Nikki Heat - Recap

The episode opens with Castle watching an audition piece by actress Natalie Rhodes for the part of Nikki Heat, a character based on his book “Heat Wave”. He tells Alexis that he doesn’t think that she is good for the part and Alexis disagrees, saying that she gets into the part really well. Martha says that Natalie did an amazing job in her other movies. Castle gets worked up and Beckett calls. Alexis says that a murder will do him some good. Castle arrives on scene and Ryan shows Castle an engagement ring. Castle teases him, pretending that Ryan is proposing to him. Ryan states that he is going to propose to his girlfriend. Castle asks him how and tells him that it has to be extravagant. Beckett comes over and says that it is not the way to do it.



The crime scene victim's name is Stacey Collins, and Esposito says that she was at a party in her honor. Suddenly a limo drives up and Natalie Rhodes emerges. She says that she is going to shadow Beckett to get into character for her part as Nikki Heat. Castle introduces himself and Natalie doesn’t bat an eye. Ryan comes up and freezes. At the station, everyone is gawking at Natalie. Natalie offers to sign autographs and take pictures. Castle is not happy that Natalie is shadowing Beckett and says that she is not right for the part of Nikki Heat. Meanwhile Ryan tells Esposito that Natalie is on his 5 list, the 5 celebrities that he would make an exception for. While discussing the case, Beckett gives a line to Natalie that she writes down, but when Castle gives a line, she shuts it down. As the team interviews people, they discover that Brad Wilson, Stacey’s boyfriend, was arguing with her and he also drives a silver Boxster, the same car that one couple mentioned seeing the victim getting into.

Beckett interviews Brad and he says that he didn’t kill Stacey and didn’t trash her office. Natalie watches and Castle asks how Natalie liked “Heat Wave” and she says that she has not read the book. She says that the director changed things for the screenplay and she didn’t want to be confused. Back in the interrogation room, Brand says that he was at a diner bar and Esposito says that the alibi checks out. Beckett gets a text that they found a key and Castle smirks that it could be the “key” to their investigation, but again, he gets only weird glances. Natalie tells Beckett that she thinks that she is catching on to some of Beckett’s traits and is getting into the character. Esposito comes up and says that they have news. Duke Jones is someone that Stacey has been seeing and according to Stacey’s account, she has been paying him money each month. They get to the office of Duke Jones and he says that he was working as a private investigator for Stacey, and that one of her clients' retaliated. For an alibi, he claims that he was with his neighbor.



Beckett calls Esposito and tells him to look into some of the old clients of Stacey. Natalie tells Castle that she is having a hard time getting the character of Nikki Heat right. Castle asks her if she really stayed in the crawl space for a week. She says that she did for a month. Castle starts to see her dedication to her craft. They find the lock to match the key they found, it is in the back of a Jukebox. They find a bag full of money. Natalie informs that the bags have serial numbers and they can check the registry for the owner. The owner of the bag turns out to be a Tanya Wellington, who was invited to the victim's party but declined. Beckett says that she is going to invite the Wellington's to the precinct for an interview. As Beckett stands up, Natalie mimics her and Esposito, Ryan and Castle are surprised. Beckett interviews Tanya but she has lawyers and refuses to reveal anything of value. Later, Castle watches more of Natalie’s tape and reconsiders her for the part.

Castle gets in the office the next day and Natalie takes Beckett’s coffee. She then gives Castle an update before Beckett can. She is really getting into the character now. Beckett takes Castle to the side and says that Natalie stole her coffee and soon it will be her soul. Castle says that Natalie is only trying to get into the character. Ryan comes in and says that they got the name of the victim's angry client, Bill Wellington. Stacey hired Duke to get Chloe, his assistant, to sleep with Bill Wellington and break the pre-nup agreement so that Tanya wouldn’t be left with nothing. It cost Bill $100 Million. They bring him in and Beckett informs him that Stacey engineered the entire thing and he says that if he knew about that, he would have killed Stacey and his ex-wife. However, he was in Hong Kong on the night Stacey died. Ryan and Esposito come in and reveal that Duke and Chloe have fled. A package arrives and Natalie signs for it.

Meanwhile, Ryan and Esposito are trying to find Chloe and the bellman at the hotel says that her name is Greta Morgan. He clarifies that Duke Jones was with her before. Beckett says that she knows who Chloe’s real name is and Natalie comes in dressed like Beckett and with brown hair. The real Beckett is freaked out and says that they are going to have to concentrate on the case tomorrow. In the hall, Natalie tells Castle that she is going to do research. She takes the elevator down with Castle and says that she needs to do research on him if she is going to get into the role. They kiss and Beckett sees the entire thing. The next morning, Castle comes in and gives Beckett her coffee. Ryan's girlfriend Jenny runs away from Ryan and she says that she hates him. He says that Jenny discovered he wasn't playing darts with Esposito and she now thinks that he is sleeping with Natalie.



Esposito says that Greta is using Stacey’s card and they figure out that Stacey and her were going to do the same thing they did to Bill Wellington to other men. Natalie asks Beckett if Castle is gay and Beckett spits her coffee out and says that he is not. From a distance, Beckett, Castle, and Ryan watch Natalie getting more into the character of Nikki Heat. Esposito comes up and says that he found Greta Morgan. They sit down with her and she says that Stacey was the one in charge. Beckett asks her for names of the men they were swindling and she is silent until Natalie hits the table and demands the names. Greta says that they are Rich Weiss and Scott Donner. Both men have alibis, but Scott's doesn't hol up. They go to speak with Scott Donner, but after a moment he puts a gun to his head. Natalie is the one that talks Scott down and Beckett arrests him. At the station, Natalie leaves and Jenny comes in and Ryan apologizes. He takes this as his chance to propose and makes it intimate and romantic. She says yes.

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