Finally I'm free! Sorry this has taken so long; uni work is being a beast and I've had to see FIVE (yeah that's right) FIVE theatre productions and do certain thousand word essays on them all. My poor fingers; this also took ages to get out as I sometimes write how I talk ie not good so I have to sort out my writing loads...anywho here's chapter 10 for you, thanks for all alerts/reviews/favourites etc. Still nice to see people reading this and The Deepest Cut. Thanks a lot!
Chapter 10: 'Look Closer Commissioner Gordon.'
When we want people to find something out we leave clues behind; pretty much like in that fairy tale Hansel and Gretel; you know the one where their parents leave them in the woods and they try and they try to find their way back home with breadcrumbs. Life can pretty much be like that; we leave clues when we want people to find things out that sometimes we can't say out loud. It's like putting the pieces of a puzzle back together; sometimes it takes a while but always at the end you get the full picture.
Gordon's POV
He was tired; the Joker was once again running circles around them and they still hadn't found a proper replacement for James; (say whatever you want about the guy and most people had a lot to say) he was a good cop. Stephen of course was more than capable of doing the job but he was still one cop down and in a place where you can't be sure which men are really your guys, then you're stuck fast. His family had also been put to the side once again whilst he was working the case; the kids for now would understand but he knew if he cancelled one more weekend with them they wouldn't be so forgiving. Both he and Batman had been freaked out by the scan picture; they hadn't informed Bruce or Madeline Wayne about the find; Batman insisting it would only be added upset. Maddie... so far she was doing well, even after all she'd been through, a lesser person would have been sent to Arkham for a while after spending time with the Joker, but no not Maddie. It's been a little over a year since James died and she's never really spoken of him to anyone; the flowers that once adorned his grave have wittered down to a mere couple ever so often and by all accounts Maddie has never been to it. He personally never liked James; he was always a good cop if not on the odd occasion slightly rough but it was just the aura he gave off; like he was better than anyone else; that cockiness developed when he met Maddie, even before the first date everyone knew they were seeing each other. He shook his head slightly he was being overprotective; Maddie is a big girl who is more than capable of taking care of herself. He jolts practically out of his chair when his phone goes off; sounding loudly in the dark, quiet office.
"Gordon," he frowns at the unrecognised number, his confusion breaking when Stephen answers, "Hey Gordon you may wanna get down to the Narrows, we got a phone call from the place and when the first few cops arrived on the scene they found the guy; he's in pretty bad shape."
"I'm kind of busy Stephen can't you take this one tonight?" bed and sleep that's all he wants, two things he rarely gets and he has a funny feeling he won't be getting them tonight.
Stephen sighs down the phone, yelling something inaudible at another cop, "Trust me Gordon you'll wanna see this; his left you a calling card."
Gordon feels his blood run cold; the only 'he' Stephen can be referring to is the Joker and by the sounds of it whatever he did to this guy isn't pretty.
"I'll be there when I can, give me the address and make sure no one else gets near the crime scene. Especially that news reporter Maisy whatever her name is, this is the last thing we need if this is his work. I'll get Batman to meet me there."
He wasted no time in what he said; that he'd be leaving them clues, clues for what though and why does every corner they turn end up at Maddie's front door?
It might not be the Joker's work; the Narrows is a dodgy place at best, people turn up there murdered all the time. He grabs everything he needs and high tales it out of the office; it shouldn't take him long to get there; Batman possibly longer.
Although the Narrows is hard to work out he doesn't need directions tonight to see where he's going; police cars block the streets, a few park on the lawn in front of the house. Officer Clay; a rookie officer stands near one of the cars and is too busy emptying his guts to acknowledge him; what exactly is in there?
The house is neat and well looked after; as well as it can be in a place like this; where the police are on speed dial.
Stephen is crouched down on the floor; swabbing at something underneath the corpses chair that he is strapped to.
"Hey Gordon, glad you could make it thanks for doing this."
He tilts his head in acknowledgment, "its fine you said I was needed, what do we know?"
"Guys name may ring a bell; Mr Mac Dawson, his wife and a few other people have reported him for domestic abuse over the past few years yet she always ended up dropping the charges."
"I remember now; they have three kids right? Where are they and Mrs Dawson?"
Stephen checks his notebook, scanning the words on the page, "According to our friendly neighbourhood watch man she usually takes herself and the kids to her mother's on Friday nights, gets her and the kids away from him I suppose."
A crime scene guy examines the swab he has taken from the stain on the floor, doesn't take a college degree to work out what it is, "It's urine, the chairs soaked with it still and so is our guy."
Stephen laughs slightly at the guy's obvious disgust, "Yeah well you try holding it together when the Joker is coming at you with a knife and a glint in his eyes, let's see how well you do."
"Stephen you wanted me to see something?"
His prompt brings the other mans attention back to him and he nods at the body, "Check the body out, the torso is of particular interest."
He gingerly makes his way over to the body, snapping on a pair of latex gloves as he does; now that he can see the man properly he can tell the full gravity of what has be fallen him in his last moments; the cuts that cover his body were meant for torture not to kill; the coup de grace is the cut to the throat; so deep that he never would have survived such a savage beating. He looks back to face Stephen who nods, gesturing for him to lift up the man's shirt; he really doesn't want to do this but he does so and peers at it, etched onto the man's once toned stomach are the words, 'Look closer Commissioner Gordon,' he blinks and moves quickly away, desperate to get away from the man.
Stephen steps closer, nodding as Batman appears, late it would appear as ever, "Gordon what happened here?"
"We got the DB of a white male victim, positive ID on him matches that of Mac Dawson, we've had trouble with him in the past; he's not a guy that would have taken this lying down, use to be a boxer in high school by all accounts went undefeated for years. Known for taking steroids as well as other drugs; we've never been able to catch him with the drugs but everyone knows what he does. Met Karen Hill as she was once known in high school also; married just a year after he graduated; she dropped out of school to have the eldest daughter Georgina, then Megan and finally Billy the son, he's about eight months old now I reckon. We have more evidence on the walls also that you need to check out; we've not finished figuring it out yet."
Stephen gestures to the far wall; the three men step closer, reading the words. "Jesus," Gordon murmurs, "Is that..." "Blood?" Batman finishes, "I think it is our victims by the look of it." The blood is still drying; yet the words are still terrifyingly clear; they appear so jumbled at first it's hard to make out what until you look closer.
"Are they lists of injuries?" Stephen points out to one of the words, 'lip' and the word jumbled next to it, 'split'.
"Are these the injuries the victim received?" they both turn at Batman's gruff voice; the shock evident in his voice as it is in their faces.
"No, by the looks of your victim it appears not, of course I'll know more when I get down to the autopsy," the coroner, David Pearson hobbles next to them at the wall; the guy is thankfully due his retirement soon.
"Can you get it done for us tonight David?"
The old man grimaces at Gordon, "Sure can, it's been pretty slow down there lately good sign I suppose means the Joker and the others are behaving... or should I say were behaving? Bad sign for me, puts me outta business, I gotta lot of spare time on my hands, been planning that retirement."
"We'll meet you there," they all turn at Batman's gruff order, almost forgetting he was still there.
The old man takes it with a good natured laugh and nods to his assistant who is standing by with a body bag.
"Have the family been notified, he has a wife and kids right?"
"No not yet, we don't have the mothers address so we'll have to call around or have someone wait here for her come home in the morning, not the best idea or way to find your husband's dead but it's all we can do."
Stephen's phone rings loudly and another cop laughs at the ringtone; he smirks and glances at the screen, "Sorry I've gotta take this, I'll meet you at the morgue and look into the injuries on the wall, crime scene photographers have already done this entire room. Maybe Maddie or Jane can help id whoever got these or whatever see if they were admitted to the hospital recently."
"No," the whole room turns at Batman's loud order, his breathing heavy, his anger clear though most of his face is hidden, "We don't need to involve the Wayne girl I don't need to tell you again. Let's go Gordon," he sweeps out of the room in an instant, the chatter starting up again only when the edge of his cape disappears from view.
Batman has already gone by the time he reaches his own car; old trusty he calls it slapping the car bonnet fondly, he steps inside rubbing his cold hands together in a pathetic attempt at getting warm. This whole night has left him spooked; the murder itself was bad enough but the message etched on the guy's chest and the injuries written randomly on the wall as though they have to match them to their partner; it was all the games of a mad man. Batman naturally arrives first at the morgue leaving him to trail down to the coldness of the morgue; Doc Pearson always likes it cold in there reckons it helps him concentrate and that his old hips don't seize up; but either way it's cold. The cloaked figure of Batman and the much smaller one of Pearson's crowds round the dead body; the surgical equipment already lain out.
"Ahh Commissioner how nice of you to finally join us; we already have the victim prepped, his clothes are on the side there I'll get them sent to trace see if anything comes up."
"You won't, this is the Joker's work he won't have left anything behind he never leaves anything behind. He's too smart for that, he leaves behind only what he wants." Gordon glances down at the other man's hand as the caped crusader grips the side of the basin.
"Even the cleverest of men slip up sometimes Mr...er Batman. Even he must have a breaking point, a weakness if you will." Batman nodded at the Doctors words; though all of their eyes remain trained on the man lying in front of them; his chest now further exposed to reveal the message beneath.
"Your victim must have suffered terribly before death; and the answer to why he didn't fight back is simple; he couldn't. I found a needle mark on his right bicep looks recent as though he was sedated before hand and then attacked; it is possible he could have been very much aware of what was happening although he would not have woken. I'll have Richard run some tests see what he can find, and then we can determine what kind of drug was used. The cuts have clean edges to them; no jagged marks nor can I see any hesitation wounds; whoever did this knew what they were doing and knew exactly what to do to keep your vic from screaming out and alerting people." He lifts the man's arms and holds them towards his audience; "These marks don't need any explanation; track marks, they're present on both of his arms, some old ones are present but these on the side however appear more recent; look only a few hours old, must be one of the last things he did before he was killed. Was there any presence of drugs at the scene?"
" Not that we stuck around to find out much; I'll have to ask Stephen when he gets back; but if you said the marks are fresh it could be a possibility either he did it in the home or elsewhere. What can you tell us about the scratch above his eye? It looks different to the rest of them."
"I'm glad you noticed that Gordon, it is most irregular and you're right it is different to the rest of them. It looks like it was done prior to death, I'd say a good few hours; whoever killed your guy did not make this wound; and likewise with whoever made the wound they did not kill him either."
Batman finally spoke up; nodding to the scratch; "So what you're saying is that we are looking for two attackers? The Joker and then someone else who managed to at least claw the guy."
Pearson nods; "Exactly, I would look into possibly his wife for the scratch, by all accounts he was a nasty piece of work. And before you ask no, she couldn't have done this to him; I'd estimate her height to be only five foot and weighing in at I'd say ten stone, whoever did this to Mr Dawson here who we weighed to be seventeen stone of pure muscle and over six feet tall, would need to be the same height or strength as him, especially when he woke up and found himself like this. Of course as always I'll know more when the autopsy is fully completed."
Gordon pats him on the back, any harder and the guy would surely fall clean over, "Thanks doc you keep me posted and we'll see where this leads us."
Both men turn to leave the older man and walk out of the room, Stephen walks triumphantly towards them, brandishing some paper, "hey so I looked into records for the injuries that we managed to unscramble upstairs and there are more injuries on the list than what we thought; but we narrowed it down to a least of eighteen women; though if we had more to go on as its still researching we would be able to find out exactly who the injuries belong to, right now we can't cross reference them to anyone; interesting fact though; Karen Dawson's name came up on the list as a possibility; she had five of the possible ten injuries that was copied on the wall,. You think we should talk to her Gordon? Oh and her mother's address was finally found; the old lady next door gave it to us; it's a short distance away from the station, pretty close to Wayne Manor actually."
Gordon turns slightly when he hears the sharp intake of breath from Batman at the sound of the name 'Wayne'. "Good job Stephen, hopefully we'll have the full results soon; we need to stop him now before he kills more people in his sick little game. I'll interview Karen alone, she trusts me, I'll go to her mother's. But listen to me when I say this; Karen Dawson is not a suspect, Doc said someone heavier and stronger would have needed to lift Dawson's body."
"Did you get a good luck at his face?" Both Stephen and Gordon turn to face Batman, who is leant against the wall chewing his bottom lip thoughtfully.
"What his face? Batman I was too busy looking at the little message he left for me, why what was wrong with his face?" "That's just it; there was nothing wrong with it, but he looked pretty similar to James Dawson. Same build, height, features, hell they even weigh the same practically!"
Gordon and Stephen exchange worried glances at this, "It could mean nothing..." "Yeah but then again it could mean everything!" both men flinch as Batman's voice sounds in the dark corridor.
Gordon wearily runs a hand through his hair; taking his glasses off he cleans them, this was gonna be a long shift; "Ok, you both stay here and see if any more matches come up I'll interview Karen and meet you both back here in my office."
He stalks off before either of them can utter another word; even before the autopsy was done he knew that Karen was not responsible. Despite her daughter living in squalor; a practical hell on Earth; Teresa Hill lived a life of high class comfort, that few in Gotham could afford. It was going to be hard to tell her this; even though she lived in fear of him he was still here husband; the father of her three children. If he was a drinking man he would have some right now for dutch courage; James always kept a flask of whiskey in places he thought it would be kept well hidden...he allows his thoughts to be taken back to Batman's earlier observation; now that he mentioned it there were similarities to that of Mac and James; they even shared the same last name. He pulls up to Teresa's house; he would dwell on James later. Even from out here he can hear the cries of Billy; he stiffens as the child's cries get louder; almost shrinking from view when Karen actually turns and looks him full on; waving a spare hand at him and disappearing from view to open the front door.
"Jim Gordon this is a surprise! How are you? Please come in, I've gone slightly more up market from our home back in the Narrows."
He steps awkwardly into the impressive hallway; this house is definitely an improvement from her own home; he feels significantly scruffy in this pristine house.
"Can I talk to you please Karen, in private?"
"Yeah sure Jim, anything for my favourite Commissioner, we'll go into the living room." She sits down and gently lowers her young son to the floor; he swallows as he notices that the young child has taken after his father in looks.
"Karen, there's been an accident at your home, we got a phone call this morning and when we got there... it was too late. I'm so very sorry but Mac was killed, we couldn't make it to him in time." He watches the woman's face; she merely inhales deeply and looks at her young son, "Thank you for letting me know. Can I ask what happened to him please?"
"He had his throat cut Karen. I do have some questions to ask...if that's ok?" The young woman merely shrugged her shoulders as an answer; her eyes focusing more on her son.
"At the scene painted on the walls were a list of injuries we cross referenced them and your name came up as a possible victim... I understand you have been to the hospital for a split lip, broken ribs, bruised cheek bones, black eyes and a dislocated shoulder yes?"
"Yes that's what my daughter when through at the hands of that mad man and now thankfully he is finally dead, about time too I say." His eyes double in size at the sight of her mother; in many ways she reminds him of Helena Dawson.
"Oh Commissioner don't act so surprised! You all knew what he was doing to her yet you never stopped him; the amount of times I had her up here and he'd drag her back as soon as I was gone. At least my grandchildren will never properly know him, they would be ashamed!"
"Mother please, can you take Billy and leave me and Jim to talk please? I'll tell you everything from what you've not been listening into later on." She pursues her lips and nods, scooping the wiggling child off the floor, much to the amusement of them both.
Karen turns her focus back to him, rubbing subconsciously at the marks on her wrists; "I may have been in the hospital with those injuries yes, why Gordon am I a suspect? I can tell you exactly where I have been; here all night and all of yesterday with my children; Megan has a cold and has been kept off school and Billy is teething, I did not want to leave my children like this so I stayed here with them. I did not kill my husband, but I will help in any way with your investigation."
"I never thought of you as a suspect but the injuries you had they did match some that was left I just wanted to know if you could shed any light on them. I didn't come here to upset you Karen it wasn't my intention."
"I don't know who it could be; I've not exactly joined any group or anything to talk to anyone about this. Who did this to him and Jim please don't lie?"
He clears his throat, he was wondering when she would ask that; "We believe the Joker did it; we may be connecting this case to the murder of Detective James Dawson as well, we need more evidence but we think the cases are more linked than they appear."
"Thank you Jim, I suppose I'll have to tell my girls when they wake up," she leans forward and grips his hand, "Thank you for being the one to tell me, I hope you soon find what you're looking for." They both stand and awkwardly embrace; she pulls away quickly and smiles, walking him to the door. As he reaches his car she calls back to him, "I'm glad you know that someone killed him, now maybe I can have a life and get away from here." He freezes and looks behind him; she gives him a sad smile and waves before stepping back indoors.
Bruce's POV (as Batman)
After Gordon had left they wondered back upstairs to Stephen's office to narrow the search down; something about this was oh so familiar. He steps forward to the board; eye balling the picture of Mac Dawson... Dawson...James Dawson... "Of course that's why."
The computer beeps indicating it's find, Stephen turns in his seat, "We er...we have a match." He crosses the room in an instant and, not for the first time. His sister's name flashes back before him. "You're... you're sure this is right, do you need to check again? Stephen shakes himself out of his trance, "No, this is right she's the only one with all the injuries listed, what the fuck is going on?"
"He wants us to see what he sees," they both turn to face Gordon, he walks over to the board slamming his hand down on it, "First he trashes James' award ceremony, then we get the scan picture and now this; Mac's last name being Dawson was no coincidence; he planned this all right down to every detail and it's fallen right into his hands. These injuries...I've seen Madeline with them, that's why the case is so familiar; she had a split lip, broken and cracked ribs, bruised cheek bones, black eyes, a dislocated shoulder, broken fingers, a superficial stab wound and the glass in the back. This is what it all boils down to; the Joker thinks that James attacked Maddie."
"Do you think he's right, I mean why do all of this if it means nothing? He's taken the time to do this I don't think he's lying." They all ponder Stephen's question; not wanting the possibility of what James was be true.
Gordon speaks up, attempting to gain control of the increasingly dire looking situation; "OK say it is true we don't have enough to prove this; it's just based on what one man thinks happened. Even if it were true this would mean getting Maddie involved and would she want to be? James is dead after all. And the only people who know truly what happened are James and" "Maddie," Stephen finishes.
Phew so glad I got this chapter out and it's a big un; it's about damn time I know, I'm off anywho for a caffeine fix at Starbucks (well Caramel Cream Frappacino, incase you're interested...oh and a Mc Donald's I've got the major urge for one.) I've not ate for most of the day...anyone want to diet? Go to uni seriously I rarely eat properly! P.S any Britney fans should check out her new album...seriously it's freaking amazing even caught my brother 'Dwayne(yes I named my character after him in The Deepest Cut, he's the brother I actually like and get on with, harsh I know but my other brother's are major tools, ok I'm going off topic here, no one wants to hear this!) I don't like Britney Spears' music' rocking out to it on my pod...nice bit of blackmail right there. Anyway enough of my rambling I need food and you've probably fallen asleep. Toodles and much Joker love!
Feels-Like-Paradise.