"Ooh, ooh, ooh, yeah" "Ooh, ooh, ooh, my temperature's a-rising" "I can feel the fever's burning up" "Temperature's a-rising, I can feel the fever's burning up" "Yes, yeah, I'm coming." "Temperature's a-rising, I can feel the fever's burning up" "You are not going to believe this." " Paula..." " You are so not going to believe this." " What are you doing here?" " I can't even believe it." " Believe what?" " I can't tell you." "I'm still asleep, aren't I?" "I'm dreaming." "I'm having a dream where my book agent has shown up at my house at 7:00 a.m. To not tell me something." "Okay." "It's not official yet, but you, my dear, are at the top of their list." "And I can't give you any more details than that." "You want some coffee?" "I'd love to sit down and not discuss this further." "I will tell you this." "It's a major relaunch of a major franchise." "A three-book deal." "And they want you." "Heat Wave comes out in less than a week." "The book party, which you arranged, is Monday night." "I'm trying to launch my own character, why would I want to get involved with somebody else's?" "What if I told you the character in question is a certain British secret agent?" " You mean it's gonna be..." " Shh!" "Don't say it!" "You'll jinx it." " He's the reason I became a writer." " I know." " I mean, he's the coolest spy ever." " Right?" "He's got gadgets, he's got babes, he's..." "And a payday that is unbelievable." "And they want me for three new books?" "Yes." "Now, you gonna get that?" "Because an unanswered phone gives me agita." "It's Beckett." "A body must have dropped." "I'll call her back." "What other details can't you tell me?" "Morning, gentlemen." "So, what do you got for us?" "Caucasian female, early 30s." "No purse or ID found on the body." "Where is she?" "City workers found her when they opened the manhole" "Cause of death appears to be blunt force trauma." "She took a nasty blow to the back of the head." "And we found traces of blood spatter over there on the sidewalk." "Well, then it couldn't have been a robbery." "Mugger wouldn't bother dragging her body that far just to hide it." "Given the amount of decomposition," "I'd say she was killed about two days ago." "Any chance you can narrow that down for us?" "Any chance I can get her to the lab first?" "I should be able to get you a tighter window," " maybe down to six or seven hours." " All right." "Thank you." "Ah!" "Good morning." "Look who decided to grace us with his presence." "Did you have something more important to do, Castle?" "I got held up at home." "Was that the body?" " Yeah, it's on its way to the morgue." " Huh!" "What?" "You wanted us to wait?" "Yeah, it's too bad, too." "It's your kind of case, bro." " Yeah?" "Yeah, body was found down that manhole over there, half eaten." " Eaten?" " Yeah, it was covered in some kind of green slime." " Whoa." "Yeah." "It was creepy." "It's as if someone, or something, is down there." "That's..." "Okay, very funny." "That's great." " Was there a body down the manhole?" " Yeah." "Okay." "Thank you." "An adult." "Yeah, you should've seen what else was down there." "Two metal canisters with biohazard stickers and yellow powder inside of it." "You opened the..." "All right..." "Will someone please tell me what's really going on here?" "We're gonna check nearby trash cans for the murder weapon." "What was the murder weapon, by the way?" " Some kind of death ray." " Turns your insides out." "Her fingerprints came back negative." "Missing Persons didn't have anyone matching her description." "Your boys didn't happen to find her purse by any chance?" "No." "No purse, no murder weapon." "We have ourselves a Jane Doe." "Two days and no one steps forward to say she's missing." "Which means she probably lived alone and she didn't have a job where she needed to be." "I can tell you this much, she's an immigrant," " probably from Eastern Europe." " Her dental work?" "She's got a couple of stainless steel crowns." "We don't use them anymore in the States, but they're still common in the former Soviet Bloc." "We found this scrunched in the bottom of her pants pocket." " Candy wrapper." " It's got some kind of writing on it." "The lettering has diacritical marks on it." "They're accent marks used to represent sounds that are alien to Latin." "I'm gonna go with Slavic Cyrillic." "No, Czech." "And you know this how?" "I almost ordered a Russian bride once." "You know, a Czech mate?" "I'm gonna run this down." "There can't be too many shops in the area that sell this stuff." "Hey, Perlmutter, I'm having a book launch party Monday night," " you wanna come?" " Please." "I'll put you down as a maybe." "This is gonna weird you out a little bit, but check this out." "I mean, it just seems like I seem to bend the space-time continuum." "Look, just when you think there can't be another one..." " What is he doing?" " We hit about a dozen little shops trying to find that candy wrapper, and he insisted on buying something in every shop." " In every shop?" " No wrapper, though." "Well, something tells me if he decides to put the great candy wrapper hunt in his next book, he'll give it a happier ending." "Wait, sir, sir, "next book"?" "Is he writing another Nikki Heat novel?" "The deal was for one book." " I assumed that..." " You were off the hook?" "You know how the mayor feels about Castle." "If the man is gonna write another book about you..." "I am not Nikki Heat, sir." "Yeah, well, His Honor expects your cooperation either way." "Yo." "Found your candy." "You found it?" "Get out of town." " Little grocery on 47th and 9th." " Yep." "I told you we should've checked the west end." "Owner recognized our vic's picture." "Said she'd come by every couple of weeks" " to stock up on stuff from back home." "Mmm." "Kind of tastes like soap." "I like it." "Did he give you a name?" "No, but he did point us to where he thought she might live." "Apparently, there's an SRO not far from where we found the body," " caters to Czech illegals." " Well, then, let's pay it a visit." "Yeah, I knew her." "Lady in 5-C." "Eliska Sokol." "She was a nice person." "She kept to herself, but nice." "Yeah, why anybody'd want to kill her..." " How long did she live in the building?" " About six months." " Never gave you any trouble?" " No, I wish all my tenants were like her." "She paid her rent on time every week in cash." "You said 5-C?" " Yeah, you wanna see it?" " Yeah, please." "Why don't you guys start knocking on doors?" "We'll see if any of the other tenants can shed some light." "Later." "Here it is." "Let me know when you're done." "Thanks." "From what I'm seeing, it's a pretty good bet she lived alone." "There's not even a telephone." "Something tells me she didn't have many visitors." "Hey." "Work calendar, maybe?" "Keeping track of shifts?" "There's nothing past last Wednesday." "Postcards from home." "Hmm." "If a picture's worth a thousand words, this one says, "Not a fan."" "The scratches go through the paper." "Whoever she is, looks like our vic hated her." "Could be the feeling was mutual." "Hey." " Hey." " Want a lollipop?" " Oh, yes." "Tastes like soap." " I'll pass." " Suit yourself." "Oh, Dad, Taylor asked if she could come to your book launch party with me." " Would that be okay?" " Sure." " Hmm!" "So, Taylor likes my stuff, huh?" " Not that I know of." " Then..." " God, you are so dense." "She wants to get dressed up, go to a party, meet boys." " She doesn't care about your little book." " Thanks, Dad." "Oh." "You really are something, you know?" "You always think everything's about you." "Here." " What are these?" " They're flyers for my play." "I thought you could hand them out when you're signing books at the party tomorrow." "Gee, I was thinking, actually, that I might keep the evening about me." "See if I plug your book when I'm doing PR." "Will my career survive?" "Boy, you know, ever since that little visit from your agent, Paula, you have been insufferably cocky." "And frankly, I never understood the appeal of..." "No!" "Don't say it!" "You'll jinx it!" "...certain British spy." " Thank you." "And I have loved him since I was a kid." "I know." "I know, it's a big deal." "Congratulations." "Well, I haven't got the official offer yet." "And it would mean not doing another Nikki Heat book." "Well, I know somebody that you would make very happy." "Beckett." "Oh, please, she'll be thrilled not to have you following her around." "I'm sure the poor girl is counting down the days." "Actually, I'd like to think I've been fairly useful to her, solving cases-wise." "Oh, please." "I'm sure she got along fine before you arrived." "K-O-L, Sokol." "No, she doesn't have a social security number, she's illegal." "All right, notify all precincts, including the boroughs." "Thank you." "So, I did a records check on Eliska Sokol." "She didn't have any run-ins with law enforcement, so I asked Central to put her name out on the blotter." "You never know, might turn something up." "You know, I was thinking about how to track down this mystery woman." "I bet you Parks and Recreation will be able to tell us in which playground this photo was taken." "You see how there's sand at the bottom?" "Lot of playgrounds have wood chips or this green spongy stuff that used to freak Alexis out." "There's also a climbing wall feature in the back here, that's not a... 75th and Lexington." "Oh." " Great minds think alike, I guess." " Next thing you're gonna do is tell me that I should go down there with the photograph." "Wouldn't be a horrible idea." "Oh, look, Esposito's calling." "Wonder what he and Ryan have been doing all morning." "Hello?" "No, it's just Castle." "A nanny in the playground said she recognized the kid in the photo." "Said she was pretty sure that the family lived in this building." "Just hold on a second." "Can I help you?" "I'm Detective Kate Beckett, NYPD." "We're wondering if you recognized anyone in this photograph." "That's Zane Talbot and his mother." " Were they tenants here?" " Can I ask what this is about?" "We're conducting an investigation into the murder of a woman named Eliska Sokol." " Eliska?" "She's dead?" " You know her?" "She worked here until just a few days ago." "In what capacity?" "She started off in the laundry room, a few weeks ago we promoted her to Client Services." "This is a concierge building." "We have a staff of over 75 providing our tenants with round-the-clock attention." "Like living in a fancy hotel." "Do you have any idea why Eliska left her job?" "She didn't, she was let go." "There was an incident with one of the tenants." "Mrs. Talbot, actually." "Poor woman." "Do you have any idea who killed her?" "We're working on it." "The manager said that there was some sort of an incident." "I suppose you could call it that." "Really, I think the whole thing's gotten blown way out of proportion." "Could you tell us what happened?" "It was last Wednesday, I think, and I was with Zane in his room." "She came in to change the towels in his bathroom." "I got up to go answer the phone." "When I came back, the door was closed." "I go in and she's sitting on the floor, playing, I suppose, but I couldn't really tell, because all I could think was," ""He's got a lollipop in his mouth."" "She'd given him a lollipop." "You just don't do that." "You don't give someone else's child candy without permission." "They could be allergic, or diabetic..." "Maybe she was just trying to be nice." "You have to understand, we hardly knew this woman." "It wasn't like she was our housekeeper, that we saw every day." "I didn't say anything, but I think she sensed that I was unhappy because she got very flustered and couldn't get out of there fast enough." "Zane seemed to be fine." "So I decided to let it go." "But then the more that I thought about it, the more I realized that that was not the first time that she had seemed overly familiar with him." "Overly familiar?" "Giving him more attention than seemed appropriate." "Did you ever think it might have been cultural?" "That that might be the way that people are with children in her country?" "Of course." "All I did was mention to the manager that maybe somebody would want to talk to her, you know, about what's appropriate." "I didn't even know that she had been fired until you told us, and now she's..." "I mean, I feel horrible, I really do." "I'm sorry, I'm on call." "Unless there's something else?" "No, no." "I think we have everything we need." "Um..." "You don't suppose that her being let go has anything to do with what happened to her, do you?" "We can't rule anything out." "It's possible that she was hard-pressed for money and she got into something that she shouldn't have." "Then it's my fault." "No, Mrs. Talbot, it's the fault of the person who killed her." "Thank you for your time." "That was pretty nice of you, letting her off the hook like that." "It's pretty obvious Eliska blames her for losing her job." "Maybe so, and maybe being let go somehow led to her being killed." "But making that woman feel any worse won't get us closer to solving the crime." " Hey, got anything?" " Just that our vic used to be married." "Housekeeper I was talking to said that Eliska mentioned it to her once." " Ryan's running it." " His name is Teodor Hajek." "Records check came up with a domestic disturbance call" " from two years ago." " Abusive ex-husband." "Maybe he came back for an encore performance." "NYPD, we're looking for Teodor Hajek." " Back there, ma'am." " Thank you." " Teodor Hajek?" " Yes?" "Could you step around, please?" "We'd like to ask you a few questions." "Thank you." "Ryan, cut him off." "Stop there!" "Stop right there!" "Come here!" "Why didn't you stop?" "Stay down, buddy." "Teodor Hajek, you're under arrest." "Mr. Hajek, you've been advised of your rights?" "Yes." " And you declined an attorney?" " For what?" "You're going to deport me either way, yes?" "Mr. Hajek, we're not from Immigration." " Is that why you ran?" " My visa is expired many years before." "Well, we're not interested in your immigration status." " I'm a homicide detective." " Homicide?" "We'd like to ask you a few questions about your ex-wife." "Eliska, yes?" "What happened?" "Tell me." "She was killed three nights ago." "Where were you on Thursday between 5:00 and 9:00 p." "M?" "I was home asleep." "I work double shift and was tired." " Can anyone verify that?" " Maybe neighbors saw, I don't know." "We have a domestic disturbance complaint from two years ago involving you and your wife." "Would you mind telling us about that?" "We were arguing." "Neighbors call police." "What did you argue about?" "She wanted to leave me." "I didn't want her to go." "Why did she want to leave?" "She said to be with me hurt her." "Because too much I remind her of Martin, our son." "God took him from us three years ago." " I'm very sorry to hear that." " It tore her heart away." "He was everything to her." "He was so perfect when he was born." "But the sickness was in him even then." "There was nothing we could do." "Except watch him waste away and away." "This was my family." "We were happy once." "Now they're gone from me, both of them, gone." "Kind of puts a whole new perspective on the Talbot incident." "Thank you." "Well, he probably reminded Eliska of her own little boy." "She was trying to be nice to him, and next thing you know she's out of a job." "Yo, ex-husband's alibi checks out." "Neighbor remembers seeing him come home around 5:00." "Well, no surprises there." "He was never our guy." "Okay, guys, let's put ourselves in Eliska's shoes." "She's suddenly unemployed, she's worried about making rent." "What kind of trouble can she get herself into?" "The usual suspects are kind of hard to see with her, drugs, prostitution." "Okay, well, there's got to be something else, then." "You know what?" "Let's go back to the building." "See if there's anyone we missed on the first canvass." "Someone must've seen or heard something." "Thank you so much for your time." "If you can think of anything else, please don't hesitate to call." "Well, that's everybody on our list." "Let's hope Ryan and Esposito are having better luck upstairs." "Can I ask you a question, Castle?" "I already know what you're going to ask." "The dress code for the party is evening cocktail." "If you're stumped, just ask yourself, what would Nikki Heat wear?" "When were you gonna tell me about the other book?" " You heard about that?" " So it's true?" "Well, it's not a done deal yet." "Well, did it ever occur to you to talk to me first?" "Well, frankly, I thought you'd be relieved." "Oh, don't flatter yourself." "Well, I mean, I'm flattered to even be considered." "Writing a certain British secret agent would be a very big opportunity for me." " I was talking about Nikki Heat." " Oh." "Wait a minute." "A certain British secret agent?" "Are you..." "If they actually offer it to me." "They may not." "Yeah, but if they do?" "Well, I would certainly consider it." "Like I said, I thought you'd be relieved." "I am." "I mean, I would be." "If they offered it to you." "You sure we talked to 4-E last time?" "What, the robe lady?" "Yeah, she didn't know our vic, but wanted us to help her with the ghost in her apartment." " Oh, yeah." " You guys a bust, too?" "Yeah, we talked to everybody who wasn't home last time." "Nothing." "Well, that's it, then." "We hit everybody in the building." "Yep." "Sorry." " Excuse me." "Sorry." " Pardon us." "Did you?" "Did you?" " It was..." " Miss!" "She was out of town for our first canvass, but the night of the vic's murder, she remembers seeing her arguing with a man in the hallway." "Well-dressed, mid-40s." " Doesn't exactly narrow things down." " No, but the pager on his belt does." "Beckett." "What do you think, Castle?" "Look like someone we know?" "Paging Dr. Talbot." "I admit there's a similarity, but it wasn't me." "Do you really want us to pull you out of here and put you in a lineup?" "Because that's exactly where this is headed." "Okay, this is insane, I hardly knew the woman." "We did some checking, Dr. Talbot." "Before she worked in your apartment, she also worked at Bryant General." "That's where you see your patients, isn't it?" "What exactly was the nature of your relationship with this woman?" "There was no relationship." "All right, we're out of here." "You're coming with us to the precinct." "You meet a nice class of people in a lineup." "You'll be surprised." "Okay, wait." "There was a relationship." "Eliska and I, we were having an affair." "We met when she was working at the hospital." "I was there late one night and we got to talking." "Anyway, we crossed paths a couple times after that and one thing led to another." "God, this is humiliating." "What happened when she found out you were married?" "Well, she was upset." "But I convinced her that I just needed some time to figure out how to end things with Melissa." "Which you never intended to do." "And it was good for a while, but she was losing patience." "And then she even started paying special attention to Zane, as if she was almost getting ready to become part of his life, and it was just impossible." "Well, then, why didn't you just break up with her?" "I tried, she just wouldn't let go." "And then, that day with my wife and the candy, that was the last straw." "Truth is, it was a relief when she got fired." "And so, I did, I went to see her the next day to give her money, and then she started screaming at me, and..." "I mean, there was nothing for me to do but to leave, to turn around and walk away." "Where were you on Thursday between 5:00 and 9:00 p." "M?" "I was here at the office and I worked late that day." "Doctor's office, please hold." "Excuse me, Doctor, but your wife and son just arrived." "You were supposed to have lunch today." "Of course." "Can you just give me one more second?" " Of course." " Thank you." "Please." "Just check my alibi, do whatever you have to do." "But I'm begging you, please leave my wife out of it." "There are no promises, Dr. Talbot." "I am following this investigation to wherever it leads." " Daddy!" " Hey, buddy." "Come here!" "Detective Beckett." "I didn't expect to see you here today." "A clerk misplaced the notes from our first interview and your husband was very kind to let us go over it all again." " I see." " Happy to help." "Have a wonderful lunch." "Yes, I'll hold." "So, you're asking about last Thursday?" "That's right." "That was a long day." "We were booked solid from mid-morning on, then stayed late for monthly inventory." "Dr. Talbot, too?" "Hi, yes, it's Dr. Talbot's office calling." "Him, too, we wrapped up a little after 9:00." "You gotta be kidding, he alibied out?" "Come on, we had him arguing with our vic on the day of her murder." "It wasn't him." "Hey, Beckett, just got off the horn with the 74th in Brooklyn." "Uniform recognized your vic's name off the blotter, he thinks from a call he answered about two years back." " What kind of a call?" " Doesn't remember exactly and the incident report was never computerized, but he's fairly sure someone filed a complaint against your vic." "That could be almost anything." "Yeah, well, they should have the file pulled by morning." "I think our vic isn't as squeaky clean as we've been making her out to be." "Well, whatever the complaint is, I'm gonna need the two of you to pick it up first thing in the morning." "Guys, I got two words to tide you over in the meantime, "open bar."" "Like you say" "Oh, my!" "Feels just like I don't try" "Look so good I might die" "All I know is everybody loves me" "Get down Swaying to my own sound" "So this is how the other half lives." "Flashes in my face now" "All I know is everybody loves me" "Hi." "Could you sign it?" "Isn't this great?" "You're acting again, I'm making straight A's" " and Dad finished writing another book." " Cherish the moment, kiddo." "If there's one thing I've learned in life, nothing ever lasts." "Hey, it's Nikki Heat!" " You clean up nice, Detective." " Thank you, sir." "Castle's gonna be happy to see you." "Have you read the dedication?" "No." "What does it say?" "Go see for yourself." "Excuse me." "Excuse me." " That's her?" " That's her." "Huh." "That is one hell of a love letter you wrote her." "Geez, one night in Ibiza and what do I get, a chapter in Storm Fall?" " A very hot chapter." " And she gets a whole book?" "Well, she must be a pretty special girl." "Let me ask you something, when she calls you, do you call her back?" " Yeah." " Of course you do." "Because she's important to you and because it's polite." " Paula, I call you back." " Three-book deal, and I can't even get you on the phone to let you know" " you've got an official offer?" " There's a..." " Yeah." " I don't..." "I..." "So, can I close the deal?" "Paula, I'm sorry." "This is a big step for me." "I don't know that I'm ready to walk away from Nikki Heat." "Who?" "The one on the page or the one standing over there in that Hervé Léger dress?" "The one on the page." " Oh, Rick." "You sleeping with her?" " No." "What the hell are you waiting for?" "Go get it out of your system, and then come down to the office and sign the damn contract, okay?" " Hey." " Hey." "I..." "I was just..." "The dedication, wow." "Thank you." "I meant it." "You are extraordinary." "Listen, I was thinking..." "What if the wife got onto the affair?" "Melissa Talbot, a killer?" "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." "Well, anything's possible." "I didn't see it that way." "You're just saying that because you've never been scorned." " What makes you say that?" " Oh, come on." "What man has ever turned you away?" "So, any word on a certain British secret agent who shall not be named?" "I got the official offer." "Wow!" "Congratulations." " I haven't accepted it yet." " But you're going to, aren't you?" " Well, you think I should?" " Yeah," "I mean, is there a reason why you wouldn't?" "So you'd be okay if I didn't write another Nikki Heat?" "I mean, why wouldn't I?" "It's not like I asked you to write the first one." "You know, a lot of people would be flattered that someone chose to write a book based on them." " Flattered?" " Yeah." "Do you have any idea how much grief I've had to put up with over this Nikki Heat thing?" "Gee, I'm sorry." "I'm not asking you to be sorry." "I'm just..." "Just do whatever you wanna do." "You always do, anyway." " Well, fine." "It's settled, then." " Fine." " I'll do the other book." " Great." " Enjoy the party." " Thanks." "I will." "You know what?" "Just as well, because there really wasn't enough to the character Nikki Heat for more than one novel anyway." "Oh, there's plenty to the character." "She just needs a better writer." " Fine." " Fine." "What are you doing here, Castle?" "Don't you have bigger, more lucrative fish to fry?" "Actually, I just left my sunglasses here yesterday." "Oh, please, that is the lamest excuse I have ever..." "You know what?" "While you're at it, don't forget those." "Did you guys get the incident report?" " Yeah." " And?" "Apparently, Eliska was seen on multiple occasions hanging around some local park." "And at some point she walked up to somebody's kid and spoke to him." "Kid's mom thought it was a little odd because she wasn't there with a child of her own, so mom mentioned it to a patrolman." " Any charges filed?" " No." "Supposedly, she was very cooperative and left quietly." "Sounds a lot like the incident with the Talbot boy." "Mmm-hmm." "Poor lady, you gotta feel for what she went through." "Sorry to interrupt, but your vic's super's on the phone and wants to know if he can go ahead and rent her apartment." "Says she paid all the way till Friday, but he's got somebody who wants it now." "Tell him to go ahead." "We already have everything we need from the crime scene." "You guys check with the mom who filed the report." "There might be something more to it than we realize." "On it." "You're still here." "Karpowski, did the super say she was paid up to Friday?" " That's what he said." " That doesn't make any sense." "That place rents by the week." "She was killed last Thursday." "How could she be paid up through this coming Friday?" "Eliska never missed a payment." "Yeah, I found her rent money slid under my door on Friday." "I didn't think anything of it 'cause I didn't know she was dead yet, not until you guys showed up the next day." "Now, why would someone pay her rent after she's dead?" "Whoever killed her must've figured there'd be less chance she'd be reported missing that way." "Look, I don't wanna seem cold or anything, she was a nice lady, may she rest in peace, but can I rent the apartment?" "Should I give her stuff to her friend?" "Her friend?" " Yeah." "The lady who picks up her mail every day." "Someone is picking up her mail?" "Yeah, she's got a key to the mailbox, I figured it was a friend, a relative." "What does this friend look like?" "Well-dressed, early 40s, blond hair." " Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" " Melissa Talbot." "The super said he remembered her coming in the hallway around lunchtime." " It's already past 2:00." " A threatening letter." "I've been sitting here thinking what reason would the wife have to want to intercept Eliska's mail." "Maybe she sent her some kind of threatening letter." "A "keep your hands off my man" kind of thing." "She gets impatient, she confronts her, and then Eliska's dead." "Meanwhile, the letter's still en route." "So, Talbot's afraid it'll connect them." "The irony is it never would have connected them." "We don't go through a victim's mail unless there's probable cause and a warrant first." "Thank you." " For what?" " For using "irony" correctly." "Ever since that Alanis Morissette song people use it when they actually mean "coincidence." Drives me nuts." "Yeah, well, it must be your great grammatical influence over me." "I may be going, but I'm leaving something of myself behind." "Castle, it's her." "It's Talbot's wife." "Come on." "She's going for the mail." "Mrs. Talbot?" "Whoa, you're not the wife." "You're the nurse." "Dr. Talbot is a good man." "I've worked for him for 10 years." "I know he had nothing to do with what happened to that lady." "What exactly did he tell you to do?" "He kept a little apartment for her where they would meet." "He gave me a key to the mailbox." "He said he'd sent her a check." "He'd felt bad about the way things had ended between them and he wanted to give her some money." "Is that what's in here, a check?" "He told me to look for an envelope stamped "confidential,"" "with an address from New Jersey from his brokerage account." "He wanted me to get the check so no one would be able to put the two of them together, that's all." " You were helping him cover the affair." " It doesn't mean he killed her." "When you told us he worked late at the office that day, were you telling the truth?" "He didn't stay late that night." "He left at 6:00." "So the envelope came from an office park in Paramus." "Is there a brokerage firm of some kind there?" ""Trueway Insurance, Chromo Diagnostic Lab Systems," ""Branby Financial Group."" "That would be where the check came from, if Talbot was telling the truth." "I've got a feeling he wasn't even telling the truth about the affair with Eliska." " He's hiding something." " The answer is in here." "How long before the warrant comes through and we can open it?" "A couple of hours, at least." "Hey, did you find the mom who filed the complaint?" "Found her, talked to her." "It all went down pretty much the way the incident report said." "Turns out the reason that the mom first noticed our vic hanging around the playground was that she said she looked kind of familiar." "As it happens, they were both in the same post-delivery ward in the hospital." "Yeah." "Both babies were born on the same day, you believe that?" "Both boys, too." "Did she happen to mention what hospital?" "Yeah, Bryant General, why?" "Bryant General, where Talbot works." " What are you onto, Castle?" " I'm not sure, but I wonder..." "If we look into it, we're gonna find that the Talbot boy was born at Bryant General on the same day as well." "Would you check that for me?" "Did you say that there was a lab at that office?" "Yeah." "Chromo Diagnostic Lab Systems." "I think I know what's in that envelope." "I'm sorry, I'm confused." "We want to help you in any way that we can, but like we already told you, we barely knew the woman." "She'd only been working in the building a few months." "As it turns out, your paths crossed long before you realized." "Eliska Sokol had a son who was born in the same hospital on the same day as your boy, Zane." "He passed away three years ago." "He died of Niemann-Pick syndrome." "It's a rare congenital disorder." "Oh, my God." "That poor woman." "That's probably why she was so attentive to Zane, they were the same age." "Actually, we think there was more to it than that." "How so?" "The incident with the candy that you told us about..." "We think she gave that to him to distract him, so she could swab his mouth." "Swab his mouth?" "What for?" "She was trying to get a DNA test done." "Why would she..." "I mean, I don't..." "We got a warrant for Eliska's mail." "Just before she was killed, she sent two mouth swabs to a mail-order lab in New Jersey." "One of them was your son's." "The other was hers." "These are the results." "I'm sorry, Melissa." "I'm so sorry." "When the amnio came back, I just didn't know how to tell you." "And I knew you'd just see it through no matter what the test said." "And I thought I'd just put it off and deal with it after the baby was born." "Cameron, I don't understand what you're saying." "Niemann-Pick." "Our baby had Niemann-Pick." "No." "Zane is fine." "What are you talking about?" "There's no treatment, it's always fatal." "Usually by age three." "I don't even think it crossed my mind that I could get away with it until I was in the nursery, checking on the baby." "You were still in recovery." "And there they were, side by side in their cribs." "I just thought, "How hard would it be?" ""No one would suspect." "They all know me around here," ""they see me practically every day." "I can change the charts later." ""Right now I just have to switch the tags" ""and pick him up and bring him to you in the room" ""and everything would be all right." ""He'd be ours and you'd never have to know."" "Cameron, please tell me you didn't kill that woman." "Please, God, tell me you didn't kill that woman." "Oh, my God." "Oh, my God." "I couldn't let her destroy our lives." "I couldn't let her take him away." "What am I gonna do?" "Please, someone, tell me." "What am I supposed to do?" "After Talbot dumped Eliska's body, he grabbed her keys and went back to her apartment to get rid of anything else that connected the two of them." "That's when he found the paperwork for the lab." " Nice detective work, you two." " Actually, sir, it's Eliska Sokol who deserves the credit for the detective work." "The way we figure it, she got the job on the hospital cleaning crew solely to get access to the birth records." "She made it her mission to find out the truth." "Even if it cost her her life?" "Seems so pointless, somehow." "Maybe not." "Thank you." " My hands, they're shaking." "It'll be okay." "We told Mrs. Talbot that you have no intention of taking Zane away." "She knows you just want to be a part of his life." " Hello." " Mrs. Talbot." "Please, call me Melissa." "Won't you come in?" " He's beautiful." " Yes, he is." "Tell me about him, my son." "What was he like?" "He was a beautiful boy, too." "For you." "Mama?" " Yes, baby?" "The wheel came off my train." "Oh!" "Give me." "There." "All fixed." "Go ahead." "Thank you, Castle." "I never would have been able to solve this case without your help." "Well, good luck on your new book." " I know that you'll do it proud." " Thanks." "You take care of yourself." "And..." "My agent." "Oh." "It's the station." " You know, you better get that." " Yeah." " Beckett." " Hey, Paula." "Ah!" "Really?" "First day Heat Wave sales, through the roof." "I'm on hold for Captain Montgomery." " Reviews are raves." " Yes!" " Yes, Captain." " Would I be interested in doing" " three more Nikki Heats?" " Yes, I am aware that the mayor is facing a tough reelection this year." "I'm..." "I'm sorry." "How much?" "No, I would love to help the department out" " in whatever way I could." " No, no." "Forget the other offer." "For that kind of money I'll do a dozen Nikki Heats." "He wants me to what?" "Well, that was kind of a one-time-only situation with her and me." "Three books?" "That would take forever." " You already spoke to the mayor?" " I'm gonna kill you." "No, no, no, no, sir, I wasn't talking to you." "I..." " Okay." " No need to thank me, sir," "I am happy to help His Honor out in any way I can." "Uh-huh." "You know what?" "I think..." "I'm gonna..." "Okay, Paula, I'm gonna..." "I'll call you." "I'll call you back." "I had nothing to do with that phone call." "What?" "Okay." "I'll be right there." "Where are you going?" "That was Esposito, there's been a murder." "Are you coming or what?" "Do you really expect me to believe you had nothing to do with that phone call?" "I swear." "I had nothing to do with it." "Swear a little harder, Castle." "I really swear." "I don't believe you."