Gordon flipped on the signal, glancing at Karen who was sitting by the door, files spread around her, muttering to herself.
"Are you sure" Gordon asked her.
"I have to be" Karen said not looking at him "Jen and me mapped the crime scenes, the first eight bodies were dumped, the last two escaped from whoever kidnapped them. There is a central point, a construction site. We made some calls, the constructions been put on hold due to budget cuts. But they did manage to finish the foundation and the basement."
"But are you sure that's where he is" Gordon asked.
"I think it's where the victims are" Karen said gathering up the files.
"Interesting theory" Batman's voice said
"Nice of you to join us" Karen said without looking up. "Now what I can't figure out is what is so damn important about these crystals. Why would the victims take them from their captor, they had no value, at least no marketable value, and nothing like these have been in the victims possession before. And they are both practically identical in all but color" Karen threw down the picture of the crystals and covered her face.
"What do you think" Gordon said and Karen looked up to him looking at Batman.
"That Detective Larsing is onto something" Batman said looking from Gordon to her "and that she might becoming obsessed"
"Obsessed?" Karen asked angrily, standing and glaring at Batman "We had another body today, Savannah White, a college student. Do you want to know what she wanted to be? A nurse, she wanted to save lives, but because of some screw loose, she will never get the chance. So hell yes I'm obsessed, and you can take your batarangs and shove them where the sun don't shine if you don't like it" Karen gathered up her case files
"I'll check out the construction site" Batman said to Gordon
"You won't find anything" Karen said "two victims have escaped, he may not care about getting caught, but he certainly cares about his victims getting away from him. Evidence shows that he raped Savannah before killing her, and the man before had been drawn and quartered, before he had his throat slashed. This bastard is going to move, somewhere more secure"
"Is that a theory or opinion Larsing" Gordon asked
"neither" Karen said "it is my diagnosis of this monster, whatever he is taking from these people he needs to survive, the fact that he enjoys it makes him twice as dangerous. I'm going to that site, sir, the victims' families want justice and frankly I do too. If I'm not at my desk at noon tomorrow, you know where to find my body"
And without a backward glance she left the two men on the roof.
Putting the files in the archives she threw on her duster and went to the parking lot, and as she opened her car door she heard the rustle of fabric and was not surprised to look up and find the Batman glaring at her.
"You shouldn't go alone" Batman muttered
"Look who's talking" Karen said "last I checked you do that all the time"
Batman held up a set of keys and Karen checked her duster pocket, sure enough they were gone.
"Screw you" Karen grumbled slamming her door shut and began walking to the stair way. She could walk; a little exercise would do her some good.
"Go home Detective" Batman said, his voice carrying in the dark quiet parking garage. Karen stopped and turned to him.
"You know, people say you are the greatest Detective in the world" Karen said "that you know things about people"
Batman said nothing just looked at her.
"Well I wonder if you looked me up" Karen said "my father was a homicide Detective, like me, and my mother was the creator of the soup kitchen down in the Narrows before Crane was ever even heard of. Do you know how they died? Some robbers ducked in the soup kitchen and killed my parents as they were cleaning up. And I found them. That's why I'm a cop to stop senseless violence like that from ever happening to another person again."
Batman looked at her as she glared at him and to her surprise threw her keys to her.
Reflexively she caught them, staring at him then looking at her keys. Looking up Batman was gone.
Karen didn't care; she ran back to her car and started it, peeling out of the garage like a street racer.
Rain began coming down, at first it was a sprinkle then it began pouring. Karen knew that whatever foot prints and blood outside the shell of a building was now long gone.
"Please," she prayed "let there be something, something I can use"
She reached the site and taking off her duster she pulled her wind breaker from the back seat and put it on, pulling the hood up.
The rain was coming down in buckets, limiting Karen's visibility. Pulling out her gun and flashlight from her glove box and grabbing another ammunition clip she climbed out of her car.
Approaching the gate, Karen saw the padlock had been cut through.
"Not a lock pick are you?" she muttered, taking out one of the many spare evidence bags she kept on her and bagged it.
Throwing the pieces of lock in her car she proceeded onto the site. The crane loomed huge as she made her way to the clear plastic covering what was going to be the front entrance.
"No one's here"
The voice though familiar was so unexpected that she had her gun and flashlight trained on him before she even registered that she knew his voice.
"Stop doing that" Karen hissed as Batman looked at her.
"Habit" he muttered
Karen took a moment to breathe then sighed
"Are you sure no one's here?" she asked
Batman nodded.
"well, no offense, but I want to see for myself" Karen said and she approached the plastic covered door, now rippling as the rain hit it, her gun raised and her flashlight trained in front of her. Shouldering past the plastic she crept in, checking to her left and right, then continuing on in.
The insulation was installed in a few of the walls but several were still stud skeletons, the shadows cast making her alert and on edge.
"Hold it" a female voice said behind her and Karen turned and pointed her gun at. . .
Batgirl
Great Karen thought.
"Batgirl, stand down" Batman's voice said behind her, and Karen tuned and glared at him "this is Detective Larsing"
"Oh, sorry Detective" Batgirl came forward, and smiled. And Karen snorted.
"Great" Karen muttered "what did you bring Bathound too?" then shook her head and continued.
"What a warm welcome" Batgirl muttered
"I heard that" Karen said and approached what according to the plans sent over by Gotham Construction Inc. was the basement door. Pulling out a glove she put her flashlight in her mouth and pulled it on then opened the door, slowly.
Clearing the stairwell, Karen crept down, with Batgirl and Batman shadowing her. Karen pressed to the wall and peeked around the corner then seeing nothing checked the other way.
As the trio exited the stairwell it was obvious that the basement itself was a complex.
"Shit" Karen muttered
"Looks like we're splitting up" Batgirl muttered.
"I don't like it" Batman muttered.
"How about this, Bats, I go with the Detective, and you go that way?" Batgirl said "between us I'm pretty sure we can take whatever we come across"
"And if it's that murdering bastard, I'm taking him in" Karen sad already moving heading toward the westward side of the building.
"I'll keep an eye on her" Batgirl muttered to Batman.
"Good" Batman said and went in the opposite direction.
Karen and Batgirl crept deeper into the complex of rooms and doors.
"What was this building going to serve as?" Batgirl wondered aloud
"A research facility of some sort, that's why this place is like a maze" Karen answered.
"Do not like me or something?" Batgirl asked "I mean I know I'm not Batman, but. . . "
"Batman is my problem" Karen said "not you, sorry"
"Oh" Batgirl whispered "why"
"He stole my car keys" Karen said "no one steals my car keys, and then called me obsessive"
"Really?' Batgirl looked like she wanted to laugh "like he should talk"
"Shush" Karen said suddenly freezing; Batgirl shut up and looked at Karen expectantly. A smell, a familiar smell had faintly reached her nose. "Do you smell that?"
Batgirl sniffed a couple of times then nodded,
"Ammonia and alcohol" she said then put her finger to where her ear was covered."Batman we might have something,"
Karen began moving forward and Batgirl grabbed her shoulder.
"Wait for Batman" she said
"No" Karen said "I'm a big girl, I don't need him to hold my hand" and Karen tiptoed into the room, moving quickly to the left and right, checking that no one was just inside the door, waiting for her. She proceeded farther into the room and carefully stepped around the pools of blood, only hours old, and past the newly cleaned stainless steel examination table and past a counter with a sink, covered with bloody instruments some she recognized and several she didn't, the sink filled with ammonia and alcohol and water and a few of the instruments in the bottom of the sink.
"Clear here" Batgirl said on the other side of the room.
"Yeah clear" Karen said after she checked the small closet. Holstering her gun she turned and went back to the counter. "Good God, look at this stuff"
"And all this blood" Batgirl said.
"This is a fleshing knife" Karen said in horror "it's used to skin animals,"
"He was skinning his victims?" Batgirl sounded sickened
"In a sense" Karen said "since taking this case, I have had to research torture methods, and one required a fleshing knife, it's called flaying, where strips of skin are peeled away from the body but left attached"
"That's disgusting," Batgirl said kneeling next to the largest pool of blood, "there are marks under this, it looks like he's keeping his other victims in cages"
"And you'll be joining them" a deep voice said just before pain ripped through Karen's skull.
And Karen's world went back.