It was five minutes to eight in the morning when Montoya climbed the steps into the precinct. She shifted the coffee in her hands, stacking one cup on top of the other, in order to relieve her hand from the heat of one of the cups. Idiot kid at the coffee shop had forgotten to give her a sleeve for it and she had been in too much of a rush to notice at first.
Grumbling to herself as she pushed her way into the precinct, she climbed the steps inside the building before greeting the desk sergeant, "Morning Sal," she said over a jaw-cracking yawn.
"Late start for ya Montoya?" he asked, not looking up from the paperwork on his desk,
Montoya stopped, turning to look at the man, eyebrow raised, "What does that mean?" she asked,
Sal looked up, and raised his hands in surrender as he saw the sharp look in Montoya's eyes, "Nothing!" He said quickly, "Just that I figured you'd be here sooner, your new partner has been here since six…"
Montoya looked incredulously at the man, what in the hell had Jackson been doing here since six? Ignoring the desk sergeant, she marched her way into the bullpen. Pushing open the doors, she scanned the room, her eyes quickly latching onto the back of her partner's head. He was hunched over the desk; a phone was tucked against one ear and he was listening attentively as he wrote something down on a large yellow notepad.
Before she could walk over to her new partner, her path was blocked by the aging figure of Roman Cavallo. Dressed nicely in a beige suit which accentuated the snow-white hair and mustache, Cavallo looked like he belonged on the set of a cheap procedural cop drama than in an active precinct.
"Nice of you to join us Montoya," he said, crossing his arms over his chest,
"Bite me, Cavallo," Montoya snarled and made to move past him, but the other detective grabbed hold of her arm.
"You would be so lucky," he said, with deep frown, "You need to get your rookie on the same page."
Yanking her arm free, making sure not spill the coffee, she glared at the man, "The hell does that mean?"
"It means, that this precinct has a certain way of doing things. A way that ensures that everyone stays…happy. Your new partner needs to understand that or we're going to have problems."
Montoya didn't respond, choosing instead to simply glare at the man before pushing passed him. She had only been with the One-Seven for a month, but she had quickly been initiated into how things were done in the precinct. It was why the Commissioner had placed her here in the first place. As far as she had been able to figure, both Cavallo as well as his partner Marcus Wise, were on the take. She didn't know to whom they belonged yet, but she had her suspicions. And from the way the precinct lieutenant, Davis Winston, interacted with the pair, Montoya was certain that he was in on the take as well.
She walked briskly over to the desk she shared with Jackson just as he was setting the phone down. He was putting the finishing touches on whatever he was writing when she placed the coffee down in front of him. "You're making me look bad Metropolis," she said as she perched herself at the edge, "Coming in two hours before me; man if you wanted to impress me you could have just gotten breakfast." she smirked, Percy just rolled his eyes, before accepting the coffee with a muttered thanks. Reaching into a desk drawer, he retrieved a handful of packets of sugar, before he tore them open with his teeth and proceeded to drown his coffee in sugar. He took a long, satisfied pull of the drink before he set it down on his desk and swiveled his chair around to look at his partner.
"Couldn't sleep." he said simply, "Got too wired up, so I went to the gym, made some breakfast, banged my head against the wall, and by the time all of that was done it was only five-thirty. I said screw it and came in; figured if I was going to be up, I might as well be doing something productive."
Montoya just nodded; she had been in similar situations herself. Nothing like a two am wake up call to get the day going.
"You find anything?" she asked, taking a sip from her coffee. Percy nodded, reaching over his desk to hand over a separate notepad. Looking over the notes, it was a series of names, dates, and potential guardians.
"I spent the last hour or so on the phone with every middle and high school in the city, asking if any of their students failed to report to their first periods." he said, then pointed to the paper, "comparing that with the number of schools that require a dress code and I had only one hit." Reaching across the table, he handed Montoya a photo, it was a photo of the same dead girl in the alleyway, except she was dressed in an expensive ball gown, with an array of expensive jewels hanging from her neck. "That," Percy said as he took another pull from his coffee, "Is Silver St. Cloud. He parents are some hot shot art dealers who own most of the galleries in Gotham. I made some calls but apparently they're out of the city, and I haven't been able to reach them."
"Jesus Christ," Montoya muttered as she stared at the picture. Looking back at her partner she said, "You know this is about to become a shit-storm of utterly epic proportions, right?"
Percy just nodded, "I figured as much. Thankfully, we're still ahead of it. I was thinking, since we can't get ahold of the parents, we might want to head on down to Gotham Academy, speak with some of her friends and teachers. They might be able to shed some light on what she was doing by herself in that alley."
Montoya nodded; her new partner was shaping up to be better than she had been hoping for. When she found out that her new partner was coming in from Metropolis, she had been expecting an ambulance chaser. It was common enough for former MPD detectives. They got sick of having Superman steal all of the glory for himself, and moved to Gotham where they thought they had a better chance of stealing some spotlight for themselves.
But Percy was steadily proving her wrong. He was competent, self-assured, and was willing to take the initiative. All good traits in a good cop. Better still, he was letting her call the shots, letting her take point and have the final call on all of their decisions. It stroked her ego sure, but more importantly it pointed to the fact that Percy was a team player, not a glory hound.
"What are we waiting for," she said, as she stood up, "I'll drive,"
BREAK
Stepping out of the car, Montoya couldn't help but smirk a little at Percy's appreciative whistle, "The lifestyle of the rich and famous, you should feel right at home Metro." Percy just snorted derisively,
"Believe it or not" or he said, side-eyeing her, "Not everyone in Metropolis lives in a five-star penthouse. I had to rent an apartment an hour out of the city just to afford living there."
Montoya stopped just short of the gates to the academy, "You're shitting me." she said,
"Nope" her partner said, "Between property value and cape insurance-"
"Cape insurance?" she asked,
"Insurance for when the big guy destroys half the city fighting a giant robot or…something else. City ordinance dictates that you have to take out an insane insurance policy, you know, just in case. Anyways, for the landlords that means that they charge triple what even the smallest apartments here are worth just to make up the cost."
"Jesus…" Montoya muttered as the two flashed their badges to the security guard at the gate and they were brought inside the grounds, "Starting to see why you left."
Percy just chuckled, "Would be lying if I said it wasn't part of it," he admitted, "I can afford an apartment with more than double the floor space of my last place and still not be paying half of what I did in Metropolis."
"Guess the grass isn't always greener huh?" she asked him, and Percy just shrugged.
They made their way through the quad, abandoned at the moment because it was the middle of third period. They were greeted at the front doors and were invited through a maze of intricate hallways ordained with ornate pictures and ostentatious decorations commemorating the long history of the school. After about a five-minute walk they were deposited in lush, comfortable office of Headmistress Lorenz. She was a tall woman, standing at nearly six-feet even without her heels and had the harsh features of a woman with many dedicated years of educating behind her.
"Detectives," she greeted politely enough, "Please, have a seat," she said, gesturing to the two open chairs in front of her desk. Montoya and Percy both sat down, "Now," she said as she steepled her hands in front of herself, "What can I help you with."
Montoya reached into her coat pocket and withdrew her legal pad. "Ma'am is there a Silver St. Cloud, currently enrolled in this school?" she asked as she looked over her partner's notes.
"Yes, one of our star pupils. Last year She won the Martha Wayne Award of Academic Excellence as well as Miranda Cobblepot's Philanthropic Achievement Honors. She is an excellent student; I assure you if she is in any trouble then there must be some kind of mistake."
Montoya and Percy shared a look before Percy took the lead, "She's not in any kind of trouble ma'am." He said, and Montoya was impressed by his calm yet smooth delivery. Must not have been the first time he'd had to deliver this kind of news. She watched as he reached into his coat pocket and withdrew a photograph. Before sliding it over he said, "I apologize in advance ma'am because this is rather…graphic, however we need you to identify the person in this photo." he then flipped the photo over and slid it towards the Headmistress. Her puzzled expression quickly morphed into muted horror.
Gasping in shock and revulsion, she threw the photo back at Percy, turning away and covering her mouth with her hand. Percy reached over and snatched the photo back, tucking it into his pocket. They let the headmistress recompose for a few moments before Percy asked, "I'm very sorry ma'am but I have to ask, is that Miss St. Cloud in the photo." The woman clearly didn't have it in her to respond verbally yet, so she just nodded her head.
Lorenz was shaking her head, as though she were trying to scare away a particularly persistent mosquito, "I can't believe this, just the other day she was here, happy and a-alive." She looked up sharply at the pair of detectives, "Do the parents know yet?" she asked,
Percy shook his head, "I tried to get a hold of them this morning but just kept getting the ring around. According to the butler I spoke to, they're out of the country."
The headmistress nodded to herself, "I suppose that makes sense," she mused softly, "I believe they were opening a gallery in Brussels, and wanted to be there Grand Opening."
Percy and Montoya shared a look before Montoya asked, "We would like to speak with some of her friends, were there any students here that she was particularly close to?"
Lorenz took a deep breath, and tried to steady herself, "I honestly don't know." She said, sounding defeated, as though all of the air had been knocked out of her lungs at once. "I supervise over five-hundred students, hang on a second." she moved over to her computer and began typing some commands into the keyboard. After a moment of typing she looked back up at the detectives, "Her homeroom teacher was Miss Rushman, she's in the middle of a lesson right now but they should be finishing up soon. I'll have my secretary escort you."
"Thank you, ma'am." they both said, and stood up as one to leave the room,
"Detectives," Lorenz said, stopping the pair before they could leave the room, "Miss St. Cloud, was a treasure to this world. Was going to go on to do great things. And now…" Her voice wavered slightly, "Now that treasure has been stripped away." Her eyes grew fierce, and her features sharpened, "Find the bastard that this."
"We plan on it, ma'am." Montoya said, and motioned for Percy to follow her out of the room.
BREAK
They knocked at the door after their escort dropped them off, not waiting for an answer they marched into the room. Miss Rushman was on the younger side, maybe in early thirties at the latest, with bright auburn hair and piercing green eyes. She stopped mid-lecture and turned to look at the pair of detectives.
"Excuse me, I'm in the middle of a lesson, is there something I could help you with?"
"Sorry to interrupt ma'am," Percy said as he flashed his badge, "GCPD, I'm detective Jackson and this is detective Montoya, we need to ask you a few questions."
The teacher crossed her arms, standing defensively, "Well whatever it is, it can wait until after class,"
"Unfortunately, it can't," Montoya said,
"Alright kids, class dismissed, c'mon," Percy said, whistling sharply between his teeth as though her were wrangling cattle.
"Hey you can't-"
She was cut off by the scrapping of chairs and excitable chatter as the students scrambled to gather their belongings and leave. When the last student, a younger boy with jet black hair left, staring intently at Percy the entire time, Rushman spoke,
"That was hardly necessary,"
"Like my partner said ma'am, it unfortunately, is very necessary." Percy said, passing over the photo of St. Cloud to the woman. Her reaction was…peculiar, she didn't scream. Didn't gasp in shock. She didn't react in any noticeable way, she just looked at the picture; face like stone. Nearly a minute passed without a reaction, she just stared at the photograph. Finally, she just sighed and handed the picture back to Percy.
"Have you notified her parents?" she asked, showing no outward signs of distress,
Montoya raised an eyebrow, "We're working on it," she said, "But they're out of the country and haven't been receiving our calls."
Rushman nodded as though that made sense to her. "We wanted to interview her friends, see if they had noticed anything unusual leading up to her murder." said Percy,
"Barbara Gordon and Bette Kane," the teacher said without preamble. Montoya stiffened uncomfortably at that,
"Great, were they just in here? We can probably track 'em down."
Rushman shook her head, "No, they're older students. Juniors. They'll be in the upperclassmen wing. They have Mr. Richards right now I believe."
Percy's confusion showed on his features as he frowned, "I thought St. Cloud was a sophomore?" Rushman nodded at him, "Then what the hell was she doing hanging out with juniors. I don't know about the two of you, but when I was in high school, trying to speak to upperclassmen was a one-way ticket to being shoved in a locker."
Rushman looked Percy's enormous frame, up and down, quirking a brow, "There is no way you were ever shoved in a locker," she deadpanned, and Montoya snorted in agreement. "But normally, you'd be right. However, Silver was…mature for her age. Had a difficult time connecting with her peers. When she first joined us, it was affecting her studies. I made an arrangement with Miss's Gordon and Kane, they started tutoring her, soon enough the three of them were inseparable." She was interrupted by the sound of a bell ringing. "That's the lunch bell, they should be in the cafeteria." Rushman said, Montoya looked over at her partner,
"I'll stay here, talk with Miss Rushman, why don't you go pay the girls a visit?" Percy shrugged but nodded his head,
"Take a left out of the door, pass the next hall and it will be the first set of double doors on the right." Rushman supplied helpfully. Percy nodded his thanks and left out the class door. Rushman turned an amused smirk at Montoya, "He has no idea that Barbara is the Commissioner's daughter, does he?"
Montoya smirked back at the woman, pulling out a pen and her legal pad, "Nope,"
BREAK
It was only after Percy had entered the cafeteria that he realized that he'd never actually asked what the two girl's he was supposed to be interviewing looked like. Catching the eye of worker behind the counter of a food trolley, he strode over. Flashing his badge, he asked, "GCPD, looking for Barbara Gordon and Bette Kane, any idea where I can find them?" he asked. The man behind the counter just gave him an odd look before pointing at a table near the back of the room. Sitting at the table were three girls, A pair of blondes and a redhead.
Thanking the man, who gave him the strangest expression of pity Percy had ever seen, he made his way towards the lunch table. "Excuse me ladies," Percy said as he approached the table. All three girls turned to look at the new man, "I'm looking for Bette Kane and Barbara Gordon,"
"Who's asking?" asked one of the blondes, Vietnamese by the looks of her, her muscles tensing as though ready to either knife him or run away from him at the drop of a hat. Percy quirked a brow at her, those types of reactions were more common among street kids, not exactly Percy expected to see from some yuppies in an elite prep school.
"GCPD," he said easily, "Do you mind if we go somewhere else, I'd like to have a word with the two of you." he said,
"Badge and i.d. please," said the redhead, and Percy chuckled as he reached into his pocket to produce the requested identification,
"Smart girl," he said flashing his identification,
"Thanks," the redhead said, as she snatched the badge and i.d. out of his hand and looked over both of them carefully, "My dad always taught me to be thorough. After all," she looked up at him over the badge, "It's not paranoia if they're really out to get ya,"
Percy chuckled, "Sounds like a smart man, your pops. He a cop?" he asked, and Barbara smirked at him,
"Something like that, tell me though, are you new to the force, detective…" she stopped to look at his name one more time, "Jackson?" she asked, as she handed him back his badge and i.d.
Percy nodded, "Transferred in from Metropolis, today is my first day, well," he amended, "I guess technically last night was. Why?"
"No reason, just curious is all," she said, far too innocently to be believable. Percy just nodded suspiciously. "Now, to answer your question; I'm Barbara," she pointed to herself, "That's Bette," she pointed next to her to a curly haired blonde with a classical European beauty to her who waved, "And that is Artemis," she said, point at the Vietnamese girl. She just glared harder at Percy. Definitely did not have a good relationship with cops, Percy thought to himself as he looked away from the angry girl. "What can we help you with detective," Barbara asked calmly,
"Do you mind if we talk somewhere else?" he asked, but the redhead just looked hard at him. Whoever had raised this girl was bringing up a hardass, he thought.
Percy sigh and gestured to the open seat by Artemis, and Barbara looked at her friend who nodded reluctantly, flashing a winning smile at the pair of them, Percy sat down on the empty bench. He pulled out a pen and his pad, before looking around the table, "Is it alright with all of you if I write some notes down as we talk?" he asked. The girls all shrugged and Percy took that as consent enough for him.
"How long have the two of you been tutoring Silver St. Cloud?"
Bette and Barbara shared confused and concerned looks, "Since the beginning of the last year, why? Is something wrong, did something happen?"
Percy sighed, he hated this part of the job but it was important to be honest with them, putting his pen and pad down he looked between the two girls, "Yeah," he softly, his tone taking on the gentle "victim" tone, that Roger had used to roast him over, "There was an incident last night." he continued, "I regret to inform you that, Miss St. Cloud was murdered, somewhere between one and two o'clock this morning," he said. He had found that blunt honesty and directness was always the best course. Even with kids; kids could handle a lot more than anyone ever gave them credit for.
Bette gasped, a hand going to her mouth in muted horror. "Oh my god," said Barbara, "Are you serious,"
Percy nodded solemnly, "I'm very sorry for your loss, and ordinarily and I'd want nothing more than to let you grieve peacefully, however, the clock is ticking and we have a lot of questions unanswered, so please I need your help here ladies," he said.
Barbara swallowed thickly, tears prickling at the corners of her eyes but she nodded resolutely, and Percy had to admire the young girl's ability to keep herself composed, "We met her last year. Miss Rushman said that she needed help, that she was having difficulties adjusting to school here. Her family had just moved back to Gotham and she didn't have any friends." Barbara nodded sadly, "Our tutoring sessions usually just led to us hanging out for a few hours; talking, watching movies, just being together you know?"
Percy nodded, writing down some notes in his notepad, "So would you say you knew her well?" he asked,
Barbara frowned in thought, "Well enough to know that she'd been acting a little strange lately,"
That got Percy's attention, it had been where his questioning had been going, "Strange in what way,"
"S-she um, she missed our last meeting," Bette said, stumbling over her words slightly as she tried to fight through tears. Barbara reached next to her and grabbed her friend's hand reassuringly,
"And that wasn't a normal occurrence then?" Percy asked,
"No," said Barbara, shaking her head, "We usually met three times a week, it's been that way since we met; and she never once called or texted to cancel a meeting, until this week…" she said, trailing off.
Percy nodded, "Alright, did she tell you why she had to cancel?"
Bette shook her head, "No," she sniffled, "She just said that there were urgent family matters that she had to deal with and wouldn't be able to meet at all this week,"
"She didn't specify at all what those problems were?" Percy asked, continuing to write as he did so, and Bette shook her head,
Barbara frowned as she thought back on the last week, "She did seem a little more nervous this week," she said,
"Nervous how?" Percy asked,
"I don't know," the redhead said, "She was…shifty. Always looking around, constantly tense, as though she was worried she was going to get jumped at any-" she stopped talking, shaking slightly as the reality of what she said came through. Percy allowed her a few moments to collect herself before asking prompting her,
"Ok, so she seemed jumpy, scared?" he probed,
Barbara nodded, "She would normally hang around school for a bit after class, you know study in the library or go to the gym, but for the past week she would get immediately picked up and she would go straight back to the penthouse. We tried to ask her what was wrong but she just kept telling us that she was stressed because of something going on with her parents,"
"Did she ever specify what was going on with them?" Percy asked,
"No," said Barbara, "Just that they were pushing her to take on a more active role in the family business. We were surprised when she didn't go with them to Brussels."
Percy nodded, scribbling down a few more notes, "Ok, this penthouse, have either of you ever been there?"
"Yeah," Bette nodded, "It was on Wealthy, 271 Wealthy. Down in Robbinsville," she said, "We used to study there together…" and then the poor girl broke down crying again. Leaning into Barbara's shoulder.
"Is there anything else you can think of?" Percy asked gently, "Anything, even the most irrelevant detail could prove vitally important."
Barbara thought for a second, still holding Bette's shoulder, "I did notice that her driver was different this week," she said,
"Driver?" Percy asked,
"Yeah, her family has someone drop them off from their penthouse every morning,"
Percy was nodding, "Ok, and prior to this past week, she had the same driver, every single day?" Barbara nodded,
"Do you know his name by chance?" he asked, and the pair of girls shook their heads. Sighing Percy circled some notes on his pad before. Looking up, Percy caught sight of his detective and a woman he hadn't met walk into the cafeteria, looking back at the girls Percy closed his notebook and put it away in his suit pocket. Reaching into his pants he withdrew a couple of business cards, leftover from his time in Metropolis. Scratching out the "Metropolis Police Department" at the top of the card, he flipped them over and wrote a name and number on the back.
Handing the cards to Barbara he said, "That is my personal cell. You think of anything else and you give me a call, day or night. Even if you just need to talk to someone, use it, my line is always open for you ok?" and Barbara nodded, tucking the cards into the jacket pocket of her uniform. "On the back is the number for a grief counselor, her name is Sharon MacMillian. Tell her Percy recommended you and she'll help you out with anything else you might need ok?" Seeing the pair nod, Percy stood up, "I'm very sorry for your loss ladies. But I promise you, we're going to get the person who did this, and they will see justice."
With one last sorrowful look at the mourning teenagers, Percy stepped away from the table, and passed by the woman who had come in with Montoya. The woman gently grabbed both girls by the shoulder, and after a few whispered words, escorted the pair out of the cafeteria.
"Who's that?" he asked as he approached his partner,
"School shrink" she said, "Came rushing into the classroom as I was interviewing Rushman. By the way, you have no idea who it was you were talking to, do you?" She asked, an excited shit-eating grin on her face.
Percy quirked an eyebrow, "No…" he said slowly, turning to look back in time to see Miss Gordon turn back and stare at him as she was ushered out of the cafeteria, "Should I have?" he asked,
"Nah," said Montoya, waving it off but maintaining her smarmy grin.
"Ok…" Percy drawled before shaking it off and asking, "Get anything out of the teacher?"
"Said that St. Cloud had been jumpy as hell all week. Was fidgety, could hardly concentrate in class, said that was nothing like how she normally acted. But that was pretty much it. She didn't have much for me besides what we already knew. How about you, get anything form the girls?"
Percy nodded, "Told me the same thing, that she had been nervous all week, like she was scared about something. The girls told me that she had been taking a more active role in the family business, but couldn't tell me what that meant. They also gave me the address for the Penthouse the family was staying at. And get this, prior to this week, the girl always had the same driver to and from school. Then all of a sudden, there was a new guy driving her around."
"Sounds like we need to visit the penthouse, and maybe see if we can track down this missing driver,"
"I was thinking the same thing," Percy smirked, and Montoya threw her keys at him, "You drive, I'll make some calls, see if the driver was individually hired or worked for a chauffeur company."
AN: Honestly this got a better reception than I was expecting. Hopefully this chapter gives you a better idea as to what I'm going for here. This is going to be a slower paced, character driven, detective drama. Think law and order with superheroes. Percy still has his powers and he is going to be interacting with people, but this story is going to be more of a focus on how superheroes and their actions effect the world around them. I have one more chapter ready to go after this one before I need to start writing more but I still need to see if the community thinks the story will have legs before I spend too much time on it. So please, let me know what you think, and I hope you enjoyed because honestly, I'm having a blast writing and imagining this one. Love you all,
Love,
LilDB
