Despite being busy until midnight last night, Castle excitedly rushed to the 12th Precinct early in the morning and brought coffee to everyone.
"Any results?" Seeing Jack and Beckett, who had arrived earlier than him, the great writer looked expectant.
"No news from the airport, bus station, or train station, and no credit card purchases. The FBI found out Greg withdrew all his money from his bank account a week ago.
A total of $8,000, more than enough for them to flee across the border." Beckett's face was not so good.
"Then notify the Border Patrol and arrest them as they try to cross the border. A young American with $8,000 in savings at the age of 26—what on earth does he want to do? Become the richest man in the world one day?"
Castle made a small joke, which, as expected, earned him a roll of the eyes from the beautiful detective.
Suddenly, Jack's phone started beeping repeatedly. He looked down and saw that it was an analysis report sent directly to him by Stella Bonasiella from the New York CSI lab.
"The nylon fiber analysis results on Dr. Monroe's body are back. It's from the trunk lining of a five-year-old Cadillac DeVille."
Everyone marveled at the richness of the CSI lab's database. Beckett immediately picked up her phone and notified Kevin and Esposito, asking them to retrieve surveillance footage from intersections and ATMs near the funeral home that night.
"If we're lucky, we might be able to use the license plate number to identify Greg's accomplice, the true murderer," the female detective said after hanging up the phone.
Jack's phone buzzed with a message, and at the same time, Beckett's.
"What happened?" Seeing the two faces beaming with joy, a look of tacit understanding, Cassel, the only one unaware of what was happening, scratched his head anxiously.
It was Beckett who, after hanging up, smiled and shared the news.
"New Jersey police just apprehended our fugitive couple in the parking lot of a Burger King in Hillsdale. They've been handed over to the FBI, which Jack sent, and they're on their way."
"You guys?!"
Cassel said, a look of betrayal and hurt. It was a double betrayal. "Did you two notify New Jersey to keep an eye on Burger King?"
The two men across from him raised their eyebrows in unison.
"But didn't you all think my theory last night was stupid?" Cassel's voice rose.
"That's what you said, and it seems you were wrong." Beckett took the coffee from him and took a long, satisfied sip.
Seeing Cassel accusing him of a betrayal, Jack raised his coffee cup to block his view. "There's an old Eastern saying: A wise man can give 1,000 suggestions, and one will be wrong.
A foolish man can give 1,000 suggestions, and he's sure to get one right."
—
"I love her! What else can I do? Just watch Amy spend her best years in prison?" Greg's eyes shone with tears, his handsome face filled with resentment.
"That's not the point, Greg. Let's focus on our current issue, okay? You know that's not what we're focusing on." Beckett was speechless.
After reading their love letters until midnight last night, and now listening to the interrogation room recount their love story for over ten minutes, it would be unbearable for anyone.
It was also because of his appearance that it was hard to get angry at him. Even when his face flushed with emotion, he maintained a polite and gentle demeanor.
"That's the point! What would you do? The love of your life is in jail for a trumped-up crime and denied parole because she won't plead guilty.
How many times do I have to tell you that Amy didn't even know the robbers? Her car was stolen. She's being wrongly accused!"
Jack tapped his knuckles on the table and warned, "Greg, don't you know we're calling you in about Dr. Monroe's murder?"
"What?" Greg looked stunned, as if he hadn't even considered that. "Didn't I provide an alibi?"
"Yes, but because of the motive, we have a reasonable suspicion you have accomplices." Jack glanced at Castle, whose eyes were gleaming beside him. This was a suspicion he had raised earlier.
"How could I have accomplices? I swear I knew nothing about her murder." Greg was suddenly furious.
"I'm willing to take the blame for helping Amy escape. In fact, I was prepared to do anything for it when I planned this. But murdering Dr. Monroe? Why? She's a good person. Why would I do that?"
"So Dr. Monroe really only called you in as a warning, to keep you away from her female residents?" Castle said, his expression smug, as if he'd seen through everything.
"She must have suspected you a long time ago, right? She knew about the Bedford Hills incident. Did she find out about the box of ointment you asked Ackerman for? Or even guess your entire plan? So you hired someone to kill her."
"Of course not!" Greg was so anxious that he almost jumped out of his chair.
"OK, I admit that Dr. Monroe was suspicious of me. I realized this when she talked to me, but at least half of what she said about wanting me to stay away from those female doctors was true.
So after I perfunctorily handled that conversation, I had to speed up my actions to prevent her from ruining everything."
"So you hurriedly contacted a killer to kill her?" Cassel pressed on.
"No!" Greg's forehead was throbbing with anxiety, but he remained polite, not even swearing. "I simply moved up the time of the escape.
We originally planned to do it next week, but after Dr. Monroe and I spoke, I knew we had to rescue Amy before he discovered the whole plan.
So I moved it up. I contacted Amy and told her we had to launch the operation during the next two days while Dr. Monroe was resting."
Castle wasn't convinced. "Either she knew everything already, or she threatened to turn you in while we were talking."
"That's impossible. I could tell she was trying to trick me, trying to connect the dots, but I changed the subject, and I was lucky her phone rang that day, so I took the opportunity to say goodbye."
"Wait a minute." Jack, who had been exchanging glances with Beckett, raised a finger to interrupt Greg's explanation.
According to Leonard Maloney, the prosecutor's office investigator who last met with Dr. Monroe, Greg's statement was actually not a big deal.
Because Dr. Monroe only told the investigators that she had found some suspicious points, not that there was solid evidence. She had plans to go to Katonah, but she didn't have time to go.
The reason why Cassel's questioning was allowed to continue was to see if Craig would give out more information when he spoke without thinking. For example, Jack and Beckett both had some doubts at the moment.
"You said you changed the subject. How did you do it?" Jack asked.
Greg answered without thinking, "I just changed the subject. I asked her about the new bracelet on her hand. It was a special gift from her boyfriend. It's very precious."
PS, you asked for a face photo.
(End of this chapter)