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Post by Eyes on Aug 14, 2017 11:32:59 GMT -5
Meanwhile, Gunnarson had gone into the local pub nearest to his apartment. The Swede wasn't much of a drinker, but what with everything that had happened recently he thought a pint would do him some good.
He sat down at a table. Over at the other corner a drunkard was standing up and doing an impression of Winston Churchill.
"Oi yah mates, let's all foight 'em in the bleachers, foight 'em in the dog houses, foight 'em in the kitchen sinks, never surrender, wot ho!"
Gunnarson groaned. One beer and that'd be it for him. Unfortunately, the drunkard came up to him looking for some chit-chat.
"'Ello, 'ello," he said, "you're a bit preoccupied, tha's plain fer aul te see."
"What makes you say that?" asked Gunnarson.
"Come na', when a man g'es an' leaves his cuffs unbuttoned on 'is shirt sleeves, 'e's pro'ly preoccupied, in this case I'd say p'lice business."
"Wow," said Gunnarson. "I'm impressed."
"Why? Ah saw ye're pictair in t'e papir, dan't be soo surprised."
"You seem to be completely clear for someone who's had a few, no offense."
"Nah moight, I'm clear. This is me first glass, swear upon t'e Haily Crucifix i' 'tis. Nah, Ah jest loike to observe, an' when paople think Ah'm a fo'l, it works, believe yoo me! Name's Nicko by the ways."
Gunnarson suddenly realized that this man could be the key to getting into that crime scene.
---------
"Ah come ofe it, oficar!" said Nicko. "What's a little 'vestigatin' af'er all, eh wot?"
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Aug 14, 2017 12:00:09 GMT -5
"I'll tell you what I told the other one who was here 20 minutes ago- both you and that incompetent Swede have no business here. We don't need hunches, we need evidence. And we especially don't need a drunkard harassing us! No civilians on crime scenes, no exceptions. Go back to the pub you crawled from; we're very busy" Detective Ferris declared.
"Oy, tough crowd" Nicko whispered to himself
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Post by Eyes on Aug 15, 2017 14:09:05 GMT -5
"Olroight," he said to himself, "toime to take it ta the next lev'l!"
And thus saying, he rounded up the rest of 'the boys'.
"Roight then, we've got ta break into a croime scene to foind out some evidence for a PI. Y'ain't afroid of gettin' 'rested, roight?"
"If we're just breaking into a crime scene, then that's anyway not much of a crime," said one.
"Roight you are. Now then, Bruce, 'Arry, H, Mur, and Jan, Ah'll give ya t'e directions an' then O'll le'v' it up ta yoo."
-------------
Stein sighed as he came into Gunnarson's apartment. "Well Gunnarson, I've had a trying day."
"What was the matter, min vän?"
"A bunch of drunkards stormed the crime scene today and I've just got through hauling them away."
"I thought you only worked with special cases?"
"Well yeah, this is a special case..." Then he noticed Nicko. "Gunnarson... where you a part of... DAMMIT GUNNARSON! If you wanted the details you should've just asked me!"
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Aug 15, 2017 17:32:17 GMT -5
(Sorry eyes; I'm bad at typing accents; edit if you want to later)
"Come on now officer; surely they were just trying to help" Nicko said.
"Some help they turned out to be; they just made a mess of things! Be glad they're only in jail on trespassing charges" Stein said.
"So why are you here Stein? I've told you everything I know about the Blade Syndicate" Gunnarson asked.
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Aug 16, 2017 22:55:55 GMT -5
(Just a little post to keep the readers interested)
It was no secret that Gunnarson's relationship with Scotland Yard had become strained; but Gunnarson's day was going to go from bad to worse as a certain detective appeared on radio in a live interview that day.
"Good evening ladies and gentlemen; I am your host Ed Winston, and on today's interview, we chat with a man who says that Adolf Gunnarson, the Swedish private detective who many consider a hero, is in fact anything but. Joining me tonight is detective Michael Walton of Scotland Yard. Welcome to the show, detective."
"Pleasure to be here, Ed" Walton replied.
"So I guess the first question is how long have you known Gunnarson?" Ed asked.
"Oh, a few months at this point. We've worked on the same case a couple times in the past, and from experience I am here today to tell you that this Swede is utterly incompetent and has no business working in this field" Walton explained.
"Really? What can you tell us about Gunnarson?" Ed asked.
"Where should I start? I think I will focus on the most recent outing, when we were working on the murder of Major Cronwall. That stooge couldn't keep a straight train of thought going to save his life- he accused three different suspects of being the murderer in only an hour or so, and kept reconsidering suspects after they had been logically eliminated" Walton explained.
"Really? Well, surely it wasn't that bad..." Ed asked
"No; it was worse. I kid you not, during the investigation, he actually said, and I quote, "so it could have been Cricket or the nephew... I think I will start with Mr Gothart and his wife Emily" Walton said. "I swear his brain is designed to confuse himself!" Walton declared.
"But what about his trifecta?" Ed asked
"He didn't even think about it until his friend brought it up for him; he was too persistent in reconsidering eliminated suspects just to pursue a hunch.
"Fascinating; what else can you tell us about him?" Ed asked, before the interview proceeded
......
Gunnarson heard none of this interview; he was busy with Stein as the radio was off
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Post by Toz76 on Aug 17, 2017 23:49:02 GMT -5
"You told me everything you know, sure, but what do you think? You have a knack for outlandish hunches that turn out to be correct. For starters, motive. Why is he going around leaving disembodied arms? What happens to the rest of the victim's body?"
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Aug 19, 2017 12:01:48 GMT -5
"I have have given thought on that, and call me crazy but... I don't necessarily think that the victims are being killed" Gunnarson explained.
"Why that conclusion?" Stein asked, confused.
"Think about it- if nine people were killed last night, and by an explosion, mind you, it would be fairly difficult to take and hide nine bodies without drawing attention to oneself. No, this was something else. Almost as if... the victims were being taken elsewhere" Gunnarson reasoned.
"But where?" Stein asked. Then he remembered something on the arms themselves. "You may want to see this" Stein said.
Some time later in the morgue, Stein, Byrne, Greene and the doctors present were showing Gunnarson what was found on the arms.
"We didn't see it at first, but cut into the arms were words" Stein explained. Gunnarson read off what was there:
Your
Only
Clue
Detectives-
The
Man
Is
An
Island
"Isn't the phrase "No man is an island" though?" Byrne asked
"Exactly; and yet they say the man, not no man... the man is an island... what could that mean?" Greene said.
"Now this makes things interesting. They've been fairly secretive until now. And yet, why send the message? Blade is a smart man, he wouldn't do something without having a reason behind it" Gunnarson explained.
"What are you saying?" Stein asked.
"...He's taunting us" Gunnarson concluded.
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Post by Toz76 on Aug 19, 2017 23:23:16 GMT -5
"He clearly thinks he has a decisive advantage. He's overconfident. And overconfident people make mistakes."
"Then let's see if we can find his mistakes." Stein said, sliding over several folders.
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Aug 19, 2017 23:33:00 GMT -5
"The cases concerning Blade?" Gunnarson asked.
"The ones we know about anyway; come on, best we get with the others" Stein explained.
Some time later, Stein, Byrne, Greene and Gunnarson were looking over the case files related to Blade and his men. There had to be something, anything that could reveal a clue.
......
Blade was meeting with his right hand men, Fowler and Wilcox, as they discussed plans for the immediate future. Just then, Wilcox brought up something that had been on his mind for a while.
"With all due respect sir, are we being hypocritical with refusing to kill? After all, you are the one who dropped Malcolm West to his death, and Fowler, you killed all those farm animals" Wilcox pointed out.
"Killing animals is not the same as killing people Wilcox; you should know that" Fowler argued.
"But what about Malcolm West?" Wilcox asked, confused.
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Post by Toz76 on Aug 19, 2017 23:38:35 GMT -5
"You both know the answer to that. We didn't have this facility then, and we only started the pacifism thing after four of our friends died." Blade snapped.
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Aug 19, 2017 23:43:59 GMT -5
"Oh; right" Wilcox admitted. "But then why do we still have guns?" he asked.
"Last resort defense, mainly. Should we find ourselves in a situation where we have to defend ourselves, I'd rather be prepared than not. After all, we don't have Drugg's cocktails anymore, so it's not like we can just drug people to do our bidding" Blade pointed out.
"True. Quite a shame he never held up his end of the deal; those formulas would have been a great asset" Fowler said.
"Well, it's moot now anyway; Brady was our chemist, remember? We couldn't make the formulas even if we wanted too" Wilcox reminded Fowler.
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Post by Toz76 on Aug 22, 2017 1:03:39 GMT -5
In the other room, Elvira was getting to know the rest of Blade's elites. Kross and Cambria were playing chess, Friend was doing pushups, Ruocco was toweling off after a shower, Müller was reading, Knowles was scratching marks into the sole of his boot with a pencil, Palepu was bouncing a ball against the wall, McKibbin was smoking some of the Ephedra that had been newly refined, and all were engaged in animated conversation.
"I was always kind of scared of you before." Müller admitted to Elvira. "But now that you're free of that drug coma, you seem pretty cool- for a woman."
The others murmured assent. This being the early 50s, that statement was positively progressive.
"Want some?" McKibbin asked, offering the cigar to Elvira. "It's Ephedra, a drug from China. It's... interesting, to say the least."
Elvira shook her head. "No thanks. I want to keep my head clear."
"I'll take a hit." Knowles said, jumping off the top bunk and taking a seat next to McKibbin.
"This room isn't very nice." Elvira noted. The bare concrete and four bunk beds crammed into one room was not the best situation for Blade's top men, although at least they had quality sheets. Blade, Fowler, and Wilcox had their own rooms, as did Elvira as the only woman.
"Compared to some of the places we've bunked over the years, this is paradise." Ruocco said, rummaging through a chest-of-drawers.
"Needs a lick of paint though. I'm gonna start tomorrow." Müller added.
"I for one can't wait until the carpet gets here. Pushups on bare concrete are are bitch." Friend swore, rising.
"You've got more muscle than most hired goons. Take a break." Kross snarked, not looking up from the chessboard.
Everyone laughed. The nine people in the room knew any one of them could take on 10 average "hired goons" and come out smiling.
Palepu stood, grabbing a towel from a bench in the corner. "I'm gonna hit the showers. Ryan, he's going for your knight."
Cambria looked back at the board. "Bloody hell!"
Elvira, who had been standing, took Palepu's seat on one of the lower bunks and grabbed a book. Friend sat next to McKibbin to sample the drug. Ruocco put on his uniform and went to get on duty. Through the whole process, Elvira began to feel a sense of belonging. These were more than thugs. They were a family. And they were welcoming her. So Elvira did what she hadn't done in over a decade. She relaxed and enjoyed herself.
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Aug 22, 2017 1:31:27 GMT -5
*Now at this point- you, the reader, is probably wondering why Hartley did not help Gunnarson on this case. Well, Hartley had his own problems going on at the time, and couldn't help Gunnarson. Here's what happened.
......
Hartley was coming home after a long day on the job hunt, when as he approached his home, he noticed something odd. "Why is the door open like that?" He asked himself. Then he went in, and was terrified with what he saw. "Cricket? Cricket!" He screamed. There, lying on the floor, was a battered, bloody Cricket, barely clinging onto consciousness. "Who did this to you?" Hartley asked.
"Hartley i... I'm so sorry, I never should have lied to you. I did borrow money from one of the Dirty Four. They came to collect and I said no..." Cricket began.
"Who did you borrow money from?" Hartley asked.
"Volcano Al" she admitted.
"But he's dead" Hartley reminded her.
"His enforcers are not- a couple of his old lieutenants are trying to take over and they came after me. I didn't want you to worry, but I feared that..." and Cricket lost consciousness. A tearful Hartley ran her to the hospital as fast as his car would take him.
......
"She's in a coma for now Mr Hartley. We don't know when she'll wake up, but the good news is she will not die" the doctor assured.
"Thank you; do what you must" Hartley replied before sitting next to the unconscious Cricket.
*is this foreshadowing? It just may be. But it died solve a plot hole that has existed since LM 8.
.......
Gunnarson finished looking at the last file and admitted "I don't know; I just don't know. I'm not seeing anything extraordinary that catches our attention" Gunnarson explained
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Post by Toz76 on Aug 23, 2017 22:38:04 GMT -5
"Perhaps... I've got it!"
"What?"
"Perhaps the arms are a clue too! If Blade is really so confident, perhaps he's left a subtler clue. What direction were all the arms pointing?"
"I can tell you right now, that's a bust. The arms rarely point in the same direction.
Gunnarson sat down and thought for a while longer.
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Aug 24, 2017 1:08:35 GMT -5
The three detectives thought it over too and came up with nothing. Then Detective Greene got up. "Well, I just don't have anything. If you boys don't mind, I'd like to go get a blessing from my uncle; he's visiting and I think I could use it" he explained.
"Oh, is he a priest?" Gunnarson asked.
"No, he's the Bishop of Sodor and Man" Greene said.
"Wait, say that again" Gunnarson said, realizing something.
"Bishop of Sodor and Man..." Greene repeated, confused.
"The man is an island... the man is an island...The Isle of Man!" Gunnarson shouted.
"What does that have to do with this?" Byrne asked, confused.
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Post by Toz76 on Aug 24, 2017 1:32:10 GMT -5
"It means Blade is on the Isle Of Man." Gunnarson explained.
"Be reasonable. Even if Blade were there, how could he possibly pull off all these dismemberings in London? It's a trick. Probably a pub or inn with the name "Man" or "Island"." Byrne countered.
"But there's something you're overlooking, Byrne." Gunnarson said.
"Oh really, what?"
"THIS!"
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Post by Eyes on Aug 24, 2017 1:49:01 GMT -5
And Gunnarson jumped on the detective, knocking him to the floor. Gunshots rang out as windows were shattered and two detectives were hit by bullets.
"Did we get them?" came a call.
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Post by Toz76 on Aug 24, 2017 2:02:25 GMT -5
The two Ripper Underground Associates cackled and left.
Gunnarson and Byrne stood. Greene was already dead, and Stein was dying.
"Stein! No!" Gunnarson said.
"The Ripper Underground, huh? I always thought I'd meet my end that way. Remember, Gunnarson... sometimes the simplest solution is the correct one... but they never call us for that."
And with that, Stein died. Such a shame. If only someone hadn't randomly decided to have him shot in a story about pacifist villains...
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Aug 24, 2017 9:29:47 GMT -5
Woah woah woah, time out! We need Stein for future books! And that scene doesn't make any sense- they were deep within Scotland Yard and they were no where near any windows. Sorry guys- but we gotta back track for the plot.
......
The three detectives and Gunnarson heard gunshots and ducked to the floor. The ran towards the front of the building to see what was going on. By the time they got there the situation was under control, but three officers were injured. The two gunmen were also in custody, courtesy of detective Walton. Gent came running down. "What the heck happened?" He asked.
"These two tried to shoot up the place, but we stopped them before they could do too much damage. Ripper Underground, I presume?" Walton asked.
"If anyone's going after Blade, its us! Keep your noses out of our business; hundreds of our boys are already on the Isle of Man, two steps ahead" they taunted.
"Gunnarson, you were right! But, what was it we were overlooking?" Byrne asked.
"Simple really; what you weren't considering was that..."
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Post by Toz76 on Aug 27, 2017 23:44:13 GMT -5
"Blade isn't stupid. He's not about to tell us the truth about where he is. The Isle Of Man is a red herring."
"Are you sure?" Byrne asked, skeptical. "You were just trying to convince us otherwise."
"Absolutely. It cinched it when that Ripper Underground member also mentioned it. Blade would never be that sloppy."
"Huh. Clever. So where is he for real then?" Byrne asked.
"I wish I knew. Ireland, perhaps?"
"No, he'd have to deal with the mob- I've got it!"
The others stared at Greene. "You do?"
"The "Man" isn't Blade, or the Isle Of Man, it's the leader of the Ripper Underground! They're Blade's biggest rival at the moment. Blade wants us to take them out, and apparently he knows something about them."
"But what is the "island"? Gunnarson asked.
"I don't know. We'll have to check the next arm."
As it happened, no new arms appeared for two months, but they did not disappoint.
(Just FYI, Blade really isn't on the Isle Of Man. Shakes and Lion were lied to.)
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