Actually, [SPOILER] Kills Leonard in 'Dangerous Lies'

*Warning: Major spoilers for Dangerous Lies ahead.*

As the eminent Biggie Smalls once wisely proclaimed, “Mo’ money, mo’ problems.” This certainly holds true for Katie and Adam in Netflix’s new thriller, Dangerous Lies. In this nail-biting film, a struggling couple finds themselves in the middle of a murder mystery after the wealthy eccentric man Katie has been caring for mysteriously dies and leaves everything to her in his will.

Things go from strange to extremely unsettling when Katie and Adam begin to question whether Leonard died of natural causes, or if there’s foul play afoot. Add to this a sketchy real estate agent who’s trying to buy the house on behalf of a wealthy client, pictures of an old woman who may or may not be Leonard’s wife, and increasingly erratic Adam, and you’ve got yourself a juicy murder mystery with plenty of suspects.

But for viewers who may have been confused by the many twists and turns of the movie and are still wondering exactly who killed Leonard in Dangerous Lies, we’ve got you covered. 

Keep reading for a Dangerous Lies explainer, including who killed Elliot Gould’s Leonard and whether Katie gets the happy ending she deserves. 

Hayden, the real estate agent, killed Leonard. He was behind all the weird stuff happening to Katie and Adam. He was even behind the robbery that took place years ago and the diamonds that ended up in Leonard’s attic. 

Confused? Keep scrolling for a detailed explainer for everything that happens in this wild murder mystery. 

Starring Riverdale’s Camila Mendes and Jessie T. Usher from Survivor’s Remorse as Katie and Adam, Dangerous Lies begins with Katie being hired as a caregiver for a rich and lonely man named Leonard, played by Elliot Gould from Friends and the Oceans movies. However, Leonard soon dies and, for some reason, leaves his very expensive house to Katie. 

To add to the mystery, Katie and Adam also find a trunk full of cash in Leonard’s attic, which they decide to keep without telling anyone. Things soon start to get even weirder when a real estate agent, Hayden, played by Twilight's Cam Gigandet, shows up at the house and insists that he has an interested buyer even when Katie makes it clear that the house isn’t for sale.

Soon after that, Katie also discovers a dead body in the attic with a backpack full of diamonds. The couple deduces that the decayed body belonged to Leonard’s gardener who had gone missing some years prior. Although Katie wants to go to the police, Adam convinces her not to, reasoning that no one is looking for the dead man and that if they come clean, their inheritance will probably be taken away.

Katie agrees, but once she starts noticing Adam’s out of control spending habits, she starts to suspect her husband of the murder. 

However, after confronting Adam, Katie learns that she has nothing to worry about with her husband and that the diamonds in the backpack were from a robbery done by…Hayden, the real estate agent, and Hayden’s accomplice, Ethan Doyle, the missing gardener. 

It also turns out that it was Hayden who caused Leonard’s death by switching Leonard’s medication doses. Katie finally realizes she can trust her husband, but just as they’ve decided to run away together, Katie is taken hostage by Hayden. 

In a crazy shootout, Adam and Hayden kill each other. Adam dies of blood loss in Katie’s arms, but not before managing to tell her to “search the garden.” Just when you think Katie’s out of danger, Julie, the lawyer and executor of Leonard’s will, shows up and inadvertently gives away the fact that she and Hayden had been in cahoots the whole time.

Thankfully, Detective Chesler arrives and saves Katie. The nightmare is finally over. Months later, audiences see the detective walk up the garden to hug a pregnant Katie. Before leaving, Detective Chesler asks Katie if she ever found the diamonds. Katie says that Adam never told her where they were, which is strange because his literal last words before dying were “search the garden.” 

But in the final shot of the movie, the sprinklers turn on to reveal sparkling diamonds hidden in the dirt of the garden. We may never know if Katie knew about them or not but given what she just went through, perhaps they’re safer in the dirt for now.

Dangerous Lies is streaming now on Netflix.