'You cannot see me, hear me, or touch me. I lie behind the stars and alter what is real, I am what you really fear. Close your eyes and I come near.'
It was a little after 6pm, Susan had been waiting for Edward outside rather than inside as not to attract any unneeded attention from a few of the officers she'd befriended in the department, the last thing she wanted was to have any rumours flying about whilst she was still working at the GCPD that would make her look incompetent and jeopardise her future with Wayne Enterprises all for the sake of one man and his persistence to make her friendship.
Susan wrapped her thin coat around her body and rubbed her arms with her hands, winter was in full swing by now and snowflakes were starting to fall through the night air. Susan had not heeded Edwards words from their initial conversation, the first day she'd arrived, about a change in wardrobe, mainly because she hadn't been her paid her wages yet and now had to make do with the warmest things she had in her suitcase which had ended up in several layers piled on one another. Still, Susan felt the cold more than anyone having spent a good part of her life on the equator, this icy weather was horrific.
"Good evening Ms. Lewis." Edward said exiting the department in his brown overcoat and carrying his slim briefcase, "I hope your afternoon was pleasant." He said offering polite conversation and noting her shivering frame and paleness, she didn't look well at all, something would have to be done about that.
"As pleasant as work can be." Susan said though shivers and returned a smile, her office had been freezing even with the room padded full of files, apparently the department didn't see fit to have the heating on in areas other than the main set of offices so she'd spent the latter part of the day clutching warm mugs and snivelling into a tissue.
"Well, no point hanging around in the cold." Edward said picking up her suitcase, "Shall we go home?" He then signalled the direction and Susan though not pleased at his choice of words for the second time that day, couldn't be any happier to be setting off somewhere warm.
The apartment building was about six tube stops away from the police department which seemed as convenient as it could be given the circumstances and was right on top of the station which was an added bonus. The outside of the apartments was as she'd expected, run down, dilapidated and in a questionable part of town but that didn't really make much of a difference now, the place was a temporary measure until she could get out of the city.
Edward introduced her to the landlady, a squat half deaf Asian woman that spoke little English and tried to put on a friendly attitude but Susan could tell that she was only interested in the money so Susan paid her deposit and first month upfront quickly with the money Wayne Enterprises had given to help her find suitable accommodation, she was handed the key, wavered the direction of her place and presented with a slammed door in her face but it didn't phase Susan at all, she just wanted to go to sleep now and sort things out in the morning and over the weekend.
"Lovely woman." Edward said in a sarcastic tone very matter of fact, "You're place is up here."
Susan stepped in the creaking dirty old metal lift with her suitcase and waited in silence alongside Edward until the rickety thing reached the fourth floor. The door slid open with a couple of jerks and they stepped out onto a dimly lit hallways where a lightbulb was flickering intermittently along the way. Susan felt more depressed with every step she took, she would give anything to be back in Kuala Lumpur right now, that dry heat seemed like a beautiful dream right now when once she'd hated it.
"And here we are." Edward said stopping besides a brown door, then he held up a finger, "What can be either big or small, anywhere in the world - near or far. Can stay the same or change over time, and is different for everyone but we all have at least one?" Edward lowered his hand and waited patiently for Susan to answer him.
Susan was cold and tired, he'd been occasionally throwing these riddles to her over the course of the week, the other officers had told her it was nothing new and that he built up a weird reputation in the GCPD for it, most of them knew him only as the riddle man; as much as his riddles were amusing from time to time she really wasn't in the mood for it right now, her body was just about to give up on her.
"Oh Edward, I don't really know right now. Can I just go in and rest, it's been a long week." She said in an exhausted fashion but she looked up and Edward's expression seemed strained, she was the only person in the department that indulged in his little obsession and she sighed trying to think. Her father had done riddles with her when she was younger to help train her mind to think out of the box and she'd heard this one long ago but the answer was so vague in her memory now she really had to strain to remember, "A home?" Susan said and watched as Edwards strained expression faded and he relaxed.
"Correct." Edward jiggled her key in the lock and pushed the door open to reveal the darkened apartment. "Have a pleasant sleep Ms. Lewis." He said setting her suitcase down, "If you need anything I'm just along the hallway in the next apartment to yourself." Edward gave a final smile and left her stood in the doorway of her new apartment whilst he entered his own and closed the door locking it firmly and leaving her behind, alone.
Susan felt a bit shocked at Edward's sudden departure, she didn't really know why, maybe she was just a little anxious about what she would find in the pitch black apartment. The switch was a pull cord she saw dangling just on the inside and when she turned it on her whole body eased, the apartment was clean, furnished adequately and had a large set of french style windows which had the blinds pulled up to show the Gotham cityscape, it was quite beautiful in the early evening. Susan closed the door locking it securely and started to search the apartment to see how everything was laid out, in the middle of the studio was the living area with an ample three seater couch, coffee table and TV setup, to the left was the kitchenette which led onto the bathroom and to the right there was a double divan bed, she thanked whoever was watching over her that the place wasn't what she'd expected judging it off the front of the building.
The unpacking, all ten minutes of it, could wait until tomorrow, Susan made her way over to the TV, picked up the remote and wandered over to the bed still wearing several layers and not removing her coat, she turned the TV on and bundled herself up on top of the stripped mattress and within a matter of minutes she was fast asleep, mentally exhausted and physically drained.
