Castle Episode 3.14 Lucky Stiff

What would you do if you won the lottery? That's the question Castle poses to a few of his friends. Esposito would buy a Ferrari. Ryan would open a winery. Lanie would like a new wardrobe. All her clothes smell like dead people. Captain Montgomery wants a big old boat. As for Beckett, well her secret desire is a mystery. As you can imagine, it's one mystery Castle is desperate to solve.

The question of newfound riches comes into play for several reasons. First of all, Martha's former beau left her a million bucks in his will. Secondly, big time lottery winner Jay Hixton was found murdered in his apartment by his butler, Reginald Easley. 100 grand is missing from his apartment and there was an exploding dye pack in the bag that held the cash. A maintenance worker who is covered in blue paint alibis out, but says the victim told him his car was taken away in the hours before he was killed.

A drifter named Shawn York is caught driving Hixton's car down the Jersey Turnpike. But the victim's estranged wife says her hubby gave away his cash freely to the needy. When York said he was down on his luck, Jay Hixton gave him his $70,000 car. Hixton had many other spending quirks. He even purchased three acres of property on the moon. Castle says, "He's right down the crater from me!"

Hixton's wife says she started talking to her husband again after their teenage daughter, Nicole, got hooked on drugs. Getting her clean became their top priority. She says Jay canceled a dinner date the night he was killed after saying there's something they'll both need to deal with. A few hours later, he was dead.

Esposito says Hixton wrote two checks for $10,000 to a low-rent scam artist named Logan Meech, who says the guy contacted him because he wanted a gun. He said his past was coming back to get him. Prints in the victim's apartment suggest he is referring to a couple of criminal brothers who were recently released from prison. They had robbed Hixton in his hometown and his testimony got them locked up.

The traveling hoodlum brothers claim Hixton called them to tune up the drug lord who had a hypnotic hold on his daughter. His name is Marvin "Oz" Osminkowski. The guy operates off the grid, so it's time for a little undercover action. Beckett gets all gussied up (in other words, she looks hot), swipes the keys to Castle's Ferrari and they speed off to a totally trendy club. Vroooom!!

Beckett wants Castle to keep his eyes peeled for Oz. That won't be easy since he's having trouble pulling his peepers off his sexy partner. The suspect also notices Beckett as she slithers through the crowd to Oz's table. She seduces him into offering her drugs. Castle swings by with some drinks, but all Beckett needs is her handcuffs. Oz says he went to Hixton's place the night he was killed, but left because Reginald Easley was there. Castle says, "The butler really did do it!"

The butler didn't kill his boss, but suggests that Hixton was murdered because he stole the lottery ticket. The winning numbers had personal significance to his former elderly neighbor who died the day he hit it big. A relative may have come looking for his fair share. The neighbor's nephew says his uncle dated a woman who had a son he treated as his own. The kid's birthday matches a few lottery numbers. The lad's name happens to be a drifter named Shawn York. Case closed.

With her newfound fortune, Martha decides to open an acting school to honor her old boyfriend's legacy. Her name will be on the door but Chet's portrait will grace the lobby. This news helps Castle determine what Beckett would do if she ever hit the lottery. She'd want to honor her mother's legacy. That's why he puts the wheels in motion to start a law school scholarship fund in her name. Castle just can't stay out of Beckett's personal life and, for that, she's most grateful.