Circus Chapter 9: Faceless & The Detective

“It has been a while since you came to visit me, Detective. You’re either here to try to arrest me again or you need help with a case again?”

“Faceless, I need help. You always seem to be one step ahead of me on everything. How do you solve a mystery that is not a mystery?”

“You ask a question that hasn’t been asked.”

“I don’t understand.”

Moonlight began to fill up the warehouse. It’s dingy greys looked a deathly silver in the moonlight. Somehow Faceless managed to stay in the darkness as the warehouse became illuminated. Detective Matthew walked towards the steps as Faceless continued along the upper walkway that overlooked the assembly line.

“Detective, let’s play a game.”

“Is this really the time?”

“Yes. You don’t have anything to worry about tonight.”

Detective Matthew sighed and agreed.

The two men walked into a room with only a card table, four chairs around it, a couch, a lantern on a desk with writing books, and a bar. “Don’t bother memorizing any of this. By the time you get free next week to do anything about me, I will have already relocated.” They both sat down at the card table. Faceless pointed where his eyes would be.

“Detective, did you know that you were defective?”

“What?”

Faceless pointed to where his eyes would be then to his ears before shuffling uno cards,”Detective, did you know that you are defective?”

The Detective touched his eyes and his ears, “Oh! Oh! No, I did not know.”

“You should know, you do not function well with others and that’s why you weren’t invited to the show and lost your brothers.”

The Detective glared, “You should know that you are on the run due to what little you show, but the horrible things you’ve done.”

“The one who holds the cards holds multiple hats, but never just the one you see, not just ‘that’.”

“What? I mean... Can you not be true to what you see?”

Faceless looked up and tapped where his ears would be twice, “If perception is the devil than you are not nocturnal enough to meddle.”

“Meddle? My job is for the truth beyond the armor, beyond the metal.”

“There is a difference in the names that cause pain. First sight can’t always view a vein.”

The Detective closed his eyes, “The skin is not the only thing to see. If it was a map the details would be?”

As he opened his eyes, Faceless walked from the bar and gave him a drink before sitting back down, “The details would be in plain sight but perception is not definite it is a might.”

The detective jumped slightly, “Jesus!”

“Focus!”

“... Right, right. Wait, if perception is the devil then where is the fruit of his meddle?”

“The fruit is in the food. The fruit is in the intent not the facade to brood.”

“Can you find the proof in something that doesn’t exist?”

“Can you find the logic in making a wish?”

“Nope, there’s no logic in one sided hope.”

“I can prove something a wish. For everything you think of can or does exist.”

The Detective sipped on his drink as he played his last card. Faceless shuffled the cards. He tapped where his nose would have been then pointed to his head. Dealing out the uno cards, Faceless continued.

“What do you call a monster that can’t be killed?”

The Detective looked at him confused, “Immortal.”

“Incorrect.”

“What? How?”

“A monster wouldn’t be considered a mortal in the first place so why would one that can’t be killed be considered immortal?”

“A monster that can’t be killed?... It would be terrifying.”

Faceless pointed to where his nose would be as he carved a ‘T’ into the table. The Detective stared at him as he pointed to his head. The Detective reached for the cards, Faceless stabbed down. The Detective rolled back and pointed his gun at Faceless. Faceless slowly raised his hand off the knife he used to stab into the table.

“Don’t worry, just wanted to see if you were paying attention. My other weapons are behind the bar and scattered throughout the warehouse. Remember that I do not lie. I just withhold information.”

The Detective slowly walked over and put his gun back in the hoster. He saw that the knife was stabbed into the seven cards that would have made his hand. The knife was dug deep. Only showing the ‘u’ of the bottom card and the ‘no’ of the top card clearly. Faceless suggested that they play a different card game. Detective Matthew said he should get back home. Faceless gave him an odd piece of advice on his way out.

“You should play chess if you’re really feeling flushed.”

Detective Matthew walked into his home and laid out on his bed as his four dogs came and laid with him. That morning he received a text asking if he had seen his police buddy, Tyler. He replied no obviously. Only to receive a response that he wasn’t supposed to get.

“Hey McRuff hasn’t seen him either. Maybe we shouldn’t have gone to the Circus last night.”

Detective Matthew saw the message and instantly thought of what Faceless said last night about not being invited to a show. He fed his dogs while pondering to himself. Then it hit him. The “T” that Faceless carved into the table. The “u” and “no” exposed on the table separated by the knife. It was a message. Detective Matthew jumped up from his seat, “Oh god…. Tuno. Officer Tuno. He was in charge of missing people reports before I busted him for trafficking drugs! He’s at the center of the lack of information!” He threw on a jacket and ran out to the station.

Kicking in the station door, he demanded that he speak with Officer Tuno before internal affairs send him away. After causing such a ruckus he was able to get clearance to do so. Internal affairs sat in as Detective Matthew interrogated Officer Tuno. He got Tuno to confess to using the radios to distort feed for the drug trafficking and using the missing persons reports as ways to make it look like he was pulling overtime to cheat on his wife and get his hand into child trafficking.

CIA came in hours later to take Tuno away. Detective Matthew made it back to his office and spun around in his chair. He looked into his drawer to find out what he was going to have for breakfast to celebrate. A CIA agent walked past his office and congratulated Detective Matthew, “Keep up the good work man and everyone will know you.”

Detective Matthew froze up. “Know you… Know! you!” He dropped the menus and his phone that he grabbed from his desk. He looked up slowly at his evidence wall from the folder that he received from the butler. His time with Faceless began to quickly rush through his memory. He began to remember.

“A butler shows up out of the blue giving me information about something that was not any of my business. He wanted my attention. He wanted me on this case. Why? The missing cases he gave as evidence were from all over but happened in order a day apart from each other. So they have to have something in common. Nothing similar came up in the reports except that they all were out the same night that they went missing. Why? Where did they go?

Faceless played a rhyming gaming that focused on listening and watching him. He asked a riddle that had a very obvious but underestimated answer. He wanted to play uno, his least favorite game. He served a cold drink but there was no ice. He talked about a show that I wasn’t invited to. How did he know? He stabbed the uno cards out of the blue. He purposely left out the letters ‘u’ and ‘no’ visible under the ‘T’ he carved into the table. And he didn’t have music playing this time…. He wasn’t playing music… he was trying to get me to focus… but what? What was he trying to get me to focus on? What did he want me to know?... Know…”

The Detective looked up at the evidence wall and pondered how he couldn’t connect any dots between the missing people. “No! Not ‘Tuno’! It is supposed to be ‘u’ ‘no’ as in ‘you know’. "No" was on top, so it was supposed to read ‘no’ ‘u’. ‘Know you’ ‘T’ know you… They know you!” The butler? The victims? They know me?... They know me… but how? How does it connect? Where is the butler?... From...”

Detective Matthew walked out of his office and walked up to the officer that texted him that morning. “Benson, you and Ballard went to a show last night right?”

“Yeah… we didn’t think you would like it... Sorry man.”

“What kind of show was it?”

“Huh?”

“What kind of show was it?”

“It was a show at a circus just outside of town. There was talk of there being really awesome performances. Building up to a huge show in a few days and at the end of the month.”

“In a few days!?... what was the show last night?”

“It was this six armed guy that was also a dagger thrower that only spoke in rhyme.”

“Thanks... I think I’ll go see the show tonight.”

The Detective walked into the Circus big top at the end of its finale. He watched the six armed man bow as the audience chanted his name, “Monty! Monty! Monty! Monty!” Detective Matthew saw the butler going through the staff exit after the show. He followed the butler as closely as he could without being spotted or catching too much attention. He saw the performers slowly leaving through the forest or going into their tents. He saw the butler talking to Avery before walking into a tent.

As Detective Matthew got closer, he saw Shak and Jasmine laughing while heading into tents. Detective Matthew recognized Shak from the missing poster from Georgia. He questioned how Shak got up to Pennsylvania. He decided to go in the tent that Shak went into, in hopes that he could at least save him from the Circus. As he entered the tent, he attempted to call out to Shak. He had his gun at the ready and approached the figure in the dark, laying on a bed. He went to shake him but the figure began to stand.

“You are very clever, Mister Matthew. But there’s someone who wants to meet you.” The figure shifted into Avery.

Detective Matthew shot him twice and turned around to see the butler smiling. The butler became completely black and took on the appearance of Avery.

“What the hell are you?”

“You already know the answer.” Avery whispered in his ear.

Detective Matthew turned to take another shot only for the top hat on the Avery by the bed to open up like a mouth and swallow him whole. The two Averys looked at each other and walked towards each other. The one by the entrance turned completely black and melted down like a puddle that slithered over to Avery and became a part of his suit. As Avery’s shadow reappeared under him, he picked up his top hat from where his shadow melted and replaced it with the top hat he had on his head. “Madoric, your hat is very weird but it gets the job done.” The tent opening closed as Matthew asked, "Why are you kidnapping people?"