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Murder in Small Town X: More Clues, More Questions, Fewer Answers
by Jeffrey Clinard
-- 07/10/2002
Some more clues have popped up this week, as well as more questions. Unfortunately, there aren't any more answers. What have we learned from the most recent batch of evidence?
This week dealt with only a few suspects: Mary-Elizabeth Merchant, Jimmy Tinker, and Emerson Boden, while a few others were dragged across in passing.
The main plot was about Abby Flint's Car. Question: Is it a crime scene, or not?
X-Ray tells us Jimmy Tinker was driving it. Due to the team, we know he did NOT put it in the drink. That puts at least two suspects in the car.
It would have been easy for Jimmy to get a key to Abby's car. As shown in his interview, was standing right by a stand of blank keys. He could easily have made a duplicate of Abby's car key at some point while he was dating her.
Do Jimmy and Mary-Elizabeth's actions show motive? Maybe, maybe not. Nate Flint was NOT happy with his daughter's relationship with Jimmy. A motive to murder Nate, perhaps – but Abby? Did Mary-Elizabeth set up the murders to win Jimmy? Unlikely, but possible. I suspect Mary-Elizabeth has taken advantage of her position to win Jimmy (at least for one night), but I don't see her as the killer.
So I have to question Abby's car as a crime scene. We know at least two suspects have driven it, Jimmy and person X. Person X is most likely Mary-Elizabeth. But does it prove anything? Without blood or other DNA evidence, we can’t really say much. Though in any case, DNA samples of Jimmy or Mary-Elizabeth in Abby's car would be worthless. Her boyfriend and her best friend – both could easily explain their presence in the car. They were close to her. It is more than likely they rode in her car at one point. No, if DNA turns up in the car pointing to those two, it is worthless. It would be more startling if they were NOT traced to the car. But for most of the others, a DNA sample would be suspect, and point a strong finger at the killer.
Elimination of Leita Rose-Blodgett was also worthless to me. I eliminated her previously because she has neither the strength nor stamina to dig up a grave site. The killer eliminating her cemented my point. Yes, the killer is playing fair. The killer has granted the premise to eliminate suspects on the red envelope game. But still, the killer has effectively eliminated nobody. Duncan, X-Ray, and Leita were never good suspects to begin with, based on the killer's game. In fact, the killer is doing the job the team should have been doing all along.
The final track on the preservered fingers led us to another suspect, the mayor. Wisely, the treated him as a source of infomation rather than a suspect. By treating him like this they got his confidence. Posing the questions in an accusatory manner (i.e. "So, you're the only one in town who knows taxidermy? Now we have these fingers. What do you have to say about that?) would have antagonized him and led to getting nowhere. Unfortunately, they didn't ask the right questions. The questions I would have asked is "How would you get the kind of knowledge to do this. How long would it take. What materials would be needed?". The answers to these questions could have led them to a new angle. If it's book knowledge, they could go to the library and find out who's been checking out books on the subject. Checks could be made on who's been buying the needed chemicals. No, this team is not asking the right questions at all.
Reporter Frank is still my best guess at this point. He's shown that he is very aware of the team, to the point of telling them their spying is not appreciated. He has no alibi for the night of the Flint murders, and has admitted it. He, of all the suspects, has the best resources to dig up the past and nose around in the present.
In closing, I have to say that I really wish Kristen had gotten it this time. I liked Lindsey. She was a babe, but also from my adopted home town of Las Vegas. I liked her, and rooted for her. Oh well. I still will root for any investigator who shows some brains and argues to eliminate suspects. Kristen has just, well, argued.
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