Angel and Scratch's relationship

[Zombiehead]

Remember we still have the possibility of more than one rat. Angel could be accounted for at these times, but that doesn't necessarily mean there aren't conspiratorial rats walking around in pairs in the Tower.

True. I always thought it was more than one person but I'm not so sure they all were working for the Mallers. I think whoever took the guns was probably moving them, and then Tattoo showed up and they didn't get a chance to carry out the rest of their plans.

[Ra1th]

Occam's razor, simplest explanation is most likely the correct one. Having two rats would complicate the story a great deal. Think about it, if there was more than one rat, then these two people have to have been working together, and known each other, and conspired with each other. One rat seems to be a much simpler solution.

[Zombiehead]

Since when has WA's plot ever been so simple? I'll clarify my previous statment. There's a Tower Rat, we know this. But there's other people around as well. The soldiers and most of the designated leaders of "something" were out of the Tower at the same time. When the Cat's away the mice will play. Riley's food shop, Burt's gun shop, the generator/elevator were all open for just anyone to come in and take advantage of. From what we know of Pegs story she wasn't in there the whole time, so any number of residents could have come in and took a little food thinking it wasn't enough to cause harm. People were unhappy with Michael's leadership at the time remember? If Bill was among the the freeloaders, his apartment was left wide open. The Rat was probably working while everyone else that might be wandering the halls was distracted. Then Tattoo comes and scares everyone back into their apartments. No one's going to come forward and admit to stealing after that incident.

[Ra1th]

Since when has WA's plot ever been so simple? I'll clarify my previous statment. There's a Tower Rat, we know this. But there's other people around as well. The soldiers and most of the designated leaders of "something" were out of the Tower at the same time. When the Cat's away the mice will play. Riley's food shop, Burt's gun shop, the generator/elevator were all open for just anyone to come in and take advantage of. From what we know of Pegs story she wasn't in there the whole time, so any number of residents could have come in and took a little food thinking it wasn't enough to cause harm. People were unhappy with Michael's leadership at the time remember? If Bill was among the the freeloaders, his apartment was left wide open. The Rat was probably working while everyone else that might be wandering the halls was distracted. Then Tattoo comes and scares everyone back into their apartments. No one's going to come forward and admit to stealing after that incident.

I give there is a lot of complexity, and that they had a lot of time to conspire, but there is already a very small pool of characters to draw from here. Angel /saul /burt /kelly /datu /kalani /pegs /riley /lizzy . And then to have TWO of these main characters be traitors, that's a really big hit. That would mean there would be two people who need motive to work with the mallers not just one person. It's possible, but I dunno

[Zombiehead]

Well, not necessarily two main characters. More like one, but the Tower's extras inadvertently helped to make the situation worse.

[shananala8]

Also probably Datu because all his ties appear to be in the Philippines.

It's no guarantee that Datu has someone in the LA area, but he does tell Samantha that his brother gave him the "maintenance man" job.

[HardKor]

Interesting thought. They could be holding his criminal sister or something like that. Maybe someone Scratch did time with and probably saw a picture of Angel in her cell. The thing is, in Chapter 12.1, someone upstairs shot at the Mallers igniting the fight. We're under the assumption that the Rat, the person who called out to Pippin, shooter, and possibly the gun thief is all the doings of one person. Angel was downstairs when someone took the shot, he was on a mission when the guns went missing, and he was with Datu when Pippin arrived. His presence is accounted for in those incidents which makes his involvement in the Rat scheme seem unlikely, but not impossible.

We all seem to have combined three people into the category of "The Rat." There's the rat, who gave information to the Mallers over the radio, the thief, who stole ammo and food from Burt and Riley's shops, and the shooter, who took the first shot during the War. They aren't necessarily the same person, nor are they necessarily conspirators.

The thief could very easily have been acting out of selfishness. Bill seems to be the leading suspect for this, and he did say "I'm sorry" before he died, which could have been an admission of guilt in the theft. But its unclear.

The shooter may have been acting out of panic. (S)he might have just seen the Mallers surrounding the Tower, and being drunk from the party and not making good decisions, panicked and took the shot that kicked off the War.

Its the Rat I'm most worried about. Unless there is some more evidence that the thief and shooter are the same person as the rat I'm assuming them to be separate. But I'm certainly not going to rule out the possibility that they might all be the same person, or a group of conspirators, entirely.

[Osiris]

I would have been inclined to consider Saul being connected to Scratch as he's the only known resident to have done time. It's possible she'd seen Saul and Angel together at some point and remembered him. Something else to consider is perhaps she's planting a seed of doubt in the minds of the other residents.

[Eviebae]

I do think Scratch saying "we still have them" implies a hostage. And having a hostage could definitely be a reason for someone in the Tower to act as the rat. But I may be doubting the Angel connection now.

This is pretty much what I am thinking. Plus Pippin sounded desperate and frustrated that they didn't believe him. That plays well with his story, but also works if you think he was left there with a task to perform and a loved one in peril if he does not succeed.

[rottenash]

The Pippen and loved one hostage story does sound good, would explain his desparation for the tower believe him.