The Murder of Jonathan De Franco

*Knock knock*

She got of her couch, and looked through the eye hole. There was a man who didn't look like a postman or a delivery guy.

He knocked again and again.

He had a suit on and dashed right in as soon as she opened the door.

"Hey what the hell?" she angrily followed him.

"Who are you?"

"Get out!" she kept yelling.

The guy shut the door, then rushed towards the windows in the living room and slammed them shut too.

"I'm gonna call the police!" she picked up the telephone.

He walked across, disconnected the television plug and the telephone wire.

"What are you doing?" she picked up a flower vase for defence.

"I'll smash you, I swear!"

The guy walked around the living room, closing the curtains on the windows.

Just then, there was a loud bang on the door.

"Hey hey hey! Solve your problems in your own damn house!" she threw the vase at him, missed by a margin though.

The door was crashed open, two heavily built muscular men entered in with guns in their hands.

The guy in suit jumped from over the couch and fired a couple of bullets; each hitting a target, as both the men were down.

"This ain't my problem bitch. It's yours," he said and started dragging the bodies inside.

She stood right in the corner, shell shocked and silent for the next few minutes.

Meanwhile, he walked into the kitchen, helped himself with a chilled beer, walked out again, connected the television plug and turned it on.

He kept switching channels, as he sat on the couch.

"Don't you have MTV?" He asked,

"What do you mean?" She finally spoke up.

"I mean, why the hell don't you have MTV?"

"No! What did you mean when you said it's my problem?"

He chuckled, sipped down his beer and stood up to answer.

"Those guys weren't after me. They wanted you,"

"Me? Why me? What have I done?" she startled.

"What have you done? You're asking me what have you done?" he started laughing,

"Oh man! I'll need another beer,"

He opened the fridge, she followed him into the kitchen.

"You will not drink until you answer!" She pulled the beer can out of his hand.

"You killed Jonathan De Franco!"

"JONATHAN'S DEAD?" she dropped the beer.

"Hey don't waste that!" he yelled, as he picked up the can.

She somehow managed to walk till the living room and took a seat on the couch.

"Who were those guys?" she said while searching for the bodies,

"Jonathan's brother- Liam De Franco sent them, for you," he replied from the kitchen, eating from a packet of chips he just found.

She had her face covered with her hands, staying silent.

"Who sent you?" she asked,

He came out, munching on those chips.

"Liam has a long-term rival- my boss- Abrahim Diaz," he sat on the couch next to her.

"So when my boss found out that you murdered a De Franco, he sent me to bring you to him!" he replied.

She was now clueless as ever.

"I DID NOT KILL HIM!"

"You're Katy, right?"

"Yes,"

"Well, that's the news I got. 'Katy killed Jonathan'"

"I DIDN'T DO IT!"

Their chatter was interrupted by another loud thud on the door.

He got up hurriedly, and took out his gun. She was sweating, her face became totally pale.

He walked up to the door, to look through the eye hole.

"Whoaahh!" he rushed back quickly.

The loud bang continued.

"Is there any other exit?" he started looking down the window in the living room.

"It's a house, not a movie theatre!" she yelled.

He ran towards her, grabbed her arm and walked towards the window again.

"We may have to jump then!"

"WHAT? No! I'm not jumping," she hesitated, and tried pulling herself back in.

"YOU DON'T HAVE ANY OTHER CHOICE!" he almost threw her out. She managed to hold on just by holding his hand.

"You fought them off last time, do it again!"

"I see 6 people and my death out there. NOW GO!" he left her hand, and she was down.

The door crashed open, six armed men came rushing in.

Two of them started firing as soon as they spotted the guy jumping down the window, but he escaped just in the nick of time.

She had moved aside, crying about her injured elbow and ankles.

"Thank goodness you stay on the first floor," he managed to get up quickly, and pulled her up too.

Over a dozen people had stopped around, staring at them.

Even a few cars and motorcycles had stopped in the middle of the street. No one saying a single word, but looking at them in a startle.

"We need to move, they're here," he dragged her towards his toyota which was parked around.

They managed to get in the car.

"Why don't you tell them? I DIDN'T KILL JONATHAN!" she squeaked.

"Okay," he said and opened the door to go out.

The six men were down, and bullets were fired at him as soon as he stepped out. A couple of shots hit the mirror and one just missed the door.

"Nop, bad idea!" he banged the door in an instant and started the car.

The firing had started a commotion and the people around were a mess. It was difficult to the get the car out, but he somehow managed, honking and yelling constantly.

"I didn't do…" she spoke up, but was interrupted.

"NOT NOW KATY!" he said, and squeezed through the crowd onto an empty road.

He drove as fast as he could; even broke a couple of traffic signals on the way to try and get away from the attackers.

It took a while, but they were away.

He stopped at a restaurant which was almost on the outskirts of the town.

"This should be safe," he said and entered in.

Katy hadn't spoken a word, nor did she eat anything. He was done with his lunch.

"You're not gonna eat anything?"

"I didn't kill him. You gotta trust me!" she was sobbing.

He didn't speak until he finished his large cheese burst pizza.

He ordered desert and said,

"Tell me everything. What happened yesterday?"

She took a deep breath, and started -

"Wait, what's your name?" she asked.

"Sharpy" he replied.

"Sharpy? Is that even a name?"

"It's the name you need to know right now," he answered.

"Alright. So, Sharpy, yesterday, I went out with Jonathan in the afternoon. We went to this Italian place down South, and then we drove to his place. He was talking about some plans that he had with his colleagues. I had no idea what colleagues what he talking about."

"So, these colleagues? You think they might have something to do with the murder?" he asked.

"Yes. I think it must be them," she replied in an instant.

"Then at his place, we had a few drinks, made out for a while and then I left. He asked me to leave from the back door, as his brother won't be expecting me."

"Jonathan's brother did know that you exist, right?" He asked.

"I guess. But he wouldn't introduce me as his girlfriend. He always said that Liam wouldn't 'approve' me because I don't belong to a 'gangster' clan," she answered.

Sharpy was left silent and deep in thought.

"Someone saw you in the house?" he added.

"Yes." said Katy.

"While I was leaving, there was a tall, bald man who saw me, and was staring at me for quite a while until I left. He then went inside the house, towards Jonathan's room. Was it him?"

"I think the guy you're talking about is Brad. He's Liam's personal bodyguard,"

"Well, he moved towards Jonathan's room," she answered.

"So, we've got unidentified colleagues and Brad," Sharpy tried to conclude.

She started sobbing,

"I wish I hadn't left. Maybe, just maybe, all of this wouldn't have happened!"

He listened keenly while finishing his desert, and waited for the check.

"I want you to know one thing-" he said and held her hand gently,

"If you didn't kill him, you're of no use to my boss. I can't help you," he said.

She started crying even louder now. This attracted the attention of the almost all of the 7 souls in the restaurant.

He sat there helpless, not knowing what to do.

"Um, should I order another desert?" he asked.

"No, I'm fine," she replied in one breath, wiping tears off her face.

"I'm gonna go use the loo," he got up around,

"Be right back,"

He kept hoping, that she'd be gone while he's in here. It'd be extremely rude to ask her to leave.

"Which colleagues could it be?" he tried thinking though,

"What if it IS Brad?"

"What if the bald guy was not Brad, and he was the colleague he was talking about?" 

With a few questions still rushing up his mind, he walked out. His hopes had come true, she was gone.

**

She entered her building gate,

"SHE'S HERE!" a little girl yelled, and ran upstairs.

Katy walked towards her home, and had her neighbors staring at her all the way.

She rushed home quickly to avoid questions that could lead to awkward situations. She locked the door- well, what remained of it, after De Franco's men crashed it open.

At night, she couldn't sleep. She always felt like someone is out there, waiting to kill her. She just kept thinking about the door,

"It may crash open again, anytime. They maybe out in the hallway,"

Fear wasn't the only thing keeping her awake. Her house was stinking with the two dead bodies lying around.

"I'll have to get rid of these now," she sulked.

She turned to her laptop.

"Let's see what Google has to offer,"

As she turned her laptop on, previous tabs popped up. YouTube, G-mail, an explicit website, and Facebook.

**

The same night, Sharpy couldn't sleep either.

"I shouldn't have left her. Maybe it wasn't the right time," he kept thinking all the while.

With a few bottles of beer, he even watched a couple of movies to distract his mind. By the time he finally fell asleep, it was already morning dawn.

He woke up with the same feel of guilt. He had his black suit on, along with those well polished shoes and the fancy wrist watch; he set out for work.

He drove all the way to his boss- Abrahim's house to tell him the truth. To tell him it wasn't Katy who did the job.

The house was miles away from the main city, and quite distant from any nearby highway. Basically, it was in the middle of a dense forest which was spread across acres.

He entered through the main door which was guarded by tens of well armed sicarios.

"Is he busy?" Sharpy asked one of them.

"He is with someone,"

"Someone?" he asked again.

"A lady. Came in this morning,"

Sharpy rushed through,

"…And then, I stabbed him- once, twice and thrice again!" the lady said excitedly, imitating the action of stabbing.

"Ka-Katy?" Sharpy stammered,

Abrahim spoke up- "Ah, Sharpy! I believe you've met this lady,"

"How did you get here?"

"I booked an Uber," she answered.

"N-No, I mean how did you find this place?"

"I looked him up on Facebook!" she said, and turned towards Abrahim.

"WHY ON EARTH ARE YOU ON FACEBOOK?" Sharpy turned towards Abrahim too.

"It's-It's.."

"It's what?" He interfered.

".. trending?" Abrahim answered. Not entirely sure though.

Sharpy smacked his lips, and took Katy aside.

"Sharpy wait! This lady was just telling me how she murdered Jonathan De Franco!" Abrahim lifted up his glass of scotch and rested on his arm chair again.

"Um, the stabbing was pretty much it," she replied hesitantly.

Abrahim bursted into laughter, and puzzled everyone in the room.

"Funny! The news I heard- Jonathan was shot twice, through the chest," he replied.

Katy was short of words,

"I-I mean, I stabbed… after shooting…" she somehow managed to get a few words together.

That very moment, Sharpy realized all this has been a big mistake.

"…you know, just to be sure," she then improvised.

As soon as she finished, bullets were fired, explosions were heard and the door crashed open. About a dozen men barged in- one of which was Liam De Franco.

"HOW DID YOU GET HERE?" Abrahim was stunned.

"We booked an Uber!" Liam replied with arms wide stretched.

"I mean, how the hell did you find this place?"

"Easy. Looked you up on Facebook!"

Sharpy turned to Abrahim, furiously this time.

"So typical of you Abe, hiring a pity helpless woman to do the job…" Liam walked towards Abrahim, slowly, and pointed his gun towards him.

Abrahim looked in the room, all corners. Hardly any of his men were around. He turned towards Sharpy in desperation.

"…I'll tell you why. Because your sweet little soul didn't have the courage to do so!" he added, and brought up a laughter from amongst his men.

Sharpy figured, things were about to turn ugly. He walked up closer to Katy, and held her hand.

Meanwhile, Abrahim was now raging and had his hand on a pistol. He waited patiently, while Liam continued with the trash talk.

"You've always been a sick loser Abrahim! Killing family members- this has always been you," Liam added.

Abrahim remained silent. As soon as he saw some backup around the door, he opened fire- shooting right at Liam.

This aggravated things, and firing from both ends had begun.

Sharpy quickly grabbed Katy and entered a jam-packed storage room.

They stood close enough, as the firing continued. Katy was screaming and yelling in fright; almost shivering.

Sharpy held her close and made her feel safe. He didn't feel too bad about yesterday. He felt as if he'd made up for it.

After about 10 minutes of continuous firing, the noise suddenly stopped. Sharpy took out his loaded weapon, and opened the door slightly to have a peek.

The room outside was flooded with blood, and bodies floating over it. A couple of guys, injured but alive, were limping across.

Sharpy went ahead and shot them both. Just to be sure.

He saw Abrahim lying dead on his arm chair. Next to him lay Liam on the floor, shot in the face.

"I feel like throwing up," Katy stepped out too.

She went straight out, walking next to Sharpy.

"It's all done!" she exclaimed.

Sharpy was still a bit puzzled,

"The murder-mystery isn't," he replied.

They left the house and walked towards the highway.

"Who did it?" Sharpy wondered,

Suddenly, there was something different about Katy. Something different with her attitude, with her body language - the way she walked, the way she flung her hair around, the way she smirked.

Sharpy noticed some of it.

Before he could ask or speak, a car approached and stopped right in front of Katy.

Sharpy's eyes were left wide open, his jaws dropped as the glass window of the car rolled down.

A couple of bullets, and Sharpy hit the ground.

Katy walked up to the rolled down window and said -

"Your plan worked well, Jonathan."