Dr. Buford sat glumly in the grass, handcuffed to an iguana-sized police car. Lamont leaned over the fountain, in the midst of yet another sneezing fit. Bruno Bolet lay dying in front of his grave, an interesting sentence that I really wanted to say. Blood stained the concrete garden path and glistened in the dim moonlight. A bolt of lightning spotlighted the unhealthy amount of blood gushing forth from Bruno's wound. Henry immediately knelt by his side and grabbed his weathered hand. "Uncle Bruno, you've gotten worse!"

Dr. Bolet ignored his great nephew and the sheen of sweat accumulating on his skin and addressed Nancy. "That old geezer Gilbert dropped his gun and shot me in the foot. Nancy, the skull… it's gone, isn't it?"

"I'm afraid so."

"I can feel it." The previously seemingly springy old man seemed intensely vulnerable as he clutched his heart. "You didn't make any other androids by any chance, did you?" she asked. "No, no I didn't." He then gazed imploringly up at Henry who clasped him tighter in his arms. "Goodbye, Henry m'boy," he choked out. "I'm so proud of you."

Henry sputtered, "What? Uncle Bruno, what are you talking about? You-you just got shot in the foot! You'll be fine, I promise! We can… we can be together!" Tears streamed down his pale face, leaving streaks of ebony eyeliner.

"Listen Henry, you poor ignorant lump, I believe we could have had an epic bromance, but it's my time. I've lived longer than you can possibly realize. The skull has kept me alive for hundreds of years now. I've lived a series of lives, each more zany than the last.

"My first name was Charles Penvellyn, but wouldn't you know it? While I was attempting to perfect the philosopher's stone, I unearthed the crystal skull instead. It's been nonstop fun; you should have seen James's face when I left a baby on his doorstep! I was the notorious western bandit El Diablo, the gangster Mickey Malone, took up carousel carving as Rolfe Kessler, was old Josiah Crowley, miner Jake Hurley…"

Nancy's eyes bulged. "You're kidding me."

Bruno flashed her a huge white smile. "I've kept you busy, huh, girlie? I also masqueraded as the dame Noisette Tornade a bit… that was awkward, poor Hans. Then I was a Waverly founder, the Spanish pirate El Toro- Oh Nancy, you're in for quite a struggle there."

Nancy heaved a sigh.

Henry squinted at his uncle through the blur of tears, searching for some trace of hope anywhere in his face. "So it's all real? The skull does grant immortality? Uncle Bruno, why'd you do all this? I don't understand," he sobbed.

"Henry, Bruno might not be my real name, but I still love you like a real great nephew. I've had the feeling for a long time now that my life wasn't going to last much longer. It was rather rude of the real Renee to forge a letter from the authenticator and give me a near-fatal heart attack, though. I'll admit I wasn't expecting that. But Henry, I care more about you than immortality, so I set up all these puzzles designed for you, so that only you could have the crystal skull. Say thanks to Miss Drew for doing all the work for you, would you? I sent you away for school not just because I wanted the best for you, but because I never really knew how to be the best parent, and I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry the skull's gone too, but at least you know my intentions. At least you know that I love you like a son."

Henry's chin wobbled and his voice wavered so that he could barely be understood as he spoke to his expiring "great uncle", the last form of family he had left on this earth, "I love you too, Uncle Bruno."

Both Lamont and Dr. Buford were watching this sad spectacle silently. Nancy sidled over to the restrained Dr. Buford and whispered, "Is there really nothing that can be done?"

"I'm afraid not," he grunted. "This is something out of my league, something… otherworldly."

Nancy peered sympathetically at the dark form of great uncle and nephew, the latter with shoulders shaking. After a while he stood up and walked over, not looking at any of them, but at the pebble he rubbed in his hand. "He's gone," he sniffled. "He's gone and he cared about me."

Dear Dad,

This case started with a fake confrontation with "Mr. Death" and ended with a real one.

Bruno Bolet is dead, for real this time, and Henry's been shattered ever since. He thought no one loved him in the world, not his girlfriend, not anyone, and now he's found someone who did. When I said goodbye to him at the airport, he wasn't even wearing his eyeliner. Iggy handed Dr. Buford over to the cops, and he's gone to prison, not for his attempted assault or wolfish comments towards young girls, but for continuing to lead his illicit secret society, The Jolly Rogers. If you ask me, they were all a bunch of weirdos anyway. Bruno had apparently witnessed Android Renee going berserk and killing a very confused human Renee, but neglected to tell anyone because he was kind of angry with Real Renee and decided that no one would be able to tell the difference between the two. And the skull? Well Bernie the alligator swallowed it and vanished into the bayou, closely followed by Bruno's spider, so I hear. When Lamont heard about it, he stuffed his 'fro with as many marshmallows as it could hold, disregarded all his responsibilities in life, and set off in hot pursuit of the artifact. The only problem is, Lamont can't swim.

I found out in the nick of time that it was actually Android Bess controlling Android Renee. The real Bess would never do that to me. The real George however, would. With her sick mechanical skills she constructed an android version of her cousin and orchestrated a grand plot to do away with me. Lol, dad, I'm just kidding, it was actually Dwayne Powers (It's always Dwayne Powers. At the start of every case, I should always just assume the perpetrator is Dwayne Powers). That explains the initials I found on Android Bess, the signing of his handiwork. I know this game isn't over, he'll stop at nothing to bring me down. That guy's really got issues. I'll be home in like, 20 minutes, dad, so I guess it's kind of stupid to be handwriting you this letter. Honestly, I just kind of enjoy getting high from this ink. I might need medical attention actually; I consumed a total of 84 Koko Kringle bars this weekend, was bit by Bruno's venomous spider, and picked some seriously funky-looking mushrooms Android Renee ordered me to harvest. See you soon.

Love, Nancy.