Diksha Sundriyal
The fifth season of Hulu’s ‘Only Murders in the Building’ investigates the murder of Arconia’s doorman, Lester. As Charles, Mabel, and Oliver look into the circumstances surrounding his death, a severed finger becomes the key to figuring out the identity of the culprit. Over the course of ten episodes, the trio tries to figure out who the finger belongs to, and it is in the finale that the truth comes to light. With the whole truth laid bare in front of them, more details about the night of the murder come into the picture, which answers another major question: why did the billionaires want the finger? What did they really intend to do with it? SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Finger’s Owner Explains the Billionaires’ Involvement in the Case
With the Arconia on the verge of being destroyed, Charles, Mabel, and Oliver decide to confront the billionaires once and for all. They invite Bash, Camila, and Jay to the gaming parlor, where they demand to know who the finger belongs to. But it is when Mayor Beau Tillman walks in and Mabel gets a message from Howard, who was supposed to be standing guard at the door, that she realizes that the culprit is Mayor Tillman. She is so sure of it that she swings the cleaver and cuts off his finger, which turns out to be a fake one, confirming that the finger belonged to him. Once the truth is out, the whole story is revealed. It turns out that Tillman had been having an affair with Sofia, and when Nicky found out about it, he cut off in a surge of anger. In the chaos, Jay hides the finger, leading the mayor to become even more desperate.
The thing is that while the billionaires met in Arconia’s underground club to decide which of them would receive a particular project, the mayor was present as an assurance that they would obtain all the necessary permits to keep their projects on track. The same arrangement was required when the city announced that it would build its first casino. So, Jay, Bash, and Camila played to decide the winner, while Tillman ensured that they had everything they needed to start working on the casino. In return, they would pay him an exorbitant sum of money to fund his campaign, among other things. When the mayor lost his finger, Jay saw it as an opportunity to have leverage over him. Whoever had his finger would be able to exercise power over him, and Tillman would be forced to do whatever they needed, no questions asked.
The finger would be proof of his corruption and his affair with Sofia Caccimelio. It would be career-killingly incriminating, and it would ruin the mayor once and for all. This is why, when he saw the chance, Lester hid the finger with Oliver’s wedding shrimp and told Randall to take it to the groom, because he knew that once Charles, Mabel, and Oliver saw the finger, they would investigate the case and hold Tillman guilty. This is also why the billionaire trio paid a hefty sum to the Caccimelios after Nonna and her grandsons stole it from Charles’ place, and why Camila was ready to kill to get her hands on it. That severed finger was the key to New York, and whoever had it would have unimaginable control over the city and what they wanted to do with it. In the end, however, the truth comes to light, and Mayor Tillman and the billionaires are arrested for being complicit in the murders of Nicky and Lester. Justice is served to the victims, and the Arconia is saved.
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