[ congregational singing ] o lord... am i on the right path? if so, please... give me a sign. [ gunshot ] [ singing swells ] [ whirring, steam hisses ] nothing worse than bad coffee.

last time we were together, you and richard were, uh, "ha ha," you know? and now, just a few short weeks later, you and richard are, uh "pfft," you know? it's complicated. mm. so were his last two divorces. oh, god. martha, we're not getting a divorce. well, call me old-fashioned, but don't married couples live together? yes, but i-it's complicated, and -- and i'm working through a few things. richard told me that -- right before he declared he was going to win you back. some of them good, some of them not so good. but he is someone you can always count on. and that is a rare thing, kiddo. [ cellphone rings ] [ cellphone beeps ] beckett. uh, yeah. all right. i'll have detectives respond. [ cellphone beeps ]

look, be honest with yourself and be honest with your husband. [ sighs ] ryan: man, i thought the second kid would be cheaper. but jenny -- she wants all new stuff. you should see the baby stroller that she picked out. seriously, i might have to get a second full-time job. what, like overtime? no -- promotion. sergeant's exam is in a week. let's take it. a week?! when are we gonna have time to study? how hard can it be? sergeant wilkie passed, and he's, like, a chromosome away from a neanderthal. maybe you're right. okay, i'll call 1pp, sign us both up. good morning. allow me the pleasure of introducing you

while he was praying. [ groans ] what? did you guys rehearse that? former altar boys. yeah. probably an involuntary reflex or something. wound suggests he was shot between 8:00 and 11:00 p.m. last night. kind of late for a church to be open to the public, isn't it? it wasn't -- the sisters of the parish said the place was locked at 6:00, but discovered this morning that the front door had been jimmied. so, what -- dave and the killer broke in together? that the killer snuck in and shot dave from behind what was a decorative stained-glass window for prayer. ah. really?! [ clacking ] what is going on here? ryan: father, did you know dave johnson? oh, yes. he was a faithful parishioner. do you have any idea what dave was doing at the church last night? not a clue. perhaps his wife knows.

but what can you tell us about dave? did -- did he have any enemies? oh, no. he was a good man, a loving husband, and arguably one of the greatest -- greatest what? well, it's going to come out sooner or later. [ sighs ] dave was one of the greatest novelists of the last 50 years. dave johnson? uh, i've never heard of him, father. that's because he wrote under a pseudonym. dad? it's my pony! you can't pet it! your pony? what? hey. what's up? [ sighs ] p.j. moffet's dead. p.j. moffet was one of my literary heroes. mine too.

but p.j. moffet actually did it. on his first try, too -- "the butcherbird's song." and in 25 years, he never wrote another word. just one book, then he disappeared from public life. according to twitter, he was murdered at st. mark's on 3rd. that's wonderful. dad, a little respect for the dead. not wonderful that he was murdered -- wonderful where he was murdered. st. mark's -- that's in the jurisdiction of the 12th precinct, and i am an expert on all things p.j. moffet. so you're still going with the "win beckett back at's how i got her to fall for me the first time -- that and...when i kiss her, i use the bottom -- dad, when it comes to your sex life, how about we stick with the "afterschool special" version? that's fair. okay, so, what's going to be your way into the case this time? well, all i need is, uh... a client. you guys, lanie called. no usable prints from the crime scene, and no hits off ballistics. yo, "the butcherbird song" is still a popular novel, right? i mean, it's 25 years old,

reading in most high schools. then why was he living in a one-bedroom apartment and working as a janitor for the past five years? i'll call the publisher, have them confirm who he is. no need. we can do that for you. uh...castle, what are you doing here? meet my client. this is wendy johnson, wife of dave johnson, also known as famed novelist p.j. moffet. we're here to make a statement. well, we'll...escort her to captain beckett's office. t, castle? please don't tell me you ambulance-chased this woman. beckett, that is an outrageous accusation. i, as a member of the writing community, merely went by her home to offer my condolences. hmm. and i suppose you told her that you're a p.i. who just happens to have connections with the nypd. the topic may have come up. you look gorgeous, by the way.

[ chuckles lightly ] i felt like i'd known him my entire life. probably because i grew up just loving that book. beckett: uh, yeah, about that, mrs. johnson -- considering your husband's success, why was he working as a janitor? well, that was research for a new book. a second p.j. moffet novel? he was doing research for over five years? mm-hmm. moffet was legendary much like me with you. uh, did you know that before writing a single word of "the butcherbird song," moffet spent seven years living as a drug-addicted eskimo? it's true. he was extremely dedicated to his craft. even though he owns a ranch in wyoming, he insisted we live in brooklyn for authenticity. why did he break into st. mark's church last night? i can only guess it was to pray.

ou know about what? i think it had to be his research. [ inhales sharply ] when dave left, he told me he met with someone that morning, and things got heated. and who did he meet with? he didn't say -- just that the man was dangerous. well, what was his new book about? um, the mafia. hey. where's castle? he took his client home. remember, he doesn't work cases with us anymore. morning. according to his financials, he took a cab ride to brooklyn. where was he dropped off? this guy's house -- milton cicero. works in sanitation. word is he's totally mobbed up. if our vic was doing research for his book and he asked too many questions, milton here might have gotten suspicious and taken dave out. milton: okay. he did come to my house, but i didn't kill him -- i swear.

about what? union kickbacks. he wanted to know where all the money comes from. say... you two have any idea who he really is? yeah. he's p.j. moffet, the novelist. yeah. [ chuckles ] p.j. what? the what? no. that is jimmy "two guns" o'malley. whoa. wait. wha-- uh... the irish mobster who ratted out his whole crew back in the '80s? bingo. g me all about witness protection and how the feds gave him a new name -- dave johnson. hold up -- doesn't the mob have a contract out on jimmy two guns' life? do they? i wouldn't know anything about that. milton? did you try to collect on that reward? don't tell me that you made a call up to the mob in boston. i didn't... not call them. okay, bye-bye.

with p.j. moffet's publisher. our author is still very much alive. dave johnson was lying about who he was. ryan: yeah, we figured. so, dave tells milton that he's jimmy "two guns" o'malley, and then milton rats him out to the irish mob. maybe our vic was a con man. and conning the wrong guy got him killed. i don't want to live with the uncertainties of hep c. or wonder whether i should seek treatment. i am ready. because today there's harvoni. a revolutionary treatment for the most common type of chronic hepatitis c. harvoni is proven to cure up to 99% of patients... ...who've had no prior treatment. it transformed treatment as the first cure that's... ...one pill, once a day for 12 weeks. certain patients... ...can be cured with just 8 weeks of harvoni.

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[ knock on door ] captain beckett? hey. you heard back from the fbi? yeah, it's looking more and more like the irish mob are responsible for dave's murder. meet billy o'rourke, a suspected hit man from southie. word on the street is he landed at jfk yesterday afternoon. is he still in town? well, as of two minutes ago, he hadn't checked out of the biltmore hotel. okay. go find espo and pick him up. yeah. ryan? hmm? be careful. you got it. yeah. [ door opens ] is he in there? all right, thanks. get out of here, kid.

o'rourke: yeah, ricky. i completely agree. thank you. yeah. mm-hmm. [ guns cock ] nypd! hey, guys! how are -- are you hungry? uh, sorry. neither of us ordered pigs wrapped in kevlar. [ chuckles ] get out. on your feet right now, o'rourke. castle, how'd you get here? uh, when i gave dave's wife a ride home, i saw a receipt from yesterday -- a rush dry-cleaning job on dave's jacket. the bill was charged to this room. how did you get here? the fbi. hit man for the irish mob. no! well, yes, yes. but w-when you get to know him, he's actually really a l-lovely person. you know, he's a -- he's a good listener. o'rourke: yeah. thank you for that. uh, very hospitable. there you go. and he actually told me that dave -- ricky, they're cops. shut up. no, they're my cops, though. these guys are okay. just -- guys, billy's not your killer. oh, you know this how? billy told me. ohhhh. yeah. oh, and did he also cross his heart and hope to die? [ sighs ]

uh, let's say, uh, hypothetically... hypothetically. ...uh, i came to town to whack jimmy "two guns" and, uh... hypothetically... i threw him in the trunk of my rental and drove him out to the marsh by the meadowlands. you know where that is. only, just before -- hypothetically... of course. ...i could put a bullet through his brain, i realized the guy doesn't look anything like jimmy "two guns." right? so dave explains it's all just a misunderstanding, that he's actually p.j. moffet... [ chuckling ] yeah. ...and he's telling everybody so he can do research for his new novel. yeah, and i'm a huge fan. "the butcherbird song" -- it's my everything. oh, please. that's -- i have a copy myself. hey, hey, hey, hey! whoa! no, no! so billy brings dave back here, and he pays to have his jacket cleaned. yeah. he even autographed the book for me. huh? oh, isn't that lovely? oh. oh, hate to burst your bubble, though. he ended up not being p.j. moffet after all. guy was a con man. come on! really?! no! and, by the way, castle, no matter what you say here, it doesn't prove

but his alibi does. yeah. at the time of the murder, he was front row at "the lion king." uh-huh. arguably the best musical in town. yeah, well, you're not wrong. but tell them what you saw before you put dave in the trunk. hypothetically. hypothetically. yeah, before i snatched up dave, i saw him having this knockdown, drag-out argument with some tall guy outside his apartment house. so the guy says to dave, "hey, you better come through, like you promised, admit it -- he's not so bad of a guy. [ sighs ] castle, just because his alibi held and he paid for lunch doesn't make him a great humanitarian. he kills people for a living. yes, but without people like him, people like us would be out of a job. now, what's our next move? locate and identify this mystery man? no. that's our next move. your next move is to go home. beckett doesn't want you working the case. i'm sorry. no. uh, i get it. totally understand.

that's -- yeah. that's too much. [ knock on door ] o captain, my captain. carl. hey. thank you for coming up from csu. i need you to give me a rundown of narcotic signatures -- specifically heroin. basically, every batch of heroin is like a snowflake. no two are alike. to determine if samples are from the same batch, we run okay. um, let's say i have a sample of heroin and i compare it to another sample, and that'll help me determine whether they originated from the same source? exactamundo. thank you. that's all i needed. what's up, carl? hey. hey, what are you meeting with csu's narcotics guy for? you know, espo, i do have other cases that i have to supervise. my apologies, capit?n.

but, yo, i think we're missing something here. what do you mean? well, if dave was a scam artist, he is the oddest one i ever heard of. i mean, yes, he was exhibiting con-man behavior, but to what end? uh, to rip people off. who? his wife? she didn't come from money. the priest took a vow of poverty. and the union guy -- dave never asked him for a payoff. okay, that's a good point. so what's the upside to dave's cons? [ knock on door ] hey. so, i i.d.'d our mystery man who threatened dave. . he's a convicted scam artist. two collars for assault, including one with a deadly weapon. you know, maybe eric and dave were working a con together and something went wrong. any idea where eric is now? yeah. i pinged his cell. we got a location. let's go pick him up. [ dial tone ] [ ringing ]

s captain beckett. do we still have the seized heroin from the vulcan simmons case? hang on. let me check. yeah, i'll hold. yes, we do. good. that's all i needed. all right. well, thanks anyway for trying. [ sighs ] hey, bad news. there's no more slots open for the sergeant's exam. damn! well, i guess we're gonna have to wait [ glass clatters ] yeah. bogey, 3:00. nypd! whoa! geez! castle. hey. i was just going to that, uh... just going to the bodega there. pick you something up -- little slim jim, yoo-hoo?

did you put this tracker on me when you gave me that awkward hug? i have no idea what that is. but i'll take it off your hands. yeah, sure. here you go. oops. you know i can find that, right? hey, guys. it's eric. [ door opens ] bob: but i never really had a fair shot in life, you know? uh, my parents -- they died in a plane crash when i was a kid. that's a lie. actually, my parents live in denver. cleveland. anyway, uh, my name's steve. thanks for listening.

before we close, friends, today is a sad day, because we just lost one of our own -- dave johnson. his is a cautionary tale, because last night... dave's lies finally caught up with him. let's take a moment for dave. what is this, an a.a. meeting? p.l.a. what the hell is p.l.a.? s. makes perfect sense. dave wasn't a con man. he was a pathological liar. i'm hall of famer jerry west and my life is basketball. but that doesn't stop my afib from leaving me at a higher risk of stroke. that'd be devastating. i took warfarin for over 15 years until i learned more about once-daily xarelto... a latest generation blood thinner. then i made the switch.

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when you get a cold, you need medicine that works fast. jim! you're in! coricidin hbp is the only brand that gives powerful cold symptom relief without raising your blood pressure. coricidin hbp. this is ridiculous. i didn't kill dave. he was my friend. you sure about that? because the day he was killed, a witness saw you threatening him. i was his sponsor. he was in trouble. i was pushing him to attend pathological liars anonymous meeting. [ imitating jon lovitz ] yeah! that's the ticket. that's it. [ normal voice ] remember? oh, yeah. eric: how dare you, sir. compulsive and pathological lying is a mental disorder caused by psychological trauma. this is not something to joke around about. okay. fine. but, then, how can we believe anything you say about dave? you're a self-confessed liar. i'm reformed. i took a vow of honesty, a pledge to refrain from lying. [ laughs ] come on.

not even a little fib? no. a white lie? no. i can prove it to you. ask me what i think about your writing. what do you think of my writing? i think you're a patterson wannabe, and i think your last book was a boring retread. [ scoffs ] you see? brutal truth. uh, no. that's just being mean. no, honest -- unlike you, a man who obviously wears lifts so he can lie about his height. no, no. t-these aren't lifts. these are custom, prescription insoles. uh-huh. what are you laughing about? r so you can lie about your age. just -- just a little bit in -- in the temples. okay, l-l-let's assume what you're saying... is... is true. you said dave was in trouble. what kind of trouble? it started a couple weeks ago. he fell off the wagon. he started lying out of control, and he was scared. scared of what? and he had uncovered something -- something dangerous, illegal. why didn't he come to the cops?

he knew nobody would believe him. he was the boy that cried wolf. but whatever it was, he said he needed proof before he could go public. beckett: go public with what? ryan: he didn't know. and you think that this sponsor's telling the truth? well, as far as we could tell. plus, his alibi is rock-solid for the murder. we got to figure out what dave was onto two weeks ago that got him killed. already on it. great job, guys. i'll see you in the morning? all right. thanks. [ cellphone chimes ] [ cellphone beeps ] text from castle. both: "my place. important." maybe he found something. what do we do? we go over to his place. we find out what's what. whatever we do, we don't... oh, hell no. but what if she finds out? we lie our asses off. yeah. wait -- do you hear something? no. don't think so.

bienvenidos a casa castle, huh? [ laughs ] ? ay, arriba arriba ? ? yo no soy marinero ? ? yo no soy marinero, por ti sere ? ? por ti ser?, por ti ser? ? [ shouts in spanish ] nice! very nice! gentlemen, very nice. grab a drink. uh, what is this? this is just me saying thank you to my family at the 12th precinct. oh! you're trying to buy our love. what?! so we'll help you win beckett back. no! come on, guys. these are for you. you know we're friends with beckett, too. plus, beckett's our boss now. she doesn't want you working cases. guys, i love her, okay? and i'm gonna get her back. the only way i know how to do that is solving murders together, so i'm not going anywhere. so sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. and try the tostadas. they're wagyu beef. ah. i do love me some wagyu. thank you. [ cellphone chimes ]

oh, nothing. uh, jenny just -- you know, she wants me to pick up some stuff on the way home. really? 'cause that text message said "sergeant's exam." [ crunching loudly ] okay. uh, i may have lied...earlier. there was an exam slot open, but only one. [ slurps loudly ] so you took it -- without even talking to me? you know how stressed out about money i've been lately. a bump in pay would really help. javi -- hey! no. save it. hey, ryan, i couldn't help but overhear about your financial concerns. maybe you and i could work together. how? well... do a little, uh, moonlighting for me. just keep me in the loop as to what's going on at the 12th. you want me to be a rat for you? hell no.