My Life Is Murder

- Excuse me. Excuse me. - Hi, lady.

- Hello. - Hi.

You left this. At my house.

Oh, what a shame you weren't home. I've gotta go so...

No. But, actually, I was there.

Because I got a text saying that the parcel's coming.

So, I was there, but you didn't bother ringing the door bell.

Okay, lady. I rang your doorbell at 10:37 a.m.

She says there. So... There.

No. See, that's impossible. Because I was there.

Waiting, three days in a row.

Well, maybe your doorbell's broken.

Have you thought of that?

Maybe you just didn't bother ringing the bell at all.

Lady, that is against protocol,

and I'm a stickler for protocol.

If you want to leave a complaint,

you can go to the website

and you can make a complaint

or leave me a compliment.

Compliments? You get many of those?

Yeah, I do. I get lots.

I mean, I can't name them all because I'm just, it's...

I only started last week.

In that case, I really like your top.

- Thank you so much. - Please give me my parcel.

No. You need to go to the depot. Okay? So...

You know what? Don't make me come down there.

Okay, I'll give you it. What's your name again?

- Crowe. - Karen Crowe?

'Cause...

- 'Cause you seem like a Karen. - Thank you.

You need to get your doorbell battery checked.

You found a friend, I see.

Yeah. My sister's out of town.

He gets anxious when I leave him at home by himself.

Have you tried leaving the TV on?

You'd be surprised who that works for.

Hello.

Oh, someone likes you. Here you go.

Of course. I'm delightful. Here.

Good boy.

Are you familiar with Ramona Church Jewellery?

I suspect I'm about to be.

Jeweller to the stars.

- Sounds schmancy. - Super schmancy.

They had a break-in at their showroom three weeks ago.

One of the owners, Mariel DeMarco,

was working a little bit later than usual...

prepping for a big launch.

We think she was there when the thieves broke in.

Mariel managed to get to a panic button,

but couldn't stop them.

She died from a blow to the back of the head.

They got away with a handful of gold necklaces.

There's no sign of a murder weapon.

There's no prints.

They were done and dusted in seven minutes.

Not their first rodeo.

And they'd done their homework.

They knew the CCTV was wireless, they knew how to jam it,

they knew how to avoid all the hidden cameras out back.

So it looks like an inside job, sounds like an inside job...

but it's not, because....

The other partners in the business have alibis.

Niki Balodis and Ramona Church herself.

Both were at the Young Jeweller's awards all night.

Alibis check out.

- Annoying. - Yeah.

The MO matches a series of burglaries

in Wellington in the last few years.

We're about to hand the case over to a team down there.

So, you've come to me because...

'Cause we found this... on the back step that night.

My apologies. And they say manners are dead.

Wasn't there before the break-in.

There's no footage of it arriving.

So, someone left it there

in the seven minutes the cameras were down.

You think the killer left an apology note?

Could be an act of remorse.

How do you know it didn't just blow in on the wind?

Call it gut instinct.

You've been hanging out with me too long.

So, you've got this swanky jewellery heist murder,

but you want my help because somebody maybe just

possibly left a sorry note.

Would it help if I say, please?

Well, it is the magic word.

Rose gold with diamonds and ostrich eggshell accents.

I mean, ostrich egg. This woman is a genius.

Holy banana pants!

Do you know how much this Ramona Church stuff costs?

- I'm guessing, a lot. - And then some.

I mean, those four stolen necklaces were worth...

Look, I am so in the wrong job.

I'll be sure to let Harry know.

Do you reckon they'll let me try some stuff on?

It is a murder investigation. Not a shopping trip.

I'm afraid I don't know much about the CCTV.

Mariel was across all of that.

Oh, she took care of the business side of things?

Yeah. I design the jewellery,

Niki runs the workroom, but...

Mariel looked after everything else.

I didn't realise how much

we relied on her till it was too late.

The police found this on the back door step that night.

Do you recognise the handwriting?

No. I've already told the police that I don't.

This one is really beautiful.

Yeah. I made that the day after the robbery.

It was just too awful seeing the empty spaces left behind.

So, you and Mariel were close.

She found me selling earrings in a local market.

I was just a penniless kid from the tough side of the tracks.

With a police record.

That was a long time ago.

It was petty stuff.

Yeah, I read it.

And here we are.

And now she is gone because some criminal

thought that a bit of gold was more important than her life.

I just... don't know what I'm gonna do without her.

- Hey, is everything okay? - Yeah, it's fine.

Yeah, they're just looking into the break-in.

Right.

Yeah. Um, I don't know much about the CCTV either.

Mariel took care of all the grown-up stuff.

She liked to be in control?

No. She was just... you know, she was good at it.

The night she died, you and Ramona

were at an event together.

The Young Jewellers' awards.

Ramona was giving the keynote

for the second year in a row.

And you were with her the entire night?

Yes. I was going to be staying here

and helping Mariel prepare for the launch.

But Ramona was just...

so nervous about her speech.

Is that usual for her?

Yeah, it was a big problem for a while.

But a couple of months ago, someone suggested that

she tried affirmations, and it's really helped.

Affirmations?

Yeah, yeah, like a...

Says a mantra to herself, sort of thing.

So, the police report said that

four gold necklaces were stolen.

They were plain gold? Not ostrich egg?

It took me years

to convince Ramona to design something so simple.

And as soon as she does, boom, look what happened.

And I'd only just made them that week too.

Oh, you made them? Not Ramona?

Ah, yeah. Look, she still designs everything.

I just sort of oversee the fiddly stuff,

when she's so busy.

We have a joke that she is the heart

and I'm the hands.

For those playing along at home,

the security cameras went offline at 7:40 p.m.

Now, Mariel pressed the panic button at the four minute mark.

And the CCTV resumed at 7:47 p.m.

Why go to the trouble of disabling the CCTV

and then only taking the necklaces that Niki made?

Four thousand carats worth of gold

ain't bad for a night's work.

- You're not gonna get that? - Nah. He can wait.

Oh, go girl. Treat 'em mean.

Now, why leave a note there? Outside the back door.

Maybe they freaked out that they killed someone

and they just dropped it.

And why not write, "I'm sorry?"

I mean, doesn't, "My apologies" seem weirdly formal?

It's better than hashtag-soz.

That's not a caramel almond latte.

She's good, isn't she?

We have high hopes for her. Where's mine?

Patience is a virtue.

So is benevolence and mercy to a woman

who's not had any caffeine.

Okay. Now, there was a platinum and diamond necklace

worth far more in the same cabinet as the stolen ones.

Why did they leave that behind?

Maybe they panicked when they saw Mariel.

Or they're not good thieves.

- Hey. - Be strong.

It'll only take a few minutes.

Or maybe...

they weren't thieves at all.

Something I said?

Alexa, here's your coffee.

The CCTV was off for seven minutes.

Why did it take four of those minutes...

for Mariel to hit the panic button?

She's a woman, at night, alone,

surrounded by expensive jewellery

and somebody's jemmying open the door.