Chapter 7 – Getting Ready
Anna and Luke were inseparable from the first day. It was more like Luke stuck to Anna like glue from the first day. He'd become her very furry body guard as well as her reliable eyes in quite a short time. After Luke had adjusted to the new living space and had gotten used to his three care takers he was lying quietly on the pile of mats in the corner of the gym room when Bruce and Anna began another day of training.
Bruce had decided to review. Anna braced herself as Bruce grabbed her from behind as he'd done dozens of times before but felt a distinct pain in his right calf. He let a confused Anna go as he grunted in pain and was faced with a maddeningly pissed off dog. Bruce fell onto his back and ripped off his blind fold. Luke stood in between him and Anna, his teeth bared and the fur on his back sticking up on end like spikes. Bruce made no movement at all until Anna figured out what was going on.
"Luke!" she bent down and held the dog to her. "Stop it, Luke. No!" she said firmly.
The growls died away and Luke kissed Anna's cheek as he returned to his normal temperament.
After that incident, Luke seemed to only tolerate Bruce around Anna and still growled deep in his throat until Anna told him to stop if he thought Bruce was too close. They kept Luke upstairs during self defense and thankfully, Luke had only nipped at Bruce as a first warning. But Bruce didn't mind in the least. In fact, he wanted to keep the dog on his toes around Anna.
--
The day before the police benefit, Bruce and Anna were going at it again in the gym. Bruce stood over Anna who was lying on the mat after having been knocked down for the hundredth time. Bruce had quit using the blind fold and wasn't letting her get away with much anymore. It was getting to be crunch time and he refused to have Anna left defenseless in case something were to happen and he couldn't be there.
She reached up and Bruce caught her hand, pulling her to her feet. "You've got to know where your feet and hands are at all times or they'll give you away."
Anna nodded and backed away from him, taking her stance again, her face pointing somewhere around Bruce's neck.
"May I ask you a question?" he said before Alfred walked into the room and glared at him threateningly again.
"Sure," Anna smiled and landed a punch on his chest. Bruce rocked back a little from the impact.
"What do you remember from that night?"
Anna let her guard down, her arms flopping at her sides, her face exasperated. "Bruce," she groaned. "I've told you, I've told the police again and again."
"I'd like to hear it again," he took advantage of her distraction and grabbed a hold of her wrist but she twisted out of his grip before he could do anything else.
"I was on my way home down that same street I've always walked a million times before, past the noisy bar."
"Jake's," Bruce reminded her.
"Yes. I don't know if it was already dark out or if was getting dark. A man ran hard into me. He had to hold onto me for a second so we wouldn't fall over." She shrugged. "He said that he was sorry and I listened to his footsteps go down the street just to make sure. After he'd gone I started to walk again."
"Then you heard the gunshots and someone running," Bruce continued for her.
"I don't know how far away it was but I was so scared that I found my way into the bar and asked the bartender to call me a cab. He was very nice." She ended with a smile.
They were both sitting down on the mat, Bruce mulling it over in his head. The only reason she'd hide something was if she was afraid of any repercussions if she let something slip which was very possible. The story was exactly the same – consistent every single time she told it. But he was missing something.
--
A more detailed description of the blind woman was gladly provided by Jordan and Dale – the two men who found her at the apartment last time. Dozens of Clavens men were posted all over the city at malls, shelters, hospitals and anywhere else they thought she might go. But her apartment had stayed empty for nearly three weeks now, no one going in or out of it. It was as though she really had disappeared. Perhaps the Batman was more supernatural than anyone knew.
Anyone walking down the street carrying a cane set them off though the few visually impaired individuals the spotted hardly fit the description of the young blind woman.
Their week was nearly over and Jake Claven was losing the rest of his mind over this maddening search for a person he'd never seen and who nobody seemed to know the location of. He was nearly to the point that he was considering robbing more safe deposit boxes to make up for it and start from scratch. To hell with the girl and the first package! He tried not to care that the bat had involved himself but in the back of his mind, it haunted him. He couldn't afford to lose more men, more of his forces, and he knew the bat wouldn't be sympathetic towards that. Having most of the Claven supporters out in the field at the same time was a great risk but Jake saw no other options besides surrender to the Falcones. He'd rather deal with the bat.
It grated on him, the proposition of joining with Falcone but it was either that or lose the rest of his money and his people in battling it out with an enemy he knew very well was stronger and more powerful than his was. He was choosing the lesser of the two evils as far as he was concerned. A dead blind woman would be a small price to pay. If they could only find her.
--
The benefit had been at the back of Anna's mind since Bruce had suggested it. She'd kept it there on purpose because if it jumped to the front of her mind she'd start her questioning over again and it always ended the same. There was nothing else and would be nothing else.
The day of, however, it was all she could think about because Alfred had kindly arranged for a few of the local clothing designers in town to come to the house and fit a gown for Anna to wear.
She felt so embarrassed, standing in a room in front of a mirror, which she couldn't see, wearing expensive gowns and being scrutinized from head to foot by the designers, Alfred, and Luke who decided to bark when the moment seemed appropriate. Anna had learned of how she was going to get her dress just before the designers arrived. Bruce wasn't around for her to swat at and complain to and Alfred would pretend he couldn't hear her when she moaned at him guiltily because of what they were doing for her.
So, she handled it though it was difficult to keep her neck and cheeks from blushing every time she was helped into another dress. Alfred described each dress in painful detail along with the designer's explanation of the fit and what shoes and jewelry should be worn with it.
Anna soon realized that she wasn't comfortable in backless styles or low necklines which helped everyone narrow it down. In the end, after following Alfred's suggestion, decided on what she was told was a beautiful dark forest green satin gown that fit her through her waist to her hips and flared out little by little until it reached the floor. The neckline was a wide scoop, nearly off of the shoulders with long sleeves
Anna loved the feel of the fabric and the long, loose skirt that danced around her legs when she moved. It was fantastically comfortable and gave her free movement while still beautifully accentuating her figure according to the designer who had brought it.
It was lovingly hung up in the wardrobe in her room along with the matching green heels she'd be wearing with it before Bruce returned home at midday.
Alfred began finagling with Bruce the moment he'd come home over a matter of taking Anna into town for her hair and makeup because heaven knew very well that Alfred had no experience in the matter and he figured quite accurately that Bruce didn't know a damned thing about it either.
Bruce wouldn't budge however until Alfred assured him that they'd only make one stop to the closest salon they could find and Luke would be with them the entire time. Bruce finally relented after Alfred pointed out that he was already planning to take her out that night anyway no matter how many 'that's different' protests Bruce made.
