"I don't like this."
"Well, I'm not exactly having a party here myself."
"He doesn't know, does he?"
"…um… I hope not. I don't think he was paying much attention, and she didn't exactly go into detail or anything."
"We aren't going to be able to keep this from him, you know…especially if we want to have any sort of case against Cain. Or maybe even just to clear Mrs. Drake."
"…"
"I'm just saying." Silence once again met her on the other end and she pressed her hand against her throbbing head. This was not going well. She didn't know how they were going to be able to prove Cain's guilt without Tim finding out that his dad was apparently tortured for …who knows how long, before finally being killed. "Nightwing?"
"Yeah, sorry. I…ugh." She waited patiently, glad for once not to be "out there"…she didn't think she wanted to see what he was going to see…then again, he had a tiny camera in place so she would have the video evidence if needed…so much for avoiding unpleasantness.
"Nightwing?"
"You getting this?" She sighed and checked the tape. Yup. It was as gruesome as she'd thought. Most of Jack Drake's head had been completely blown away, leaving plenty of dried blood and exposed grey matter to view. The image showed little other obvious damage.
"Well, what there is to 'get'. I'm not seeing much to help us, though."
"Batman mentioned that the damage would be nearly undetectable."
"Yeah, about that. If he knows so much about what to look for, why isn't he the one examining the body?"
"He had…other plans, I guess. He wanted me to keep an eye on Ti, um…Robin, but the kid disappeared…so did Batgirl." He maneuvered so that he could examine the back of the body's neck. "I'm thinking I wouldn't want to be in either of their shoes when he catches up with them…hey, can you see this from your end?" She leaned forward, typing in some commands to zoom in on the area indicated.
"Fingerprints? Those would be noticeable on the autopsy…I thought this was supposed to be undetectable."
"Well, Batgirl could tell even from halfway across the room…there had to have been some evidence…but…" he broke off, sitting back and breaking the image on the picture.
"Hey!"
"Sorry. I just realized something." When no explanation was forthcoming, she drummed her fingers restlessly on the edge of her keyboard and let out and aggrieved sigh.
"And?"
"What? Oh. Yeah, well…the only reason we suspect Cain is because of what Batgirl told us, right?"
"Where are you going with this?"
"Don't get offended…I believe her, I'm not saying that…"
"Then what are you saying?" He nearly growled at her but, deciding that might not be the best response, he simply grunted instead.
"I'm saying that she was the one who supposedly saw these nearly-invisible marks and immediately jumped to the conclusion that Cain did it. What if he didn't do it, but decided confessing to her would be a good way to mess with her head, possibly thinking if she told any of us we'd drive her out of the fold or something."
"That's a good theory…but it suggests that she didn't really see any evidence to point to Cain…why would she see something that wasn't there?" He pondered this for a minute.
"I don't know." She had to bite her lip to keep from laughing at his sullen tone. "I'm just saying…how could she see something that wasn't visible to anyone else? And how can we get invisible evidence on tape?"
"Because it's there." Both of them jumped at the gravelly tone as Batman cut into their conversation. Nightwing made a face as a shadow detached itself from one corner of the room and moved forward.
"I thought you were chasing down our errant youngsters."
"They don't need my interference right now." Nightwing shook his head. Batman? Not interfere? What was the world coming to?
"If you say so, boss man." Oracle's voice was a little too cheeky, but apparently Batman was in a lenient mood this evening. Odd.
"Can you see any evidence here to back of Batgirl's story?" Nightwing challenged.
"Not easily, although that finger mark is a first step…either he was getting sloppy or, more likely, he wanted to let us know he was behind Jack Drake's murder. Most of the time this technique focuses on subduing the victim, then striking just the right spots, pressure points, nerve clusters, and so on, to cause them immense amounts of pain, but leaving little or no traces. This bruise suggests Cain was… torturing him for quite some time, an hour at least, possibly to buy time and see if someone else would come home…or even hoping that Batgirl might show up with Robin. Something spooked him, or he just got tired of waiting, and that's when he shot him."
"Ok, sure. But this little bruise isn't going to prove anything and, judging from the crime scene, I'd be pretty confident in guessing the body would have been at an angle so that she wouldn't have even seen it. What clued her in?" Nightwing's frustration saturated his voice, causing Batman to throw him a sharp look. Nightwing just shrugged it off, and Batman continued.
"His face."
"Uh…what?"
"Look at his face…what's left of it." Nightwing looked, and since the camera was attached to his mask, Babs got a pretty good look at it herself.
"Pretty nasty. Wait…I think I get it. You suppose that's why he used such a powerful gun…not a quick smooth entry, but one that would tear up his head?" Batman nodded.
"If this had been a simple robbery gone awry, or even a domestic dispute as the papers are hypothesizing, he would have been caught unawares…stunned, perhaps, that Dana would do such a thing…but…"
"That's just sick." No one commented on Nightwing's observation. There wasn't much more to say. Jack Drake's face, what was left of it, was contorted in a frozen mask of agony and terror. Not, as Batman had pointed out, an expression found on the average homicide victim, caught by surprise. Batman turned and started to exit.
"Oracle. Get a copy of this sent to the police…anonymously. It's possible the mortician already came up with the same questions, but just in case, raise them again. Don't name any suspects yet…we're not exactly on the best of terms with the GCPD right now…I don't want them ignoring this out of hostility towards me."
"Right." Nightwing just stared at the body for a few moments as Batman disappeared. "Hey. You ok?" He shook himself at her query.
"I guess. I just…I didn't realize how bad it was…and he just walked in on…on that! I…I guess I'm surprised Batman's not keeping the kid on a tighter leash…and I'm also worried. I went nuts when my parents died. I was just a kid without any training…and I ran away and…well, you know. But… he's got training. And he seems to have gotten over it so fast…well, not over it…but he's all business again… maybe he's just suppressed it and it's all going to come bursting out and no one will be able to stop him…I mean…he's good…not just at fighting, but at being devious and smart and…and with all that and a need for vengeance, there'd be no stopping him. Or….I dunno. Maybe he's just channeling Batman, or something…which almost scares me more, O. It really does."
Batgirl sighed for about the thirteenth time that hour. This, she decided, was why she hadn't ever gotten really good at detective work…too slow. And slow meant bor-ring!
"Stop fidgeting." She squelched the urge to stick her tongue out at him. He was doing very well, actually, for someone who'd just witnessed a gruesome death scene less than forty-eight hours before. He was focusing all his concentration on the task at hand, and almost violently avoiding thinking of his father's death…but she supposed it was better than the stupor he'd been in at first.
"Haven't you found anything?" Robin lowered his head to his hands, clenched into fists, and she could tell he was mentally counting to ten...that, or just telling himself not to strangle her. They were in her old satellite cave, where Robin had set up a computer station and was searching for…something. He'd gone through lists of his major foes, hoping one would leap out at him as the obvious backer. That had taken two hours…and it seemed none had. Now he was doing something that caused the computer to come up with lots of words, too many and too fast for her to keep track of.
"No." His answer was clipped, frustrated. "No no no no NO!" She tensed, preparing for an attack, but it didn't come. Instead he slumped forward, clenching his fist against the table. She edged closer, reaching out to lay a hand on his shoulder. He jerked, trying to pull away, but enough of some part of his mind was seeking comfort, and she recognized this in spite of his anger, that she didn't let that deter her. His shoulders were shaking, and she looked away, uncomfortable with his grief. She didn't know how to share it, and she knew she couldn't lessen the pain.
"Do you know…" she jumped, not expecting the quiet, choked voice emerging from beneath his arm. "I…I never got over it."
"It?"
"Maybe he was right…" He sat up suddenly, nearly whacking her in the nose with the back of his head. "He never wanted me to be Robin…and he was right! It…it killed him! And I never…" his breathing was getting ragged again and Batgirl considered her options. Better to get it over with, she supposed. That decided, she took his face in her hands, forcing him to look at her. She looked him straight in the eye, leaned towards him a bit…and smacked him, hard, sending him out of his seat and onto the ground.
"Ow! What'dja do that for?" He was angry now. Good. Angry she could work with.
"You were…panicking. No time for that." He clenched his fists, wanting to strike out at her…needing to strike out at someone. She cocked her head to the side, wondering if he'd follow through. Nope. Too nice. Sorry, she mentally told him as she prepared herself to attack. She lunged at him, barely giving him enough time to duck.
"Hey!" And then he lost it. All the anger, the rage, the self-blame exploded as he flew at her. She didn't fight back…too hard. She mostly blocked his moves…letting him wear himself out. Just as she thought he was tiring and she started to let down her guard, he made one last surprise move…she didn't think even he knew he was going to do it…but it caught her across the chin, knocking her to the ground. She lay there for a second, stunned…more that he'd surprised her than from any pain…but the fury had left him, and the sight of her lying motionless made him pale.
"Oh geez…Cass…are you ok? I didn't mean to…." She held up her hand, warding of his remorse, and pushed herself up to a sitting position.
"I'm fine. You feeling…better?" He stared at her for a second, a confused look on his face. Then he fell back to a sitting position as well, a bright red staining his cheeks as comprehension dawned. He scowled at her.
"You think giving me a fight will just make everything all better!" She flinched at his tone, realizing that perhaps her plan had backfired. "You think…what? That I need to 'get it out of my system' or something? Or, wait. You were sent to baby-sit me…keep me out of the action! You…" Yup. It had backfired. She watched him out of the corner of her eye as he continued to rage at her while she tried to figure out what went wrong. It had worked with Batman…well, with her, actually. She had been so mad at him, and they'd fought and then…well, then it was ok again. But she had no experience with fixing something like this. There had never been any comforting of pain when she'd trained with Cain. If she was hurt, especially if she cried, he would just fight her again, or make her fight someone else. It had always worked for her…but then again, she sighed, she wasn't like anyone else…she was different. She would always be different. She sighed.
Robin was turning a very interesting shade of reddish-purple as he freaked out. She wanted to intervene, make him stop…but now she didn't know how. She stood, brushing herself off. Well. If he didn't want her help, she wouldn't offer it. Instead she sat down in the chair he'd vacated and concentrated on the computer screen. It would take her much longer to read it herself, but apparently Robin wasn't feeling quite up to the challenge.
"Um…" Hmmm. This was a problem. The screen was covered in words…teeny tiny words and, while she could read them…she could…there were an awful lot of them. She peeked back at Robin who finally seemed to have worn himself out. He was sitting on her bed, his face in his hands, not doing much of anything. She sighed again. Maybe trying to solve the case alone, just the two of them, hadn't been such a good idea after all. She shrugged and turned back to the computer. Maybe if she could just get the computer to show her pictures of all these people, rather than the whole file on them…
"Whoops." Now the computer was only showing numbers. She growled, actually growled at it.
"What?" She jumped. Robin had snuck up on her…her! No one ever snuck up on her! She shrugged and mumbled something unintelligible. He reached over her shoulder and tapped a few keys, bringing the previous readout back to the screen.
"Thnks" Another mumble. She knew she was being petty…but she had wanted to figure it out. Still…Robin was helping again…what was it she'd heard about Greek horses? Or…no. It was gift horses and Greeks bearing gifts. She looked up, intending to apologize, but stopped short at the look on Robin's face.
"What?" She looked back at the screen, as if the jumble of words might have somehow transformed themselves into something she, too, could understand. They hadn't. She sighed. "What?" Her tone was a bit more…well, she wouldn't call it whiney, but Robin might…this time.
"Here." He reached out and pointed to…a…date. Yup. That was what he pointed to…she bit her lip to keep from blurting it out…she still felt a bubble of joy each time she succeeded in reading something.
"What about it?" He frowned, and she feared for a second that it was because she was being stupid…but he wasn't looking at her.
"That's an entry from…well…when I wasn't being Robin." She looked again, and tried to make out the first sentence. Now it was her turn to frown.
"Hey. Are these….these aren't your files." Her tone turned indignant and Robin reddened.
"Well mine aren't as complete as Batman's…and besides..."
"But you were supposed to be looking at the files…the doi…doss…" She stood and started pacing, frustrated.
"Dossiers?"
"Yeah. Just about the criminals you were trying to investigate. These are…"
"They still have to do with the case!" She heard a pleading tone in his voice and felt her anger start to dissolve. "These are more detailed…they include specific encounters not just a list of attributes and crimes. And…" she held up a hand to stop him.
"Fine, ok, all right. You want to hack into Batman's private files, you do that. Now…" She put one hand on her hip and thrust a finger accusingly at the computer. "…what is the importance of that day?" Robin glanced back at the screen and a grim determination stole over him.
"That's what I intend to find out."
To be continued…
