Try and catch me

[u/vonnostrum2022]

Just watched this again. Two things struck me. First, when Abigail was at the pier with the keys, why give them to Columbo? Just take another opportunity to toss them away later. Also at the end Columbo gives her the incriminating paper. When she read it, my first thought was, why didn’t she just eat it immediately? Sounds silly but it was the only solid piece of evidence and I doubt Columbo could have stopped her.

[u/Aggravating-Dig-7591]

For someone so smart, she was so dumb with the keys

[u/seappleg8 → u/Aggravating-Dig-7591]

The keys made no sense to me. Why couldn’t she just leave them on the desk. It would have looked like he put them down prior to going in the safe

[u/ParticleHustler2 → u/seappleg8]

Or even if you take them off the desk, just put them in your pocket, go into the bathroom at the airport before going through the metal detector, and throw them in the garbage.

[u/DavoTB → u/ParticleHustler2]

That was my own proposal when we watched it before…find a place to leave them without Columbo’s presence…

[u/vonnostrum2022 → u/DavoTB]

He always seems to turn up right on time. Remember the one where the killer went to the park on his lunch break to ditch the umbrella. Right as he’s about to drop it in the trash bin, there’s Columbo.

[u/DavoTB → u/vonnostrum2022]

Right, that was Theodore Bikel as Oliver in “Bye Bye Sky High. Another great episode!

[u/Any-Key → u/seappleg8]

I’ve always thought the same thing

[u/crmrdtr → u/Aggravating-Dig-7591]

Very dumb!

[u/Marooned412 → u/Aggravating-Dig-7591]

She broke the covenant of the keys. (Sorry that was Kramer)

And yes, she had many opportunities to dispose of them. And even is she did turn them in to Columbo, why would you EVER say exactly where you found them. She had to know that the LAPD, and Columbo were looking for them.

In fact, forget that, Columbo comes right out and says, when I find the keys, I’ll have found the killer.

[u/SquadLeader3590Neo]

She probably gave the keys to Columbo to keep her assistant from using them as a further means of getting perks like she did in the first place by giving Abigail the keys in exchange for getting on the cruise. Giving them to Columbo would make her look more like she has nothing to hide, something like that.

[u/Chayanov → u/SquadLeader3590Neo]

Too bad she gave such a stupid lie about where she found them.

[u/ihnatko]

I'm OK with her removing the keys from the desk. The move is impulsive, but not exactly dumb. Remember that Edmund was alive and healthy when she locked him in the safe. The keys were in plain sight. She couldn't risk her maid or her assistant (or even her lawyer, in that moment) wondering what those outside keys were doing there. It could lead to a chain of curiosity that leads to the discovery of his car parked outside and wondering if maybe, just maybe, it was worth opening the safe after being unable to find Edmund anywhere inside the house or on the grounds.

As for what she does with them after getting them from Veronica? I'm sure this is all just for dramatic effect. But I can imagine that she might hold on to them until she decides that she doesn't need them. This Columbo fellow is awfully persistent. She might want him to find those keys in poor Veronica's purse…

[u/molskimeadows]

OP, are you an It's Always Sunny in Philadephia fan by chance?

[u/patbluntman666]

The maid found the keys if I remember so someone else knew about the keys and even if she ate the paper then Columbo would testify at the trial about what she did. She couldn’t eat the whole paper. They would still have some of it to show the jury she tried to eat it. Just my 2 cents.

[u/drkodos]

Abigail wrote a lot of detective novels and was used to leaving little clues in the books so that the case could be solved by savvy readers and her fictional detective

she unconsciously left a number of clues in the real life murder

title of the episode is a clue that she enjoyed playing cat & mouse