this has been bothering me...(among other things!). AM said he would "never intentionally hurt his wife or child"..can't get over the word "intentionally"...is he implying the deaths were accidental????
A WSer whose name starts with B had a great theory on the last thread. She and I had the same beginnings to our thinking, but she then put together so many elements in her view on how this went down. I can't find the post right now - I hope she'll come back and restate it.
The jist was that Alex's first priority was getting back his pills. He thinks either Maggie or Paul has them. Note that since our WSer posited this as the main motivation for him going to the kennel, with guns, we have learned that Alex left the kennel with pills in his pockets. Hmmm.
Anyway, B said that he probably pointed the shotgun at Paul, demanding that Paul give him his pills. Maggie is a bit of a distance away. Alex is in some phase of crazy due to withdrawals and the gun goes off (Paul's first wound). Alex then blames Paul for what just happened, transferring the full force of his anger to his boy. Maggie comes running, is shot.
That's why AM tries to turn Paul over (belt loops) and why there's blood inside one of Paul's pockets.
I will add that this it not incompatible with the theory some others had about AM being in the golf cart, aiming the gun when the first shot or shots were fired.
This would lead me to the conclusion that Alex, now with a pocketful of pills, has taken a bunch and is not in the grips of withdrawal as much. But now he has truly hit rock bottom and here he is, on trial for murder.
(If someone wrote this as a novel, I don't think most people would believe it).