The Lt. Columbo Forum

An area where fans from all over can ask each other questions and voice their own ideas and opinions on anything Columbo.

This Forum is fondly dedicated in memory of  "cassavetes45"  (Carleen Zink),
Columbo's greatest fan and a great friend to us all.
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The Lt. Columbo Forum
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Re: Abagail Mitchell and the Keys

I've mentioned it 2-3 times already, but there's also the way that scene is filmed. It looks like she could've gone ahead and dropped the keys in the water without Columbo seeing her do it.
And even if he HAD seen it, it might've been very tricky for him to do something about it (even for the person who got a whole cornerstone dug up in BLUEPRINT FOR MURDER). It might have been as easy as just hiring divers, but maybe not.

Re: Abagail Mitchell and the Keys

Thinking about this more carefully it occurred to me Abigail was fortunate that Edmond left his car keys on the table, because if he had been locked inside the safe with them, he could have scratched messages all over the interior of the safe - too obvious by far. The keys were always going to be part of the plot, the Achilles heal for Abigail. She didn't foresee any problems after murdering him, except those darned keys. She couldn't think what to do... and by burying them in the butt tray she then left herself wide open to suspicion and ultimately blackmail by Veronica. Some viewers may have imagined Abigal making a clumsy effort to throw them in the sea. I argue this was a clever scriptwriter ratcheting up the pressure on our main suspect. Abigail was clumsy and offered a typical stereotyped response about old age and forgetfulness. Just as she did in that superb final scene and of course Columbo was far too professional to be taken in by her pleading.