Enlightened by Gianna's 'guidance,' Castle humbly accepted her advice and promised to follow his 'emotional mentor's' instructions. His obedient demeanor made Gianna burst into laughter again. However, seeing Castle slump back onto the sofa after taking her advice, she couldn't help but ask curiously, "Why aren't you going to the precinct? What are you doing here?"
"Huh? Go to the precinct now?" Castle, who had been lounging on the sofa, sat up straight in confusion. "Is it necessary to go to the precinct right now? We still have things to do here."
Frustrated by Castle's apparent lack of initiative, Gianna felt like she was hitting her head against a wall. "When will you go if not now? Vincent's salvage ship has just arrived at the submarine's wreckage site; it's going to take a while to bring it up. You can't do anything here to help. You should seize this opportunity to go impress that lady cop!"
Realizing his oversight, Castle thought, "Yeah, what am I doing here?" With the drones providing around-the-clock surveillance on Vincent's group, he was indeed of no help here. It made more sense to use this time to pretend he had found evidence to catch Nick Coonan, the murderer of Beckett's mother, and head to the precinct with Beckett to arrest Coonan. How foolish he was, needing Gianna to remind him.
Determined, Castle quickly stood up, bid farewell to a dumbfounded John and a supportive Gianna, and asked them to get the chubby guy to monitor the drones. Then, he hurried off.
Watching Castle drop a multibillion-dollar mission to pursue his girlfriend, Gianna once again lamented her partner's dullness. No matter how stupid John might be, he was her choice, and with a baby on the way, there was no turning back.
Driving rapidly back to New York City, Castle was so excited that his speed unconsciously increased. He had been too caught up in the situation to see it clearly, unlike Gianna, who observed it all. He felt incredibly foolish for not realizing something so simple.
Seizing the moment, he decided to arrest Johnny Wong, who helped Nick Coonan smuggle drugs from Hong Kong using DVDs. With Wong in custody, they could naturally go after Coonan, the murderer of Beckett's mother. Additionally, he wanted to get Beckett into bed before she took over the 12th precinct captaincy. He took out his phone and called Beckett: "It's me. Are you at the precinct? I've got some news... Yes, about that guy. No... it's his smuggling routes and methods. Okay, wait for me at the precinct. I'll be there soon, and we'll talk in detail..."
As soon as Castle stepped out of the elevator at the precinct, he saw Beckett waiting anxiously at the door. Seeing Castle, she didn't let him enter the precinct lobby but grabbed his hand and pulled him back into the elevator.
Understanding that Beckett was worried about controlling her emotions over her mother's case, Castle didn't object. They went downstairs and got into Castle's Mercedes. Beckett looked at Castle expectantly: "What did you find? Tell me!"
Knowing he shouldn't joke at this moment, Castle explained how Nick Coonan used Johnny Wong's DVDs to smuggle heroin from Hong Kong to New York. He presented it as the result of painstaking investigation since their conversation at Beckett's house. This was the perfect moment to boast about his hard work.
As expected, Beckett's eyes softened, learning that Castle had not only helped solve several major murder cases recently but also secretly followed her instructions to investigate her mother's murder and related cases. Seeing Gianna's advice working, Castle intensified his efforts: "And, I've roughly mapped out the chain of command. Nick Coonan is the front man, and behind him is the drug lord Vulcan Simmons. Simmons collects the dirty money from Coonan's drug sales, launders it through underground channels, and hands it over to the mastermind, Senator William Bracken, who uses it as political and campaign funds. There might be more people involved, but I haven't identified them yet."
Realizing she was dealing with a political gang led by a sitting senator, Beckett knew it wouldn't be easy. But with her mother's killer involved, there was no choice. She couldn't back down just because the opponent was powerful. As a police officer, especially a righteous one, she wouldn't let these scumbags off the hook. Besides, she had a significant advantage: she knew their details, but they knew nothing about her. This was her best chance.
Seeing Beckett deep in thought, Castle waited patiently in the driver's seat, letting her digest the information. He believed his role was to provide enough intelligence. Since they weren't directly targeting the powerful Senator Bracken yet, just dealing with his lackeys shouldn't alert him.
Beckett's deliberation took less time than Castle expected. In less than ten minutes, she finished her silent contemplation and asked Castle, "Where is the guy smuggling drugs for Nick Coonan? Let's start with him and proceed step by step. I have plenty of time; I've waited ten years, so I can wait a bit longer!"
Seeing Beckett regain her usual calm and wisdom, Castle breathed a sigh of relief and began to explain in detail what he knew about Johnny Wong, who used DVDs to smuggle drugs from Hong Kong.
"You mean this Johnny Wong runs a TV marketing business? His DVDs are produced in Hong Kong and shipped to New York, and Nick Coonan uses this method to smuggle drugs from the Golden Crescent in Afghanistan to New York?" Beckett was impressed by Castle's intelligence-gathering skills. He knew such hidden details so clearly, as if he had witnessed it himself (which, indeed, he had in his past life).
"Yes, so after getting this information and preliminarily verifying it, I immediately informed you. My idea is simple: now that we know this, we should first arrest Johnny Wong, the transporter, cutting off Nick Coonan and Vulcan Simmons' smuggling route. Also, I almost forgot, this activity has also attracted the attention of the FBI and DEA. If we act too late and they make a move on Johnny Wong or Nick Coonan, we'll be passive!"
Castle's words alerted Beckett. She knew that Nick Coonan must not fall into the hands of the FBI or DEA. Otherwise, her plan to use Coonan as a lead to uncover the mastermind would fail.
However, Beckett faced an awkward situation. As a detective in the major crimes division, she technically didn't have jurisdiction over drug crimes. Investigating this could be seen as overstepping her boundaries, as the police department had a separate division for drug crimes.
Trusting Castle deeply now, Beckett expressed her concerns, hoping he could provide a different perspective or solution.
And Castle indeed had a plan: "I think we can do this..."
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