Carter just stared at Sullivan for over a minute. Sullivan didn’t say anything back. Everyone else in the room was quiet.
Carter’s scalp was burning with fury. Not only had Sullivan killed his best friend, but he was now insulting Carter for having been friends with him. Carter could not believe that a man who could show so much kindness could have done such a horrible thing.
“What about your family?” Carter asked. “I thought you told me that you loved them too much to kill anybody.”
“I do love my family,” Sullivan said. “And that’s why I wanted the job as assistant manager. If I had that job, I could make much more money, and my family would be much happier. I killed Freeman because of how much I loved my family. I wasn’t going to give up on them.”
“You have given up on them,” Carter said. “You killed a man. You are a murderer. You are going to prison. You have given up on everything that you had in your life.”
“You weren’t supposed to figure out anything,” Sullivan said. “Nobody was. And that’s why I did it.”
Carter could not believe it. He was staring directly into the eyes of the man who had killed his best friend. That best friend had done so much for him as a child and would now never be seen again. And this man, Jason Sullivan, was to blame for that.
Carter wanted to avenge Freeman. He wanted to give Sullivan exactly what he deserved. All night long, Carter had come imagined ways to truly punish the person who had done this horrible crime.
But Carter knew there was only one way that he could avenge Freeman. And this way was the only right way to do so.
Carter did not own a cell phone. Being poor, owning a cell phone would have been quite extraordinary. He needed some more help from Elliott.
Carter walked up the stairs and yelled by the door one last time.
“ELLIOTT!!”
Elliott ran down the hall and opened up the door, slightly.
“What now?” he asked.
“I need to use your…”
But at that moment, Carter heard a cluster of footsteps behind him. Sullivan had grabbed the pistol off of the ground and darted up the stairs.
“What the?!” Elliott shouted.
Sullivan knocked Carter out of the way and ran into the door to the basement so hard that it broke off. Elliott collapsed onto the floor as Sullivan sprinted through the hallway.
Carter and Elliott stood up. Just as Elliott opened his mouth to speak, Stewart, Anderson, and Jenkins all raced up the stairs and out of the basement.
“What’s going on?” Elliott asked.
“Sullivan’s the killer,” Carter said.
Elliott stared at him, wide-eyed.
“What?! Why would he do that?!”
“I’ll explain later,” Carter said. “I need you to call the police.”
Elliott just stared at him for a minute and nodded.
“I have to go,” Carter said. He then ran as fast as he could through the hallway and into the living room.
All of the party guests were still there. For a fraction of a second, Carter wondered why. But he realized he had no time to care. He had to catch Sullivan before it was too late.
The guests all stared at him as he raced through the living room. Carter noticed that Stewart, Anderson, and Jenkins were nowhere in the room. Carter figured that the three of them had run out of the basement because they desperately wanted to get out of it. But that wasn’t the reason why. They were running after Sullivan.
Carter ran through the foyer and out the front door, which was wide open.621Please respect copyright.PENANAmclgqvcg9A