"I already told you, I don't know what you are talking about. Javier never showed up for our date."

With her voice rising in agitation, the scantily clad woman in her late twenties shrugged dismissively, her hand clenching the glass of water waiting for her at the bar.

"And you never became worried when he didn't show?", Ryan tried, having a harder and harder time disguising his anxiety.

"Of course not. If I had a dollar each time somebody didn't show up, I'd be rich by now."

"Yeah, but this wasn't your first date with him. You knew him well enough to know that he would show. And when he didn't, you never became worried? Come on, now."

Sensing a chance for tempers flaring between the Irish detective and the good-looking stripper, Beckett stepped closer, positioning herself behind him.

"Did you see this man at the bar that night?", she asked and held up a picture of Lafayette.

"Maybe. It's hard to tell. I mean, we're talking the week before last. I see a lot of people here on a regular basis."

"Do any of them ever throw more than a few dollar bills at you?", Castle chimed in now, "Maybe a couple thousand bucks for you to drop a little white pill into somebody's drink?"

"Just what in the hell are you insinuating?", she growled, her fiery gaze moving across the group, her tight ponytail moving back and forth with it, "I would never do anything like that."

Unaware that she'd been caught in a lie, Ryan moved her glass of water aside so that he could lean over close enough to look her in the eyes.

"That's really funny because we noticed a strange activity in your checking account the morning after Lafayette was seen here. We know you make several hundred bucks a night, but this party must have been pretty memorable for you seeing that you made two grand. What was it, Chantal? Was the money too good to say no to? Did Lafayette threaten to expose your side-gig to your friends and family? What was it that made you turn your back on Javi and choose the money?"

Her eyes widened in an instant, a faint shudder running through her entire body as she fell quiet, her lower lip twitching in nervousness.

"We know that Lafayette drugged Esposito and then dragged him out of here and into his waiting car. Now, you were obviously in on this, so we need to know everything he told you on what is going on here, where he was taking Esposito, why he was after him, anything."

A single tear escape her stony features and Chantal sighed woefully, before shaking her head.

"He didn't say anything. Just…he just gave me the money and the drugs and told me to keep my mouth shut. The guy…he stayed in the back of the bar until Javier lost consciousness and then drug him out of this place. That was the last I saw of him…well…both of them. I was…it's been a few rough months and I was already behind on my rent. I needed the money badly."

"Yeah, you needed the money more than you needed Esposito, we get it.", Ryan sneered, then pushed himself away from the bar, "And now he's missing and there's a good chance that he's in grave danger. Just remember Chantal, if this thing goes south, if he gets hurt or…or worse, that accessory charge will only be the beginning of your worst nightmare."