Chap­ter 78 of We Solve Mur­ders begins with increas­ing ten­sion as Felic­i­ty pas­sion­ate­ly defends Max’s char­ac­ter, argu­ing that he could­n’t have act­ed mali­cious­ly. She dis­miss­es any sus­pi­cions about him, only to be inter­rupt­ed by a knock at the door, which imme­di­ate­ly changes the mood in the room. Amy, Jeff, and Henk quick­ly react, each of them instinc­tive­ly reach­ing for their weapons, while Steve moves to open the door, prepar­ing for what­ev­er might come next. Stand­ing on the oth­er side are two Hamp­shire Police offi­cers who inquire about Amy Wheeler’s where­abouts. Steve, remem­ber­ing the advice Amy had giv­en him ear­li­er about prepar­ing for poten­tial dan­ger, denies Amy’s pres­ence, sug­gest­ing instead that she might have returned to Lon­don. The offi­cers are per­sis­tent in their ques­tion­ing, but Steve man­ages to keep his com­po­sure, assum­ing this is just a stan­dard police inquiry. His nerves, how­ev­er, remain tight­ly wound as he waits to see how the sit­u­a­tion unfolds.

The police offi­cers, despite Steve’s attempt to brush them off, ask for per­mis­sion to check inside the house, a request that momen­tar­i­ly catch­es him off guard. Steve hes­i­tates, but his con­cerns are eased when he real­izes that the offi­cers are indeed legit­i­mate, not just ran­dom indi­vid­u­als pre­tend­ing to be cops. He invites them inside, and as they step into the liv­ing room, the group quick­ly tries to return to their usu­al activ­i­ties, main­tain­ing an air of nor­mal­cy. There’s a sense of cal­cu­lat­ed calm in the room as they attempt to con­ceal their anx­i­ety, but the knowl­edge of hid­den firearms in the vicin­i­ty adds an edge to the ten­sion. Bonnie’s ear­li­er request for cau­tion plays through Steve’s mind, mak­ing him even more aware of the poten­tial con­se­quences if the offi­cers decide to search too thor­ough­ly. Despite their best efforts to appear unfazed, a pal­pa­ble air of secre­cy hangs over them, each per­son aware of the stakes at hand.

The ten­sion reach­es a boil­ing point when the old­er detec­tive, after assess­ing the room and the sit­u­a­tion, informs the group that they have a war­rant for Amy Wheeler’s arrest. The accu­sa­tion, involv­ing mul­ti­ple mur­der charges, shocks every­one in the room. Rosie, still incred­u­lous, remarks on Amy’s ster­ling rep­u­ta­tion, which makes the charge seem even more implau­si­ble. In a moment of swift think­ing, Jeff cov­ers for Amy, claim­ing that she had left ear­li­er in the day, but the offi­cers, unde­terred, press for fur­ther clar­i­fi­ca­tion, sens­ing that not all is as it seems. The younger offi­cer con­tin­ues to ask prob­ing ques­tions, try­ing to piece togeth­er the miss­ing details, while the old­er detec­tive remains vig­i­lant. Amidst the grow­ing ten­sion, Jeff and Henk try to light­en the mood by jok­ing with the younger offi­cer, sug­gest­ing that he might find a role with­in their cir­cle, try­ing to ease the dis­com­fort of the sit­u­a­tion. Their attempt to inject humor into the exchange briefly light­ens the mood, but the grav­i­ty of the sit­u­a­tion lingers.

The old­er detec­tive then requests Steve’s coop­er­a­tion should Amy attempt to con­tact him, a request that is both direct and unset­tling. Steve reas­sures the detec­tive that he will com­ply, but the weight of the inves­ti­ga­tion becomes clear­er as the detec­tive men­tions that their probe involves three sep­a­rate mur­ders. The men­tion of these mur­ders sends a chill through the group, and their atten­tion sharp­ens. Every­one, now ful­ly aware of the seri­ous nature of the inves­ti­ga­tion, starts to real­ize that they could all be tied into some­thing far larg­er than they had antic­i­pat­ed. As the exchange con­tin­ues, the younger offi­cer seems to rec­og­nize Rosie, a moment that adds anoth­er lay­er of sus­pi­cion to the unfold­ing sit­u­a­tion. This recog­ni­tion is unex­pect­ed and brings an added lay­er of mys­tery to the room, mak­ing every­one feel more exposed than before. The chap­ter ends with the old­er detec­tive instruct­ing every­one to remain in the coun­try, a demand that empha­sizes the ongo­ing inves­ti­ga­tion. The group is left on edge, ful­ly aware that the stakes have risen dra­mat­i­cal­ly, and the chap­ter con­cludes with them con­tem­plat­ing what this unex­pect­ed encounter will mean for their futures. The uncer­tain­ty of their sit­u­a­tion looms, and it is clear that their involve­ment in the inves­ti­ga­tion is far from over.