In the Shadow of the Bat
Chapter Forty Two
Teresa Ludlow-Dalt looked with mixed feelings at the book in her hands. A mass market trade paperback, expensive embossed lettering, the whole nine yards. It was vaguely weird having it finally in her hands.
"Congratulations, partner," Vicki Vale smiled, the gorgeous redhead sitting with her at the cafe they had met at, months ago.
"You too," Teresa smiled back. In working on the book they had become friends, and she hoped they'd stay that.
"You also published the academic version of the book, right?" Vicki asked her as she sipped from her drink.
"Finally," Teresa laughed tiredly.
Vicki leaned forward as she quietly asked, "Is it true you sent a copy of the draft version to the Shade to comment on?"
"Yes," Teresa admitted. She sipped from her drink as she said, "He was surprisingly nice about it all, actually. He fact checked the sections about him, as well as clarified a few Ludlow encounters that I was vague on."
"Damn," Vicki shook her head. "You have ovaries of steel, woman."
Teresa just laughed.
"So, what next?" Vicki asked as she waved for another drink.
"We start doing news interviews and possibly a book tour," Teresa looked mildly unhappy at the later prospect.
"You don't want to tour to support your book?" Vicki teased.
"I know a few authors who have done tours, they tend to be pretty awful unless you're a big name," Teresa shook her head.
"Well, that's fair," Vicki said. She continued, "My agent Grace said Dani Grayton is coming to interview us?"
"She'll meet us this afternoon," Teresa agreed. "I am SO not looking forward to that, either..."
Vicki snickered softly. "Dani is a good one, actually," she said, "she's a straight shooter and won't try to trap us or something."
"Hopefully the book does well," Teresa nodded.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Rebecca Calabrese smiled warmly as the attractive redhead shook the woman's hand.
"Thank you for your donation to the community center," Holly Robinson shook her hand, the boyish blond smiling warmly.
"Glad to help," Rebecca said cheerfully. "You do good work here."
Holly grinned back as she said, "Thanks. We'll do much more with the five hundred thousand donation you made."
"Good." Rebecca nodded. "What do you plan on doing first?" she asked.
"Computers, actually," Holly admitted. "Giving the poor access to the internet, as well as computer training."
"You might want to look into some Wayne Foundation grants too," Rebecca noted as she explained, "they're doing a 'donated/restored smartphones for the poor' project. They could help out getting inexpensive laptops."
Holly brightened, "I'll make a note of it. Thanks!"
"Holly," a voice called as a black haired woman with short hair entered, "we're out of... oh! I didn't realize someone was here."
"Selina Kyle," Holly smiled, "meet Rebecca Calabrese. Selina is my right hand woman here at the center."
"Miss Kyle, nice to meet you," Rebecca smiled as they shook hands.
"We're getting set up for the soup kitchen lunch," Selina explained to Rebecca then addressed Holly, "The donated bread didn't come in."
Holly puffed out a breath as she said, "Well, we know we can't always count on it." She sighed, "Well, we have enough soup, with fruit cups for desert."
"That works," Selina agreed.
"Does that happen often? Donated stuff not appearing?" Rebecca asked.
"Some," Holly admitted, "it's stuff near expiry provided by various grocery stores. Sometimes they just don't have much to send."
"I see," Rebecca nodded, "that's difficult."
Another woman entered, her white blond hair tied back in a ponytail. "Morning," she said as she waved at Holly.
"Rebecca, meet Mary Scott. She's one of my best volunteers," Holly smiled.
"In between my call center work," Mary downplayed it shyly.
"Don't be modest," Holly playfully punched her shoulder before Mary headed off to help cook.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Black Spider was lining up a target.
They were in Gotham's East Side, a mid level member of the Carmine family, who specialized in prostitution. 'Fast Eddie' Ceasar had beaten several girls to death, then dumped them in the river. The water, combined with him having some brains, left little evidence for the cops.
Wig, costume... she was ready to go.
'Fast Eddie' was patrolling his territory, a sneer on his face as he looked over the working girls. "Hey, you!" he frowned as he saw a new girl.
"Oh, hi sugar," the pretty blonde in a tube top and a mini-skirt smiled, her large purse swinging at her side.
"You new?" 'Fast Eddie' demanded. "Who's your pimp?" he asked.
"Mr Smith," she lied.
"Don't screw with me," 'Fast Eddie' growled angrily, grabbing at her arm and dragging her in a nearby alley.
They went deep into the shadows, away from witnesses, presumably so he could beat her.
"Please, no," the woman asked.
"Like that would help," 'Fast Eddie' got into her face, his expression cruel.
With surprising speed the woman pulled a long knife from under her skirt and stabbed it up through his ribs into the heart.
"HURK." 'Fast Eddie' gasped as he slowly collapsed.
The woman looked down at him coldly, seeing that he was still alive. "Barbara Reid says hello," she told him.
He looked at her blankly, then just passed. She dropped a calling card on his chest 'Beware Black Spider.'
Job done, the woman hurried down the alley, the wig dumped. She swiftly changed clothes, pulling nearly invisible gloves off, stacking up the stuff from her disguise then dumping a container of powerful acid on it.
Rebecca Calabrese emerged from the other end of the alley in a blouse and black skirt, then walked off confidently.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Couldn't have happened to a nicer scumbag," Hellen McCormick noted, the police Detective checking out the scene as CSI worked.
"Don't contaminate the scene," one CSI warned.
"Did the coroner arrive?" Hellen asked.
"On their way."
Hellen turned to talk to the first cop to arrive. "Officer Lee?" she asked the younger man.
"Ma'am," John Lee nodded. "Someone cutting through the alley found the body then phoned the police."
"Anything leap out at you?" Hellen asked. Sometimes the first person there saw something...
"Other than... I think the body was just deliberately left there. There are a lot of working girls around here, someone should have seen him," John answered.
Hellen grunted, "Probably."
The coroner arrived, carefully dodged the CSI crew and got to the body. She took a thermometer and inserted it into his side.
"Yo, Paige," Hellen nodded.
"Hellen," Paige Wilson nodded. She checked the reading, "He's ambient temperature."
"He's been here awhile," Hellen nodded. "Can you tell how long, here?" she asked.
"Not exactly," Paige said.
"At least we know cause of death," Hellen nodded to the blade still stuck in his chest.
"Here," the lead CSI held up the Black Spider calling card.
"Shit," Hellen cursed quietly. She frowned, "That's interesting, though. Black Spider doesn't usually leave weapons behind."
"Maybe something relating to the victim?" Paige suggested.
"Maybe," Hellen agreed. Depressingly the Black Spider case was pretty high profile, so the case would probably end up with senior Detectives...
To be continued...