Chapter Two

Ready with the file that contained all the evidence that had been found at the crime scene, Jim Gordon stepped inside the interrogation room down at the GCPD. The butler, Benjamin, sat there patiently at the table. Gordon had dismissed what Detective Lincoln had said about the suspects. For now. He was coming at this with a clear head.

"Benjamin, right?" Gordon asked as he sat down at the table across from the butler. He could imagine Harvey making fun of Gordon's 'good cop act' as his partner watched from the other room. Gordon had already told him that he wouldn't treat any of these people as guilty until otherwise proven.

Though Harvey would still find something to complain about. Especially since they hadn't gone to question the mayor first thing like they had planned.

"Yes, sir," Benjamin replied with a nod of his head. He paused for a moment as if reluctant to say more. "Am I being accused?" He was obviously wondering that since he had been brought to the GCPD instead of questioned there at the manor.

"Only a formality," Gordon said. "Sometimes people think best when they're away from where the crime happened." Or if Harvey was suspicious of everyone and wanted them close to keep an eye on them, but he didn't mention that.

Gordon continued without waiting for the other to respond, "You were Mr. Fischbach's butler," he said, only glancing once at the files he had brought with him. "How long had you been working for him?"

"It's only been a few years now," Benjamin replied. "Sometimes it's felt like longer, but I'm grateful for the job. I didn't have anywhere else to go."

"Did you enjoy working for him?"

"For the most part," Benjamin said. Gordon could tell the man was reluctant to say anything against his former employer. As if Mark Fischbach would return from the dead just to reprimand him. "I'm grateful for the job he gave me."

Gordon didn't mention that he had already said that once before. "Did Mr. Fischbach have any enemies?" he asked, taking another direction with his questions.

"Not that I knew of," Benjamin said. "He always surrounded himself with friends. Well, that was before..."

"Before what?" Gordon prompted.

They were interrupted by the door opening. Harvey poked his head in. "The mayor's here," he said. "And he REALLY wants to talk to someone."

The mayor was in Gordon's office, standing at the window looking outside at the city of Gotham. Gordon had never met the man, but had heard enough about him around the precinct. He wasn't originally from Gotham, but had been welcomed with open arms into office. There were several rumors of how he had been elected and so well loved immediately, and in a city like Gotham, Gordon couldn't help but believe that most of those rumors were true.

"Mr. Mayor," Gordon started, glancing behind himself at Bullock, who merely shrugged. It told Gordon that Harvey had no idea what the mayor wanted. Gordon looked back forward. "It's a surprise -"

"I came here because I received the news that our very own Captain Gordon was investigating the, um...incident," the mayor said after he had turned to face the two detectives. His hesitation over saying 'murder' could have been suspicious, but Gordon could see the pain in the man's eyes. The victim had been a close friend indeed. "I'd like to help in any way I can. I've been trying to keep myself busy, but..." He shook his head then focused on Gordon. "I'll tell you everything that I know."

Gordon wasn't sure the mayor could give them any more than what the butler could, but there was significance in what the mayor could give that the butler couldn't. The mayor had been a guest at the party unlike the butler, who had merely been serving the guests.

Gordon gestured to a chair, inviting the mayor to sit down. The mayor politely decline. "Anything you could tell us about what happened at the party would help," Gordon said.

"It was evening when I arrived, the party had just gotten started," the mayor started, remembering back. "Mark was holding a poker game for the gang."

"Gang?" Harvey asked.

"The three of us: Mark, myself, and the Colonel," the mayor replied. "It was nice to get the gang back together, but out of the blue like this..." He trailed off, deep in thought.

"Detective Lincoln said that the Colonel and Mark had a falling out," Gordon said. "What can you tell us about that?"

"It's not my place to say anything," the mayor said. "And I can't even begin to give you all the details because most of it I don't know. But people change and people grow apart. It just happens that way sometimes."

"Would you say that the Colonel -"

"Would be capable of murder?" the mayor finished, seemingly offended by the notion. He shook his head. "The Colonel's an eccentric, but I don't believe him capable of something like this. They may have had a falling out, but they still had history."

"What sort of history?"

"The Colonel and Mark grew up together," the mayor said. "They were like brothers. We all were."

"What broke up your little gang?" Harvey pushed. "That could explain just what the hell happened at that party."

"Unlikely," the mayor said. "She wasn't even at that party. She had nothing to do with it."

"She?" both Gordon and Harvey asked.

"Celine," the mayor said. "Mark's ex-wife."

"Ex-wife?" Gordon asked, arms crossed.

"The divorce wiped him out and that's why Mark moved to Gotham," the mayor said. "Before you ask, I don't know why they divorced." Gordon could tell that the mayor knew at least something about it, but it wouldn't do any good to dig deeper now. Talking to the ex-wife would give them those details.

"Do you know where Celine is now?" Gordon asked.

The mayor shook his head. "I haven't seen her in a few years," he said. "Not since before the divorce."

"I'll get someone working on it," Harvey said then left the room.

"When you do find her, go easy on her," the mayor said. "Once upon a time, she loved Mark. This news might devastate her."

Celine sat on the edge of the bed in the hotel room as the TV played the news about Mark's death. She wasn't sure how to feel. She hadn't seen Mark in years. She had barely given him any thought since the divorce. And now he was dead? Murdered?

She looked behind her at the Colonel, who was fast asleep. He had invited her to meet up with him in Gotham, letting her know he would meet up with her after a party he had been invited to. Would she have come if she had known Mark was now living in Gotham? If Mark had invited the Colonel to that party, why had the Colonel thought it a good idea to bring her here?

The Colonel had arrived at her hotel room shortly after two in the morning. She hadn't been sleeping. She had felt in the air that something was about to go terribly wrong and it had woken her up long before his knock at her door.

And instead of focusing on that, she had let him distract her. He had seemed flustered when he arrived and he had taken her to bed for some much needed release.

Celine looked back at the TV then turned it off to be alone with her thoughts. And her fears.