Brittle Bones (Arthur Morgan x f!reader)

CHAPTER 3 - The library

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The air was filled with the smell of old paper and the soothing sound of rustling pages. Sometimes, a soft murmur broke the quiet atmosphere. I had barely come here when I visited my aunt when I was younger, but it was a nice place.

It was old, built in the 1900s and then expanded a few times over the years. Now, it contained a decently big collection of historical books, novels and other literature. That's why I was hoping to find out more about my second suspect in here: Arthur Morgan.

I had almost forgotten about him about him while researching about the missing boy yesterday. Concerning that case, I had given the local police department a call this morning. The young woman that picked up was quick to assure me that the grave and the case had nothing to do with each other. She couldn't give any more information though. I assumed that they had found a corpse or parts of it and wanted to use that to their advantage to question suspects, and ended the call.

So, Arthur Morgan. I shook my head and focused at the task at hand. If this lead was a dead end, my search would end here. But he was quiet promising.

I had looked for books about the Van der Linde Gang in general, because the article I had read last evening had stated that he had been part of that gang. That was all the information I had.

But my search had turned out more successful that I had dared to hope. I had collected five books on my table. The librarian, an elderly man with long grey hair, had helped me find them by typing the name into his computer. The results were these books, every single one that mentioned Arthur Morgan.

The book that laid atop of the small stack was a collection of photos by a man called Albert Manson. There weren't any clues about the identity of Arthur in there, except one small note at the end, accompanied by a picture of a broad shouldered, mean looking man with a big collection of weapons hanging on his belt. The text stated plainly: Arthur Morgan  - Who kindly supported me with in my work. I marked the page while thoughtfully observing it, then I closed the book, placed it aside and picked up the next one. This would be a long day.

When I left the library after three hours of reading, taking notes and comparing pictures, I had a pretty good idea of who Arthur Morgan had been. Certainly not someone I would have liked to meet in person.

He was described as a ruthless killer, someone who didn't bat an eye when pulling the trigger on a helpless victim. Cold blooded and violent. He had been part of multiple big shoot-outs where he killed a big amount of the involved policeforce and detective agency, as well as some innocent bystanders that got caught in the crossfire.

The Van der Linde gang had spent some time in Ambarino and crossed the grizzlies after a failed heist in Blackwater. They remained undetected for a while, until they were discovered near Valentine where they had set up a camp. Then, one day, a big shooting with the men of a oil company owner named Leviticus Cornwall took place in the streets of Valentine, where 16 people were killed.

That's where the bounty poster with the thickly printed name „ARTHUR MORGAN" on one of the pages originated from. I had compared the drawing on it with the photo and found that while the drawing aimed to portray him more dangerous looking, these were definitely the same person. I just didn't know why a feared outlaw would help a simple photographer with his pictures.

Thanks to the Pinkerton detective agency, the next camps of the gang had been well documented. After they fled Valentine, they stayed near Rhodes, some tiny village with about 100 inhabitants I had never heard of. The conflict between two rivaling families there, as well as the fact that they had been discovered again had probably been the reason why they kept moving.

They stayed at an old manor called shady belle, as well as an old, abandoned village in the swamps near Saint Denis after their most important men - Dutch Van der Linde and Arthur Morgan - where almost captured in a failed bank heist. Hosea Matthews, a good friend of Van der Linde was killed, as well as a younger member, Lenny Summers.

For some time, they remained undetected, until Van der Linde and Morgan reappeared. They moved to a place near Annesburg and got involved with the local native american population and their conflict with the military. At that point, the gang seemed to be pretty shaken up. Several members, like a man called Leopold Strauss had left and were captured for questioning. And that was where the story ended. Something big must have happened, something that broke the gang up completely.

There remained traces of some members, like Sadie Adler, who became a bounty hunter afterwards, Charles Smith who had been sighted in Saint Denis at street fights, and John Marston, along with his family, who had baught a ranch near Blackwater. I wanted to do some more research on them when I had the time.

Now that was what the history books told. There was one other book by an author called J. M.. The title - black ink on red fabric - read „Red Dead Redemption". It told the story of a boy growing up with a gang of outlaws. The protagonist, who remained anonymous didn't reveal the gangs name, but he referred to the leader as Dutch. Other characters, like „Uncle Hosea" and „Uncle Arthur" had striking similarities to real members. The book recounted the story I had researched in the last few hours very well and I would have ignored it, thinking it was a well researched piece of fiction, if there hadn't been one of the last scenes, where the author, now a grown up, visited the graves of his long lost family members and friends.

„Now uncle Arthurs grave was hard to reach. It laid up in the mountains, near the old Bacchus Station. Charles had told my father about it when he was still alive. When I rode up..."

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