Aubrey Haskins

**Aubrey Haskins** (Audrey Marie Anderson) is the hidden main villainess of "I, Witness," episode 7.13 of *Castle* (airdate February 2, 2015).

## Events

### Cole's Past/Aubrey's Introduction

The episode's events had Cole Whitfield being suspected by Richard Castle and Detective Katherine Beckett of murdering his second wife Eva—who happened to be one of Richard's AP Chemistry classmates during his time at Faircroft Preparatory Academy. To make matters worse, Detective Kevin Ryan uncovered that Cole's first wife Mallory died in a suspicious "hiking accident" that involved her falling into a ravine in Angeles National Forest while Cole watched. Although the police were able to deduce that he murdered her for her inheritance (which was worth several million dollars), the evidence against him was circumstantial. Moving to Westchester, New York, Cole used the money to not only build up his own fortune, but also start up a stockbroking firm called Whitfield and Galloway alongside Scott Galloway.

Aubrey was introduced as Whitfield and Galloway's general counsel after Cole sent her to act as the attorney of Taylor McKinley (one of his two mistresses) while she was being questioned by Katherine in the 12th Precinct's interrogation room. She found out that her client was suspected to be Cole's accomplice in Eva's murder, especially after he alleged that Eva called him at 9:35 AM on the morning after her death, which took place at 7:45 PM the night before. The call in question was made next to Taylor's apartment building, which led to Aubrey trying to demand proof before Taylor asserted that she was covering for a fellow yoga instructor at the time. Aubrey then proclaimed that they were "done [there]" and left the room, with Taylor following her in spite of her confusion.

### Eva and Cole's Deaths

Eva's reveal as a villainess occurred when Richard figured out that Cole wasn't lying about her being alive, only for Katherine to inform him that Eva's corpse had been found in the Hudson River. Dr. Lanie Parish explained that according to her preliminary exam, Eva died due to blunt force trauma after she sustained a massive skull fracture near her parietal lobe. It was followed a few hours later by Kevin and Detective Javier Esposito learning from Taylor that unlike what she previously claimed, Cole was *not* with her at her apartment on the night Eva was supposedly "attacked."

After being informed that Taylor's alibi was false, Katherine told Cole to go to the aforementioned interrogation room, with Aubrey accompanying him. She stated that their only reason for being there was due to Katherine having information about Eva's whereabouts. At that moment, the pair found out about the discovery of Eva's corpse, with Katherine mentioning her suspicion of Cole and Taylor's admission. Aubrey questioned why she spoke to Taylor without her, and Katherine cited that she waived her right to an attorney before trying to find out where Cole actually was. Telling him not to answer, Aubrey uncovered that she would be pressing charges before she and Cole left the room.

In the precinct's bullpen, Richard grabbed Cole's arm and confronted him, with Aubrey instructing him not to speak to her new client. Katherine restrained Richard, and Aubrey voiced her vexation by asking what kind of precinct they were in. Upon being told by Katherine to just "take [her] client and go home" since she and Richard would "[come] back for [them] soon enough," Aubrey grabbed Cole and led him out.

Katherine then received a call from Lanie, with the latter letting the former know that caught in a crack in the nail on Eva's left index finger were three of Cole's hairs, as said hairs ended up there because of the struggle that culminated in Eva's murder by bludgeoning. Acquiring a warrant for his arrest, Katherine met up with Detective Neely and Officer Kemp at the Whitfield residence. Kemp and Neely called out for Cole, but there was no response. The trio entered the house, where Katherine found Cole's corpse hanging from the foyer's balcony. A medical examiner explained to Katherine that it appeared Cole had committed suicide by wrapping a cord around his neck and stepping off said balcony.

### Eva and Robert's Plan

The next day, Scott was briefly suspected to have assisted Eva when she faked her death, but he was at his son's basketball game. Meanwhile, Katherine, Kevin, and Javier told Richard that they discovered the identity of Cole's other mistress: the wife of a Whitfield and Galloway executive named Robert James. Cole regularly visited the James residence in Scarsdale, New York, from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM so he could carry on his illicit relationship with Mrs. James. Robert was called to the precinct's interview room, with Katherine telling him that two nights ago at 7:04 PM, he was seen at a toll booth driving in the direction of the Whitfield residence.

Robert confessed that during Eva's heel turn, she approached and enlisted him to be part of a vengeful scheme against Cole. It involved her "screaming" twice as he "murdered" her at 7:45 PM. After being manipulated into investigating Cole, Richard was told to go to the Whitfield residence by Eva that night, as he had taken pictures of Taylor that she purportedly wanted to receive as proof that "her marriage [was] over." As part of the plan, Robert and Eva lured him to a nearby forest before he knocked Richard unconscious by punching him in his face.

The pair then returned to the "scene of the crime" so that they could clean up all implicating evidence, after which Robert gave Eva a key to a corporate apartment and drove back to his house. Later that night, Eva transferred the $7.4 million in her joint bank accounts with Cole into a Swiss bank account. At 9:35 AM the next morning, she called Cole, telling him to go screw himself and disclosing what she had done with the accounts' money. However, later on, Eva called Robert in order to voice her regret and stress about enacting a plan that was never her idea in the first place. She also mentioned that having second thoughts about watching Cole get convicted was driving her desire to come forward to the police with the truth.

## Reveal/Arrest

The NYPD's Crime Scene Unit checked Eva's corporate apartment, and the evidence that was discovered there led to the truth: Aubrey was the mastermind behind Eva and Robert's plan. Her backstory divulged that Mallory was one of her sorority sisters during their college years. When she was murdered by Cole, Aubrey and the other members of that sorority were devastated. However, upon learning the truth, Aubrey turned heel, telling her friends about what Cole did and spending years plotting revenge against him.

Eventually becoming a lawyer for a top-level law firm, she joined Whitfield and Galloway as its general counsel. During her time there, Aubrey secretly dug into Cole's life to see if anyone in the firm had a strong motive against Cole like she did, discovering the identities of his mistresses in the process. At some point, Eva began consulting with Aubrey over the phone, and the former vented to the latter about how her marriage to Cole had deteriorated over the past few years—especially how he was insisting on a prenuptial agreement.

With that in mind, Aubrey convinced Eva that she could punish Cole by faking her death with Robert's help before flying to Switzerland in order to reside there. However, after Eva called Robert the morning after the staged attack, she called Aubrey from the apartment's landline. Eva redeemed herself by informing her that she didn't want to go through with framing Cole and was going to come forward.

Not wanting years of planning to be ruined, Aubrey acquired three of Cole's hairs and went to the apartment, where she confronted Eva. The ensuing struggle ended with Aubrey bludgeoning Eva to death with an unknown blunt instrument and planting the aforementioned hairs in a crack in her left index finger's nail. Aubrey then moved Eva's corpse to the trunk of her car, drove to the shore of the Hudson River, and placed her corpse into said river. A few hours later, she drugged one of Cole's drinks with high levels of sedatives, forced him to walk up to his foyer's balcony, wrapped the cord around his neck, and murdered him by pushing him off said balcony.

Aubrey's villainous reveal took place in the episode's climax when Katherine and Richard approached her while she was going through Cole's desk in search of belongings she was to put in order. The duo recounted what they learned about Aubrey—especially her ties to Mallory, her desire to avenge her murder, and how she influenced Eva into recruiting Robert. She smugly denied everything, telling Richard that it was nothing more than "an exciting story" that could "make a great book" but not "much of a case."

Katherine's reply was to state they had a warrant since Eva's blood and DNA were found in her car's trunk before asserting that "[it was] over." Even so, Aubrey voiced her doubt that her sinister machinations were at an end. Kevin and Javier handcuffed the villainess before leading her out of the Whitfield residence, which was followed by Officer Kemp putting her into his car.