Spy School: Framed for Murder (DISCONTINUED)

Chapter Fourteen: Unexpected Visit

The scratchy sheets rubbing against my chin stirred me awake.

I slowly opened my eyes and yawned, throwing the sheets back and sitting up. Beside me, on the other bed, Cyrus snored softly. He'd been reluctant to share a room with me; but the idea of my bunking with Erica was enough to convince him to stay with me instead. Erica and her mother were staying together in a separate room.

The motel we were staying at was ancient and appeared—on the outside and on the inside—as though it was ready to collapse at any moment. The entire place smelled like sweaty socks, and the sheets were thin and scratchy. If the heater had been working properly, I would've preferred to sleep without the sheets—but I had no choice, unless I wanted to spend the night shivering nonstop. I'd kept on my clothing, but the night was still freezing cold.

Suddenly hit with the urge to empty my bladder, I threw one leg over the edge of the bed and used my hands to lift the injured leg, then stood up and hopped to the bathroom.

It wasn't any better than the room.

The tiled floors were cracked and the paint on the walls was peeling, giving the whole place an abandoned, zombie-apocalypse vibe, as though it hadn't been used—or tended to—in a while. We'd been given only one ripped and ragged towel to use—but at least it was clean. Both the inside and the outside of the toilet was covered in rust, the seat being the only clean part. I quickly did my business and dipped out of there, disliking the dirtiness of the bathroom. I had just sat back down on my bed and was about to slip under the covers when I suddenly got the feeling that I was being watched.

I turned my head, and with the dim light coming through the window from the moon, I spotted a dark figure in the corner of the room. Panicking, I reached over to the nightstand between Cyrus' and my bed and flicked on the lamp, instantly illuminating the room. To my shock, I recognized the figure.

Murray Hill.

I was so shocked; I didn't truly register his face until a full minute had passed. I opened my mouth to shout, but he held a silent finger to his smirking lips.

His unhealthy eating habits had clearly stayed; his face was chubby, and his stomach protruded beneath his clothes. But his appearance hadn't. Instead of greasy, floppy hair, he'd taken the time to get a haircut and applied hair gel—although an excessive amount—to comb his hair to one side nicely. Instead of looking as though he'd rolled out of bed with a t-shirt and shorts, he was wearing a black leather jacket and dark jeans. He was even wearing black gloves, to complete the serial killer look.

Murray spread his arms and flashed me a friendly smile, as though we were old friends that had run into each other after a long while. He raised his eyebrows and pointed at the sliding door, where there was a dirty porch outside. I hesitated, considering shouting to wake Cyrus up. But then Murray patted the side of his leather jacket and made clear to me the small bulge beneath—a gun. Gulping, I nodded and headed over to the sliding door to open it.

A flare of hope lit up inside of me as the door squeaked, and Murray cast a worried glance over his shoulder at Cyrus. While he currently held the power, if Cyrus woke up, he'd be dead meat. Unfortunately for me, the old spy didn't stir. Deflated, I slowly opened the door the rest of the way and stepped outside, shivering as the cold air hit me. Murray closed the door behind us, swiveled around and grinned. "Nice to see you again, Ben."

I didn't reply.

He feigned offense. "What, is the sight of me that depressing to you? I suppose it is, considering what I've done in the past. But don't I deserve at least a greeting?"

I clenched my jaw and glowered knives at him.

Murray raised his hands in a surrendering gesture and took a step back. "Alright. Hey, no need to be so angry. I guess that's how much you hate me."

"What do you want?" I growled.

"What do I want?" He looked surprised. "Why, I suppose the genius Ben Ripley isn't so genius after all."

My anger morphed into confusion. "What?"

He shook his head. "Never mind. I just decided to come by and say hi."

I snorted. "Right."

"What, can't an old friend swing by every once in a while just to say hi?"

"What do you really want?" I demanded.

He sighed. "You're mean. Like, really mean. I can't even say hi to you without being shut out! All my life has been a series of doors in my face." Murray grinned. "Come on, Ripley! Love is an open door!"

I raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I guess I've done some of that too. You know, the betrayal stuff. Abandoning people, telling on them, being hunted for it." He grinned at me. "I'm sorry for all that, by the way."

I crossed my arms. "So you really just came by to say hi, sing Frozen, and apologize."

"Of course!" Murray exclaimed genuinely. "Well, not the sing Frozen part. That was improvisation. But anyway, I really am sorry for all that I've done to you. I mean, think about it. I was a cruel person."

And you still are. "Yeah," I agreed. "Well, apology not accepted. Now leave."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!" He held up his hands. "Just a moment. I'm not in a rush. You're not in a rush." He paused. "Are you?"

I glared at him.

"I'm taking that as a no. Well, let me just tell you something. Have you ever done something horrible as a little kid? Like, lied about doing something and blamed someone else for it? You know, once, there was this kid that was building something with blocks—it kinda looked like a cathedral. I broke the building and told the teacher I'd seen someone else do it." He laughed. "You ever done that?"

"I don't want to hear some stupid story about the crimes you did as a little kid," I snapped.

"Well, I just wanted to apologize. That's all. You can go back to bed now. And rest, knowing that I'll never do anything like that ever again." He flashed me a smile. "Good bye." He climbed over the railing, and, grasping it tightly, dropped himself to the next porch below. There were more thumps as he dropped himself from one porch to another, until he landed on the ground and the thumps morphed into footsteps as he ran off.

I entered the motel room, feeling terribly confused. That had been an extremely odd conversation. Murray always did things for a purpose; so why did he come to me and "apologize?" It definitely wasn't just for the sake of apologizing.

I climbed back under the sheets, unable to fall asleep until a few hours later.

——

"Murray visited me last night," I whispered to Erica as we left the motel.

She gave me a confused look. "Murray?"

I nodded. "Yeah. It was weird. He looked like the stereotypical serial killer."

Erica was silent for a moment. She glanced at Catherine and Cyrus, then asked, "What'd he say?"

"I'm not sure," I admitted. "He... apologized."

"What?" Erica exclaimed. "Apologized for what?"

"Something about doing bad things," I muttered under my breath. "Doing bad things to me."

"Huh." She seemed lost in thought. I desperately wanted to ask her what she was thinking, but at the same time, I decided that she probably wouldn't tell me.

Up ahead, I saw Cyrus snatch something from someone's pocket. Money. He waved to a cab nearby, then gestured to us. "Come on. Hurry up."

I glanced at the cab. "Where are we going?"

"Where else? The United States Naval Observatory."