Nicole brought Amara down to the floor below the floor that held Joshua's old office. Amara assumed that she didn't want anyone she knew to hear, but it still seemed strange.

"Everything I told you last night was true," Nicole said, in a voice that was barely above a whisper. "I didn't kill him, I had a fight with him, and I can't tell the cops that."

"Okay, so that wasn't the alcohol speaking to me last night?" Amara asked.

"Oh, no, it probably was," Nicole stated. "It just happened to speak the truth."

"I see," Amara crossed her arms. "And explain to me again why you can't tell Detective Milne everything."

"Because," Nicole sounded exasperated. "If I tell them I fought with him, mere minutes before he died, I might as well haul myself to jail and lock myself in."

"Minutes?"

"Well, I don't know," Nicole said, leaning against the wall. "I was gone for all of 2 hours. I don't know when exactly he was killed, but I don't want to jeopardize myself. They think I could have hired a guy to kill him."

"Was anyone else here after you left him?" Amara asked.

Nicole paused as she though back. "Just Mira, the receptionist." 

"The one who's leaving?" Amara asked. "Just out of curiosity, why is she leaving?"

"I never liked her," Nicole admitted. "She was making too many stupid mistakes. I had no use for her."

"You don't think she killed him?"

"Nah. She's too much of a wuss," Nicole said. "You know, the good girl. Kinda like you were."

Thanks," Amara said dryly. "Well, I got what I wanted. So I'll be leaving now. But I think you should be honest with the detectives. I think maybe that'll help your case."

"You really are insane, aren't you?" Nicole asked. "You think that if you tell the truth it'll all work out. It doesn't always work that way. You tell the truth and you still get screwed over."

Amara wasn't sure how to answer that. She knew Nicole wasn't guaranteed freedom if she did tell the truth. But she was keeping an important piece of information from the cops. So what if they had had a fight? At least that gave her a reason to have not been there when Joshua was killed. And if they found out about it anyway, Nicole would still get in trouble for withholding information.

Then again, that wasn't Amara's problem. She had tried to get Nicole to tell the truth, and, if she wouldn't, then she'd have to deal with it.

Just as Amara was leaving the building, she saw Connie entering the building. Before she could react, the two made eye contact, and Amara made her way over to the detective. 

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Connie asked before Amara could.

"I was just--checking in on someone," Amara said. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to check the security tapes," Connie answered. "I'm hoping to see whether or not Mrs. Leonard was actually telling the truth about leaving Joshua here by himself. And if so, maybe I'll see if the killer decided to show up after."

"Sounds interesting," Amara said. Actually, if that was what proved her innocence, maybe she should stick around too. "Would you mind if I watched too?"

"Why?"

Amara shrugged, but Connie smiled anyway. 

"Come on," Connie said. "The security room is this way."

The two made their way through to the security room. Even when she worked here, Amara had never been allowed to come in there. Even now, Connie told Amara to wait outside until she had clearance and gotten rid of the security guard inside. Once she gave her the all clear, Amara entered the now-empty security room.

"What was that about?" Amara asked.

"I wasn't sure if I would be allowed to bring a civilian in here, so instead of asking permission, I just got rid of him," Connie explained.

"Oh. Okay." Amara entered the room and looked to the wall, which was full of security cameras. "What are we looking at?"

"Right now, the entirety of the building," Connie said. "But we need to look at this monitor."

She turned to a monitor that was separate from the rest. After hitting a few buttons on the keyboard, an image of the front entrance popped up. The date on the bottom corner showed that it was from the night Joshua was murdered.

"Okay, let's see what went down that night," Connie said, rubbing her hands together.

Amara leaned over the detective's shoulder and watched the monitor. The screen showed nothing important, until Nicole's exit from the building. Even from the video feed, Nicole was very clearly storming off, angry about whatever had just happened. Amara knew it was their fight. Not long after, maybe a little less than ten minutes later, the receptionist left. 

"So it wasn't her," Connie deduced.

"How do you know?" Amara asked.

"Not enough time," Connie answered. "She would have had to have shot Joshua, hidden the weapon, packed up, then left within--" she glanced at the time on the screen, "--seven minutes."

"Maybe she packed up her stuff before," Amara suggested. "Or she could have stuck the weapon inside her bag."

"I don't know," Connie said. She rested her chin on her hand. "If we're counting the time it would have taken her to ride the elevator and get to this point on the cameras--"

Connie cut herself off as the feed went to static. Amara straightened up to get a better look, but nothing was happening.

"What the heck?" She finally said.

"Someone cut the feed." Connie fiddled around with the controls until the image of the front entrance reappeared. The time was now displayed as an hour later that night.

"Huh," Amara said. 

Connie remained quiet. The feed was now showing Nicole's return to the building. Connie hit fast forward, until the feed showed the cops pulling up about ten minutes later.

"So I'm guessing that whoever killed Joshua, did it when the cameras were cut," Amara said. She knew she was stating the obvious, but it seemed like it needed to be said.

"Hmm," Connie said, deep in thought. She rubbed at her chin. "I wonder if she was smart enough to cut the cameras then stage her return as if she had been gone that whole hour?"

Amara looked at her quickly. Connie really was convinced that Nicole was the killer. Amara was wrestling with whether or not to tell her about what Nicole had said to her, when Connie stood.

"Well, that was pointless," the detective said. "We didn't get very far, but it is something I can note for later." She looked at Amara apologetically. "Guess this wasn't too exciting, huh?"

Amara shrugged. "It's okay. I like being involved."

Connie laughed. "I like you, kid. You've got initiative."

"Thank you very much," Amara said, holding back a laugh of her own. She glanced at her watch. "Wow, it's almost one o'clock. Did you want to grab some lunch or something?"

"You know what? I would love to," Connie said. "But I've actually had to take a few days off because I wasn't feeling well, so I think I should probably get back to the station to catch up on work." She nudged Amara. "But I'll take a raincheck, okay? Maybe when this case is closed, we can hang out as friends."

"I'd like that," Amara said with a smile.

---

Later that night, Amara was helping Ethan make dinner. Both Abigail and Joel were sitting in their highchairs, playing with empty bowls. Amara was amazed at the things that entertained those two. 

As Amara put the chicken in the oven, Gabby walked in. She grinned at Ethan and Amara.

"Would you two just get married already?" she asked.

"Isn't it a little early to be thinking about that?" Amara asked.

"Yeah, I haven't even proposed, yet," Ethan smirked. 

Amara smiled. Then she caught Gabby's eye. Gabby was giving her a teasing look, and Amara could tell she was dying to say something else. Amara gave her a silent warning to shut up before she said anything stupid.

"You know, if you guys ever want to go out, I can watch the twins," Gabby offered.

Ethan and Amara both froze and slowly looked to Gabby. Amara wasn't sure about Ethan, but she could tell that she had a suspicious look on her face.

Gabby looked between the two of them innocently. "What?"

"Oh, nothing," Ethan said. "Just the fact that you were terrified to be alone with even one of them until a few days ago."

"Yeah, what's this all about?" Amara planted a hand on her hip. "I can't pay you, you know."

"I know," Gabby said. "But I think we've been connecting better over the last few weeks. Besides, I watched them by myself the other day."

"For like, two hours," Ethan pointed out. "If that."

"Who knows?" Gabby shrugged. "Maybe my maternal instincts are starting to kick in."

"You're not a mom though," Ethan said. 

"I can still have the instinct!"

As the two of them argued on, Amara smiled to herself and shook her head. She was just glad they were getting along better than they had a year ago. She had to lock them in a room together so that they would stop fighting every time they even looked at each other.

"Hey, where did you go this morning, by the way?" Ethan asked her.

Amara hesitated. "I, uh---I went to the office."

Gabby stopped. "The office we all used to work at? Why?"

"I was just checking in on something," Amara said. "I ran into Connie there."

"Who?" Ethan asked.

"Detective Ramirez," Amara rolled her eyes. "She was checking the security cameras to see what happened the night Joshua was killed."

Gabby moved around the table, placing silverware and plates down. "Neat. Did you get to see anything?"

"She let me watch," Amara said. "And, as much as I hate to admit it, it looks like Nicole might be innocent."

"Really?" Gabby said, surprised.

"Yeah, it looks like she might have been gone at the time Joshua was killed," Amara said, careful to not share what Nicole had said. She wasn't sure why she was keeping Nicole's secret, but she just didn't feel like it was her place to tell.

"I kind of wondered if it wasn't her," Ethan said. He put some vegetables into boiling water. "They weren't nice people, but they were a good couple. They seemed happy for the time."

"Even though they did try to take the kids away from you," Gabby mentioned.

"That's what I meant when I said they weren't nice people."

"Connie seems to be really suspicious of her still," Amara said. "I'm not really sure why. It kinda seems like she's reaching for reasons to suspect Nicole."

"Well, Nicole does get everything," Ethan pointed out. "And there aren't many other suspects out there, other than you. If she's suspicious, there must be a reason."

"Yeah," Gabby agreed. "I'd just be happy that the heat was off me, if I were you."

"I don't think Connie thinks it's me," Amara said. "Which is good. I know I'm still a suspect, but it's nice to know someone still believes in me."

"We believe in you," Ethan spoke up.

"Yeah, we know you didn't do it," Gabby said.

Amara smiled. "I meant it's nice to have someone who's part of law enforcement on my side. But thanks." She sighed as she leaned against the counter. "The only thing I wonder is--- if it's not me, and if it's not Nicole...who's left?"