Murder in the Blue Morgue -- Part 7
Y’know, every three months is still a technically consistent update schedule.
Also, this chapter is super long, and was an absolute doozy to write, so enjoy. Be on the lookout for poorly written character development, that’s kind of my specialty.
Also, it’s summer, so maybe I can actually write more of these now.
Tag: @saturnsocoolioyep
If y’all wanna be tagged(I still think the above is how you do it, so do correct me if I’m wrong) just ask.
Also, here’s the masterlist, for 1-5: https://twincestforthewincest.tumblr.com/post/181757211705/murder-in-the-blue-morgue-masterlist
I’m updating Tumblr first, but shortly after this goes live, the whole thing is also on my Wattpad and Archive. God I hope this happens quickly because I am so tired.
Here she goes.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Josephine's breath shifted the dust particles around the dank hallway. Well, they couldn't exactly be called dust, but whatever particles had popped into existence due to all of the drama that had happened in the hallway, and had decided to remain there afterwards to haunt the building and the conscience of anyway who had passed through it.
Inviting.
The light blinked ominously. No person in their right mind would've stayed to sleep in this hallway after someone had been murdered in one of the neighboring apartments, which made it perfect for late night revisiting.
The thought had occurred to her that if they noticed that she was missing from the police station this would definitely be the first place that they looked, but the officers on duty seemed to have a "give her space" attitude, which was perfect for scheming. The cameras would catch her, of course, but only as an afterthought. All she needed now was to see the scene. Perhaps for her own closure.
The door was already open, the shadowy interior flooding into the hallway. Of course, it was blocked to hell with police tape, like everything else in this damn building, but the easy part about that is that you can always just bend under it.
Jo shoved her hands in her pockets, entering the apartment as though she had just gotten off of school.
The dead body of her mother was sprawled across the floor, with very obvious stab wounds sprinkled all over her body. Blood had pooled into the cheap carpet, as well as the cheap t-shirt and under the tacky nails of her mother. The light from the hallway crept around the nooks and crannies of the corpse, casting angular shadows that made her look like a character from a comic book.
Jo fished the lighter out of one of her pockets and flipped it open, flicking the light with the calloused tip of her thumb. The last thing she'd need was someone calling the cops because she'd idiotically turned the lights on.
The tiny flame danced about the remains of the apartment, everything either wrapped in some sort of crime-scene plastic, or taken and placed god knows where as if her goddamn used, unwashed fork in the sink was important evidence.
Jo held the light above her in a mock statue of liberty, and observed the ceiling, the only thing that seemed to have remained untouched. Her reflection in the lightbulb was like that of a bathroom mirror, with every one of her grizzled and tired features coming to center stage. The reflection of the light was interrupted by a small, spiraling shadow.
Jo put out the lighter and pulled her jacket sleeves over her hands, navigating by touch and instinct to the bathroom, where she retrieved the footstool and returned to the base of the lamp, reigniting the lighter.
Her fingers reached out and plucked the obtrusion off the lightbulb, returning her complete reflection. It was a spiral of red hair that did flips around her index finger and pinkie.
"Figured you'd be here." A husky voice sliced through as Jo shut off her lighter. A corpse-like silhouette occupied the door frame.
"Figured you wouldn't. They're looking for ya, y'know."
"Love, if you think this is my first time evading the law, you'd be sorely mistaken."
"Thought as much. But your friend might not be as experienced."
"That's what I'm here for."
"Again, though, he was deft enough to kill a person, so maybe I've underestimated him."
"You seem like a smart girl. Smart enough to know what you're saying is bullshit."
"Well call me a Devil's Advocate, but I'd challenge you to look at the evidence."
"Hm. Challenge not accepted. It's not him."
"I'm not the one you need to tell. You'll probably be confronting the judge in a few months."
"Maybe, but that'll be separate from Dents."
"You seem like a smart girl. Smart enough to know what you're saying is bullshit."
"Well, this isn't going anywhere." The figure shifted forward in the door frame before it was consumed in the darkness of the apartment.
"Nope, but I am." Jo shoved the hair into her pocket before darting to the backroom, throwing open the window, and flinging herself onto the fire escape.
Worming her way around the stairs, she dropped to the lower level, before determining herself close enough to the ground to jump off. She crash landed before bending her knees to make her landing somewhat more graceful, just like she was 10 again and wanted to fulfill an in-poor-taste dare. She pulled herself up and began to sprint around the corner, not stopping to look behind her.
The block passed in a blur, and the corner store's neon lights came into full view. The small mom-and-pop shop was not only a keystone of the street, but also her ticket to possibly escaping the madman that had advanced at her a few seconds ago.
She pushed the door open and the bell flipped over itself, its ring sailing through a vacant store. Caleb, the bored college dropout tasked with watching the place in the evenings, took a rather large hit, fresh from his personal stash, before facing her.
"Hey, man. Can I use the back door?"
"Whatever you say, just do it quick before that other customer comes in."
She whipped her head around, still on high alert. The street was bathed in a large shadow overcast by an even larger man across the street. And to think. She'd taken them to the diner earlier.
The man began to approach the stop in a way reminiscent of the Hash Slinging Slasher, though she got the sense that there would be no comedic conclusion to follow. Not pausing to test her theory, she crawled under the counter, ripped open the door to the slightly stalling door to where they kept all of their supplies, and pushed herself through the large, unlocked, double doors that they would use to unload trucks.
The night was crawling on her again, and the alleyway let some bare moonlight flow through the clothes lines coming out of the windows to spill on her face. She continued to sprint under the clotheslines before taking a brief excursion on another alleyway, this time undercut by the steps up to a makeshift rooftop garden.
The world around her had gone quiet. Like it was a point in a movie where she would meet her old nemesis, hiding in the corner, waiting to let go of their blanket of shadows and shoot her down. But instead it was just her.
You can't really see the stars on any given night in New Jersey, even in the South, but occasionally, on a super clear night, some divine force's toothpick pokes through the sky and you can see the stars glaring down at you. Of all nights that this were to happen on, it had to be this one.
She continued her gait, though it had somewhat slowed. She doubted that she had actually successfully eluded them, but perhaps they would find her more out of their persistence and not their own skill in tracking. That gave her time for the moment.
The next stop would, of course, be the police station. Maybe she could even act like she never left, if no one had noticed her or bothered to check the footage. She'd gotten her closure, and perhaps the rest of the night could fall into place like that had.
That being said, the police station would be where she was expected to go. There wouldn't be any harm in waiting everything out in an equally safe place, where perhaps the location and the night could play equal parts in hiding her. No harm at all. This is her city, with her people, and the safest place that she could've been at the moment.
She hadn't stopped to notice that her feet had stopped carrying forward as she had become lost in her thoughts. The city was all hers, and yet there was nowhere that could guarantee her safety.
Noodle darted off the roof of a building and grabbed her. Her hand stifled a scream.
"Look, look, I know this is sudden and everything, but we need your help. I promise we're not gonna hurt you or anything, but you are coming with us."
A white van, like the kind that children disappear into, pulled up from behind the corner. Before Jo could even attempt to bite her attacker's hand, she was flung into the back of the shady van. Just another great way to keep the chase moving forward.
Okay okay okay. Calm calm calm. You're so goddamn fine. Everything is peachy. Don't look worried. Don't look worried. Don't look worried.
Her vision had gone slightly blurry due to the force of the impact, but nothing that a few quick blinks couldn't handle. Slowly, the image of the lanky, blue haired guy that had haunted her thoughts for the last few hours focused into view. Never in her life did she think that he would look menacing.
"Okay, I know this looks bad," Normally, it was easy for her to take his voice seriously, but with all the bitter resent seeping in, it sounded so much more annoying, "But you need to help me find out who killed your mum."
He was smoking a cigarette, which, if Jo wasn't already intensely used to the smell, she wouldn't assumed to be weed instead. But nope, just more classic stuff they tell you not to do in school.
"Um, no, I don't think I will actually."
"Please."
"Nope."
"Noodle, it's not working."
"'D, you gotta try a little harder than that. I'll go find Mudz and Russ."
"Wait, Noodle-"
The van shook slightly as she hopped out the back. Very stable. The smoke lingered longer than the eyes of the pair in the van, both refusing to look directly at each other.
"I'm really sorry about all this, okay? But, I'm innocent, I swear, and I need to find out who it was."
"This ain't a goddamn movie. You're rich. You can hire a lawyer and pay off the jury. You'll get out unscathed, and maybe with a little bit of Chicago and a little less of OJ, it might even work out for ya. AND, I don't need to be involved with any of this."
"You knew your mum better than anyone else."
"Yeah, and I think you did it, so I suggest you find someone else."
"I didn't fucking kill your mum!" Jo didn't think that he had it in him to raise his voice. Though, she also didn't think that he was capable of murder. The scratchiness of his throat was really brought out in the yell, and she could tell that it still wasn't something that he did too often. He could tell too. It was quickly replaced by even more silence, this time with the two making perfect eye contact.
"I thought I told you that I didn't want to be involved in any more shit. I don't know anything. I won't tell anyone. I just wanna fucking go home." Her voice was also a lot smaller than she was used to.
"I- look, sorry I yelled, you're clearly freaked out, I-"
"I'm fine, but I'd be even better if I were out of this van right now."
"I don't," he sighed, "I can't do that."
"You mean you don't want to."
"I just, I didn't do it. I really didn't."
"If it makes you feel any better, that's what I told the police."
"Really?"
"Yeah, before they convinced me otherwise," his face dropped, and she knew she shouldn't be feeling bad for him, but she recoiled, somehow feeling like she had gone too far, "But, what I believe wouldn't have changed what I told them. They, uh, already knew most of it anyway."
She was sitting face up, with her legs stretched apart in a mock half-straddle, her hands resting in the middle. 2D rubbed his eyes with one of his hands in contemplation.
"Well, I guess-"
"STRAP YOURSELVES IN KIDDIES, WE'RE HITTIN' THE ROAD!" Murdoc and Russel swooped into the front of the van while Noodle hopped in through the back slamming the doors shut. Murdoc man-handled the car into starting before either 2D or Jo could sling out a retort or question. The van lurched forward and 2D topped to the ground, joining Jo, while Noodle remained, standing tall.
"Russ, can we have the live feed." Noodle politely looked over the seats in the front.
"Sure thing, catch." Russel flung a clunky, 90s looking TV from the front seat over the heads of the pair on the floor, which Noodle caught gracefully and plugged into one of the outlets that was, for some reason, in the back of the van. The television whizzed to life and filled the car with static.
"Where's the remote?" Noodle announced to the van as she took her place on the floor in front of the TV.
"Oh, I fink I'm sittin on it, hold on..." 2D searched under his ass for the remote, while Jo was still struggling to comprehend the spectacle.
"Okay, it's definitely local news..." Noodle flipped through the channels on the television while both 2D and Jo crawled up next to her.
The camera zoomed in on a shot of the van, the camera courteously going a few blocks up as well to show the cops on their tail.
"-popular band Gorillaz is currently on the run from the police, as their lead singer 2D is suspected of murder. The band currently-" the voice of the newscaster cut swayed in and out, in time with Jo's consciousness, as she dared to not be too light headed.
"-on the lookout for Josephine Powell, daughter of the deceased, snuck out of the police station this morning, and will be charged as an accessory to the murder as new evidence comes to-"
"Wait, what?!" Jo leaned in to the TV, the images of her face that had been taken when she arrived at the station flashing clearly and proudly on the screen.
"You're a part of this, now, kid! Keep up!" Murdoc shouted from the front, his tongue sticking directly out of his mouth and curling upward as he swerved, half focused on the drive and half focused on the escape.
"No, no, oh my god, I'm an accessory?!" Jo pushed herself into the back of the van.
"Yeah, you have to help now!" 2D did a joyous fist-bump to the air, though it didn't match his slightly accusatory tone.
"I still think you did it, asshole."
"Aww, really?"
"Really really."
"Well, you can believe that as long as you like," Russ cut in, "Your name is another that's gotta be cleared though. And that ain't gonna happen if you go back to them cops. So help us in the meantime."
"I don't even know where to start with that. Like, help with what?"
"Help us find out who did it. If we have definitive proof that it was someone else, which it was," 2D added slightly resentfully, "then we can prove that I'm not guilty."
"No, I got that part, but what could I possibly tell you that would help with that. Everyone's either fucked my mom, had it out for her, or both."
"Not a soul you can fink of?" She found herself not being able to look him in the eye again.
"Well, the only people that she liked slightly were the other moms. Like, y'know, with your kids. And I'm pretty tight with their kids as well."
"Really?"
"Yeah, we have a group chat."
"Well-"
"I don't know if it's a good idea to show up with the guy who murdered one of their friends asking for help. They might even be expecting you."
"Nah, they wouldn't think we're that stupid." Murdoc interjected from the front, lingering on the first syllable of the word 'stupid'.
"Yeah, and we're good at getting away with stuff. We'll figure something out." Noodle didn't even look away from the TV.
"Well, okay I guess. The closest one is in Minneapolis. So, we can go there, I guess."
"Don't count on it being too soon. I'll need at least a few hours to loose these cops." Murdoc's tongue had retreated into this mouth.
"Ah, see, everyfin is gonna work out." 2D took another hit and leaned all the way back, forgetting that Jo was there completely.
Jo scooted herself all the way into a corner and went back to focusing on her consciousness. Not only had it been one of the most trying days of her life, but the hour was transitioning into four in the morning, and she had been up since five. She wasn't one to get sick on car rides, but the sway of the van made her very nauseous. Her eyelids seemed heavier with each creak that the van gave.
But she couldn't sleep. Wouldn't sleep. As uncomfortable as her house was, that place was still where she made her bed. And this wasn't.
Murdoc had managed to pull some smokebombs and real bombs out of god knows where, and, with the help of Russel, had a clearly laid out strategy for launching them in the air at their attackers. His gangly fingers had chucked one of them out of the now open left window of the car.
The van swayed a final time before everyone was plunged into complete, smoky, darkness.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another fun fact, I’m also thinking about releasing another 2D series, so I can keep myself motivated and work on both at the same time. This one might be actual 2D x reader though. Don’t worry, same style, just different ship, and less road trip murder adventure. But yeah, that’s all for now.