«It's been a while since you last visited», Barbara said with a smile. «I was worried.»
«I've been busy», Jim replied, crumpled on his chair.
He had taken the habit of sitting right in front of her, pulling his chair next to hers instead of staying on the other side of the table, as he was supposed to do. It was like he wanted to be close, when he could not bear to touch her. Every time their had accidentally brushed against each other, he had jumped away in revulsion.
«Fourteen days», she informed him, in a kind voice. «I hope nothing is wrong.»
He stared at the floor, in silence, for a long while.
He was miserable. Of course he was. Arresting an innocent man for murder would do that to him. He lived to do the right thing. He rushed into it and did not care what and who he trampled in the process, but he defined himself as a good man. Faced with the evidence that he was not one, he couldn't define himself at all. And he couldn't even find refuge in his work, since it had been taken for him… And since he could not do it right, anyway.
«Can you stop that?» he asked.
«I'm sorry?»
«We both know the whole concerned, friendly thing is an act, don't we? Why don't you show your true self for once?»
«I'm me. Should I cackle like a lunatic, maybe? Is that what you expect?»
«I don't know, maybe make some tear-wrenching speech taken straight from Phil Collins? How does that sound?»
«Oh! You noticed?»
«Of course I fucking noticed», he snapped back, whispering the swear word. «Do you think I'm an idiot?»
«I'm sorry. I didn't think what I told you mattered at all - it never did - so I just went with whatever I heard on the radio that day.»
His eyes snapped back to hers. He just stared at her, livid with rage. She gave him her prettiest smile.
Minutes went by.
«I'm sorry if you ever believed that», he hissed. «But that's a vicious lie.»
Barbara looked at him and said nothing, watching his anger grow. He bit the inside of his cheek, and clenched his jaw.
«Why did you attack Leslie?»
«S-she, s-she k-ept a-ask-asking a-bout J-Jason Lennon», the woman replied in a distressed voice, letting her eyes fill with tears. «I-I don't k-know what c-came over me, it j-just, j-just… It's like everything went black and then I didn't know what I was-»
«STOP IT!»
She stopped and grinned.
«I attacked her because I could», she added moments later, when Jim tried to say something himself. «Because her hypocritical so-called compassion was getting on my nerves. Because I grew tired of you both lying to my face.»
Her ex-fiancé moved away in his chair, leaning back as far as he could. He studied her face in horror and said nothing.
«Oh wait!», she exclaimed. «Actually, it was because she's your new girlfriend and I'm soooo jealous and heartbroken and how could you ever replace me when I told you I would come back and then when I did I found you kissing in that locker room and it just destroyed me and-» - She gasped for air. - «I just broke into tiny little pieces and I couldn't pick myself up so I kept putting a feet in front of the other and pretending I would be fine until Jason found me and… Phew. I'm sorry, where did that sentence start again?»
Jim looked so lost, trying to separate the wheat from the chaff, that she burst out laughing.
«Now that I think of it», she said, «that's not even true. I did it because God told me she was a heathen and I had to punish her for her sins.»
«That his not funny», the cop snapped.
«I beg to differ. This is hilarious.»
«Whatever you have against me, even if I hurt you, you have no right to take it out on Leslie. This is between you and I, are we clear?»
Barbara looked down at the yellowish tiled floor, then turned to the yellowish tiled wall, then looked up to the slightly less yellowish ceiling. She opened and closed her mouth as if searching for the right words.
«You-» she started.
Jim frowned and waited.
«Y-you had me several years ago», she murmured, looking back to him. «When I was… Quite naive? Well, you said that we made such a pretty pair. And t-that you would never leave» - She took a deep breath. - «But you gave away the things you loved and-»
«WILL YOU STOP IT WITH THE DAMN SONG LYRICS?» he screamed, jumping to his feet, as he recognized Carly Simon's «You're so vain».
Barbara burst out laughing and bit her lip to stop herself, then wrapped her hands around his clenched fist.
«Sit down. Aren't you getting exactly what you came for?» she asked.
He snatched his hand away. She waited, eyebrows raised, waiting for him to start shouting. He decided against it and sat back down in his chair.
«And what», he murmured, «did I come for?»
She took his hand again, and didn't let go when he jumped away in disgust. He forced himself to stay still and did not try to free himself.
«You never asked for my reasons before, have you? You don't need them. You don't dwell on the past, it's not your style. You're someone who'd rather cut the rot away and build anew. Which is why the question was never relevant, as long as you saw ways to fix me. But that's not what this visit is about, is it?»
He squirmed, uncomfortable, but she held on.
«I think things are not going too well for you», she said softly. She might have enjoyed to see him squirm, but she still cared about him, and she knew him. «You feel miserable, and angry, and you have to let it all out somehow. Except it's yourself you're angry with, and you can't be at war with yourself, so you came to fight with your mentally ill ex-girlfriend instead. So you could have someone evil to lash out at.»
His hand flew out of hers and he raised it to strike.
He didn't. He stopped himself.
But he had it in him, somewhere. And now he knew it.
###
Bullock had been asking around for days. Selina had followed him around for just as long, though she had not let the asshole see her. Being the less observant cop in the world (as confirmed by every newspaper in town), he had not spotted her. She had learned all she didn't want to know about Harvey Bullock, however, from his favorite brand of cigarettes (Lucky Strikes) to the name of his surprisingly pretty girlfriend (Scottie), and the color of his boxers (which she had promptly done her best to forget, did the guy have to piss in random alleys?). The guy didn't seem to have anything to do, what with being suspended, so she had ample opportunity to spy on him.
Two weeks before, he'd been asking about suspicious vehicles. Then his questioning had moved on to gray vans only. He wasn't quite mentioning Fish, but the friends he had among the working girls understood what he was looking for and helped as they could. Not that they had anything interesting to said. The trail had gone cold. A gray van, that was all they could tell. It had been seen in the red lights district, first driving along the river, then circling the streets of the area. Which meant Fish Mooney had been captured and the kidnapping couldn't be nailed on the usual culprits, like King of the Asses Cobblepot. Bullock didn't have any clue of who the abductor could have been. Selina didn't either, until Ivy commented on some article in the Gazette, with her usual niceness and compassion.
«Think they'll even find the bodies?» she had asked over a bowl of cereals, using the newspaper as place mat.
«What bodies?» Cat had asked, confused.
They'd been squatting in some old man's apartment while the man was in the hospital, and the young thief had watched the news about every day. Save for Fish's, no bodies had gone missing that she knew of. On the contrary, quite a lot had been found.
«The Winston boys», Ivy had explained. «The crackhead's kids.»
The older girl had stared at her friend, a faint wave of suspicion coming over her.
«I guess if the mom didn't kill them, she probably sold them to a pimp or something», the redhead had added with a shrug. «Dope doesn't come cheap.»
Selina had stared some more.
«I have to go», she had shouted after a few seconds, grabbing the newspaper and running off.
It had taken her twenty minutes to get to the red lights district, and twice that to find Bullock. When she finally spotted him, she dropped down right in front of him from the closest fire escape.
«There's something you don't know», she announced. «And I need you to look into it.»
«I'm starting to wonder if you want me to blow your brains up. Do you have to sneak up on people like that?»
«Listen to me!»
He rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically.
«What do you want now?»
«Kids are going missing», she explained.
«Yeah?»
«Kids are going missing», she repeated. «How does that not catch your attention? Don't you remember your own damn case?»
She saw him rack his brain to figure out what she was talking about. Then he stared at her.
«I think someone would have noticed if brats had started to vanish by the busload again.»
She waved the Gazette under his nose.
«Not by the busload. But they're quietly walked out of their homes by fake social workers.»
«Two kids. And sorry to break it to you, but the meth head mom probably drowned them and forgot about it. Story's totally crazy.»
«Will you stop being an ass for five seconds and shut the hell up? I'm telling you I know something you don't.»
«Then spit it out already!»
Cat went silent and looked around, as there were a few people in sight and you never knew who was eavesdropping. She grabbed him by the sleeve and guided him to a quieter part of the street.
«When she left town a few months ago, after the thing with Don Falcone, when she had to run, she left by boat. And there was a pirate attack, and she was captured», she explained.
«Was she.»
«Yeah, she was. Human trafficking ring thing. Not the sex kind. The organs kind.»
The cop raised a eyebrow and looked at her with his best «and you believed that?» expression.
«And she was taken to an island», Selina continued, voice raising. «And she was locked up in a basement with dozen of people who were kept alive so they could be harvested. And if you don't believe me, we can go find some of the people who got out with her, I'm sure they're still in Gotham. You've seen her team, right? Plenty of cripples?»
«An island», he repeated. «With some kind of prison.»
«Yeah, some kind of prison but not just that. The place was some kind of hospital where very rich people would go to get patched up, and Fish tricked the psycho doctor who ran the place so she could escape with the other prisoners.»
Bullock wasn't mocking her anymore, which did not mean he believed her, but was a good sign.
«She escaped but she didn't have the time to make sure that doctor was dead», Selina continued. «I know all that because she told me that once she would have control of Gotham, she was going to go back and finish the job.»
Now, she had the detective's full attention.
«And that doctor? The one who cut up people? His name was Dollmaker.»
###
It was bound to happen.
«Inside», Oswald said.
He should have seen it coming.
«Inside», he repeated when Victor failed to move, and did not even appear to notice his order. «Now!»
Zsasz jumped, torn from is contemplation of young Miriam Loeb. The young woman had been sitting in the garden, holding a decidedly dead canary (Martin would have to be told to replace it) which she was petting. With a knife. As she tried to decide how to to best slice his flesh away so she could get to the bones. Oswald had seen her do it. She was quite adept. Which was apparently Victor's opinion, for the freak had appeared transfixed.
Cobblepot stared him down. He felt oddly protective of Miriam. At first, he had found her uncanny, but she had been around long enough for her to feel familiar and, truly, she was just a lost child. A very young and innocent child, despite her appearance and compulsions. Which meant she had to be protected from predators.
The criminal pointed at the door, waiting for the hitman to go back inside. He followed him in and slammed the door.
«This won't do», he warned.
The creep smiled hesitantly, then all but grinned, laughing in silence. Oswald was not about to be impressed.
«You are to stay away from Miss Loeb», he announced. «She's a vulnerable, innocent young creature and you are not to get any ideas. She's under my protection and she will remain unharmed and unseduced. Should you attempt to approach her, I will carve your eyes OUT with your OWN BLOODY INSTRUMENTS. ARE WE CLEAR?»
Zsasz actually took a step back.
###