May 17, 6:49 PM
Terry was seated in a room. Bright fluorescent lights set the mood for this place where many of Gotham's most notorious criminals were first interviewed. It felt like it had been a lifetime ago since Terry sat in this chair last when he was persecuted for breaking and entering as well as attempted thievery. Who would have thought that one day he would sit here again for homicide?
A detective was sent into the room, obviously after having consorted a plan with the other detectives that were sitting behind the glass in the viewing room. Terry knew how this worked all too well. He figured Barbara Gordon was sitting in that room this very minute. It was unclear at this point what her idea was of this matter, as he had not had the chance to see her alone yet.
"So, as I hear it you worked for Mr. Wayne after school?" The detective began with the simplest of all questions.
"Yes." Terry responded smoothly.
"What exactly do you do for Mr. Wayne?" Terry could already tell what strategy the detective was using. He was talking in present tense, trying to dissuade Terry from feeling like everything was over. It was a good cop approach, keep things calm and see if the suspect would talk. It was a typical start to any normal interrogation.
"I didn't catch your name or badge number." Terry quipped, promoting the idea that he was not an ordinary suspect, and would not be as cooperative about his prosecution.
"My name is Doyle. Jarod Doyle. Would you like to see my badge?" The detective answered.
"Yes I would," Terry stated, unperturbed by Dole's attempt at intimidation, nobody would be more intimidating then the person this detective believed Terry had killed.
Detective Doyle reached into his pocket and proceeded to show Terry his badge.
Terry made sure to study it and memorize the badge number 370986, in case it was necessary to know in the near future. "Thank you" Terry said.
"Now can we get back to the question?" Doyle answered in a cool tone.
"Certainly. I run errands for him, in the form of picking up groceries, dry cleaning, washing cars, sometimes more exotic things, just whatever he needs me to do. Mr. Wayne is older than he used to be and can't do all the things he used to be able to." Terry answered simply. He felt that Barbara probably would not like his approach of Mr. Wayne being senile, but it was mostly true, especially for the job Terry really did, the old man had even admitted it himself several times.
"So you're telling me that he has you do these -errands, until late in the evening? Say even as late as 4 or 5'oclock in the morning?" Doyle asked.
"As I stated, he is getting older, and has a large amount of things that needs to be taken care of," Terry responded.
"So what were you doing for him last night, Terry?" Doyle asked.
"I was taking out his trash, feeding, and walking his dog. As well as running an important errand for him that involved a project he is currently head of in Wayne Powers. It is company policy to not reveal what the project is at this time, and if I do so there will be major repercussions to the business and I do not think you would be happy to deal with a lawsuit from wayne powers today now would you?" Terry responded defensively. "And before this interview continues I would like a lawyer."
"Of course," Doyle answered, obviously not too happy about this.
The detective rose from his chair and gave Terry a menacing look as he walked into the other room. The guards that surrounded Terry then began to escort him to a holding cell where he would apparently be spending the night.
Terry paced in the cell. Not really knowing what would come next.
How had this happened? Was Bruce really dead? Did they even have a body? What evidence did they have? He felt his stomache churn as he thought of these things.
Terry had been hopeful that Gordon would come now that he was in the cell. Holding cells in this prison were different from cells where the incarcerated stayed. Since the Justice system was forced to assume innocent until proven guilty, security cameras were not installed in these cells. This had been a huge debate at the supreme court nearly thirty years before. An elderly woman was charged with arson, and complained that she failed at court due to not getting sleep the night prior because security cameras violated her privacy. She ended up winning the case and was forced to go into retrial about the arson, which she inevitably lost again.
Knowing that the cameras were down, he was intrigued when Gordon did not come to the cell. Knowing that there were many possible reasons she did not come, were not calming at all to Terry. Perhaps there was a body. Perhaps the evidence against Terry were insurmountable. It could also be that she was still playing her part. If she were found to be involved with Terry at all she would not be able to continue investigating his case, or worse, she could be found to be a coconspirator. Either way, he knew that there had to be a good reason for her not showing up, but he also hoped against hope that he could talk to her before this was all over…
Sighing he walked over to the so called 'bed' and sat down. Tonight would not be a night that he would be sleeping, therefore all he could do was wait until the morning.
May 18, 5:53 AM
Terry was awoken by a guard. It was time for him to shower in the cold showers of the prison. Too many memories came flooding back to Terry from when he was in juvie. Showers were the place that so many fights broke out. Where people planned, and plotted supposed escape attempts that would never come to pass. It was one of the few times that the prisoners had even a fragment of seconds to converse with no guards around.
Terry knew to be wary of the people around him. The training and discipline instilled in him from Bruce's training had taught him how to handle situations like this without any hint of nervousness. Regardless, he kept his guard up, there was no telling who he would run to in here.
The guard handed him a towel, shampoo, and soap. He opened the door and let Terry proceed inside. As the door closed behind him Terry did spot a familiar face. Ira Billings. Billings had been the school counselor at his high school, but was later incriminated for using the private sessions with students to gather information about friends, family, or in Terry's case bosses of the supposed students. Using this information as Spellbinder he proceeded to rob those wealthy individuals. The last time Terry had come across Spellbinder, however, was when Spellbinder convinced Barbara Gordon that Batman had killed Mad Stan. It ended up well, but was a good demonstration of the power Spellbinder had over people's minds. The one thing that perplexed Terry was why he was here and not in Arkham where he really belonged.
"Terry McGinnis?" Billings asked, surprised to see his former patient here. "What are you doing here? Decided to go back to crime after so long being away from it?"
Terry looked at him then continued to the shower without saying a word.
"You know I thought you would have changed after what those Jokers did to your dad. At one point the way you were acting in school I thought you were going through a hero complex. I see that I was wrong," Billings shot back at Terry's silence.
Terry stripped and turned on the water, to silence the disturbed man.
After he finished his shower, Terry put his clothes back on and walked out of the shower, noting that Billings was gone. Relieved, he continued to the guard so that he could be escorted to the interrogation room.
"Mr. McGinnis, nice to meet you my name is Tobias Durymple, I'm the lawyer you requested. I was also assisted Mr. Wayne through a few court cases over the course of 32 years. It's a pleasure to meet you." The well practiced lawyer offered Terry his hand.
Terry accepted and shook hands.
"So what have they asked you so far?" Tobias asked, getting right to business.
"The usual, what I do for Wayne, where I was the night of the murder, that sort of thing," Terry answered agreeably.
"What did you tell them?" Tobias continued.
"That I was running an errand for the company that Mr. Wayne is in charge of." Terry answered.
"Did you mention any witnesses that can confirm this as an alibi?" Tobias questioned, now getting into the grit of the information.
"No but there is one," Terry responded.
"Who?" Durymple asked.
"Her name is Maxine Gibson. I failed to mention it because the interrogation did not get far enough for them to ask if anyone else was there." Terry stated factually.
"Quite alright," Tobias began to take notes. "Okay, I think we can continue with the interrogation if you're ready?"
"Yes, I'm ready."
The guards nodded a response then left the room to bring out the detective again.
Doyle marched heftily inside and sat down after tugging at his shirt to rid it of its wrinkles. Apparently Doyle didn't sleep much last night either, since it was the same suit he had worn the night before.
"The first question is one I'll ask you," Tobias began. "What evidence do you have to support your claim that my client is guilty of this crime?"
"We found a gun with the victim's blood on it. McGinnis's fingerprints, hair, and other sources of DNA were found all over it. We also have several witnesses claiming to have seen him with the victim the night of the murder acting aggressively against him. The body has yet to be found." Doyle answered. Terry was surprised at how detailed his response had been. If he wanted information out of Terry it would have been wise to not reveal all of this, especially about the witnesses and the body not being found. What was he getting at.
"How about we continue where we last left off Mr. McGinnis?" Doyle said.
Terry continued to look at him calmly.
"Were you and Mr. Wayne having an argument that night?" Doyle asked simply.
"Yes. Ace was in the car with us and was acting aggressive. I told him that we shouldn't leave Ace in the car before we went into the office and he disagreed. When Mr. Wayne's authority is questioned he becomes really aggressive, any of his coworkers could tell you that." Terry responded.
"When was this?" Doyle asked.
"Around 5:17 that night." Terry recalled precisely looking at his watch, thinking that they would be late for the meeting that was scheduled at thirty minutes past the hour.
"When did you last see him?" Doyle asked.
"After I dropped him off from the meeting. I talked to him afterwards though when I was running his errand." Terry answered.
"Is there anyone you know of aside from Mr. Wayne that can testify in a court that you were nowhere near the vicinity of the manor during the hour of 5'ocklock yesterday morning?" Doyle was acting as if this was all routine. Although homicides were fairly common in Gotham, Terry was still slightly intrigued by the way Doyle was posing these questions. Something didn't fit…
"Yes, her name is Maxine Gibson." Terry answered, deciding to play along for now and keep his eyes on Doyle as the interview progressed.
"Thank you." Doyle looked through the window where the other detectives were obviously watching from, as a signal to jot down the name.
"Now Mr. McGinnis, do you own a firearm?" Doyle asked.
"No," Terry replied simply. "I never have."
"When did you last affiliate with anyone you know who has owned a firearm?" Doyle was finally beginning to look more serious now, and Terry was beginning to notice a pattern. All of the questions Doyle asked him that seemed to incriminate Terry, Doyle would act as if it were standard procedure. When he asked a question where Terry could provide evidence of his innocence Doyle would act serious like this. Maybe this case wasn't as solid as they were trying to make it look after all?
"I go to high school with several people who own guns." Terry responded. It was an obvious answer, Terry was slightly confused as to why Doyle asked that question in the first place.
"Yes, but how many of those students are people you would consider friends? Or enemies?" Doyle began to egg. He was trying to defend Terry…
"Lots of people in the school dislike me, because of the status of my boss. Several other students grew a personal vendetta against me because of the history we established over my time of knowing them." Terry answered intelligently. Tobias must have thought that Terry was doing an excellent job, because he had not said a word, only take notes.
"Could you name some of these individuals?" Doyle egged on even further.
"Yes. Nelson Nash, Willie Watt, and Carter Wilson all have reason to have a vendetta against me or my friends." Terry was sure it wasn't any of those perks though as he said them. Nelson was too wimpy to hurt a fly. Watt had telepathic abilities that he prized over standard weapons, and Carter had more of a vendetta against Max then him.
"Thank you Mr. McGinnis. You may now go back to your cell until we need you for further questioning." Doyle said. Terry was surprised at how short the interview had lasted.
He was again escorted to his cell. He again waited there hoping to see Barbara, but she never came…
I finally decided to work of this story again! Still not completely sure where I'm going with it, but I will continue to work on it and let it play itself out. We'll see where it goes, I know what needs to go on in the next chapter at least, so that's a start.
