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We see two employees at Saturday Night Tonight griping about Sid Ross. They get in the elevator and they notice something red dropping from above them. Then a body falls out and scares them.
Beckett walks into the kitchen and says good morning to Martha who then says “Is he dead?” Beckett is confused by this so when Castle comes in she says that something is wrong with Martha. Castle jokes with her and says “you’re just realizing this now?” Castle says that she is doing 48 hour first line. He calls it that because for the two days prior to opening night she will say nothing but her character’s first line of the play.
Beckett says that the play opens next month and Castle realizes that she’s right and that it’s previews that open in two days. Beckett then gets a call about a homicide and they leave. Castle tells Beckett about the time that her line was “Come on, baby. I’ll make it worth your while.” When they reach Lanie Castle see’s that the victim is Sid Ross, the creator of Saturday Night Tonight.
Lanie says that he was strangled with his own tie and then thrown down the elevator shaft. Castle suggests that one of his employees could have done it so Esposito and Ryan bring in his wife. She tells them that he called her to tell her that he was going to be working late but he seemed anxious. He said that someone was out to get him but that he would handle it. She tells them to talk to Gene Vogel, the head of the production company.
When they get there they see Danny Valentine. He’s going to be the guest host for the next episode. He hosted the pilot episode for Ross and gives a short inspiring speech. They approach Vogel but are stopped by Liz Bell the head writer. She loves Beckett and asks her the real important questions like how does she fight crime and get her hair to stay like that. Also how does she do it in high heels. Vogel interrupts her and then they talk about the private VIP entrance. The entrance doesn’t have cameras so they don’t know who came or went.
Beckett also asks who was working between 11-2. All the actors and writers were because Thursday is rewrite night. They show Castle and Beckett a clip from yesterday evening involving Mickey Franks. He goes crazy and they tell them that he has become more unstable over the season. He has mood swings, outbursts, talks to himself, and to people who aren’t there. Vogel tells them that Ross was planning on firing Franks and might have told him last night so they go to see Franks.
They find him in the wardrobe and props room wearing a suit of armor. He pulls a sword on them so Beckett takes him out by charging him and flipping him on his back. When they start the interrogation he brings out a hand puppet that is his lead counsel. Beckett looks at him like he’s crazy but Castle is just amused and in awe of him. He puts away the puppet when Beckett accuses him of murder. He tells them that he’s not crazy and that he’s been pretending that he was so he could get fired.
He tells them that he was upstairs at the rooftop bar and then he went to the wardrobe room around three and passed out. He tells them that he went to Ross’ office around nine but he didn’t go in because Ross was on the phone and was yelling at someone about a deal around midnight. He also heard Ross say to stick to the deal or else. Franks’ alibi checks out so they decide to check into the phone call. The call came from a burner phone so they can’t trace it. Esposito tells them that after that call he talked to Valentine.
They go back to SNT and see a sketch involving a parody of them. Bell asks them what they think and Beckett says that it was cute. She says that they need to talk to Valentine so she calls him over. Castle introduces himself but Valentine is more interested in Beckett and invites her back to his dressing room. Valentine is focused on Beckett until Castle reminds her why they are there. Valentine says that the call was Ross canceling to get drinks with him and his Ross’ ex-wife Evelyn. We learn that Ross and Evelyn split 20 years ago but were still friends.
Valentine tells them that he saw Ross leave and head to the subway on the corner, which was odd because he had his own around the clock driver. When they get back to the precinct Beckett says that she couldn’t help that Valentine was flirting with her but then Castle says that she didn’t have to flirt back. Beckett deflects and asks Esposito where Ross went.
He tells them that he spoke to Vogel who told him that the only deal that he knew about was an unofficial deal where Ross was going to sell 49% of his company to an equity firm. Ryan tells them that he tracked Ross to the Grand Army Plaza subway station in Brooklyn around 11:30. Ryan checked with the local precinct and found that they got a call about a gunshot. Ryan pulls up traffic cam footage of an alley and they see Ross run out and a guy with a gun and mask look for him but he’s gone.
Ryan and Esposito go to search the alleyway but find nothing. However they see a homeless guy walk by and decide to question him. In the morning Beckett is getting ready to leave when she asks Martha if she is okay. Beckett then tells Castle that something is wrong with her and that he needs to talk to her. So Beckett leaves and Castle tries to figure out what is wrong with her. It turns out that Martha is nervous because people will actually show up to the preview and blog and tweet about it. Castle gives her a pep talk and they have a good mother-son moment.
The homeless guy tells them that he saw a black explorer speed away from the alley and gave them the last four numbers on the plate. The vehicle was rented by a guy named, Kurt Van Zant. He was in jail for 35 years for drug trafficking and was just released. Van Zant filed a lawsuit claiming that he financed the pilot for SNT and wanted some of the profits. Esposito tells them that Van Zant entered the set of SNT 30 minutes ago on a day pass.
Castle and Beckett go talk to Vogel and he tells them that he can find out who issued the pass but before they get far one of the actors imitates Beckett. They find out that Valentine issued the pass and go to confront him but when they get there they hear Valentine call for help. Van Zant is hanging him out of the window.
Valentine tells them that he left a note at his hotel claiming to know information about Ross’ murder. When Beckett interrogates Van Zant he says that Ross agreed to give him money from the sale of the shares to the equity group. He says that Ross wanted a gun and told him to meet him in the alley at 11:30. Van Zant says that he stuck around and saw a guy in a mask come and open the dumpster and pull out a green duffel bag. He then says that’s when Ross came out screaming that “You got what you wanted! Now where is she?”
He says that he didn’t help because Ross ran off and the guy didn’t chase after him. Also since he is on parole he decided to leave before they showed up. He says that he went back to Ross’ building to wait for him but he never showed up. Esposito finds video footage of Van Zant waiting in front in his car from 12:30-3:30 in the morning. Ryan tells them that Ross made a withdrawal for four million dollars in non-sequential bills.
The cast and crew at SNT are accounted for as well as his wife, his family and his friends. Ryan tells them that Evelyn Ross, his ex-wife hasn’t been seen for two days. They found her phone dumped in a trash can near a bodega in the Bronx. The phone is brought in so they track her movements through her map my jog account on the cloud. They replay her last path and see when she is kidnapped because she is moving at 30 mph. She eventually stops at an abandoned warehouse so they decide to go raid it. They find her in the warehouse and bring her back to the precinct. She tells them that she stopped to stretch when a rag was put over her mouth and then she woke up at the warehouse.
Evelyn tells them about the mask. It was shiny and had a silver zig zag in the middle and a gold headband. She also remembers a ring. It was a red and silver signet ring on his right hand. The mask was from a sketch that they did on SNT so they deduce that it was an inside job. They go back to the set and see Carly Rae Jepsen. Castle admits that he and Beckett are fans and is about to ask her a question but she has to go onstage. They then go talk to the props guy and ask him to check if someone checked out the mask.
While they wait they go watch the performance. They have a brief dance when Chad comes up to them and says that he can get them a better seat but Castle notices his ring so Beckett arrests him.
Chad tells them that he bought the ring at the SNT gift shop and that lots of people have it. Beckett then tells him that detectives found a .38 revolver and a lucha libre mask under his bed. They don’t believe that Chad did it but don’t have evidence to counteract it.
Ryan tells them that he was going over the spreadsheet and found that someone had been embezzling money from the company almost $4 million worth and the ransom was going to pay it back. They confront Vogel at the show and tell him that they followed the money. He siphoned the four million into a start up company that went belly up and couldn’t get the money back. They went through his financials and found millions in undeclared deposits from the company. He was witnessed hanging outside Chad’s apartment when he planted the items.
Beckett is about to arrest him when he runs through the sketch and she takes him down. Castle realizes that they are on TV so they bow. Back at the precinct Ryan and Esposito are making fun of Beckett in front of the camera when Martha comes. They read Twitter comments about her performance and celebrate.