Barbra's P.O.V.
I stared after Monika in surprise. I knew that I had been making her uncomfortable, her posture was just too stiff to be casual. I hadn't been expecting her to jump up and run away though. Then again... there was something off about her. I had my suspicions but I'd have to talk to dad and Harvey about it.
"She just went up and left, didn't she?" Tony asked, walking up to the table.
"Yeah," I said thoughtfully. "She did."
I fished out some cash from my wallet and attempted to pass it to him but he denied it. "Keep it," he said. "It's unnecessary."
"Tony..."
"I'm serious," he said giving me a look. "Just go along with it."
"Fine," I said with a sigh, replacing my money. "I should get going now, Harvey's probably getting really impatient."
"Don't keep him waiting any longer!" Tony said with a laugh.
"That'd be bad," I agreed, standing up ad gathering my things. Glancing down at my notepad I studied Monika's handwriting. My instinct told me to her and her story a bit more. I'd drop it off at forensics for examination after I talked to dad.
"See you tomorrow hopefully," I told Tony slipping the notepad into my pocket and picking up Harvey's coffee. I waved as I left.
"It's about time!" Harvey bellowed as I entered dads office. He was standing by the window while my dad, Commissioner Jim Gordon, sat at his desk.
"Sorry Harvey," I said passing the coffee to him. "I got caught up in something."
"Would you care to tell us?" Dad asked.
"Yes actually," I said brushing my hair out of my face. "I met the most peculiar girl..."
I preceded to tell them about my interaction with Monika, pulling out my notepad to show them. "I want to see if my suspicions are correct," I explained after I'd finished.
"The suspicion that Monika isn't the girls real name?" Harvey asked.
"Yes." I nodded. "Doesn't it seem peculiar that a girl that fits our victims description, someone who we've never heard of despite our research, appears only days after our victim is kidnapped?"
"It does," dad said, furrowing his brow in thought. "I'll have you look into it. It'd be our first major lead," he added when Harvey opened his mouth to object.
"I want to know though," dad said turning back to me. "If you had your suspicions, why did you tell her about what happened 12 years ago? I only told you when I thought you'd be able to handle it."
"I wanted to see what reaction it had on her." I replied confidently. "I wanted to see if she was who I thought she was or if she was just some other person."
"And you were right in your suspicions?"
"I was. Even if it wasn't obvious to her, I saw recognition cross her face when I talked. Oddly though, she doesn't seem to remember anything of the incident."
"Understandable," dad said with a nod. "The trauma caused... it would've been surprising if she didn't have any side effects from it."
"I think that's how she lost her capacity of speech." I said.
"Interesting thought," Harvey remarked. "You think that she's capable of speech?"
"Why not?" I asked. "Her medical records say nothing about her vocal cords being damaged. In fact they look just the same as any regular persons."
"It's an interesting theory," dad said leaning back in his chair.
"What we're the names that she gave you?" Harvey asked.
"Monika and Yuri."
"Not your typical American names," dad said. "Well, I mean Monika is but the spelling..."
"There are different variations of spelling names Jim," Harvey pointed out.
"Of course," dad agreed. "But," he tapped the notepad, "if it were just her name then we might've be able to pass it off as a unique spelling. You said that her dad supposably lived in Japan for 15 years?"
I nodded, "Yes."
"Yuri is a Japanese name. Now paired with the name Monika, which isn't, I think it's German."
"Your point being?" Harvey asked.
"Can I look something up on your computer dad?" I asked.
"Sure, go ahead." He moved out of the way as I walked around the desk and pulled the keyboard closer.
Navigating to Google, I typed in "Monika and Yuri" before hitting enter. The results were rather interesting.
"Doki Doki Literature Club?" Harvey asked, walking over and peering over my shoulder.
"I think it's some sort of computer game," I said. "Clearly the names Monika and Yuri are from it." I Googled the game.
I scrolled through the websites that Google had brought up. I clicked on the Wikipedia page and skimmed over the article.
"A psychological horror game disguised as a dating sim?" Harvey asked incredulously.
"Go down to the plot," dad said, and I obliged.
My face paled as I continued to read. What kind of game was this? Certainly not something that I'd even be able to comprehend.
"She's not-" dad voice faltered and he cleared his throat. "She's not playing this game is she?"
"Forensics went over the content on her computer, she never did." I shook my head. "It's more likely that she heard about the game from school." I closed out the window and picked up my notepad.
"I'll run this by forensics now and get back to you."
"Ok," dad said as I walked out.
Walking though the G.C.P.D., I occasionally nodded hello to the officers that I knew. Being the commissioners daughter, I knew a lot, but not everyone. Knocking on the door to the forensics lab, I waited for a second before entering.
The lab was rather small compared to the other spaces in the department, but Dr. Goodman managed to make it work.
Doctor Benjamin Goodman was a man of short stature with short silver grey hair and blue eyes. His back was slightly hunched from bending over tables, and that's where I found him when I walked in.
"Do you still have the evidence from Ridley's room out?" I asked.
"Yep," Dr. Goodman said. "May I ask why you need it?"
"I don't need it," I said walking over to him. "I just need you to run some analysis on her handwriting with this." I handed him my notepad which was still open to the page that had Monkias writing on it.
"I can certainly do that for you," Dr. Goodman said. "Let me just find some of her writing."
He left the table and walked over to a few boxes that sat on a nearby counter. He dug though one of the boxes before coming up with a thin spiral bound notebook.
"Let's see, let's see," he muttered, coming back over and setting the notebook on the table. He opened to a random page before taking my notepad.
"Ah hah," he said, pointing at the notebook. "You see the writing on this page? It's small, narrow, the words are close together, and she writes with light pressure. That means that Ridley is a follower, not a leader. She has a chaotic inner life and inhibition anxiety. She doesn't wish to be the center of attention and has bouts of insecurity. The angle of the writing and the closeness of letters in a word indicate feelings of isolation."
"You got all of that from just her writing?" I said, rather impressed. He was pretty much spot on with how Bruce described her personality.
"Now this," Dr. Goodman tapped my notepad. "This is a different story. Same angle and slight closeness of the letters, which still means feelings of isolation. However, the size of the writing is larger, which points towards emotional demands, and self-confidence. The pressure is heavier as well which shows either anger, anxiety or alertness. Different lines have different pressures here, so during this conversation she felt some very different things."
He wiped his brow before continuing, "Word spacing is also wider, meaning mental clarity. The letters are slightly more spaced out which shows determination and openness. If I didn't know better, I'd say that these two are completely different people. However," he paused.
"However?" I asked.
"The other factors of the two writing samples say otherwise." He glanced at me. "Large capital letters on both samples show independence, while the straight lines, low placed i dots and firm t bars point towards rationality."
"And this means?" I asked. The information he gave was extremely helpful, but I needed a confirmation.
"This means, there is about a 93% match between both the handwritings. The person that wrote it both the notebook and on the notepad are most likely the person. But you already knew that, you just needed the scientific confirmation." Dr. Goodman gave me a level look. "Am I right?"
"Yes," I admitted. "Thank you for the help though."
"Any time my dear, any time."
I walked out of the lab, my head spinning. So I had be correct in my initial thinking. I cursed myself for not being able to realize it sooner. Better late than never I suppose. But what had caused such a drastic change in her personality? She may be held by the Rouges, but her personality seemed to be improving. I shook my head. It wasn't good that they had taken her, of course not. I entered my dads office again.
"Any news?" Harvey asked.
"A lot actually," I replied turning to my dad. "Compared to other writing samples, there was a 93% match between both of them. 'Monkia' is really our victim, Ridley Wayne."