Diksha Sundriyal
The fifth season of Hulu’s ‘Only Murders in the Building’ has two deaths in the Arconia, which are not connected just to each other, but also to the fate of the building. The victims are the building’s doorman, Lester, and a mob boss, Nicky Caccimelio, who ran a secret underground gaming parlor in the building. Even before Charles, Oliver, and Mabel properly start to look into the case, they discover a major clue in the form of a severed finger. While they are still trying to figure out who it belongs to, it is stolen from them, and the identity of the thief is revealed in the penultimate episode. SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Finger Thief Had Been an Entirely Unsuspecting Person
With the discovery of Nicky’s body, the finger becomes an important clue to figure out what really happened the night of the murders. However, before the trio can hand it over to the cops, it is stolen. The only evidence that the thief leaves behind is scuff marks on the floor, but there is no way to figure out what they mean. At the end of the penultimate episode, the group brings the rest of the residents into the case while celebrating their last night in the Arconia, now that Camila has acquired the building. As Mabel pins the pictures on the murder board, Howard notices the scuff marks. At first, Randall points a finger at LESTR, claiming that the robot is the only thing that can leave a mark like this. However, Howard points out that the marks are not made by the robot, but by a motorized chair. He goes on talking about how he got a high-quality one for his own mother, while Mabel realizes that there is only one person they know who uses a “jazzy bike.” It is Nicky’s mother, Nonna.
In the final scene of the episode, they confront her, and her reaction suggests that they are right. She has been caught. But while she may have stolen the finger, it doesn’t mean that she was involved in the murders as well. The owner of the finger remains a mystery still, but clearly, there is a good reason that the three billionaires used it as a chip to declare a winner amongst themselves. The finger wasn’t important just to them, but also to Nicky, which means that he may have been playing for it that night as well. It is possible that he’d told his mother about it, which is why she and his sons came looking for it at Charles’ house. Later, the old woman sold the finger to the three billionaires for a lot of money, as Jay reveals to Mabel and Charles after they discover the finger at Bash’s house, where the trio was playing to win it over a game of Monopoly.
Eventually, Camila gets her hands on the finger, winning the game and becoming the one to bag the deal for the first casino in New York City. Clearly, Lester, too, was aware of this deal, which is why, on the night of the murders, he hid the finger in Oliver’s wedding shrimp. When he met Randall, he emphasized that the shrimp must be delivered as soon as possible. This is because he knew that the finger would lead Oliver, Charles, and Mabel to get to the bottom of things, which, in turn, would expose the rich and dangerous people trying to destroy Arconia, and New York City, for that matter. Perhaps this is what he meant when he said he’d saved the building. He knew that Arconia’s fate rested in the hands of whoever had the finger, which is why he wanted Oliver to find it. And this is also what led Nonna to steal it and then sell it.
Read More: Who Killed Nicky Caccimelio in Only Murders in the Building?
