The Amateur

As expected, Murphy was in my house when I returned. I turned on the lights, and there he was on the sofa, gun in hand.

I went into the kitchen, and washed my hands at the sink for a long time.

He walked up behind me. "You look like a man who's just done something unpleasant." he said.

I gestured at the bar and continued to wash my hands. "I'd like a vodka." I said "No ice."

He went over to the bar and opened a bottle as I dried my hands. He poured a vodka for me, then got a glass for himself, and poured from last night's Jim Beam.

I accepted my drink, and went to the sofa to sit down. It burned at the back of my throat. I was not used to drinking.

He tossed back his drink and poured another.

"Did everything go OK?" he asked.

"I still have one more day." I said.

"You chickened out! What a dumb shit! You got one more day, that's it." He went on like that for a while. I didn't flinch.

"What makes you think I won't just kill you?" I said.

"That would be really stupid, Bloch. You don't think I have all the dope on you in a safe place, where someone will find it if something happens to me?"

"Some place like the bus depot locker, number 73?" I asked.

He looked stunned. He raised the gun to point at me while he awkwardly reached his left hand into his right pocket and pulled out a key.

"Gunderson and I traded off following you." I said. "He got suspicious when you didn't follow up on the tips. He thought you were sandbagging."

He sat down in the low chair next to the bar, brows furrowed, gun still aimed at me. He was having trouble concentrating.

"Did you ever have a problem believing that an expert on rifles would kill his wife with a rifle?" I asked. He frowned, and rubbed under his eye. "Wouldn't he try to use some method that wouldn't attract attention to himself, like a fall from a building, or a slip in the shower?"

Murphy slumped lower, the gun resting on the arm of the chair. He rubbed his face with both hands.

"Or maybe he would just put a bunch of sleeping pills in a bottle of Jim Beam." I said, just before he fell out of the chair.