." "And Matt Benton?" "The way he treated her, he deserved what he got." "And as the lead officer, you knew you could steer the investigation off yourself and on to someone they'd never find." "And then you sent those postcards to keep your suspect alive." "I had 'em think that he did it." "It was his fault anyway." "What about Jack Sinclair?" "How'd you find out about him?" "I promised Fuller that I would solve this case one day." "I asked him to keep me informed of any developments." "So that when Jack contacted Fuller about the crime scene, he called you." "And when we told Fuller we were gonna check out that room tomorrow, he called you then, too." "You're both very smart." "But you're forgetting one thing." "This house is haunted." "Thanks for the gun, detective." "I really appreciate it." "You know, I felt bad about Sinclair." "I really did." "But he knew too much about that night, stuff that wasn't in the papers." "So he had to go." "Get on your knees." "Don't worry, Castle." "He's not gonna shoot us." "That won't fit the legend." "Any more helpful hints you'd care to pass along to our killer?" "On your knees." "I don't think so, Addison." "Y-you see, the demon only really kills when no one's looking." "And tonight, we have an audience." "They recorded your full confession." "You have a right to remain silent." "So busted." "Ghost busted, thanks to Lulu." "It's the least I could do for him, you know?" "For Jack." "So Fuller had no idea about that room?" "Well, like we said before, anyone could've grabbed the lightbulb from another part of the house and placed it there." "I guess Smith did it." "He's in with the DA right now writing his confession." "Yeah, well, what I don't get is, if he was so in love with Melanie, why would he kill her?" "He said that a demon made him do it." "Just laying the groundwork for his insanity plea, I'm sure." "Perhaps." "Oh, come on, Castle, even you have to admit, everything--every haunting, every death, everything even remotely connected to paranormal activity in the McClaren house can be explained by that passageway." "I don't know." "What about last night when we were in the living room?" "How about the door, the light, the candle?" "Old wiring, drafty house." "Or maybe it was something more." "Think about it, if you hadn't gone looking for the draft that blew out the candle you would never have found the passageway or Matt Benton's body." "Spell it out for those of us that are paranormally impaired." "Maybe someone wanted us to find that passageway." "Maybe..." "Jack Sinclair's ghost was helping solve his own murder." "Okay, I'll tell you what." "I will admit to that possibility" " if you admit there is no demon." " Done." "Did anyone see..." "That was weird." "Hi, dad." "Hey, you're up late." "Playing Skype-tag with Ashley?" "No." "We finally connected." "Ah." "Was it everything you hoped for in a peer-to-peer video conference and more?" "Honestly, it was... blah." "I mean, he was preoccupied, and I was tired." "And this whole time-difference thing is a real drag." "Nobody said that long distance was easy." "Yeah, but is it supposed to be this hard?" "Well, I can tell you this..." "Any relationship that lasts longer than a breath mint is going to have challenges." "But if a relationship doesn't work out, it's usually not because of the challenges." "It's usually because the relationship wasn't strong enough to begin with." "Does this help?" " Not really." " Yeah." "But this always does." "I can promise you this." "If two people believe in something, really believe, anything, even the impossible, is possible." "Even... flesh-eating zombies?" "Oh, especially flesh-eating zombies." "Now where were we?" "Yeah, right there."