Blood Borne
A Word: Ibid.
.
.
There's nothing physical to be found. Tim knows that from the set of Bruce's mouth and the tension in his shoulders. Batman doesn't like operating on the words of a single person. He doesn't trust anyone that much, not even someone in the GPD. Especially not the police sometimes.
"What do we have?" Tim asks because it always helps to remind Bruce that he's not alone. Subtle, verbal cues that Tim's picked up from Alfred to try and shake him of his terrible habit of trying to run cases dealing with Joker alone.
If Bruce is aware of everyone's attempt to interfere he doesn't show it as he turns. "Very little."
"Do we at least know where the sample came from?" Tim leans against the high wall that edges the precincts roof and looks at the dark beacon light that was reluctantly placed back on the roof. It hasn't been used in over a month though. Stubbornness waring with the fact that Batman really is needed in Gotham. "We might be able to return to the scene."
"I was hoping you could tell me that," Bruce tilts his head slightly, but Tim doesn't catch the communication happening before he turns to face Tim. "The street shootout from last week. On Wellington."
Tim blinks and knows Bruce catches it through the cowl. The shooting on Wellington is something he knows all about, but not as Red Robin. Tim Drake had been present when an argument got out of hand and a gun got waved around starting a fight that left one man dead.
He'd been walking behind Damian and Colin after a surprisingly successful trip to the zoo that didn't actually end in the maiming Damian had been promising. Colin's influence no doubt. The other boy had been pretty happy to see most of the zoo. Minus the smaller enclosures and the dark ones reserved for the bats of course.
Tim had been trying to figure out how to relate the day back to Dick in a way that wouldn't make the man unbearably smug when the crowd they'd been walking in panicked and he was thrown face first into a brick wall. After that he was too busy trying to manage the bystanders without appearing to actually be doing anything to worry about what Dick was going to say. Damian had managed to bag a few of the more vicious ones before the fight was over, and Tim was trying to pull the boy away from where the cameras were starting to gather as one body on the street didn't get up.
"No, I doubt there's anything left," it's rained a few days since that incident, and he doubts there really would be anything left so close to the orphanage. The area was surprisingly good about keeping the children safe. "The sample was found from there?"
"On the murdered man's shoes," Bruce confirms and Tim frowns as he tries to recall all the names that ended up getting connected to the case. Most of them had been apprehended, and released within a few days. Two men are still in jail pending trial for murder though.
Tim doubts any of them are the source of DNA. They're already mostly in the system as it is. "How did they find the match anyway? Testing DNA for paternity isn't exactly standard procedure."
"The blood came back unknown and the tech decided to be proactive," Tim snorts and Bruce's lips quirk up in responding amusement. A paternity test might help narrow a search, but the courts wouldn't like it too much. Not without the proper warrant first. Good initiative, but lacking in long term benefits. The smile dies fast. "The news is already starting to spread."
"Someone talked," Tim guesses because gossip spreads faster in the police rank than anything else. "The city will hear it soon then."
"Before the sun rises," Bruce confirms. A shorter estimate than Tim would go with, but he usually has a better idea on information spread. "You need to start tracking down anyone that was there that day. We need to find who this person is."
Because while the GPD might not have DNA on all of the gang members involved, the computer in the Cave does, and someone would have started that search immediately. "I'll see what I can find. Is Robin-"
"At the Cave," Bruce says, and that's a bit of a shame. Dick had worked hard to get the boy to agree to another weekend with the Teen Titans. The Titans might be relieved, but Dick will complain for a week about it. To Tim, because no one else really listens to his griping about socializing Damian anymore. "He's running some searches and pulling names."
He'll also be better suited to pulling Colin in on this. The other boy is going to be their best bet to identify anyone on the street that day. "I'll meet up with him later. See if we both have the same recollection of the event."
Bruce doesn't respond, just goes up to the wall and sets one foot up on it. Leaning forward, but he's looking down and not out at the city. There's still somethings he wants to chase down in the precinct. Maybe some known moles to shake up to try and buy them more time. "Breakfast," he says before he's a blur of silent shadows.
"Sure," Tim tells the empty air. Not feeling resentful over the order to meet, because he has a feeling he's going to need some of Alfred's coffee in a few hours.
.
.