Chapter 10
Minnie was cuddled up in a warm hospital bed. The cut on her arm was stitched up and wrapped in gauze. The young mouse girl was still in shock and the doctors wanted to keep her overnight.
"Minnie," Angel said, rubbing the mouse girl's cheek, "What you did was very brave."
"Hey girlfriend," Cindy came into view, "You deserve a reward, what would you like?"
"Ice cream, no, frozen yogurt," Minnie answered, "Vanilla with lots of chocolate sauce and chocolate jimmies."
"You got it, girlfriend," Cindy replied and Emmy went with her and they left the room. A doctor came in to check on Minnie and Nicholai kissed his daughter's forehead before leaving the room.
"I'll be back later sweetie," he said, gently stroking Minnie's cheek. When Nicholai left the room, he saw Mayor Giroux and rage filled his senses, and in a flash, Nicholai delivered a hard punch across the mayor's face.
Angel and Mok heard the commotion and Toad pulled Nicholai away from Giroux. "You son of a bitch! My daughter almost got killed because of you!" Nicholai shouted angrily at the mayor and Toad held him back.
Some police officers were about to handcuff Nicholai, when the mayor told them not to arrest him. "He has the right to be angry at me," Giroux said and a nurse gave him some tissues for his bloody nose.
Nicholai was so angry at the mayor that he kept on yelling at him for being neglectful in not taking Angel's warnings seriously. Giroux finally had had it and shouts over Nicholai's yelling, "The bastard killed my nephew!"
There was a stunned silence that came upon everyone in the room and they looked at the mayor. "Michael is dead?" Angel asked in shock.
"Some people pulled his body from the water after the ambulance took Miss Minnie. Oh, my brother will never forgive me and I'll never forgive myself, not ever," Giroux replied and adds, "But someone found this."
Giroux held up a plastic bag that had a knife in it. The knife's blade was ridged, much like a steak knife and Angel looked at it. "That is major evidence, isn't it?" the mayor asked Angel.
"It is and so is this," she replied, holding up the wet suit material, "Do you recognize the slogan? It might be part of a business name, but maybe you can help me out. And Mayor Giroux, if you help out, you might redeem yourself," Angel said and the mayor looked at the slogan.
"Hmmmm, I know that there is a local scuba diving store called Ouvrir Mer, I actually rented some wet suits and oxygen tanks there one time," he said and Angel felt a tinge of hope in breaking the case.
"Thank you Mayor and please, keep the beaches closed until St-Pierre is finally caught," Angel replied and left the hospital.
()()()()()()()()
The detective located the 'Ouvrir Mer Scuba Diving School and Shop' and went in. The business sold items that included scuba diving equipment, especially oxygen tanks and wet suits.
Angel asked the cashier, a young dog man with short black hair, if he saw Faustin St-Pierre and help up the photo. "I have a good memory, but I did not see this guy. I was out for a couple of days last week. Let me get my dad, he is always here, maybe he knows," the cashier said and went up the stairs.
A few seconds later, a much older male dog humanoid with some gray hair appeared. Angel held up the photo of Faustin St-Pierre. "Yeah, he and some other guy came in about a week ago, I say way before the first murder. I can't believe I sold my merchandise to a couple of crooks!" the owner said, bitterly.
"Please, maybe you can help me," Angel replied, her hope was rising fast, "Did they use a credit card to buy the items?"
The owner looked through some files until he found a slip of paper and says, "Sorry, they used cash." Angel felt the singe of disappointment, until an idea came to her head.
"How heavy are the oxygen tanks?" she asked.
"They're made of Sherwood Steel, they are thicker and carry more oxygen, but they are heavier, I say about 35 pounds," the owner answered.
"Did one of the suspects asked for help in carrying one?" Angel asked, again; she was getting somewhere.
"Yes, the older guy, the younger one didn't want help, but I did carry one of the tanks out to their car," he answered, again. Angel felt her hopes rise, again.
"What was the car model or did you get a tag number?" she asked and braced for the owner's answer.
"The car was blue and white and there were words, no a name, 'Western British Columbia Sanitarium'," he replied and Angel almost gasped. "I was curious because I never met anyone from an insane asylum, workers or patients, but I decided not to ask why they were buying the items they wanted," the owner added and pulled out a slip of paper, revealing some letters and numbers. "This is the tag plate number, at least, I think so," he said.
Angel felt grateful and wanted to kiss the owner of the scuba diving store, but she replies, "I can't thank you enough. I know the police station has not set up a reward yet, but if you like, would you settle for 1,000 in Canadian dollars?"
"Oh, heck no, I don't accept cash reward, but maybe you can mention me in a speech or something after you catch the creep," he said.
"I will do just that, what are your names? You and your son?" Angel asked.
"Sam Evers and my son, Sam Jr. Good luck in catching that killer," the owner replied. Angel thanked them, again, and left the store, heading back to the station.
()()()()()()()
At the station, Angel checked the license number on her computer, and discovered something unusual. The car was registered to Dr. Perrot. She checked to see if he filed an auto-theft report, but there wasn't any.
Out of curiosity, Angel looked up on the Western British Columbia Sanitarium in the search bar. She found an online article about St-Pierre and Savage's escape, however, it also stated that another patient named Henry Kneller had also escaped with the two.
Angel did a search on Henry Kneller and the hospital's website revealed his records. He suffered from schizophrenia and there was a photo of him and Angel gasped after she looked closely at the features. He looked like the person who was in the jail cell!
Just then, a breaking news bulletin was posted, and it said that police had found a body out on the hospital grounds. The police chief stated that the body was taken to the morgue to be identified.
Angel printed the photo of Kneller and went into the cells, where the dog humanoid was sleeping. "Hey! Wake up!" Angel ordered and he woke up, "Who are you?"
The prisoner did not answer, but he muttered something under his breath. "You're not Martin Savage," Angel said and held up the photo, "Is this you, Henry Kneller?"
The dog man stared at something and said, "She got the mind of a smart person."
"Mr. Kneller, I need your help. Please, help me find Martin Savage and Faustin St-Pierre," Angel begged, but she saw that Henry Kneller was lost in a conversation with a person that was not there.
Angel decided to confront Dr. Perrot about the whole thing, but before she left the cells, Kneller said something to her, "Don't trust the good doctor, he's going to get himself arrested and thrown back in jail, again."
"Again? What do you mean again?" Angel asked, hoping to more from Kneller.
"The Doc Perrot is dead in the ground, dead in the ground for a long time," he replied, but Angel found that to be confusing, but she kept it in mind.
"Davey," she called for her boss and he came forward. "Sir, that person in the cell is not Martin Savage," Angel said and explained of what she discovered.
"That's incredible, did you get anything from this Henry Kneller?" Captain Biggins asked, but Angel shook her head.
"He has schizophrenia, but he mentioned something about Dr. Perrot, saying that he is dead. How is that possible since he is at my house?" Angel replied.
"Maybe Kneller thoughts told him that Dr. Perrot is dead, at least I think that is what schizophrenia does to someone," Captain Biggins said and Angel nodded in agreement.
"Can I ask you for a favor? Can you help locate a stolen car?" Angel asked and gave her boss the information.
"Will do," he said and got to work.
Angel gathered up her things and headed on home, it had been a long day, but there were a lot of questions buzzing inside her head.
()()()()()()()()
Angel returned home in time for dinner and she joined her family at the table. Dr. Perrot also joined them, but he brought a bottle of red wine. Mok helped uncork it and fill up wine glasses, but Angel insisted that he fill up her glass all the way.
"Dr. Perrot, I have some questions," Angel said and he looked at her.
"I'm listening," he replied and looked at her in the eye.
"Why did you not file a report about your stolen car?" she asked her first question. Dr. Perrot looked confused and Angel explained about the car Mr. Evers had described.
"Oh that, for a moment I thought it was the one that I brought here. Well, on the night of Savage and St-Pierre's escape, I guess I must've forgotten about it as I went home in my personal one. I honestly did not realize that it was stolen," Dr. Perrot answered.
"What is the car used for?" Angel asked, again, referring to the stolen one.
"The staff is assigned to a special car, so that we can transport one patient to another hospital or we take any patient with anti-social disorders outside and away from the hospital," the psychologist answered.
"By the way, the person at the station is not Martin Savage," Angel said and everyone stared at her in shock.
"Who is he?" Mok asked his wife.
"Henry Kneller, a schizophrenic who also escaped with Savage and St-Pierre," Angel replied and told them about the discovery of a body on the hospital grounds.
"Doctor," she said, looking at the psychologist, "Is there anyone else missing from the hospital? A staff member or a patient?"
Dr. Perrot began to think, but he shook his head, "I don't know, a lot of things were happening that night, so I don't know if anyone else is missing," he answered.
After finishing dinner and the wine, Angel took Emmy to bed. She stared down at her daughter and prayed to whatever god or deity that existed to protect Emmy.
Angel decided to look over Savage's documents once again, but she examined the photo of him more closely. A lot of questions were forming in her mind; what did Kneller mean when he said that Dr. Perrot was dead? Sure, she knew that he was schizophrenic, but what if he spoke the real truth.
Just then, Cindy came in and says, "Angel, your boss is on the phone."
Angel answered and Captain Biggins says to her, "Angel, we found the car, it's at the abandoned saw mill. I have called S.W.A.T., but if you want to join in, please come see for yourself."
Angel realized that if she spoke to St-Pierre, she might get more answers and perhaps why he chose Mystic Rock Harbor as his killing grounds. She replies, "Please, don't let anyone go in there, I'm on my way."
She grabbed her badge, gun, and bullet-proof vest and headed out.
From the author: Something suspicious is going on, but what is it? Is Dr. Perrot holding back something? Will Angel get more answers from St-Pierre? Find out next time!