Noir Cat 4: A Gleam in the Gutter (4/23/15)

Welcome to Noir Week on My Slow Mo Cat! This week, we have one story told in six parts with accompanying Slow Mo Videos, of course. This is Emily's account of a recent investigation she took part in.

Part 1: Trouble in the Night
Part 2: The Screams of the City
Part 3: Shadows in the Dark

Part 4: Gleam in the Gutter
Continued...

As I turned the corner a gleam in the gutter caught my eye. I looked over and there shining was something small. I trotted over and leaned down. A cufflink. On it, in glittering gemstones, GG. Initials? Something more? I briefly considered calling for Bradford. Nah, he would just slow me down.

I could see still the faint outline of where the men's car must have been parked. The rain was still drizzling, but there was an obvious rectangle that didn't shine like the rest of the pavement. Looking around the edges, I couldn't see anything else that would indicate where the men had gone. Wet and tired I turned back, heading to my clean, dry bed. Bradford and the other cop were still chatting idly by the lamppost. They glared in my direction as I passed. I nodded a quick goodnight. Bradford said something else about wanting a statement from me, but I wasn't listening. Anyway, I could tell his heart wasn't in it. With no evidence anything had happened, he didn't want to fill out the paperwork. He could say it was some crackpot with a false alarm.

I dried myself off as best I could and curled up to go to sleep. Normally I'm a champion sleeper, but tonight, I couldn't shut my eyes without seeing the imprint of the woman in white. In the quiet I could still hear her screams. Staring at the shadows I counted the number of cars that turned my corner. Whenever they did, their lights would briefly flash on the walls. On the top of the bookshelf next to my bed sat the cufflink. I stared at it too. I wondered which of the two men it had belonged to. I knew it could have been dropped by someone passing by earlier in the day, but the people around here don't wear cufflinks. Hell, the clothes they usually wear don't have cuffs at all.

I must have drifted of eventually b/c the next thing I knew I heard a sharp knocking on my door. No, not a knocking, a battering, crashing. I knew in an instant: someone was trying to knock the door down. I didn't want to stick around and find out what was coming through. I grabbed the cufflink and headed for the window. As I leapt out, I heard the door splinter and a man's grunt. I turned around just in time to see...

To be continued....

Emily's work is never done, but sometimes rest is needed: