The statement was a low blow to the team. They had evidence and didn't even know it; which raised more questions, and brought about the wicked realization that Tyson had been killing for far longer than any of them could have imagined. The team took a few moments to collect themselves, drink air back into their lungs. Beckett was first to break the silence.
"Wait, what? How did you find it?" The three detectives and Castle settled in, eagerly awaiting McHale's explanation.
"It was the murders in 2006 that caught my attention. They were too clean. Nobody is that efficient on a first go-around, so I knew I had to look for something older." Ryan jumped in
"I'm not so sure about that, we've tangled with him a few times. He's well prepared."
"Michael Jordan is the best basketball player to ever step on a court, and even he got cut from his high school team, nobody is ever that proficient right out of the gate. So I searched for three crimes, not necessarily murders, just crimes, all unsolved. Additionally I tried to write down what the NYPD knew about 3XK with one-hundred percent certainty. Which is next to nothing, so I started reading through the newest files. In Castle's affidavit of events following 3XK's escape, He admitted to changing both his name and his face. So I searched for anything related to any Jerry Tyson, and I got lucky." McHale thumbed a few pages in his files, and then produced a photo, handing it to Beckett to be placed on the board. "A missing persons report for a one Jerry Tyson." Another hit below the belt for the team.
"But that doesn't make sense, why would he want to assume somebody else's identity, and in such an obvious fashion" Even Castle couldn't wrap his creative mind around that fact.]
"If it was so obvious, why didn't you figure it out first?" McHale said in a taunting, condescending tone. "But you aren't wrong, I thought it was weird too until I did a little more digging and found this." McHale produced another piece of evidence from his files. This one was a newspaper clipping, the title read 'Homeless man strikes gold, shares wealth' "This article was printed just a week before Tyson's disappearance, and long story short, he hit a huge cash payout from the lottery and started giving money to the soup kitchen that kept him fed while he was homeless. I mean what better person for him to become? Tyson was homeless, so not many people were going to miss him, and he had liquid assets. A great way to start over is my guess. When I tried tracking down the people in the newspaper's photo, it all started to make sense." The photo included four people, the real Jerry Tyson, a friend of his who was also homeless, the priest in charge of the soup kitchen, and a volunteer. Kate sat on her desk, rocking her hips from side to side until she was somewhat comfortable.
"That seems like a long shot, what did you find?"
"Not what, but who detective. Alison Barber, the volunteer in the photo"
"Well ok, what did she have to say?"
"Not much. She was murdered September tenth, 1987. I found her buried in a cemetery just outside the city." McHale reached down, this time retrieving two photos. McHale handed Beckett a photo of Alison, dead in a hospital bed. Strangled, and posed just like all of 3XK's victims, calm and peaceful, hands folded around the mid-section. McHale went to the board and pinned up Alison's head shot. Castle was taken aback, and his heart began to sink. He walked to the board and pulled the photo off, examining it with intensity. Alison Barber was HIS Alison. This was the girl he had met his freshman year of college, the one he had told Alexis about. Memories flashed through his churning mind faster than the flashbulbs at one of his book release parties. He had dined, danced, and fallen in love with her. He had searched for her for close to a year after they met, to no avail; and now he knew why.