The Murphy Bed

The folding army cot was mainly a diversion, and by itself wouldn’t have saved Jonas Detwiler from the men who had come looking for him that evening. Johnnie Marks and Oscar “Sludge” Redmond intended to break a few of their victim’s bones, maybe worse. This was what happened to gamblers who couldn’t pay Lucius “Legs” La Costa.
The door broke open with a loud thump, the thin wood yielding to Sludge’s mass times acceleration. The goons stepped across the threshold into the efficiency apartment, and cast a pair of stern glances from one side of the room to the other. A television perched on a wobbly stand, opposite an old rocker with a dirty green pillow on the seat. A frayed Oriental rug covered all but the farthest edges of the hardwood floor. Taped to one of the walls was a laminated poster of Cheryl Tiegs in her iconic pink bikini. Next to the entrance to the kitchen was a dresser and in a corner, a small metal folding table and accompanying chair.
With a grunt, Sludge flipped over the table and for good measure, kicked the chair. Johnnie in turn upended the cot. With a switchblade he shredded the pillow, spreading down feathers into the air and precipitating a sneezing fit in Sludge.
“Damn it, Johnnie!” his buddy snarled. “He ain’t hidin’ in the pillow!”
In three minutes, the pernicious pair had emptied both the closet and dresser, tossing Jonas’s clothing on the floor, smashed the dishes and drinking glasses in the kitchen cupboard, and broke the toilet seat. This yielded no clues as to the whereabouts of their quarry.
Fuming, Sludge faced the door, his fists clenched.
“S.O.B. made a fool of us,” he said. “But he can’t hide forever.”
Sweating and hardly able to breathe, Jonas listened for the departing footsteps. When he was sure that all was clear, he pushed hard on the mattress, causing the bed to open and descend from the wall. Jonas lay on his stomach, his head at the foot of the bed. Hauling himself up, he closed what was left of the apartment door, breathed deeply, and pushed the Murphy bed back to its closed position, where it blended seamlessly into the wall. Jonas exited the building and flagged down a taxicab. He verified that the ticket was in his pocket. After he landed in Seattle, he would telephone his brother.