Detective Grayson took the last sip of coffee and threw it in the wastebasket. He leaned over his partner's desk.
"Find anything on our main suspect, Will?"
They were working on a murder case that had occurred the day before. It was their first official case as detectives.
The victim, Catherine Ferguson (last name taken from her husband), a 50 year old supermarket clerk, was murdered at 8 p.m., according to the coroner's analysis. The woman had been stabbed three times and was found dead in her apartment by her neighbor who immediately called the police.
Apparently, she had no living relatives. She was a widow: her husband had died years earlier in a tragic car accident.
The main suspect is Andrew Philipps. According to the neighbor's testimony, he often went to the victim's house and screams were heard. So Will was looking for information about the suspect.
Will looked briefly at Dick and nodded and returned his gaze to the computer. "Andrew Philipps. 41 years old. He has been working as a mechanic in a garage for two and a half years. He has a criminal record: he was a member of a criminal gang called "The Rock" that was arrested many years ago."
Dick snorted in amusement. "Really? "The Rock?" How original." Will chuckled. "Have all the members of this gang been arrested?"
The other detective nodded. "Yes. All of them were sentenced to the same sentence but Andrew is the only one who got out early for good behavior a couple of years ago. He spent about a year on probation and has been officially free ever since."
Dick nodded, understanding all the information he received. "Are we going to question him?" asked Will slightly excited at the idea of questioning a murder suspect without "supervision" from other detectives.
Dick drummed absentmindedly on his partner's desk, thoughtful. After a few seconds of contemplation he nodded and sat down on his desk, looking for something on the computer. "Yes but let me check something first..."
Will got up and stood next to Richard, leaning back in his chair as he looked at what his partner was looking for. Dick quickly typed keys on the keyboard as several tabs appeared. "Will, look at this." he said as he pointed to one.
Detective Jones looked carefully at the card that was pointed to. "These are the bank statements of the victim's late husband." he affirmed.
Dick nodded in confirmation. "That's right. What do you see that's strange?"
A few seconds of silence passed when Will opened his mouth to speak. "In May 2011 he deposited fifty thousand dollars at the bank. A fair amount of money." he frowned. "He must have taken it from someone."
His colleague nodded again. "Exactly what I think. Now read this." he enlarged another card bearing a news article. "It says that five months later his wife found him at home badly beaten and had to take him to the hospital."
"So, as it were, he 'borrowed' money but couldn't find a way or time to repay so someone beat him up." he speculated.
"I think so too. A few months after he was released from the hospital he had a car accident that cost him his life."
"Do you think it was really a traffic accident or was it planned?"
"Do you think it could have been a murder instead of an accident?"
Will shrugged his shoulders. "Could be."
"Give me a second." he typed on the keyboard, and later a newspaper article about the said accident appeared. "It says here that a drunk driver failed to stop at an intersection and slammed violently into it. He was unconscious for five days in the hospital before waking up. After that he was arrested for drunk driving and manslaughter. We can therefore rule out a possible murder of Mr. Ferguson."
"So whoever wanted to be repaid by Ferguson could not do so and, in revenge, targeted his wife. Maybe even to try to get the money back from her."
Dick smiled and nodded. "Very plausible hypothesis." he paused for a moment when a lead came into his mind to follow. "Will, see when that criminal gang we were talking about earlier was arrested."
Will nodded and returned to his desk. After a few seconds he parried. "It was arrested in March 2012."
"Three months after the incident."
"Dick, listen to this. The gang received several charges, including extortion."
The two looked at each other from their respective desks and reached the same conclusion. "Andrew Philipps." they said in unison.
Will rubbed his chin. "There's one thing that doesn't make sense to me, though."
"What?"
"Since Andrew was no longer on probation, it seems he never contacted Catherine. So why these days of all days?"
Dick looked thoughtfully at the computer screen without actually seeing anything definite when he returned his gaze to his partner's. "Maybe he wanted to let the waters subside first so she would think he wouldn't contact her again."
"How can we be sure that the victim knew her husband's attacker(s) or the gang from which he got the money? Also, are we sure that he got them from 'The Rock' and not from someone else? Also, what did he need the fifty thousand dollars for?"
Dick blinked at the speed with which Will asked the questions. "Calm down, man. One question at a time." Will blushed slightly from embarrassment and nodded.
Dick chuckled and searched for something on his computer. "First, I can answer your last question. It seems that Mr. Ferguson, shortly before he deposited the money, lost his job; so I assume he took the money to be able to survive and pay bills and things like that, since I seriously doubt that his wife's salary would be enough."
Will agreed. "That makes sense. For the other questions though?"
Detective Grayson shook his head. "I don't know, however, we can go visit Andrew and ask him a few questions."
Will smiled and stood up, "Fine. Let's go to the workshop and get the answers. I'll drive!" and pranced toward the station exit.
Dick shook his head with a small smile and chuckled.
Still the same old Will.
"We're here, brother!" announced Will as he pulled up in the police car near the workshop.
"Finally." grumbled Dick and got out of the car.
The two together entered the building and were greeted by a man in his thirties wearing a mechanic's suit.
"Detective Grayson-Wayne and Detective Jones." Dick introduced himself, pointing to their badges.
"Mark Barlow. What can I do for you?" he asked as he adjusted his gloves, suspicious eyes probing the two cops.
Dick could not blame him for his distrust.
"We know a guy named Andrew Philipps works here. We need to talk to him." Will explained.
Mark nodded. "Certainly. He's the one working on the black Renault Twingo." he pointed him out with a nod.
The two policemen nodded and thanked him. They walked toward the suspect who was repairing the car from underneath.
"Andrew Philipps?" called Will to him.
Andrew slowly leaned over and once he saw that they were cops he huffed and got out, getting to his feet and brushing his pants. His uniform was slightly soiled and he was holding a wrench.
"What do you want?" he asked with obvious contempt.
Dick restrained himself from retorting with a sarcastic reply. "We just wanted to ask you a few questions about Catherine Ferguson."
Andrew visibly gasped and threw the wrench at them and started running toward the fire exit.
Dick easily locked the tool in mid-air and dropped it to the ground as he and his partner followed. "Why the heck do they have to run every time? Don't they understand that it practically makes them guilty?" asked Will irritably as they ran.
"I don't know man! Not all criminals are smart!"
The two followed Andrew as he exited the workshop through the fire exit. He was a few meters ahead of them when he turned to the right.
"Will follow him: I'll take another route to try to intercept him." Dick ordered.
His partner nodded and they parted: Will followed the criminal by going right while Dick continued straight ahead.
About thirty seconds passed when Richard took a path and launched himself at Andrew as soon as he saw him. The two collided and rolled on the sidewalk until Andrew was on top of Dick.
He threw a punch to his face and soon after another that was blocked. Dick pushed away from him kicking him a few feet away. The acrobat immediately got back up and found Will putting handcuffs on Andrew.
"Are you okay Dick?" he asked slightly concerned as he roughly pushed Andrew in front of him.
"Yes, I'm fine. Just a little bruise, no big deal." he replied as he ran his hand over his slightly bruised cheek.
Will nodded. "Good." then gave a dirty look to Andrew, who was making no attempt to escape, and returned his gaze to his friend. He groaned annoyed. "Great, now we have to take Mr. unintelligent to the police car."
Dick chuckled. "Come on, let's go. The sooner we get going the sooner we'll get there."
Will sighed. "Right." he grumbled.
Dick roughly pushed Andrew forward and closed one of the many cells where criminals were temporarily placed before they were transferred to a prison. Will was right next to him.
"We'll question him later, even though he's clearly guilty." Will said as the two entered the break room.
Dick nodded in agreement as he dropped comfortably into one of the armchairs. Will sat down in front of him. "As our first official detective case, it went very well, I'd say." he affirmed, smiling.
A smirk appeared on Will's face. "What? Did you expect otherwise, Dick?" he joked.
His friend chuckled and there was a pleasant silence that was interrupted by a slightly familiar voice. "Detective Grayson-Wayne, you have a visitor waiting for you in the main room."
Dick turned and saw that the voice belonged to Officer Liam Miller. He nodded at him in acknowledgement and stood up.
"Who could it be?" asked Will curiously.
Dick shrugged his shoulders.
Good question.
"To tell you the truth, I have no idea." He certainly knows it's not Bruce since he's at work; so he assumes it's one of his brothers.
The reason?
It is unknown to him.
As soon as he reached the main hall, he stopped seeing who the "visitor" was. A sweet and genuine smile formed on his face.
It was Selina Kyle.
In fact, he felt stupid that he had not thought it might be her.
Next to her, however, was an agent who was flirting with her, even though she was deliberately ignoring him.
And damn it, he would be lying if he said he didn't want to punch him.
In short, no one can flirt with his...he didn't know if he could call her his girlfriend or if it was too soon. But still, the point remains.
And he made a mental note to talk to her and clarify their relationship.
He approached her at a fast pace (he did not want that boy near Selina). As he approached her, he marveled to himself at the jealousy he was feeling.
Once again he wondered what that girl was doing to him.
"Selina!" he called to her.
She turned around and he swore he saw her beautiful green eyes sparkle with joy. "Dick!" she came up to him and kissed him softly, wrapping her arms around his neck.
At first Dick was shocked but soon happily returned the kiss, ignoring the muttering in the background from the other agent. His heart was accelerating so fast during the kiss that he marveled that he did not have a heart attack.
Selina is the only girl who makes me feel this way...I can't even find a word to describe what I'm feeling. I am sure of two things though: one; it is a beautiful feeling that I will want to feel forever and two; I will not let Selina get away from me for any reason.
They broke away from the kiss and smiled at each other. The moment was ruined, however, by Will (and who else?). "So you are the notorious Selina." at her affirmative nod, he continued with a smirk. "My name is Will Jones and I'm Dick's partner. You know, he talks about you a lot."
Dick ran a hand over his face, thinking about how he should kill his partner.
"Oh, really?" said the girl as she looked at the boy she was dating with mischievous eyes.
Will did not even have time to open his mouth as Dick beat him to it. "Will, if you say anything, I will tell your girlfriend very interesting stories."
At that Detective Jones paled slightly and Dick chuckled. He turned to Selina and motioned for her to follow him. The two soon found themselves in an empty hallway.
"We can talk here. This hallway is not often used." he said, smiling slightly at her.
"I noticed." he said as he looked around. Then she sighed dramatically. "Too bad we'd end up making noise." she gave him a suggestive wink.
Dick blushed deeply as he stammered out random words.
Pull yourself together, Grayson!
He coughed to compose himself and smiled broadly at her. "Really? Our first time in a dirty hallway of the police station where I work?" he joked, hoping he hadn't gone far.
Fortunately she giggled but it died down when she noticed the bruise. She cupped his face and gently ran her finger over it. "What happened?" she asked worriedly.
Dick shivered at the touch of her hand and thought strangely about how familiar that touch was. He also could not help but think that she was really cute when she was worried. "Don't worry; it's just a small bruise. To answer your question, I took it a half hour ago to catch a criminal."
Selina gently traced the bruise and placed a small kiss on it. "Better?" she murmured. She smiled when she saw a small shade of blush on his cheeks.
He is so cute when he blushes!
Dick nodded, not trusting his own voice. He cleared his throat. "If I may ask, what are you doing here? Not that your presence is unwelcome; rather the opposite!" he quickly added.
The girl giggled at his slight nervousness and smiled at him. "To make it simple, today my boss decided to let me off early since I have been working very well lately. So I thought, why not come to Bludhaven and visit my beautiful fiancé?"
As soon as the last word escaped her lips Selina wanted to slap herself.
My God, just because I want Dick to officially be my boyfriend, even after just one date, that doesn't automatically mean he wants the same. I hope I don't push him away... Dick is not like the other guys I've dated. I'm not one of those girls where I believe in true love (hello, I'm Catwoman after all!), yet I can't help but think he's getting very close.
Meanwhile, Dick's brain had gone haywire over Selina's last word. "Fiancé...?" he repeated slowly, not entirely sure he heard correctly.
This time it was Selina's turn to blush and lower her head, suddenly and unusually shy. "It's just that ... I want you ... it doesn't matter if-" she was now rambling on.
Dick interrupted her by kissing her firmly but, at the same time, softly. She emitted an adorable squeak of surprise before relaxing into the beatitude of the kiss. Their tongues clashed greedily and Selina emitted a little moan of pleasure.
They pulled away, both breathless and slightly flushed. Dick rested his forehead on the girl's and looked straight into her eyes.
Blue and green.
Ocean and emerald.
Both wonderful eyes.
He smiled softly at her. "I also want you to officially become my girlfriend."
A shining smile appeared on Selina's face, and Dick thought once again how beautiful she was. The boy looked at the time on his wristwatch that was given to him by Bruce on his 18th birthday.
The watch was a Wayne family heirloom and was passed down from generation to generation to the eldest son. Bruce, however, received it from Alfred soon after the death of his biological father, Thomas Wayne.
He fondly recalled the tears of emotion and the bone-crushing hug he gave his father.
Returning to the present, he was shocked when he realized that twenty minutes had passed. He returned to looking at his, now official, girlfriend (and damn did he like that title!) and she seemed to understand.
"You need to get back to work." was more of a statement than a question.
Dick nodded sadly and walked her to the exit. "I look forward to seeing you again soon." he smiled at her.
Selina smiled back. "Me too." she gave him one last kiss and said goodbye.
With a sigh, Dick walked down two hallways before returning to his desk, ignoring his partner's gaze.
"So," Will began with a big smile on his face. "you've taken your time with it."
"Will."
"Yes, man?"
"If you want to have children, I suggest you shut up."
Will swallowed heavily and listened wisely to his warning.