Chapter 2 – Looking for Matt

Karen

Foggy and Karen hurried into Brett's office at the 15th Precinct.

"Any news?" Karen asked as she pulled up a chair and took a seat next to Foggy, across the desk from Brett.

Brett shook his head. "No. No record of him or anyone fitting his description at any hospital in Manhattan or the morgue. But take a look at this." He tapped a few keys on his laptop and turned it around so his visitors could see the screen.

Karen and Foggy looked at the screen, then at each other. Foggy raised his eyebrows and threw up his hands. Then he asked, "This is what the guy found?"

"Yeah."

"No mask?"

"If he found one, he didn't turn it in," Brett replied.

Foggy leaned forward and squinted at the photos on the screen. "It looks like a black shirt and pants. Could be anyone's."

Karen nodded her agreement. "We checked his apartment this morning. It looked like all of his . . . stuff was there."

Brett took back the laptop and scrolled to a second set of photos, showing a tape measure next to the garments. He turned the screen toward Foggy and Karen and asked, "This help?"

Foggy and Karen exchanged a look again. This time, Karen answered. "I think they're too big for him." She gave Foggy a questioning look.

"Yeah," he replied, "they look closer to my size than his." He pointed to the screen. "Is that blood?"

"Presumptive test says it is," Brett replied.

"You could always test it, see if it's his," Karen suggested.

"How, exactly, am I supposed to explain testing for Matt Murdock's blood on clothing that's supposedly – " Brett lowered his voice. " – Daredevil's?"

"Of course you can't," Karen said. "Sorry, I wasn't thinking. Besides, the clothes probably aren't Matt's, anyway."

Brett waved it off.

"You'll let us know if . . . if you hear anything?" she asked.

"Definitely. And try not to worry too much," Brett said. "It's like Whack-A-Mole with that guy. He always turns up."

"I hope you're right," Karen said, more to herself than to Brett.

"At least the guy who found the clothes turned them in instead of putting them on eBay," Foggy quipped as they walked out.

"Yeah, there's that," Brett said as the door closed behind them. He sighed wearily and picked up a file.

"OK, thanks for checking." Karen ended the call and let her phone drop to the table top in front of her. She gave the device a disgusted look and leaned back in her chair. "I am officially out of leads – and ideas," she announced.

"You gotta be kidding me, Page," Foggy told her. "You can't give up now. It's only been three days."

"It's kind of hard to keep looking when you have nowhere to look," she pointed out.

"Point taken. Who was that on the phone just now?"

"Claire. You asked her to check the free clinics?"

"Yeah."

"She says Matt hasn't turned up at any of them."

Foggy dragged his chair closer. "All right. Let's recap. I went up to Harlem and talked to Luke and Claire. They both say they haven't seen Matt lately and don't know of any reason why he would take off like he did."

"Same for Jessica and Colleen," Karen said. "I even talked to Danny, who's somewhere in Asia, doing . . . something. Nada. And for what it's worth, Ellison said there haven't been any reports of Daredevil sightings on the Bulletin's tip line. So whatever Matt's doing, he's not doing it as Daredevil."

"Apparently." Foggy frowned. "He's not doing it as Matt Murdock, Attorney at Law, either. I asked around at the courthouse. No one has seen him there. And I'm pretty sure the guys at security would remember if they'd seen him. They're always hassling him about his cane."

"I staked out Fogwell's last night and the night before, but he didn't show," Karen said. "I talked to Sister Maggie, too. She said she's exchanged a few words with him before or after Mass on Sundays, but they haven't really talked since – " There was a catch in her voice. She swallowed hard before continuing. "Since the funeral."

Foggy gave her a worried look. "You think she's lying? I mean, that's where Matt hid out before."

"I didn't get that vibe from her. Besides, she knows that's the first place we'd look. Matt knows that, too."

"Speaking of first places we'd look, he hasn't been back to his apartment," Foggy told her. "I checked on my way in this morning. His neighbor Fran hasn't seen him, either. And Brett says there's still no trace of him at the hospitals or the morgue."

Karen gave a frustrated huff and leaned back with her arms crossed. "So now we wait and hope he turns up – unless you have a better idea."

"I do. Let's go to Josie's. I need a drink. Or ten."

Matt

Matt lay back on the scratchy sheets of his hotel bed in Chinatown. He had been here for five long days, ever since he stopped a mugging that wasn't a mugging at all. It was staged, to send him a message. The message was brief and to the point: "Someone you know wishes to see you again," followed by instructions to go to this hotel and wait for another message. He had a pretty good idea who sent it, but he was beginning to think he was on a fool's errand, that she was playing him for some unknown reason. Until yesterday evening, when he received a second message, a note in braille that came with the check for his dinner at a nearby restaurant. He sat up and checked his watch: time to go. His heart gave a little flutter. He smiled as he picked up his cane and strode out of the room.

The message directed him to a different restaurant, located a few blocks from the hotel. As soon as he walked into the place, a man came out from behind the cash register. "Mr. Murdock?" he asked. Matt nodded. "Come with me, please."

Matt followed him through the dining room and kitchen. At the far end of the kitchen, the man stopped at what seemed like a blank wall. Matt could sense a space behind it. When the man pushed one side of a panel, it rotated, revealing the space. The man gestured to Matt to enter. He did, and the wall closed behind him.

"Good morning, Matthew," a woman's voice said. He recognized the voice, but it was not the one he was expecting – no, hoping – to hear.

He inclined his head a fraction in her direction. "Madame Gao."