Chapter 52 - Fun at the GCPD
Schroeder didn't join Jack and Gordon in the undercover cop car. Schroeder had cuffs ready, but Gordon waved them away. "That won't be necessary."
Schroeder shook his head, and had obviously been expecting that. Jack didn't even look at him.
Just as Schroeder was getting into his own car, he said snidely, "I think there's a problem when you start treating criminals better than people in your department."
Gordon completely ignored the remark, except that he slammed his door a little harder than necessary.
Back at the GCPD headquarters, Jack was taken into a very small interrogation room, and only Gordon came in with him. He gestured to Jack to sit down on a hard plastic chair that was against the wall, and blocked off from the entrance by a long table. Inspite of the obvious hostile appearance of the room, designed to make the suspect feel entrapped, Gordon just sighed and cut to the chase. "Do you feel like talking?"
Jack rubbed his eyes, his vision wavering from the severe headache. Gordon sat down on the table, opposite Jack. He just looked down at him. "You didn't do anything wrong. You were defending yourself. That woman would have died if you hadn't been there."
Jack glanced with poorly focused eyes at Gordon's face. He looked almost distressed. He looked like he badly wanted to help in the situation, knowing that he shouldn't have been arrested, not this time. He should have been called down to the station as a witness, perhaps even a victim, to give a statement.
Jack looked away, thinking of Anthony's words. Gordon didn't seem out to get him, but Jack knew he wasn't his friend. Jack said the only thing he could say. "I want a lawyer."
Gordon studied Jack for a moment, then he nodded in resignment. "Well. All right. Another officer will let you make a phone call, then you'll be put in a cell."
Jack followed Gordon out of the room, and watched as Schroeder caught Gordon's eyes. "What the hell happened?"
Jack expected Gordon to lose his temper. But he steadily looked at Schroeder and said, "He invoked his right to speak to a lawyer. There is nothing I can do."
Schroeder might have wanted to ignore such civil liberties, but he knew Gordon was right. Nothing could be done. If Jack was forced to convict himself, well, that would be a violation of a person's rights. So Schroeder did the only thing he could. He glanced at Jack and said, "Learned some new tricks over the years, huh?"
Yeah, Jack had learned a few tricks. He felt antagonized, but Schroeder wasn't completely out of line. His assumption was, after all, correct. Jack wasn't a saint, and he knew it. Jack wasa killer, and Schroeder knew it. He wanted him to burn for it, rot in prison for his life, not because he cared enough to get a murderer off the streets, but because it would make him feel like he was doing his job properly. On the other hand, while Gordon obviously wanted to do his job well, he genuinely wanted to help, both the society as a whole and Jack as an individual. He was almost completely sure that Gordon believed that he had killed his father and his girlfriend. Jack realized at that moment that Gordon was very good at hiding whatever was on his mind. He only allowed certain things to filter through, like care and concern. Jack automatically took his good-heartedness for weakness. He had already made the mistake of underestimating him. While Schroeder was as easy to read as a pre-schooler's alphabet book, Gordon was as unfathomable as an ancient Latin text.
"You call that a trick?" Jack smirked, deliberately trying to aggravate Schroeder.
Schroeder looked like he was going to retort, when Gordon pointed at Schroeder and snapped, "Don't."
Schroeder threw his arms up as Gordon took Jack out of the room. "You see what I'm talking about? All the scum of Gotham City get treated like fucking royalty..."
Jack was able to place a call to the mansion only, and he left a message with Richard. He could only wait for a reply now.
Gordon left Jack at the main desk, and he was taken to a small room and fingerprinted - since his juvenile record had been sealed - and then he was taken to a cell. The room was across from the same one he had been contained in the previous time.
Before the cop left Jack to himself, he asked, "Dinner-time soon. You hungry?"
Jack hadn't given anything much thought in the past few hours. He had just been thrown back and forth, bouncing into one crisis and crashing headfirst into another. "Yeah."
In about another hour, Jack had eaten and was finally ready for rest. His head was still pounding, but not as badly as before.
Jack didn't even know he had fallen asleep until someone woke him up with a metallic clatter against the bars. At first he didn't know where he was. Then he saw the gray walls, metal sink and toilet, and felt his head pounding. He moved and felt the bandages and stitches against his skin.
He raised himself up a little and looked at the silhouette of the person standing there. The man was a cop, and he said, "There's a woman here to see you."
The first, fleeting thought in Jack's head was that it was Teresa. "Who is it?"
The cop looked over his shoulder. "Yo! What's the lady's name?"
A moment later, a man's reply came: "Erin!"
Jack sat up fully. "Oh."
"You know who it is?"
Jack nodded. "Yeah. That's my girlfriend."
The cop waved Erin over. "Come on." She walked slowly into view, obviously hesitant. He opened the cell for her and said, "Ten minutes."
Erin nodded and stepped inside, jumping a little as the bars shut behind her. The cop walked away and turned on the lights in the cell.
Ordinarily Jack might have been glad to see Erin, but not after what he had discovered. Had that only been that morning? Time felt warped out of proportion. Jack sat back down on the stiff cot. "What are you doing here?"
"I was actually coming here for... another reason." She shook her head. She looked like she'd been crying. "Jack, what's going on?"
At first Jack felt like he was about to give her a stinging reply, but decided she did kind of deserve an explanation. Before he could answer, she started talking again, as though she had been holding it all in for a long time. "I've been watching the news and I'm hearing all these things that I never...I never thought you could do. That you were suspected of killing your father and that you were convicted of kidnapping your friend and that you were involved in the Wayne murder trial... The Waynes! Why didn't you ever tell me anything? And now they're saying you killed someone?" She blinked back tears, her chest rising and falling as she tried to breath normally.
Jack just sat there as she eventually broke down and continued to stand there, her face in her hands, small sobs escaping her. Finally, rolling his eyes, he stood up and went over to her, then took her in his arms. She started crying even harder.
Jack rubbed her back. "Calm down. Tell me why you were actually coming here. Is there some special occasion I don't know about?"
She took another minute to collect herself, then pulled away from him, not meeting his eyes. Finally she wiped her face and said, very quietly, "I'm moving out."
The words didn't even register right away. "What?"
"I'm moving out. I'm leaving." Her resolve grew firmer each time.
Jack had no reply for her.
To relieve the silence for her own benefit, she started talking again. "You hardly ever come to see me anymore. And now... After all this, I feel like I don't even know you." She looked at him finally. "I feel like you've been cheating on me. All these times you haven't come to see me, it's like you'd rather spend your time with another woman."
Finally he stated flatly, "You're moving out."
She looked blank for a moment, then nodded. "That's what I said, yes."
Jack felt his temper and frustration rising. "You're doing this now? You're doing this, to me, now?!" His voice cracked harshly.
She swallowed, but her anger won over her guilt. "Yes. Now! You've been cheating on me, I know it! Since you left me! I waited for you for so long. It's been a year! I've barely seen you. I'm moving out."
Jack put his fingers to his temples to clear his frenzied thoughts. "Not once have I ever done anything against you! This is fucking ridiculous! You're paranoid, I've always told you that! And now? You're moving out, now? When all this is happening? You're totally fucking useless!"
She looked hurt, but countered angrily, "Well, there is someone who doesn't think so." She swallowed and said, with the obvious intention of shocking him, "I'm moving in with someone else. He's been around more than you."
At that Jack gave a sudden bark of mocking laughter.
She looked stricken by the sound, and shrank back a little.
Jack continued to laugh. "Shit, you're pathetic!"
She was thoroughly wounded, as well as unpleasantly surprised at his reaction. She had obviously been hoping to incite some emotional damage in return for what he had said.
His head pounded from the toll the deep laughter took on his sinuses, but he didn't care. It felt good to laugh, to relieve the stress of the horrible day. Jack fell on his bed, bending over, cackling.
Erin couldn't take it anymore, and she cried out, "Let me out of here! I'm finished!" Then she spun back to face Jack. "I have been cheating on you! At least I have the decency to admit it!"
Jack spasmed into giggles again just as his first bout was fading. "I... I just found out... This morning," he gasped and giggled again. "Sorry I spoiled your surprise! Hahahaha!"
The cop came and unlocked the door. "What the fuck is going on in here?"
Erin shoved past him and disappeared.
The cop looked flabbergasted but he shut the cell door again.
Jack tossed himself back into the bed, his head pounding hard and steady. He felt almost drunk with amusement. Jack threw his arm up to get the cop's attention. "Hey, send her right in next time! I like a good joke!"
