Page 119 of The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels
OM:Graffiti from the flats in Alperton? Whatarethose marks?
AB:Angel symbols. Here, these were drawn for me by one of the police officers who found Holly in the warehouse. That building was destroyed. These symbols are new.
OM:True.
AB:I’ve found the symbols online. This one represents Gabriel, that’s Elemiah, and Michael. There are no symbols for Raphael and nothing for Holly or Jonah. They told the kids they were angels and gave them new names, but not angel names.
OM:The men are archangels. Holly and Jonah are ordinary angels.
AB:No doubt told they’ll eventually become archangels if they do as they’re told. Most cults have a ladder of favour. You rise or fall according to your devotion to the leader—
OM:No. If you look at this from the standpoint that the men were archangels in human form, the teenagers were their earthly assistants and all have a link to the other side that allowed them to channel energy … a lot of stuff becomes clearer.
AB:Hmmm. Ol, have you written to Gabriel since your visit?
OM:[His turn to pause. He doesn’t want to say, which means he has. EC] Why would I do that?
AB:[Another long pause while you slurp and probably scowl at each other. EC] Remember they got him on the murder of Harpinder Singh, but he’s also responsible for the other angel deaths. He convinced them to kill themselves, then mutilated their bodies. He’s insane and all the more dangerous because his charisma makes those delusions seem rational. If someone is vulnerable, they can be drawn in.
OM:Thanks, but I’m not vulnerable.
AB:What I mean is, we’reallvulnerable. I’ve been reading about the language of cult leaders. That’s how the brainwashing happens. Through words.
OM:Yeah, I know.
AB:Does Gabriel reply to your letters? [No verbal reply I can hear. EC]
OM:Noticed how many witnesses to events in this case have died? Not counting Harpinder Singh and the angels themselves. Jonathan Childs, Gray Graham, Mark Dunning … but they didn’t die immediately after they encountered the angels. They died recently. Since I started work on this book for Green Street. It’s as if people who could shed light on the case for me are being systematically removed.
AB:You think they were murdered? Who by?
OM:Dark forces protecting the Antichrist.
AB:Killingyouwould be simpler.
OM:Other writers would take my place. Jonathan Childs found Harpinder Singh. Gray Graham found the dead angels. Kill the guys who found the bodies, and you’ll never have a first-hand account of the undisturbed crime scene ever again.
AB:Jonathan Childs’s widow disputes the claim he found Singh’s body.
OM:Who’s to say Childs told his wife the truth?
AB:And Mark Dunning? As far as we know he didn’t find any bodies. He just wrote a novel inspired by the case shortly after. He wasn’t killed back then. But Suzi Korman, a documentary film maker, was killed in a house fire in 2004, hours after starting work on the case.
OM:I guarantee Mark Dunning and this Suzi each hadsomething. A germ of information, useless on its own, that I would have put with all my other research and completed the puzzle, leading to me exposing the truth behind the case.
AB:What truth would bethatsensitive?
OM:That the angels failed to destroy the Antichrist. The architect of the end of days is walking the earth now, watching, learning,waiting to make their move, and come to power. [OMG, Mand. Got to admit, it’s a strange coincidence. But did those people die because of Oliver’s research – or yours? EC]
OM:Remember when we visited the site? As soon as I got near the portal, my senses were scrambled. I almost fainted. That was them, trying to block my power. It happened again after we met Gabriel. Remember how I wasn’t able to drive? Then I had that episode outside the angels’ first apartment.
AB:Well … all this is great for your new angle. Remember Jo’s advice, though. Present the mystery, but let your readers join the dots.
OM:Yeah, yeah. [Another long silence. Drinking and thinking … EC]
AB:Gabriel told you he couldn’t have murdered Singh, because he saw his own soul in a dream and it was pure. Do you believe he’s innocent?
OM:How do you know he said that? [Did you not tell him we cleaned up his interview file? EC]
