“Y’know how I said that my brother’s friend once locked me in the basement?” Stewart asked. “I was in there until the next day. So at least it’s not like I haven’t been in this situation before.”576Please respect copyright.PENANA2kikYOAKxZ
“Great,” Anderson said.
Carter just stared back and forth at the two of them. They could act unacquainted as much as possible, but Carter saw right through them. They were both murderers.
“If I had my phone,” Jenkins said. “I could at least call my boss and tell him I may not make it tomorrow. But of all the times for me to forget my phone at home, it had to be tonight.”
“I have my phone with me,” Cruz said. “But calling somebody won’t do squat. I’m still missing church, and people will be shocked at the thought alone of me missing church.”
“I would like to call my wife so that I can tell her and my kids goodnight,” Sullivan said. “But my phone is probably dead by now.”
“My phone is dead,” Anderson said. “Permanently.”
“I sure am surprised that was your only phone,” Stewart said. “I’d figure you have about twelve.”
“If that was supposed to make me laugh, it didn’t,” Anderson said, gruffly.
“Dude,” Stewart said. “What is up with you? You’re always in some sort of spoilsport mood. Can’t you laugh?”
“I can,” Anderson said. “But you aren’t one to provoke it.”
The more Carter heard them all talk, the angrier he became. Freeman had been killed that night, but none of the suspects seemed to acknowledge that. To them, it was as if nothing had happened at all.
“You remind me of my cousin,” Stewart said. “You can’t even get a chuckle out of him.”
“I so don’t care,” Anderson said.
“No offense, Stewart,” Jenkins said. “But I’m really getting tired of your jokes, too. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re pretty trapped in a basement right now.”
“Same here,” Sullivan said. “I’m not amused at all.”
“God,” Stewart said. “Is Anderson’s disease spreading to you guys, too?”
“I don’t have a ‘disease,’” Anderson said. “But I think you do.”
Carter could not take it any longer. He felt now was the time. It was time to blow the cover of these two men pretending not to get along with each other.
He stood up and walked over to the suspects.
“I know who it was,” Carter said.
“Finally,” Anderson grunted.
“You,” Carter said, pointing to Stewart. He pointed his other hand at Anderson and said: “And you.”
Stewart and Anderson both stared at him in confusion.
“What?!” Stewart shouted.
“The hell are you talking about?!” Anderson shouted.
“Don’t lie,” Carter said. “You two are working together. You both planned Freeman’s murder.”
The expression on Anderson’s face was a mixture of confusion of anger. Stewart, however, started to laugh.
“What the hell is so funny?” Anderson said.
“I just can’t take this seriously,” Stewart said. “I mean really. Me work with you? Really?”
“I actually agree with this guy,” Anderson said. “Why the hell would I work with him? I don’t even like him.”
“That’s what you want me to believe,” Carter said.
“I hardly even see Stewart! And when I do, I’m not happy about it! Haven’t you seen that?”
“Yes. And it’s called acting. Which is exactly what you are doing right now.”
“Didn’t I already tell you that I would not kill anybody?” Stewart angrily said. “I already said that I’m not a murderer!”
“And I told you that killing is a stupid idea!” Anderson said. “I can get mad at somebody, but I would not kill them for it! I would not kill anybody on this entire planet!”
“The entire planet?” Stewart asked him in disbelief.
“Okay, maybe I would kill Pauly Shore if I could get way with it,” Anderson said. “But you understand my point.”
“You guys can ramble all you want,” Carter said. “But you can’t cover yourselves up any longer. I know the two of you have been working together.”576Please respect copyright.PENANAaS9AkDKAN8
“Why on earth do you believe that?” Anderson asked.
“Simple. You told me that you were that you and Stewart were commenting about the rat trap with Freeman at first. But then I acknowledged that had you been talking to Freeman you would have seen the murderer. Then all of a sudden you changed your story and said that you were not speaking to Freeman at all.”
“I was! You know why? Because Freeman wasn’t speaking at all! Don’t you remember Elliott saying that Freeman wasn’t going to say anything to us? Before we walked down to the basement?”
Alas, Carter had forgotten all about that. Yes, Elliott had told Freeman that he didn’t have to speak to anybody. And Carter was sure that Freeman was good with this privilege.
But that did not mean that Stewart and Anderson were innocent. Carter still had a question for the two of them.
“Freeman had been shot in the back of the head,” Carter said. “If you had been standing there with him, wouldn’t you have seen somebody place a gun behind his head?”
“I didn’t,” Stewart said. “I was just looking at the trap, and the next thing you know, the shot is fired, and Freeman is on the floor dead.”
“He’s right,” Anderson said.
Carter still had a hard time believing them. The two of them had been standing there with Freeman when he was killed, so how could it not have been them?
All of a sudden Carter had an idea. There was one way that he could get himself a step closer to proving who killed Freeman.
Carter would need help from Elliott.
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