Chapter 2
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Leita gave her husband Gary permission to go to Pine Valley and search for Michael Cambias' murder. He got on the next flight and arrived early on the morning of Wednesday November 8th. To his surprise Michael's funeral was scheduled for today, barely a day after Michael's body was discovered. Alexander Cambias was old and dying, but he was coming out of the hospital for his son's funeral. Gary got an Uber to the cemetery and waited for Alexander to arrive. To Gary's surprise Alexander was brought here by an old friend from Sanctuary, Dr David Hayward. Gary remembered when David left Sanctuary last year, supposedly he and Anna were leaving for "family business" but Gary never pressed him for more information. Now David was working here in Pine Valley, and was Alexander's doctor. As far as Gary Fredo could tell David didn't like Alexander much, but would honor his hippocratic oath.
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David: Gary, good to see you again. Wish it was under better circumstances.
Fredo: Same here. I was hoping to speak with Alexander alone.
David: I'm not sure that would be good for my patient.
Alexander: I'm already a dead man on furlough. Might as well talk to this detective.
David: Okay, but I'll be over there if you need me.
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David watched from a distance. From what Gary remembered David was dedicated to preserving life, at all costs.
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Alexander: Thank you for coming.
Fredo: I promised my wife we'd join my children for Thanksgiving, hopefully this investigation will be done by then.
Alexander: If not, join them anyway, treasure your family. If I'm not dead in the next two weeks David also has my permission to spend time with his children for that day.
Fredo: Why did you ask for me specifically?
Alexander: Our "Magistrate" likes to think of himself as being above political nepotism, but even he is not above the occasional favor granting. I know what you did for that girl in Virginia.
Fredo: You mean solve the mystery of her death?
Alexander: I wasn't referring to Angel Flint. You went to that town believing she was a sweet innocent girl who brought hot meals to shut-ins and fought for LGBT rights. But then you discovered that she robbed a convenience store just for kicks and molested her 13 year old sister. And the girl who killed Angel, served just three months in prison, and is now a free woman.
Fredo: Are you accusing me of letting her off the hook? Angel Flint committed suicide, Danielle tried to stop her. Danielle only destroyed evidence, and for that she served her sentence and was released.
Alexander: I'm sure that's what you tell others. But since I'll be dead soon, just between you and me...
Fredo: Angel Flint committed suicide and Danielle was only guilty of destroying evidence. Sometimes investigations, the evidence, does not ead where you would expect it to. Are you saying you don't want your own son's murderer to be caught?
Alexander: You may have been surprised to learn of Angel Flint's darkside, but let me save you some time. Michael was guilty of far worse, what he did to poor Bianca was only the last bad thing he did. I deserve some of the blame for how Michael turned out, and I'll be joining him in Hell soon enough.
Fredo: You assume he's in Hell?
Alexander: I know for a fact he is. Yesterday, morning, before his body was discovered, I had a dream. Michael was there, screaming in agony. He even told me exactly who killed him?
Fredo: Who?
Alexander: We both know an old man's dream will never hold up in court.
Fredo: Maybe not. But I've seen enough in my life to know that there are more things on Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in man's philosophy.
Alexander: And maybe it will help your investigation.
Fredo: Good a place as any to start.
Alexander: They're right here, come for Michael's funeral I assume.
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Detective Fredo looked over at all of the patrons at the funeral. In addition to himself and Alexander Cambias there were a total of 16 people. He would soon gather their names, for now he recorded all of them on his smartphone. There was the minister, here to provide a final blessing to the deceased, father Clarence. David was here, along with his wife Anna. There was also a woman named Krystal here, along with her 19 year old daughter Marissa. There was Ryan Lavery and his girlfriend Greenee Smythe. There was police deputy JR Chandler. Local club owner Reggie was here, even Gary's Uber driver Carlos was sticking around. Why any of them might have wanted to murder Michael Cambias, that Fredo didn't yet know. But the other six people, he recognized Erica Kane, and her daughter Bianca. Michael had allegedly raped Bianca, but was aquitted at trial. Either of them would have motive, as would Bianca's half-sister Kendall, her step-father Jackson, and Bianca's girlfriend Maggie, all of whom were here for the funeral. And of course Michael's brother Zack, the fact that his brother failed to outlive their father meant he would inherit over 8 billion dollars. Alexander was right, his vision couldn't be proven, but it was as good a place as any to start. He believed that one of these 16 people murdered Michael Cambias.
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Spoiler alert:
Alexander's vision is correct, one of these 16 people is the killer. To recap, the suspects, in alphabetical order, are...
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Anna
Bianca
Father Clarence
Carlos
David
Erica
Greenlee
Jackson
JR
Kendall
Krystal
Maggie
Marissa
Reggie
Ryan
Zack