Chapter 49
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Mary Elizabeth hadn't confessed to participating to participating in Angel's death. They hadn't expected much, they still had no real evidence, only that she might have had access to the murder weapon, but the weapon itself was long gone. Still, Gary and sheriff Duncan had hoped they could provoke her into confessing. Their tactic worked better than they initially realized. A few hours later sheriff Duncan got a phone call from the groundskeeper at the local cemetary. Mary Elizabeth walked up to Angel's grave and sat down, began talking to her deceased girlfriend. The groundskeeper couldn't hear what she was saying, but what really alarmed him was that Mary Elizabeth was holding a gun in her hand. Sheriff Duncan called Gary and together they went to the cemetary to talk to her. As soon as she saw them coming Mary Elizabeth put the gun to her head.
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Mary Elizabeth: Don't come any closer.
Duncan: We won't, we just want to help you.
Mary Elizabeth: You can't, it's too late for me.
Duncan: It's never too late, and suicide is never the answer.
Mary Elizabeth: Yes it is, Angel knew that. I don't deserve to live.
Duncan: Why's that?
Mary Elizabeth: I loved Angel. She made me believe that I could resist, but she couldn't. We were both concieved in rape, both survivors, we both struggled with pedophilic urges. Angel and Jimmy were the first to make me believe I was worthy of love, that I could be normal. But in the end Angel gave in, she raped her little sister.
Gary: So that was true?
Mary Elizabeth: Yes. When she didn't show up at the support group I got scared, eventually I found her in the woods, with the knife. At first I tried to talk her down, like you're doing with me. But then she confessed what she had done. I was horrified, called her all sorts of names. Angel wanted to die, she knew it was the only way to guarantee that she'd never hurt anyone again. But I was selfish, I couldn't lose her, so we fought. Angel won, and she jammed the knife into her own throat, and slit across.
Gary: Why the pentagram?
Mary Elizabeth: Angel said she belonged in Hell, wanted everyone to know that she was a terrible sinner. She even claimed that she knew someone who used to worship Satan, but she never said who it was. Angel took her own life, and now I have to join her. I won't hurt anyone like that, I'd rather be dead.
Duncan: You don't have to do those things, you can resist, with help. Michael helps people like that, hasn't he?
Mary Elizabeth: I thought he did, but Angel couldn't resist.
Duncan: She gave in to her darker impulses. You were right about Samantha Larabee, she corrupted her.
Mary Elizabeth: How do I know I won't give in one day?
Duncan: Everyone struggles with some dark urges or other. Noone can be 100% certain they won't give in. We all just take it one day at a time.
Mary Elizabeth: Do you want to arrest me, agent Fredo?
Gary: I don't want to. The courts might go easier on you. You tried to stop her suicide, maybe they'll believe you're not guilty of desecrating a corpse.
Mary Elizabeth: I destroyed evidence, did you see me putting the knife into the hospital furnace?
Gary: I was exhausted, not sure I could identify anyone who it might have been. You might very well end up with just probation.
Mary Elizabeth: It doesn't matter, it's not prison I fear, it's becoming a child-molestor.
Duncan: You don't have to be one. Hell maybe you can help others resist their urges. Knowing how Angel gave in, you can help Abby resist those urges as well.
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This last thing got to Mary Elizabeth. Ever since Angel's suicide she had tried to help Abby, be there for him. She had likely inherited Carmen's pedophilic tendancies, and now being a sexual assault survivor, she would need help. Mary Elizabeth still feared prison, and of becoming a child-molestor, but perhaps she owed it to Abby to stick around. She gave sheriff Duncan her gun and prepared herself for whatever consequences might come.
