It had been an eventful day. Marvella had visited Sigismund and written a check to cover renting Renfrew for a couple of weeks. Just as she was giving it to him, the police burst into Sigismund's condo to declare the check null and void because Marvella was an android who belonged to Bright Comet Rosen-Singh. Meanwhile, at Bright Comet's house the police were arresting her for keeping Sigismund under surveillance without his knowledge or consent. Worse, Bright Comet's cat Melissa led the police to the file cabinet where she kept documents proving that she owned most of the androids who had been helping Renfrew solve Orly's murder. Orly, in fact, was one of those androids.

There was worse to come the following morning. Orly I, the human who had lived in the condo next to Sigismund, had a sister who lived down the hall. Her name? Madeleine Monet. Madeleine's son Augustin happened to see media coverage of the arrest, and he realized that he had seen Bright Comet somewhere. Aha, that was it! Augustin had just left Madeleine's condo on the night of Orly I's death. Bright Comet, everyone learned later, was carrying one of Marvella's new bathmats [in a box] as a gift for Orly. He had to try it out, and as he stepped out of the bathtub, Bright Comet pulled the mat so hard that Orly slipped, hit his head, and died. Bright Comet exited through a rear door.

So, when Augustin saw Bright Comet on the news, he called the Wellwood police, who called Bright Comet in the next morning for questioning. Meanwhile, Curlew had hacked his way into Bright Comet's computer, and had found much of this information. He also went to the police.

It turned out that Orly II had witnessed Orly I's death, but Bright Comet had abducted him and frozen his memory of the event. The only part of the memory he retained was the bit about slipping on a bathmat, and he imagined that it had happened to him, not to Orly I. Marvella then installed him in the condo. He sounded like Orly I, and Madeleine assumed Orly I was alive, because she couldn't see him. Bright Comet made sure that Orly I was buried at the other end of the state. Sigismund did not yet live next door. Anyway, Curlew found Orly II's memory of the murder in Bright Comet's computer, and shared it with the police. Augustin's eyewitness account confirmed that Bright Comet was on the premises within a reasonable time frame of Orly I's death.

The only thing that remained to be determined was Bright Comet's motive. That too was in the documents in her file cabinet. She coveted Orly I's condo because the view from his window was perfect for tracking shots of Marvella's studio across the lake.

Bright Comet's ownership of her numerous androids was temporarily placed under the jurisdiction of a blind trust administered by Orly's heirs. Marvella was allowed to continue her TV show and other business activities. Tintinella and Tamboria, who had been featured on a recent show, became daily cohosts.

Paulh

05.06.23 Front Page

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