"Maroni didn't hire the sniper."
Harvey frowned as Rachel closed the door to his office. "How do you know?"
"I asked him."
"You asked him?"
"It was perfectly safe. His bodyguards were watching the whole time." A smirk on her face.
"Rachel Dawes, you are ridiculous." He loved that girl, but her fearlessness was going to send him to an early grave.
"Listen to me, Harvey. Maroni thinks Gordon did it."
He laughed before he realized she was taking Sally's words seriously. "Gordon was standing right next to the Joker, so I'm reasonably sure he didn't."
She rolled her eyes. "Obviously, he's not talking literally pulling the trigger."
"Come on, Rachel, do you really think Gordon's dirty? And why would he bother with killing the Joker when he'd just made the biggest bust of his life?"
"I don't know. But who else could it have been?"
Was this how Bruce felt every time the Batman was brought up in conversation? "How about any of the families of the people he murdered?" he suggested.
"But how would they have known where the Joker would be? Only Gordon would have that access."
Oh, she was good. "Rachel, what does it matter?"
"How can you say that?" Rached huffed and Harvey could sympathize; this argument kept cropping up between them. "You are the district attorney," Rachel hissed out, "how could you say that?"
"I'm not afraid to say it. He murdered dozens of people; what happened to the Joker does not matter to me."
Rachel stared at him. "Well, it should."
Harvey watched her leave. He couldn't tell her the truth. Well, he could, just as he could confess to the whole city, but he chose not to. He didn't trust how she'd react. Right now, he didn't even trust how the vigilante would react. It had been the right decision, though.
Well, it had been a decision, at any rate. One that couldn't be undone. He was just thankful his aim had been true.
…
Harvey'd killed the Joker. Gordon knew it in his bones. Stephens had been acting shifty, but the man had been on the ground with him when the Joker had been shot. But he'd still been acting off, Harvey was right about that; the man definitely didn't have the acting chops to pull off a Ramirez. So Stephens been a part of something.
And Gordon had had a hunch almost from the start. Ever since they'd met up at the morgue mere hours after the sniper had killed the Joker. He, Harvey, Loeb, they'd all been there to hear from the medical examiner.
He'd just happened to be glancing Harvey's way when Harvey had steeled himself to look at the body. It had only been a moment, but Gordon had too much familiarity with that look. He'd seen it on every rookie's face, in the eyes of the fortunate old-timer whose luck had finally run out, an expression that Gordon had worn years ago.
Harvey had killed him. He'd shot the Joker himself.
All to protect Bruce Wayne's identity. Gordon hadn't thought about that risk when they'd been tracking down the Joker – and granted, stopping the murders was eminently more important – but Harvey evidently had thought about it. That was the only motivation Gordon could think of. Harvey had figured out the danger of arresting the clown. And had made moves to stop the confession.
While conveniently escaping all possible consequences. Is it noble if you do it under cover of darkness and coverups? On the one hand, it was almost the same thing the Batman did, so what right did Gordon have to take issue with Harvey's but not the Batman's actions? On the other hand, Harvey's actions had been straight up murder, no nuance involved.
But…
But Harvey had done what not even Gordon had been able to do: protect the Batman.
Gordon couldn't make this decision himself.
…
Gordon seemed fascinated in the wood finishing of his bar. The man had arrived minutes ago, and Bruce had offered to fix him a drink, which the lieutenant had gladly accepted. He hadn't said anything while he waited for Bruce to finish his bartending, and Bruce could feel his stomach sinking. Wordlessly, Bruce placed the drink down; Gordon acknowledged it with a nod but didn't make a move toward it.
Finally, the man spoke. And started with a seeming non sequitur. "Did you know Maroni tried to get a witness to murder Harvey in court?"
That was months ago now. But still, it had made headlines. "I'd heard about that."
"Harvey punched him, then grabbed the gun and disassembled it in seconds, lecturing about it the whole time."
Burce waited for him to continue whatever thought he had.
"Back in his IA days, he would occasionally go to the gun range. Probably for a bunch of different reasons – most of us thought he was doing it to just pretend to be one of the gang. But whatever the reasons, he became pretty good."
"You think…?"
"It's not that hard of a shot."
"Maybe not, but…how could he have gotten down there? With no one seeing? And when did he get a rifle?" Bruce knew he owned a handgun, but where was he stashing his Blaser Tactical?
"I think Stephens was helping him. All he had to do was borrow a rifle from Major Crimes. I checked and our security cameras…seemed to have a glitch the night before."
Bruce couldn't comprehend it. Harvey'd killed a man? He'd committed murder and then enjoyed the ballet with Rachel and him three days later? They'd had so much fun, laughing together and cheering for the ballerinas, overjoyed at the end of the Joker's rampage.
Harvey had even gotten Bruce to join in on a little teasing of Rachel, putting her in the middle of some awkward conversations. Harvey would make a supportive statement about the Batman, Bruce would make fun of the masked man, and then the two of them would wait, stoic and expectant, for Rachel to take a side.
He'd been surprised at how much fun he'd had. They'd have to tell Rachel eventually that Harvey knew the truth, but that night…his penthouse had never felt more like a home.
But, all that time, Harvey had just committed cold-blooded murder?
Bruce hesitated as he filled in all the implications. "But…why?"
Gordon shrugged. "What had the Joker been threatening Harvey with all these months?"
The Batman's identity. Bruce's identity.
He remembered a moment on the roof of MCU, back when the Joker had first put the pressure on Harvey to ask for the Batman's identity. Harvey had sworn to the Batman then that he'd never ask. And what had Gordon told him once? That Harvey had made it his mission to protect the Batman.
Oh, Harvey.
"This is just me talking, Mr. Wayne – Bruce. There's no evidence to make anyone a legitimate suspect."
Bruce closed his eyes as a thought occurred to him. "A while back, I put a tracker on Harvey's phone."
They looked at each other, silent and solemn.
Gordon hesitated. "I doubt a judge would allow that."
They were agreed, then.