After Carter had announced that he had discovered the killer, all the suspects stared at him, wide-eyed. Or, every suspect except Stewart and Anderson. The two of them just rolled their eyes.
“What, are you going to say it was me and Stewart working together, again?” Anderson asked, angrily.
Carter did not respond. Instead, he walked over to Sullivan, Jenkins, and Cruz and stared at the three of them for a long while.
“Sullivan,” Carter said. “It was you.”
Sullivan turned red the instant that Carter said his name.
“I…I…that’s not true,” Sullivan stammered. He was shaking wildly.
Carter shook his head. “Don’t even try to deny anything,” he said. “I know very well it was you. You have been lying all night.”
“I…I told you I would never kill anybody,” Sullivan said.
“You’re lying again,” Carter said. He kneeled down in Sullivan’s face and growled: “You’re a murderer.”
“And what’s your proof?” Cruz asked.
Carter smiled and walked over to the rat trap.
“According to Elliott’s drawing,” Carter said. “Freeman was standing right here.” He pointed to the position where Freeman had been standing. “And now let’s turn around.” He turned in the opposite direction of the position where Freeman had been standing. “And take a look at what I’m facing.”
Carter pointed to the wall. Directly behind the position where Freeman had been standing hung the World War II poster the Sullivan claimed to have been reading.
Sullivan’s face was now white.
“I’m pretty sure that is the poster you claimed to have been reading. It’s directly behind where Freeman had been standing. And Freeman had been shot directly in the back of the head.”
Everybody in the room was staring at Sullivan. Sullivan mumbled something that didn’t sound like actual words.
“Don’t even think about changing your story and denying that you were looking at the poster,” Carter said. “Everyone else in here says they saw you looking at that poster.”
Sullivan’s head hung low.
“Stewart and Anderson both couldn’t have been the killers,” Carter said. “They had been standing to the left of the rat trap, which was in front of Freeman. There was no way that they could have been able to shoot Freeman in the back of the head. Howard stood in front of Freeman, so he also couldn’t have shot Freeman in the back of the head.
“Jenkins had been leaving the basement. Everyone in here, including you, saw Jenkins leave the basement. The stairs that lead out of the basement are to the right of where Freeman had been standing and not directly behind him.
“As for Cruz, he could have been standing anywhere when he was tying his shoe. But if he wanted to kill Freeman, there’s no way he would have walked directly behind Freeman to shoot him in the back of the head. That would have been a little obvious. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Sullivan had both his hands on his head, which was still down.
“You are the only person who was in any position to kill Freeman,” Carter said. “You used the poster as a way to make it look like you were focused on something else. All you wanted was to get directly behind Freeman. It was the perfect spot for a murder. You couldn’t deny that the poster couldn’t have been in a better spot…”
Suddenly, Sullivan stood up and shouted: “Okay, I confess!”
“You do?” Carter asked.
“Yes!” Sullivan yelled. “It was me! I killed Freeman! I killed Freeman!”606Please respect copyright.PENANAMuzAcMXd3o