'Castle' Recap: 'Murder Most Fowl'

Castle and Beckett try to figure out what BHS stands for. Ryan enters saying he found a vendor decal on some of Leonard’s surveillance equipment, which actually belongs to Byron H. Singer according to the vendor. Singer comes to the precinct and tells Castle and Beckett that Leonard was in the park to verify that two Red-tailed Hawks were nesting in the park. Apparently Singer and Leonard had a disagreement over the birds. Singer has an alibi for Leonard’s murder.

At Castle’s apartment, Castle enters the living room to find his mother standing on a table and Alexis rummaging around on the floor, Alexis has lost her boyfriend’s rat. Castle tries to help her find the rat but they are unsuccessful. However, Castle gets an idea about the murder. The team wasn’t looking for what wasn’t there. Leonard was in the park to verify the bird sighting. To do that, Leonard would have needed a camera. They find the camera in a tree near the crime scene. Leonard broke his wrist from falling out of a tree.

While clicking through the pictures, Team Castkett find pictures of a kidnapping. Leonard snapped a picture of a boy being forced into a car by a man whose face we can’t see. The last thing Leonard took a picture of was his killer.

Beckett rallies the troops to find the missing boy. They know that the kidnapping happened at 5:12 p.m. due a timestamp on Leonard’s camera. They also know that the kidnapper is carrying a gun that matches the type used to kill Leonard. Castle wants to know why the boy’s parents haven’t reported him missing yet. Beckett says maybe the parents don’t know yet or are under duress. Castle says that the boy was wearing shorts so he intended to be at the park and wasn’t lured there. Beckett says maybe he was kidnapped by someone he knew but Castle asks why the kidnapper would need a gun if he knew the boy.

Ryan tells them police are looking for witnesses. Castle suggests that the find out if any schools can identify the boy. Castle tries to identify the car in the picture. Beckett tells him the lab is looking into it and they are looking for hits on the vehicle on traffic cameras around the park. Castle suggests they enhance Leonard’s photograph to see if they can see the kidnapper’s face in the reflection of the mirror of the car.

At the park, Esposito finds a pretzel vendor who identifies the kidnapper’s car but not the kid because the car was in his way the day of the kidnapping. The vendor’s description narrows down the possible car but not enough. Ryan tells Beckett that they are also having no luck with the school’s absentee list either. When Castle and Beckett look at the enhanced photos they can’t see anything. Castle is upset. When Castle looks at the picture of the boy again, he sees that the boy has cleat marks on his socks. Castle figures out that they are from playing soccer. The team looks up soccer teams the practice in the park on Tuesdays and find out that the kidnapped boy is Tyler Donegal, age 12.

Esposito finds out that Tyler’s parents are recently divorced. His mom left his janitor dad for a doctor. Tyler’s mother, Mirielle, said that she had no idea that he son was missing and tells the team that Tyler was spending the weekend in the city with his dad, Dean. According to Esposito Dean called in sick to work the past couple of days. Captain Montgomery thinks that because the dad didn’t report Tyler missing, it is a case of custodial kidnapping. They find a picture of Dean, which matches the vitals of the picture of the kidnapper. Castle wants to know why Dean would need a gun to kidnap his own son.

Tyler’s mom shows up at the precinct with her new husband. She tells Beckett that the last time she talked to her son was when she dropped him off with his father. She says that Dean did not take the divorce well and that he owns a gun. Beckett tries to get them to identify the kidnapper but Mirielle can’t tell from the photo if it’s Dean or not. Mirielle’s new husband says that Dean doesn’t own a car he just rents one if he needs one. Mirielle also tells Beckett that Dean has a cabin in Pennsylvania that he likes to go to.

At Beckett’s desk Castle is looking upset. He tells Beckett about one time when he lost Alexis in a mall when she was little. He says he still dreams about it and can’t imagine what the boys parent are going through.

Esposito went to Dean’s apartment and finds that all of his personal toiletries are gone. Beckett says she will check his credit cards for anything indicating he is traveling. At Dean’s work, Ryan finds out that Dean didn’t actually call in sick--one of his co-workers was covering for him. On Dean’s computer, Ryan finds travel searches for Indianapolis, IN. Castle thinks that Dean might be somewhere he can hide Tyler in Indy, but Beckett says he never purchased any airline tickets. Esposito tells them that Dean’s cabin is empty. Captain Montgomery says that they found Dean in a motel near the airport.