Carly stood in the hallway, in the dead center of the house, staring at the old grandfather clock. To an untrained eye, it didn't look the slightest bit out of place among the other Wayne Family relics and antiques. It didn't tick anymore. The pendulum on the bottom half no longer swung back and forth. The arms on its face were stuck at 3:12. A random time chosen with the specific intent to disguise the clock's true purpose. Carly glanced down the left end of the hallway and then the right, she was alone. Her fingers danced along the edge of the arms before resetting them to 10:48.
"I thought you'd go to bed." Bruce said, not looking away from his work. He heard Carly's footsteps, her soft yawn.
"I was curious what you were up to." She confessed, continuing her descent down the stairs. "You didn't talk the whole ride here."
"How's the boy?" He asked, his back still turned to her.
"He's in the…castle room? The third down on the left." She walked towards the computer where he was working and deliberately stood between him and the supercomputer's keyboard.
"Close." He smirked. "That one's call the Windsor. My great-grandmother designed it. He'll be fine in there."
"So, are you going to tell me what exactly it is you're doing down here when there's a little boy upstairs, who you've taken in with little to no thought-out plan? Because Alfred is worried you've got your case file open aga…" Carly didn't finish her sentence. She turned to face the Batcomputer's sizable monitor. The LCD screen was loaded with exactly what she feared, digital files of the Wayne Murders.
"Bruce, don't do this to yourself." She put a hand on his thigh. "It's been nineteen years and you don't know anything more than Gordon knew back then. It's unsolvable." For as long as Carly had known him, Bruce had been attempting to solve his parents murder in secret. When they were kids, it had been a dream. Kid detective solves unsolvable crime! He was going to make headlines. He was going to bring honor back to the Wayne name.
When they got to High School, he started to realize there were better ways to honor his parent's memory. He could get good grades. He could learn the family business. He could make extravagant contributions to the city and its hundreds of charities. He could impact thousands of lives; the only expense would be the traumatic loss if his parents.
It had been at least five years since Carly had seen him rifling through the files. In fact, it was the first time she'd seen them in a digital format. The last time they'd been a stack of papers scattered haphazardly around his father's study. Leaflets littered the floor, photos spread out in a gruesome timeline. Seeing the same photos in high definition caused here to shiver.
"Why don't you put this away and come upstairs?"
"This isn't about me this time." Bruce wrapped an arm around his girlfriend's waist and tugged gently. She fell into his lap, which was just what he wanted. He rolled his "Batchair" forwards so that he could more easily reach the keyboard. "I inspected the ropes from that trapeze act myself. Someone had poured an acid on the swings. Slow burning, and timed exactly to chew through the ropes during the highlight of the show." Bruce reached for the Batcomputers' mouse and with a few clicks pulled up photos of what Carly assumed were from the Greyson's trapeze. Photos she hadn't even noticed him taking.
"So Gordon was right?" She gasped. "Someone did try to murder them."
"They did more than try." Bruce snarled. "The question is why?"
"Circus comes around the same time every year." Carly shrugged. "Maybe someone with a vendetta from a previous performance?"
"Possibly. But I doubt it was anyone from Haly's Circus." Bruce opened up an internet browser, typed what he was searching for and directed Carly's attention to the screen. "I was looking into their cast. They very rarely rotate someone in or out. It's likely Dick's been performing with the same people his entire life."
"So, who then?" She looked away from the screen and back at him. "An investor? Someone from Gotham? Penguin or one of the other mobs…"
"That's what I'm trying to work out." He sighed. "Maybe if I knew why I could take a guess at who. Or Vice versa. I don't even know where to start."
"Well," Carly reached far over Bruce's elbow and plucked up Batman's cowl, still sitting next to the computer from that morning. "Maybe Batman should make a visit to the Gotham City Fairgrounds."
"You read my mind." He kissed her cheek. "Will you be okay looking after Alfred and the kid?"
"We'll do just fine." She promised. "See what you can find out." Carly handed Bruce his cowl and hopped off his lap.
"Good night, Carly!" He called out as she began climbing the stairs.
"Good night, Bruce." She blew him a kiss from four steps off the ground.
She wasn't the least bit surprised to find Leo lounging across her pillows. The cat felt as much at home in Bruce's mansion as his owner did. Carly tugged her hair out of its ponytail and pulled the hood of her Haly's Circus sweatshirt over her head. She flopped down on to the bed, covering as much of the mattress' width as possible. Leo lazily raised his head and narrowed his eyes at her.
"Give me a break, pal." She ordered with a yawn. "It's been a long day."
She closed her eyes and immediately regretted it. A yellow dress stained with crimson splashes. The sound of a gunshot. The slam of the kitchen door. Her mother screaming. The cries of a six-year-old girl as the social worker tugged her away from the dramatic scene. Carly bolted upright and wrapped her arms around herself.
This time, Leo troubling himself enough to scale down from his castle of pillows. He climbed into Carly's lap as she bit down on her lower lip, forcing her emotions back down. Suddenly the mansion felt too grand. She began to see the room the way she had on her first night in it. The floorboards were old and they creaked any time someone walked passed. The ancient furniture cast terrifying shadows on the walls. Carly's head spun and she felt as if she would throw up. She should have known better, should have thought of this.
She scooped Leo up into her arms, ignoring his meow of protest, and walk to the bedroom Alfred had assigned to Dick. She heard him crying before she even turned the doorknob. He sniffled as if he were trying to hide that he'd been crying. He was sitting up in the bed, the light still on. He was curled up, clinging Elinore to him tightly.
"Big house like this is scary." Carly confessed from the doorway. "Do you mind if I sit with you?"
"Is that, a real cat?" He asked with watery words as she came closer. Carly introduced her cat to Dick and set him on the bed between them. Leo rubbed his head against Dick's kneecap. Dick reached out cautiously and pet the cat who began to purr instantly.
"He likes you." She smiled.
"I like him too. He's like a little tiger." This seemed to make Leo purr louder and he began to rub his head against Dick's hand, almost like he was petting the boy back.
"He's brave like a tiger too." She brushed the cat's back fur with her fingertips. "When I was younger I used to be afraid of this big house. All the noises, the big rooms. The dining room is practically the size of my parents' house! Okay, maybe not that big, but big enough the being the only person there could make you feel like the last person on earth. When I got older, I moved into my own apartment. Bruce, Mr. Wayne, remembered how afraid I used to be of being alone. So, he bought me Leo as a housewarming present. I had always wanted a cat."
"Me too." Dick agreed, scratching the top of Leo's head. The doorbell rang.
"It's late." Carly frowned. "I don't see why anyone would be ringing the bell this time of night. You stay here. Leo will keep you and Elinore safe and I'll go see who it is."
"Um, Okay." Dick pulled the cat into his lap. Carly kissed him on the forehead before getting off the bed. She combed a few strands of hair out of his eyes.
"There's nothing to be afraid of." She promised before leaving the room.
A/N Thank you wolfmus prime for your review of Chapter 14! I think Car is cool too! I imagine her and Bruce having a very JLaw/Bradley Cooper kind of friendship. (At least the kind of friendship they have in their movies together.) He's suave and in his head alot, she's very off the cuff but relateable. Idk I'm probably putting too much thought into it! Anyway I'm sure everyone has noticed, but I am just flying through these Chapters! Really enjoying working on this story at the moment and hopefully I can keep the momentum up! I'm looking forward to reading new reviews. Thanks so much to everyone who's taken time to favorite, follow, read, review and enjoy!
