"You're...still here..." Adriana said to the Joker as she woke from sleep, having a very intense dream about crab legs covered in spices.
"Mhm," he said and she realized he couldn't really move. She had fallen asleep with all limbs wrapped around him, including an arm around his head.
"Sorry.." she said and peeled herself off of him.
He sat up quickly and picked up his clothing from the floor. She watched him for a few moments thoughtfully before speaking.
"Have you ever had king crab legs with cajun spices?" she asked.
"No," he said in a disinterested voice while hooking his belt.
"They're so good...with butter...hot butter.." she said and hugged a pillow. It was 4 a.m. "I just had a dream about some...wish I had some now."
"Uh huh..." he said, sounding like he wasn't listening while he buttoned his shirt.
"I was thinking about something else too.." she said and could see he was barely listening and wasn't likely to respond with any curiosity.
She was right. He kept getting dressed.
"The governor," she said.
"Oh," he said, suddenly appearing to be paying attention. "And?"
"You said.." she paused to yawn. "He bribed the judge overseeing your case...to manipulate your sentencing. You told me that at the masquerade ball."
"Mhm," he said and turned to her. "So?"
"Well...I know you believe that's the case but.." she said. "How do you know that's true?"
She had seen his thoughts before. She knew that he believed that was he said was true, but in the moment the details were not something she searched for. There was nothing that she knew of that could confirm what he thought. The night at the masquerade ball, she didn't care enough about what the governor had done.
"Ahh," he said, as if coming to a realization. "So, you think I am crazy."
"What? I didn't say that...I was just...you know the governor is so...and you know, if there's evidence-" she said.
"You believe I'm crazy," he said again. His voice was even and calm, even though she knew he hated being called crazy.
"No.," she said. "I don't think you are crazy at all. I'm just saying, if you have evidence that's important-"
"Dress yourself," he said.
"Why?" she asked. "Are we going somewhere?"
.
.
.
"The...city morgue.." Adriana said as the Joker broke a lock on the steel back door. She was glad she brought a ski mask to wear in case there were cameras. "Why are we here?"
"Because there are all kinds of fascinating things inside," he said, the paint on his face thick, fresh, and extremely shiny in areas, still wet. "You never know what you might find."
"Uh...yes you do," she said and hugged herself in the frigid early February wind. "Dead bodies. Not the best place to be first thing in the morning."
He pushed the door open and she followed him inside. Immediately she was hit with the smell of formaldehyde. It was an incredibly strong smell but he didn't seem to notice. She followed him down a hallway and into an office. He seemed very familiar with the building and walked through as if he had been there many times before. She stood by the door while the computer screen lit up his face and he searched the system.
"You want to tell me why we're here now?" she said, trying to breathe as little as possible. She wished she could read his thoughts.
"Didn't I?" he asked, not looking away from the screen. "Gotham City Morgue is one of the most fascinating places in the city. It really should be a tourist attraction."
"Yeah..Gotham doesn't really have a tourism industry," she said. "No you didn't tell me exactly why we are here.
He ignored her and stood up and went to the door. She followed him again down a series of halls until they reached a room full of freezers. He walked past all of the pull out freezers and over to a walk in freezer in the back corner.
They went inside and immediately her teeth began chattering. There were four tables with bodies on them, each covered in a long white sheet. The Joker began lifting each one and looking at the faces. He stopped at the third one. She wanted to leave.
"Who's he?" she asked as her teeth hit against each other as she shivered. She stood on the opposite side of the table, the Joker on the man's left side and her on his right.
"An intermediary," he said, vaguely. "He performed the transaction."
"What transaction?" she asked.
"The deal you were so inquisitive about," he said to Adriana as though it was obvious.
She looked down at the dead man's pale ashen skin.
"So...he was a part of it?" she asked and the Joker nodded once. "Did you...did you kill him?"
"Take off his ring," he said, not answering her question.
Adriana looked down and saw the ring on his right finger.
"Why?" she whispered in the quiet freezer. "It's just..some old class ring-"
"Do it," he told her.
The grey color of his skin was making her sick, and she knew she typically had a very strong stomach with seeing things like this.
"I can't," she said and shook her head. "I'll barf if I touch it."
"Slide the ring off," he said, as if she was being dramatic. "It's easy."
She glared at the Joker.
"Fine," she said.
She shut her eyes after placing her fingertips on the ring. She felt it moving down to the end of his finger but it wouldn't come off.
"It's stuck," she said. The man's hand seemed to be frozen in place.
"Just lift the hand," he said. "Or slide the ring off."
She didn't want to touch the skin.
"The employees will be here in fifteen minutes," he told her.
Adriana touched the hand and barely tried to lift it. The feeling of the cold skin and bone underneath caused her to clamp her left hand over her mouth. She was going to be sick.
"It's stuck," she said, yanking her hand away from the body.
The Joker huffed and came around beside her to pull off the ring. He found that the ring would not move past the fingertip, like she had said.
"What do you want with this ring? It looks worthless," she whispered. "And it won't budge..Let's just go."
He tried to lift the hand as she had, it would not move.
"Please..." she said to the Joker. "See...it's stuck. Please let's go."
He ignored her and placed a hand on the man's forearm and slid his other hand's finger's under the palm in between the man's thumb and index finger. With a swift and forceful motion he lifted the hand up by breaking forearm bone. The loud cracking sound as the bone shattered broke the silence in the freezer. He picked up the ring and dropped the arm against the table.
"And there it is," he said and turned to her, holding up the ring proudly.
She looked at it. After gazing at the ring for a second she felt herself hurl. Vomit spewed onto the floor, splashing on the Joker's shoes and the bottom of his pants.
"Ugh..." she said. "I...I'm sorry."
"Let's go," he said, not seeming to notice the refuse on his shoes.
.
.
"It's all here..." Adriana said. The Joker had retrieved a small microchip hidden in the ring and she could see the evidence of the transactions on his laptop computer. "Who are these others..."
"They used aliases," the Joker said. "I'll learn who they are eventually. The governor's alias I already knew."
"So three people...three million paid to the judge each.." she said.
"Yes," he said. "This should answer your questions."
"Right..." she said as he walked away. "But not just my questions. I mean..you could make this public. This is evidence."
"Why would I do that?" he asked as if she was suggesting something very boring.
"So that people could know! I mean..this isn't right," she said. "It could change things with the public...how they see you, how they think of you-"
"It would change nothing," he said and removed the chip from the device hooked up to his computer to read it. "I do not care what anyone thinks of me."
"So..." she said as he pulled out a lighter. "Why did you show it to me then?"
He paused before moving the tiny flame to the chip.
"Do you care what I think of you?" she asked.
He didn't reply. He moved the flame under the card in his fingertips, allowing it to melt.
.
.
.
A few hours later at 9 a.m. she woke up alone with the sun. She made her way into her kitchen and opened her refrigerator but a heavenly smell behind her made her shut the door immediately.
There was a white plastic bag on the counter top and she could feel that it was hot as she untied it. The smell was undeniable. Cajun spices.