Ness did not go with him because he had another private matter to attend too, a final matter that would hopefully bury this blighted case once and for all within the graveyard of history. As he quickly made his way to the nearby exit, he marvelled at the brilliant sunlight that was filtering into the art deco lobby and was comforted when he caught the elusive sight of the cloudless blue sky above. Just as he was leaving he then noticed a happy looking but preoccupied Zalewski whom was eagerly talking to three people whilst sharing a drink, two of them being very oddly dressed. One of these three individuals was a young and smartly dressed dark haired man whom looked distinctly like the famed British actor Orson Welles whilst the other was a well-built and curly golden haired man whom he recognised as the former Olympian Buster Crabbe. Crabbe was wearing his famed star chested and colourful Flash Gordon uniform and was obviously here in Cleveland with his co-star on a publicity tour. His co-star, and the final of these individuals, was a beautiful blonde and curly haired actress whom he also recognised as Jean Rodgers and she was dressed in a revealing white dress that she had obviously used on the hit televised show with Crabbe.
All three men where flocked around her as they laughed and joked together but Orson looked a little embarrassed to be seen with this group and seemed as if he would much rather like to melt away into the background with only his drink and the attractive Rodgers as company. Rodgers had unwittingly attracted the attention of the entire lobby with her glowing beauty and many men secretly examined her perfection from afar before they were noticed by their respective wives and punished appropriately. As the unseen Ness hastily passed by the laughing group he noticed that Zalewski had jokingly wrapped a red scarf around his neck to conceal his face whilst brandishing his famed Flash Gordon ray pistol, confidently mimicking Orson’s famed radio character, The Shadow.
As the amused Ness finally left the crowded hotel lobby, as well as leaving an elated Zalewski within his own private heaven, he came outside into the fresh air and became almost blinded by the sunlight that now pervaded all his limited vison. The distinctively attractive smell of wet soil after a thunderstorm heavenly saturated him and he took a blessed moment to simply look up into the sky and marvel at how fantastically blue it was whilst the gentle warm breeze caressed his sun kissed skin. His gaze then moved from this pure blue to the dismal grey of concreate as he looked at the obelisk like creation which dominated the Cleveland skyline, the impressive Terminal Tower. He was adamant that he wished to make his prearranged appointment on its observation level and then continued to hastily move through the packed plaza which was full of people whom had all apparently left their offices to enjoy this momentary break in the storm.
Ness and the surrounding people all felt as though they had been living underground for the last few years as the dazzling sunlight seemed to effortlessly invade all areas of darkness with its warm embrace. As he hastily moved through the sun admiring crowds and got ever closer to the Terminal Towers base he thought about how he had been caught totally unawares by the strange events that had transpired back in the hotel because this prearranged meeting would have been a simple formality if not for the intervention of fates tirelessly unpredictable hand. He still could not fully rationalise what had actually occurred on the 10th floor and theorised that he would be debating its true meaning for years to come, probably with the help of some skilled therapist whom preferably had skills within the areas of both psychoanalysis and religion.
He momentarily paused as he passed the familiar sight of congressman Sweeney’s parked and impressive red and gold Phaeton which dwarfed his own adjacent silver stout Scarab. Ness took a satisfactory moment to pleasantly admire the silver gleaming shine that effortlessly reflected the warm sun’s rays back upon him from his beloved Elegant Mess before he leaned in to gently touch its polished Scarab shaped bonnet. He then looked at the congressman’s behemoth of an automobile and smiled to himself knowing that there was only ever going to be one winner on the road if they had a confrontation other than the one they were about to have whilst overlooking Cleveland. He then took out his keys and opened the Scarab’s door, took out a document packed file from within its glove compartment and closed it again before momentarily pausing. He then kissed his two fingers before placing them longingly upon the Scarab’s bonnet to silently thank it for its valuable years of loyal service before he then looked up to see his forthcoming destination.
He then entered the Terminal Tower and quickly ascended within its lavish elevator to the observation level whereby the lone figure of congressman Sweeney eagerly awaited him whilst smoking his Cuban cigar. A determinedly focused Ness swiftly opened the door to the magnificent observation area with conviction as a startled Sweeney spun around to see the imposing lawman standing within the blinding sunshine. The surprised congressman tried to show the expression of bemusement within his well versed political face but no matter how much he tried he simply could not hide the immense disappointment of seeing Ness being still alive. He knew that the cunning lawman would easily deduce his facial trickery and so he bypassed with the social niceties and got directly down to business as he agitatedly spoke “It’s about time! Do you know how long I’ve been waiting here? Do you know how much it costs to rent out this observation level per hour? And why here of all places did you want to meet here for our meeting? I mean my office would’ve been far more pleasant!”
The stern looking Ness felt a rush of exhilaration flow over him as he slowly walked towards the corrupt law maker and replied to his question only once he had leisurely taken in the breath taking view of the surrounding sunlit skyline “You know why I’m late because you had your loyal goon try to kill me and my colleague. He fortunately failed at both and has apparently fled and left you on your own? Perhaps he’s run off to Mexico like his former boss? The reason I wanted to meet here because it’s rather poetic don’t you think? You’ve ruled here from your ‘nest of shame’ for years now and surveyed the slow decline of Cleveland like some giant vampire parasite that’s been feeding upon the masses but now your reign of misery is at an end. It’s at an end because I have a royal flush in my hand” The smiling Sweeney remained silent as he curiously continued to listen to the defiant lawman and silently debated how he should kill him and in what painful manner.
Ness then continued after easily being able to read his deceitfully hate filled face and knew that his next statement would amuse the well versed and seasoned politician “Regardless of that and no matter how much this pains me to do so, I’m here to make a deal with you, a Faustian deal if you will, so here’s what’s going to happen! First, if I can’t get a confession out of your insanely demented cousin then you’re going to institutionalise him in a sanatorium where he’ll live out the rest of loathsome days safely incarcerated and being drugged up with medication. Second, you’re going to voluntarily leave your seat in congress with no questions asked. Third, you’re not going to interfere with county prosecutor Cullitan’s tax evasion case against Polizzi and finally fourth, you’re going leave Poppy, Merlyo and my other colleague’s respective families and friends alone or so help me god! I’ll not only hunt you down myself but so will the government when I release all this juicy information that I have on you! If the government gets these detailed documents that Poppy kindly gave me, you’ll be looking at life at least and possibly even share a cell with my old friend in Alcatraz, Capone. Who knows, perhaps even the death house itself maybe waiting for you? Depending on your lawyer of course”
The smiling Sweeney almost laughed at the smirking Ness’s new brazen attitude towards himself and could not help but find this publically defiant personality to be thoroughly amusing. He eagerly let this pleasurable amusement sink in as he continued to leisurely smoke his cigar before he then leaned into Ness whilst they both looked out at the skyline of the city which they now both claimed as there’s. He then sinisterly spoke whilst he gritted his teeth in anger and indulged himself within the swirling visceral hatred that he ha
d for the man whom now defiantly thought to be his equal, or worse his better “You pathetic little man! You think that you can just come up here to my domain and make threats and dictate how I should run my life! HA! There is only one god in Cleveland and I am that god! I am that power and I create the laws and dictate life events in this city! Not you! You’re a sad and sorry little man who thinks he’s big because his face is in the newspapers all the time and because a long time ago you helped take down that looser Capone! You know what I’ll do? I think I’ll not listen to a fucking word that you’ve just said and I’ll go and kill everyone on your beloved list that you just gave me. Hell! Even Edna, Evaline and even that whore Poppy are all fair game to me now! I orchestrated your little romance with her and have been playing you like a fiddle since you first came here to Cleveland. Poppy will pay dearly for daring to betray me after everything that I’ve done for her, she’ll pay dearly indeed! She’s my property and belongs to me! I’ll punish her as I see fit and when the time is right and believe me Ness, she’ll suffer!”
The stern faced Ness did not break his viewing of the wonderfully sunlit skyline of Cleveland as Sweeney continued to amuse himself again with Ness’s pathetic attempt at intimidation, sniggering as he enjoyed his rich Cuban cigar and relishing his own vile threats. After a moments contemplation the amused congressman then vocalised his joy at Ness’s continual interference within his affairs “Jesus Ness! I have to say that you’ve been a royal pain in my ass over the years! I must confess that I even impressed myself by letting you get into contact with my army of dodgy doctors whom where all too willing to feed your opium habit, for a price of course. This kept you slow and off my case, and that of my various close associates, but even I was shocked at you surviving those various scandals that would have sunk any seasoned politician. The clubbing of those protesting strikers and especially burning down the shantytown where, in my opinion, fatal but you somehow managed to stagger on within your opium fuelled stupor? Seen as where being honest with each other here I must confess that Polizzi wanted to plug you years ago, that or give you a cement bath in the Cuyahoga River but you know how brutish he is don’t you? Not thinking about the consequences of his violent actions until after they’ve taken place but I had other ideas, more inventive and creative if you will. I wanted to break you and slowly crush you publically and I often thought about giving you a drug overdose but I suspected you’d do it yourself with the way things were going. Hell! I even thought about telling that blonde whore to do it for me! Hahaha! She’s very skilled in the deadly art of poisoning you know! Now that would have been poetic fate for you, death by Miss Valentine! By the way how is she? Ah! Yes! She’s ran off again hasn’t she? God knows where she is now but rest assured Ness that I’ll find her. I’m very well connected and when I do I’ll make her suffer, really suffer in terrible pain!”
The silent Ness could not hide his emotionally physical response to this follow up threat upon the woman he still loved and gritted his teeth together in anger upon hearing the cruel congressman’s deadly wishes. After a moment he however hid this anger and calmly handed him the file that he had collected from his Scarab which contained numerous copies of documents that he had created the previous night. The irritated congressman greedily took the file as Ness handed it to him and was determined to immediately destroy any hope that the arrogant lawman had about dismantling his empire that he had so lovingly built up over the years. The calm Ness then smiled to himself as the increasingly anxious Sweeney hastily looked through the many implicating documents that would most certainly send him to either the rock of Alcatraz or even the dreaded death house itself! Ness relished in covertly watching the corrupt congressman’s smugness slowly transform into a look of sheer fear as he frantically paged through the many papers, clearly showing his immense discomfort at reading the many forms of crimes that he had accumulated over the vast years of his dark reign.
The preoccupied Sweeney then placed his smouldering cigar on the concrete ledge as he hastily surveyed his immaculately detailed crimes and silently cursed his own blighted ability to meticulously keep records of his many illegal activities. The content Ness then took this cigar whilst Sweeney continued to frantically look at the alarming pages and sweated as he did so, barley noticing his cigars absence from his quickly drying mouth. Ness then satisfactorily puffed on the almost finished cigar as he looked out at the sunlit skyline and could not fully understand why the congressman adored its vile and somewhat even repulsive rich taste. He then paused and took out his silver pill box from his waistcoat pocket and curiously looked at it before placing it where the cigar had been, silently determining that Sweeney would require them now more than himself.
He then gently tapped its formerly attractive art deco exterior to pay his final silent respects to the drug that had so consumed him over the last few years. He then turned to leave and dropped the sickly rich tasting cigar onto the ground and leisurely crushed it under his shoe, expelling the many orange glowing embers from its final death cry which all gently fluttered away into the wind, just as Sweeney’s corrosive influence upon Cleveland was now also fluttering away. The alarmed Sweeney then voiced his concern with an unfamiliar shaking voice and hoped to still dissuade the untouchable lawman about his chosen course of action “Ok! Ok! Ok! Don’t rush off now! Perhaps I was a little too hasty with my ill-judged comments and so er? How much for the originals? Name your price and it’s yours! Perhaps you wish to be the mayor of Cleveland? I know you do and I can make it happen with a simple click of my fingers. Anything! And don’t tell me you’re ‘untouchable’ because everyone has a price! EVERYONE!”
The veteran untouchable had heard this familiar line before back in Chicago and simply smiled as he calmly replied “You know my terms” The defeated congressman looked at him in dismay as the now confidently smiling Ness motioned to leave before Sweeney hastily spoke after him yet again, desperate to avoid a public scandal that would certainly ruin him if these documents were made public “Why this is totally unreasonable…” And as the desperate congressman vigorously voiced his numerous objections to the lawman’s unacceptable terms, Ness took a deep breath in and let the brilliant sunshine caress his warm skin. The congressman’s defiant protestations soon drifted into obscurity as sunlight satisfactorily soaked into his skin and filled his very being with a new sense of satisfaction, the likes of which he had never known before. He then took a long and loving look at the beautiful sunlit Cleveland skyline and knew that his city was now healing under the refreshingly revitalising clear blue skies. He then calmly spoke as the sun’s warm rays filled his very being with a satisfying joy of utter completeness “It’s such a beautiful day!”…
… Elsewhere on the outskirts of Cleveland but still within eyesight of the gleaming Terminal Tower, an old taxi driver struggled to hear what his mysterious passenger had just said over the loud playing radio music of Memphis Minnie’s new song called “Hoodoo Lady”. The keenly listening taxi driver then vocalised his query to this unknown traveller in the backseat because he was curious to hear what she had just uttered “Sorry miss, what did you say again!?”
The elegantly dressed and smiling blonde lady in red whom was also wearing a rose crochet flapper and sunglasses reluctantly looked back at Cleveland’s disappearing skyline behind her. She marvelled as they entered the gloriously sunlit poppy fields that now surrounded them, silently sad as the very sign that she been looking for only an hour ago had come just too late to prevent her from killing herself. She then knowingly smiled as her hidden crimson eyes eagerly surveyed her fast moving sunlit surroundings from behind her concealing sunglasses, the very same crimson eyes that had only first opened within Poppy’s candle lit room of sorrow thirty minutes ago.
The defeated Lilith had felt compelled to save the dead Poppy whose remarkably spiritually attune soul had literally cried out to her like a sirens call whilst she was violently expelled from her pervious host. As the demoness had entered her vacant ves
sel of flesh and bone, Poppy’s lifeless body had then violently pulsated back into life within the ritualistic blood soaked bathtub because the demoness’s sheer will to survive had overridden nature’s natural call of death. She had then dragged Poppy’s spirit linked soul back from the realm between worlds and into her newly inhabited fleshy tomb, unnaturally forcing life back within her whilst also healing her fatally self-inflicted wounds. Her endless conflict between herself and the intrusive higher power above, whom had unfairly breathed life back into the defeated Ness, would now continue unabated. She would now repose in secret within this newly acquired mortal guise and heal her own wounds, and that of her hosts, before the essence of horror that now resided within this false facade would once again reveal itself upon an unsuspecting world.
She secretly relished how she had once again outsmarted the all-knowing one but she was an ancient being after all and had come from the primordial stardust at the beginning and would be in the forsaken void at the end. She would forever be the temptress of forbidden delights and the queen of the night as long as eternity stretched out before her but now she wished to take on the new and unfamiliar role, that of a mother. She felt this compelling urge because both herself and her new host had been traumatically born into this world within a manner that had undoubtedly left them both scarred. She would now and forever love the lost Poppy until such time that her lonely soul could see that there was a better tomorrow which was worth living for. She would from now on not only be the mother that Poppy had always longed for but she would also love her as she would her own daughter.
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