" Booyah!" " God." "Guess who's about to have the best day ever?" "Could it be the fellow who just interrupted us, rather rudely, with "booyah"?" "What's going on, Dad?" "I'm sorry." "I can't tell you." "I'm sworn to secrecy." "Okay." "Anyway." "So my psych professor said fear is an emotion..." "Which it is, but then I arg..." "You're not even gonna try to pry the secret out of me?" "Darling, we are right in the middle of something here, so if you just wait for a moment, we will give you our full attention, okay?" "Okay." "What is it, darling?" "Gram, you know he's just gonna keep pouting until he gets his way." "Dad, just tell us your secret." " Okay, but only because you insisted." " Okay." "I just got off the phone with the personal assistant of none other than..." "Stephen King." "Whoa!" "He's in town visiting his New York apartment, has called to see if I'm available for a meeting to talk about a..." "Dramatic pause... collaboration." "Ooh!" "Hold on." "Isn't he still mad about the thing?" "What thing?" "The baseball thing." "See, Stephen King is a huge Red Sox fan and..." "Oh, and your father is a Yankees fan." "Oh, no, Richard." "What did you do?" "It was a silly joke." " Mm." " Ah." "More like a thinly veiled threat." "Tomato, to-mah-to." "Obviously it's water under the bridge, because he wants to talk about collaborating on a project." ""Richard Castle and Stephen King present."" "Wish me luck, ladies." "Darling, if you think you're going to get top billing over Stephen King, you're going to need more than luck." "Good morning." "Morning." "Morning, Captain." "Hey, Lanie, how you doing?" "A heck of a lot better than our victim here." "Name is Emma Matthews, 34 years old, single GSW to the upper back..." "Through and through." "Here's our exit wound." "Based on lividity," "I'm placing the time of death between 9:00 and 11:00 last night." "And the neighbors didn't hear a gunshot?" "No, the music was turned up too loud." "But the neighbor next door said he saw a rusty, white van parked outside near the time-of-death window..." "Didn't get a plate, though." "Does Emma have a roommate?" "No." "She lives alone." "But we've, uh, notified next of kin, and we've got a list of her friends and co-workers." "Emma was a television producer at Channel 8 News." "Some of her co-workers are gonna meet us back at the precinct." "And what's with the artwork?" "Not sure yet, but we think that our killer may have drawn it." "All right, check with the FBI, see if the M.O. or if the symbol matches anything in their database." "Hey, Beckett." "So, how's the meeting going?" "Is Stephen still mad at you?" "I just got here." "And if he's not still mad at me, he will be when I tell him to fire his real-estate agent." "Hey." "Be nice." "What, to Stephen or to the team of rats that came to welcome me at the door?" "All right." "I got to go." "I love you." "Stephen, is that you?" "Oh." "I get it." "Very funny." "Yeah, Yankees are still the best team..." "Hey, Ryan, anything from the FBI?" "No." "The symbol's not in their database." "Neither is our killer's M.O." "And what about the white, rusty van outside of Emma's apartment?" "You guys track it down?" "No traffic cams on her block, so so far it's not looking good." "Hey, guys." "These are Emma's co-workers." "This is Lila Campo and Jennifer Perez." "This is my partner, Detective Ryan, and our boss, Captain Beckett." "I'm sorry about your loss." "Thank you, Captain." "We are still in shock." "We're gonna talk over here." "Mm-hmm." "Follow me, please." "Ryan, I'm gonna be at the forensic technology seminar all afternoon." "So just text me if anything comes up, okay?" " Yeah, you got it, Cap." " Thanks." "Oh, my God." "Is that Emma's blood?" "Yeah, I'm afraid so." "Do you recognize the symbol drawn on the mirror?" "I've never seen it before." "Neither have I." "I mean, I just can't believe this." "Emma..." "Emma was the sweetest person in the world." "I mean, she was kind, she was outgoing... though she had been acting a little strange lately." "Strange how?" "Well, Emma had just gotten a promotion to produce the 11:00 news." " Which was a huge deal for her." " Exactly." "Yet all this week, she was acting kind of..." "I don't know." " Off." " Yeah." "Well, any idea why?" "Well, Emma confided in me that she had gotten her hands on some kind of proof." "Uh, proof of what?" "She said that she couldn't tell me, at least not until after the time was right, whatever that meant." "Do either of you know if Emma was having personal problems with anyone, anyone at work, in her personal life?" "Not that I know of." "Well, there's Buckley." "Yeah, but everybody in the newsroom has problems with Buckley." "Who's Buckley?" "Another producer at the station..." "He had seniority over Emma, but she beat him out for that promotion." "And Buckley was pissed." "Yeah, I mean, he even claimed that she'd made up lies about him just to get the job." "But I can't imagine he would kill her for that." "By any chance, does Buckley drive a white van?" "Yeah, he does." "What, am I in kindergarten again?" "So where's Mrs. Finch?" "You are not Mrs. Finch." "Who are you guys?" "Where am I?" "I don't know." "Me and this guy just woke up." "My shoulder's killing me." "Anyone have a phone?" "Mine's gone." "No." "What the hell is going on?" "How did we get here?" "Last thing I remember I-I went to a... a run-down building going to meet Stephen King and then all the lights went out." "Hold on... 143 Nicholas Street?" "How did you know that?" "A lawyer called, asked me to meet him there..." "Said I inherited the building from my uncle who passed away a year ago." "Yeah, I was told the same thing, except it was supposedly my cousin who died a few months ago." "Oh, my God." "We were all lured there." "Yeah, but by whom?" "There's a sticky substance on my arms." "Do you guys have that?" "This thing's not budging." "Okay, um..." "You know, when I was in that hallway, when the lights went out, last thing I remember was a sharp pain in my shoulder." "So we must have been drugged with a syringe or a tranq dart." "But why?" "Who would do that to us?" "My guess is whoever's behind that camera." "Oh, man, it's a serial killer." "I've seen stuff like this on "Dateline,"" "and it never ends well." "Will you please shut the hell up?" "I'm just trying to tell you, this is a..." " Shut up!" " Guys... whoever is behind this, if they wanted us dead, we would be dead." "So, obviously, they want something else, right?" "Yeah, b-but what?" "I don't know." "Let's take a look around." "Obviously someone went through a lot of trouble designing this place." "Hey." "Guys." ""Salvation lies within."" "What is that thing?" "It's a cryptex." "It's kind of a lock box that requires a password to open it." "So we just need the password." "We need to bust out of here... now." "The blade's rubber." "Whoa." "Is that a bee?" "I'm allergic." "I'm very allergic!" "Okay, well, relax." "You're antagonizing it." "I think it's attracted to the stuff that's on my arm." "Oh, no." "Are you all right?" "Okay, relax." "Relax." "You're going into anaphylactic shock." "Do you have epinephrine?" "My injector's gone!" "It was in my pocket!" "Where is it?" "Where is it?" "!" "It's okay, man." "It's okay." "We'll find it." "Guys, there's a picture of a bee." "Maybe your epinephrine's in here." "W-What should we do?" "Uh... we need the password." "Just breathe." "Just breathe." "All right?" "We'll figure this out." "Guys, some of the letters have little bees over them." " A-D-E..." " What the hell?" " I-L-O..." " Take it easy." " Okay..." " P, R, and Y." "What does that mean?" "I don't know." "It could be a word, maybe it's a phrase." " Uh, "dairy pole"..." " No." "Um..." ""I play doer."" ""A dire ploy."" "Guys, he's not looking so good." "Wait a minute." ""Play... or... die."" "Oh, man." "This is so twisted." "Oh, thank God." "Hurry, hurry, hurry." "Okay, ready?" "Whoa." "What did you do to him?" "Nothing." "I just put..." "It says it's poison." "What?" "That's not..." ""salvation lies within."" "sa..." "lies." "It was a trick." "Okay, okay." "Just open up his collar so he can breathe." "What is that?" "So what the hell are we supposed to do now?" "I don't know." "S08E12 The Blame Game" "You were right." "Whoever's behind this isn't gonna kill us." "He wants us to kill each other." "I..." "There's another clue right here." ""Time has run out." "" 2-will cure." "1-will kill."" "Okay, so that has to mean that there's a-an antidote around here somewhere." "Look around." "Guys, look around." "Look around." "What are we looking for?" "Something around here." ""2-will cure"..." "What does that mean?" "Is it another injector?" ""1-will kill..."" "Is it a needle?" "Hey, guys, found something." ""2-will cure."" "Hang in there, buddy." "This is number 2." "We just got to give him number 2." "Wait, wait, no, wait, wait." "Something's not right." "Um, it's too easy, too, uh..." "But that's what the clue said." ""2-will cure."" "What if that means a combination of two vials makes the antidote?" "What are you talking about?" "Well, clearly we can't take any of these clues for granted." ""Time has run out"..." "What does that mean?" "Okay, the clock..." "That clock has stopped." "Which is "time has run out,"" "and the hands are at 1:00 and 3:00, so what if the antidote... 1 and 3 vials combined." "Oh, man..." "I don't know." "Whoa, whoa." "You sure about this?" "Oh, thank God." "You all right?" "Just breathe." "Breathe." "Okay." "Why the hell am I here?" "Well, Mr. Buckley, we understand that you had some issues with Emma Matthews." "I don't know what you're talking about." "I liked Emma." "It's a real shame what happened to her." "Yeah, we're sure you're heartbroken, especially after she supposedly lied and beat you out of that big promotion at work." "And now that Emma's dead, that new job is yours for the taking." "Whoa." "Hold on." "I may not be shedding tears over Emma's demise, but I didn't kill her." "You own a white Ram 350 van, don't you, Mr. Buckley?" "Yeah." "So?" "So a van matching that description was seen outside Emma's place during the time she was murdered." "Where were you between 9:00 and 11:00 last night?" "At O'Malley's Pub in Brooklyn." "And my van was parked right out front." "Ask anyone there." "We will." "And it better check out." "And just so you guys know," "Emma did lie about me to get that promotion." "That chick lied all the time." "What are you talking about?" "Just yesterday I caught her in the edit bay digitizing old VHS tapes." "Emma said it was proof for a story, but I know all the stories she was working on, and those videos had nothing to do with any of them." "Wait, didn't Emma's co-worker say she just stumbled on some sort of proof?" "Buckley, what was on those tapes?" "They were weird home videos of a couple of kids sitting around wearing these strange medallions." "Strange how?" "I don't know." "They..." "They had round symbols." "Did they look anything like this?" "Yeah." "Exactly like that." "Are there copies of these VHS tapes she was digitizing?" "Yeah." "The system automatically archives the raw footage to the server for backup." "How you feeling?" "Better." "Thanks for saving me." "Oh." "Hey, I don't even know your name." "That's right." "We haven't done proper introductions." " I'm Rick." " Todd." "Yeah, my name's Simon." "Judah." "Well, gentlemen, um, clearly we were all brought here for a reason." "Maybe if we can figure out what it is, it'll be our way out." "Okay." "How do we do that?" "Well, we all must have some sort of connection to each other." "Yeah, but I've never seen any of you guys in my life, ever." "Right, but it may be some connection we're not yet aware of." "Um, I'm a mystery writer." "What do you guys do for a living?" "I'm a third-grade teacher." "I'm a minister." " I own a boxing gym." " Okay." "All right." "No connection there, but, uh, where are you from?" "I'm born and raised in New York City." "Hey, mystery writer, no one cares why we're here." "We only care about getting out." "I'm with him." "Me too." "There's got to be something in here we can use to escape." "You know what, Judah, the last time we broke something," "Todd nearly died." "Hey, pal, I'm not the one who injected him with poison, okay?" "That's exactly my point." "Rummaging around may inadvertently activate another deadly trap." " We got to do something." " Agreed." "So let's be smart about it." "Um, the cryptex..." "I-It led us to the poison, and the poison led us to the antidote." "Yeah, but there was no clue on the antidote." "The clock was part of that solution." "Maybe... it holds the next clue." ""The key will release you."" "But what key?" "Alexis, where is your father?" "He's not with you?" "If he were, would I be asking you where he is?" "Meow." "Okay, sorry, sorry." "I don't mean to get so bitchy." "It's just that your father blew off that meeting" "I set up with potential clients." "He had an impromptu get-together this morning with Stephen King maybe he's still there." " Do you have King's number?" " No." "But his assistant called my Dad's cell, which is linked to the office computer." "Okay, here's his call log." "Got it." "We're sorry, you have reached a number..." "It's disconnected." "I must have misdialed." "We're sorry, you have reached a number..." "Something's wrong." "Yeah, there's a new tweet from Stephen King..." ""Watch me live on Australia's '7PM Project' in 20 minutes."" "If Stephen King is in Australia... where's my Dad?" ""The key will release you," but what key?" "Maybe it's a metaphor." "Maybe you're an idiot." "Now, will you please shut up so the grown-ups can think?" "Guys, the bickering is not gonna help us." "Maybe there's something in this room that's shaped like this keyhole." "Yeah, I know I've seen that shape before." "Boys, we're getting out of here." "Oh, come on." ""The last one standing will be freed."" "Three bullets, four of us." "So, what?" "Whoever kills the others goes free?" "Give me the gun, Rick." "No, no, no." "I want the gun!" "Both of you, stop!" "Stop it." "If you don't, whoever's behind this wins, don't you see?" "Don't you see we're powerless in here?" "No, we're not." "We have the power not to play." "You hear that?" "We're not gonna play your sick, little game anymore." "You lose." "It's another room." "It's identical to this one." "Meadow." "What's my wife doing in there?" "That's my girlfriend, Patty." "Beckett." "It's exactly the same." "Everything's the same." "Castle?" "Do you hear me?" "Castle?" "Castle?" "That was my husband, Simon." "And my boyfriend." "Which explains the text that they used to lure us here." "They must have been abducted first and then their phones were used to text us." "But why?" "More importantly, who's that fourth man?" "What?" "Yeah, there were four guys on that screen but only three of us." "What happened to the woman that was supposed to be in that chair?" "What is that on your neck?" "What?" "What is it?" "You have one, too." "What about me?" "No." "Well, is that a good thing or a bad thing?" "I don't know, but the important thing here is to stay calm." "Screw calm!" "I say we break that glass and hack our way out of here." "No, that's not a good idea." "Tough." "If this isn't an emergency, I don't know what is." "Look, whoever is behind this isn't stupid enough to leave something that we can use to go free, which means that's a trap." "Now let's just finish this puzzle and see what happens." "Fine." "Knock yourself out." "Something about this feels familiar." "What do you mean?" "Identical rooms, the tasks..." "In grad school I read a case study that examines separation anxiety in stressful situations." "Well, this certainly is stressful." "Oh." "Thank God." "What are you doing?" "Having a smoke." "I think I've earned it." "No!" "I told you..." "you can't trust anything in this place." "This could kill you." "It's a cigarette." "It's definitely gonna kill me eventually." "What the hell is that?" "It smells like peanuts." "I'm allergic." "Looks like Captain Beckett just saved your life." "So how about you start being a team player?" "I need you to tell me everything you can about this study." "What the hell is my wife doing in here, and yours?" "They must be leverage to make us follow the rules or else they get hurt." "Or maybe we're the leverage." "And what about Todd?" "He didn't have anyone in that room." "He's a priest." "They're celibate." "I'm a minister." "The rules are different." "So is there a Mrs. Minister that's not in there?" "No, but that doesn't mean there aren't people I care about." "And if something happened to one of them..." "Look, we don't know enough for you to be worried about that, okay?" "Ah, hell, being locked in this room with a loaded gun and instructions to kill one another is plenty to be worried about." "We're not gonna do that." "What we should be doing is figuring out why the hell we're here." "And why are some of us marked with this symbol and others aren't." "Did you see the symbol on any of the women?" "I saw something on Patricia's neck, but I don't have one." "And what about your wife?" "No." "You sure?" "I didn't take my eyes off of her." "So she doesn't have one but you do." "Following that pattern, Beckett must have one because I don't." "Meaning what?" "Well, what if the people with the symbol are the important ones and the rest of us are leverage?" "There he is." "What's he doing in there?" "Wait, what's going on with that van?" "Uh, what the hell just happened?" "Was that my dad?" "So, Buckley sent over those tapes that Emma was digitizing." "And?" "Well, he's right." "It's, uh, weird." "What are they doing?" "Solving puzzles." "For hours." "And they're wearing the symbol, just like Buckley said." "Could that little girl be Emma?" "It's possible." "Based on clothing and picture quality, the lab thinks that the tape is at least 20 years old." "If it is Emma, then who's that little boy and what do these videos have to do with her murder?" "I'm scared." "I don't want to play this game anymore." "Please, let me out." "Yo." "Dad's missing and we can't reach Beckett's cell." "Whoa, whoa, whoa." "Hold on, hold on." "Beckett's at a forensics conference, Alexis." "No." "She never showed." "Rick was lured into an empty building this morning." "I hacked a nearby street camera and got footage of a white van fleeing the scene." "Neighbors saw a white van in front of Emma's building." "Who's Emma?" "A murder victim." "We think her killer might have been have been driving a rusty white van." "If the clue is right, this must be the key." "I take back every bad thing I've been thinking about you." "Yeah, well, thank you." "Just another mind game." ""The last one standing will be freed."" "Two bullets." "And three of us." "Clearly our captor's trying to turn us against each other." "What kind of sick new test is this?" "I don't know, but it seems a little unsophisticated." "Meadow!" "What are you doing?" "It's called survival of the fittest." "Just more concrete." "Which falls under the "to be expected" column." "Oh, no." "Sorry, boys." "My wife's got the right idea." "Meadow, you don't have to do this." "Look, it's nothing personal." "Give me the gun, Meadow." "Shooting us isn't gonna get you out of here any faster." "I'm sorry, but it's you or me." "Aah!" "Simon... shooting us is not gonna get that door open." "You don't know that." "The note says only one will survive." "I need to make sure it's me." "Don't go down this path." "Sorry, preacher." "He's dead." "The barrel is sealed." "The gun's as rigged as this room." "This will have to do until I get you into real handcuffs." "Come on." "Can't we work something out?" "You tried to kill us." "If she hadn't taken the bullets out, you would have." "I wasn't myself." "It was fight or flight, pure animal instinct." "No." "Simon." "I'm so sorry." "Save it." "Your husband killed him." "We don't know that." "Get away from me." "What are we gonna do?" "This is all a game to our captor." "We're being manipulated." "We're gonna change the rules." "Just give me a call whenever you hear something." "Hey." "I got something." "Vikram scrubbed the footage." "He found the name "Northcliff"" "written at the bottom of one of the puzzles." "Now, when Emma was a teenager, she walked dogs for a pair of psychiatrists..." "Geoffrey and Samantha Northcliff." "This is good." "Yeah, and it gets better." "There was a break-in at the Northcliffs' apartment the night before Emma was murdered." "According to the police report, only personal property was taken." "The VHS tapes." "She must have broken in to steal them." "But why?" "Let's ask the Northcliffs." "I can't find them." "But I've got their secretary in the box right now." "All right." "So much tragedy." "I hadn't seen Emma since she was a teenager." "And then I ran into her last week at Fay's funeral." "Whose funeral?" "Fay Northcliff..." "Geoffrey and Samantha's daughter." "What happened to her?" "She hung herself." "The poor girl." "Did she have any siblings?" "Yes." "A twin brother, Brandon." "And are these the twins, right here?" "Yes." "25 years ago, the Northcliffs did groundbreaking research on separation anxiety in children." "But there were rumors of unethical behavior." "And they were involved in some pretty fringe behavioral science." "Did the Northcliffs use their own children as test subjects?" "I wouldn't know anything about that." "Emma's dead, Rose." "And if she broke into the Northcliffs' apartment to steal those tapes, then she was planning to expose them." "It's possible that the Northcliffs killed her to keep that secret." "And if you don't want to be charged as an accessory, then you better come clean right now." "You have to believe me." "I didn't know the experiments were doing harm to those children." "Time has proven otherwise." "Brandon fled the country, became a recluse." "Poor Fay..." "you know what happened to her." "Do you have any idea where the Northcliffs might be right now?" "No." "I haven't seen them since yesterday." "I swear to you." "Guys." "Hayley ID'd the van." "It's registered to a professional corporation owned by somebody named Geoffrey Northcliff." "He and his wife are our prime suspects." "Did you get an address off the registration?" "Yes, it's a secluded property outside Hartsdale." "That could be where they're holding Castle and Beckett." " Let's go." " Yeah." "This is not gonna happen." "We need to work smarter." "How?" "That door's the only way out." "If we could find something we can use as a pry bar, we can get it between lock and the frame, we might be able to pop it open." "Yeah, okay." "All right." "So, the chemicals in there are explosive." "It just needs a catalyst to set it off." "Great." "Fuse." "There you go." "Thanks." "Perfect." "I've always loved the smell of this stuff." "Okay." "You two better hide." "What was that?" "I don't know, but we need to get out of here now." "Okay." "Just stay close." "This could be another trap." "Get back." "There's someone there." "Stay close, okay?" "Whoa, whoa, whoa." "Don't shoot." "It's rigged to kill the shooter." "That's how Simon died." "Thank God you're okay." "Patricia." "You okay?" "Yeah." "Good." "We should keep moving." "He's right." "It could be a trap!" "No, wait, wait." "It's fine!" "W-We can get out." "Let's go." "Let's get out of here." "About damn time." "Oh, we're free!" "No!" " No!" " We're locked in." "Whatever they're for, we got less than five minutes to figure it out." "It started counting down as soon as the doors closed." "Okay, clearly this room is our captor's endgame." "He wanted us to end up here." "Why?" "What does he want from us?" "Is that another clue?" "Last piece of the puzzle..." ""Of those who remain, only your better half can survive."" "What the hell does that mean?" "There are six of us left and three levers." "He wants to separate the couples, make us choose who goes free." "And who stays behind to pull the levers." "I assume all three need to be pulled at once to open the door." "Unless that's what he wants us to think." "These levers could just as easily blow this room." "How are we supposed to know?" "We have to have faith." "W-Wait, wait!" "See?" "Faith." "Now, who's staying in here with me?" "State police!" "We got two hostages!" "It's the Northcliffs." " Bedroom's clear!" " Kitchen's clear!" "What the hell is this?" "Dad?" "Where are they?" "There's a building hidden in the trees at the bottom of the hill." "Who's behind this?" "Who left you here?" "Our son, Brandon." "We're out of time." "You need to choose which ones of you are staying in here with me." "I'll stay." "Castle." "Fine." "But I'm not letting you stay here alone." "Patricia, you leave with the others." "The instructions say "your better half."" "If you both stay, that's breaking the rules." "Screw the rules!" "There could be consequences for all of us!" "There's consequences when we follow the rules, too." "Come on." "Thank you!" "We'll send help." "So, what now?" "I'm sorry." "I thought we could run out the door." "Really?" "So it's not because we broke your rules?" "Well, he did say that there would be consequences." "We know it's you." "Damn it." "Don't!" "What gave me away?" "When you ran into this room, even though we all suspected it would be booby-trapped." "And then when you pulled that lever, you didn't even hesitate." "Same way you didn't hesitate when Simon pulled the trigger." "You weren't afraid, and not because you're a "minister" with faith, but because you are a mastermind with the knowledge that the gun was rigged to fire backwards." "Not like this one." "Let's finish the experiment." "One of you has to die." "Those are the rules." "Why are you doing this?" "That's the same question I asked my parents when they would rip me away from my twin sister..." "Testing us over and over, day after day." "Look, no one should be treated the way you and your sister were." " Let us help you." " Help me?" "You?" "Why?" "'Cause you're a cop?" "I talked to cop once, when I was a kid." "You know what happened?" "He sent over two officers from the 12th Precinct, your precinct." "They talked to my parents for five minutes, then walked away!" " I'm sorry." " Not as sorry as my sister was." "My parents ordered more isolation, more tests." "So you're holding Beckett responsible?" "She was a child when that happened." "Why are you punishing her?" "This isn't punishment." "This is science." "Patricia is a psychiatrist on the Board of Education." "Did someone there let you and your sister down?" "Kate, everyone let us down." "So we're all surrogates for people that weren't able to protect you two." "But you were careful to choose people who love each other, because you loved your sister." "She was your soulmate." "Now one of you has to feel what I feel." "Now, why did you choose Emma?" "She wanted to expose my parents!" "That's not enough..." "Some video tapes of some kids doing puzzles?" "That's nothing, a blip in the news cycle." "But one of you goes free, and tells how I killed ur one true love and myself..." "Only then will the world truly understand the monster my parents created." "No more talking." "Time to solve the final puzzle." "Which one of you dies?" "I won't choose." "Neither will I." "Decide or I'll start maiming you till someone does." "Okay, okay." "I'll choose." "I-I'll decide." "Good." "Who dies, Rick?" "No one dies." "Don't move." "You guys okay?" "Yeah." "Thanks for rescuing us." "Yes, because clearly you're helpless without us." "How'd you guys even find us?" "Well, we had our best person on it." "I can't leave you alone for five minutes." "Does this mean no hug?" "Hey." "I'm heading out for a bit of fun." "Want to come with?" "I'll pass." "Thanks." "How you doing?" "You worry a lot about your father." "You would, too, if Richard Castle was your dad." "I mean, the guy's abducted, like, what, twice a year?" "I think that's a tad above the national average." "Yet he always comes home." "Do you know why that is?" "Yeah." "He's really lucky." "No." "He's really good at what he does." "Is he as good as you?" "Good heavens, no." "Why would you ask such a thing?" "All right." "We're gonna get you dolled up, we are gonna go out to some clubs, we're gonna get into just a tiny, little bit of trouble." "Never hurt anyone." "Come on." "Thanks." "You okay?" "Yeah, I was just thinking about those little kids." "I mean... a lot of people let them down." "And although their parents are finally being exposed, it's far too little, too late." "Mm." "This is not the day that I was expecting when I woke up this morning." "Tell me about it." "But at least it's ending well." "Yeah." " What's wrong?" " Nothing." "I-I ju..." "I was really looking forward to the prospect of collaborating with Stephen King, you know?" "Well, you know, Castle, look on the bright side." "When Stephen King does call, at least you'll have one hell of an icebreaker."