A scene from “Unfinished Business”

Penn "Doc" Walker: [after Jessica exposes him as the murderer] I hadn't planned to kill him. I didn't think I had the guts. I'd just gotten back to my place when Nate showed up with that broken tooth. He was in a lot of pain, cussin' out Dorian. And just like you figured, Mrs. Fletcher, by then, I knew he was the one. But I just kept workin' on that tooth, tryin' to figure out somethin' to do. And then he saw Gretchen's picture, and he started talkin' about her. He was drunk out of his mind. Just the way he'd been that night when he drove her car into the river and then swam off to save his own skin without tryin' to help her. Yes, he told me all about it. I got dizzy. My head was poundin'. Suddenly, I just took a pick and jabbed it into his neck. Didn't take long to die. His horse had been left out back, and I knew that I had to make it seem that he'd ridden out of town, that the killing took place out in the country. So I stripped off his outfit, and I put it on. Then I rode out of town makin' a big ruckus, so's folks would notice. Then, out on the road near the school, I nearly ran down Dorian. Poor guy. Scared the heart out of him. And then it came to me. Dorian threatenin' Nate, the Headless Horseman, it all seemed so perfect. Dorian was lyin' there out cold. So I let the horse go, and I rushed back to town. Nate's body was stuffed into the trunk of my car. I drove back out and redressed Nate in the outfit.

Shff. Sam Rankin: I guess that explains how the boots got on the wrong feet.

Penn "Doc" Walker: Then I took the saber, and ... You know the rest of it.

Jessica Fletcher: I'm sorry, Doc.

Penn "Doc" Walker: Doesn't matter. Gretchen was the best thing that ever happened to me. Ever since she died, I've just been going through the motions.