The Ballad of the Quoxe Killer
There is no crime in Quoxe
Poison is often a tool of our own tongues
My only poison is the drop of a bottle
But the city of Quoxe has poison its own
One glance at a capital camera
your face, thoughts, profile, foreseen forever
Yet one man exists, a killer, has evaded city grasp
They say he's monstrous and ghastly
A face that can transform in a second
Eyes that could suck a soul, one bright
one dark and tall and slender as tree bark
Passes from frames as a shadow, as a
lightning strike beneath a swift of clouds
I stated it all impossible, I designed the cameras.
But the calls added up with the bottles
The first call, when I left in a haste for my
medication. The doctor asking how my sleep
had been, and if recent killings had deprived
me further. "Killings? Of course not. There is no
crime in Quoxe."
The second call, at dusk, in a knock on my door,
an officer reporting two bodies, but when I
checked the footage in the small of my home,
nothing. A slight blackening, so split you could
miss it, then a body. Two. Three.
I was called into city counsel, gave my reports.
"It's an error on his part!"
"Suicides, they are! There's no crime in Quoxe!"
Indeed, there was no crime in Quoxe.
But there indeed was a killer amongst the high ranks.
"Gentlement, your attention," I stated with a grunt,
"My technology is perfect. And in Quoxe there is no crime.
But I will investigate to ease your consciouses."
I went first to the house of crime, where the bodies
were identified.
Alice Jenson
Carrie Ply
Stuart Ty
All employees of the council, humble servants of the lords
Alice Jenson was my scretary, responsible for
upkeep and small favors, she one proposed to me
Carrie Play was the janitor, she once locked
me in my office by mistake, then proposed to me
Stuart Ty was my assistant, often inquiring about
advanced payments and promotional opportunities
A moment I left, back to city counsel,
I pulled out of my bag, a small mask, looked like another
I returned to the council, another human entirely.
"I am Detective Narwal. I am investigating the three murders
committed by the designated Quoxe killer."
My suspisions fell to the council, six members who
for privacy's sake I must simply call by number.
One told me that there was no crime.
Two pulled off my mask.
Three called for the guards.
Four stipped me down.
Five escorted me out.
Six revoked my title.
They say he's human but uneasy
A face that can transform in a second
Eyes that have never slept,
dark bags slender as tree bark
Passes from frames as a shadow, as a
lightning strike beneath a swift of clouds
The next day the camera mysteriously collapsed
A technical error, no doubt
And another face appeared
And suddenly, dead
One, two, three, four, five, six.
The mirror provides hints,
every now and then. No drops
from the bottles. No lights or
detectives. No council, no promotion
no proposals, just the gouge of loneliness
Fortunately, I have nothing to fear
The footage is missing, engrained in my mind
There is no crime in Quoxe.