A Matter of Life and Death Chapter 8
By Marcie Gore
Rated PG
Story summary: Where IS DICK? Also Matches Malone steps in.
Batman looks for clues to where Joe and the others could have taken Dick, from the
cabin. The blood seems old so hopefully that means he hasn't been injured further.
He takes samples of the blood spatters so he can confirm they are Dick's blood.
He shudders at thoughts of what Dick might've gone through tied up in that tiny closet
He tries not to think of what might be happening to him now.
He finds a note on white paper in cut out block letters, saying,
SORRY WE MISSED YA BUT IT WAS TIME TO MOVE ON! BY THE WAY
TELL WAYNE THE DROPS BEEN MOVED TO ROBINSON PARK. AT
MIDNIGHT.
They search every inch of the small cabin then the woods near by Batman finds a
matchbook dropped just a few inches from the front door. It says Verry bar in
Red letters. Under that it said located on 124 Main street Bludhaven. Batman says
to himself, I think Matches Malone just found a new place to hang out.
#########
EARLIER the same day.
I'm trying to think of a new plan to get out of here alive, when the door suddenly opens.
First one of them splints my broken leg. I doubt he is doing this out of the kindness
of his heart or a sense of guilt. He tells me that he thinks Bruce or his people are
Close to finding me and they can't let that happen yet! He then drags me out the
closet, points a gun to my head, and orders me outside.
I start running for my life even if my broken leg still hurts terribly. It seems like I've
managed to get away from them when I fall ,my leg gives out. Two of the men lift
Me up by my arms and drag me to the van. One puts a chloroformed rag over my
mouth and I pass out again.
When I wake up I hear a door open and I'm led down some stairs. They let me fall
down the last couple. I hear evil laughter as I fall. Then they tie me up and have me
lie on a bare mattress. I must be in a cellar or in a basement it's so cold in here,
especially with no shirt.
I let my mind drift away; I think I have a slight fever. I can almost feel her hands on
my face. I imagine her wiping the blood, sweat, and dirt away with a cool cloth. The
water feels so good. I can almost feel her red hair brush against my face. I smile for a
second.
Oh I wish you were here now I need to see your smile. I don't really want you in
here, in this awful place, I just wish I were in your arms right now. I don't want her to
go though what I'm going though right now. I can't get his threat against my sweet
Babs off my mind, even if I know he was just trying make me angry.
Matches Malone walks into Grady's at 9:30 p.m. He has a copy of the Gotham
Examiner in his hand. It seems his taste in newspapers is as bad as his taste in watering
holes. He sits down on a barstool and at first, just listens and pretends to read. .
A guy with a two-day growth of beard sits down next to Matches. He starts reading over
his shoulder. The headline screams "BILLIONAIRE"S SON DEAD OR
KIDNAPPED?! Under that it says, "He never reported him missing; what is he
hiding?"
The article says while the father and son had a major falling out when Dick hit his
Late teens, sources close to the billionaire say, they have mended fences in recent
months." Another source at the morgue says Wayne seemed distraught when he
entered the building, earlier to identify a body that had been found. When he left an
hour later he seemed relived.
Then they speculate that Dick may have been using drugs, or that the mob
kidnapped or killed him because Bruce wouldn't deal with them on construction
contracts. He listens as a guy tells the bartender how he had a "sweet deal going,
but that went south when I got into a fight with the boss. He says fingering a bandage
on his head ."
Matches introduces himself and asks the guy next to him if he has any idea what
happened to Wayne's kid and if he thinks there's any money to be made . If there is
HE wants in. He points at the paper in front of him.
The guy says my names Larry, Larry Johansson. If you REALLY want in I'll tell
you, I think he was kidnapped. A rich guy like Wayne probably has lots of enemies
You don't say, but what good is this gonna do me, if I can't get in with the guy, if
he has da rich kid? Think he'd have him stashed somewhere in Gotham? I can't go past
the state line or I get cops nosing around my business.
Last I heard this is second hand mind ya, they had him at a cabin, less than a mile from
his "daddy's" land. No one ever goes out there. It's the perfect place to stash a hostage,
Larry says.
If I'm gonna join 'em, I wanta know if they're hotheads first. I don't wanta be facing a
murder rap. They done anything to the kid that could send me back up the river or worse
if we're caught? I think Wayne'd push for the chair if they kill his kid. You know how
them rich guys are about protecting the bloodline. Even if the kid ain't really his, I hear
he's about the only family the guy has left.
Nah, my SOURCE told me they just roughed him up a little when he tried to escape.
They sent "DADDY" a videotape of them beating him up, as added incentive shall we
say for him to pay up. I'd loved to have seen his face when he got it.
The kid's probably recovered by now. They said he tries to act the tough guy. Larry tells
him. I wouldn't get involved with those two, though. I have a feeling Joe plans to keep
the ransom all for himself.
Well, nice to meet'cha LAR. Maybe I'll bump into you some other time. With that
Matches Malone leaves depositing a used matchstick on the floor.
Not long after Larry is leaving the bar, with a few beers in him. He feels a large hand on
his shoulder and tries to leave, but the hand in a dark glove grabs him by the neck
and pins him to the wall.
Its Batman, the terrified felon swallows hard. "WWHAT do you want? he says.
I want to know what you know about the disappearance of Dick Grayson, he growls
Don't leave ANYTHING out! For starters what is your connection to one Joe Kemper?
I was real wild as a kid. I went to juvenile hall when I was 15. We were roommates. I
haven't seen him since my sentence ended three years later. He went straight when he got
his job at Wayne.
Wrong answer I have your fingerprints on a picture of the boy tied up in a closet. He
shoves the picture in Larry's face. Now, where is Joe holding him? Is he still alive?
I saw how you and your friends tortured him. Want to know how Dick felt!? I'll arrange
it if you don't talk, NOW!
OK, I admit it I helped him grab Dick , please don't tell Joe he'll kill me! I don't know
where he has him now, but he was in a cabin next a Wayne Enterprises Development.
You know where they moved him don't you? Batman starts punching him harder .I
won't tell your Boss you talked to me I just want to know where the boy is before it's
too late. You know this state has the death penalty don't you?
I stopped working with him a couple of days ago. I don't know where he moved the kid.
How do you know he's not at the cabin anymore?
Liar! I happen to know you and Kemper have been partners since you were kids! Why
should that change when he's about to pull off his biggest crime ever? There are
millions to be made this time. You must know where he's holding Dick.
This is why it changed, Bats, Larry points at the bandage on his head.. I finally had
enough of his abuse, every time we worked together when we were kids, we'd end up
fighting. He's lost it. He had me and Tony digging graves for Wayne and the kid.
He's gonna kill them both, money on no money. Kidnapping's one thing , murder's
another. I wasn't going to go down for no murder!
Batman can't let Larry know what he just said disturbed him. Inside, he's terrified. He
has to find his son before it's too late! "I'm so sorry Dick ;I wasn't there to protect,
he thinks. I haven't been there when you needed me in so long. You've been there
when I needed you ,even when I tried to drive you away. I never say it, but I love you
so much. Sometimes I think you saved my life. You defiantly helped save my sanity
Ok BATS I can tell you about a place he mentioned as a possibility before he found
that cabin. It's an old house on Carter drive in south Gotham. It's a really bad
neighborhood yah know, so no one would ever even notice screams or hear any
gunshots. If they did ,they wouldn't call the cops.
If Joe or Tony killed the Grayson kid in that place, they'd probably get away with it.
They'd just throw him in that grave and forget about him, then go after Wayne when
he delivered the money. Joe has no conscience
Batman slaps the cuffs on him and calls Commissioner Gordon. Batman is now
forced to tell him about the kidnapping. He also gives him the physical evidence he has
gathered. He tells Batman that he will go to see Bruce Wayne in the morning.
The next morning Jim Gordon is setting on the living room couch at Wayne Manor.
Bruce walks in a few minutes later. He says , "I'm sorry I kept you waiting, Jim. I
haven't slept very well since I found out my boy was kidnapped."
" As a father I can understand that Bruce but. why didn't you tell the police or even me
sooner? Were you afraid of what the kidnappers would do to Dick if they found out ,
you know we would've been discrete? Now all we can really do is follow you to the
drop and arrest them from there. Is it true the person you think kidnapped Dick is a
disgruntled ex employee of yours. Had he threatened you or Dick before?" "
.
Yes, It is Jim. By the way how did you find out about the kidnapping, that over blown
article in the Gotham Examiner? It was only speculation about what happened to
Dick."
I heard from the coroner that they had had found his wallet next to a body. I should
have said something then, but I didn't because they said the boy wasn't him. We had
already begun investigating that death. Then one of my sources led me to one Larry
Johansson. We booked him on suspicion of kidnapping but we're keeping it quiet for
Dick's sake. Then again you know all that don't you, BATMAN!
TBC.
By Marcie Gore
Rated PG
Story summary: Where IS DICK? Also Matches Malone steps in.
Batman looks for clues to where Joe and the others could have taken Dick, from the
cabin. The blood seems old so hopefully that means he hasn't been injured further.
He takes samples of the blood spatters so he can confirm they are Dick's blood.
He shudders at thoughts of what Dick might've gone through tied up in that tiny closet
He tries not to think of what might be happening to him now.
He finds a note on white paper in cut out block letters, saying,
SORRY WE MISSED YA BUT IT WAS TIME TO MOVE ON! BY THE WAY
TELL WAYNE THE DROPS BEEN MOVED TO ROBINSON PARK. AT
MIDNIGHT.
They search every inch of the small cabin then the woods near by Batman finds a
matchbook dropped just a few inches from the front door. It says Verry bar in
Red letters. Under that it said located on 124 Main street Bludhaven. Batman says
to himself, I think Matches Malone just found a new place to hang out.
#########
EARLIER the same day.
I'm trying to think of a new plan to get out of here alive, when the door suddenly opens.
First one of them splints my broken leg. I doubt he is doing this out of the kindness
of his heart or a sense of guilt. He tells me that he thinks Bruce or his people are
Close to finding me and they can't let that happen yet! He then drags me out the
closet, points a gun to my head, and orders me outside.
I start running for my life even if my broken leg still hurts terribly. It seems like I've
managed to get away from them when I fall ,my leg gives out. Two of the men lift
Me up by my arms and drag me to the van. One puts a chloroformed rag over my
mouth and I pass out again.
When I wake up I hear a door open and I'm led down some stairs. They let me fall
down the last couple. I hear evil laughter as I fall. Then they tie me up and have me
lie on a bare mattress. I must be in a cellar or in a basement it's so cold in here,
especially with no shirt.
I let my mind drift away; I think I have a slight fever. I can almost feel her hands on
my face. I imagine her wiping the blood, sweat, and dirt away with a cool cloth. The
water feels so good. I can almost feel her red hair brush against my face. I smile for a
second.
Oh I wish you were here now I need to see your smile. I don't really want you in
here, in this awful place, I just wish I were in your arms right now. I don't want her to
go though what I'm going though right now. I can't get his threat against my sweet
Babs off my mind, even if I know he was just trying make me angry.
Matches Malone walks into Grady's at 9:30 p.m. He has a copy of the Gotham
Examiner in his hand. It seems his taste in newspapers is as bad as his taste in watering
holes. He sits down on a barstool and at first, just listens and pretends to read. .
A guy with a two-day growth of beard sits down next to Matches. He starts reading over
his shoulder. The headline screams "BILLIONAIRE"S SON DEAD OR
KIDNAPPED?! Under that it says, "He never reported him missing; what is he
hiding?"
The article says while the father and son had a major falling out when Dick hit his
Late teens, sources close to the billionaire say, they have mended fences in recent
months." Another source at the morgue says Wayne seemed distraught when he
entered the building, earlier to identify a body that had been found. When he left an
hour later he seemed relived.
Then they speculate that Dick may have been using drugs, or that the mob
kidnapped or killed him because Bruce wouldn't deal with them on construction
contracts. He listens as a guy tells the bartender how he had a "sweet deal going,
but that went south when I got into a fight with the boss. He says fingering a bandage
on his head ."
Matches introduces himself and asks the guy next to him if he has any idea what
happened to Wayne's kid and if he thinks there's any money to be made . If there is
HE wants in. He points at the paper in front of him.
The guy says my names Larry, Larry Johansson. If you REALLY want in I'll tell
you, I think he was kidnapped. A rich guy like Wayne probably has lots of enemies
You don't say, but what good is this gonna do me, if I can't get in with the guy, if
he has da rich kid? Think he'd have him stashed somewhere in Gotham? I can't go past
the state line or I get cops nosing around my business.
Last I heard this is second hand mind ya, they had him at a cabin, less than a mile from
his "daddy's" land. No one ever goes out there. It's the perfect place to stash a hostage,
Larry says.
If I'm gonna join 'em, I wanta know if they're hotheads first. I don't wanta be facing a
murder rap. They done anything to the kid that could send me back up the river or worse
if we're caught? I think Wayne'd push for the chair if they kill his kid. You know how
them rich guys are about protecting the bloodline. Even if the kid ain't really his, I hear
he's about the only family the guy has left.
Nah, my SOURCE told me they just roughed him up a little when he tried to escape.
They sent "DADDY" a videotape of them beating him up, as added incentive shall we
say for him to pay up. I'd loved to have seen his face when he got it.
The kid's probably recovered by now. They said he tries to act the tough guy. Larry tells
him. I wouldn't get involved with those two, though. I have a feeling Joe plans to keep
the ransom all for himself.
Well, nice to meet'cha LAR. Maybe I'll bump into you some other time. With that
Matches Malone leaves depositing a used matchstick on the floor.
Not long after Larry is leaving the bar, with a few beers in him. He feels a large hand on
his shoulder and tries to leave, but the hand in a dark glove grabs him by the neck
and pins him to the wall.
Its Batman, the terrified felon swallows hard. "WWHAT do you want? he says.
I want to know what you know about the disappearance of Dick Grayson, he growls
Don't leave ANYTHING out! For starters what is your connection to one Joe Kemper?
I was real wild as a kid. I went to juvenile hall when I was 15. We were roommates. I
haven't seen him since my sentence ended three years later. He went straight when he got
his job at Wayne.
Wrong answer I have your fingerprints on a picture of the boy tied up in a closet. He
shoves the picture in Larry's face. Now, where is Joe holding him? Is he still alive?
I saw how you and your friends tortured him. Want to know how Dick felt!? I'll arrange
it if you don't talk, NOW!
OK, I admit it I helped him grab Dick , please don't tell Joe he'll kill me! I don't know
where he has him now, but he was in a cabin next a Wayne Enterprises Development.
You know where they moved him don't you? Batman starts punching him harder .I
won't tell your Boss you talked to me I just want to know where the boy is before it's
too late. You know this state has the death penalty don't you?
I stopped working with him a couple of days ago. I don't know where he moved the kid.
How do you know he's not at the cabin anymore?
Liar! I happen to know you and Kemper have been partners since you were kids! Why
should that change when he's about to pull off his biggest crime ever? There are
millions to be made this time. You must know where he's holding Dick.
This is why it changed, Bats, Larry points at the bandage on his head.. I finally had
enough of his abuse, every time we worked together when we were kids, we'd end up
fighting. He's lost it. He had me and Tony digging graves for Wayne and the kid.
He's gonna kill them both, money on no money. Kidnapping's one thing , murder's
another. I wasn't going to go down for no murder!
Batman can't let Larry know what he just said disturbed him. Inside, he's terrified. He
has to find his son before it's too late! "I'm so sorry Dick ;I wasn't there to protect,
he thinks. I haven't been there when you needed me in so long. You've been there
when I needed you ,even when I tried to drive you away. I never say it, but I love you
so much. Sometimes I think you saved my life. You defiantly helped save my sanity
Ok BATS I can tell you about a place he mentioned as a possibility before he found
that cabin. It's an old house on Carter drive in south Gotham. It's a really bad
neighborhood yah know, so no one would ever even notice screams or hear any
gunshots. If they did ,they wouldn't call the cops.
If Joe or Tony killed the Grayson kid in that place, they'd probably get away with it.
They'd just throw him in that grave and forget about him, then go after Wayne when
he delivered the money. Joe has no conscience
Batman slaps the cuffs on him and calls Commissioner Gordon. Batman is now
forced to tell him about the kidnapping. He also gives him the physical evidence he has
gathered. He tells Batman that he will go to see Bruce Wayne in the morning.
The next morning Jim Gordon is setting on the living room couch at Wayne Manor.
Bruce walks in a few minutes later. He says , "I'm sorry I kept you waiting, Jim. I
haven't slept very well since I found out my boy was kidnapped."
" As a father I can understand that Bruce but. why didn't you tell the police or even me
sooner? Were you afraid of what the kidnappers would do to Dick if they found out ,
you know we would've been discrete? Now all we can really do is follow you to the
drop and arrest them from there. Is it true the person you think kidnapped Dick is a
disgruntled ex employee of yours. Had he threatened you or Dick before?" "
.
Yes, It is Jim. By the way how did you find out about the kidnapping, that over blown
article in the Gotham Examiner? It was only speculation about what happened to
Dick."
I heard from the coroner that they had had found his wallet next to a body. I should
have said something then, but I didn't because they said the boy wasn't him. We had
already begun investigating that death. Then one of my sources led me to one Larry
Johansson. We booked him on suspicion of kidnapping but we're keeping it quiet for
Dick's sake. Then again you know all that don't you, BATMAN!
TBC.