Good Evening, Mr. Carter

Chapter 11

(Present Day)

    The white clock above me, with black numerical numbers- the big hand now pointed at nine. The red wine in my glass was barely gone from when Mr. Carter had first poured it into the clear glass.

    "You barely have touched your wine?" Mr. Carter still sitting on the chair closest to the window, was now holding the glass of whiskey he had poured himself earlier the evening. "The Cheval Blanc, is it not up to par?"

    "Mr. Carter" Were the only words I could get out of my mouth.

    Do I talk about the murder? He just confessed to the crime. This man, is a serial killer. The man sitting across from me, is the man whom I have been looking for all these years. What must I do? Do I call someone? No, I cannot use his own landline to call the police. He would stop me before I could do such a thing.

    These were the thoughts that crossed my mind as I stared at the red wine that sat on the small glass table that was between Mr. Carter and I. "She was the women you last killed?"

    I heard him chuckle when I asked this, then I looked up to see him smirking as he stared at me, "As I said before, god gave me a new purpose in life."

    "No one believed me when I told them the four murders were connected. No one believed me, because they were years apart. 1969, 1971, 1973, and 1975. Each murder was two years apart. All four women were married and each one of their husbands stated they had went out that night, but no one knew with who. It has been ten years, why now? Why would you confess now? And of all people, me? You know who I am, I am a detective. I will have you arrested and you will-"

    "Ms. Lee." He raised his voice that sent chills down my spin. "May you think outside of your work? Outside of the lawful world in which we live in."

    He was right, why was I only thinking about arresting this man before me? The case had closed five years ago. This man before me, believed he was god, believed he was doing god's work by killing those women (just because they were committing adultery). No, this man was far beyond reach. This man- was he really a louse? He was.

    "Yes, how silly of me. I feel rather, ashamed if I may say. These thoughts only crossed my mind because of my job."

    "The same job that does not respect you, if I may say. You were working on the case, if I am correct, for eight years and two months. But, for three years and two months you have been secretly working on the case without permission. Consumed in your work, consumed in trying to find the killer of these four women, is the reason you cannot hold a stable relationship with a women. If it were not for your obsession, you would still be with her, right? What was her name, Mindy Hill?"

    "Mr Carter, you are getting off topic."

    "I do apologize, Ms. Lee." Mr. Carter placed his whiskey glass on the table, across from my red wine. "You, it is you. Ms. Lee. God sent you to me. The reason I speak of the blood I had shed is because you are the women I have been waiting for all these years. For ten long years, I have waited for this day. The red wine that I poured for you, was specifically for this day. For the day I finally meet the women who was made me for me. That women is you, Susan Lee."

    Me- it was me. According to this man sitting before me- I was his purpose in life. He had been waiting for me for ten years. If god had never appeared before this man, a whole ten years would have gone by. Meaning another five women would have been murdered, all for the reason of Mr. Carter fulfilling his purpose in life- to kill the people which he thought to be devils (all because of the sin in which they have committed).

    "Mr. Carter, it is getting quite late. It would be best if I took my leave, the subway will be closing soon and I live rather far to take a cab, it would cost me a bit." I was about to stand up from the couch to take my leave, but Mr. Carter leaned forward, reaching for the wine bottle that sat next to the whiskey.

    "Ms. Lee, the night is long. You must stay. Or else all these years of waiting for you will go to waste. I would have no purpose, or rather my purpose would never be fulfilled in this life in which I am currently living." Though I had not touched much of my drink, he poured more for me anyways.

    "Alright, Mr. Carter. If I leave now, I am afraid you will be gone and I will never see you again." I said as I reached for the glass of wine which Mr Carter had handed me after pouring me more alcohol. "I will stay, even if I must stay until the sun rises."

    Mr. Carter stood up, with the whiskey glass in his hand and walked over to the kitchen in silence. As if he were resonating with something I had just said. I watched carefully as he opened the door to his freezer, using silver tongs to delicately pick up an ice cube, placing it in his whiskey cup. I looked down at the over filled glass of wine that I was holding. Though I do not wish to feel drunken, a sudden calmness arose inside of me (leading me to drink the glass of wine until it was almost empty).

    "I must say, Ms. Lee. I was not expecting you to actually drink tonight. I thought you would not trust me enough to let your guard down." I watched as Mr. Carter sat back down in the chair he had been sitting in this evening. "I am fulfilling the purpose of my life, as you are fulfilling yours. God created you, for the soul purpose of being mine. Truly, it is quite beautiful, my dear Ms. Lee."

It was as if he were looking at heaven himself. Or As if he were looking at the Mona Lisa. But instead, he was looking at me. A women, a women whose obsessive nature lets her drive herself into becoming a person in which she knew no more. I thought I was born to help people- that I was born into this world to help bring justice. But I was wrong. I made up my own purpose as to why I should still be alive. A reason to live that I could not fully live up to. No, it was because that was not my true purpose in life. My purpose in life, did I even have a purpose at all? Did I ever have one?

    "My purpose in life was to find you?" I reluctantly asked this question to Mr. Carter, without thinking much beforehand.

    "Yes! Yes, Ms. Lee. Isn't it wonderful? A beautiful thing indeed, to finally know what your purpose in life is. It was to find me, the reason you live, is all for me!" This was the first time Mr. Carter's voice showed emotion. It was as if he were giving a speech, as if I were listening to someone announce something spectacular. And for him, it was just that.

    What a wonderful thing- to finally know the purpose for your existence. Most people live their whole life never finding their true purpose. Others will search their whole life for a purpose as to why they should go on living. And people like me, will be given a purpose- whether or not they like this purpose, that does not matter. They must fulfill it, even if it means realizing that the person (being yourself), whom you thought you knew so well, was in fact, not you.

I now know why meeting Mr. Carter was something I should have never brought myself to do. Because after this, what am I to do?

    "Ms. Lee, shall I continue?" Mr. Carter sat back in his chair, "I will now start from the beginning, unlike where my story first began."