A scene from “Unfinished Business”

Jessica Fletcher: [after exposing the murderer] You must be carrying a terrible burden. Don't you think perhaps you should get rid of it now?

Patti Sue Diamond: That letter Bobby wrote said our marriage was over, that he'd found some girl who made him feel young again. He didn't have the guts to tell me to my face. I couldn't believe it. I kept reading that letter over and over again. And then, I realized that the second page was just like one of Bobby's cornball song lyrics and a perfect suicide note. Damn it, Jessica, I'd given too many years to that ornery man. I wasn't gonna let him throw me away like yesterday's newspaper.

Jessica Fletcher: And that's when you decided to kill him.

Patti Sue Diamond: Bobby had to have his nightly glass of what made "the South the South" no matter where he was. So I loaded up a bottle of bourbon with some strychnine and took it out to the farmhouse that morning. I knew he'd stop by later like he did every day. I guess it was their place. When he poured himself a drink that night, it was loaded with poison. I called him from the hotel to make sure he hadn't forgotten to have his drink. When he didn't answer, I knew he was already dead. I even asked you the time just to make certain I'd have a real good alibi.

Jessica Fletcher: 10:30.

Patti Sue Diamond: Then we went back to the party, and I went home at 11:30. Only I made one stop on the way, at the farmhouse, to put everything in order. I put the bottle of poison on the table beside the bourbon and the suicide note next to the poison. I was just about to leave when I noticed Bobby's tape recorder was still on. I didn't want Bobby's death agony to be his last recording. So I took the tape with me and tossed it in the creek on the way home. I was sure I'd done a good job of making it look like suicide. And along came Alice and made it look like murder again. It's almost funny, ain't it?

Jessica Fletcher: I am so sorry.

Patti Sue Diamond: Hey, cut that out. Singing the blues is my thing and I do it real good. I guess I forgot that you do your thing real good, too. I made a terrible mess of things, didn't I?