After Linda leaves, I call Maggie and ask where she wants to meet.
"The usual place," she says. I was tired of eating at the diner so I suggest we meet at my favorite Chinese place instead. I can tell Maggie doesn't want to meet there but she doesn't contest. Thirty minutes later I arrive at the spot. Maggie had beat me there by five minutes according to her.
"What can I say, I was in the area," she says before taking a sip of her drink. I don't want to sit in the middle of the restaurant, which is where she was sitting when I walked in, so I suggest we move. Maggie calls over the waitress, who recognizes me from when Renee and I would come here and knew the perfect spot for us. We sit in a corner booth. I order a Cherry Coke and Maggie asks for a root beer. The restaurant isn't a buffet, so we have to look over the menus to see what we want.
"So…" says Maggie.
"So… what do you want to know?"
"What do you mean?"
"Don't play coy. I know you want to talk about Linda." Maggie's face lacks a reaction as her eyes pretend to read the menu, but from the way she's gripping her menu I can tell I've struck a nerve.
"Since when have you and Danvers been on a first-name basis with each other?"
"A little while."
Maggie huffs then frowns at me. "How long is a little while?"
"Not counting our few meetings beforehand, I would say about as long as you've been on this Intergang case… more or less."
"You've been talking with her for almost two weeks?"
"Technically one if you add up all the days we've actually spoken to each other, but yeah." Maggie rubs her temples and leans forward on the table.
"How did you even meet her?"
"Barbara introduced us."
"Who took the initiative?"
"To be honest, it was her." Maggie is surprised by my answer. "I just got swept up into it all."
Maggie leans into her seat with a slight smirk. "Danvers does have that way about her, doesn't she?"
"Definitely."
The waitress comes back to drop off our drinks and take our orders. Since we haven't bothered to choose our orders, I pick the pot sticker special and give the girl our menus.
"I don't like having Danvers on this case," says Maggie when she walks away. "It makes me uneasy."
"Why? Afraid she'll get hurt or something?"
"No, in fact Danvers is pretty good at taking care of herself. One time we collaborated on a drug-ring story and during a late-night scouting some thug attacked me with a crow bar. His first swing had been to the back of my legs. Luckily his aim sucked so it didn't cause major damage. But before he could swing at me again a fist came out of nowhere and knocked the guy out cold. Danvers showed up and took him down in one hit." Maggie takes a sip of her root beer before going on. "The weird thing is, is that I swear she was on the other side of the building. I even asked her how she got to me so fast but she just shrugged her shoulders and said the doors on the other side were locked."
"Were they?"
"One was. I assumed Linda broke it. Never got the chance to ask her though. The next night we got lucky and we were able to get enough inside information to take down the ring."
"Sounds like all's well that ends well." I drink my Coke while Maggie leans on her left arm.
"Still, Danvers has a habit of leaving more questions than answers in wake. Most of which revolve around her." I don't comment on what Maggie says but I understand where she's coming from. There have been a few moments where Linda has said something or done something that caught my attention. She always seems to have an answer or does that cute smile to cover it up.
"I spoke to her today. She said Bullock wanted to meet with her."
"Yeah, that was a part of it. Out of nowhere he decides we need to bring a reporter into our ring. The big idiot called Gordon to see if it was okay then called me and said to get in contact with Linda Lee-Danvers."
"Linda thought Gordon came up with the idea of her getting involved. It wasn't?"
Maggie shakes her head. "Gordon came up with the name but Bullock wanted a reporter in the first place. Odd seeing how he has an aversion to reporters, private detectives, masks, and anyone who isn't a cop."
"Maybe he had an epiphany about something."
"This is Bullock we're talking about. Epiphany isn't in his vocab let alone something he ever has." I smile and ask Maggie how the witness is and such.
"You know I can't talk to you about that, Kate."
"I don't want the details, I just wanna know if he's doing okay."
"He's fine. He was safe in custody long before Batwoman almost killed him." I want to apologize to Maggie for that night, but I know I can't, not as Kate Kane anyway.
"Who was the man pretending to be your witness anyway?"
"Some convict from Metropolis Prison. He was on Death Row so Metropolis Penitentiary 'volunteered' him."
"Isn't that inhumane?"
"That's not how the warden in Metropolis viewed it." The tone of Maggie's voice lets me know she didn't like what he did either. The waitress serves us our pot stickers and we spend the rest of the lunch period eating and talking about topics other than Linda Lee-Danvers and Intergang.
XXX
I wait outside Linda's apartment for three hours until she finally leaves. She doesn't have a car, so I'm forced to follow the taxi the doorman called for her. I did a little research and discovered that Wayne Enterprises owns the entire building she's living in. And if my suspicions are correct and she does personally know Bruce, I don't know why he is letting her stay there for free. There is no record of her even meeting Bruce, whether at a party, by accident, or through an interview. But it's obvious their relationship is more than a simple few-times-meeting thing.
I stay a good distance behind Linda's taxi on my motorcycle. Eventually, it leads me to the docks and into the warehouse district. As soon as the car starts braking, I turn right and park behind a storage warehouse. When I peek around the corner, I see Linda get out and pay the taxi driver. She stands outside and watches him leave until he's out of sight.
Linda turns and walks down the boardwalk like she's on a Sunday afternoon stroll. It would be easier if I followed her as Batwoman because I would be able to use my tools to scale the tops of the buildings. But I need to follow her as Kate; in disguise, of course. I follow her to a warehouse at the end of the docks and she goes in the front entrance. I can't follow straight behind her, so I look for another way in. There is an open window on the second story.
I thought ahead and brought a few of my "Bat-gadgets" in case I needed them. I pull out the grappling hook and aim it carefully. Once I press the button, the hook flies off and shoots over the edge of the roof. I give the wire a few heavy tugs before climbing up. After I climb through the window, I retract the wire and hook. I've landed on a balcony that overlooks the rest of the warehouse. Other than a few stacks of crates, the landing is practically empty. As I walk across the floor, I take decisive steps in case the boards creak. There is a stack of crates near the edge of the balcony. I slide behind it and look through the bars of the bannister at the main floor.
Linda is leaning against a large pile of crates and from the look of it seems to be waiting for someone. Other than the clearing she's standing in, the main floor is a maze of boxes, machinery, and more crates. I watch her for several minutes until a high-pitch whistle shatters the silence.
"Geez! Really? Seriously?" says Linda while pressing her fingers on the junction between her ears and temple.
A laugh precedes someone saying, "Sorry, couldn't resist." Out of the maze comes none other than Black Canary. I recognize her from an article I read while passing through Star City. She usually patrols there alongside Green Arrow. Rumor has it though, she shows up in Gotham to work with Huntress from time to time.
I remember Helena telling me about the group. They call themselves 'The Birds of Prey'. I had to keep from laughing when I first heard the name. When I asked her who else was in the group she wouldn't say. However, I know for a fact Renee sometimes works with them under the guise of The Question.
Linda gets over her momentary loss of hearing and hugs Black Canary. Great, someone else Linda is friendly with. "How are you, Linda? I haven't seen you since you since last Christmas."
"What can I say? I'm a busy girl." Linda winks at the blonde woman in fishnets. "So, what do you have for me?" Black Canary pulls out a small stuffed envelope from inside her jacket and hands it to Linda.
"That's all of it so far. It should be enough for you to write your first story."
"I can't yet, not until I'm sure the cops and I have everything." Black Canary sits on a round piece of machinery and pulls out a dagger to play with.
"I heard about that. Congratulations on getting the cops to work with you."
"I had nothing to do with it. Commissioner Gordon—with Barbara's help of course—recommended me. On top of it, Bullock wanted a reporter getting involved in the first place."
"Do you know why?"
Linda shakes her head. "Not a clue, but I will find out. There was something off about Detective Bullock when I spoke to him today. He was too… nice."
Canary laughs. "Nice? I've heard the horror stories. Bullock doesn't do nice, not unless he's in trouble." Linda smiles and slips the envelope into a pocket on the inside of her jacket.
"Other than the envelope, do you have anything else for me?"
"Yeah, some advice. I think it's time you drop Batwoman." Linda is surprised by Canary's comment based on the way she blinks on her mouth hands ajar. She takes a breath as if to speak then closes her mouth before she clears her throat.
"I know. I haven't been in contact with her since I caught her spying on me. At the same time, I have it on good report she has no information about this Intergang situation."
"I talked to Oracle about that. She said Batwoman isn't even involved with this. That's why we both want you to drop her."
"Both of you want me to drop her?"
"Not only that but I had a talk with The Question last night. She agrees with me."
Hold on, Black Canary had a talk with Barbara and Renee, and both agreed it would be best for Linda to cut ties with me? The rational part of me knows Barbara and Renee meant that Linda should cease communicating with my Batwoman persona and not me, Kate Kane. I hope.
Linda sits next to Black Canary and sighs. "I understand. I'll see what I can do." The blonde puts her dagger away and pats Linda on the shoulder.
"Good girl." From what I can see, Linda rolls her eyes at Canary and gets up from her seat.
"Seeing as you have nothing more to give me, I'll be leaving now. See you around, Canary. Say hello to Green Arrow for me."
"Will do. Oh, and one more thing." Linda stops. "Diana called, she-"
"I know. I talked with her before coming here. She says I have four weeks to crack this until I have to meet her in London."
"That's not a lot of time." Linda shrugs and pushes her glasses up her nose.
"Then I better work fast." She disappears into the darkness of the maze and five minutes later Canary does the same but in the opposite direction.
I slump down on the floor and lean against my stack of crates. In four weeks Linda is leaving for London with this Diana character.
In four weeks, Linda is leaving me.