CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

"If you mean what I think you mean the answer's no." she told him. "Remember what I told you. Don't involve me in your doings. I won't help you or be a part of them."

"I didn't say a thing about you helping me. I don't need help. No, keep thinking."

She lay there, wondering what he was talking about. Each idea that came to her was too ludicrous to consider so she gave up. He was probably stringing her along, playing a game.

"Those eight years.....were you in Gotham the whole time?"

"No. I came and went. Traveled around a little you might say."

"What did you do?" She'd never really questioned him about what he'd done for all those years and the urge to find out more about him had overcome her.

"Oh...learned things. Figured things out. Decided what I wanted to do. What's with all the questions all of a sudden?" He looked over at her.

"I was just wondering."

"After you left my house that night I grabbed what I could and left. I came back a few weeks later and burned it down. By then Patterson's guys had got all my.....equipment."

Samantha thought about the knives, fertilizer and other devices of destruction in his basement.

"I tried calling your cell." she said. "He told me you were dead, that they dumped you in a ditch to die. But I didn't stop trying. Not for a long time."

"I threw the phone away. If I kept it around I knew I'd answer it. Couldn't do that. Couldn't talk to you. And let me tell you....waking up in a ditch, half dead....that's an experience. I laid there for a long time, waiting to die. Finally I realized it wasn't gonna be that easy. That was a rebirth. After that day I knew." His voice had turned icy.

"Knew what?"

"Knew what I was gonna do with my life."

"I've been wondering....you killed Patterson but not Crane. He handed you the knife, he's the one that gassed you with that stuff and put the idea in your head to do.....what you did. But you never came after him. I guess you know he's in Arkham now. The Batman got him."

"Hm. Well that's the problem isn't it? He's in Arkham. Hard to get to him in there. Unless I got put in there myself."

Samantha didn't respond.

--------------------------

Gordon sat the phone down and stared at the wall blankly. He'd been right all along but there was no satisfaction in it.

His informant had called him again, giving him inside information that only one of the Joker's men could know. He wasn't in New York, that had been a ruse, a game. Everyone had believed it except for him.

They had all been victims of wishful thinking. The kind of thinking that could cost untold amounts of lives. How hard would it be to look like the Joker? Some make-up, a suit and green hair and there you go. But no, everyone had said "Oh thank God. He's someone else's problem now."

Fools.

No, whoever was running around New York blowing things up and assassinating public officials was not him. He was either a copycat or one of his flunkies.

And the phone call he'd just gotten.....the caller had told him where the Joker had been holed up. In the Narrows of course. The best place to go if you were on the run.

"He's moving around a lot now." the caller had cautioned him. "He knows something is going on. He still comes back to the Narrows though, to this motel. Some of his guys stay there and he touches base with them, lets them know what's going on, sends them on little jobs every once in awhile."

"Why are you doing this?" Gordon had asked. He didn't trust this, not at all.

"I have my reasons. My brother used to work for him too, til the Joker killed him. Stuck a gun in his mouth and blew the back of his head out. I can't kill him, I can't even get near him. But I can bring him down."

"How often does he go to the Narrows?"

"Couple of times a week. No set time. One of his guys there sells on the side. Well he used to....now he just sells to this girl. I don't know why the Boss lets him, he frowns on selling drugs. But for some reason he doesn't have a problem with it when it comes to this girl."

"Do you know anything about her?"

"Nothing. I've seen her once or twice but I don't know her name or any details. She's tall, brownish blonde hair, late twenties or so. Pretty."

"She his girlfriend?"

The caller snorted. "Girlfriend? Him? I've never seen him so much as touch a woman. He thinks sex is for the weak. One of those types, ya know? Only woman I've ever seen him around was that Dawes girl and we saw what happened with her."

Gordon flinched at the mention of Rachel. "Anything else?"

"No I think that's about it. If I think of anything else I'll call and let you know."

They had talked once before and Gordon had sent men to scope out the Narrows. They'd never seen anything and he chalked it up to a crank call. But now....

Now he'd be more tenacious. He'd send men out again and this time he'd keep sending them out until they saw something. And the girl.....he'd give anything to know who she was. She could be the key to finding the Joker.

He wouldn't have anymore deaths on his conscience.

-----------------------------------------------------

"I intended to quit and then take the weapons. Only reason I went to work there was to case the place, find out their weaknesses. But because of you I didn't quit. I thought I could stay and still get away with it. Didn't work out that way. They caught me the next day."

"How'd they find out it was you?"

He shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe a camera I didn't know about. I was kinda sloppy about the whole thing. Again because of you."

"Don't blame me, you're the one who did it. I didn't know anything about what you were up to. Did you do that on your own or were you hired?"

"Hired. Some of Falcone's men. Those mob guys....they talk a good talk about honor and so on but they're constantly double crossing each other. They just get a nobody to do their dirty work so it looks like they never did anything wrong. And if that nobody gets caught....."

"Yeah....my dad used to say that. 'Crooked as a barrel of snakes' he used to say."

Jack stretched and sat up. "I almost forgot.....I have something for you."

He got up and Samantha couldn't help but stare at his naked body. He was in good shape for someone who didn't seem to take care of himself. He was lean yet muscular, his flesh criss-crossed with scars in various stages of aging.

He dug a bottle out of his coat and tossed it to her. It was full of pills, the good kind. Their street value would be thousands of dollars. She looked at him in disbelief.

"That should hold you over for a while." he said, slipping on his clothes. "It'll keep you from going to the Narrows. Stay away from there Sam, I'm warning you."

She stood up, looking for her own clothes, or what was left of them. "This isn't sounding good." she remarked.

"It's nothing. Just a little, um, business. I'll be back."

She was reminded of her last conversation with him, before he'd gotten caught by Patterson and dread rose in her again. She wanted to say something, anything, but nothing would come.

He saw the look on her face and smiled. He'd always had an uncanny ability to know what others were thinking.

"I'll be back." he repeated. "I'll always be back. Don't you know that by now?"

She didn't answer. The memories of what had happened before were too strong.

If he dies, if he gets put in jail he won't be back. You'll never see him again. This is why you were supposed to keep your distance.

---------------------------------------------------

A week had passed with no word from him. She still had plenty of pills so that wasn't a problem. The problem was she was worried. It was stupid and she knew it but it didn't change anything.

He's not the most careful person. He doesn't even seem to care if he dies. Anything could happen.

She sat at home, hoping to hear a tapping on her window but it never came. And then one night she couldn't take it. She got her coat on and prepared to go to the Narrows. Before she could leave a car pulled up in her driveway. For a moment she felt hope but when she saw the massive figure exit the car she realized it was just Brian.

"Where ya going in this weather Sam?" he asked. It was a frigid night with six inches of snow on the ground and more to come.

"To the Narrows."

"I'll go with you."

"Not a good idea Brian. I think something is about to happen. I haven't seen....him in a while."

He made a face. "That bothers you? You should be glad.

"Look, I'm going. I know you don't approve but I'm still going okay?"

"Then I'm going with you. I'm not gonna let you go there alone." he said with a hint of finality. When he got like this she couldn't argue with him.

"Okay fine. Let's go then."

"Got your gun?"

"Yep."

"Let's take my car."

--------------------------------------------------

"You should reconsider this." Brian said softly.

"Reconsider what?"

"Him. He's no good Sam, he's dangerous. And his teeth....God. He won't have any in a few years. And would it kill him to wash his hair? I'm not the cleanest guy in the world but what the....."

"Look, I don't want to discuss this right now."

"All I'm trying to do is look out for you. He reminds me of that dog I used to have, a pit bull. Doobie was his name."

"Yeah I remember Doobie. Miserable mutt."

"Doobie was okay with me but he was a fuckin menace to everyone else. No one could get near him. Eventually he started showing out with me too and I had to take him to the pound."

"I know. Good riddance too. I hated that damn thing. Anyway...he's not an animal. He's a person. There's a difference you know."

Brian didn't look convinced but he kept his mouth shut.

When they got to the Narrows they found it deserted. Snow had begun to fall and the place looked like a ghost town.

He won't be here. He won't be here. Wasting your time.

And if she did find him what would she say?

Doesen't matter. I just need to make sure he's alive. That's all.

They pulled up in front of the motel. There were hardly any cars in the parking lot and few lights burning in the windows.

"Wait here for me." she told Brian.

She made her way up the slippery stairs to room 312 and knocked on the door. No one answered. There wasn't a sound in the room.

"Shit." she swore. She waited a few more seconds and went back to the car.

"No one's there. If they are they're not answering the door."

"What now?"

She thought. There was nowhere else to search for him. She didn't know where else he went.

"I guess we'll go back to my house." she said, feeling disappointed.

Brian started to turn the ignition when the car was lit up from behind.

"What the fuck?" Brian said.

"The cops." Samantha answered with a sinking feeling in her stomach.