"So what do you think, Jim? Pretty crazy case, eh?" Murphy cocked his head at Mitchell."I've got my theory." Mitchell replied. "Let's play the tape and see how I did."
Murphy popped the tape into the office VCR while Mitchell settled back in his chair to watch. An image came onto the screen, still fairly grainy, but it was possible to make out Phil behind the cash register. The view from the camera was from the rear left of the store, facing forward, so they can see the register, the counters, and out the front window and door. After a minute, they see Jill enter the store. She talks to Phil for a minute, and then walks over to the side to look at some of the displays while Phil returns to the register. While Jill is looking at the jewelry, Mitchell noticed her stealing furtive glances at Phil and out the front window.
A few minutes later, they see Blake walk into the store with his hand in his jacket pocket. He goes over to Phil and says something to him - immediately the two start yelling. Blake pulls out his gun, and fires it into one of the jewelry cases. Immediately, they see Phil cringing and holding his ear. Blake turns and says something to Jill, who lies down on the ground, but keeps watching the two men. Blake then returns to Phil, who is much more docile now, and points to the back room. They go off camera together.
After a minute, Mitchell and Murphy see Jill get up off the ground, look into the back room, and then she takes something out of her purse and starts breaking the cases. Mitchell looks more closely and notices that she's using a gun. Almost immediately after Jill starts breaking the cases, Blake comes back in and the two of them start yelling and arguing. Murphy paused the tape, and turned to Mitchell. "Hey Jim - I don't get it. She's robbing the store, too?"
Mitchell grinned and responded "Yup - she and Blake were working together. She was probably supposed to be keeping a lookout for him, but I guess he didn't like it when she wanted some action of her own and started smashing those cases."
Murphy looked confused. "But he was only in the back a minute - didn't Phil say it took a couple of minutes to get the safe open?"
Mitchell just hit the play button on the remote. "Keep watching." On the screen, Blake and Jill continue to argue, but from the corner they see Phil crawl in with a rifle. When Blake's back is turned, he pops up and shouts something. Blake turns around slowly with his hands in the air. While he's trying to talk to Phil, Jill pulls out her gun and points it at Blake's back. The detectives see her say something, and then a puff of smoke appears from her gun. Almost immediately following her shot, as Blake is falling, another puff of smoke appears from Phil's rifle. Blake falls to the ground in the middle of the store between them.
Phil and Jill move towards the body, she saying something to him, and he gesturing in disbelief. They see her kneel by the body, and as her hand is about to touch Blake's shoulder, he pushes her, sending her falling backwards on her butt, and gets up. Blake appears to be bleeding pretty badly at this point, but he manages to stagger out the door of the store with his gun hanging limply by his side. Outside, he meets Tonya, who starts yelling at him. Murphy paused the tape again and asked "What's the deal with Tonya?"
"She realized that he's been planning this robbery with that other woman, and I don't think she likes that." was Mitchell's reply. That's probably why she shot him." He unpaused the tape, and sure enough, Tonya grabbed Blake's gun and shot him dead on the sidewalk. The tape ran out as the first police cruisers arrived.
"There's one other loose end, Jim." Murphy said.
"The Hurley diamond, right? Well, think about it. Did you see it on the tape? Blake wasn't back there long enough to get it, and even if he was, Jill didn't have a chance to take it from him, like Phil said she did. And the crime scene didn't find it on his body. That leaves just one place for it." Mitchell raised his eyebrow meaningfully.
"It's still in the store!" Murphy's eyes lit up in realization.
"Bingo - probably even in the safe. Phil figures he can claim it's missing, the Hurley's get the insurance money, and he can sell the stone on the sly and pocket a bundle. With the thief dead, there're no witnesses as to its whereabouts. He's probably happy that Jill shot him, even though he was there to finish the job if necessary." Mitchell folded his hands behind his head and leaned back, satisfied he'd figured it out.
Murphy thought for a second, and asked "It's amazing what greed and passion can lead to, isn't it Jim? Well, what do we do now?"
"Book 'em all, Murphy. Book 'em all."
The End