Part 3

Nightwing scoured the area inside the abandoned warehouse, but there was little evidence to be found, the area had been well worked over by the Police, but Nightwing knew there could always be something they had missed, he was determined to find whatever he could, he knew his friends life depended on it Roy didn't know it yet but he was in a whole mess of trouble, every piece of evidence the Police had pointed to the fact that Roy as Arsenal, had killed Cheshire.

Roy still hadn't regained his memory of the night and Lian had refused to say anything, the little girl was quite traumatized and Ollie was arranging for the child to receive counseling, it was decided that Lian should not be pushed into talking about the events of the night her mother was killed she would open up if and when she needed too.

Nightwing paused, a small piece of fabric caught his eye, on closer inspection it appeared the fabric, no more than a centimeter square was made out of some sort of tightly messed material, like fine chain mail, Nightwing placed the piece into a container and carefully put it away, it might mean nothing, but it looked to be recently dropped there, so it could be important.

He continued his inspection of the area not turning up any thing else inside the building, however outside there where numerous foot prints obviously made by the Police, and he had seen one boot print that he had instantly recognized as belonging to Roy the distinctive heavy tread of Roy's boots was easily recognizable, but one print appeared to be different to all the other prints, another boot print, but completely different to Roy's, Nightwing knelt and pulled a small camera out and took a couple of photos of the print.

After continuing his search for another hour, he headed home realizing the two small pieces of evidence he had collected were unlikely to help him for the moment, but knowing smaller pieces of evidence had helped solve other cases he had worked on. He would see what information Oracle had been able to access from the Police computers, this was just the beginning, he had a long way to go to untangle this mess, but he was damned well going to sort it out he wouldn't rest until he did.

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Ollie stood next to Dinah who sat on a chair next to Roy's bed, they knew they couldn't put this off any longer.

Roy half lay, half sat in bed, he still looked pale and weak but the unknown drug in his blood had finally worked its way out of his system.

Although his memory of the last few months had appeared to be erased, his short term memory had improved, which meant he had stopped repeating himself and was able to remember what was said to him.

"Kiddo I know your getting pissed that we keep asking you if you remember what happened but we don't have a choice, there's a whole heap that went down that we don't have answers for and pretty soon the Police are gonna be asking you the same questions."

Ollie paused as Roy's eye's snapped to him "The Police? What the hell are you talking about Ollie?... What do the Police want to know?... What haven't you been telling me?.. This isn't just a case of me getting my ass kicked and left for dead, is it? What the hell do you know that I don't? What d…….."

"Just stop Kid, you've gotta listen to me I'll give you the answers that I have but there's some that I don't know. Just sit quiet for a bit and I'll explain what I can." Ollie paused as Dinah stood up and walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, reaching out to quietly take Roy's hand in hers.

"Whoa, it must be some bad shit if ya think I'm gonna need my hand held" Roy said, his voice taking on a slight note of panic.

"It's pretty bad Roy" Dinah said "But remember, we don't know exactly what happened so there are gaps that we can't fill in at the moment"

Roy stared intently at Dinah's face, then turning to look at Ollie he said "Just freakin tell me what you know will ya"

Ollie sighed, "Ok, ok here it is, I got a call from you about a week ago, you sounded pretty wierded out and it took me awhile to get any sense out of you, but eventually I got an address from ya, Connor an I went to the address you'd given me,…. It was an old warehouse abandoned long ago,….we found Lian there…"

"Lian was there? What would I take her there for? Is that where you found me? Wh….."

"Shudup and listen there's more to it, a whole lot more. Yes Lian was there, I'm not sure if you took her there or if someone else did, and no that's not where you were found, in fact you weren't found until acouple of days later.." seeing Roy's mouth start to open again Ollie quickly added "I said shut up and listen I'm not finished, you can ask questions when I finish…..As I said you weren't there, Lian was, and so was someone else…………Cheshire was there Roy,.. she's dead."

Roy sat up quickly and instantly regretted it as a severe wave of dizziness caused him to grab Dinah's hand firmly. Thankful for the fact that he was on a bed, Roy squeezed his eye's shut waiting for the dizziness to go, he felt firm hands gripping his shoulders as Ollie guided him back against the pillows.

After a few seconds the dizziness from his sudden movement had abated, Roy opened his eyes and looked at Ollie, who still had one hand on his shoulder. Taking a deep breath Roy forced the tumultuous emotions running through him to the background looking at Ollie he asked in a dry voice. "How?"

Ollie knew he couldn't hide what he knew, Roy had to know, it was better coming from him than someone else, he knew that, but before he could say anything Dinah spoke.

"Red...she had a sedative in her system but that's not what killed her…….There's no easy way to tell you this….but she…….she had a number of your arrows in her chest, that's what killed her."

Roy stared blankly at Dinah, he was aware of a roaring sound in his head as he tried to come to terms with what he had just heard, he tried, and failed to remember that night. He didn't love Chesh any more, he'd cut her out of his life so he was genuinely surprised by the surge of emotion he felt.. … No…. He didn't love Jade anymore but he wouldn't have killed her, nothing could make him do that…..could it?

Suddenly another thought hit him, one that made him jump in horror. "You said Lian was there? Please.…. .Please, tell me she didn't see anything." Roy knew the answer before he'd even asked the question.

Ollie looked at the floor "She saw something we're not sure what, she won't talk about it...I've organized some counseling for her."

Roy stared, horrified at the thought that his child was suffering and he wasn't there to help, even worse he may have been responsible for that suffering, he threw the blankets off him and attempted to get up, struggling against both Ollie and Dinah as they tried to keep him still.

'Stop it Red, your not fit to go anywhere your only going to hurt yourself." Dinah reached over and pressed the call button as Ollie held Roy down.

"Please Ollie she needs me, I have to go" Roy pleaded, realizing Ollie wasn't about to let him up he blindly threw a punch only to have Dinah stop his fist mid flight, "Shit" Roy spat, before flopping back exhausted and dizzy as a Doctor approached the bed and emptied a syringe full of a clear substance into the arm that Dinah still held.

Roy stared blankly at the end of the bed as the Doctor spoke quietly to Ollie and left, He could feel a warm feeling slowly encompassing his body as the sedative he had been given took effect, turning to look at Ollie he managed to angrily but softly mumble "You really fuck'n piss me off sometimes Ollie." As he slipped into darkness.

Ollie stood looking down at Roy's sleeping form, "I know I do son… I know I do." He said quietly, than looked up a Dinah and added, "Well that went well didn't it?" he said dryly.

End of Part 4