After a while of passionate lovemaking Poppy finally climaxed in an eruption of unbridled ecstasy and writhing pleasure before she continued to obsessively kiss the detective for delivering her back into the warm realm of sanity. As the elation of being delivered into the loving arms of relief subsided the tired Poppy held Merlyo tightly, not wishing to let him go and eager to continue with their illicit lovemaking session. She then felt her mind quickly drift back into normality as she breathed heavy upon the tired detective and felt her rapidly pounding heart and trembling body both calm down. She then slowly opened up her rolling eyes and looked out of the displays curtained steamy glass window and had an overwhelming creepy feeling that they were being sinisterly watched from the shadows, reminiscent of before but somehow different this time.
She then attempted to push the ever persistent Merlyo away from her whilst he was still blissfully deep inside her, unrepentant of his actions and eager to climax and join her in this sacred moment of bliss. As the persistent detective continued to kiss her, happy to have made her experience the pleasure that she had so desperately needed, she became more and more uncomfortable until she vocalised her apparent discomfort in an almost confused and somewhat angry way “Wait! Stop! I’m so sorry but can’t do this!” She then forcefully pushed the confused and preoccupied detective back, alarming him with her apparent overuse of physical force. She could see now that the confused and dishevelled looking detective was covered in her bright red lipstick, his wet shirt and tie where undone and had his pants where pulled down by his ankles.
He embarrassingly proceeded to hastily pull up his pants and trousers whilst he spoke to her quietly, still concerned over there secret liaison being discovered “Ok! Ok! I’m sorry! What did it do wrong?” An alarmed and preoccupied looking Poppy did not reply as she quickly lowered her red dress, went through the black concealing curtain of the display’s rear entrance and soon reappeared at the front of the display again. The confused Poppy pondered her uncomfortable feelings of being watched whilst making love and speculated that her emotional upheaval was a combination of a variety of the evening’s strange events that had taken place. As she internally debated this confusing mixed of irrational emotions and turbulent feelings which swirled around her troubled mind, she was already making her way back to the ladies room which was conveniently located by the nearby Great Lakes display.
Merlyo looked helplessly on from behind the concealed back of the display as she disappeared behind the throngs of people whom where intently viewing the Great Lakes display. The bluey green shimmering lights of the exhibits water reflected upon them all, giving the impression that the lone Poppy was like a rose that had been lost in the turbulent sea. After hastily pulling up his pants and trousers he simply mumbled a few curse words to himself before taking out his handkerchief, spitting on it and attempting to wipe away the lipstick form his amusingly overly saturated face. He used the internal illuminated glass of the display as a mirror as he desperately tried to dispose of the kissing evidence that was sprawled across his face.
His mind frantically replied the events of what had just happened in a fruitless attempt to solve the mystery of why she had so eagerly wanted to stop the pleasurable activity that they were both immensely submerging themselves within. Then he proceeded to hastily re-tie his loosened tie and do up his wet shirt before tucking it in as best as he could within the blackened death mask display. As he was nearing completion to look at least somewhat respectable when he appeared again into the outside world, he hastily looked through the display to try and get a glimpse of the elusive Poppy. The disappearing rose was still lost at sea and unfortunately gone for now, only to be replaced with another far more dreadful sight that frightened the wily detective. Slowly emerging through the turbulent chaotic crowds and shimmering bluey green lights ahead of the display was none other than the tuxedo wearing safety director himself, Eliot Ness.
To Merlyo’s relief the surprise hero of Gerber then came to his rescue as he started to move towards the confused looking Ness, whom was by now looking around as if he had lost or misplaced something. It did not take a detective to have an educated guess at what the famed ex-prohibition agent had lost and so he frantically wiped his lip-stick smeared face in desperation with his now bleeding looking red handkerchief before taking one last look at his dishevelled reflection. He then casually walked out of the back of the concealing curtains and back around the front of the display whilst pretending to inspect the insufficient lighting that had blighted the display since its conception. He turned towards the display of death masks so that he could strategically view the nearing Ness with his reflection and observed him as he spoke to ever talkative Gerber. He could not overhear what they were talking about due to the dwindling fireworks that where sporadically exploding overhead and prepared himself for any eventuality that might occur, no matter how unpleasant. As the pair moved ever closer to him he quickly calculated his assortments of answers to various questions that may arise, frantically speculating upon the future events in a mind numbing panic.
After a moment of pretending to continually analysis the lighting of the highlighted Tattooed Man’s masterpiece, the cunning detective motioned to turn whilst still looking at the display and calculatingly spoke “Yep! I think this lighting is fantastic, oh! Mr Ness sir!? What a nice surprise!” Merlyo attempted to falsify a surprised look upon his face and did so somewhat unconvincingly as the on looking Ness responded by raising one of his eyebrows in suspicion. The more clearly defined Ness then slurred his words as he spoke, looking and sounding a little worse for wear due to his drug and alcohol usage that evening “Yeah! The lightings fantastic! So what… what do you think of my self-designed death mask display booth? Took me hours to create it within the office you know!” Merlyo immediately replied, thankful that Ness was apparently was in good spirits and intoxicated with a cocktail of substances, instantly alleviating his prolonged anxiety prior to his arrival “I must say that it’s truly a work of art sir, genius in fact! The design, layout and how the light captures the details of each death mask individually by being strategically placed directly under each one, fantastic!”
The clever Merlyo knew that because he was in good spirits his flattery would get him everywhere with the inebriated safety director. The dishevelled looking Ness then continued to speak whilst looking at the Tattooed Man’s life-like death mask, pictures and accompanying tattoo location chart “I have news on our friend here… this mysterious ‘Tattooed Man’. Detectives May and Musil checked the fingerprint files and recent missing person reports earlier today but they didn’t have any luck. They also took Gerber’s morgue photos to the local tattoo parlours and sailor hangouts in the nearby area of the homicide scene but also had no luck. Plus they checked the laundry marks… marks and traced the clothing that you found in that boxcar at the homicide scene and… and in spite of all that effort, this poor unfortunate chap here still remains unknown! Fascinating don’t you think? I would have bet my life that he would’ve been easy to identify, er? I don’t suppose… suppose you’ve had any luck here today have you?”
Merlyo looked down towards the ground in disappointment and replied to the intrigued Ness as the safety director took a satisfying sip of his red wine that the attentive Gerber had just given him “Unfortunately no luck as yet sir but there’s still many more people whom have yet to see them. Gerber here says that roughly seven thousand people will see these death masks before this event is over so we are still cautiously optimistic, regardless of all these initial setbacks” Ness looked at him for a moment, too high on opium and alcohol to contemplate the complexities of what the detective just told him with any rational meaning and awkwardly simply smiled as he replied “You’re probably right and besides… I have other matters of interest to attend too… for example the recent successful Republican National Convention. I’ve just been congratulated by numerous dignitaries on my security arrangements that where, and I quote ‘superb’! The con
vention successfully concluded with the Republican candidate Alfred Landon, the governor of Kansas as being chosen to run against Roosevelt. Not that I care for such things of course… as I’m sure you understand Hehe!”
The struggling Ness then slowly leaned towards Merlyo and then whispered in his awaiting ear “Don’t tell anyone this, I’m actually a Democrat Haha!” Merlyo and Gerber both tentatively joined in laughing with this strangely humorous creature that had appeared to have assumed the form of Ness. They both recognised that he was high on opium but had never seen him in such a state before and the distinctive smell of his favourite scotch poured from his mouth as he spoke again to his ever nearer colleagues “Anyhoo… must dash because I seem to have misplaced my ‘other-half’? I wonder where she is? Keep-up the great work gentlemen!”
Ness once again took a brief moment to admire his own, self-designed display booth with pride before he then turned and staggeringly walked off whilst being accompanied by the concerned looking Gerber. Ness stumbled at first but quickly regaining his posture and stride with the unwanted help of an overly cautious Gerber. The attentive Gerber had decided to keep behind him some way off into the distance of the plaza to ensure that he made his way safely to his next chosen destination. The sluggish Ness then paused to quietly berate Gerber for this intrusion into his private space but it was a necessary need for the drug addicted safety director, whom was obviously in need of some assistance.
The on looking detective then sadly watched as the clumsily disorientated Ness moved awkwardly away and into the awaiting arms of the appearing Poppy, whom looked all the more stunning as she stood out from the drab crowd in her stunningly beautiful red dress. His eyes where filled with happiness upon seeing her yet again and he was thankful that the elusive rose had yet again decided to reveal herself to his needy eyes. He also however felt a sadness flow over him as he saw her tentatively smiling at the staggering Ness and helped Gerber get him steady upon his feet.
Once the needy Ness was stable she briefly glanced back at the longing detective and warmly smiled, making his heart immediately ache knowing that she was once again with the very man whom was hurting her. She then proceeded to reluctantly turn and disappear into the shadowy mass of crowds that lay beyond the plaza, arm in arm with the incoherently rambling Ness. The sad detective stood there for what seemed like an eternity, alone with only the army of illuminated death masks behind him as company. He continued to look at where Poppy had been as the fireworks then slowly began to become less frequent overhead, until they stopped altogether.
A preoccupied Merlyo paged through Gerber’s well-worn and detailed report on the Tattooed Man’s homicide as he eagerly waited for the meeting to begin. He was seated within a humidly packed and large smoke filled meeting room which was usually used only by the detectives to discuss the day’s activities but today it was being used for something different entirely. This particularly impressive meeting room was located nearby Ness’s infamous office on the upper level of the police department headquarters and was used very sparingly for press meetings. Today’s special meeting had been arranged by the departments top officials for the infamous topic which both the detective, and his sleepy partner, where keenly awaiting for.
A daydreaming Zalewski sat next to him at the front row and casually chewed his gum as the meeting room started to fill up with yet more and more personnel, packing the room’s already cramped interior with ever more detectives. A noisy projector was showing an image on the white painted wooden display board which was directly in front of them and this image was of an outlined man’s head with a huge question mark within its centre. This ominously indicated to all what this meeting was intended for and effortlessly projected an unspoken uneasiness within the attending crowd. The hot projector was near to the two detectives and giving off an abnormal amount of heat which was further adding to both there discomfort whilst a line of empty chairs faced them from the front. These vacant chairs where in turn in front of a black board with the same chalk drawn image that was showing from the fan driven projector, a man’s outlined head with a massive question mark within its centre.
The strange word’s “Torso Clinic” where written in chalk above the faceless, question marked head and silently gave all whom were in attendance another clue of the meeting’s grim topic of discussion. The meeting was about to start and there was a tangible buzz of excitement within the humidly smoke filled air as a relaxed Zalewski then noticed that the engrossed Merlyo was completely consumed by the report that he was currently reading, curiously moving his head in order to see what he was reading but then giving up after an uncomfortable moment or two. The preoccupied Merlyo admired Gerber’s diligence to details, especially when the details where intensely macabre in nature which would have made any lesser man reel back in horror and quite possibly even question their chosen profession.
Merlyo leaned back in his seat for a moment as his mind was flooded with various professions that the Mad Butcher may work in but every time a new profession appeared within his mind, he recalled that they had already interviewed all within that particular area of interest. He then found himself eagerly recalling the long list of butchers, medical men and former psychiatric patients that had been interviewed over the last few months and attempted to recall if any gave him the impression of a person whom was concealing a hidden madness. The truth was that no one stood out as being secretly deranged and this troubled him and forced him to reanalyse the familiar memories of past interviews until his wandering eyes once again read what was on the page within his hand.
Identification was surprisingly never made of the Tattooed Man even with the successful death mask display, public showings at the morgue, Gerber’s pictures advertised within all the newspapers and the multitude of identifying tattoos that decorated his decapitated body. Even his fingerprints where not on any government files and the laundry markings eventually led nowhere, further hindering this apparently unsolvable case. It was as if the victim had mysteriously dropped out of the sky and no one knew him, except for the fact that he was now the latest in a long line of gruesome homicide victims of the infamous Mad Butcher.
Since the gruesome discovery of the Tattooed Man two more unsolved homicides had occurred, further increasing the unrelenting pressure upon the department’s finite resources. The first one had been discovered on July 22nd and was a decapitated unknown male whom was found in the Big Creek wooded area of Brooklyn, west of Cleveland. He was roughly about forty years old, had been dead for about two months and his decomposed head, along with a pile of bloody clothing, where found nearby. He had been uncharacteristically decapitated whilst still alive at the actual crime scene because of the large amount of blood that had soaked the surrounding grass. Apart from this irregularity he bore all the usual distinctively unique hallmarks of the infamous killer and he simply became known around the office as the “West Side Victim”.
The next homicide was found only a few days ago on September 10th in Kingsbury Run and only the upper half of a young man’s torso had initially been found until police searched the surrounding area and also discovered the lower section of his torso and parts of both his legs in a nearby pool, the only difference being that his head was taken clean off with a singularly powerful stroke of a sharpened blade. This instantly killed the roughly twenty year old unknown male and further enhanced the feeling of despondency within the department as well as increasing yet more lucrative sales for the ravenous newspapers. All the detectives’ fruitless endeavours had left the department feeling negative about the entire mysterious case and with seven brutal homicides in just two years they had neither clues nor suspects to go on.
The Cleveland Press, News and Plain Dealer had all reported on an almost daily basis now about the unsolved homicides and the lack of a suspects or progression within the infamous case. Now that the successful Great Lakes Exhibition and the Republican National Conventions where both over with the press wished to refocus their efforts
again back on these gruesome crimes which appeared to have hit a nerve within the besieged and frightened city. This was also now having a dramatically noticeable effect on the internal workings of the department as tensions where running high because of the constant newspaper criticism. The relentless pressure upon the safety director as well as his superiors, the mayor and congressman, where causing them to secretly implement drastic changes within the department specifically in order to deal with this unknown madman, whom was now jeopardising all of their illustrious careers with his prolonged murderous rampage.
Ness had decided to put another sixteen detectives on the case full time along with Merlyo, Zalewski, May and Musil and he had also personally decided to get more involved in the case, religiously attending all the recent detective meetings which discussed the latest developments. He had even recently come up with a miraculous epiphany of sorts because he and Gerber had both decided to call in as many experts as possible within the field of serial killings in order to create a specific character profile of the elusive Mad Butcher. Ness had also informed all the local newspapers of this upcoming meeting of professional minds to specifically target the Mad Butcher in an effort to express to the public that he was taking the matter deadly seriously.
The Noir Evil Page 27
