Chapter 8 - Surprising Turn Of Events
Harvey's P.O.V.
The phone rang early in the morning at the district attorney's office and nothing could prepare him for what Gordon had to tell him.
Jim Gordon GCPD:
"Come to the GCPD right away, we have Lau!"
Lau was a Chinese crime lord and accountant in Gotham City who dealt with the mob's money. He fled to China to protect their money. So why did he come back?
"Good morning" His eyes look up from the small display to his enchanting girlfriend, who comes up to him and kisses him lovingly. "Did you sleep well?" she asks as she takes a cup from the cupboard and pours herself some coffee.
"Rachel. They've got Lau. We have to go now." She almost chokes on her hot drink and puts the cup down on the counter in shock.
"What, how?" she asks, confused.
"I don't know, but we have to go to the GCPD!"
Third P.O.V.
"So just how exactly where you able to get him?" Harvey asks the second he discovers Gordon. So he really was right. Behind the glass wall sat the Chinese mobster and his lawyer.
At least he's clever, Harvey thinks to himself as he sees his lawyer next to him.
"We didn't." Gordon admits.
"Batman? Well I knew that he was good, but somehow flying to Honkong just to get Lau and get back to Gotham is really impressive, I do have to admit that."
"No." Harvey raises his eyebrows in astonishment. Now the detective made him curious. "Mr. Lau showed up by himself."
"Are you trying to tell me, that he turned himself in? Wasn't he just trying to bail with the mob's money?" It made no sense, why on earth would Lau do something like that? After all, he was already out of Gotham. Out of America. The Chinese would never have handed over their own man.
"We found this on Mr. Lau's phone." Jim hands him the phone. Curious, Harvey starts rummaging through Lau's phone, hoping to find out, what exactly motivated him to turn himself in. "Take a look at the last message."
He went into the Chinese man's messages and immediately recognized the reason. The last message had been sent from an anonymous number, but the message was more than clear.
Unknown:"
Don't bail now, Game has just started.I expect you in Gotham within 24 hours.
-J"
"Joker," Rachel whispers next to him.
"So you're telling me, that he came back to Gotham because of a text message from an unknown number?" Harvey asks dumbfounded. "I don't get it. I mean he was continents away."
"That wasn't the only message that he received. We were able to track down, that he started to receive the messages about two weeks prior and that's still not all. He recived threats by e-mail as well as chocolates and also photographs of his wareabouts. There are also photos of what we presume to be his mistress." Gordon explains while Harvey and Rachel continue to take a look at the pictures.
"I take it that the chocolate Mr. Lau received didn't meet his expectations?" Rachel mumbled under her breath.
"You'd think so, but we looked at it and nothing. There were no traces of any explosives, chemicals or anything like that. Just normal plain chocolate. Not even a hint of nuts, given that Mr. Lau seems to be allergic."
Both Rachel and Harvey looked at Gordon in amazement. "But the card on the other side..." he continued, showing them another picture.
"Roses are Red,
Just like your blood
If you're not in Gotham by noon
Your blood will pour rather soon."
"Wait hold on. Does that mean that Joker went all the way to Honkong just to threaten Lau to come back here?"
"No," says Gordon confidently, "it's impossible that he went there himself. We've checked every possible security camera at the airport and it would also be impossible in terms of timing, as it was around the same time that Joker broke into Wayne's mansion and kidnapped Aria."
"Well," Rachel states as she adjusts her jacket. "It's time to get some answers out of Mr. Lau."
Rachel arrived in the interrogation room at that moment to see the disgusted look on Lau's face as he took a sip of his coffee.
"With all due respect, American coffee is not the best."
"Good afternoon, Mr. Lau. How do you like our interrogation room?" Rachel asks in a sweet voice. But she gets no answer as Lau just looks at her with an egotistical grin. "Is something wrong?"
A strange feeling came over her when she noticed the Chinese man starts to look down her body before he spoke "You seem awfully familiar. Say have we met before Miss...?"
"Dawse. And no. I prefer not to get involved with criminals. So can we start the interrogation, Mr. Lau?" However, the two men just started laughing.
"Is there something wrong?"
"Excuse me, but we thought that Mr. Dent himself, or at least someone more ... qualified will interrogate my client." his lawyer continues laughing.
"Well, gentlemen, I can assure you that I am more than equipped for this task. So let's get started." With that, she places her files on the table and sits down opposite Lau and his lawyer.
"We know that the Joker 'urged' you to come back to Gotham." Rachel couldn't help but laugh to herself as she noticed how both men's grins slowly started to fade. "You heard right, Mr. Lau. The MCU has told us everything. From the text messages, to the photos, cards and even the chocolate, so if you came here hoping for protection..."
"What kind of possible protection could you offer, Miss Dawes? You can't even protect your own people," Lau interrupts her as he slams his hands on the table, almost knocking over the two cups of coffee. Rachel gulps while his lawyer warns him with a hand gesture to calm down.
" Then why did you come back? You already were on another continent and you and I both know that the Chinese would've never turned you in. Why take the risk when you know that the two most powerful mafia families in Gotham are behind you?" She deliberately left out the Joker to see how Lau would react.
"Miss Dawes, what exactly are you accusing my client of?" the lawyer inquired.
"I'm not accusing him of anything Mr. ...?"
"Takahashi"
"Mr. Takahashi. I'm just curious to what exactly motivated Mr. Lau to suddenly change his mind." She looked at Lau but he made no effort to answer her.
"What brought you back to Gotham, Mr. Lau?"
He raised his eyes and Rachel could have sworn that it was sheer panic that she saw in Lau's eyes. "You know the reason. If I hadn't come back, he would've killed me."
"And you think since you cooperated, you're off the hook now? Mr. Lau, -J could be anyone. You have no hard evidence that -J is really the Joker. The way I see this, Mr. Lau, is that whoever -J is, he tricked you and you played right into his handsand now you're in a situation from which there's no escape," With that Rachel got up and walked towards the door, but Lau called after her.
"Wait!" She turned her head back to look at the anxious man again. "I can't give you the money ... but I can give you my clients.All of them!"
Curiosity got the better of her as she glances at him sucpisiously. "Your clients? Mr. Lau, if I am correctly informed, you are an accountant. What could you possibly have onall of them, that we could accuse them of?"
Apparently her question was the right one, because the fear gradually disappeared from Lau's face and a greasy grin spread across his face again. "I am very good with calculations. In fact, I handle all the investments. One. Big. Pot." That was enough for now, Rachel turns on her heel and exits the room.
As soon as Rachel walked through the door, Harvey came up to her and kissed her passionately. "You were fantastic!"
"I couldn't agree more Miss. Dawes!" Gordon joined the two. "But how are we going to manage to charge everyone at once?"
Suddenly Harvey looked up at Rachel with wide eyes. "RICO!" he said abruptly and Rachel nodded in agreement, while the lieutenant stood by, confused, waiting for an explanation.
"If they pull the money, we can charge them all in one criminal conspiracy." Harvey explains, but Jim still doesn't really seem to be following.
"Charge with what exactly?"
"In a RICO casem if you can charge one of the conspirators with felony, you can charge-"
"All of them with it." Now Gordon understood what the district attorney was getting at. Risky, but it might just work. "Let's do it."
Rachel nods vigorously and goes back into the interrogation room where Lau and Takahashi are already waiting for her. "Mr. Lau, are you really willing to give of all of the names?"
"Yes, BUT in exchange I'll be guarded 24/7."
"Of course, only after you give us the names, and Mr. Lau, if you'll allow my curiosity, what exactly happens to all the money once all your clients are in prison?"
But to her astonishment, Lau remains calm and just smiles at her. "As I said Miss Dawes, I'm very good with calculations."
As they watched Rachel, Harvey began to think about the best way to put his plan into action.
"He can't go to county, I'll keep in the holding cells." Gordon snapped him from his thoughts.
"What is this Gordon? Your fortress?"
But to his surprise Gordon's only reply was "Do you trust them over county?"
"I don't trust them here!" At that moment Rachel came back in and started writing down all the names she had received. "We have them!"
"I'll get my officers to take him away." And with that, Gordon left Harvey and Rachel alone to do their work.