Castle s03e19 Episode Script
Law & Murder
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the evidence tells us, well beyond a reasonable doubt, that Otis Williams is guilty.
Now, he shot and killed Lyla Addison.
And for what? For her car.
Her car.
But that was not the end of Mr.
Williams' savagery.
He tossed her body into a trunk and went on a joyride! Now, the defense can make up any stories they want, but those stories do not negate the facts.
And the facts are, that Mr.
Williams was caught in the victim's car, his fingerprints were all over it and her blood was on his clothes.
"The true administration of justice "is the firmest foundation of good government.
" Now, this should be a challenge to each and every one of you.
You are the 12 people in this world that can bring justice to Lyla Addison.
Help me.
Help me.
Help me.
Order! Order! Call the paramedics.
Are you trying to kill me? What's in this? Everything you need for a healthier and longer life.
What is the sense of living longer if you have to drink that? Ah! That's the stuff.
Good morning.
Good morning, darling.
- Hey.
Hey, why aren't you in school? It's faculty development day.
Perfect.
Because do you know what's playing at the Angelika? Forbidden Planet.
Leslie Nielsen long before his comic glory.
Remember how much you used to love this? Want to go with me? Sorry, I can't.
I made plans to spend the day in the Village.
Delicious.
Bye, Grams.
- Bye, Dad.
- Bye.
Mother, did you see that? Alexis lied.
She did not.
She loves my breakfast smoothies.
No, no, not about that.
About where she's going today.
Her nose crinkled.
That's her tell.
Honey, come on.
This is not the World Series of Poker.
I'm telling you, she's up to something.
What about you? You want to go to the movies? No can do, kiddo.
Gotta meet with my contractor at the studio.
Well, then, it looks like I'm going by myself.
Or maybe not at all.
For Richard Castle, press one.
- Hey! - Hey.
Why were there news vans out front? Because of who our victim is, Joe McUsic.
Who? Juror number seven in the Lyla Addison case.
The Addison case? Seriously? What happened? He dropped dead during the closing argument.
Lanie thinks that he was poisoned.
Heir to the Addison fortune is murdered and, during the trial, a juror is murdered as well.
This has all the makings of a John Grisham novel.
What are you doing? I'm texting my poker group, calling dibs on this story.
It was poison, all right.
Pink lividity, the smell of bitter almonds.
Test strip came back positive for cyanide.
Cyanide? That is fantastic! Unless you're the juror.
There were no puncture marks on the body, so it was ingested.
That's an odd way to kill.
Not for Nazis or evil dictators.
How did he ingest it? Brownish stains in his mouth indicate he recently had coffee.
Maybe it was in there.
After he consumed the poison, how long before he died? No more than 15 minutes.
According to the court clerk, Mr.
McUsic arrived this morning at 8:37 and died at approximately 9:13.
Fifteen minutes.
That means that he was poisoned at the courthouse.
Mmm-hmm.
And who benefits from a dead juror? The defendant.
Then we agree.
The defendant, Otis Williams.
This guy's a real dirt bag's dirt bag.
Grand theft auto, aggravated assault, attempted murder.
Dirt bag trifecta.
Which means, if convicted, he'd go away for a long time.
Life without parole.
I bet the DA would ask for the needle if New York still had the death penalty.
They caught him in a stolen car with Lyla Addison's body in the trunk.
They've got his fingerprints, traces of the victim's blood.
This guy is way past guilty.
So, this is jury intimidation at its finest.
You kill a juror, you not only guarantee a mistrial, but it also serves as a warning for any future jurors on a retrial.
Who wants to serve on a jury if there's a chance of being killed? But we know Otis didn't do it.
He's been incarcerated since his arrest.
He might have had an accomplice.
Whoever poisoned Joe McUsic somehow did it in this building I'll get with security, pull the surveillance footage from all the corridors and common rooms.
I'll talk to the jurors.
Someone might have seen something.
All right.
Why don't we see what Mr.
Otis Williams has to say for himself.
Counselor.
Detective Beckett, I'd like to speak with your client.
Detective, anything we have to say about Lyla Addison, we've said during the trial.
I'm not here about Ms.
Addison.
I'm here about Juror number seven.
Okay.
What about him? He was murdered.
Murdered? I thought he died of a seizure, or some other natural cause.
There's nothing natural about cyanide poisoning.
Okay, look.
My client doesn't know anything about that, and there's no way I'm letting him talk to you.
Now if you'll excuse us, we're due in court.
Let's go.
In light of the shocking circumstances of Juror number seven's death, it is my belief that this particular jury is no longer capable of reaching a fair verdict.
Therefore, I have no choice but to declare a mistrial.
Your Honor, the people intend to refile charges.
Noted.
Until then, Mr.
Williams will be remanded.
This hearing is adjourned.
You call this justice, Your Honor? After what he did to my daughter! You monster! Dad! Dad, no.
Let's go home.
Looks like Otis' plan is working.
Yeah, for now.
Ryan, you find anything yet? Not yet.
The building has a lot of cameras.
Even though we have a very narrow time frame, it's gonna take a couple of hours to get through all of it.
Maybe we're wrong about the defendant.
Maybe we should be looking at a juror.
What do you mean? Tony Muller, Juror number four.
He's been missing since the murder.
He was a no-show for one of our interviews, he's not answering his cell, and neighbors saw him leave his apartment with an overnight bag.
All right, keep an eye out for him on the video.
I already got an APB out.
- You do? - Mmm-hmm.
Good.
Beckett, the brother of your dead juror's here.
I thought courtrooms are supposed to be safe.
I'm so sorry, Mr.
McUsic.
We're doing everything we can to figure it out.
I mean, who would want to hurt Joe? Well, you know, it might not have to do with your brother.
It might have to do with the jury that he served on.
Did you know that he was assigned the Addison trial? No.
No, I just knew he had jury duty.
Can you think of any reasons why your brother might have been biased either toward or against the defendant? When he was a kid, my brother had a few scrapes with the law, but he cleaned his life up.
He believed in second chances.
That's why he ran the halfway house.
What he didn't believe in were third, fourth, fifth chances.
He'd been out there long enough to know that some folks can't be rehabilitated.
Do you know if your brother had any problems with anyone at work? I mean, given the kinds of people that he dealt with? No.
Joe had a way with folks.
He'd look out for people.
You think Joe was chosen at random? Or do you think he was killed because of his background? Well, since this isn't, in fact, a Grisham novel, I thought I'd keep an open mind.
Hey, Ryan, can you look into Joe McUsic's halfway house? See if he had problems with anyone there.
I already spoke with the staff.
They don't remember any conflicts, but they're sending over a list of residents in case.
Yo! Our missing juror? Troopers picked him up crossing the GW Bridge.
They're bringing him in now.
You were leaving town in a hurry, Mr.
Muller.
Any reason why? Isn't it obvious? I'm marked for death, man.
Marked for death? I didn't ask for jury duty, I was summoned.
It said show up at this time, at this place.
It failed to mention that the defendant's homeboy was gonna kill me.
The defendant's homeboy? Yeah.
This big scary black guy.
Exactly what happened, Mr.
Muller? Yesterday this guy follows me into the courthouse bathroom and starts chatting me up about the trial.
Did he give you his name? No, no, but he was going on and on about how Otis Williams is innocent.
And how he's being railroaded by the system.
And then this morning, I see the same guy on the defendant's side of the gallery, in the front row, eyeballing me.
Have you ever seen him with Joe? Yes! Which is why when I saw Joe bite it, right in front of me, I knew I was next.
And why should I die? I was only trying to fulfill my civic responsibilities.
Thank you for coming in, Mr.
Muller.
Now, do you think you'll be able to describe him to our sketch artist? He's a big scary black guy.
It might help it if you're just a little more specific.
Okay.
Look, like I said, he's He's a big scary black guy named Wardell Williams, the defendant's cousin.
I didn't I thought you didn't know who he was.
I didn't.
But there he is.
Are you sure? - Yeah.
- Why? While you guys were in the box with Mr.
Muller, I found this on courthouse surveillance.
See, that's Joe the juror at the coffee machine roughly 14 minutes before his death, right in our kill zone.
Cousin Wardell.
And watch this.
Looks like he makes a killer cup of joe.
Too soon.
Are y'all trying to accuse me of murder with this half-assed version of a Zapruder film? You and Otis were more than just cousins.
Grew up in the same household, more like brothers.
Yeah, me and O tight, so what? So, it makes sense you'd do anything for him.
Including kill a juror on his murder trial.
Man, y'all are reaching.
Are we? You talked to jurors.
That's jury tampering.
So, accusing one black man of a murder he ain't commit isn't good enough for you? Ya'll trying for the daily double? And I talked to a gang of folks in that courthouse.
How am I supposed to know which one of them is a juror? Well, the juror badges on their shirts might have been a hint.
Using video surveillance footage, CSU managed to pull Joe's coffee cup out of the garbage.
They're testing it for cyanide.
Why don't you just come clean, while we still got a deal to make? Man, I told you, I ain't do nothing! Wardell, sit down! Before I make you sit down.
So obviously you must be the bad cop.
Guess that makes you the good cop.
Actually, I'm not a cop.
You're not a cop? Mr.
Castle is a writer.
He consults with the department on occasion.
Oh.
So that's how you two do it? You tell the lies and you print the lies.
Man, y'all are framing me just like they did my cousin.
Man, this whole damn thing's a conspiracy.
Wardell, be serious.
You don't think I'm serious? Then tell me why of all the lawyers in the city, the District Attorney is trying Otis' case? You don't think it's 'cause he's running for mayor and he wants to lock my cousin up so all his rich, powerful white friends can feel safe? Look, you're not doing yourself any favors right now.
You just got it all worked out, huh? You got my cousin O pulling a Bigger Thomas, and you got me poisoning this man to get him off.
Looks that way.
Well, looks don't make it so.
Looks like I'm poisoning this man's coffee.
When really, all I did was hand it to him.
- Hey, Esposito.
- Mmm? Can you get a warrant for Wardell's place, see if there's any traces of cyanide? You got it.
And as they say in legalese, asked and answered.
It's too bad.
I was hoping there'd be a little more to the story than that.
Hmm.
"Hmm," what? Alexis said she'd be in the Village today, but she's over in Williamsburg.
How do you know she's in Williamsburg? GPS tracked her phone.
You tracked her phone? Yeah.
Super cool app I just downloaded.
I can see where she is at any time.
Does she know that you're doing this? What, are you kidding? No, she'd kill me.
And be justified! I'm her father.
If something's going on, I need to know.
A lot of parents will go through their kids' drawers or computers.
Far less intrusive.
Beckett.
Joe's cyanide-laced coffee cup.
CSU found both Joe and Wardell's prints on it.
But there was something very important missing Cyanide.
- Really? - Really? Really.
Well, how was he poisoned? During the autopsy, I discovered cyanide residue in a prescription time-release capsule.
So Joe had a prescription for cyanide? No.
He had a prescription for corticosteroids.
According to his physician, he took one every morning for symptoms from lupus.
It looks like the killer switched out the contents of Joe's capsule and replaced it with the cyanide.
Okay, so then when Joe was taking his medications, he unknowingly poisoned himself.
But here's the rub, since the cyanide was in a time-release capsule designed not to dissolve in stomach acids but in the intestines Our timeline is all screwed up.
Yep.
Turns out Joe was poisoned almost one hour before his death at 8:13 this morning.
That's before he even got to the courthouse.
Which means the killer probably wasn't there either.
So then Joe's death might not have anything to do with the trial.
Well, we learned three very important things.
Firstly, our killer is diabolical.
You let someone unwittingly kill themselves, pure evil.
Second, our killer knew Joe, or at least knew his habits.
Third, our killer was a woman.
- Hmm? - Statistically speaking, poisonings are almost always carried out by the fairer sex.
But you are missing one very important detail, Castle.
Enlighten me.
Our killer had access to Joe's medications.
Medications that he did not keep on him.
So, therefore, our killer had access to His apartment.
Bingo.
NYPD! You know, the murder of Joe the juror is a real tragedy.
Isn't every murder a tragedy? Yes, every murder is a tragedy, but Joe's is special.
He was a juvenile delinquent who reformed himself.
A born-again citizen who believed in the system and helped out ex-cons.
And what did he get for his trouble? - A pill full of poison.
- Mmm-hmm.
"Cowards die many times before their death.
"The valiant never taste of death but once.
" Bro, you're not Castle.
Yeah, I know I'm not Castle.
Then stop trying to talk like him.
What? I'm not allowed to reference the Bard? I'm a renaissance man.
Memorizing one quote does not make you a renaissance man.
What if I memorized two? Have you memorized two? No.
But what if I did? Depends on the quote.
Now who the hell are you? Hank Ponzell, former resident of Joe McUsic's halfway house.
Until you were kicked out when Joe denied your extension.
That had to make you mad, huh, Hank? You don't understand.
No, no, I think we do.
Joe kicked you to the curb and you poisoned him.
Lab report shows that every one of these capsules tested positive for cyanide.
If I'd poisoned him, why would I still be in his apartment? To take the rest of the poisoned pills away, so we couldn't find them.
So you could hide your tracks I was out of the apartment all day.
Anyone could've gotten in there.
And I would never hurt Joe.
He was my friend.
- Friends like him, huh? - Right.
I didn't poison him! Joe was letting me stay there.
Okay? I maxed out my time at the halfway house and didn't have a place to go.
Joe broke the rules and let me crash with him.
Then why were you playing hide-and-go-seek in his closet? I'm a felon on parole.
I hear cops, and my ex-con instincts kick in.
Okay.
If you were there on the up and up, tell us, was Joe in any kind of trouble? Look, buddy, I don't think you appreciate the situation you're in.
You are on parole and you're up to your neck in a homicide investigation.
Now you better start talking or we're gonna have you back in Sing Sing before the evening roll call.
All right, Joe had me run errands for him, okay? Pick up laundry, go to the bodega, stuff like that.
A few weeks ago, he gave me an envelope and told me to take it to this lady.
What was in the envelope? Cash.
Like two grand.
But I don't know what it was for.
I swear.
Joe always talked about how he got out of the criminal life, but maybe he still had a foot in.
Who was this lady that you delivered the envelope to? Ms.
Jenkins? Yes? Do you live at 3751 West End Ave? Yes.
We need to chat.
I did it.
I did it.
I did it.
You killed him? Oh, my God, no! Of course not.
Why would you think that? Because you just said, "I did it.
" No, no, not murder.
No, God! I did something else.
Something awful.
Ms.
Jenkins, you're the court clerk.
Why did Joe McUsic give you that much money? He paid me to put him on that jury.
Joe McUsic came to me and said he wanted to serve his jury duty.
I didn't see the harm.
Sure.
I mean, especially if you're gonna make a profit.
My roommate moved out two months ago, I needed the extra cash for rent.
And I figured who's gonna know? I mean, it's just jury duty.
Please, please, don't send me to prison.
All day long, I see the women who get sent there, and I can't hack it.
I'll be some lifer's bitch before breakfast.
Okay, Joe specifically asked to be on Otis Williams' trial? Yes, he was insistent about getting on that jury pool.
Did he tell you why? No.
But it was the Lyla Addison case.
So I figured maybe he wanted to write a tell-all book about it or something.
I swear, all I did was put him in the pool.
He got through jury selection on his own.
Ryan and Esposito looked at Joe's computer.
There's no evidence that he was writing a book, or even taking notes on the trial.
So a murdered juror just bought himself onto the jury, and we still have no idea why.
Murder, mystery, wrapped up inside a courtroom thriller.
I can't believe John Grisham hasn't written this book.
Wish he had.
Maybe then we'd know what was so special about that trial to Joe.
Well, maybe Joe had a personal connection to the trial.
To the victim, Lyla Addison, or to the defendant, Otis Williams.
- Doesn't Joe have a juvie record? - Mmm-hmm.
What if he knew Otis from back in the day? They could've gotten arrested together, or maybe spent some time in the same juvenile hall.
That's a good idea.
I'll look into it.
Meanwhile, I'll have Lyla Addison's case file sent over from the 74, and you should check in with the family.
Could be a connection there.
- Okay.
Good night, Castle.
- Night.
Hey, Dad.
Writing? Yeah.
How was your day? Did you have a good time in the Village? Yeah.
Go anywhere else? No.
Just stayed in the Village.
Really? I mean, New York is a big city.
Lots of boroughs.
Yeah, but I just stayed in Manhattan.
So, you didn't go to Brooklyn? Williamsburg is beautiful this time of year.
How did you know? A friend of mine told me.
He went there.
He saw you.
- What friend? - Close friend.
J.
J.
Adams.
Nose twitch.
That's your tell.
You're lying! No, I'm not.
Then who's J.
J.
Adams? He's a friend of mine.
Wait.
J.
J.
Adams was Leslie Nielsen's character name in Forbidden Planet.
You're totally lying! How did you know where I was? Are you having me followed? Monitoring my MetroCard? Checking my credit My phone.
Dad, tell me you're not tracking my phone.
Okay, look.
This is not about what I did.
It's about what you did.
You lied to me.
Says the man who violated his daughter's civil rights.
Technically, I would have to be the government to violate You're tracking my every move! Not your every move! Welcome to George Orwell's 1984, with my father as Big Brother.
- This isn't about - What's next? A chip in my brain! Whatever it takes when you're keeping secrets from me! You know what? If you're so interested in what I'm doing, why don't you ask your phone? I'm sure there's an app for that! You had it coming, Castle.
I mean, you have the best kid in the world and you treated her like a common criminal.
Maybe she is, though.
I still don't know why she lied about going to Williamsburg.
And you probably never will.
Unless you plan on water boarding her.
Honestly, is what I did so wrong? I don't really think that it matters to Alexis.
I mean, you broke her trust.
Yeah, I know.
So what do I do now? Win it back.
Come on, Lyla's family's waiting.
No, I've never seen him outside the jury box.
I don't think any of us have.
Well, a juror bribing his way onto a trial.
I've never, in my 25 years as a prosecutor, seen anything like it.
Mr.
Addison, is it at all possible that your daughter knew this man? No.
Stephen? I know most of my sister's friends.
He's not one of them.
And if he was, why would he have done this? Why would he put my sister's shot at justice in jeopardy? Roy, I don't think I need to tell you how catastrophic this could be to the city's legal system.
Now, I need Joe McUsic's murder solved.
How bad are things, Lou? It's pretty bad.
Just this morning, at voir dire, I had potential jurors expressing fears for their own personal safety.
Now, the people of New York need to be assured that they are protected.
Keep me in the loop.
All the years I've been in command of the 12th precinct, you know how many times the District Attorney has shown up? Once.
Today.
You heard the man, let's get to work.
Yes, sir.
There is no Joe connection to Lyla Addison.
There's nothing in her financials, her murder file, her e-mails, her texts, not even her yearbook.
Joe and Lyla have absolutely nothing in common.
It's like the two of them didn't even live on the same planet.
Same goes with Joe and Otis.
There's no Joe connection in the juvie files? No, not even close.
Joe and Otis were sent to different juvie halls at different times.
And they ran in opposite neighborhoods.
So, then why the hell did he want to get on that jury so bad? Wait a minute, I think I got something.
You have a connection? According to his credit card, Joe purchased a pay-as-you-go cell phone from an electronics store a couple months back.
- So? - So, he already had a cell phone.
What's he need a burner phone for? Especially, an anonymous one.
And if he is using it, where is it? All right, take a crew to his apartment.
See what you can find.
That might be the break that we need.
Yeah.
Castle.
Castle, can you stop playing around? Actually, I'm not playing around.
I'm a little busy blowing this case wide open.
This is a photograph of the lookie-loos at Lyla's crime scene.
This is a little magnification app.
Recognize anyone? It's Joe! He was at Lyla Addison's crime scene.
Why would he be there? Only three reasons for a civilian to be at a murder scene.
One, they're dead.
Two, they just happened to be in the immediate area, or three, it's our killer and he couldn't resist the compulsion to return to the scene of the crime.
And which number do you think Joe is? I'm gonna go with three.
He's our victim, and our killer! Nice.
Sorry.
Joe McUsic, victim and killer.
This is the best twist yet.
Joe served on the jury of a murder he committed.
Yeah.
But if Joe literally got away with murder, why would he risk it all and bribe his way onto the jury? Maybe he felt compelled to save an innocent man.
Maybe he wanted to create reasonable doubt in the deliberation room to get Otis off.
Just like Henry Fonda in 12 Angry Men.
Or maybe he got onto the jury because he wanted to make sure that an innocent Otis got convicted of his crime.
No, I like my killer-with- a-conscience theory better.
Yeah, well, like your theory all you want, mine is less convoluted and contrived.
Hate to burst bubbles, but you're both wrong.
Joe didn't kill Lyla.
He had an alibi.
I did background on the halfway house.
On the night Lyla was killed, Joe was at a fundraiser.
He was there until midnight.
And Lyla was killed between 9:30 and 11:30 p.
m.
So, if he didn't kill her, why did he want to be on the jury so bad? And why was he at the crime scene? Okay, so we know that Joe was a juror with a hidden agenda.
He was embroiled in a high-profile case being tried by the DA himself.
But before he could accomplish what he set out to do, he was struck down by powerful, shadowy forces.
What? There's gotta be something that we're missing.
There has to be a tangible connection between Joe and our defendant, or Joe and our victim.
Or between Joe and somebody else entirely.
I found the phone.
It was hiding behind some books in the bookcase.
Joe made 14 calls with it, all to the same number.
District Attorney Lou Karnacki's office.
Looks like the DA was out of order.
Mrs.
Craig Please, call me Dawn.
Dawn, you are District Attorney's administrative assistant? Yes, ever since he came into office.
Do you remember ever receiving any phone calls from a Joe McUsic? Oh, uh We get hundreds of calls every day.
That name doesn't sound familiar.
We have reason to believe he called numerous times.
He may have said it was regarding the Otis Williams case.
Oh.
Yeah, I did get a series of bizarre, anonymous calls from a man claiming that Otis Williams was innocent.
That would be Joe.
Did he ever speak to the DA? No, I never put him through.
I figured he was a wacko.
We get a lot of these calls and half my job is to filter out the legitimate calls from the crackpots.
Did he ever mention anything else? Yeah, he said he had evidence that would exonerate Otis Williams and how he was gonna mail it to the District Attorney's office.
Did you ever get that package? Not that I know of.
Dawn, most of these phone calls are under two minutes long, but then there is this one at 10:14 p.
m.
, it's over 10 minutes long.
Is there any chance that you took that phone call? No.
I never stay past 7:00.
How late does the DA work? This conversation is over.
This is the way you keep me in the loop, Roy? It's a fast-moving case, Lou.
My team just followed the evidence where it led them.
Don't give me that, we've known each other too long.
Mr.
Karnacki, Joe McUsic made several phone calls to your office.
One of them lasted over 10 minutes.
Did you speak to him, sir? - The dead juror? - Yes.
No.
Of course not.
Did he send you any evidence that was relevant to the Otis Williams case? Excuse me, I don't think we've been introduced.
I'm the guy that can get you banned from this precinct.
And I can have you transferred to the harbor unit.
Lou, you said you wanted this murder squared away.
That's all we're doing.
No, what you're doing is sneaking around behind my back.
Now, the next time you want an interview, you call.
And don't you ever, ever drag one of my staff down here without my knowledge again.
You called in the DA's personal assistant without informing him? Sir, I'm sorry.
I was It was a smart move.
Don't you see what just happened? He could have called and asked why his assistant was here.
But he came in person.
He wanted to stop the interview.
He's hiding something.
Wardell Williams was right, it's a conspiracy.
I agree.
I know, weird.
Yeah, weird but good, because that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Are you ready for the Titanic? Yes.
Good.
I did a little digging on the Internet.
Guess who the DA's largest campaign contributors were on his last election? Who? Randolph and Andrea Addison, Lyla's parents.
Here's what I'm thinking, devastated parents demand justice.
Insist that the DA try the case personally.
Maybe even suggest to Karnacki that he needs to put Lyla's killer away, in order to secure their political support.
Of course, and Karnacki agreed, because it was gonna be an easy case.
I mean, they already had Otis Williams.
It was open and shut.
Until Joe starts calling, insisting that Otis is innocent.
Which is bad for Karnacki.
Actually, in the end, bad for Joe.
No, but it still doesn't explain why Joe bought into the jury pool.
Or why he thought that Otis Williams was innocent.
I mean, if he had exonerating evidence, where is it? We've looked everywhere.
We've talked to everyone.
Not everyone.
As I said before, we're not here to discuss the Lyla Addison case.
Neither are we.
We're here to talk about Joe McUsic's murder.
Juror number seven.
You're not still suggesting that my client had something to do with that? We are open to the idea that Mr.
Williams may not be guilty of either murder.
Look, we think that you might be able to help yourself by helping us find the real killer.
This is Joe McUsic.
Had you ever seen him before the trial? He claimed to have evidence proving your innocence.
Do you have any idea what that evidence might be? How am I supposed to know? He bought his way onto the jury in order to get you acquitted, and then he got murdered for it.
Well, look, I'm sorry he's dead.
I appreciate my man putting himself out like that for me, but I don't know how to help y'all.
Mr.
Williams, if you didn't kill Lyla, then we need to figure out who did.
You were first on the scene.
Any detail you can remember, no matter how obscure, might help us.
A'ight.
It was late.
Just got off my job, you know.
Walking home, when I saw that sweet 760i just sitting there.
Keys in the ignition.
I knew I should have passed it by, but I always wanted to drive a 760.
So I jumped in.
I'm sorry, we need details.
So, did you see anyone? No.
Was there anything around the car? Anything that might suggest someone else had been there? Cigarette butts, chewing gum.
Shoe prints, heel prints.
Nah, nothing like that.
Okay.
What happened next? I slid in the ride, pulled the seat up, hit the ignition Wait, wait.
Did you say that you pulled the seat up? Yeah.
Are you sure? Yeah, I'm sure.
That bad boy was all the way back.
So I hit the button on the side to move it up.
Lyla was all of five foot nothing.
There's no reason for that seat to have been all the way back.
Somebody else was driving that car, most likely our killer.
And our killer would have to press the seat back button in order to move it.
Did CSU check for prints? The steering wheel and the dash.
The only prints they found were my client's, so when they caught him behind the wheel, I don't think they put much effort into it.
Lyla's car is still at the impound pending the trial.
We can still have CSU print the seat controls.
A seat back button.
What a great detail for a murder mystery.
Only if we get a print.
Yes, otherwise we'll just be looking for tall people.
Yeah.
Dad? Hey.
Everything all right? I'm sorry for yelling at you last No, no.
I I violated your trust.
I shouldn't have spied on you.
It was wrong.
And I want you to see this.
I am deleting that app now and forever.
Okay? Gone.
So, I'm sorry.
Forgive me? But will you forgive me? Of course.
So, tell me, what happened in Williamsburg? Two days ago, a bunch of us went to Keena's of Brooklyn.
It's a boutique.
And my friends thought it'd be cool if we all took a couple of things.
You shop You were shoplifting? No.
I couldn't, but my friends did, and they said I was chicken.
So you went back to finish the job to impress your friends.
No, I went back to pay for what they stole.
I couldn't just let someone get cheated like that.
I took money out of my savings and went back to the store.
When I got there, I put cash on the counter with a note and ran out as fast as I could.
I don't know whether to be angry or proud.
What friends were you with? It doesn't matter.
Well, of course it matters.
Who I was with is off the table.
I'm not gonna narc on them.
Again, angry and proud.
One question, though.
If you didn't take anything, why did you feel responsible? Because they're my friends.
I guess somebody had to.
It was the right thing to do.
Don't you think they should be the ones paying? Dad.
Why are you even friends with these girls in the first place? It's not that simple.
No, you're right.
It never is, is it? I'm sorry.
No, Detective Beckett, stay.
I was just leaving.
It won't happen again, Dad.
Promise.
You okay? Sometimes, ignorance is bliss.
Tell me about it.
Is that the CSU report? Two sets of prints on the seat controls.
Otis' are on the seat up button.
And on the seat back? Take a look for yourself.
You gotta be kidding me! This is the fingerprint that we pulled off of Lyla Addison's car seat controls, and this is your fingerprint that we have on file.
They are a match.
- There must be some mistake.
- There is no mistake.
You were in Lyla Addison's car the night that she was killed.
I didn't even know Lyla.
Yeah, you did.
We showed your picture around.
You're a bartender at the Kiwi Seven Lounge.
They pay you under the table cash.
Lyla was a silent partner.
You still wanna go with the story that you don't know her? I think that you killed her and then you dumped her body in her trunk.
What you didn't count on was the guilt.
You had to get it off your chest, so you told Joe.
But your brother, he was an honorable man.
He wasn't gonna rat you out, but he wasn't gonna let an innocent man go to jail for life.
So he called the DA.
When that didn't work, he got on the jury, but you You found out.
And you realized you wouldn't be safe as long as he was alive.
And then you slipped into his apartment and you dosed his meds with cyanide.
Dosed his meds? Making you the worst brother since Cain.
That isn't what happened.
Then what happened? Okay.
Wait.
Wait.
Wait! I was there, but I didn't kill her.
And I didn't kill my brother.
But it doesn't really matter what I say, you won't believe me anyway.
Well, considering your other choice is murder one, I would roll the dice.
Stephen killed Lyla.
Stephen Addison, her brother.
And we had talked about Joe's condition.
Stephen must've seen Joe on that jury and killed him, too.
Stephen and Lyla were a pair of rich, spoiled, coke fiends who needed to make a drug run, so they had me drive.
Stephen screwing around with this gun.
This little trust fund gangster thinks he's so badass till we hit a pothole, and bang! The gun went off and hit Lyla.
She died instantly.
I freaked.
But Stephen threatened to point the finger at me if I told the truth.
I'm so scared.
I'm I'm just a nobody.
He's got million-dollar lawyers! We put her body in the trunk.
And you dumped the car? Stephen said if we left it in the ghetto, the cops would think it was a carjacking gone wrong.
And then what happened? We tossed the bloody clothes in a dumpster.
And I went to see Joe at his fundraiser, and I told him what happened.
He said we couldn't leave Lyla in a trunk like that.
But by the time Joe got there, the cops had already pulled over that black guy.
So Joe went to that dumpster and got Stephen's bloody clothes as insurance.
That must be what Joe sent to the DA.
It's all my fault.
My brother's dead and it's all my fault.
We can place Stephen at Lyla's bar that night.
But without physical evidence, all we have is Eddie's word.
What do you think we should do, sir? I'm sorry, Detective.
It looks like there's nothing you can do.
What are you saying? We just let him get away with it? Did I say that? Sir, where are you going? To see an old friend.
Hey.
How'd you get in here? Used my key to the city.
You want a drink? I just got my hands on this brilliant bottle of 1875 Saint Miriam.
I need that package, Lou.
The one Joe McUsic sent you.
I know you didn't get rid of it.
It's not your style, not the Louis Karnacki I know.
A word of advice, Roy.
Just Let this one pass you by.
Did you know Lyla Addison was murdered by her brother? First rule of being a lawyer is never ask a question you don't want an answer to.
I guess it's good I'm not a lawyer.
Yeah, well, that's the problem with you cops.
You live on the corner of black and white.
But over here, on this side of the street, it's just gray.
You just put an innocent man up for murder.
What's gray about that? Come on! You're gonna sing Kumbaya for Otis Williams? Otis Williams, what, theft, aggravated assault, attempted murder.
That's just the stuff we got him on.
But he didn't kill Lyla, Lou.
He didn't kill her.
It's for the greater good, Roy.
What? Your run for the mayor's office? Think of what I can do for this city when I'm elected.
Now, it takes money to get there.
And the Addisons are keeping the war chest well-stocked.
It's just how it's played.
You know that.
Listen to me.
Roy, listen to me.
Roy Montgomery, Police Commissioner.
Now, when I am elected, I will appoint you.
I promise.
You have my word on that.
Think of what we could do for this city.
You gotta let this go.
Please.
Give me the package Joe McUsic sent you, and I'll put in a good word for you.
Preliminary lab results indicate that Stephen's clothes had Lyla's blood on it.
Eddie was telling the truth.
And CSU found traces of cyanide in Stephen's apartment.
Young Mr.
Addison is going down for both murders, negligent homicide for his sister and murder one for Joe McUsic.
What happens to Eddie? We'll charge him with accessory after the fact, but I'll push for probation.
I'll call the DA Or whoever the mayor appoints as acting DA.
Sir, I'm sorry about your friend.
Yeah.
I mean, Lou screwed up.
He did.
But that doesn't take away from the good he's done.
It's unfortunate that despite all that good, he's only gonna be remembered for this one bad thing.
Nice work, you two.
Good night.
So, plans with Josh tonight? No, he's on shift.
I was thinking of sneaking off to the Angelika.
Forbidden Planet's playing.
Forbidden Planet? Is Is that the one with the robot? You've never seen Forbidden Planet? More of a Star Wars, Matrix guy myself.
Oh, my gosh.
Castle, this is the movie that inspired those two.
That's it.
I'm taking you.
My treat.
Oh, no, no.
I have plans.
No, not anymore.
All right, well, can I have candy and popcorn? Sure.
Castle, you're gonna love this.
This is Leslie Nielsen before he became a comic genius.
- Really? - Yeah.
Can we stop at Remy's for burgers after? Now you're pushing it.
I'm kidding.
So, it starts off at the beginning of the 23rd century.
There's Robby and there's Alta, and Leslie's character falls in love
Now, he shot and killed Lyla Addison.
And for what? For her car.
Her car.
But that was not the end of Mr.
Williams' savagery.
He tossed her body into a trunk and went on a joyride! Now, the defense can make up any stories they want, but those stories do not negate the facts.
And the facts are, that Mr.
Williams was caught in the victim's car, his fingerprints were all over it and her blood was on his clothes.
"The true administration of justice "is the firmest foundation of good government.
" Now, this should be a challenge to each and every one of you.
You are the 12 people in this world that can bring justice to Lyla Addison.
Help me.
Help me.
Help me.
Order! Order! Call the paramedics.
Are you trying to kill me? What's in this? Everything you need for a healthier and longer life.
What is the sense of living longer if you have to drink that? Ah! That's the stuff.
Good morning.
Good morning, darling.
- Hey.
Hey, why aren't you in school? It's faculty development day.
Perfect.
Because do you know what's playing at the Angelika? Forbidden Planet.
Leslie Nielsen long before his comic glory.
Remember how much you used to love this? Want to go with me? Sorry, I can't.
I made plans to spend the day in the Village.
Delicious.
Bye, Grams.
- Bye, Dad.
- Bye.
Mother, did you see that? Alexis lied.
She did not.
She loves my breakfast smoothies.
No, no, not about that.
About where she's going today.
Her nose crinkled.
That's her tell.
Honey, come on.
This is not the World Series of Poker.
I'm telling you, she's up to something.
What about you? You want to go to the movies? No can do, kiddo.
Gotta meet with my contractor at the studio.
Well, then, it looks like I'm going by myself.
Or maybe not at all.
For Richard Castle, press one.
- Hey! - Hey.
Why were there news vans out front? Because of who our victim is, Joe McUsic.
Who? Juror number seven in the Lyla Addison case.
The Addison case? Seriously? What happened? He dropped dead during the closing argument.
Lanie thinks that he was poisoned.
Heir to the Addison fortune is murdered and, during the trial, a juror is murdered as well.
This has all the makings of a John Grisham novel.
What are you doing? I'm texting my poker group, calling dibs on this story.
It was poison, all right.
Pink lividity, the smell of bitter almonds.
Test strip came back positive for cyanide.
Cyanide? That is fantastic! Unless you're the juror.
There were no puncture marks on the body, so it was ingested.
That's an odd way to kill.
Not for Nazis or evil dictators.
How did he ingest it? Brownish stains in his mouth indicate he recently had coffee.
Maybe it was in there.
After he consumed the poison, how long before he died? No more than 15 minutes.
According to the court clerk, Mr.
McUsic arrived this morning at 8:37 and died at approximately 9:13.
Fifteen minutes.
That means that he was poisoned at the courthouse.
Mmm-hmm.
And who benefits from a dead juror? The defendant.
Then we agree.
The defendant, Otis Williams.
This guy's a real dirt bag's dirt bag.
Grand theft auto, aggravated assault, attempted murder.
Dirt bag trifecta.
Which means, if convicted, he'd go away for a long time.
Life without parole.
I bet the DA would ask for the needle if New York still had the death penalty.
They caught him in a stolen car with Lyla Addison's body in the trunk.
They've got his fingerprints, traces of the victim's blood.
This guy is way past guilty.
So, this is jury intimidation at its finest.
You kill a juror, you not only guarantee a mistrial, but it also serves as a warning for any future jurors on a retrial.
Who wants to serve on a jury if there's a chance of being killed? But we know Otis didn't do it.
He's been incarcerated since his arrest.
He might have had an accomplice.
Whoever poisoned Joe McUsic somehow did it in this building I'll get with security, pull the surveillance footage from all the corridors and common rooms.
I'll talk to the jurors.
Someone might have seen something.
All right.
Why don't we see what Mr.
Otis Williams has to say for himself.
Counselor.
Detective Beckett, I'd like to speak with your client.
Detective, anything we have to say about Lyla Addison, we've said during the trial.
I'm not here about Ms.
Addison.
I'm here about Juror number seven.
Okay.
What about him? He was murdered.
Murdered? I thought he died of a seizure, or some other natural cause.
There's nothing natural about cyanide poisoning.
Okay, look.
My client doesn't know anything about that, and there's no way I'm letting him talk to you.
Now if you'll excuse us, we're due in court.
Let's go.
In light of the shocking circumstances of Juror number seven's death, it is my belief that this particular jury is no longer capable of reaching a fair verdict.
Therefore, I have no choice but to declare a mistrial.
Your Honor, the people intend to refile charges.
Noted.
Until then, Mr.
Williams will be remanded.
This hearing is adjourned.
You call this justice, Your Honor? After what he did to my daughter! You monster! Dad! Dad, no.
Let's go home.
Looks like Otis' plan is working.
Yeah, for now.
Ryan, you find anything yet? Not yet.
The building has a lot of cameras.
Even though we have a very narrow time frame, it's gonna take a couple of hours to get through all of it.
Maybe we're wrong about the defendant.
Maybe we should be looking at a juror.
What do you mean? Tony Muller, Juror number four.
He's been missing since the murder.
He was a no-show for one of our interviews, he's not answering his cell, and neighbors saw him leave his apartment with an overnight bag.
All right, keep an eye out for him on the video.
I already got an APB out.
- You do? - Mmm-hmm.
Good.
Beckett, the brother of your dead juror's here.
I thought courtrooms are supposed to be safe.
I'm so sorry, Mr.
McUsic.
We're doing everything we can to figure it out.
I mean, who would want to hurt Joe? Well, you know, it might not have to do with your brother.
It might have to do with the jury that he served on.
Did you know that he was assigned the Addison trial? No.
No, I just knew he had jury duty.
Can you think of any reasons why your brother might have been biased either toward or against the defendant? When he was a kid, my brother had a few scrapes with the law, but he cleaned his life up.
He believed in second chances.
That's why he ran the halfway house.
What he didn't believe in were third, fourth, fifth chances.
He'd been out there long enough to know that some folks can't be rehabilitated.
Do you know if your brother had any problems with anyone at work? I mean, given the kinds of people that he dealt with? No.
Joe had a way with folks.
He'd look out for people.
You think Joe was chosen at random? Or do you think he was killed because of his background? Well, since this isn't, in fact, a Grisham novel, I thought I'd keep an open mind.
Hey, Ryan, can you look into Joe McUsic's halfway house? See if he had problems with anyone there.
I already spoke with the staff.
They don't remember any conflicts, but they're sending over a list of residents in case.
Yo! Our missing juror? Troopers picked him up crossing the GW Bridge.
They're bringing him in now.
You were leaving town in a hurry, Mr.
Muller.
Any reason why? Isn't it obvious? I'm marked for death, man.
Marked for death? I didn't ask for jury duty, I was summoned.
It said show up at this time, at this place.
It failed to mention that the defendant's homeboy was gonna kill me.
The defendant's homeboy? Yeah.
This big scary black guy.
Exactly what happened, Mr.
Muller? Yesterday this guy follows me into the courthouse bathroom and starts chatting me up about the trial.
Did he give you his name? No, no, but he was going on and on about how Otis Williams is innocent.
And how he's being railroaded by the system.
And then this morning, I see the same guy on the defendant's side of the gallery, in the front row, eyeballing me.
Have you ever seen him with Joe? Yes! Which is why when I saw Joe bite it, right in front of me, I knew I was next.
And why should I die? I was only trying to fulfill my civic responsibilities.
Thank you for coming in, Mr.
Muller.
Now, do you think you'll be able to describe him to our sketch artist? He's a big scary black guy.
It might help it if you're just a little more specific.
Okay.
Look, like I said, he's He's a big scary black guy named Wardell Williams, the defendant's cousin.
I didn't I thought you didn't know who he was.
I didn't.
But there he is.
Are you sure? - Yeah.
- Why? While you guys were in the box with Mr.
Muller, I found this on courthouse surveillance.
See, that's Joe the juror at the coffee machine roughly 14 minutes before his death, right in our kill zone.
Cousin Wardell.
And watch this.
Looks like he makes a killer cup of joe.
Too soon.
Are y'all trying to accuse me of murder with this half-assed version of a Zapruder film? You and Otis were more than just cousins.
Grew up in the same household, more like brothers.
Yeah, me and O tight, so what? So, it makes sense you'd do anything for him.
Including kill a juror on his murder trial.
Man, y'all are reaching.
Are we? You talked to jurors.
That's jury tampering.
So, accusing one black man of a murder he ain't commit isn't good enough for you? Ya'll trying for the daily double? And I talked to a gang of folks in that courthouse.
How am I supposed to know which one of them is a juror? Well, the juror badges on their shirts might have been a hint.
Using video surveillance footage, CSU managed to pull Joe's coffee cup out of the garbage.
They're testing it for cyanide.
Why don't you just come clean, while we still got a deal to make? Man, I told you, I ain't do nothing! Wardell, sit down! Before I make you sit down.
So obviously you must be the bad cop.
Guess that makes you the good cop.
Actually, I'm not a cop.
You're not a cop? Mr.
Castle is a writer.
He consults with the department on occasion.
Oh.
So that's how you two do it? You tell the lies and you print the lies.
Man, y'all are framing me just like they did my cousin.
Man, this whole damn thing's a conspiracy.
Wardell, be serious.
You don't think I'm serious? Then tell me why of all the lawyers in the city, the District Attorney is trying Otis' case? You don't think it's 'cause he's running for mayor and he wants to lock my cousin up so all his rich, powerful white friends can feel safe? Look, you're not doing yourself any favors right now.
You just got it all worked out, huh? You got my cousin O pulling a Bigger Thomas, and you got me poisoning this man to get him off.
Looks that way.
Well, looks don't make it so.
Looks like I'm poisoning this man's coffee.
When really, all I did was hand it to him.
- Hey, Esposito.
- Mmm? Can you get a warrant for Wardell's place, see if there's any traces of cyanide? You got it.
And as they say in legalese, asked and answered.
It's too bad.
I was hoping there'd be a little more to the story than that.
Hmm.
"Hmm," what? Alexis said she'd be in the Village today, but she's over in Williamsburg.
How do you know she's in Williamsburg? GPS tracked her phone.
You tracked her phone? Yeah.
Super cool app I just downloaded.
I can see where she is at any time.
Does she know that you're doing this? What, are you kidding? No, she'd kill me.
And be justified! I'm her father.
If something's going on, I need to know.
A lot of parents will go through their kids' drawers or computers.
Far less intrusive.
Beckett.
Joe's cyanide-laced coffee cup.
CSU found both Joe and Wardell's prints on it.
But there was something very important missing Cyanide.
- Really? - Really? Really.
Well, how was he poisoned? During the autopsy, I discovered cyanide residue in a prescription time-release capsule.
So Joe had a prescription for cyanide? No.
He had a prescription for corticosteroids.
According to his physician, he took one every morning for symptoms from lupus.
It looks like the killer switched out the contents of Joe's capsule and replaced it with the cyanide.
Okay, so then when Joe was taking his medications, he unknowingly poisoned himself.
But here's the rub, since the cyanide was in a time-release capsule designed not to dissolve in stomach acids but in the intestines Our timeline is all screwed up.
Yep.
Turns out Joe was poisoned almost one hour before his death at 8:13 this morning.
That's before he even got to the courthouse.
Which means the killer probably wasn't there either.
So then Joe's death might not have anything to do with the trial.
Well, we learned three very important things.
Firstly, our killer is diabolical.
You let someone unwittingly kill themselves, pure evil.
Second, our killer knew Joe, or at least knew his habits.
Third, our killer was a woman.
- Hmm? - Statistically speaking, poisonings are almost always carried out by the fairer sex.
But you are missing one very important detail, Castle.
Enlighten me.
Our killer had access to Joe's medications.
Medications that he did not keep on him.
So, therefore, our killer had access to His apartment.
Bingo.
NYPD! You know, the murder of Joe the juror is a real tragedy.
Isn't every murder a tragedy? Yes, every murder is a tragedy, but Joe's is special.
He was a juvenile delinquent who reformed himself.
A born-again citizen who believed in the system and helped out ex-cons.
And what did he get for his trouble? - A pill full of poison.
- Mmm-hmm.
"Cowards die many times before their death.
"The valiant never taste of death but once.
" Bro, you're not Castle.
Yeah, I know I'm not Castle.
Then stop trying to talk like him.
What? I'm not allowed to reference the Bard? I'm a renaissance man.
Memorizing one quote does not make you a renaissance man.
What if I memorized two? Have you memorized two? No.
But what if I did? Depends on the quote.
Now who the hell are you? Hank Ponzell, former resident of Joe McUsic's halfway house.
Until you were kicked out when Joe denied your extension.
That had to make you mad, huh, Hank? You don't understand.
No, no, I think we do.
Joe kicked you to the curb and you poisoned him.
Lab report shows that every one of these capsules tested positive for cyanide.
If I'd poisoned him, why would I still be in his apartment? To take the rest of the poisoned pills away, so we couldn't find them.
So you could hide your tracks I was out of the apartment all day.
Anyone could've gotten in there.
And I would never hurt Joe.
He was my friend.
- Friends like him, huh? - Right.
I didn't poison him! Joe was letting me stay there.
Okay? I maxed out my time at the halfway house and didn't have a place to go.
Joe broke the rules and let me crash with him.
Then why were you playing hide-and-go-seek in his closet? I'm a felon on parole.
I hear cops, and my ex-con instincts kick in.
Okay.
If you were there on the up and up, tell us, was Joe in any kind of trouble? Look, buddy, I don't think you appreciate the situation you're in.
You are on parole and you're up to your neck in a homicide investigation.
Now you better start talking or we're gonna have you back in Sing Sing before the evening roll call.
All right, Joe had me run errands for him, okay? Pick up laundry, go to the bodega, stuff like that.
A few weeks ago, he gave me an envelope and told me to take it to this lady.
What was in the envelope? Cash.
Like two grand.
But I don't know what it was for.
I swear.
Joe always talked about how he got out of the criminal life, but maybe he still had a foot in.
Who was this lady that you delivered the envelope to? Ms.
Jenkins? Yes? Do you live at 3751 West End Ave? Yes.
We need to chat.
I did it.
I did it.
I did it.
You killed him? Oh, my God, no! Of course not.
Why would you think that? Because you just said, "I did it.
" No, no, not murder.
No, God! I did something else.
Something awful.
Ms.
Jenkins, you're the court clerk.
Why did Joe McUsic give you that much money? He paid me to put him on that jury.
Joe McUsic came to me and said he wanted to serve his jury duty.
I didn't see the harm.
Sure.
I mean, especially if you're gonna make a profit.
My roommate moved out two months ago, I needed the extra cash for rent.
And I figured who's gonna know? I mean, it's just jury duty.
Please, please, don't send me to prison.
All day long, I see the women who get sent there, and I can't hack it.
I'll be some lifer's bitch before breakfast.
Okay, Joe specifically asked to be on Otis Williams' trial? Yes, he was insistent about getting on that jury pool.
Did he tell you why? No.
But it was the Lyla Addison case.
So I figured maybe he wanted to write a tell-all book about it or something.
I swear, all I did was put him in the pool.
He got through jury selection on his own.
Ryan and Esposito looked at Joe's computer.
There's no evidence that he was writing a book, or even taking notes on the trial.
So a murdered juror just bought himself onto the jury, and we still have no idea why.
Murder, mystery, wrapped up inside a courtroom thriller.
I can't believe John Grisham hasn't written this book.
Wish he had.
Maybe then we'd know what was so special about that trial to Joe.
Well, maybe Joe had a personal connection to the trial.
To the victim, Lyla Addison, or to the defendant, Otis Williams.
- Doesn't Joe have a juvie record? - Mmm-hmm.
What if he knew Otis from back in the day? They could've gotten arrested together, or maybe spent some time in the same juvenile hall.
That's a good idea.
I'll look into it.
Meanwhile, I'll have Lyla Addison's case file sent over from the 74, and you should check in with the family.
Could be a connection there.
- Okay.
Good night, Castle.
- Night.
Hey, Dad.
Writing? Yeah.
How was your day? Did you have a good time in the Village? Yeah.
Go anywhere else? No.
Just stayed in the Village.
Really? I mean, New York is a big city.
Lots of boroughs.
Yeah, but I just stayed in Manhattan.
So, you didn't go to Brooklyn? Williamsburg is beautiful this time of year.
How did you know? A friend of mine told me.
He went there.
He saw you.
- What friend? - Close friend.
J.
J.
Adams.
Nose twitch.
That's your tell.
You're lying! No, I'm not.
Then who's J.
J.
Adams? He's a friend of mine.
Wait.
J.
J.
Adams was Leslie Nielsen's character name in Forbidden Planet.
You're totally lying! How did you know where I was? Are you having me followed? Monitoring my MetroCard? Checking my credit My phone.
Dad, tell me you're not tracking my phone.
Okay, look.
This is not about what I did.
It's about what you did.
You lied to me.
Says the man who violated his daughter's civil rights.
Technically, I would have to be the government to violate You're tracking my every move! Not your every move! Welcome to George Orwell's 1984, with my father as Big Brother.
- This isn't about - What's next? A chip in my brain! Whatever it takes when you're keeping secrets from me! You know what? If you're so interested in what I'm doing, why don't you ask your phone? I'm sure there's an app for that! You had it coming, Castle.
I mean, you have the best kid in the world and you treated her like a common criminal.
Maybe she is, though.
I still don't know why she lied about going to Williamsburg.
And you probably never will.
Unless you plan on water boarding her.
Honestly, is what I did so wrong? I don't really think that it matters to Alexis.
I mean, you broke her trust.
Yeah, I know.
So what do I do now? Win it back.
Come on, Lyla's family's waiting.
No, I've never seen him outside the jury box.
I don't think any of us have.
Well, a juror bribing his way onto a trial.
I've never, in my 25 years as a prosecutor, seen anything like it.
Mr.
Addison, is it at all possible that your daughter knew this man? No.
Stephen? I know most of my sister's friends.
He's not one of them.
And if he was, why would he have done this? Why would he put my sister's shot at justice in jeopardy? Roy, I don't think I need to tell you how catastrophic this could be to the city's legal system.
Now, I need Joe McUsic's murder solved.
How bad are things, Lou? It's pretty bad.
Just this morning, at voir dire, I had potential jurors expressing fears for their own personal safety.
Now, the people of New York need to be assured that they are protected.
Keep me in the loop.
All the years I've been in command of the 12th precinct, you know how many times the District Attorney has shown up? Once.
Today.
You heard the man, let's get to work.
Yes, sir.
There is no Joe connection to Lyla Addison.
There's nothing in her financials, her murder file, her e-mails, her texts, not even her yearbook.
Joe and Lyla have absolutely nothing in common.
It's like the two of them didn't even live on the same planet.
Same goes with Joe and Otis.
There's no Joe connection in the juvie files? No, not even close.
Joe and Otis were sent to different juvie halls at different times.
And they ran in opposite neighborhoods.
So, then why the hell did he want to get on that jury so bad? Wait a minute, I think I got something.
You have a connection? According to his credit card, Joe purchased a pay-as-you-go cell phone from an electronics store a couple months back.
- So? - So, he already had a cell phone.
What's he need a burner phone for? Especially, an anonymous one.
And if he is using it, where is it? All right, take a crew to his apartment.
See what you can find.
That might be the break that we need.
Yeah.
Castle.
Castle, can you stop playing around? Actually, I'm not playing around.
I'm a little busy blowing this case wide open.
This is a photograph of the lookie-loos at Lyla's crime scene.
This is a little magnification app.
Recognize anyone? It's Joe! He was at Lyla Addison's crime scene.
Why would he be there? Only three reasons for a civilian to be at a murder scene.
One, they're dead.
Two, they just happened to be in the immediate area, or three, it's our killer and he couldn't resist the compulsion to return to the scene of the crime.
And which number do you think Joe is? I'm gonna go with three.
He's our victim, and our killer! Nice.
Sorry.
Joe McUsic, victim and killer.
This is the best twist yet.
Joe served on the jury of a murder he committed.
Yeah.
But if Joe literally got away with murder, why would he risk it all and bribe his way onto the jury? Maybe he felt compelled to save an innocent man.
Maybe he wanted to create reasonable doubt in the deliberation room to get Otis off.
Just like Henry Fonda in 12 Angry Men.
Or maybe he got onto the jury because he wanted to make sure that an innocent Otis got convicted of his crime.
No, I like my killer-with- a-conscience theory better.
Yeah, well, like your theory all you want, mine is less convoluted and contrived.
Hate to burst bubbles, but you're both wrong.
Joe didn't kill Lyla.
He had an alibi.
I did background on the halfway house.
On the night Lyla was killed, Joe was at a fundraiser.
He was there until midnight.
And Lyla was killed between 9:30 and 11:30 p.
m.
So, if he didn't kill her, why did he want to be on the jury so bad? And why was he at the crime scene? Okay, so we know that Joe was a juror with a hidden agenda.
He was embroiled in a high-profile case being tried by the DA himself.
But before he could accomplish what he set out to do, he was struck down by powerful, shadowy forces.
What? There's gotta be something that we're missing.
There has to be a tangible connection between Joe and our defendant, or Joe and our victim.
Or between Joe and somebody else entirely.
I found the phone.
It was hiding behind some books in the bookcase.
Joe made 14 calls with it, all to the same number.
District Attorney Lou Karnacki's office.
Looks like the DA was out of order.
Mrs.
Craig Please, call me Dawn.
Dawn, you are District Attorney's administrative assistant? Yes, ever since he came into office.
Do you remember ever receiving any phone calls from a Joe McUsic? Oh, uh We get hundreds of calls every day.
That name doesn't sound familiar.
We have reason to believe he called numerous times.
He may have said it was regarding the Otis Williams case.
Oh.
Yeah, I did get a series of bizarre, anonymous calls from a man claiming that Otis Williams was innocent.
That would be Joe.
Did he ever speak to the DA? No, I never put him through.
I figured he was a wacko.
We get a lot of these calls and half my job is to filter out the legitimate calls from the crackpots.
Did he ever mention anything else? Yeah, he said he had evidence that would exonerate Otis Williams and how he was gonna mail it to the District Attorney's office.
Did you ever get that package? Not that I know of.
Dawn, most of these phone calls are under two minutes long, but then there is this one at 10:14 p.
m.
, it's over 10 minutes long.
Is there any chance that you took that phone call? No.
I never stay past 7:00.
How late does the DA work? This conversation is over.
This is the way you keep me in the loop, Roy? It's a fast-moving case, Lou.
My team just followed the evidence where it led them.
Don't give me that, we've known each other too long.
Mr.
Karnacki, Joe McUsic made several phone calls to your office.
One of them lasted over 10 minutes.
Did you speak to him, sir? - The dead juror? - Yes.
No.
Of course not.
Did he send you any evidence that was relevant to the Otis Williams case? Excuse me, I don't think we've been introduced.
I'm the guy that can get you banned from this precinct.
And I can have you transferred to the harbor unit.
Lou, you said you wanted this murder squared away.
That's all we're doing.
No, what you're doing is sneaking around behind my back.
Now, the next time you want an interview, you call.
And don't you ever, ever drag one of my staff down here without my knowledge again.
You called in the DA's personal assistant without informing him? Sir, I'm sorry.
I was It was a smart move.
Don't you see what just happened? He could have called and asked why his assistant was here.
But he came in person.
He wanted to stop the interview.
He's hiding something.
Wardell Williams was right, it's a conspiracy.
I agree.
I know, weird.
Yeah, weird but good, because that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Are you ready for the Titanic? Yes.
Good.
I did a little digging on the Internet.
Guess who the DA's largest campaign contributors were on his last election? Who? Randolph and Andrea Addison, Lyla's parents.
Here's what I'm thinking, devastated parents demand justice.
Insist that the DA try the case personally.
Maybe even suggest to Karnacki that he needs to put Lyla's killer away, in order to secure their political support.
Of course, and Karnacki agreed, because it was gonna be an easy case.
I mean, they already had Otis Williams.
It was open and shut.
Until Joe starts calling, insisting that Otis is innocent.
Which is bad for Karnacki.
Actually, in the end, bad for Joe.
No, but it still doesn't explain why Joe bought into the jury pool.
Or why he thought that Otis Williams was innocent.
I mean, if he had exonerating evidence, where is it? We've looked everywhere.
We've talked to everyone.
Not everyone.
As I said before, we're not here to discuss the Lyla Addison case.
Neither are we.
We're here to talk about Joe McUsic's murder.
Juror number seven.
You're not still suggesting that my client had something to do with that? We are open to the idea that Mr.
Williams may not be guilty of either murder.
Look, we think that you might be able to help yourself by helping us find the real killer.
This is Joe McUsic.
Had you ever seen him before the trial? He claimed to have evidence proving your innocence.
Do you have any idea what that evidence might be? How am I supposed to know? He bought his way onto the jury in order to get you acquitted, and then he got murdered for it.
Well, look, I'm sorry he's dead.
I appreciate my man putting himself out like that for me, but I don't know how to help y'all.
Mr.
Williams, if you didn't kill Lyla, then we need to figure out who did.
You were first on the scene.
Any detail you can remember, no matter how obscure, might help us.
A'ight.
It was late.
Just got off my job, you know.
Walking home, when I saw that sweet 760i just sitting there.
Keys in the ignition.
I knew I should have passed it by, but I always wanted to drive a 760.
So I jumped in.
I'm sorry, we need details.
So, did you see anyone? No.
Was there anything around the car? Anything that might suggest someone else had been there? Cigarette butts, chewing gum.
Shoe prints, heel prints.
Nah, nothing like that.
Okay.
What happened next? I slid in the ride, pulled the seat up, hit the ignition Wait, wait.
Did you say that you pulled the seat up? Yeah.
Are you sure? Yeah, I'm sure.
That bad boy was all the way back.
So I hit the button on the side to move it up.
Lyla was all of five foot nothing.
There's no reason for that seat to have been all the way back.
Somebody else was driving that car, most likely our killer.
And our killer would have to press the seat back button in order to move it.
Did CSU check for prints? The steering wheel and the dash.
The only prints they found were my client's, so when they caught him behind the wheel, I don't think they put much effort into it.
Lyla's car is still at the impound pending the trial.
We can still have CSU print the seat controls.
A seat back button.
What a great detail for a murder mystery.
Only if we get a print.
Yes, otherwise we'll just be looking for tall people.
Yeah.
Dad? Hey.
Everything all right? I'm sorry for yelling at you last No, no.
I I violated your trust.
I shouldn't have spied on you.
It was wrong.
And I want you to see this.
I am deleting that app now and forever.
Okay? Gone.
So, I'm sorry.
Forgive me? But will you forgive me? Of course.
So, tell me, what happened in Williamsburg? Two days ago, a bunch of us went to Keena's of Brooklyn.
It's a boutique.
And my friends thought it'd be cool if we all took a couple of things.
You shop You were shoplifting? No.
I couldn't, but my friends did, and they said I was chicken.
So you went back to finish the job to impress your friends.
No, I went back to pay for what they stole.
I couldn't just let someone get cheated like that.
I took money out of my savings and went back to the store.
When I got there, I put cash on the counter with a note and ran out as fast as I could.
I don't know whether to be angry or proud.
What friends were you with? It doesn't matter.
Well, of course it matters.
Who I was with is off the table.
I'm not gonna narc on them.
Again, angry and proud.
One question, though.
If you didn't take anything, why did you feel responsible? Because they're my friends.
I guess somebody had to.
It was the right thing to do.
Don't you think they should be the ones paying? Dad.
Why are you even friends with these girls in the first place? It's not that simple.
No, you're right.
It never is, is it? I'm sorry.
No, Detective Beckett, stay.
I was just leaving.
It won't happen again, Dad.
Promise.
You okay? Sometimes, ignorance is bliss.
Tell me about it.
Is that the CSU report? Two sets of prints on the seat controls.
Otis' are on the seat up button.
And on the seat back? Take a look for yourself.
You gotta be kidding me! This is the fingerprint that we pulled off of Lyla Addison's car seat controls, and this is your fingerprint that we have on file.
They are a match.
- There must be some mistake.
- There is no mistake.
You were in Lyla Addison's car the night that she was killed.
I didn't even know Lyla.
Yeah, you did.
We showed your picture around.
You're a bartender at the Kiwi Seven Lounge.
They pay you under the table cash.
Lyla was a silent partner.
You still wanna go with the story that you don't know her? I think that you killed her and then you dumped her body in her trunk.
What you didn't count on was the guilt.
You had to get it off your chest, so you told Joe.
But your brother, he was an honorable man.
He wasn't gonna rat you out, but he wasn't gonna let an innocent man go to jail for life.
So he called the DA.
When that didn't work, he got on the jury, but you You found out.
And you realized you wouldn't be safe as long as he was alive.
And then you slipped into his apartment and you dosed his meds with cyanide.
Dosed his meds? Making you the worst brother since Cain.
That isn't what happened.
Then what happened? Okay.
Wait.
Wait.
Wait! I was there, but I didn't kill her.
And I didn't kill my brother.
But it doesn't really matter what I say, you won't believe me anyway.
Well, considering your other choice is murder one, I would roll the dice.
Stephen killed Lyla.
Stephen Addison, her brother.
And we had talked about Joe's condition.
Stephen must've seen Joe on that jury and killed him, too.
Stephen and Lyla were a pair of rich, spoiled, coke fiends who needed to make a drug run, so they had me drive.
Stephen screwing around with this gun.
This little trust fund gangster thinks he's so badass till we hit a pothole, and bang! The gun went off and hit Lyla.
She died instantly.
I freaked.
But Stephen threatened to point the finger at me if I told the truth.
I'm so scared.
I'm I'm just a nobody.
He's got million-dollar lawyers! We put her body in the trunk.
And you dumped the car? Stephen said if we left it in the ghetto, the cops would think it was a carjacking gone wrong.
And then what happened? We tossed the bloody clothes in a dumpster.
And I went to see Joe at his fundraiser, and I told him what happened.
He said we couldn't leave Lyla in a trunk like that.
But by the time Joe got there, the cops had already pulled over that black guy.
So Joe went to that dumpster and got Stephen's bloody clothes as insurance.
That must be what Joe sent to the DA.
It's all my fault.
My brother's dead and it's all my fault.
We can place Stephen at Lyla's bar that night.
But without physical evidence, all we have is Eddie's word.
What do you think we should do, sir? I'm sorry, Detective.
It looks like there's nothing you can do.
What are you saying? We just let him get away with it? Did I say that? Sir, where are you going? To see an old friend.
Hey.
How'd you get in here? Used my key to the city.
You want a drink? I just got my hands on this brilliant bottle of 1875 Saint Miriam.
I need that package, Lou.
The one Joe McUsic sent you.
I know you didn't get rid of it.
It's not your style, not the Louis Karnacki I know.
A word of advice, Roy.
Just Let this one pass you by.
Did you know Lyla Addison was murdered by her brother? First rule of being a lawyer is never ask a question you don't want an answer to.
I guess it's good I'm not a lawyer.
Yeah, well, that's the problem with you cops.
You live on the corner of black and white.
But over here, on this side of the street, it's just gray.
You just put an innocent man up for murder.
What's gray about that? Come on! You're gonna sing Kumbaya for Otis Williams? Otis Williams, what, theft, aggravated assault, attempted murder.
That's just the stuff we got him on.
But he didn't kill Lyla, Lou.
He didn't kill her.
It's for the greater good, Roy.
What? Your run for the mayor's office? Think of what I can do for this city when I'm elected.
Now, it takes money to get there.
And the Addisons are keeping the war chest well-stocked.
It's just how it's played.
You know that.
Listen to me.
Roy, listen to me.
Roy Montgomery, Police Commissioner.
Now, when I am elected, I will appoint you.
I promise.
You have my word on that.
Think of what we could do for this city.
You gotta let this go.
Please.
Give me the package Joe McUsic sent you, and I'll put in a good word for you.
Preliminary lab results indicate that Stephen's clothes had Lyla's blood on it.
Eddie was telling the truth.
And CSU found traces of cyanide in Stephen's apartment.
Young Mr.
Addison is going down for both murders, negligent homicide for his sister and murder one for Joe McUsic.
What happens to Eddie? We'll charge him with accessory after the fact, but I'll push for probation.
I'll call the DA Or whoever the mayor appoints as acting DA.
Sir, I'm sorry about your friend.
Yeah.
I mean, Lou screwed up.
He did.
But that doesn't take away from the good he's done.
It's unfortunate that despite all that good, he's only gonna be remembered for this one bad thing.
Nice work, you two.
Good night.
So, plans with Josh tonight? No, he's on shift.
I was thinking of sneaking off to the Angelika.
Forbidden Planet's playing.
Forbidden Planet? Is Is that the one with the robot? You've never seen Forbidden Planet? More of a Star Wars, Matrix guy myself.
Oh, my gosh.
Castle, this is the movie that inspired those two.
That's it.
I'm taking you.
My treat.
Oh, no, no.
I have plans.
No, not anymore.
All right, well, can I have candy and popcorn? Sure.
Castle, you're gonna love this.
This is Leslie Nielsen before he became a comic genius.
- Really? - Yeah.
Can we stop at Remy's for burgers after? Now you're pushing it.
I'm kidding.
So, it starts off at the beginning of the 23rd century.
There's Robby and there's Alta, and Leslie's character falls in love