After they arrive at the loft, Kate, Rick, and Alexis hung up their goats in the closet and then take Laine's and place it on the tree. They had left Mr. Stenson in his limo talking to someone in his office about the case. He told them he would be up as soon as he could
The three have moved to the dining room table for more conversation about the information just divulged to the attorney in front of all the Castles
Never in her life did Lanie Parish think she would be the suspect in any type crime, let alone murder. She prided herself in bringing killers to justice and closure to the families of the victims.
She was thankful of her friendship and today she was shown how deep her friendships really went. Kevin Ryan, Javier Esposito, Dr. Alexis Castle and especially her two best friends Kate and Richard Castle. All of them coming in to support her and the best friends bonding her out of bacteria/virus city
"Lanie?" Kate starts up. "Who is Dr. Samuel Bronson? And what is his connection to this case?"
"Lanie is looking not at her friends but out the window to the afternoon sky
"He is…or rather Was an associate of my father. They worked together in my dad's practice in New Orleans. He is closer to my age. Sam got an offer to become chief of surgery at the medical center. It was too great an opportunity to pass up and so he took it."
Castle seems to have a million questions but he only asks one "are you two…? A couple?"
Lanie never turns to face her friends, then decides that direct is the best way to handle this "We have been dating or best describe as 'Seeing one another' outside of work"
"And what does he have to do with you being arrested?"
"I honestly don't know. The lawyer just said that he is related to the reasons I am a suspect"
Ryan begins more questions "How well do you know the victim…?" Kevin looks at his notebook "This Vivian Weller?"
Lanie locks eyes with the Irishman "I barely know her at all. She drops around the morgue on occasion and shows her catalog to Misty Reardon, my assistant"
Kate has been thinking about the investigation "Lanie, if I remember correctly, neither the detective or the District Attorney like you very much"
Lanie nods her head "They both have it in for me and have for a couple of years"
Alexis speaks next "What is that about? What happened a couple of years ago" obviously asking about the question from her mom
"Detective Brice Highland had a murder case and instead of following all the clues and arresting the real killer, he set his sights on a specific person. He pursued all the clues that led him that way and ignored anything that might prove someone else to be the real killer"
Esposito continues "and the DA, Beth Wyatt followed Highland all the way even getting an indictment from a grand jury based on incomplete evidence"
Kate looks at her daughter "but Lanie was not convinced that the man arrested was the real killer. There was no forensic evidence to prove the case but the case went forward anyway"
Ryan joins in "and Lanie kept looking until she stumbled onto a hair strand on the clothes that did Not match the suspect nor the victim. She sent the DNA out and when it came back it was matched to another unsolved murder"
Castle begins adding "Dr. Parish was able to determine that it was a male, probably dark hair and eyes based on the genetics that most likely was the killer"
Then Kate the question "Their suspect was blond and blue eyes"
"So what happened next?" Alexis is very intrigued by all this
Esposito answers "The detective on the first murder went back to the video of the night and spotted a blond man in the vicinity of the crime and were able to identify him"
Ryan completes the story "He was picked up and his DNA matched the evidence of both cases. He confessed to killing both men in botched drug deals"
The red head seems very intrigued by this "And a murder is caught by forensics and a free man released?"
"That covers it" her dad answers
"And that made this detective hate Lanie?"
"Oh yeah" Kate responds "He ended up dressed down by his captain for pursuing an innocent person and the DA was kicked down a notch in the prosecutor's office for her part"
"I thought the plan is to capture the real criminal and not prosecute innocent persons"
There is a knock on the door. Esposito is closest and he answers. The attorney is outside. Espo steps aside to allow Mason Stenson to enter.
He is walking quite briskly as he approaches the table with everyone waiting "I have more information about this. It seems that the victim, Vivian Weller was having an affair with Dr. Bronson and Lanie threatened her"
Lanie Parish is sitting stunned at the accusation "I did not…I would not…I never saw the Vivian woman more than a half dozen times…and it was always at the morgue. Never anywhere else. And as far as her having an affair with Sam, that is news to me"
Alexis looks at the attorney "Mr. Stetson. This should be easy. We just prove that the victim and Dr. Bronson were not having an affair and therefore Lanie had no reason to get jealous and kill her…right?"
"Well, Dr. Castle. That is the problem. You can't prove a negative"
She looks at the man "What do you mean? We prove negatives in medicine all the time"
"You, can in science if you simply test for a specific thing such as the presence of an illegal substance and if it is not there then you proved your theory. But In life, a negative cannot be proven….. Let me ask this of you. Where you were this morning."
"I was in bed asleep"
"Alone?"
"Yes"
"Prove it"
She looks at the lawyer with a blank expression
"Were you involved in a car wreck on Lexington and 14th street this morning?"
"Well NO! Of course not. I was in bed. I wasn't even there"
"Prove it. If you cannot conduct a test such a specific chemical test or provide the proof such as an alibi then you cannot prove you didn't do it"
"So Lanie is caught between he own testimony and the word of another?"
"That's the situation unless we can find evidence. And in this case, the time and date of the crime are missing. We don't know when to look for an alibi"
"Like in medicine not knowing what substance to look for?"
"Exactly" the barrister replies
Rick asks a question "What about Dr. Bronson? He could testify that he was not involved with this woman? And that gets rid of a motive"
"This would look like he is covering for his own indiscretions"
Kate has kept quiet until now "So we have to find the truth…the real killer as our only chance of protecting Lanie?"
"That pretty much covers it"
"And the department will not let us be involved since we are friends of the suspect" Ryan remarks
Kate looks at the rest of the group "That is why we will have to do this off the books" Kate finishes
Alexis throws her thoughts in "We will just have to conduct a series of tests...each one to disprove the accusations against Lanie"