Chapter Seventeen #2
“Kat and I were tasked to do an article on him today,” Lee admitted, leaving out the part whereby she already knew about Arthur hours before that having snooped through Morgan’s belongings.
If there was one way in which Lee could have the upper hand on her girlfriend, if she didn’t know already, it was leaving this information out entirely, at least for now.
“We don’t really know anything yet, other than the fact he’s missing.
We didn’t even know that Edward and Arthur knew each other. ”
No longer leaning against the doorway, Morgan made her way over to the fridge, opening it for approximately three seconds before closing it again promptly afterwards.
“Shall we order takeout? There’s nothing in the house worth eating.
Or we could go out to dinner, perhaps? I know we’ve been doing that a lot lately but we’ve been a little busy with our criminal pursuits and evading the long arm of the law makes me work up an appetite. ”
The glare that Lee pointed in Morgan’s direction was enough for her girlfriend to realize that her timing was inappropriate.
“Babe, we can order anything you like after this conversation,” Lee emphasised.
“Do you know anything about his disappearance? Also, why don’t you just tell your mom about Arthur and who he is? She’s literally a detective, Morgan.”
Morgan leaned her head against the fridge, before turning around and taking a few steps towards Lee, placing a hand in hers.
“I swear I had nothing to do with his disappearance, nor do I know anything about it. Although, I do have his driver's license because I was scoping him out months ago. I followed him onto the subway and pretended to bump into him by mistake and grabbed it then. My guess is that he skipped town once he found out that his accomplice was missing. As for telling my mom, I can hardly do that, either. Firstly, it begs the question as to why I know anything about Arthur Strickland in the first place, and secondly, if Arthur is arrested, he might start revealing truths about Edward, and that’s the last thing I need, considering I fucking murdered him.”
Lee nodded, squeezing Morgan’s hand supportively.
“I understand. I don’t like any of this, but I understand.
I have one more question, and then we can order food.
The night everything…happened,” Lee said, avoiding explicitly saying what actually happened.
“You said you didn’t mean to kill Edward in our apartment. What were you trying to do?”
Her girlfriend smiled, menacingly. “It was actually kinda genius until things went sideways. I wanted to get a strand of his hair so that I could get closure for Summer’s family by placing it somewhere near her body.
Then, I was going to murder him, albeit not in our apartment.
Once I’d done that, my plan was to set up Arthur Strickland and frame him for the murder of Edward Beckett.
Ed goes down for the murder of Summer, and Arthur goes down for the murder of Ed.
Alas…he caught wind of my intentions pretty quickly in our apartment and I had to improvise, which is what you saw.
In my quest to get some of his DNA, I ended up spilling it all over our living room floor. ”
Like an inquisitive puppy, Lee cocked her head to one side whilst she cogitated. “How did you even manage to get him to our apartment in the first place?”
“Oh, that was easy,” Morgan acknowledged, removing her hand from Lee’s in order to pull out a can of soda from the fridge before opening it with a satisfying click.
“He’s been looking for a Remington Bolt Action rifle of all things on all of the online marketplaces for weeks.
I just told him I was selling one, and gave him a stupidly low price.
That fucking moron couldn’t say no. I guess I didn’t think it through, though, because we both know I’ve never held a gun in my life.
Huh,” Morgan said, taking a sip of her soda, her eyes scanning the room in deliberation whilst she cogitated.
“I guess I’m the moron in this scenario actually,” she shrugged.
After everything that Lee had learned about Morgan recently, she couldn’t say that she knew that her girlfriend had never held a gun before, at least not for certain.
She supposed, if anything, it was almost ironic that Morgan, whom of which murdered people as a pastime activity, had never held a tool that was arguably the most efficient method of killing.
“Your plan isn’t completely shot, you know.
We could still have Arthur arrested and frame him for the murder of Edward Beckett.
We just need to figure out a way to get Edward’s DNA on Arthur’s driver’s license.
Following that, we can just plant it in his house and have your mom find it. ”
Morgan placed her can upon the countertop, the sound of her laughter overpowering the sound of the aluminium against the marble.
“Hold on, let me just get this straight because I feel like I might have just hallucinated the last thirty seconds of our conversation. You want to dig up Edward’s decomposing body, rub Arthur’s driver’s license all over it, and then break into his house? ”
Lee’s own smile matched Morgan’s, sensing her predatory instinct had reared its head. Two sides of the same coin. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. But let’s order pizza first.”
Morgan stepped into Lee’s space, wrapping her arms around her waist before leaning in to place her lips against hers. The contact electrified Lee’s senses as she shivered into the touch, placing her own arms now around Morgan’s neck, pulling her closer towards her body.
When they finally broke contact, Morgan gazed into Lee’s eyes, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. “Lee Victoria Holmes, I am completely and utterly infatuated with you.”