The Criminal

Ch. 11: I'M NAKED!

Despite doing a thorough check of my apartment and reassuring me that this is a simple warning between two families that I just so happen to be in the middle of, Hunter insists on spending the night. I don't have a spare bedroom, so he makes peace with my sofa being his bed for the evening. He looks ridiculous sat amongst my floral bedsheets, phone pressed to his ear. I'm not sure who he's talking to exactly but can only assume it's business related. I quickly change into some pyjamas and attempt to make sense of everything that's happening, waiting for him to end his call before speaking.

"Who's Murphy?" I ask, approaching the sofa.

His eyes fixate on mine before slowly travelling the length of my body.

"Shane Murphy is another power-hungry fuck."

"A boss?"

He nods.

Earlier, Fiona mentioned Torin's girlfriend. The one who died the same night as Sadie. Her surname was Murphy and I'm pretty sure it isn't a coincidence.

"Is he dangerous?"

"Yes."

"How dangerous?"

"He killed his entire family to get to where he is."

Fuck!

"He's barbaric."

"Who did he kill?" I ask, already suspecting at least one name.

"His Dad—Patrick. He was a boss at the time. And his mother, alongside two of his sisters."

"Imogen?"

Hunter frowns, narrowing his gaze. "How do you know about Imogen?"

"Fiona talked about her. She said Torin and Imogen were in love."

Hunter nods, confirming my thoughts.

"So, if Shane killed his own family to gain status, he won't hesitate to kill someone like me."

"It won't come to that," he insists, strong in his delivery. "His problem is with Lowes, not with you."

I'm not so sure.

"But why steal my files? What's that got to do with anything?"

"George is threatening Lowes."

I can't say I'm surprised.

"He has information and if Lowes doesn't get him out of prison, he'll go public."

"What kind of information?" I ask.

"The bad kind."

I sit next to him on the sofa, trying my best to absorb everything.

"Murphy knows the one person stopping him from being in top position is Lowes. Take him out of the equation and suddenly, Murphy is king of the fucking world."

"So it's all politics?"

"It's always politics," he explains. "You can't trust anyone. Lowes and Torin are allies but given the chance, they'd stab each other in the back."

"I bet Torin would like to stab Murphy in the back," I offer. "After what he did to Imogen."

"Yeah, well, that's why Torin will never amount to more than what he already is."

Hunter's words sound harsh, and I can't help but question them. "What makes you think that?"

"Emotions make a man week. If you want revenge, you have to disassociate everything from your mission. Otherwise, it doesn't work."