The Murder Weapon
Anna wakes up to find her best friend Rex downstairs cooking. Their morning is completely disrupted though by Detective Lane showing up and arresting Rex. He’s taken away in handcuffs, charged with Chastity’s murder.
It turns out that the Financial Crimes Unit have had Rex and Chastity under surveillance for a while and when Lane and the others were given instructions to apprehend him, they jumped on the chance to do so. There’s even audio footage of Rex telling Chastity that he’s going to kill her. Lane also deduces that Rex had a burner he was using to give himself an alibi, hence the text messages. Lane encourages Anna to get her life in order and leaves.
Anna decides to give up drinking and sets to work turning her life around. After a mani/pedi with Sloane, she heads home where Buell gets a nail wedged through his hand. After bandaging up his hand, Buell admits that he has some tough stories about his mother and father “but that’s a story for another day.”
Anna pays her respects to Elizabeth at the graveyard, where Neil and Emma show up. Although she drops off the casserole dish for her daughter, Anna changes her mind and gives it to Emma instead. As she walks away, the gravestone now reads “There’s no “I” in heaven”
Detective Lane and Officer Spitz uncover a murder weapon at the crime scene. This completely changes the game and they are able to catch the killer.
With Anna present, Lane admits that they’ve released Rex, given he has a solid alibi for the time in question. He was actually over at a bar dancing. As for Anna though, they suspect she’s the murderer. They’ve found a palette knife not far from the body. Not only that, she also seems to have a painting for “The Perfect Family”, which includes her, Neil and Emma together. She doesn’t remember painting this though and begins to slip out of control.
Anna is taken to the station for questioning, but she doesn’t feel right.
The Episode Review
The show has been building up to this moment, with a few teasing clues in the episode. The visions right at the end of the episode seem to hint that Anna is not really there, but it’s hard to tell with this series. There are some nice whodunits brewing across the episodes, with the light sprinklings of satire doing well to keep things just about light enough to prevent this slipping into dark drama.
The mystery is what makes this novel so good, and it’s well-done with all the usual suspects in play. The beats are interesting, and the writing is engaging. This is a well-done mystery novel that I enjoyed reading.
The woman in the house across the street from the girl in the window is definitely going to be a love/hate affair. But if you’ve made it this far, then you’re in for the long-haul! Who is the killer? And who’s telling the truth? I’m sure we’ll find out soon!
