“Yeah, she’s an odd duck,” he agreed.

Jessie sat down next to him, allowing a thought to percolate in her brain for a few seconds.”

“Just how odd a duck do you think she is?” she finally asked.

“What—you think this was her?” Dolan asked.

“I’m just saying,” she began, “she’s obviously in love with Jett Collison. She wouldn’t have loved it when he started to take Claire seriously, much less when he proposed.”

“But Claire said no so she was no longer a threat.”

“In theory,” Jessie agreed. “But Jett was still pining, dare I say obsessing over her. If anybody would have known about that shrine in the secret room, it was Matilda. If she found it, it couldn’t have made her happy. How do we know she didn’t kill Claire in a fit of jealous rage? How do we know she didn’t mess with Jett’s phone that night—or his car battery for that matter—to screw with his alibi? She punishes him for loving someone else by framing him for killing her. Then she comes in at the last minute to rescue him, earning his endless devotion.”

“How does she do that?” Dolan wanted to know.

“I don’t know. Maybe she finds video footage of him that verifies his alibi?”

“Isn’t that our job?”

“Yes. But if she set him up, she’d know exactly where to find the footage that saves him. Do we even know what her alibi is? Where was she two nights ago?”

Murph coughed self-consciously from the corner of the room. Jessie looked up at him. It was obvious he had something to say.

“Yes?” she asked.

“While you we upstairs in that mansion violating Collison’s privacy and Dolan was interrogating the guy, Matilda came back with that water looking for you. I knew you were up to no good so I tried to stall her. In the course of that stalling attempt, I asked about her life and stuff. She mentioned that she was starring in a play in Rolling Hills. She performed two nights ago. It started at nine p.m. and ran for two hours. “

Jessie was silent for a moment, letting the information sink in.

“Has anyone checked this alibi?” she finally asked.

“I believe Toomey mentioned it to your captain when you two were questioning Collison. He was having someone follow up.”

“Rolling Hills is really far from Studio City,” Dolan said, almost apologetically. “The chances of her getting there after performing onstage are remote.”

“Yeah, I can do the math on that,” Jessie said tersely before turning back to Murph. “Why do I suspect you’ve already ‘followed up’?”

“I may have checked online to see if there was any footage of her performing.”

“And?” Jessie asked expectantly.

“A couple of people recorded it on YouTube. I’m not sure why. The play isn’t very good. And Matilda is…perhaps better suited to her day job.”

“How long were you going to let me go on like that, spouting off totally bogus theories?”