It Should Be a Crime Read Free

the next thirty minutes coming up with a contingency plan, because she wasn’t likely to be staying at the posh Preston Hollow address she was headed to now.
    The cab driver arrived and, like most cabbies in Dallas, had a poor grasp of map skills for any neighborhood not in his usual path. He was eager to take her anywhere in the surrounding Greenville area, but professed to know nothing about North Dallas. Morgan managed to pull up some long-forgotten map in her head and guided him through the city toward the residence she had planned to call home.
    The tall, imposing house swallowed up the lot it was sitting on and seemed to spill out into the street to consume additional terrain. The neighborhood used to be beautiful, Morgan remembered. Ranch-style houses set back from the street, well-manicured lawns and stately trees once made driving through the Preston Hollow neighborhood seem like touring a cluster of country estates. Now many of the ranch homes were teardowns replaced by McMansions, such as the one Tina had commissioned. These fake palaces made the area, in Morgan’s opinion, seem cheap. I suppose it’s just as well I won’t be staying long, she thought.
    Tina was sitting at the kitchen table nursing a steaming cup of coffee. She looked up at the sound of Morgan’s entrance. Morgan read fatigue and the blur of hangover behind the surprise Tina expressed at her arrival.
    “Honey! When did you get here? Why didn’t you call and let me know you were coming?”
    Morgan recalled stowing her luggage in the guest room closet when she arrived yesterday afternoon. She realized Tina didn’t have any idea she had been in the house the day before.
    “Actually, Tina, I got here yesterday. I wrapped things up quicker than I expected and I thought I’d surprise you by coming out early.” Morgan watched the parade of expressions on her lover’s face go from confusion to understanding to reflection. Morgan figured Tina was wondering if she’d left anything incriminating lying around.
    Tina’s expression settled on pleasure. “What a wonderful surprise!” She wrinkled her brow. “But wait a minute. If you got here last night, then where in the world have you been?”
    “Gee, Tina, I was wondering when you were going to notice my absence. I would have explained, but since you were previously occupied I figured it didn’t matter what I did with my time.”
    Tina’s puzzled look was almost convincing. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    “Is that so? Let me help you remember.” Morgan was tired of the charade they had played out the last few years of their relationship, and the prospect of this confrontation held equal parts disgust and relief.
    “I arrived last night in time to hear one of your new friends leave a message on the machine entreating you to join the ‘gang’ at Betty’s for happy hour. Silly me, I thought joining you would be a great opportunity to not only surprise you, but meet all the friends you’ve made while you toiled away the summer getting our new home ready. So I called a cab and went out to join you. Imagine my surprise when I discovered you have been very busy this summer. From what I observed, apparently your interests haven’t been confined to work and nesting.”
    Tina mustered a look of righteous indignation. “Morgan, I don’t know what you think you saw, but—”
    “Darling, don’t even say it. I am clear about what I saw. You and I haven’t exchanged as much physical passion in the last five years as you exchanged with the hottie on the dance floor last night. I didn’t know you still had it in you.”
    Tina sat in silence. Morgan observed her and read her with the familiarity ten years of living together brings. Tina wasn’t going to deny her actions any longer, and it didn’t appear she was going to apologize for them either unless pushed to do so. Morgan no longer had the energy to push her into apologies she clearly didn’t mean. Regrettably, it had