“Jenkins,” Carter said. “You’re next.”569Please respect copyright.PENANADLbWaSL8oi
Jenkins walked over to the desk. He appeared calm.
Carter took a deep breath. By now, his mouth was tired from speaking so much.
“At the instant that Freeman died, what were you doing?” Carter asked.
“I was leaving the basement,” Jenkins said.
“And why is that?”
“I wasn’t interested in the trap. And I didn’t feel like staying down here. So, after Elliott left the basement, I turned to walk out as well.”
“And then you heard the gun blast.”
“I did.”
“Stewart and Anderson were both watching the trap. Am I correct?”
“Yes, they were.”
“Sullivan claimed to have been reading a poster, was he?”
“Yes, I saw him looking at a poster.”
“And what about Howard? He claimed to have turned around because he heard something.”
“I didn’t see him turn around.”
“Interesting.”
Carter now wondered if Howard had been honest about what he had been doing when Freeman died. Having lied so much during his questioning, it wouldn't have been a much of a surprise if the "I heard a noise" story was a lie as well.
“Jenkins, There’s something I need to know,” Carter asked. “How well did you know Freeman before he died?”
“I used to know him pretty well,” Jenkins said. “But I haven’t spoken to him for fifteen years.”
“You used to work with him, right?”569Please respect copyright.PENANA7ulyfS5WWd
”Not really. I’m a mechanic, and all he ever did was clean the garage.”
“And how was he with his work?”
Jenkins grunted. Carter could tell that painful memories were now coming back to him.
“When he wasn’t doing his stupid drugs, he did his job fine.”
“And when he was doing his drugs, how was he?”
“A nightmare.”
Carter nodded.
“How long did he work at the garage?”
“Not even a year.”
“And how did he get fired?”
Jenkins grunted again.
“He created a catastrophe at the garage,” he said.
“By doing what?” Carter asked.
“He slipped drugs in all the mechanics drinks, including mine.”
“Ecstasy to be exact.”
Jenkins wiped off his forehead. He appeared to be sweating in anger.
“That is correct.”
Carter nodded again.
“Freeman did get fired after that little incident, right?”
“That was no ‘little’ incident.”
“My apologies. Freeman did get fired after that massive incident, right?”
“He did.”
“And what about everyone else?"569Please respect copyright.PENANAOyQgTgw3C5
“Garner did not fire anybody other than Freeman, except I…”
“…lost the chance to receive a promotion.”
Jenkins stared at Carter, oddly.
“Freeman told me,” Carter said.
Jenkins sighed.
“It wasn’t just a promotion,” he said. “Garner told me that he would promote me to head of the garage, as he was retiring. He told me I deserved it, as I had been working hard for so many years.”
“And you didn’t receive the promotion,” Carter said.
Jenkins sighed again. “Garner gave the position to his nephew, who, at the time, lived all the way in Maine. His nephew wasn’t even all that interested in the job. But Garner managed to talk him into taking it.”
“You feel that you deserved the job?”
Jenkins clenched his fists.
“Of course I deserved the job!” he said. “I’ve been a mechanic for more than forty years! Garner’s nephew hasn’t even lived that long! And might I add that he is a lousy boss?”
“So, do you blame Freeman for you not receiving the position?”
Jenkins nodded. “Yes, I do.”
“And to this very night, you were angry with him about it?”
“Yes, I was.”
“Hmm.”
“It angered me for a while after it happened but I didn’t let that incident drag me down in life. I eventually just stopped thinking about it. I continued to help people with their vehicular issues and I continued to be a gentleman to those people. I never let that incident get in my way.”
“Mmm.”
“But I do become angry if anybody ever brings it up. So people try hard not to. And tonight, you brought it up.”
“My apologies.”
“Hmph.”
“So, you tell me that you deny any possibility that you were so angry about that incident that you vowed revenge and then tonight you…”
“I didn’t kill Freeman.”
“Are you sure?”
Jenkins nodded. “I’m seventy-two years old. I’ve lived long enough to know that murder is not the way out of anything.”
“That sure hasn’t stopped other people from killing others.”
“Carter, I don’t have much time left in my life. And I plan to live the rest of it to the fullest. I retire in about six years. I love my job, so I want to enjoy those six years. My father died when he was eighty-one. For me, that’s only nine years from now.”
“Uh huh.”
“However much time I have left, I especially don’t plan to spend it in prison. Even if I did want to kill anybody, which I don’t, I would not. Murder is the biggest mistake that anybody can ever possible make. And somebody else in this basement has made that mistake.”
“Do you feel sorry that Freeman has been murdered?”
“Much as he has angered me in the past, I do not think that murdering him was a good thing at all. I was never able to forgive him for what he did, but in the fifteen years since that happened, I never once thought that I wished he was dead. Nobody deserves to be dead. Not even him.”
“I think Adolf Hitler deserved to be dead.”
“You understand my point.”
“So I have your word of honesty that you are not the one that murdered Freeman?”
“You do, indeed.”
“Very well. Then we are finished.”
“Thank you,” Jenkins said. And he left the desk.
ns 172.70.178.115da2