Original subtitles

[upbeat music]

[light peaceful music]

[gravel crunching]

[birds chirping]

[light eerie music]

[car door slamming]

- Are you Mrs. Totino?

- Yes, Melba Totino, that's me.

- You made a call to 911 about a missing person.

- Not one person, three; my daughter,

her husband, my granddaughter.

They're gone, they're all gone.

Disappeared into thin air.

[glass shattering] [Melba gasping]

[light dramatic music]

[light eerie music]

[cat meowing]

[Lynn sighs]

- It's a cat.

[light dramatic music]

[birds chirping]

[light music]

- See, I disagree with the definition.

And date implies a prearranged meeting,

but we just grabbed food and stopped here on impulse.

- The sharing of food automatically qualifies

a meeting as a date.

- Hm, cite your source, please.

- My source is the very astute Aurora Teagarden herself.

- [Aurora] Hm.

- Doesn't this feels like a date, Aurora?

- Yes, Martin, it does.

But I think you could make a trip

to the dentist feel like a date.

[Aurora giggling]

- That's 21 dates.

- You're counting?

That's so sweet.

- I keep count because your mother has a rule about

when we can officially be considered a couple.

- Ah, very astute of you.

You know, my mother has rules of etiquette for everything,

including not being late for an appointment with her.

We have to go.

[light music]

What?

- Four more dates, Miss Teagarden,

and you will officially be my girlfriend.

- Five more minutes and I'm gonna be an ex daughter

if we don't get going.

- So, you do this every month?

Aida takes you out looking at houses?

- Well, if there's something new on the market.

I've been wanting to find a real home ever since

I got that inheritance from my friend, Jane Angle.

- Oh, yes, you're a woman of means.

- Well, means enough to buy a house.

But I haven't found anything that feels right yet.

- I have visions of us shopping for

a house together one of these days.

- Um, I don't think we can have that conversation

until at least 50 dates.

- That's okay.

I'm a patient man.

But to help move things along,

how about you have dinner with me

when I get back from this business trip?

- Now that is a date.

[light music] [dog barking]

- Did you see the new listing on Elm street?

- Yeah, it's very cute.

- I showed it yesterday.

All those windows, oh my gosh, it's so light and airy.

- That's the thing, too many windows.

- There's no such thing.

Aurora, you can't be anti light.

- No, more pro wall.

I need lots of walls for my bookshelves.

You know how many books I have.

- Well, maybe if you got rid of the dreary ones

about murders and such, you could have light.

- This one has plenty of wall space.

[Aurora gasps] Ooh and there's a little

reading nook that would make a perfect library.

- It's not my listing.

Besides it's completely inappropriate for a woman alone.

- Why, it's charming.

- It's also five miles out of town.

Not to mention old.

Do you know how much it would cost to heat that thing?

- Mother, show it to me pretty please.

[light music]

[car engine humming]

[gravel crunching]

[car doors slamming]

It's so nice and quiet out here.

- I believe the word you're looking for is isolated.

- Oh, and that porch.

Oh, can't you just imagine a porch swing right there?

You know something about this house looks familiar.

- That's because you've been staring

at a photo of it for the last 20 minutes.

- No, that's not it.

- You've always been stubborn.

Always.

- Oh, this house is wonderful.

Oh, the view from the master bedroom.

[Aurora gasps]

Do you know how many bookshelves I can build in here?

- But it is so far from town.

You'd have to commute.

- What, oh, town is 10 minutes away, mother.

No, I think this is it.

Yeah, I think this is the house I've been looking for.

- Now, I think we should look at a couple more.

- No, no, no, we've been looking for months.

No, this is it.

Yeah, I wanna make an offer.

[Aida sighs]

- You know, even if the owner accepts your offer,

you still have three days to change your mind.

- What, oh, no.

I'm not gonna change my mind.

This looks familiar, too; the stove.

Oh, I got it!

Oh, it was in the newspaper.

Do you remember that family that disappeared

like three or four years ago?

They went out to dinner with a friend

and they never came back.

- I have no idea what you're talking about.

- Yeah, the Julius family.

Yeah, it was in the newspaper and the grandmother,

she took a picture right here.

Huh?

This is the Julius house.

- No, the owner's name is Totino.

- Yeah, that was the grandmother's name.

- Well, if some tragedy happened here,

the listing agent should have disclosed that information.

And I should just rip up this offer.

- No mother, nothing happened in the house.

The theory is that they got in the car,

they ran off the road and disappeared

down a ravine somewhere.

But if the house is on the market,

I wonder if they ever found the bodies.

- Oh, you've always had a morbid curiosity, always.

All right. [bugs chirping]

- A lot of people believe jealousy was the motive

for Hawley Crippen to kill his wife

and bury her in the cellar.

And Cora was carrying on with one of their lodgers.

But Dr. Crippen was anything but faithful.

He was in fact in love with a typist named Ethel Le Neve.

- The Julius house, really?

- John you were so right about the Crippen case.

I hear that tourists in London

still go looking for that house.

- Wouldn't you, if you found yourself in London?

- Oh, Roe doesn't have to cross an ocean

that look for a famous murder site.

She might be moving into one.

- Huh? - She's trying to buy

the Julius house.

- Remember the family that disappeared four years ago

just outside of town?

And they weren't murdered.

- Well, no one really knows, do they?

- I remember the story.

Ex-army officer moved down here from Spokane, right?

- Yeah, the daughter, what's her name?

Uh, Charity, she went to my high school.

- A lot of people think foul play was involved.

- Well, the police did close the case though.

- Still kinda cool to be setting up digs in a house

with an unsolved mystery, Roe.

- Oh, I don't care about any of that.

- Aurora Teagarden doesn't care about a mystery.

Do you have the flu?

- What, no, I'm just excited

about the idea of having my own house.

You know, I wanna paint walls and build bookshelves and-

[phone ringing]

Hi, mother.

- I suppose I should say congratulations.

- I got the house?

- [Aida] Mrs. Totino accepted your offer on the house.

- Uh huh.

[light music] [crow cawing]

[muffled talking]

- [Macon] It's good work on the school board

election, Sally. - Oh, thanks, Macon.

- Yeah.

Ah, the Julius family.

Why are you looking them up?

- Oh, my friend, Roe just bought the Julius house.

- I didn't know it was for sale.

Were the body's found?

- I don't know, but that's your byline, right?

You covered this story.

- Yeah, just before I made editor.

It gave me a few sleepless nights.

The family heads out for dinner with a so-called friend

from Spokane and they just never come back.

I was standing with the photographer

when he shot this picture.

Look at this.

Hope Julius was fighting cancer.

She had a couple of wigs.

Her mom told us that this was her fancy Sunday wig.

Still gives me a chill.

- So sad.

- You know what?

I want you to do a follow up on this story.

Start with the house being sold,

then do a postmortem on the missing persons case,

how it all ended up.

- That could be a really interesting story.

- It will be if you do your job right.

- Thanks, Macon. - Mm hm.

[light dramatic music]

- Ah, the seller meets the sellee.

Mrs. Totino, this is Aurora Teagarden,

your buyer. - Oh, Mrs. Totino.

I didn't think that you would come

all the way here to sign papers.

Don't you live in Portland?

- Yes, with my sister, Alicia.

But Mr. Rankart said that I should come to-

- To talk to the probate judge, Melba.

Yeah, a lot of issues to work through in court.

So you go on back to the Peachtree

and I'll get this sale tied up in a nice, pretty bow.

Okay?

- I'm so glad I got a chance to meet you.

The house is wonderful.

- Well, I hope you don't change it too much.

In case they come back,

I want them to be able to recognize it.

Promise me you won't change the house too much.

- Well, thanks for coming in, Melba.

Let's make sure your cab is here, okay?

Oh, hi, Aida.

- Hi. - I'll be right with you.

Okay? - Oh, okay.

Who's that with Bubba?

- One of the most haunted women, I think I've ever met.

- I do love a fast escrow.

- My dear, Bubba, don't we all.

- Why did Mrs. Totino think that her family could come back?

I mean, how could she even sell the house

if they're not dead?

- Well, we petitioned the court

to have them declared dead in absentia.

Had quite a time talking Mrs. Totino into it.

- Oh, so the family hasn't been discovered?

- Aurora, please don't start talking about bodies again.

- I'm just, I assumed they had been found.

I'm surprised that they're still missing.

- Well, legally they're not.

And legally ownership of the house

was transferred to Mrs. Totino.

Who has now transferred it to you.

It's your house now. [keys jingling]

And it's got a lot of history.

So, it was the Zinzer house before TC Julius bought it.

- That's right, Walter Zinzer built it.

- He did, yeah, back when I was working for

him and Mrs. Zinzer their drugstore.

Whew, the battles they had when

they were building that house.

You see, Mrs. Zinzer, she was a nut about symmetry,

and she had a closet built for her doll collection.

And then she decided she didn't think she liked

the placement of the door.

So, she had sealed up. [fingers snapping]

- So there's a hidden closet in the house somewhere?

- Yeah, somewhere upstairs if I remember right.

- Oh.

I wonder if the police searched for it

when the family disappeared?

- You just had to tell her that story, didn't you?

- [Aurora] What, I'm making conversation, mother.

- No, you're looking for trouble, which is your specialty.

[Aurora scoffs]

[soft music]

- So, I'll donate most of the furniture

to make room for mine, but I might keep a few pieces.

Well?

[Martin sighs]

- I go away on business for one week

and come back to find you moving out of town.

- It's not that far.

- Well, I kinda liked driving past your house,

seeing your little car there.

- Well, you can take the scenic route.

- I just might do that.

- Okay, but what do you think about the house?

- I can picture the two of us cozied up on the couch,

warming up by your fireplace.

- I can see that, too.

- I like your house, Roe.

- Ah, I like the sound of that, my house.

I mean, I think it's mine.

I don't know what I would do

if the previous owner showed up.

- Oh right, you said they disappeared?

- Mm hm.

- Well, I still have contacts in the intelligence community.

I can make a few inquiries,

at least rule out the witness protection angle.

- Thank you, but no.

No, I am not gonna borrow trouble.

I finally have my own house.

I have this great guy who's only

four dates away from being my boyfriend.

- Actually, it's three dates.

My being here today, that constitutes a date.

- I thought we had to share a meal.

- I'm sure I have a mint here somewhere.

[both chuckling]

- A story on the Julius family?

I would love to read that when you're done.

That was a real stumper of a case.

- Yeah, well I was hoping to interview

one of the lead detectives if I could to get some quotes.

- Well, that would be Pete Lambert,

but he retired a few years ago

and moved to Costa Rica, was a Belize?

Anyway, I did a little work on it myself,

but mostly just to rule out any kind of robbery.

- Well, there must be somebody who actually

investigated the disappearance.

- Yeah, there is.

The other Detective Smith.

- Oh, Lynn.

Oh, is she in her office?

- You betcha.

- Okay.

Thanks.

- Yep.

- No, Mrs. Totino did not know the name of the man

who took the family out for dinner.

She never lived in Spokane with them and she only moved

here recently because her daughter was sick.

- Oh, yeah, Macon did say that Hope Julius

was going through chemo.

- All Mrs. Totino knew was that they left

in a white sedan with this friend.

We never figured out who he was.

We didn't get any more information on the car.

And we have no reason to believe it was anything other

than an accident as yet to be discovered.

- Well, surely somebody would have discovered it by now.

- Depends on the road they traveled.

There's some thick forest

to the South and East of here; deep ravines.

No, we were right to close this case.

And I really don't know why you insist on revisiting it.

- Oh, because the house was sold.

Macon thought we should print a followup story.

- Well, it's gonna be a really short story

because there's nothing new to add.

You can go now.

[light music]

- Thank you for your time, Lynn.

- All right, due back in three weeks.

Happy reading.

Oh, hey, Lillian.

Do you mind if I leave a little early?

I wanna meet the contractor at my new house.

- You didn't pick a very good time to move.

I'm gonna be on vacation three days next week.

- Yeah, I know.

- You can't expect me to rearrange my schedule

just because you bought a house.

- I wouldn't expect you to.

- I'm not gonna be here every time you think

you need to dash away.

- But you're here now, so do you mind if I go?

- I suppose not. - Thank you.

I hope you have a good vacation.

- [Lillian] Hm.

[saw buzzing]

[hammer banging]

- Aurora?

[door creaking]

Oh, there you are.

Your mother said you needed help,

but it looks like you already have a whole crew.

- What I need help with is measuring this wall.

Bubba Rankart said that there

was a hidden closet on this floor somewhere.

And I wanted to find it while

I still have the carpenter here.

- [John] You know, it's your mother's birthday

in a few weeks.

- Yeah, I'm taking her to lunch.

- I have a plan for that evening.

I'm going to propose to Aida.

That is if I have your blessing.

- John, of course you have my blessing.

I know how much you adore her.

- And I think she adores me, but enough to marry me?

- Well, she's a very independent woman.

- I admire that she's independent.

I think we're well suited.

- You're exceptionally well suited.

Hm, these dimensions aren't making sense.

There's too much room here.

About three feet.

I wonder if the closet's behind this bookshelf?

- Oh, maybe. - Hey, Roe?

Are you ready to be interviewed for my story?

Hey, John, what's she doing?

- She's looking for a sealed up closet.

- Hope you don't expect to find the Julius family in there.

- What, no.

I think I'm gonna find some storage for my stuff.

These shelves are so oddly placed.

- What's the key for?

- I don't know. [mysterious music]

[key rattling]

[key clicking] [closet creaking]

[suspenseful music]

[Sally screaming] [John gasping]

It's a doll.

It's, it's just doll.

It must be from Mrs. Zinzer's old collection.

Hm.

Aw, Sally, a new friend.

[Sally groaning] - You're hilarious.

Can you just sit down and let me interview you please?

- Sure, in a sec.

- Who else have you interviewed?

Finding out anything interesting about the Julius family?

- Unfortunately, no.

Hardly anyone even knew them.

They just lived in town for

a few months before they disappeared.

- This head is loose.

- Yeah, that's because it's old and creepy.

Can you get rid of it before it puts a curse on us?

[head snapping]

[Sally sighs] - Oh.

Hey, there's something in there.

[paper crinkling]

Looks like a torn page from a diary or journal.

- Harley.

That's the name of Charity Julius' boyfriend in Spokane.

- This is from Charity's diary.

Looks like she wrote an entry, but she didn't finish it.

Look at the last words.

Dad scares me.

- Charity Julius was afraid of her father?

- This was dated a week before

the Julius family went missing.

- You know what this is telling me?

The Julius family didn't disappear by accident.

- You know what this is telling me?

You're gonna try and find 'em.

[light dramatic music]

- "Dad makes me sit here with Mom.

We watch old movies, but I am so bored.

I just wanna see you, Harley.

But when I asked Dad if you can come down,

he says, ask again later.

So, I do, and he gets mad at me for asking too much.

He was hoping I'd forget you once we moved back,

but that'll never happen."

- You said this was a disturbing diary entry.

This sounds like normal teenage complaining.

- "I feel so alone.

Grandma's only worried about Mom, doesn't care about me.

If they don't let you come see me,

I'll hitchhike to Spokane to see you,

but that'd make mom worry.

Then dad would blame me and I don't know what he'd do.

Dad scares me."

Charity Julius wrote this journal entry

and hid it one week before she disappeared.

She says she feels alone, that she wants to run away,

that she's afraid of her dad.

How does this not shed new light?

- Yeah, how?

[Lynn sighs]

- We already knew that Charity

and her father had disagreements.

Grumbling about her strict dad doesn't tell us anything new.

- Then why are you treating that like new evidence?

- For a case that's supposedly closed.

- I'm just humoring you.

- Can I quote you on that?

- No.

Look, there wasn't any reason to keep this case open.

Pete Lambert and I didn't find a single sign of foul play.

Trust me, we went above and beyond on this one.

[eerie music]

Not only did we search this house from top

to bottom three separate times,

but we searched the entire grounds.

We looked under every rock, every bush.

We looked at internet logs, phone records, banking records.

We interviewed dozens of people-

- About those people, the paper said the last person

to see the family alive besides Mrs. Totino

was Harley Dimmoch.

Charity must have gotten permission for him to visit her.

- Yeah, Macon said that Harley

didn't wanna talk to any reporters.

He was too upset.

- But you must have spoken to him.

So I was, we were wondering if-

- You better not be asking me for interview notes.

- Of course I know better than to ask.

But if you're offering?

- What I am doing is assuring you that nothing

about this family or their time in Lawrenceton

was out of the ordinary.

- Except that Charity was afraid of her father.

[Lynn sighs]

- If you come up with any legitimate new evidence,

please don't hesitate to call me.

Okay?

- Oh, I won't.

- I just got a text message from Macon.

Apparently, Harley wasn't the only person here that day.

TC had just gotten around to having concrete

poured in that pad in the back,

and we know who the concrete guy in town is, right?

- Parnell Wilson.

- Yeah, I mean, Lynn must have talked to him back then,

but who's to say he wouldn't share something new now.

He might be more open to talking to someone

who isn't on the police force.

John, how well do you know Parnell?

- Fairly well.

- Okay, go talk to him about the day he poured the pad

and Sally, go see if you can find

contact info for Harley Dimmoch.

- What are you gonna do?

- Chat with Mrs. Totino.

[light music] [bugs chirping]

- I'm glad you came by.

I was just boxing up a house warming present to send to you.

- Oh, that is so nice of you.

- They're place mats Hope bought for the house.

It was the least I could do

to say thank you for buying the house.

Mr. Rankart said it would take months to sell.

Well, I wasn't sure I should sell it at all.

If TC came home and found it sold, he'd have a fit.

- Oh, your son-in-law, he was a man with a temper?

- Well, I'd call him more a man with an iron will.

He liked to get his way.

- Well, that must've made your granddaughter

resentful at times.

- Charity?

Oh, I suppose so.

But then she was a moody thing.

I remember she didn't wanna go out with her parents

and their friend that night.

She wanted to stay in visit with Harley.

But TC sent the boy off.

- Well, that must've upset Charity.

- I was more worried about her mother.

Hope wasn't feeling well.

She'd been in bed most of the day.

- But she still went to dinner?

- If only I'd been paying more attention

where they were going with that gentlemen from Spokane.

- Okay, I know that the police have asked you this

a million times, but what can you remember about the man?

- Well, the problem was I never met him.

I'd taken my supper back to my apartment

over the garage before he arrived.

I just saw the car out the window and the man walk over

and shake hands with TC.

- What did he look like?

- I only saw his back.

He was dark haired, I think.

Hope said they knew him from church

or maybe it was the hospital.

It's my fault they haven't been found.

If I'd only been paying more attention.

- Oh no, no, no.

I don't think you have anything to feel guilty for.

- You're too kind.

I hope you enjoy the place mats.

- Just one more question, Mrs. Totino, please.

Bubba Rankart said that there

is a boarded up closet in the house.

Do you recall your son-in-law talking about it?

What, what room it was in?

- I'm sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about.

Excuse me.

[somber music]

- All right, thank you.

[phone beeping] - John!

Oh!

I just left a message for you asking you

if you wanted to have lunch with me.

- Oh, you did?

- Yes. - Ah, yes, I see you did.

I must've been on the phone to Parnell Wilson's office.

- Concrete?

Does this mean you're gonna finally

lay the foundation for that shed you've been talking about?

- No, I was looking to talk to Parnell.

- Well, it must have been very important

if you didn't even know that I was calling you.

[phone ringing]

Aurora's calling you?

- Uh.

- I know what it's like when the two of you

start putting your heads together.

She's become obsessed with the Julius family, hasn't she?

And you're encouraging her as usual.

- Hello, Roe.

No, look, Parnell's out on a job.

He won't be back until tomorrow.

I have to do damage control with your mother.

Try Martin.

- Hey, can you help me move this chair?

[light music]

So when I was deciding where to build the bookshelves,

I noticed this.

- When you called and asked for my help, I had no idea

it would be to find another phantom closet.

- Not a phantom.

Listen. [fist knocking]

It sounds hollow.

- Yeah, it sure does.

- Do you think you can pry these boards off?

- Okay. - Hey, Roe, got your message.

What are you doing now?

- Think I found another hidden space.

[boards cracking]

- Why are you so determined to destroy your new house?

- Oh.

Well, these boards are nailed in very well.

- Oh, I just got goosebumps.

I don't think I could look in there.

- I can.

- Please tell me there are no dead bodies

in there or dolls.

[light dramatic music]

- No, I don't see anything like that.

- This one's only nailed on with one nail.

[eerie music] - Oh, be careful.

- See anything? - Please say no,

please say no, please say no.

- [Aurora] No, it looks pretty empty.

- Yes! [suspenseful music]

- Wait.

[Aurora gasps]

Hey, there's some towels or rags.

It looks like there looks like they're...

Looks like they're covered in blood.

[suspenseful music]

Could be blood.

- Yeah, well, it could be a lot of things.

Just in case we'll get a forensics team here

and go through that closet.

You're not gonna be moving in in the next few days, are you?

- Not when I know that room could be a crime scene.

- Okay, you do not know that.

Dirty towels are not evidence of the crime.

- Still, I'm not moving in yet just in case.

- Okay, well thank you for the prompt call, Roe.

We'll be sure to let you know if the tests turn anything up.

- Why would some of these boards

be held on by just a single nail?

- Looks like that closet was pretty hastily boarded up.

- Yeah, like someone left in a hurry

after cleaning up blood.

[Aurora sighs]

- What looks good tonight?

I think I'll try the fresh catch.

You're an interesting woman, Aida.

You agree to come out to dinner with me

and at the same time you wanna

give you the silent treatment.

- It's called rejecting the sin, not the sinner.

- Is it really such a sin to help Aurora

look into an unsolved mystery?

- Oh, but he doesn't just look into a mystery.

She hunts it down, grabs it by the throat,

and then shakes it into submission.

- True, but- - Do you know how many times

she's nearly gotten killed by chasing it too far?

- Wasn't that a good reason that I should help her?

Make sure she doesn't go it alone,

and give her a extra layer of protection.

- You know that by appealing to

my protective mother instincts,

that was the only way to win this argument.

- So then it's working.

[light music]

- Mother is really okay with you driving

to Spokane with Sally?

No, it's almost three hours away.

I can't get that much time off work

with Lillian on vacation.

Yeah, but Parnell is gonna come by the house tomorrow.

Okay, thanks, bye.

- Marshaling your team to take on this investigation?

- Oh, if I were really marshaling a team

I would ask Lemaster Cane from the Real Murders Club

to get involved and Perry Dell.

That might not be a bad idea.

- Maybe it's not such a good idea either.

- Why would you say that?

We found blood today.

- Which should give you pause, not make you hit the gas.

- Okay, wait.

Is this Martin Bartell, former CIA agent who told me

he thinks we're alike and admires my suspicious mind?

- Yes, we are alike.

But I can also tell you that I've been burned before

thinking I'm looking into a cold case and then finding out

it is still very, very hot.

- Well, tomorrow I am gonna work a six hour shift

at the library and then talk to the nice man

who poured a concrete pad at my house four years ago.

That's it.

- That's it, huh?

So why do you have that look?

- What look?

- Let's call it the thrill of the chase look.

- Oh, I think I've seen you have that look a time or two.

- Stop trying to distract me.

You've been lucky before, you've caught the bad guys

without ever having to pay too steep a price,

but luck doesn't always hold.

Promise me you'll be careful.

- Yes, Martin, I promise I will be careful.

[light music]

[glasses clinking]

[light eerie music]

- 2020, this is it.

[car door slamming]

I wish Harley had called me back,

so I wouldn't feel like we were surprising him.

- Nah, it's always better when they don't see you coming.

- Roe definitely knew what she was doing

when she sent Perry with this.

- Yeah, I'll get the guy to talk.

- Can I help you? - Oh, Mrs. Dimmoch?

Hello?

- Yes? - Hi, I'm Sally Allison

with the Lawrenceton Times,

and this is my associate, John Queensland.

- Good to meet you. - And my, uh-

- Photographer, Perry Dell.

- Yeah.

I called and left a message for your son, Harley.

I was hoping to interview him for a story I'm writing.

- Oh yes, I gave him the message.

Didn't he call you?

- I haven't heard from him, no.

And since I'm on a deadline,

we thought we'd just drive up and see if he was home.

- I'm so sorry.

He should've called you.

Harley moved away years ago to Vancouver, Washington.

- Maybe we can have a few minutes of your time anyway?

- Sure, come on in the house.

- Thank you. - Yeah.

Just watch your step. - Thanks.

[light music]

- That was Harley and Charity at his senior prom.

Weren't they the cutest couple?

- Yeah, they were.

Oh, so Harley was the last person to see

the Julius family the day they disappeared.

- Yes and what a burden to him.

The local police showing up here,

and the Lawrenceton police, the state police,

even some TV people came to interview him.

- So you remember that day?

The day that Harley went down to visit Charity.

- Oh, like it was yesterday.

Harley was so excited to see his sweetheart,

thought the world was gonna end when she moved away.

- Yeah, I bet he did.

She was a babe.

[John clearing throat]

- What time did he go to Lawrenceton that day?

- Oh, well he left right after breakfast.

- And what time did he get back?

- About nine o'clock that night.

[suspenseful music]

I asked him how the visit went.

He said it went fine.

Although he didn't get much time alone with Charity.

He ended up helping her father build

those wooden frames you pour concrete in.

[muffled talking]

It was really hard to say goodbye to Charity that day.

And he told me that as soon as she graduated,

he was gonna swoop down and marry her.

- When did Harley realized she was missing?

- The next morning he called her and left a message.

She didn't call back, which wasn't like her

because she was always calling him.

He started calling and texting and texting.

I'm sure she's fine.

Said he planned to take the next day off work

and drive down there again.

[phone ringing]

And then came that knock at the door.

Police asking for him.

That's how we found out that the whole family

had simply disappeared.

It's so hard to see your child suffer.

- [Sally] I can only imagine.

- He stopped eating, he stopped going to work

until finally they fired him.

He didn't care.

It was a terrible time.

- It sounds terrible.

- I knew that the only way that he could move on

was to go someplace where there were

no memories of that girl.

A friend of his offered him a job in Vancouver

and off he went.

He's doing much better now.

We talk every Sunday.

- Does he still mentioned Charity?

- Not much, not anymore.

He says he has a new girlfriend.

As hard as it was, I was just so glad that he was able

to accept that Charity had passed away.

- So, Harley believed she and her family had died?

- Of course.

He knew she would contact him if she was still alive.

[light dramatic music]

- Did Harley mention anything about problems

between Charity and her father?

- A person didn't have problems with TC Julius.

You did what he wanted.

You did it his way and that was it.

Problem solved.

[light music] [birds chirping]

- Hey, do you remember that you offered to look

into the witness protection angle on the Julius family?

- Yeah and you weren't gonna borrow trouble.

- Yeah, well it would save me trouble

if you could rule that out as a possibility.

- Okay, I'll make a few calls after

I'm through with this meeting.

What are you up to?

- Oh, I'm just waiting how Parnell Wilson to get here.

The concrete guy.

- Oh, the perfect place to hide

a few stray bodies, wet concrete.

- Yeah, I remember the Julius job.

Of course I do.

I only had to tell Pete Lambert about it five times.

- Okay, well, my first question is,

is there any possibility that family

could have been hidden under that concrete?

- I guess you don't know how quickly

concrete could set on a warm day.

He could have walked on it by the time I left.

Now, someone would need jackhammer

to make space for a person.

Then pour new concrete on top.

No, that's not where they ended up.

It does spook me though how ordinary that day seemed.

Shouldn't you get a sense of something strange

before a whole family disappears?

[suspenseful music]

I got here about 2:00 in the afternoon.

Charity Julius came out to meet me,

said her father had to go to the hardware store.

The forms were set, said I should start pouring,

which I did. [shovel scraping]

Job took about an hour, hour and a half and then I left.

- Wait, you didn't see TC Julius at all that day?

- No, he didn't get back before I was done.

- [Aurora] You didn't find that strange?

- Well, a lot of times folks are at work

when I come out to pour, so.

I mean, I suppose I'd expect a man as particular

as TC Julius to be out here to give me his two cents, but.

- Okay, so you saw Charity.

Did you see anyone else?

Her mother, her grandmother?

- Yeah, I saw both of them through

the window to the kitchen, cleaning up.

- [Aurora] Did you talk to them?

- Nope, but Hope did give me a wave

in the middle of mopping up.

I remember thinking if she's mopping up, then,

you know, she must be feeling better

than when I saw her a few weeks earlier.

I came out to give 'em a quote

and she could barely move then.

- So Hope Julius was mopping?

- Yeah, yeah.

I was happy to see her bouncing back a bit.

I was glad to see she was getting ready to go out.

- Why'd you think she was going out?

- Oh, she had her fancy wiggle on.

And I'd seen her wear it in church.

- [Aurora] Hm.

[phone ringing]

- Oh.

Hey, Roe.

We just got back from Spokane.

- So, what did you learn from Harley?

- Well, he doesn't live there anymore,

so we talked to his mom.

It was heartbreaking to hear what Harley went through

when Charity disappeared.

- Well, where's Harley now?

- He moved to Vancouver, Washington a little while ago.

But you know, we all got a really weird vibe

about TC Julius from Mrs. Dimmoch.

There's definitely something off about that man.

- Well, there's something strange about this whole case.

I just talked to Parnell Wilson and he said that Hope Julius

was wearing her Sunday fancy wig the day she disappeared.

- Well, she was going out for dinner though, right?

- Right, but if you saw a photo of her fancy wig

on her dresser the day after she disappeared,

and if they supposedly ran off the road

on the way to dinner- - Then what was that

wig doing in her bedroom?

- Exactly.

Hey, will you double check on that photo?

I wanna ask Mrs. Totino about it.

- I'm on it.

- I'm not sure what you're asking me.

- If you remember what wig your daughter was wearing

when she went out to dinner that night?

Because Parnell Wilson said he saw her wearing

her fancy wig earlier that day,

but that wig was found on her dresser the next day.

- I do remember her wearing her nice wig that day.

She was trying to make herself feel better.

- Yeah, that's the other thing.

You said that she was feeling sick that day,

but Parnell said that he'd seen her mopping,

that she was doing better than he expected.

- Well, what does he know about it?

Did he see her taking a break every two minutes to sit?

Did he see me trying to take away the mop and talk her

into going back to bed before she fell down?

No, I'm so tired of people who think

they know things they don't know.

One woman here said she was sure

they'd been abducted by aliens.

I can't take it anymore, hon.

I'm sorry, just please leave.

Please leave, please.

- Hm.

Seems even sweet old ladies find you

and your questions irritating.

Thank you for making what I have to do even more difficult.

- Why, what do you have to do?

- I have to ask Mrs. Totino for a DNA sample

to see if there's a family match.

- The towels in the closet?

- Soaked in blood.

Only you would buy a house that turned out

to be a crime scene.

Only you.

[door creaking]

- Hi. - Hi, sorry I'm late.

- No. - My meeting ran over.

- Oh, that's okay.

My meeting just got started.

- What meeting?

- Well, I hope you don't mind, but I invited some

of the Real Murders Club members to join us for dinner.

[Martin sighs]

Well, until I saw Lynn today

and got confirmation of the blood,

I wondered whether TC was even more set against

his daughter seeing Harley Dimmoch than any of us thought.

Maybe he moved here to separate them.

And then once Harley showed up at the house,

TC decided to whisk her away so Harley wouldn't find her.

- It's an interesting theory.

- Yes, but if what people say about TC Julius was true,

he'd have had no trouble scaring the kid off

if he didn't want him around.

- Yeah and the blood in the closet.

I mean, if it's the Julius family,

that would be very unlikely.

- Nah, TC was a bad dude,

But what I'm thinking is whoever

that guy in the white car was,

he killed them in that new house of yours

and took the bodies with him.

- I believe the answer to this mystery probably

does lie in Spokane with the man in the white car.

- Well, I'm happy to drive back up there

and spend some more time in Spokane.

- What is it you'll be doing in Spokane?

- Mother. - Aida.

I had no idea you were here.

- So, I noticed.

I was just finishing dining with my good friend, Bubba.

- And getting me to agree to sell my old place

instead of looking for a new renter.

- You two know everyone here.

- Oh, yes, yes.

The Little Murders Club, hm.

[light music]

- Hey, how's Mrs. Totino doing?

She must have been really upset to hear about

the blood we found in the closet.

- It was a shock, but I think it gave her some hope

that the police may come up with some answers now.

You know, it's not knowing where her loved ones are

that really tortures her the most.

- Oh, yeah, I seem to have struck that nerve

when I talked to her earlier.

- She didn't say anything.

You know, I know the probate process has been trying on her,

but the money she'll get in the next week or so, it'll help.

- Wait, I thought she already got the money

from the sale of the house?

- No, the house is just a drop in the bucket.

She gets all the life insurance along

with everything else in the Julius estate.

[light dramatic music]

- Oh, I didn't know.

- I didn't know that your little murder group

was now meeting weekly, Aurora.

Goodnight. - Goodnight, ma'am.

- [Woman] Goodnight, Aida.

- I can't go to Spokane,

but I can look into whatever business dealings

TC Julius might've been part of.

Maybe I'll find a lead to some kind of business partner.

- I can work the Charity angle.

I know some people who had classes with her in high school.

- You okay?

What's up?

- Um, yeah, Bubba just told me that Mrs. Totino

is gonna get a lot of money from the Julius estate.

- Don't even suggest that that nice old lady

could possibly have...

Oh, I can't live in a world where grandmother's

kill their kids and grandkids for money.

- She's supposed to be small, right?

How'd she even do it?

- But the bigger problem is why make

the bodies disappear if she wanted the money?

It would be better to have them found.

She would've receive the money years ago.

- John, what do you think?

- I think uh, I should try and go catch up with your mother.

[keys jingling]

Aida.

I'm glad I caught it.

- Well, I'm glad you noticed me, eventually.

- I apologize for that because I don't want you

to think you're ever a second thought to me.

Or that the Real Murders Club

was more important to me than you

- Oh, please, John.

You don't have to make any grand declarations.

- Yes I do.

In fact, I was gonna save this for your birthday,

but maybe a spontaneous proposal

with prove how carried away I am by you.

- Oh, John Queensland, please tell me that

you're not gonna propose to me in the street.

- Yes, Aida. - No.

- Right now and right here, I'm gonna get down on one knee.

- Oh.

- Aida Teagarden, will you marry me?

- No.

[keys jingling] [light dramatic music]

[car door slamming] [car engine rumbling]

- I hope you're not put out with me

for letting everyone crash our date.

- Oh, no.

I was well entertained.

- Well, I thought that you would throw

in a few theories about what happened

to the Julius family, but you didn't.

- I gathered that's how you approach mysteries in this club?

You sit at a removed distance, spin out theories,

and then go look for evidence to prove them?

- I think you just called me an armchair detective.

- No, no, I know you have a magnificent mind for murder,

but my experience in the field has taught me

that mind isn't always as important as the gut.

- What, CIA agents don't sit

at restaurant tables and spin theories?

- Oh, they do.

But the good ones know that theories

can lead them in the wrong direction.

If it was me, I'd go back to the scene.

Take it all in.

I wouldn't so much look for the answer.

I'd let it come to me.

- Well then let's go back to the house.

Tomorrow, we'll go after work.

We'll take another look.

It'll count as another date.

- Sold.

I'll meet you at your house tomorrow after work.

[light music]

[phone ringing]

- Oh, it's John.

He probably calling to spin theories.

- I'll let you get back to it.

See you tomorrow.

- Hi, John.

You what?

You, what, she did?

[birds chirping]

[door thudding]

John proposed and you said no?

- Do he really tattle on me?

[Aurora scoffs]

- Mother, I know you love John and he worships

the ground you walk on.

- That's no reason to get married.

- Then what is?

- Being able to imagine a contented life with that person.

Please, I already worry enough about my daughter

putting herself in the line of danger

with her crime solving escapades.

I'm not going to worry about my husband, too.

[Aurora scoffs]

- Oh, this can't be about the Real Murders Club?

- Of course it can.

- You know that we help people.

I mean, we've caught bad guys.

We've kept people alive.

- You and John, you think it's all up to you.

Even though we have a perfectly capable police force.

And I don't understand that.

- Well then let me explain it to you.

- No, that's all right.

You've explained many times.

I've made peace with the fact that you do it.

I'm even proud that you've saved lives

with your clever efforts.

- Thank you.

And John has- - Has helped you every time

and he'll continue helping you.

And for that, I'm eternally grateful,

but I'm not gonna marry him.

- You're gonna make him choose between Real Murders and you?

- I want something different, Aurora.

Is that so hard to understand?

- [Man] Yeah, it takes about 30 minutes.

[Aurora scoffs]

[light music]

[suspenseful music]

[man grunting] [Aurora screaming]

[wall thudding] [man groaning]

[Aurora screaming]

[wall thudding] [man groaning]

[man groaning] [body thudding]

[both grunting]

- [Martin] Hey, what's going on?

Who was that?

- I don't know, he just grabbed me.

- Are you all right? - Yeah, yeah.

[dramatic music]

[car door thudding] [car engine rumbling]

[gravel crunching] [tires screeching]

- You all right? - Yeah.

- So you were chasing this truck,

but you didn't get a license plate number?

- Sorry, my bionic eye is on the fritz today.

- Roe, there are no signs of a break in,

are you sure that the front door was locked when you got in?

- Yeah, I think.

I don't know, you've had control of the house

the past few days.

- Well, who cares how he got in.

The important question is why is he after Aurora?

- Yeah, that's exactly what I'm trying to figure out.

Was he already here when she got here?

I mean, he could have been a burglar and she surprised him.

- You see what I mean about theories distracting you

from what's really going on?

- Okay, you're assuming that this assault

was connected to whatever may or may not

have happened in that closet.

But don't even think- - I remember.

That truck was parked outside the library

when I left work today.

It was halfway in the handicap spot, that's why I noticed.

- You're saying he's been following you?

- He must be. - But why, to do what?

And to stop you from what?

- I guess it's your job to find out.

[Lynn sighs]

- Roe, why do you think he was after you?

- I don't, I don't know.

I just, I wanna go home.

- No, that's the last place you should go

with somebody after you.

You need to stay somewhere safe tonight.

- [Aurora] All right, I'll stay with Sally.

- So you think the guy who followed you had something

to do with the disappearance of a Julius family?

- I can't imagine another reason why.

- Well, what if he finds you here?

I don't have a baseball bat or anything else

I could hit him with.

You know, I told myself months ago

that if I was gonna keep hanging out with you,

I would need to invest in a baseball bat.

[mop whooshing]

[Sally gasps]

Oh, my story about the Julius family

is gonna be in the newspaper tomorrow.

What if he comes after me, too?

- Oh, well Martin said he'd give me self defense classes.

You can join in. - Oh, okay, yeah.

So who do you think tried to grab you?

The guy who killed the Julius family

or the guy who doesn't want them to be found?

- I don't know, I'm trying not to come up with theories.

- You always have a theory.

You're a theory making machine.

- I know, I see a question mark and I come up with theories,

but they're not getting me very far this time.

So I'm just trying to wait for an answer.

- Who are you and why do you look like my friend Roe?

- No, I'm serious.

None of these puzzle pieces are fitting together.

The man in the white car, the fancy wig,

the blood in the closet.

And when I was standing in front of that closet today,

I had this feeling like the answer was just poking

at the back of my mind.

You know, this feeling like the bodies still had to be there

because the killer, he wouldn't just throw the bodies

in the closet and let them decompose.

- Ew, Roe.

- Where could you hide bodies?

[phone ringing] [Sally screaming]

[Aurora sighs]

It's Martin.

He said he'd called to check on me.

Hi, Martin.

No, I'm fine, but I'm not so sure about Sally.

- Okay, thanks Ellie, I appreciate it.

I thought you were gonna help Aurora?

Really protect her.

- What happened, is she all right?

- That was Ellie from the police station.

She just asked me how Aurora's

feeling after being assaulted.

- Someone attacked her?

I'm gonna call right now. - No, no, no,

she obviously doesn't want me to know.

But now can you understand why I can't possibly

marry someone who encourages these activities?

It's way too dangerous for, for you, for her, for me.

- Are you saying that if I wasn't part

of the Real Murders Club you'd reconsider my proposal?

- Are you saying if I asked you to quit, you'd quit?

I have your final documents for your house.

But what I really wanna talk about is it that you-

- Oh, how's John doing?

Is he still brokenhearted?

- John's fine, but I'm not.

I got a call from Ellie down at the police station

and she told me that you were attacked

yesterday at your house.

And I said, oh, no, that can possibly be true

because if it were, I would have been the first to know.

- [Aurora] Hm.

- So, is it true?

- So, what's this?

- It's a transfer tax declaration.

Don't change the subject.

- Mother, I don't want to upset you

or give you any more reason not to marry the man

I know that you love, so please let me change the subject.

- Someone tried to hurt you.

- Well, I don't know what he was trying to do.

Maybe just scare me,

but I'd rather not give him the satisfaction.

So what's this?

- That's a roof inspection waiver.

- What, I waived my roof inspection?

- Well, there's no need for one.

TC Julius had a new roof put on right before they moved in.

- So, no one's been on the roof

since the family disappeared?

[light dramatic music]

[Aida sighs]

- [Martin] You had me pulled from a meeting

so I can hold the ladder for you?

- No, because you made me promise that I wouldn't

come back to the house without you.

Are you coming up?

- You gotta be kidding.

- I don't see anything.

- Well, if you're gonna spin theories, this is a good one.

Bodies on a roof. - No.

This was not a theory.

This was a gut reaction,

a feeling that things aren't adding up.

[light dramatic music]

Wait a minute.

There's one dormer in the back of the house.

- Yep.

Two on the front, so?

Exactly.

Bubba Rankart said the original owner

was obsessed with symmetry.

She wouldn't have put just one dormer in the back.

[window squeaking]

[suspenseful music]

[Aurora screaming]

I think I just found that Julius family.

[dramatic music]

[muffled police chatter]

- Okay, so this brilliant idea to look up on the roof,

where did it come from?

- Just a feeling that if the family

had been killed in the closet,

the bodies would have been hidden nearby somewhere.

And then when I saw that the roof hadn't been inspected

when I bought the place, I figured it was worth a shot.

- You know, I was in charge of this search four years ago.

It never even occurred to me to look up on the roof.

- Well, I only thought to go up to that dormer

because Bubba had told me

of Mrs. Zinzer's design sensibilities.

I mean, you can't access it from the attic.

It's a foe.

[Lynn sighs] - Great.

Now I get to go and tell Captain Burns

that I missed three bodies.

Three.

- Detective Smith, a word, please.

Now.

- Would you both mind sticking around?

We may need to get a detailed statement.

- [Aurora] Mm hm.

[Lynn sighs]

- Hey, Roe.

Hey, Martin.

Megan sent me over to cover the story.

You guys found the bodies of the Julius family on the roof?

Well, one of the bodies had a wig,

so I think it's Hope Julius.

- Sneaky spot to hide some bodies, I gotta say that.

- Yeah, but who would...

Why would they put them-

- I think it's time for some

good old fashioned theory spinning.

- I talked to the girl who sat next to Charity in English.

She said that all Charity talked about was how she planned

on marrying her boyfriend the minute she graduated

and her father would never see her again.

- I think we should consider Harley Dimmoch a suspect.

- If it was just TC Julius that had been murdered, maybe,

but he wouldn't kill Charity.

- He was a frustrated young man and young men

tend to lose their tempers.

- Yeah, you never know when we'll pop a gasket.

- If you talked to Harley's mother you'd know how devastated

he was when the family disappeared.

- Could have been a guilty conscience.

- I still think the answer lies in Spokane,

the man in the white car.

- Yeah, wasn't John supposed to be the one

going back there and asking around anyway?

I mean, where is he? - I don't know,

but I'll find out.

- You know, we're all so sure that the man in the white car

is from Spokane, but that was just Mrs. Totino's assumption.

I mean, it doesn't mean that it's true.

- I hadn't considered that.

- Well, still it seems to me,

you'd have to go back to Spokane to know for sure.

- Yeah, maybe I should go back to talk to Mrs. Totino.

Oh, poor Mrs. Totino.

I wonder how she took the news that her family's been found?

- Hi, John, is that you?

Why are you whispering?

- Because I'm with Aida.

No, I can't go to Spokane right now.

Maybe another day or two.

Well, what's Roe's latest theory?

- Who are you talking to?

- Sally. [light dramatic music]

- According to Lynn, they're not gonna get

the DNA results back for another week on the skeletons

or the blood in the closet.

So, I thought that I would go back up to Spokane

and see if I can find out some information

about the man in the white car.

- Are the police looking for this

so-called man in the white car?

- Well, they did look for him four years ago.

I don't know if they're looking for him now.

- So, why are you wasting your time there

when you know the police hit a dead end years ago?

- Oh, because I was talking to Roe Teagarden

and some others, and we thought that it would be-

- Some others?

As in the true crime addicts, from the Real Murders Club?

- As a matter of fact- - Sally, I respect

proactive thinking, but we report the news

and we get news about crimes from the police department.

Not from the minutes from your club meetings.

Okay, go and talk to Detective Liggett Smith.

If she says they were taking their investigation

to Spokane then you can go to Spokane.

- Okay. - Okay.

- Bubba, hi.

I was just going to talk to Mrs. Totino.

I wanted to offer my condolences.

- Uh, yeah, well she's not there.

- What?

- Yeah, the innkeeper said she packed up her things

and left in the middle of the night.

- Oh, did you know she was leaving?

- No, we had an appointment for her to sign some papers

and she never called to cancel.

I guess the discovery of those bodies

must have hit her pretty hard.

- Yeah, must've.

- Well, I guess I better FedEx these to her in Portland.

It's good to see you, Roe.

- Hey, Bubba. - Yeah?

- Do you mind sending me her address in Portland?

I wanna send her a card.

- Yeah, you bet.

I'll text it to you later.

- Okay. - See ya.

[fist knocking]

[keys jingling]

- Martin, hi. - Hi, I got your message.

What's this about you going out of town?

- I'm going to Portland to find Melba Totino.

- Mm hm.

Well, not alone you're not.

I'm coming with you.

[light music]

[car door slamming]

[dog barking]

So, Mrs. Totino lives here with her sister?

- Alicia, yeah, this is the address Bubba gave me.

- I wonder which one of 'em rides the bike?

- Oh, well, my guess is Alicia probably has a grandchild.

[fist knocking]

Oh, hi, my name's Aurora. - Young man, how many times

have I told you, don't open the door to strangers.

Can I help you?

- Yes, we're looking for Melba Totino.

- Who? - Oh, I'm sorry.

We were given this address for Melba Totino

or her sister, Alicia Minault.

- Alicia, yeah, this is her house.

I rent it from her.

- But Alicia and her sister don't live here?

- No, Alicia gets her mail here and I guess

I've seen some come for someone named Totino, too.

But my son and I, we're the only ones who live here.

- Did you just move in?

- No, we've lived here almost four years.

- Oh, that's right when they Julius family disappeared.

- Ma'am do you know where

we might find Alicia or her sister?

- I have no idea.

I never see Alicia.

Everything gets taken care of by Drew, her handyman.

He comes by once a week to grab the mail and fix stuff.

I don't like him.

He yells at my son.

- How do you get in touch with him?

- I call him.

Do you want his number?

- [Aurora] Yes, that would be fantastic.

- Might not be such a good idea to call him.

It'd be too easy to hang up on

someone asking too many questions.

You might have more luck face to face.

[dog barking] [light music]

Ma'am, I'd like to help your faucet spring a leak,

so you have to call Drew to come and fix it.

What would make that worth your trouble?

- You don't have to pay me.

I would be happy to cause that man to go out of his way.

I mean, honestly, he yells at children.

- So we just park down the street and wait for him to come?

- Oh, but Miss Teagarden,

there is so much more to a stakeout than just that.

- Oh really?

They have stakeout classes in spy school, do they?

- Of course, stakeout strategy

is a big part of the curriculum.

- Oh, really?

Well, then please teach me everything you know.

- This is called scrunching.

It's a basic stakeout technique.

What do you think? - Hm, I don't know.

This is pretty advanced.

- It was developed by high level operatives in the field

to help these staker avoid being seen by the stakee.

- Mm, except I think there's a glitch in your technique

because now I can't see the stakee either.

- Well, that can be helped by the second technique.

It's called neck stretching.

[Aurora laughing] [Martin chuckling]

Oh, man, the truth is stakeouts are boring

and a big reason why I switched careers.

- Oh, I am anything but bored.

Thank you for coming with me

and for passing along all your spy wisdom.

- Oh, you mean all my little lessons learned

from time in the field.

- Well, you helped me look at this mystery

from a different angle.

- I'm glad I was able to add

to your already impressive sleuthing skills.

- Yeah, but you also gave me a sore neck

from all that scrunching.

- Oh, no.

- Oh!

That's the green and white truck.

That's the truck that followed me

from the library to the house.

- Yeah, it sure is.

Boy, that truck gets around.

We're 200 miles from Lawrenceton.

- That must be the guy who grabbed me.

- Yep and I'm gonna go knock him out.

- No, wait, wait, wait.

I know him.

I seen his picture, Sally showed me.

That's Harley Dimmoch.

That's Charity's boyfriend.

Harley Dimmoch attacked me?

Why?

- I'm gonna go ask him.

- No, we have to think about this.

Okay, if Harley is working for Alicia, Mrs. Totino's sister,

then does that mean that Harley killed the Julius family

and convinced Mrs. Totino to stay quiet

for the money she'd inherit?

Maybe Mrs. Totino agreed to split the money with her sister,

but why would Harley kill Charity, the woman he loved?

- Roe, you're spinning theories again.

- You're right.

We don't need theories, we need answers.

Okay, we need to wait for him to leave again

and then follow him.

- Yes, ma'am. [suspenseful music]

[light music]

- Oh, Detective Smith, do you have a minute?

- Nope. - Okay.

I'm mean, I know you have a job to do, but so do I,

and Macon wants to run an update on this case

each and every day.

- Your problem, not mine.

- Well, I think keeping the public informed

of your progress on this case is your problem too.

- And as soon as I get progress, I will let you know.

- Okay, Lynn, can you just tell me if you're planning

on going to Spokane to look for the guy in the white car?

- Call me crazy, but our first step is to confirm

the identity of the bodies.

Then I don't know, come up with a cause of death.

- When I quote you, how should I describe your tone?

[Lynn sighs]

- Call it frustrated.

Look, off the record,

this case has been a bitter pill to swallow

because I know it might've been solved years ago

if I had only been more thorough and I just,

I'm not used to second guessing myself and it's humbling.

And I can't believe I'm telling you this.

- Neither can I.

- If you put one word of this in print-

- Lynn. - Oh.

- Captain Burns needs to talk to you right away.

The coroner just called.

[light dramatic music] [Lynn sighs]

[muffled talking]

- [Captain Burns] You said it was a complete surprise

with this new information from the coroner,

this case is getting bigger by the minute.

- [Lynn] Oh, well, this definitely puts

everything in question.

- Nice try, Sally.

You know, I gotta say, you are turning into

a true dogged reporter. - Really, you think so?

- Oh yeah, absolutely.

I mean, your editor is gonna be very proud.

- [Sally] Aw, thanks, Arthur.

- [Arthur] Goodbye, Sally.

[phone ringing]

- John, it's Sally.

I'm at the police station and the coroner just dropped

a bomb on them, but I couldn't find out what it was.

So, what do I do?

What would Roe do?

- Oh, Roe would go talk to the coroner.

Lemaster plays golf with him every week.

I'll call him now, and meet you at the coroner's office.

- The coroner's office?

I thought you were gonna give all that up?

- Aida, I love you.

But I don't think I'll ever be able to resist

the call of solving a mystery.

[light dramatic music]

[Aida sighs]

[truck engine rumbling]

- Sally told me that Harley lives here

in Vancouver, Washington,

right across the river from Portland.

It should have been a red flag for me,

seeing how close he lives to Mrs. Totino.

- [Martin] Or where you thought she lived.

- [Aurora] Well, right, I mean,

we still don't know where she is.

- Well, if you're not gonna let me beat it out of the guy,

we should call the police.

They'll haul him in and make him talk.

- Yeah, that might be our best option.

Okay, but should I call the local police

or should I call Lynn?

- Oh, here he comes again.

Let's see where he goes.

- Whoa, whoa, wait, wait, just leave me here.

- Why would I do that?

- Because I wanna look around.

I wanna see if I can find anything that tells me

where Mrs. Totino or her sister are.

- Roe, I'm not leaving you here.

- Yeah, but if you stay on Harley's tail, then I'll be safe.

Plus you can beat him up without me stopping you.

- Tempting, but-

- Look, he's leaving.

Go, follow him.

You don't wanna lose him.

- You tricky little.

[car engine rumbling]

[birds chirping]

- Ted, we were just coming to see you.

How are you doing?

- Ah, Lemaster, good to see you.

I'm busier than normal and a little boggled.

- Well, that's why we're here.

You remember John from the golf course?

- Oh sure, hello, John.

- Ted, nice to see you again.

And this is my friend, Sally Allison, from the paper.

- Oh, Miss Allison, yeah.

- Hi. I think I've interviewed you for a story before.

- Mm hm. - Sally was just at

the police station and heard

you'd made a surprising discovery.

- Oh, they've released that information already?

- Uh, yes, Detective Liggett Smith

said that your findings would change everything.

- Well, a third of everything anyway.

The first two skeletons,

they were definitely that of a middle aged man and a woman,

consistent with TC and Hope Julius.

- And the third skeleton?

- It wasn't at all what we thought it would be.

The third skeleton.

Well, it didn't belong to a young woman as we expected.

it belong to an elderly woman.

- That doesn't make any sense.

- No, it doesn't to us either.

I'm on my way down to the morgue now.

I've gotta come up with a plan

on how to identify this woman.

- Okay, well, thanks for your time, Ted.

- Thank you.

[light dramatic music]

[suspenseful music]

- Oh no, it can't be.

- What do you want?

- You're Charity Julius, aren't you?

- I have no idea what you're talking about.

- No, wait, no. [door thudding]

I know you're her.

I know your Charity, I've seen your picture,

but you're supposedly dead.

- You are crazy.

- No, no.

[Aurora grunting]

[thudding] [Aurora groaning]

[hangers crunching] [Aurora groaning]

[door slamming]

Hey!

Charity, open the door!

- You shouldn't have come here.

You'll ruin everything.

- Charity! [fist knocking]

Charity, open the door.

[car door slamming]

[muffled talking]

- Now, who are you?

Alicia Minault or Melba Totino?

[Aurora panting]

[light switch clicking]

Charity, come on.

[lock clicking]

My phone, I don't have my phone.

Hey, Charity.

Do you know how excited everyone in Lawrenceton

is gonna be to find out that you're still alive.

- Shut up, I hate Lawrenceton.

- Well, everybody's so worried about you.

[hand slamming] - I said, shut up!

- [Melba] I'll see you later at your house.

[light dramatic music] [brakes squeaking]

- River Taxi.

[phone ringing]

- Harley, you have to get back here now.

Someone came to the door and recognized me.

Yeah, I locked her in the closet.

[light dramatic music] - Well, that's not good.

[car engine rumbling]

[brakes squeaking]

[light dramatic music]

- I don't know what to think,

if the third body isn't Charity Julius, then who?

Elderly woman.

- Maybe we should do a little searching on Melba Totino.

- Couldn't hurt. [keyboard clicking]

[Sally gasps]

- "Alicia Minault, left, and Melba Totino, right,

show off their third and first place ribbons

from the Tigard Garden Festival.

The sisters often compete with each other

of the flower show circuit."

But that's not Mrs. Totino on the right, she's on the left.

- Unless the woman we know as Mrs. Totino

is really her sister?

- Well, what happened to this sister?

- Oh.

[light dramatic music]

[Aurora panting]

[car door slamming]

- [Charity] She's still in there.

- Who is it? - I don't know, some lady.

[Harley sighs] [gun clicking]

[key rattling]

[suspenseful music]

[umbrella thudding] [Harley groaning]

[women groaning]

- Don't move!

Oh, no.

It's the lady that bought your house.

The one Alicia sent me to get rid of.

- Alicia?

[Charity panting] [suspenseful music]

[dramatic music]

- What are you waiting for?

Just shoot her.

- Just make sure you don't shoot the CIA agent

standing outside your front door.

- What CIA agent?

- The one who told me where to find you.

- No, she's lying.

- Go and see.

Look out the window.

- Charity, look.

- Did you see any CIA people when you drove up?

No, there aren't any CIA people out there.

[door thudding] - What?

[suspenseful music]

[crowbar clanking] [Harley groaning]

[body thudding] [Harley groaning]

[Aurora grunting]

[Charity whimpering]

[suspenseful music] [Charity panting]

[light dramatic music]

- Oh, I knew you'd be there.

Thank you for being there.

- Well, we know this is Harley Dimmoch.

Who's this? - This is Charity Julius.

- If Harley tries to tell you this was all my idea,

don't you believe him.

He was the one who got into a fight with my dad

and hit him over the head with a hammer.

And then when my mom came to see

what all the yelling was about-

- He panicked and hit her, too.

Right there in the closet Harley was helping your dad build.

- Who told you that?

Was it my aunt, Alicia?

Well, I bet she didn't tell you that it was her idea

to kill my grandmother, did she?

- And pretend to be her so you could all get the money,

and then make up a story about a man in a white car

coming to get you to dinner.

No, she didn't tell me that, you just did.

All three of them were dead before Parnell

came over to pour concrete, weren't they?

And you put on your mother's wig in the kitchen,

so he would think that you were her.

[somber music]

- She was gonna die anyway.

That's what Alicia said.

It made me feel better for a while.

- Hey Lynn, you might wanna think

about driving down to Portland.

- Well, it just so happens I'm already in Portland.

- Oh, let me guess you found out that one of the bodies

is not a teenage girl, but an older woman?

- And you know this, how?

- Let me give you an address nearby

and I will tell you everything.

[Lynn sighs]

- Thanks for calling us, Roe.

I'm glad there's some resolution to this story,

even if it's an awful one.

- Yeah. - Family members

turning on each other.

- Terrible decisions made in the heat of the moment.

- Yeah and money makes it even worse.

- I just spoke with the taxi company and we have several

officers tracking Alicia Minault down right now.

- Do you mean the River Taxi company?

- Oh, no, keep going, keep going.

- Stop that cab.

All right, let's go.

- Can you guys get your cameras and

take some pictures of this. - Yeah, yeah, sure, yeah.

- Alicia Minault, you are under arrest.

You have the right to remain silent.

Anything you say can and will

be used against you in a court of law.

You have the right to an attorney.

- This is all your doing.

I should never have sold you that house.

- If you cannot afford an attorney,

one will be provided for you.

In you go.

- Well, you did foil their plot

with your sheer dogged determination to get to the truth.

- Well, I did have this amazing spy school teacher

who helped quite a bit.

I'm worried I might have a crush on him though.

- Oh, do you now?

I guess we'll have to discuss that

when we get back home, won't we?

- Hm, I guess we will.

[light music]

- I think that we're gonna be very happy here.

- We're?

- I'm.

I said I'm, didn't I?

- You didn't, actually.

- Oh, I must have misspoken then.

- My dear, Miss Teagarden, you don't ever misspeak.

- Well then have I told you

how glad I am that you don't make me choose

between what I love to do and who I love?

- Oh, your mom and John'll be fine.

They'll work things out.

Even if they don't get married right now.

- I hope so.

- Wait, did you just say you love me?

- You don't miss a thing, do you?

- Not when it comes to the girl that I love.

I just remembered.

- Remembered what?

- The rule that states anytime the word love is used

the date counts as double.

We have hit 25 dates. [Aurora giggling]

- Then that makes us official.

[gentle music]

[light eerie music]