A scene from “Unfinished Business”

Stanley Holmes: [after Jessica, Mort, and Fred Owens accuse him of committing the murder] It all started when I met Marjorie. She's a wonderful woman. She just has expensive tastes. She didn't like my old car. She wanted a sleek foreign model. She didn't like my house. Or Cabot Cove, either. She wants to live in a condo in New York. It just snowballed. I mean, once I started taking, I couldn't stop. I'm sorry, Fred.

Jessica Fletcher: And are you sorry about Bud Fricksey, too?

Stanley Holmes: More than, more than anything. I can't believe this. I started the fire in the front of the store and worked my way back to the office, thinking that it would take longer for the furniture to catch. It would be a simple matter to burn the files and the accounts. I heard a crash. I just thought it was a part of the fire. And I was almost done. I was just ready to light a match, and I looked up, and there was Bud. I don't know which of us was more shocked. I hit him with the can. The way he fell, I was sure he was dead, but what if he wasn't? So I picked up the phone to call, and then I saw Marjorie looking at me from the knapsack. And I just did what I had to do. God help me.

Sheriff Mort Metzger: You got a better chance with him than you have with a jury.