Chapter 21

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Agent Fredo and sheriff Duncan discussed what they knew so far, including the possibility that Angel Flint had committed suicide.

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Duncan: Do you think she's right, you think Angel really killed herself?

Gary: I think her mother genuinly believes it. But whether her death was a suicide or homicide, that I don't know.

Duncan: So you don't think Carmen killed Angel? She knew we had her on two counts of child-molestation, but not murder, yet.

Gary: We didn't have her on two counts, just one. She confessed to molesting Abby before we even accussed her of this.

Duncan: The Bible says "The guilty man fleeth when none pursue him." Anyway Carmen must have figured we'd question Abby, that it was best to admit to what she would get caught on. Anyway I do believe her about Angel committing suicide. We didn't find a note, but Angel did fear becoming the 3rd generation, at least, of her family to be a child-molestor, that's why she killed herself. Probably with her own hunting knife.

Gary: Didn't she accusse Jimmy and Mary Elizabeth of stealing the knife?

Duncan: Maybe her own mother stole it, feared her daughter would use it against her or herself. Even if she threw it away, Angel could have easily bought another one.

Gary: Maybe, but there's still some things I don't understand. Michael Morgan, running his little support group. If he was convicted of this, why are there no records of it. I find it hard to believe that a pedophile, even one who didn't act on this, would just stumble upon their tattoo.

Duncan: I've been thinking about that actually. I remember about two years ago, reading how the FBI brought down a ring of child-molestors. Could Michael have been part of that operation?

Gary: Maybe. I don't know every FBI agent, maybe he was undercover with them. He would have likely gone to prison as part of his cover, and possibly placed in Witness Protection after. His criminal record would have been expunged. I also wonder why Angel kept drugs, birth control, even a gun out in the open, yet put less than ten dollars, and a losing lottery ticket, in her safe.

Duncan: Don't tell my wife this, but in our storage unit, I keep a movie ticket from "Rat Race."

Gary: The old comedy?

Duncan: Yeah. I saw it with a date. That night me and her, it was the first time I ever made love to a woman, so the movie ticket has personal meaning for me. Maybe all that stuff was from a night that meant a lot to Angel.

Gary: That's possible. Based on what we have now, any decent public defender could make reasonable doubt that it was a suicide. Angel's throat was slit with a hunting knife, and she often went hunting with her friends. But someone had to have carved that pentagram into her chest after she was dead.

Duncan: Yeah, but it was her own stepmother who is a former satanist, and Angel knew this. Perhaps she killed herself and asked someone to help, and to carve that into her chest. Don't ask me why she'd want that, but we can't rule it out.

Gary: No, we can't. At the very least someone is guilty of assisted suicide and/or desecrating a corpse. I'll have to stay until we know for certain.

Duncan: Well happy to have you here, even for that. But tomorrow is the 4th of July, hope you have a little fun with the celebrations.

Gary: Perhaps it would be best to recharge my batteries, I might take you up on that.