~~ Chapter 7 ~~

"Pregnant?!" exclaimed Matt, as Dick sat in his office, telling him why Kimberly Sienkiewicz was no longer a suspect.

"Yep. Very pregnant," said Dick, with a grin. "I had a good view of the back of Dunlop's house, and I had just settled in for some preliminary surveillance - you know, casing the joint -- when a woman walked out of the house onto the deck. It was Kimberly, wearing a robe of some sort. Then she took off the robe." Dick's grin became a little sheepish, and he rubbed his forehead. "I realized two things immediately: she was pregnant, and she wasn't wearing any clothes under the robe."

"Oh my! Pregnant woman sunbathing in the nude." Matt tried to keep a straight face, but Dick's sense of humor got the better of his embarrassment, and soon the two men were laughing uproariously.

Eventually, they calmed down enough for Matt to ask, "So there's no way she could be our suspect?"

Dick snorted. "C'mon, Matt! She looked like she swallowed a beach ball! I think Jerry the bartender would have noticed that little fact -- especially since his own daughter was pregnant."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right," Matt sighed. "I guess we're back to square one."

"Not necessarily," Dick said. He relayed Barbara's new information about the timing of the murders. "We know Mrs. O'Reilly's birthday is next Tuesday, and Babs thinks the older son is the more likely target. All we need to do is keep an eye on him and catch her before she gets him."

"So when are we going to tell him?"

"Tell whom?"

"Jim O'Reilly. When are we going to tell him he's a target?"

Dick sighed. "Matt, you know we can't do that."

"What do you mean? Of course we have to tell him! Maybe he doesn't want to be staked out as bait!"

"He's not bait. You were right the first time -- he's a target, and our telling him he is won't change that fact," Dick said flatly. "Look, if we tell him, he's going to do one of two things -- cooperate with us or hide. Hiding's not going to do him any good; we already know the killer doesn't mind waiting a day to attack. How long do you think she'll wait? But let's say he cooperates with us. Even assuming he can behave naturally enough, how does his knowing affect our plans?"

"It's still not right! We can't just play God like this!"

"I know that!" retorted Dick, sharply. He stood and paced around the office, running his hands through his hair. "I don't like it any better than you, but what it all boils down to is that in order to protect O'Reilly, he can't know he needs protecting. Every way I've looked at this scenario, his knowing doesn't help and usually hurts his chances."

Although Matt was angry with Dick, he couldn't help but contrast Dick's willingness to explain with Batman's insistence on unquestioning obedience. "All right, you've made your point," he said, reluctantly.

"Besides," Dick replied with a grim little smile as he sat down again, "You don't know where he lives; only Babs and I do."

~~~~~~~~~~

Several days later, Matt discovered another difference between Dick and Batman -- Dick was a lot more interesting to have along on a stakeout. They were lucky in that there was a small park/playground across from O'Reilly's apartment building, so they set up a chessboard and played while they waited for Mrs. O'Reilly's birthday party to end. Dick said it was a sunny day, so Matt left his cane in the car, figuring his dark glasses would pass for sunglasses.

"Now, I hope you aren't going to tell me that you're billing me while we wait!" exclaimed Dick, sarcastically.

Matt laughed. "Maybe I ought to -- Foggy's mother always believed we should charge as much as the client could afford. Plus ten percent." When Dick faked a lunge across the chessboard, Matt held up his hand in mock surrender. "All right, all right. Admittedly, I did say I would charge you if I was wearing a suit, and I'm certainly not wearing that right now," he laughed, gesturing to the worn t-shirt and jeans he had on.

As they played, Matt realized that Dick was an excellent chess player. Matt considered himself better-than-average, and it wasn't often that he was seriously challenged. After several games, a definite pattern emerged: With his well-trained memory, Matt was probably the better technical player, but Dick was an absolute master of elegantly choreographed traps. After five games (Matt won two), they called a halt and pulled out the sandwiches they brought for a late lunch.

"So how did you learn to play chess like that? Did Ba ... Bruce teach you?"

Dick smiled. "He taught me the basics, but I probably learned most of my strategy from Alfred."

"Alfred?"

"Officially, I guess you'd call him Bruce's butler; although the better term would be Bruce's keeper." Dick laughed. "He's been in charge of Wayne Manor since before Bruce was born, I think. I've known him since I was nine. He handled a lot of the raising of me."

"If I may, how exactly did you get into all this ..." Matt made waving motions with his hands.

Dick stopped smiling and he drew a deep breath. "My parents and I were circus aerialists. When the circus owner refused to pay protection money, the mob boss arranged for our ropes to be sabotaged. My mom and dad fell to their deaths in front of me. Fortunately for me, Bruce was in the audience and understood the kinds of things I was feeling. He took me in, and the rest, as they say, is history." He smiled briefly, and his left eyebrow quirked. "So what about you? How'd you come to be hanging out on rooftops?"

Matt smiled in return and explained how the childhood accident that blinded him had changed his life in more ways than that.

"It wasn't an immediate change," he continued. "But as the months and years went by, my senses became more and more acute. My 'radar sense' for example -- it started out as an amorphous tingling, but over time became more and more detailed. I never really planned on the whole vigilante gig, though. I was going to be a lawyer; just as my dad had promised my mom before she died." Matt decided not to explain that his mother wasn't really dead but had become a nun; the story was complicated enough as it was.

"Even though I had a scholarship, college and then law school were expensive. My dad was a professional boxer, and he fought to make enough money to keep me in school. Just before I graduated from law school, he was scheduled to fight in an unprecedented title match -- no one could believe that this middle-aged guy could beat the guys he was beating. Unfortunately, they were right. My dad's fights were fixed, and now the Fixer wanted my dad to take a dive in the biggest fight of his life while I was sitting in the audience watching. Dad refused and won the bout, and the Fixer had him killed." He drew a deep breath, as memories of that horrible night washed over him.

"I went ahead with graduation, Foggy and I set up the our law practice together, and ... I met Karen." He paused as new memories replayed themselves in his mind. "I wanted to bring Dad's killers to justice, but I knew no one would take a blind man seriously as an investigator, so I created Daredevil." He took a sip from his water bottle and grinned at Dick. "Your turn. How long have you and Barbara been together?"

Dick frowned at him for a moment, but before he could answer, a group of people left O'Reilly's building.

"That's her!" Dick exclaimed, his heart rate picking up slightly. "Mrs. O'Reilly."

"I guess the birthday party's over."

"Looks that way. Okay, it's now six o'clock. According to Barbara's informants, if Jim stays true to form, he'll leave in about forty-five minutes. Think we should shift over to the car?"

Matt concentrated on the sounds coming from the apartment building. He narrowed his focus until he was sure he was listening to Jim O'Reilly's apartment. A shower was running. "Yeah, let's move."

They packed up their things and returned to the rather battered car that Dick was driving today. The two men sat and watched the building in silence. Matt thought about re-asking his earlier question, but he really needed to keep an "ear" on what was happening in O'Reilly's apartment. Fortunately, Dick realized what Matt was doing and did not distract him.

At 6:40, Matt turned to Dick. "He's coming down."

A few minutes later, Jim O'Reilly, a tall, lanky man with thinning hair, walked out of the building, whistling. He hailed an approaching cab and got in. Dick waited until the cab was about a block away and then started the car and followed.

"How good are you at following cars?" Dick asked as he drove.

Matt smiled ruefully. "Not as good as I'd like. It's hard to track an individual car's exhaust unless there's something really distinctive about it."

"Gotcha." He touched the receiver behind his ear. "Babs, you got a minute?"

"Sure, what'cha need?" said a cheerful little voice.

"Do you have me on your scope?"

"Always."

"You see the car about a hundred yards directly in front of me? Whoops, he just turned right," Dick said as he prepared to turn as well.

"Got it. That's our boy?"

"Yeah. I don't want to risk losing him."

"I'll keep an eye on him."

"Thanks, sweetheart." Dick kept a discreet distance back behind the cab, occasionally changing lanes to avoid being too obvious. Ten minutes later, the cab pulled over in front of an old warehouse that had been converted into a trendy club. O'Reilly got out and took a place in the line that was forming outside the front door. Dick pulled over as well and turned to Matt.

"Okay, you keep an eye on our boy while I find a parking spot. It's getting dark, so you'll need to take the cane. You have the communicator I gave you?"

Matt grinned and opened the car door. Now Dick definitely sounded like his mentor. "I've got it. I'll see you in a few minutes."

"You bet," Dick promised as he drove off.

Around five minutes later, Dick came jogging up. Matt frowned. Admittedly, making out the shapes of clothes was a little difficult for him, but it appeared to him that Dick was wearing something different.

"Sorry, I'm a little late," he explained as he reached Matt. "It took a while to find a good spot."

"O'Reilly just went in."

"Okay. I'll keep surveillance on the inside, so why don't you change into the 'long johns' and take over on the roof?"

"Why do you get to go inside?" Matt asked, curious.

Dick grinned. "For one thing, because I thought to bring something appropriate to wear, and you would be too conspicuous in there, anyway. Mainly, because while you could track O'Reilly from inside or out, I can only track him on the inside."

"Oh." Matt was a little surprised at Dick's honest assessment. Most of the heroes he worked with would probably not admit they were inadequate in some fashion. Neither could he imagine Batman conceding such a thing -- or at least explaining it that way. Finally, he nodded and walked away to change.

By the time he climbed onto the club's roof, Dick was already inside. Matt pressed the receiver/transmitter behind his ear as Dick had shown him.

"Dick?"

He heard laughter, music, and then Dick's voice saying, "... no, I'm sorry, I'm meeting someone."

"Dick's a little busy right now," Barbara said, laughing.

"I can tell."

"All right, all right. I have O'Reilly in sight. You in position, Matt?" said Dick, in mock annoyance.

"Yeah."

For the next half-hour, Matt split his attention between the growing line of patrons outside, and the entertaining sounds of Dick fending off women and men trying to pick him up. Without warning, a hint of a familiar aroma tugged at this senses. Focusing his attention down below, he noticed that a woman had just stepped out of a cab. As she walked to the front of the line, he realized she had Asian features, and he caught another whiff -- this was definitely the scent he had detected at Munroe's apartment.

"Dick!"

"... Look, you don't want to mess with my girlfriend. She gets mean when she gets angry."

"Dick!!"

"What?"

"She's coming in!"

"Okay, what's she wearing?"

Matt groaned. "How should I know? I think it was some kind of floaty dress thing, but that's all I could make out."

"Sorry, force of habit. Well, we know where she's headed, anyway. Whoops! I think I found her. Babs, am I sending you a clear visual?"

"Yeah, I've got it, Former Boy Wonder."

Matt tensed as he listened. "She asked O'Reilly if he was alone. He just offered to buy her a drink. His voice sounds a little off."

"I know what you mean," Dick replied. "His whole body language just changed."

After several minutes of rather heavy-handed flirting, the big moment came. "This is it!" Matt exclaimed. "He just invited her back to his place."

"Yeah, they're paying their tab. Get ready to shadow them, and keep in touch. I'll follow you as soon as I can."

"Got it." Matt detected the couple coming out of the club. "They're getting into a cab now. I'm on my way."

Readying his billy club, he prepared to fly away into the night.

~~ End Chapter 7 ~~