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“But the man is a cold-blooded murderer, Max!” said Dooley.

“Oh, yes, he is. To protect his secret, he was prepared to do whatever it took, even murdering his stepson.”

“So that’s the screaming and the splashing Mr. Durain heard?”

“Yes. And if Lionel Durain would have taken a look through his window, he would have caught Todd’s killer.”

“Tilton was taking an awfully big risk,” said Harriet.

“He was. He was getting more and more desperate at this point. And a desperate man is a dangerous man, especially a calculating killer like him.”

“But how did you get onto him, Max?” asked Dooley. “How did you catch him?”

“Well, it was actually Scarlett who put me on the right track.”

“Scarlett? Did she finally manage to talk to you?” asked Brutus with a frown.

“No, she didn’t. But you’ll remember that she sat down with Gran, and said that Gran didn’t know how lucky she was to have such a great family. And how she wished her own life could have been different. And I don’t know why, but I suddenly flashed back to that picture of Rosa and Clive atthat Christmas party, and the wistful glances Tilton kept darting at her. Here was a man who clearly wished he had the life she and Clive were leading. I also remembered Chase’s invisible colleague, and so when I went back to that picture, I suddenly recognized Tilton, and when I looked a little closer, I also saw Josslyn.”

“Odd that no one had ever bothered to examine that picture,” said Harriet.

“I hadn’t noticed it either,” I said. “Unless you know what to look for, it’s hard to see. Even Willie Dornhauser hadn’t recognized Tilton.”

“Todd recognized him.”

“Yes, but that’s because Todd had been living with Tilton, seeing him every day. And even he didn’t see the truth, even when it was staring him in the face.”

“Rosa would have known,” said Harriet. “She would have seen through Tilton’s deception.”

“That’s what Tilton was afraid of,” I said, nodding, “and why Todd had to die. But I’m not so sure. Tilton is a skilled liar. I’m sure he would have come up with a convincing story, and maybe Rosa would have fallen for it. Then again, maybe she wouldn’t have.”

“So what was this business with the iPad all about?” asked Brutus.

I smiled.“That’s just something I came up with. Todd never had an iPad. But it was important to make Tilton believe that he had, and that it contained incriminating evidence—like the messages he and his stepson exchanged. So that iPad had to disappear.”

“And Aisha was in on the plan?”

“She was—though we never told her what it was all about. Just that she needed to put the iPad we gave her in her backpack and make sure that Tilton saw her do it, then leave her backpack in the car. And then once the bait was placed, all we had to do was see if Tilton took it. And he did. He tried to destroy the iPad and make it look as if thieves had broken into his car and snatched it.”

“Just like with Josslyn’s purse.”

I nodded.“He put up a fight when they grabbed him, but it was just a token fight. I think at that point he knew the game was over. Chase said he even looked relieved when he finally confessed. Nine years he’d been living with that secret, and all this time he must have lived in fear that someone would recognize him and the whole house of cards would come crashing down.”

“And then suddenly it did,” said Brutus.

“He must have been very upset when Josslyn recognized him,” said Dooley.

“It gave him the shock of a lifetime,” I said. “The one thing he’d been afraid of all this time, looking over his shoulder to avoid, suddenly happened. And it was the beginning of the end for him.”

“So what’s going to happen now?” asked Harriet. “Will Rosa have to change her name again and move to another town?”

“I don’t think so,” I said. “Now that the whole truth is known, and it has become obvious that her first husband was framed, she doesn’t have to hide anymore.”

“She will be poor again, though,” said Harriet. “All that money Tilton stole will have to be returned to the bank.”

“So she’ll get a job. It’s better than believing that your husband is a bank robber and left you for his secretary.”

“I think they’ll be just fine,” said Dooley, the eternal optimist. “And she can always write a book about what happened. People love those true crime stories. Or start a podcast!”

“A podcast?” asked Harriet.

“Oh, yes,” I said. “True crime podcasts are all the rage right now.”

“They are, huh?” She cut a quick glance to her boyfriend, who was tackling a particularly chewy piece of meat. “Did you hear that, angel face? True crime podcasts are all the rage right now. Lots of money to be made.”

Brutus abruptly stopped chewing the meat—it was to no avail anyway, as it was charred to a crisp. “Money?” he said, perking up at the delicious sound of the word.

“So maybe we should do a podcast,” said Harriet. “We have plenty of true crime experience, being part of this town’s leading team of detectives.”

“You’d still need a human to host it,” I pointed out. “Same as with your, um, Baker Street Cats project.”