Chapter 6 – A Tale of Two Investigations

Matt and Karen were waiting in the conference room when Foggy got back from court the next morning. Four objects in plastic bags were on the table in front of them. Foggy dropped his briefcase next to the door and joined them. When he spotted the notebook, he exclaimed, "You found it!"

Matt nodded.

"Where?"

"In a hidden compartment in Robertson's desk, along with . . . ." He gestured at the other objects on the table.

"So what's in the notebook?" Foggy asked.

Karen answered him. "A bunch of chemical formulas. It looks like they're for organic compounds."

Foggy reached for the notebook and started to open the plastic bag. "Don't," Matt said sharply. "It's evidence."

"How is it evidence? You broke into the school and took it."

"And we're gonna put it back where it was," Matt explained, "and make sure the cops search again – and find it."

"You really think you can pull it off?"

"Yes," Karen replied firmly. "We're gonna copy the notebook and the bank statements –" She gestured toward the plastic bag holding a stack of papers. "The laptop's password protected, but I'm sure Frank's friend David Lieberman can get into it. He'll make a copy of the hard drive for us. Then Matt will put it all back where he found it."

Foggy picked up the baggie holding the unknown object. "What's this?"

"We're not sure. My guess is that it's what Robertson was analyzing," Matt said. "We need to put it back, but we also need to get it analyzed."

Foggy frowned. "How're you gonna do that?" He scrutinized the object in the bag, then answered his own question. "It's an irregular shape. Looks like pieces have been broken off."

"Probably by Robertson," Karen observed, "if he was analyzing it."

"Yeah, probably," Foggy agreed. "So no one will notice if we break off a few more pieces." He fell silent for a beat. "But who's gonna analyze it?"

"I talked to Danny Rand," Matt told him. "He has people who can do it. They can also figure out what's in the notebook and if there's anything on the laptop that can tell us what Robertson was doing."

"You really think this will work?" Foggy asked.

"It's the best plan Karen and I could come up with. If you've got a better one, I'm all ears."

When Foggy didn't answer him, Karen stood up. "I should get going. I'm supposed to meet David in half an hour."

She reached for the laptop, but pulled back her hand when Matt said, "Wait. There's one more thing."

His partners exchanged questioning looks. "What's that?" Foggy asked.

"I wasn't the only one in Robertson's classroom last night."

"What?" Foggy exclaimed.

"Who else was there?" Karen asked at the same time.

"Spider-man."

"What was he doing there?" Foggy asked.

"Our newest client is Spider-man."

"Peter Parker is Spider-man?" Karen demanded.

Foggy sat in stunned silence for a moment, then muttered, "You gotta be kidding me."

"No joke," Matt assured him.

"But he's 15 years old," Karen said.

"I know."

"And he has . . . powers, right?" Foggy asked.

"Yeah. He says he was bitten by a radioactive spider."

Foggy put his head in his hands. "This can't be happening," he insisted.

"Believe it," Matt told him.

"So what are we gonna do about it?" Karen asked. "There's no way a 15-year-old should be going out as Spider-man, doing what Spider-man does, but we can't give up his identity. We have to protect him. He's a child, and he's also our client."

Matt nodded. "Agreed. I told him he needs to back off and let us do the investigating. I also told him he has to tell his aunt about Spider-man."

"She doesn't know?"

"No."

"Do you think he'll tell her?" Karen asked.

"Honestly, I don't know," Matt admitted.

"And if he doesn't?"

"We'll figure something out."

Foggy groaned and covered his face with his hands. When he dropped his hands, he had a stricken expression on his face. "Wait a minute. Does he know about you – about Daredevil?"

Matt nodded. "Yes."

"You told him?"

"No, he figured it out on his own. Something to do with his powers . . . I think."

"Great. Too many people already know about you. Now we have a teenager to deal with."

"A teenager with a secret identity of his own," Matt pointed out.

"Point taken," Foggy conceded. "But do you really think you can trust him?"

"I do," Matt replied, trying to sound more confident than he felt.

Karen got to her feet and picked up the laptop. This time, Matt didn't stop her. "I really have to get going, guys. We can pick this up later."

"OK," Foggy said grudgingly.

# # # #

At lunchtime, Peter, Ned, MJ, and Tyler were huddled together at a table in a corner of the lunchroom, as far away from Flash and his posse as they could get. Ned already knew the whole story of what happened the night before, except for Daredevil's identity. No way Peter was gonna rat out a fellow superhero, not even to Ned, even if Daredevil did treat Peter like a kid. Now he was giving MJ and Tyler the alternate version.

"My lawyer, Mr. Murdock," he was saying, "called me this morning and told me Daredevil found the notebook and some other stuff, evidence, I guess, in Mr. Robertson's desk in his classroom."

"Daredevil?" Ned asked, pretending he didn't already know. "Cool."

"Yeah, apparently they work with him sometimes," Peter replied.

"Have you ever met him, Tyler?" MJ asked. "Daredevil, I mean."

"Um, no," Tyler said. That wasn't true. He had met Daredevil, but he didn't want to tell his friends about it. If he did, he'd have to tell them about all the bad stuff. About his dad, in prison for causing the car crash that killed his mom and adoptive dad and blinded him. About being rescued by Daredevil when his dad kidnapped him. Tyler knew none of this was his fault, but he still felt ashamed. Sometimes he wondered if he was gonna turn out like his dad, if he got "bad blood" from him. In a weak moment, he had confided in Matt about his fears. Matt tried to reassure him, but he sounded like he didn't really believe what he was saying. Maybe Matt's dad wasn't a good guy, either.

MJ's voice took him out of his train of thought. "Earth to Tyler," she was saying, "you with us?"

"Uh, yeah."

"So what're they gonna do, Peter? Your lawyers?" MJ asked.

"They don't trust the NYPD to find the killer, so they're gonna do their own investigation," Peter told her. "But Mr. Murdock told me to stay out of it."

"No way!" Ned exclaimed.

"I agree, but how do we investigate, without having the evidence or any leads?" MJ asked.

The quartet fell silent, considering this. Then Tyler spoke up. "I have an idea." Three faces turned toward him with questioning expressions. "Sometimes I hang out at the office, the law office, I mean, after school, to do my homework. It's quieter there than at the orphanage, and there are no little kids pestering me to help them with their homework. I hear Matt and Foggy and Karen talking to each other. It's like they forget I'm there."

"So you can spy on them, find out what they know," MJ said. "Cool!"

Tyler beamed at her. The smile faded from his face when Peter said, "Uh-oh. Incoming."

"Hey, Stevie Wonder," Flash sneered, "still hanging out with these losers?"

Tyler pretended not to hear him.

"You know, you're lucky you can't see them," Flash continued, "want me to tell you how ugly they are?"

"Get lost, asshole," MJ told him. But Flash was already walking away.

After lunch, Tyler stopped at his locker to pick up his books and notes for his afternoon classes. When he got there, the door was hanging open, and when he reached inside, it was empty, except for a spare cane and backpack and a ratty old jacket he'd liberated from the donation box. (Sister Maggie said the jacket looked "disgraceful," but Tyler didn't care. It had lots of pockets, and it was warm.) He thanked the god he wasn't sure he believed in that his note-taker and laptop were safely in his backpack. Laughter from down the hall – from the direction of Flash's locker – told him the culprit's identity. Not that there was ever any doubt. He slammed the door shut and walked away, seething. Flash had finally gone too far. Tyler needed to deal with him, not to mention getting his stuff back.

By the end of the school day, he'd come up with a plan. Maggie's stories about Matt, when he was growing up at the orphanage, gave him the idea. She had let it slip that he was always getting into fights as a kid, but the other boys never complained, because they didn't want to admit a blind kid had kicked their ass. He was betting Flash would be like them. The key would be getting Flash alone, without his crew. He thought he knew how to do it.

Tyler was waiting when Flash stopped at his locker after sixth period. "OK," he said, "you've had your fun, now give me my stuff back."

"You gonna make me?" Flash scoffed.

"If I have to."

"Yeah, right. I'd like to see that."

"Me, too," Tyler quipped. "So show me what you've got."

Flash shut his locker and shuffled his feet, as if he was getting into a fighting stance.

Tyler scoffed. "Not here. Meet me at the pocket park on 49th in 15 minutes. I'll be there alone."

"Looking forward to it," Flash said. But Tyler had already turned to walk away.

Fifteen minutes later, Tyler was sitting on the bench in the pocket park with his backpack on the bench beside him. He was confident Flash would take the bait, but he was less certain the other boy would come alone, without his hangers-on. It would be better if Flash came alone; humiliating him in front of his crew could backfire, big time. Tyler was counting on Flash being over-confident that he could take Tyler by himself. And maybe he was smart enough to figure out that beating up a blind kid wouldn't score him any points. Not that that was going to happen. Tyler's sensei, Colleen Wing, had trained him well. He smiled to himself. Then he sat up straight. Someone was coming.

"Stevie! Stevie Wonder! You here?" Flash called out.

"I'm here," Tyler said as he stood up. "And my name is Tyler."

"I really didn't think you'd show, Stevie," Flash said.

"No?" Tyler, smirking. "I told you, I want my stuff back."

"We'll see about that," Flash said. "Like I said, you gotta make me."

As Flash's footsteps pounded toward Tyler, he kept talking, taunting him, calling him "Stevie." Tyler readied himself to block the punch he knew was coming. When Flash was within an arm's length, Tyler side-stepped, raising his right arm to parry the blow, then grabbed hold of Flash's wrist and jerked down. Using his left arm as leverage, he twisted, pulling Flash off-balance and doubling him over. A quick swipe at the legs put Flash on the ground, flat on his back.

Tyler unfolded his cane and used it to locate Flash, then planted its tip in the middle of his chest. "Stay down," he said when Flash started to get up. "We're gonna have a little talk."

"What are you anyway, some kind of fucking blind ninja?" Flash asked.

"Something like that." Tyler smirked. "The way I see it, you got two choices."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I can get the word out to the whole school that a blind kid whooped your ass – "

Tyler only got that far before Flash interrupted him. "No one's gonna believe you."

"Maybe." Tyler shrugged indifferently. "You wanna take that chance?" Flash's silence was the only answer Tyler needed. "Nah. Didn't think so."

"Not a fair fight," Flash whined.

"No, it wasn't," Tyler agreed. After a beat, he added, "Trying to sucker-punch a blind kid?" He shook his head. "Not cool. What's your crew gonna think?"

Flash scoffed. "They won't care."

"You sure about that?" When Flash didn't respond, Tyler continued. "There is another option. We both keep our mouths shut about what happened here and – "

Flash interrupted him again. "And what?" he demanded.

"No more of that 'Stevie Wonder' crap," Tyler told him. "My name is Tyler." He pressed down with the tip of the cane. "Got it?"

"Yeah, I guess," Flash said grudgingly.

"Say it."

"Your name is Tyler."

"Plus, you're gonna give me my stuff back. And from now on, no more hassling me and stealing my stuff."

"Son of a bitch," Flash muttered under his breath.

"Oh, and one final thing: my friends, that's Peter, Ned, and MJ, they're off limits."

"Fuck you."

Tyler shrugged. "Your choice. Decide."

It didn't take long for Flash to consider his options. He was an asshole, but he was a smart asshole. "OK," he said, "we both keep our mouths shut and, and I do . . . I do what you said." He pushed himself up to a sitting position. Tyler withdrew his cane and let him, then held out a hand to help Flash to his feet. Flash batted his hand away. "I don't need your help. And this doesn't mean we're friends."

"Never said it did," Tyler agreed. He picked up his backpack and shrugged into it, then walked away.

As he turned onto the sidewalk, Tyler gave a sigh of relief. He wasn't sure Flash would come alone; his posse was basically joined at the hip to him. His plan wouldn't have worked if Flash's crew had been there to squeal to the teachers – and spin things to make Flash look like the victim. Tyler didn't want to hurt anyone, and he didn't want to get in trouble over this. He just wanted Flash to stop.

Tyler could just imagine what Sister Maggie and Matt would say, especially Matt. He was such a hypocrite, always preaching to Tyler about solving problems with his brains instead of his fists. Tyler was only doing what Matt did when he was a kid. But now that he was an adult, Matt was all "do as I say, not as I do." Matt could preach all he wanted. Sometimes you just had to take matters into your own hands – literally. With a satisfied smile on his face, Tyler turned the corner onto the street leading to Nelson & Murdock.

# # # #

Later that afternoon, Karen received a call from David Lieberman and went to meet him, returning with the laptop and two external hard drives, one for Danny Rand and one for themselves. According to Karen, Lieberman said breaking in to the computer was a "piece of cake." Matt breathed a sigh of relief when she came back with the laptop. The longer it took to replace the items from Robertson's desk, the greater the chance the cops would search the classroom again. Tyler, who was doing his homework in the conference room, told Matt the cops hadn't been back to the school. But that could change at any time.