Chap­ter 96 of We Solve Mur­ders opens with a grip­ping and tense con­ver­sa­tion between Steve and Mick­ey at a pub, set­ting the stage for a heat­ed exchange that reveals deep­er lay­ers of intrigue. Steve direct­ly con­fronts Mick­ey, accus­ing him of being François Lou­bet, a well-known mon­ey smug­gler, ques­tion­ing the absur­di­ty of Mickey’s claim that he is mere­ly a scrap-met­al deal­er. Mick­ey laughs off the accu­sa­tion, seem­ing­ly unfazed, and implies that he has been able to stay one step ahead of the law and avoid any incrim­i­nat­ing evi­dence for years. The con­ver­sa­tion takes on an air of mys­tery, hint­ing at a dark­er and more com­pli­cat­ed past that Mick­ey is des­per­ate to keep hid­den, while Steve becomes increas­ing­ly deter­mined to probe deep­er. The sug­ges­tion that Mick­ey could be involved in the recent mur­der of Rob Ken­na rais­es the stakes, adding an omi­nous tone to their dis­cus­sion and fuel­ing a sense of sus­pi­cion.

As they con­tin­ue to talk, Mick­ey begins to rem­i­nisce about his child­hood, recall­ing small, harm­less thefts like steal­ing milk from a local shop. This brief nos­tal­gic moment offers a glimpse into Mickey’s ear­ly days and his long his­to­ry of bend­ing the rules. Despite his long list of minor crimes, Mick­ey insists that he has nev­er been arrest­ed for any­thing seri­ous, except for one minor cau­tion. This casu­al dis­missal of his past trans­gres­sions con­trasts with the more sin­is­ter impli­ca­tions in Steve’s ques­tions, sug­gest­ing that the lighter moments of their con­ver­sa­tion mask a much dark­er under­cur­rent. The dia­logue between them moves between humor and sus­pi­cion, with Steve clear­ly push­ing Mick­ey to reveal more than he is will­ing to share. Their inter­ac­tion becomes a com­plex game of cat and mouse, as Steve seeks to uncov­er the truth behind Mick­ey’s actions.

The con­ver­sa­tion shifts when Steve bold­ly claims that their fam­i­lies are inter­con­nect­ed, par­tic­u­lar­ly point­ing to the influ­en­tial role of Mickey’s grand­moth­ers, Lou and Bet. Mick­ey ini­tial­ly brush­es off the com­ment, but as Steve press­es on, the mood grows tense, and Mickey’s irri­ta­tion becomes evi­dent. The dis­cus­sion touch­es on fam­i­ly loy­al­ty and the vio­lent under­tones that seem to sur­round Mickey’s actions, par­tic­u­lar­ly his busi­ness deal­ings. Mick­ey tries to down­play the seri­ous­ness of his actions, brush­ing them off as sim­ply part of the “busi­ness,” but there is a chill­ing impli­ca­tion that the line between legit­i­mate busi­ness and crim­i­nal enter­prise has long been blurred for him. His defen­sive stance and grow­ing dis­com­fort hint at a much dark­er side to his char­ac­ter, one that he is reluc­tant to ful­ly reveal. The con­ver­sa­tion serves as a sub­tle yet pow­er­ful explo­ration of fam­i­ly dynam­ics, trust, and the moral ambi­gu­i­ties of Mickey’s life.

The inten­si­ty of their dis­cus­sion esca­lates when Steve intro­duces the evi­dence he claims to have against Mick­ey. He reveals that he has video footage that sup­pos­ed­ly ties Mick­ey direct­ly to the mur­der of Rob Ken­na, a seri­ous accu­sa­tion that Mick­ey denies vehe­ment­ly. He chal­lenges the authen­tic­i­ty of the footage, ques­tion­ing how it could pos­si­bly have been obtained and cast­ing doubt on its legit­i­ma­cy. The increas­ing ten­sion between the two sug­gests that their encounter is far from just a casu­al con­fronta­tion, as Steve’s per­sis­tence and Mickey’s denial cre­ate an atmos­phere charged with mis­trust and sus­pi­cion. Just when it seems like the sit­u­a­tion may reach a break­ing point, Steve drops a cryp­tic remark about Mickey’s door­bell, leav­ing the con­ver­sa­tion hang­ing in the air. This final ques­tion rais­es more ques­tions than answers, adding anoth­er lay­er of intrigue and sug­gest­ing that there is a key piece of infor­ma­tion that could link Mick­ey to the crime.

Through­out this chap­ter, the dynam­ic between Steve and Mick­ey is one of manip­u­la­tion and counter-manip­u­la­tion, with each try­ing to gain the upper hand over the oth­er. Steve’s prob­ing ques­tions serve to peel back the lay­ers of Mickey’s care­ful­ly con­struct­ed per­sona, reveal­ing glimpses of the man beneath, while Mickey’s defens­es reveal a man who is not as in con­trol of his past and present as he would like oth­ers to believe. The chap­ter deft­ly nav­i­gates the com­plex­i­ties of guilt, fam­i­ly loy­al­ty, and moral con­flict, cre­at­ing a tense atmos­phere that leaves read­ers ques­tion­ing the true nature of Mickey’s involve­ment in the mur­der. As the con­ver­sa­tion ends on a cliffhang­er, with the mys­te­ri­ous door­bell ques­tion lin­ger­ing, read­ers are left with a sense of uncer­tain­ty and sus­pense, eager to uncov­er the truth behind Mickey’s facade. The chap­ter mas­ter­ful­ly builds ten­sion, lay­er­ing intrigue and psy­cho­log­i­cal dra­ma as it delves deep­er into the com­plex­i­ties of its char­ac­ters and their entan­gled pasts.