After purchasing an old bureau at a rummage sale, Jessica finds a months-old letter and brings it to the intended recipient Bud Fricksey, a hot-tempered local. Shortly afterwards, the town furniture store ends up as the site for an apparent murder and arson.
This episode includes examples of the following tropes:
- Chekhov's Gun: While dropping off the check, Jessica sees a framed photo of Stanley's fiancee, Marjorie, on his desk. She sees it later in his house, suggesting that he torched the furniture store, as only an arsonist who cared about the picture would remove it.
- Foreshadowing:
- Lois says she can't reveal her lover's name either to Jessica or the sheriff. It turns out he doesn't exist.
- Stanley tells Jessica right at the start about his special furniture stripper, which turns out to be the accelerant for the fire.
- Gone Horribly Right: Lois Fricksey wrote a "Dear John" Letter to her husband (though she chickened out before she could mail it), hoping that the idea that she had a lover would make him pay attention to her again. Once he read it, Bud's jealous attention scared her.
- Good Cop/Bad Cop: Sheriff Metzger, on edge thanks to the claims investigator, threatens to arrest Mrs. Fricksey if she doesn't reveal her lover's name. Jessica gently coaxes her to tell them any information she has.
- The Ghost: Marjorie never appears in person.
- Insurance Fraud: Subverted. Insurance investigator Connie Kowalski is quick to accuse store owner Fred Owens of burning down the store for the insurance due to having a policy which paid extra for fire damage. An angry Fred replies that the insurance salesman practically bullied him into buying that in order to increase the premiums. He isn't happy about being accused of burning down his own store and is in fact innocent.
- Invented Individual: Lois's lover, who gets more idealized every time she mentions him.
- Jurisdiction Friction: Insurance investigator Connie Kowalski somehow believes this is her case that Sheriff Metzger is tagging along on.
- Loophole Abuse: Why Lois's letter survived all those months in the bureau. The woman at the post office couldn't destroy the letter like Lois wanted since it was against postal regulations, but there was nothing preventing her from accidentally leaving it in the dead letter file.
- Love Makes You Evil: Stanley Holmes started embezzling money from the furniture store because of his fiancee Marjorie's expensive tastes. Ultimately, he torched the store and killed Bud Fricksey because of it.
- Ms. Red Ink: Stanley describes Marjorie as pushing him to buy more expensive things until he had to embezzle to keep out of debt.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished:
- Jessica finds an old letter and gives it to the intended recipient. It makes Bud crazy jealous and could have caused violence.
- The real reason Bud died was due to bravely responding to a fire and stumbling across the arsonist in the act.
- Red Herring: It turns out the letter had nothing to do with the arson or Mr. Fricksey's death.
- Rewatch Bonus: A Casting Gag example once the solution is revealed. The actor playing Fred the store owner appeared in an earlier episode as a murderer and embezzler, while hear he's the victim of embezzlement at the hands of the murderer.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Connie Kowalski disappears after claiming Stanley can prove Fred's guilt, and her reaction to learning she was working with the real arsonist is never shown.
