This New Clue On Only Murders In The Building May Reveal Tim's Killer

Warning: Spoilers for Only Murders In The Building Season 1, Episode 9 follow. It was a throwaway joke early on in the series, highlighted by Only Murders In the Building’s official trailer. “Break into a dead guy’s apartment and go through his stuff? Sounds like an afternoon.” Charles, Oliver, and Mabel bonded over rifling through the recently deceased Tim Kono’s stuff, including Oliver finding what looked to be a sex toy, which seemed to be nothing more than a lighthearted jab at their morbid antics. But that item just turned up again in the latest episode, and it suggests the one person no one suspected to be the murderer may actually be the murderer. So, is Jan the killer on Only Murders In The Building? Let’s break it down.

With only two episodes to go, Only Murders came into Episode 9 having answered most of the questions stemming from the past. Teddy is indeed the “Angel” Tim Kono was investigating, and his black market jewelry dealings go back far enough that the Hardy Boys accidentally ran across it before. Zoe’s ring that disappeared the night she died was stolen from Teddy’s apartment; his son, Theo, was charged with getting it back and accidentally pushed her off the roof in the process. Teddy then threatened Mabel’s life if Tim blabbed about what he’d witnessed, which is why Kono kept his mouth shut all these years, resulting in Oscar going to jail for Zoe’s death.

All these clues suggested Teddy would also be Tim’s killer — after all, he had the most significant motive of all to knock Kono off, just as Kono had a driving reason to take “Angel” down. But after the team went off half-cocked with their accusations, it turned out Teddy has a watertight alibi — and Tim Kono was poisoned before he was shot anyway.

So far, the only person who has been right about all this is Jan, Charles’ bassoonist girlfriend. She warned the crew about getting ahead of themselves. But she’s also been surprisingly into helping them with the case, spending an entire night with Charles going through Kono’s phone instead of getting horny with woodwinds. Is she just a like-minded soul? Or is she insulating herself against suspicion?

Fans thought it might be the former, and Charles certainly does. However, when she got a threatening note and then was stabbed, it seemed like she might be more involved than anyone thought. Episode 9 revealed that not only is Jan a liar, but she also may have had the most powerful motivation to take out Kono of all.

As fans may recall, on their first disaster date, Jan revealed she had many issues around coming in second. Bassoon was her second choice instrument; she’d spent her life in second place to her sister, but now, she told him, now, she was first chair... Except she isn’t first chair. When Charles showed up to see her perform, he discovered, to his horror, she had lied to him. Perhaps it’s a small thing, but it brought up the question: What else is she lying about?

While Charles was off at the concert, Oliver and Mabel kept at the grind, having quit the podcast. Charles’ old stunt double (Jane Lynch in her best comedic turn this year) gave them an idea: The double murder weapons of poison and shooting made this a crime of passion. They headed back to the bedroom, where the sex toys lay — and that’s when they realized the item Oliver found wasn’t a sex toy in the first place. It’s a bassoon cleaner.

Did the sensual bassoonist discover she was second in Kono’s life? Did it drive her to double up her murder weapons, like one double reeds a bassoon?

Only Murders In The Building’s Season 1 finale arrives on Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021.