Two Can Keep a Secret

Ellery and Malcolm are hanging out at Malcolm’s house, trying to puzzle out this new information. Malcolm floats the idea that Declan may have been secretly dating Brooke, which Ellery dismisses. She also thinks the class ring is too convenient and wonders why Declan and Daisy would help the police track down Lacey’s bracelet if they were also conspiring to murder Brooke. She suspects it’s a setup.

Peter comes home and greets them. While making small talk about Katrin, he admits that she was on a last-minute trip with her aunt on Labor Day weekend—the same weekend that someone hit Mr. Bowman with her car. When Peter leaves, Ellery and Malcolm realize that he’s the only one with access to Katrin’s car. Malcolm uses the pretense of finding Declan a job to call Mr. Coates, whom Peter claimed he had dinner with the night Mr. Bowman died; Coates admits he hasn’t had dinner with Peter in months. Ellery and Malcolm realize that Peter was the one Brooke was sneaking around with, but before they can tell Officer Rodriguez, Peter reenters the room with a gun.

Malcolm tries to talk Peter out of doing anything rash, saying that the police have all the evidence already, or that his mother will know. Peter counters his reasoning at every turn and leads them to the basement. While walking, Malcolm realizes that Peter must have been the one who murdered Lacey, too, since he had the class ring. Ellery asks Peter if he did something to her aunt, and Peter whispers something in her ear.

Peter locks the two in a storeroom in the basement and then starts a portable generator; he tells them it will look like they inadvertently turned it on while messing around, and it will be easy to make their carbon monoxide poisoning look like an accident. Peter leaves them, and the two tear the storeroom apart looking for something to pick the lock with. While searching, Malcolm regrets not believing his brother. He finds a paperclip, but it’s too late—Ellery is passed out, and he is struggling to stay conscious.

Ellery wakes in the hospital. Nana tells her that her brother saved them. Later, Melanie visits and tells Ellery that Malcolm is going to be fine and that Peter is in jail. When Officer Rodriguez visits, Ellery realizes what Nana meant: It wasn’t Ezra who saved her, but Rodriguez.

Rodriguez tells Ellery that he became suspicious of Peter after tracking down Lacey’s bracelet; Brooke had one that was almost identical, and the woman who sold it gave Peter’s description. Declan’s class ring raised more suspicion, as did the repair receipt. Ellery doesn’t remember, but she managed to text Rodriguez the single letter “P” before Peter took her phone taken away. When she didn’t text back, Rodriguez knew something was wrong.

Rodriguez reveals that Peter has a pattern of marrying vulnerable women, then sleeping with underage girls behind their backs. Brooke was likely going to confess to the affair. The threats around town were another matter. As it turns out, Viv was behind them at first, creating a story she could report on to have a stronger portfolio for journalism school. Rodriguez can’t reveal why Katrin became involved in the threats, as she is under investigation; Ellery suspects that she was helping divert attention from her father.

Rodriguez wraps up and invites Ellery and Ezra to a family gathering in a few weeks. Ellery says she will come and thinks about what it might mean to be connected to a bigger family. As she’s thinking it might be nice, Sadie arrives.

Everyone is gathered at Ryan’s house for the family gathering. Mia tells Malcolm that he needs to talk to his brother; they haven’t really spoken since Malcolm thought he was guilty of murder. Malcolm apologizes, and Declan admits he’s been a bad brother for a long time.

Declan asks if Malcolm has talked to Katrin, and Malcolm says no, though she’s cooperating with the police. Katrin found Brooke’s cell phone case in Peter’s office on the day of the search party and said nothing, and though Malcolm knows she was also a victim of Peter’s manipulation, he knows he will have a hard time understanding that decision. Declan sees Ellery and tells Malcolm to go talk to her already.

The two talk about recovery, and Malcolm wonders how things will ever get back to normal. Ellery starts to cry, and they hug, leading Malcolm to invite her to go on their date to the clown museum, which is nearby. The two walk off from the party together, hand in hand.

While walking to the museum, Ellery thinks about the good things that are happening. Her mother has reconciled with Nana and is trying hard to get clean. The twins are finishing high school at Echo Ridge, and Ellery is excited to think about college for the first time and the possibility of dating Malcolm. There’s one thing that she’s holding back, and it’s what Peter told her before locking them in the basement. She knows it would be too much for anyone to process, especially her brother and Sadie: Peter killed Sarah, but he meant to kill Sadie.