Kate leaves Ryan with orders to get copies of the footage from the dorm and surrounding areas and then scrub it for anything helpful. She walks back toward the dorm slowly, digesting the information. Two perps. On the one hand, it makes more sense. The public nature of the first two murders seems less bold now that she knows he has a lookout. On the other hand, it makes the crimes even more horrifying. Being tortured by one sociopath is bad enough. But two? She shudders just thinking about it.
In the dorm lobby, Lennox waves her down. "I spoke to the vic's roommate, the girl who found her," he says. "She painted an interesting picture of our vic."
"What do you mean?"
"Well our first two victims were party girls, right?"
Kate shrugs. "Most accounts said that they liked to have a good time, yeah. Both of them were at parties and were intoxicated when they died. Why? Was Annabelle a partier?"
"Complete opposite. Her roommate said all Annabelle did was study and go to class. No parties, no dating."
"But she brought the perp back to her room," Kate says. "They were holding hands. Looked like a date to me. Maybe the roommate doesn't know her as well as she thinks."
"That's why I interviewed some other students in the dorm. Two girls told me that on two recent but separate occasions, they've seen Annabelle hanging out with a 'sweet looking guy who seemed really into her.'"
Kate nods. "She had a new boyfriend."
Lennox gives her a pointed look. "And her new boyfriend killed her."
"Sounds like it. Get the girls to a sketch artist, okay?"
"You think he'll match our sketch?"
"We've got two perps. If he doesn't, it's because he's our second man."
X-X-X-X-X
Kate's making another lap of the crime scene, discussing the new findings with Lanie and Esposito when Castle reappears. She ushers him into the hallway under the pretense of getting out of the way of CSU. Once in the hallway, he presents her with a coffee.
"I sprung for the big one," he tells her. "Thought you could use it."
"Thanks," she says, smiling at him before taking a sip. His voice is lighter, shoulders less tense, eyes not as dark. Thank you, Alexis, she thinks. "I'm headed to the Dean of Students to get next of kin info. But guess what? We've got some new leads."
"Really? Like what?"
Kate starts toward the door. "Like we've got two perps."
Castle stares at her. "No way."
"Yes way. And one of them appears to have been Annabelle's new boyfriend. The way rumors fly around a college campus, I'm betting we can piece together enough information about him to get an ID."
"That's great," Castle says, the optimism sliding back into his voice.
Kate's smile doesn't stay long. The second she opens the door, she's bombarded with a million camera flashes and shouted questions.
"Damn it," she mutters.
"Oh," Castle says, shielding his eyes. "I forgot about them."
"Me too," she says. "At least they're behind the tape and not in my face."
"For their safety, not ours," Castle quips.
"Hey," Allen greets breathlessly, stopping in front of her. "I got sawhorses and tape set up and called for backup, which got here about twenty minutes ago. We'll have to push through to get to your car, but we'll make sure you get there without incident."
Kate smirks at him. "Gates tell you to make sure I don't kill any of them?"
Allen shrugs. "Maybe. Personally, I wouldn't mind witnessing that beat down."
"Wouldn't we all," Castle sighs wistfully.
Kate gives him a look and then turns back to Allen. "What're they saying?"
"Anonymous call to all the major stations that Nemesis struck again on Columbia's campus. That's why those assholes from 19 Action News got here right when we did."
"Our perp is a fame whore," Castle says, peering out into the crowd. "I bet he's here, basking in his handiwork."
"Take video and pictures of the crowd," Kate tells Allen. "Castle might be right."
"You got it." He motions to a pair of nearby uniforms, who trot over. "Get Detective Beckett to her car without incident," he orders.
"Nikki Heat the loose cannon," Castle whispers in her ear.
Kate rolls her eyes.
X-X-X-X-X
The next of kin notification is difficult, as always, but it's also informative. Annabelle Vaughn is the only daughter of Matthew and Elise Vaughn. Matthew is an investment banker worth millions and then some. He and his wife are heartbroken. As Elise sobs and Matthew tries to comfort her, he explains that Annabelle was a quiet, introverted girl. She had dreams of a career in medical research. She was shy, so she had few friends and even fewer boyfriends. When Kate asks about a recent boyfriend she'd been seen around campus with, both Matthew and Elise are mystified.
Kate isn't.
The pieces are falling into place. Each of the three victims comes from an obnoxiously wealthy family. Each of the victims is also in the 18 to 24 age range, young and pretty, with bright futures ahead of them. Jamie and Natalie were known party girls; socialites in every sense of the word, young women who were charming and fun and loved being out and about. Annabelle, however, was the exact opposite. And it's Annabelle who Kate thinks will break this case wide open.
"It's simple," she says to Castle on the way out of the Vaughn's building. "Whoever the hell Nemesis is, he's carefully planned each murder. That's why there's no trace evidence, and that's why he knew Jamie and Natalie would be open to a free drink from a flirty stranger. He's been watching them."
"But he didn't watch Annabelle?"
"No, he did. But she's different. She doesn't go out to clubs, doesn't go on dates. He knew that drugging Annabelle would be harder because she isn't going to accept a drink from just anybody. He had to win her trust."
"So he enlists the help of a friend, because he can't win Annabelle's trust and stalk and kill his other victims at the same time."
"Maybe," Kate says. "Or maybe his friend was enlisted all along. Maybe he's in on it."
"So what's their motive?"
Kate sighs. "I wish I knew. Can't ignore the one connection they all have though."
"Money?"
"Money."
X-X-X-X-X
At noon, Kate calls a team meeting. Everyone except Ryan is present; he's busy scrubbing the dorm footage, and she doesn't want him to stop.
A second murder board has been rolled up next to the first. Annabelle's information is up there, right next to Kate's all caps blue letters that say TWO PERPS. Esposito starts. He reads off Lanie's report, which confirms the presence of pancuronium in Annabelle's blood. Kate nods, not surprised, but Esposito stops her from moving on.
"That's not all. Doc found skin underneath her fingernails. Nobody in the system, but she says if you get her a sample, she can match it."
Lennox is next; he's been canvassing the campus with uniforms all morning, looking for information about Annabelle's mysterious boyfriend. He has a sketch, and when he tapes it to the board, Kate squints at it.
"They look similar," she observes.
"Right," Lennox says. "I'm thinking maybe they're the same guy."
"Different hair," Esposito points out.
"Wig," Castle counters. "He's meticulously planned all this out. Why not add a few costume changes to the mix?"
Everyone looks at Kate. She shrugs. "It's possible. Allen?"
"I looked for a connection between our victims, like you asked," he says. "It doesn't appear that they were close friends, but they did all know each other."
"How?"
"Their fathers are all friends. They were in the same fraternity at Yale. Sigma Phi Epsilon." He holds up a picture of fifty or so fraternity brothers, all in shirts and ties and smiling broadly.
"If that's the connection, we should be looking at the frat brothers," Esposito says. "Maybe it's a revenge thing."
"Look at the sketches, though," Kate says, pointing to them both. "You can change your appearance with a wig, facial hair, clothes—but you'd be hard pressed to change your age, especially to look younger. When's that picture from, Allen?"
Allen checks. "1973."
"One of the brothers would be fifty now, give or take a few years. No way one of them would be able to get in with Jamie and Natalie. And certainly not Annabelle."
"Maybe his partner is the one getting in with them," Castle says.
Kate shakes her head. "I saw the video of them from the dorm. They're both young. The fraternity is the connection, but I don't think it's a brother. Maybe someone close to a brother, but not an actual brother. Not from 1973, anyway."
"Want me to look into them?" Allen asks.
"Yes. You and Lennox. Start with the president of the frat from the year that picture was taken. Find out who Barton, Easton, and Vaughn were friends with, who their enemies were, and why someone might want their daughters dead."
"Beckett!" Ryan shouts from the conference room. "Get in here!"
Kate nearly trips over Castle, who can't get out of his chair fast enough. When they get inside the room, Ryan has the footage from the dorm up on the screen. "Look," he says pointing at the second man, the one in the stocking cap.
"What am I looking at?" Kate asks.
"His wrist. Here." Ryan flicks his hand, zooms in on the second man's wrist and then enlarges and clears the picture. "A tattoo."
Kate stares at it. "The scales of justice? Are you kidding me?"
"This guys a psycho," Esposito says, but he barely gets the words out before Castle is shouting.
"Nemesis! Of course!" He slaps his hand to his forehead.
"Castle?" Kate asks. "Care to share with the class?"
"It's been bothering me all day," he says, turning to Kate. "Nemesis sounded so familiar, and I couldn't figure out why. It makes sense now. Nemesis is the goddess of revenge. More specifically, she's considered to be a goddess of restoring balance."
"Balancing the scales of justice," Kate finishes.
"Exactly. She prides herself on punishing those who have too much or those who suffer from hubris."
"Hu—what?" Allen says.
"Pride," Kate and Castle say at the same time.
"He thinks he's Nemesis," Kate says.
Castle nods. "Personally doling out justice to those he believes have too much money or are too proud."
"Not them, Castle. The sins of the father. He's taking it out on their children."
"Less than twenty four hours before we have another victim," Lennox says.
Kate breaks eye contact with Castle, turns back to Ryan. "Send it to the ink and scar database at the RTCC. I want to know who has that tattoo."