The Noir Evil

by Richard Paul Caird

  These powerless and lawless streets where like a dark and sunless jungle of confusing mazes with labyrinth side streets that one could easily find themselves lost within. The anonymity of the area and its ability to swallow-up whole families without them ever being seen or heard from again was probably another reason that the worst of the worst had migrated here and camouflaged themselves within this poor and destitute area. The hot and uncomfortable pair of detectives continued to make made their way through this area in there unruly, standard issue police wagon that uncomfortably bounced up and down like an insane jack in the box. The tarmac road underneath them soon became less well maintained as the more rugged, pot-holed and troublesome tarmac ahead welcomed the pair into the notorious area.

  The police wagon unpredictably rumbled onwards and down a dirty road which started to make the interior shake even more so than it had done before, violently vibrating the steel rivets that held its unsightly and flimsy frame together. Small rocks hit the underside of the wagon and created a horrendously loud sound that almost sounded like gunfire to the untrained ear as the road bellowed up dust into the surrounding stagnant air. After a few minutes of this both occupants of the unruly police wagon already began to miss the soothing tarmac of the city streets, unimpressed with the local corrupt government’s ability to turn a blind eye to this blighted and downtrodden area. The perceptive Merlyo surveyed the surrounding area with disgust as he looked at the environment of squalor and misery that had been created by the years of underinvestment and increased train migration. This underinvestment was because of the local corrupt authorities had total disregard for the wellbeing of the less fortunate and where more concerned with the lining of their own pockets then helping these poor people.

  To Merlyo this place was an unfortunate blight upon his good city but it was not the people’s fault whom lived here but a combination of mass migration, lack of jobs, mismanagement and the neglect of the limited resources by corrupt bureaucrats and their equally corrupt politician friends. Kingsbury Run should never have been allowed to get this bad and now it was like a plague of vermin that was out of control and needed to be fumigated. This terminal infestation of the criminal element was so bad that it would be considered humane to simply burn the entire place down just so that the people could start over, fresh from the blight of crime. The unruly police wagon rumbled on through the muddy streets as Merlyo looked out of the hazy side window and quickly rolled it down in order to put his palm outside to ascertain if it had stopped raining. He felt that there was still a light drizzle of rain that was saturating the air and as he looked up he could see dark clouds forebodingly swirling overhead. He took this sign as a bad omen as he retracted his hand and then proceeded to roll up the squeaky and cumbersome window before then looking at his partner through the corner of his eye.

  Zalewski had been his partner now for just over a year and was by all accounts a good and decent young detective. He did however have a weakness for the opposite sex and was little bit too preoccupied with his troublesome matters of the heart for Merlyo’s liking. This preoccupation did thankfully not extend to his ex-flame, Poppy and Zalewski rarely mentioned her due to his turbulent relationship and his obviously still strong feelings that he retained for her. Merlyo had immensely appreciated his partner’s sensitivity on this touchy matter of the heart, although he would never say it out load for fear of revealing how very emotional he had become over the entire situation. The considerate Zalewski had distinctly boyish good looks with high cheek bones that extenuated his chiselled features and big blue eyes. These naturally dashing good looks tricked the viewer into believing that he was younger than he actually was and even had the effect of making Merlyo jealous of his effortless perfection and the accompanying female attentions it produced, although he would never admit it.

  Merlyo had always disliked how his thick noise sat awkwardly upon his stubby face and how his big cheeks made him appear to be more well-nourished than he actually was, having the unwanted effect of adding a few more years upon his own age. Zalewski was always immaculately well dressed, wearing his shiny polished spectator shoes and his fitted, black pin striped three piece suit religiously. The impressive suits inner lining was a distinctively deep red which was only matched by his striking thin red tie which silently always announced his presence. His hair was a distinctive jet black which was always sleeked back with an expensive hair tonic and parted down one side, giving him total control over its unruliness. Zalewski had often told him that he wished look like his favourite fictional character from the popular magazines that he excessively read. He was a huge fan of the crime fighting comic book character known as The Shadow, whom also went by the name of Lamont Cranston and Zalewski had suggested that his entire attire mimicked this character. He had wanted to give the same impression of this fictitious character whom was stylised as a “Wealthy man about town”.

  His unhealthy obsession with the fictional hero also went as far as to influence his choice of selected firearms because he always wore a double shoulder holster which housed impressive twin silver M1911 pistols. He loving referred to them as his “silver heat” and only acquired them because The Shadow used them in his crime fighting adventures that he so loved. Merlyo would even occasionally find him polishing the impressive firearms whilst talking to them but this was not the only strange habit that the wily detective had come to notice. He also had an unusual habit of regularly and excessively biting his lips, so much so in fact that he often used lip balm to alleviate this incessantly anxiety relieving behaviour. Merlyo had read somewhere that this type of behaviour was used to alleviate stress and offered a comforting distraction within any anxiety provoking situation. He theorised that this was probably due to some childhood trauma that he had subconsciously developed over the years to avoid such stressful situations.

  He also theorized that this was why his partner’s ravenous appetites for the opposite sex where well known around the office, offering Zalewski a convenient distraction for this unknown trauma. Zalewski’s turbulent love life often supplied the local police haunt called Wohl’s Café, with loads of entertaining and juicy gossip which would often become almost a reoccurring soap opera for anyone whom chose to follow his heart-breaking antics. The famous Wohl’s Hungarian Café was an elegant café located on 1280 West and 3rd Street and had been opened by two Hungarian brothers called Alexander and Julius Wohl only few years ago. It had the distinction of being the first in Cleveland to offer European cuisine within a lavishly furnished setting of a wooden art deco interior and offered musical entertainment that was rarely surpassed. At first only a few police officers went there on their lunch break because of its close location to the department headquarters but these where soon in turn followed by detectives and other officials and now it was unfairly renowned around Cleveland as a place crowded with police.

  Recently a mysterious young lady had been waiting for Zalewski to finally make his regular appearance at Wohl’s during his lunch break and eventually he did so, like clockwork, in order to obtain his usual order of a large helping of his beloved doughnuts and some freshly brewed Colombian coffee. This mystery woman then proceeded to walk up to the unsuspecting Zalewski and throw a chocolate vanilla smoothie right into his face before then opening-up his doughnut’s cardboard container, taking one of his beloved doughnuts out and slowly eating it right in front of the startled detective. No one ever knew why this happened but all had pretty good idea and suspected it was one of Zalewski’s jilted lovers whom was simply taking her revenge upon him by eating the very thing that he loved more than women. Merlyo smiled to himself as he thought about his partners curiously complex behaviour as well as his other, rather unusual qualities such as his endearing love for the short horror stories by H.P Lovecraft in a popular magazine entitled “Weird Tales”. From what he could gather Lovecraftian horror stories focused mainly upon an ancient alien sea creature that salivated unspeakable horror’s and resided within the dark corners of
the earth. This maddening creature was sleeping and awaiting to make his return upon the earth and when he finally does return this would ultimately mean death for humanity. Its apparent name was something that Merlyo could not currently recall and this apparent religious dedication by his partner to science fiction horror was only matched by his zeal for his favourite radio show.

  The Shadow radio serial was on every evening and as far as Merlyo could deduce it was a dramatized radio series based on Zalewski’s favourite comic book hero of the same name and was lovingly sponsored by the famous Blue Coal Company. It starred a young twenty two year old, distinctively deep voiced British actor called Orson Welles in the title role and was about a mysterious man whom fought crime dressed in a black slouch hat, inverness cape and wore a red balaclava to conceal his identity. This “Shadow” had the power to cloud men’s minds using ancient far east mysticism and also made his enemies think that he was a supernatural being that was a sort of “living shadow”. The Shadow would fight crime and make evil men confess using these powers whilst also living the high life in rich society during his time off, thus satisfying all the exciting needs of any avid radio listener. Merlyo smiled to himself as he thought about his fantasist partner secretly dressing up as The Shadow whilst brandishing his twin silver pistols and looking at himself in the mirror. Merlyo amused himself with these humorous visions of the crime fighting Zalewski dressed in his black inverness cape when these thoughts where alarming stopped as the wagon hit a huge bump in the muddy road below.

  This startling bump caused the glove compartment to violently fling open to reveal one of Zalewski’s beloved Weird Tales magazines, which cover featured a slimy tentacle faced sea monstrosity with its tendrils writhing around. This magazine fell onto Merlyo’s lap as was quickly accompanied by another magazine which featured the red masked hero himself, The Shadow, whom was firing his twin silver guns from a yellow train carriage as it sped along. An embarrassed Zalewski quickly grabbed them both from Merlyo’s lap and agitatedly and forcibly shoved them back into the glove compartment before slammed it closed. An embarrassed looking Zalewski then spoke whilst glancing at the smirking Merlyo “Erm? Sorry about that! My bad! Just some light reading for when I’m bored you know? Hehe!” The awkward Zalewski then quickly looked back at the muddy road which needed all his attention due to the terrible conditions, and the ever present threat of pedestrian collision.

  The barely visible road was almost sightless as the rain drizzle shrouded it in a concealing fog and both marvelled as it seamlessly appeared to somehow merge into the surrounding area of dilapidated shantytown homes. Merlyo’s eyes then drifted to observe the only distinctive thing that effortlessly beamed through the haze, the distant but impressive Terminal Tower. The newly constructed tower overlooked the entire city and was like a gleaming tower of hope, aspiration and achievement to which all could aspire too. This positive image was starkly contrasted against the squalid living conditions of the surrounding dilapidated area that might as well of been from another planet. The splendid Terminal Tower almost gloated from the distance as it stood there unreservedly unapologetic in all its grandeur, beckoning people to strive and achieve greatness through adversity and ascend the slippery staircase of society. To Merlyo this tower was simply an unrealistic and depressing reminder to the poor and unfortunate inhabitants of this downtrodden area as to what they could never have and only ever dream of.

  All of a sudden a young dishevelled looking boy ran in front of the police wagon to reclaim his missing toy, a bouncing rubber ball, and a shocked Zalewski’s immediately swerved and just managed to avoid a collision as he then angrily mumbled a few curse words to himself before he hit the steering wheel of the unruly police wagon and complained to Merlyo “Jesus! Where’s the Ford? This thing has no control and it’s a total piece of shit! It’s just, I don’t know? Nasty!” Merlyo’s concern for the child waned as he saw him through his rear view mirror continue to ignorantly and happily play ball with his friends, seemingly oblivious to his near fatal impact. The boy soon drifted back into obscurity as the mist of the sightless rain consumed him once again within its merciless grasp before Merlyo replied to Zalewski’s question “Fords still in the workshop, ‘nasty’? You mean like that new lady you’ve been seeing this last week? You said you liked her because she’s ‘nasty’?” Zalewski felt a rush of blood emanating around his face as he blushed before he then turned, smiled and winked as he replied “Different context Merlyo, different context!”

  Zalewski’s attentions soon again refocused again upon the muddy and misty road that lay ahead as Merlyo continued to look out of the window at the desperate and downtrodden people of the Kingsbury Run area. He wondered what tragic life events had happened to each of them to have landed up in such a desolate and depressing place as this and as he pondered this question, the wagon suddenly came to an abrupt halt. A homeless vagrant starred vacantly back at them from the centre of the dirty road with a look of confusion upon his old withered and sun scorched face. The old vagrant was attempting to understand that he could have just seen his life passing before his very eyes as the agitated Zalewski responded to his apparent death wish with harsh and unforgiving words “Jesus! Come on old-timer! I’ve not got all day!” Zalewski then frustratingly honked the wagon’s horn, first a few times in quick succession before then holding it down to create a long, constant and elongated honk. He immediately stopped as a young, extremely malnourished looking and dirty faced teenage girl helped the poor old delusional man out of the way of the desperately dirty wagon.

  Merlyo sadly looked at the young, malnourished and frightened little girl for a few moments more as she slowly helped the old man off the road. Her distinctively large, sad green eyes beamed through the dirt upon her pretty little face like lighthouse beckons that requested charity. His heart secretly wept as he saw her bottom lip quivering in fear at the two unknown people within the police wagon whom where in such a rush that they had almost killed her beloved grandfather. Zalewski then also felt guilty upon seeing the distress he had unwittingly caused the little girl whilst Merlyo continued to look at her with sadness because she strangely reminded him of the tragically unsolved Lady of the Lake homicide. The mysterious Lady of the Lake was still haunting his dreams and kept him up at night, filling his confused mind with the full spectrum of negative emotions. He was still perplexed as to why she took the form of a little girl when the victim was obviously a young woman but suspected that this macabre secret would eventually reveal itself once he had deduced whom she was.

  After the first few weeks of sleeplessness he had taken some medication to better control his sleeping habits, which had now metamorphosed into infrequent cat-naps within the office and even more infrequent cat-naps whilst he was back at his dreaded home. This had in turn resulted in the creation of a perpetual state of tiredness that he was still apparently in today because he could feel the sleepless dreams calling out him from the beyond, selfishly beckoning him to sleep when he knew he could not. His thoughts of this elusive sleep then dissipated as a determined Zalewski effortlessly powered through the mud and light rain again, causing Merlyo to watch the scared girl disappear back into the mist whilst using the rear view mirror and then relax back into his leather seat and close his eyes for some well needed sleep.

  A few minutes later he heard his partner’s voice again and secretly wished that he could just be allowed a few more precious moments of blissful sleep, reluctant to join the waking world “Merlyo! Where here!” The reluctant Merlyo slowly opened his eyes which were greeted by the uneven road’s bumps that shook the rattling interior of the wagon and the rain that had increased its power since he had closed his eyes, now concealing most of the road before him. The wall of mist cloaked the unruly wagon’s slow and careful progress down an unseen dirty back road and towards the base of a steep grassy hill which only made its presence known when its shadow absorbed what little ambient light there was. Thick mud flew-up onto the window and cov
ered it as the persistent rain in turn then washed it off again in a cascading torrent of thick sludge. This sludge was constantly accumulating at the front of the filthy wagon, further hindering its slow but steady advance towards the ominous looking hill.

  Zalewski then spoke as they both uncomfortably bounced by and down and came to a halt by the base of the hill where the just visible presence of a single police officer broke through the gloom “So you think Ness will take the job? I heard that if he accepts then he could start before the end of the year!” Merlyo groaned because he still wished for more of the fleeting sleep he had just acquired as well as for the pulsating pain that was emanating from his bottom. After a moment more of groaning he reluctantly replied whilst rubbing his tired eyes “Who knows? Time will tell” Zalewski awkwardly smiled at him before they both then saw a few figures emerging through the thick gloomy mist as two teenage boys appeared to be standing next to their worried looking parents whilst one police officer spoke to them and the another was busily cordoning off the area with rope.

  Merlyo now sat up in his uncomfortable seat as if he was bestowed with a new found strength from some hidden power as the wagon’s wheel’s sunk slowly into the thickening mud. The elusive homicide scene at the base of Jackass Hill was there destination all along and he felt energised knowing that he could finally investigate the elusive scene which even now appeared to not wish to be viewed. More concealing mist rolled in as the young officer signalled to them with a wave through the murky gloom whilst excusing himself from the parents and their frightened looking children. The young officer then trudged slowly through the thick mud to greet the two detectives as they exited the wagon.