Meanwhile the honest and sensitive Tattooed Man carefully looked at the morbid curiosity and desperately tried to recall the absent memories from his pervious life but to no avail as the mean Andrassy continued to tease the awkward coroner. After a while the frustrated Gerber had finally had enough and voiced his irritation upon seeing Andrassy knowingly smirk at him as he became tired of this deceitful game “Oh! God! I give up! You’re all absolutely useless! If you’re not bickering amongst yourselves then you scheming or plotting! This isn’t some joke Andrassy! The Mad Butcher is still on the loose out there!” Whilst Chatterbox mumbled an assortment of jumbled and incomprehensible apologise at the disappointed Gerber and the Tattooed Man proclaimed his innocence, the sensitive ears of all within the grim room then noticed that a guest was coming slowly down the long hallway and towards the morgue door.
The distinctively familiar footsteps where that of the safety director himself as he predictably walked at his usual steady pace and the alarmed Gerber then instinctively lay the morbid curiosity hastily back down upon the steel table and quietly spoke to his permanently watching audience of three “That’ll be Ness now so all of you please keep quiet and don’t move ok?” The amused Andrassy then defiantly spoke, un-eager to take orders from anyone whom dictated them to him because of his renowned arrogance and obvious oppositional defiant syndrome “That jerk who treats that hottie Miss Valentine like dirt? Why’d you invite him? Why if I had a body I’d kick his opium fuelled…!”
The defiant Andrassy immediately went silent as the curious Ness tentatively knocked upon Gerber’s sealed wooden door before the awkward coroner then hastily got up and rushed over to the door, opening it whilst irritatingly looking back at the three troublesome heads which had constantly plagued him since there tragic discovery. Upon opening the door he allowed a nervous smile to awkwardly develop upon his face which warmly welcomed the smiling safety director as he eagerly walked in. The smiling Ness took off his trusty patched fedora hat and proclaimed his intentions for the next few minutes “So sorry that I’m a bit late Gerber but I had some prior important engagements that I simply had to attend too. You stated that you had received something in the post that you think might be related to the Mad Butcher investigation? I must confess that you have me at loss here because I was trying to guess at what it possibly could be on the way over here so you’ve unwittingly built up my curiosity. So er? What is it?”
The awkward Gerber then hastily led the curiously relaxed Ness towards the well-lit morgue table and spoke as he showed him the morbid curiosity in the light whilst keeping an ever watchful eye on his three silent companions “Well! I received this in the post this morning and I suspect that it could have been sent by the Mad Butcher himself. We all know that he has an infamously macabre sense of humour what with his disposal of the Tattooed Man’s decapitated body nearby the police building, another female victim left at the exact same location of the Lady of the Lake’s homicide and the two frozen victims that where within eyesight of your office window. He’s obviously a well-read and a very smart individual and so this suits the Torso Clinic profile that we created about him because he likes to taunt…”
Before the knowledgeable Gerber could continue Ness interrupted him whilst he looked at the three static heads within the glass bell jars by the curiosities hooves, instantly recognising the famed ghoulish group as they all bizarrely faced the morbid curiosity as if they were inspecting it themselves “Sorry Gerber but before you continue I must ask what in god’s name are these heads doing here?” The embarrassed Gerber then immediately answered the curious Ness’s question, wanting to alleviate any uncomfortableness within the tomb like room as he felt his blood pressure immediately rising and making his face instantly flushed “Oh! Them? Hehe! I just wanted to re-inspect them again for any irregularities that I may have missed in the earlier examinations. You can never be sure if you’ve missed something and I’m a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to detailed visual analysis. I removed them from there morgue chamber and drained the formaldehyde from each one mainly to look for any unseen drug markings under the hairline that I could’ve possibly missed”
The pleasantly surprised Ness then smiled as he looked at them each individually, fascinated by there well preserved facial features after such a long time within frozen storage before he spoke again “I admire your dedication Gerber, I really do and it’s a wonder why we have not solved this case already with people like you on it. I must confess that I thought that these would’ve all been buried by now or at least incinerated? I had no idea you that you had kept them! Sorry, I’m getting a little side tracked here Hehe! Please do continue” The nervously sweating Gerber then hastily continued after feeling a wave of relief flow over him due to Ness’s apparent disregard for his three ghoulishly gruesome groupies “Yes! Well! I am almost positive that this was sent by the Mad Butcher because we both know he’s probably a very well-read man who constantly keeps up to date with the investigation. So I suspect that he had read the local newspapers and watched the news relating to me and thought that the local coroner would be a prime target for his latest gruesomely macabre joke. Do you think I’m in danger sir?”
The preoccupied Ness was now closely analysing the grim curiosity and was carefully walked around it as Andrassy’s head defiantly stuck his tongue out at the famed lawman, jealous of his notoriety as both a womaniser and abuser of drugs. As the annoyed Gerber silently chastised the cheeky head’s alarming facial gesture, the preoccupied Ness cautiously replied to Gerber’s worry about the gruesome item that now beckoned his curious gaze “I think you’ll be fine Gerber so please don’t worry. It’s always good to practice safety and common sense techniques as we all do within this investigation because this madman knows whom we all are thanks to the accursed press. However he only takes pleasure in ridiculing the police, not making them his latest victims and so I wouldn’t concern yourself with worry. If it’s any consolation his victims are all unknowns and so it also would not fit his modus operandi”
Ness then reassuringly smiled at the concerned coroner before a resurgent Gerber then continued to speak after feeling relived at the safety directors logical and kind words “Thank you Sir! Now where was I? Oh yes! This is simply an usual curiosity that can be found in any local carnival and seen for as little as a penny. It contains the usual mix of real body parts of a variety of selected animals to create this disturbingly authentic look. For example the hooves are either a small donkey or llamas but I’ll have to take it to a vet tomorrow to determine this aspect of its unusual anatomy. It also contains human body parts such as the shrunken head here, which is a commonplace and refined technique in many pacific island religious rituals. I believe that the arms are from a primate, a gorilla perhaps? And for some strange reason they have all been purposefully embalmed for its creation. I have no way of concluding how old this item is or if it contains anymore human body parts without a full and comprehensive autopsy and this is why I asked you here today, so that I could request to perform this autopsy. I truly believe that it could be…”
A slightly more irritable Ness then interrupted him as he was keen to reacquaint himself with his beloved new hobby outside, his beloved silver Scarab “Yes! Yes! Yes! By all means do whatever you think is necessary, just be sure to inform both detectives Merlyo and Zalewski of its arrival ok?” Gerber then hastily replied “They already came a few hours ago and they both where of the same mind that it was possibly somebody’s morbid idea of a grim joke and that it has not necessarily sent by the Mad Butcher” Ness quickly replied as he soon lost interest in examining the curiosity and put on his trusty patched work hat again in anticipation of eagerly reacquainting himself with the smooth tarmac of the road outside “I agree! There’s no need for worry about it, honestly Gerber it’s probably somebodies idea of a grim joke and that’s it! Now! If you’ll please excuse me I have to get going because I have a rather important ‘security meeting’ to attend with the Chief of Police
!”
Gerber then awkwardly asked the leaving Ness a curiously hesitant question, concerned over his reaction to its private content “How is your recovery coming along?” Ness immediately stopped himself from leaving the grimly lit green-tinged morgue and ceased all movements as he quickly analysed the simple question with alarming ferocity. He then smiled to himself and spoke in a low tone, genuinely appreciative of the good coroner’s concern over his wellbeing “I’m fine now thank you Gerber, I’m recovering thanks to your carefully planned out care plan and of course I have both good and bad days but I’m getting there and I appreciate your unwavering concern. The opium is now a thing of my past and the less said about it the better. Now if you’ll please excuse me, I must be going”
The smiling Ness then turned around and walked up to the awkward Gerber, putting both his hands upon his shoulders in a gentle gesture to promote his unspoken feelings of warmth towards his loyal Unknown member. This was a positive sign which he rarely showed to any other Unknown and was the equivalent of a physical hug from the famed lawman. The smiling Ness then spoke again whilst he clutched the worried looking Gerber’s shoulders “Remember! You are my number one!” before he then swiftly turned around and hastily left the room. Ness then secretly giggled to himself as he quickly walked down the echoing hallway and towards the cold buildings exit, amused as his own seriousness and jokingly recited his own last words back to himself. He was high on opium but did not have the heart to tell Gerber about his relapse because of the anxiety it would produce within the already anxious coroner. His conflicting thoughts about his problematic addiction soon however disappeared as the ambient light became more prevalent within the gloomy hallway and he found himself drawn towards the awaiting gleaming silver metal hulk of his automobile outside.
Back within the morgue the slightly confused Gerber curiously listened to Ness’s quick paced footstep and giggling become fainter and fainter within the echoing long corroder, before he then heard the Tattooed Man’s voice break the long silence with a concerned comment about Merlyo’s previous visit “Gerber! Or should I say ‘Number One’?! Hehe! Can you please not invite detective Merlyo around here again because of that sickly and ghoulish little girl whom always follows him around everywhere. She’s always staring at me, Andrassy and even poor Chatterbox here with her hollow eyes through her soaking wet hair and I must confess that it’s all rather disturbing and terribly frightful!” The smiling Andrassy looked knowingly at the sightless Chatterbox and winked as he heard his fellow dismembered heads worries about the haunting spectre of the little Lady of the Lake.
The irritated Gerber then turned around and slowly sighed as he returned his gaze to analyses the well-lit morbid curiosity, taking his time to answer the concerned looking dismembered head of the Tattooed Man “I told you she’s not real whomever she is and I’ve never seen her so I have no idea what you’re talking about! I’m not even sure if he knows that this little ghost has attached herself to him? Anyway, if you’ll all now excuse me gentleman because I need some peace and quiet while I proceed with my detailed investigation of this bizarrely made item. I only have a few minutes before Poppy arrives”
As the preoccupied Gerber then carefully sat back down upon his well-crafted and noiseless wooden chair, the excitable Andrassy then abruptly started to make some strange animal noises which were in turn followed by his leeringly suggestive and impolite comments about the gorgeous Poppy “Woof! Woof! Woof! Hubba! Hubba! Hubba! She is sooooo fine that woman! Man! If I still had my body I can’t tell you what I’d like to do to her because it’s that bad! I mean I can’t even mention it! Especially with such unskilled men within the love department such as you three losers! Hahaha! Let’s just say she’d be begging me for some more of the Andrassy-meister’s magic…”
Before the dirty Andrassy could elaborate more upon his sordid sexual fantasies which constantly filled his deviant mind, the angry Gerber grabbed the formaldehyde bottle from under the morgue table and poured it into Andrassy’s bell jar. The liquid instantly stopped his rather uncomfortable comments about his only true friend under a blissful wall of bubbles and allowed the sanity of silence to once again flow over the darkened room. The defiant Andrassy angrily protested his innocence as the liquid sealed him within a muffling sea of blissful bubbles and instantly did what none other could hope to do and keep the rather rude and ill-manned head eternally quiet.
Both the Tattooed Man and Chatterbox then thanked the relieved Gerber as he eagerly pushed his spectacles back upon his sweaty nose and was thankful for having a few blessed moments of peace to investigate his prised possession until he alarmingly heard the distinctively unique walking pattern of a woman in high heels. The alarmed Gerber then instantly grabbed the two lighter jars of the Tattooed Man and Chatterbox and hastily took them back within the concealing shadows, saving the heavier Andrassy till last due to his now immense weight. He hastily put them all on top of the already pulled out steel morgue chambers bed along with his cumbersome Gladstone bag which he left open. He then ran back to the better lit morgue table and grabbed the formaldehyde jug and ran back to the three jars and quickly filled the two remaining bell jars up to the rim, apologising to both the polite Tattooed Man and the talkative Chatterbox as he did so “I’m sorry guys but this has to be done! She already thinks I’m strange as it is!”
The on looking and now smiling Andrassy now ceased his silent protests all together as he satisfactorily watched his two colleagues discomfort as they were each slowly condemned to the same sentence he had been so unjustly been given moments ago. Just as Gerber had finished topping up all three now silent bell jars Poppy began to alarmingly knock at the morgue door and Gerber left his three macabre secrets upon the open morgue table and hastily used his foot to push the steel bed back into its concealing refrigeration chamber. Whilst the clumsy coroner hastily ran towards the awaiting door he momentarily stopped to both dispose of the empty formaldehyde jug under the morgue table and smartened his greying hair by the well-lit mirror which hung over the nearby sink. Whilst doing these things he did not notice that the tall Gladstone bags upturned leather bound handle had silently stopped the steel bed from fully retracting all the way back into its unseen, cold tomb and bounced the steel bed silently back out. The shadowy and unseen steel bed now fully displayed its three liquid full bell jars with pride as the three twitching heads now had a rare front row seat opportunity to watch there clumsy masters meeting with his long term good friend.
The nervous Gerber then quickly opened the door and in walked the elegantly dressed and smiling Poppy whom was wearing a tastefully crafted long dark jacket with rose motifs embodied upon its velvet exterior which in turn teasingly showed a glimpse of her concealed red evening dress underneath. She then spoke whilst she took off her red gloves and as Gerber nervously greeted her by gently kissing her on her rosy cheeks “Hello Gerber! Why thank you, I just missed Ness speeding off in that dreadful silver Scarab of his, wow! Honestly Gerber, I wish he had never seen that ugly beast of an automobile but if that’s what keeps him from his other bad habits then so be it. Anyway, how is he and more to the point, how are you?”
Gerber then tentatively lead her to the only well-lit area within the greenish tinged morgue as he hesitantly replied to her “He’s actually doing rather well in fact and I’m happy to report that he has taken it upon himself to put his efforts into other areas rather than opium acquisition. He did just strangely admit to me that he still has his issues with the drug but that these are sporadic and I believe him. As for me! I am still slightly nervous about my date tonight so thanks again for coming with me and I really appreciate your moral support on this private matter of mine” He paused as he warmly smiled at her and she returned this warmth with a briefly reassuring cuddle before she then spoke again as they both got ever closer to the solitary well-lit area within the greenly dim lit morgue “So I suppose this must be your gruesome ‘postal friend’ that you told me about? What a truly hor
rible sight! It reminds me of the curiosities that you see within amusement parks or travelling circuses”
The awkwardly smiling Gerber replied as she actively resurveyed the morbid sight in all of its well-lit clarity, carefully removing his constrictive white morgue overalls to reveal the three piece grey suit which lay hidden beneath “Well spotted Poppy! That’s very observant of you and that’s exactly what it is! A simply funfair curiosity with all of the usual assortment of real animal contents as well. As I told you before on the telephone, I suspect it has been sent to me personally by the Mad Butcher himself as one of his convoluted amusements towards the law enforcement authorities. However it will be exceedingly difficult to determine if its contents belong to any of his victims because, as you well know, most of his victims are either unknown or have yet to be discovered. Sorry this is all rather grim isn’t it? I’m looking forward to leaving this morgue and escaping its rather repressive confinement” The silently engrossed Poppy heeded her clever friend’s insightful words as she curiously inspected the morbid curiosity with the eagerness of a young child, confident that she could discover something that the skilled coroner had missed.
Unseen from both the well-lit and preoccupied two friends where the three dismembered heads upon the open steel bed within the shadows as they eagerly watched this intriguing meeting of minds. The leering Andrassy stuck his tongue out upon seeing the sexy Poppy enter the tomb like room and now he actively licked the glass jar’s interior and made all manner of sexually provocative advances towards her with his miraculously moving tongue. He was secretively undressing her within him devious mind and creating a variety of gruesome scenarios in which he might be able to pleasure the attractive southern bell with his head alone. Whilst Andrassy drifted into the realms of his own sordid fantasy, the Tattooed Man simply rolled his eyes at his ludicrously ill-mannered companion and was embarrassed to be seen with such a rude dismembered head as company.
The Noir Evil Page 46
