BAE Chapter 92

“You don’t miss her?” Barbara asks.

“A part of me does. A part of me misses the piece and quiet,” Ivy says. “You’ve taken a big risk here and it hasn’t blown up in your face yet. Don’t get carried away.”

“You mean that you haven’t blown up.”

“Yet,” Ivy replies, tapping her foot.

“You think Harley isn’t ready?”

“I’m not sure that I’m ready.”

“How can I help?” Barbara asks.

Ivy shakes her head. “It’s not like that. Let’s just take it one day at a time. Can I have a phone call with her at some point?”

“Whenever you want. It’ll be monitored.”

Ivy sighs. “Of course. I’d like that, though.”

“She won’t mind you playing the feelings of a preppy corporate harlot?”

Ivy narrows her eyes and smiles. “It’s a coin toss. She might be furious. Or she might want to hear all about it and get off on it. You never know with her.”

“I like the sound of that.”

“You have a wild side, Gordon.”

Barbara snorts. “Oh, you have no idea.”

“I’m a woman. I have needs.”

“I no longer have a penis.”

“That is not what I need. Put your tongue where your mouth is, Princess. Tonight?”

“It’ll have to be late. I already have a date,” Barbara says.

“You won’t make me jealous. But I’ll want to hear about it. And save some for me.”

Barbara laughs. “It’s not that kind of date.”

BAE

“Goodnight, Gotham! It’s 10 PM, and this is your Siren of the Night, Vesper Fairchild signing on! Where do we begin? The fact that my sister-in-law has a penis now and my brother doesn’t seem to mind? The stormfront that’s threatening record-setting snow when it’s not even Halloween yet? Breathless reports from Jack Ryder about Lucius Fox of Wayne Enterprises being a would-be dictator? None of the above! I want to talk about the most mysterious woman in Gotham. No, not the Batgirl, who is confirmed to be active once again, but someone else. Someone a little more altruistic. Someone who doesn’t spend her nights punching down at the less fortunate. I’m talking about the woman we’ve come to know as Red Cross. Well, she and the Batgirl were both out and about last night. While Batgirl brutalized Seed dealers, Red Cross was in the thick of it, helping the people caught in the crossfire, at least one of whom was a well-known gangster associated with the Maroni family. I don’t know what to say. It’s so easy to cheer for the Batman when we feel like he’s punching the right people, but how about Red Cross, folks? Everyone either puts that costume on to rob banks or punch bank robbers, but not her. Not her. She’s out there risking her neck just to keep people alive. And you know what? I find that moving. Normally I wouldn’t take it there because this is frankly something that I never thought about before all this Seed stuff, but I’m having feelings about this person. I feel like I did when I was a little girl and I saw Disney’s Robin Hood with the fox and all the singing. You know the one; I’m not the only person that awoke something in. Now I’m afraid I have a lady crush. What a town. That’s our topic for tonight, Gotham. Red Cross and sexual awakenings. I want to hear your thoughts, so grab those phones. And now, some music.”

Commissioner Jim Gordon reaches over and turns down the radio as his office door opens to admit a big man and a petite woman, both plainclothes detectives: Bullock and Montoya. A third figure slips in behind them: a tired-looking blonde in a rumpled man’s suit.

“You weren’t invited to this, Maggie,” Jim tells her.

“I know,” she replies, unconcerned. Her hands are deep in her pockets, and the circles under her eyes are heavy.

“I don’t like having you in the same room,” Jim adds, pointing first to Maggie Sawyer, then to Renee Montoya.

“It’s been six months, Commissioner,” Renee says, rubbing her face. She doesn’t look at Maggie.

“One of those months I had to do without two of my best because I suspended you. I don’t want to lose you both again,” Jim snaps.

“We’ll be fine,” Maggie says, irked.

Jim still doesn’t know the whole story, apart from what everyone knows: they’d gotten into a brawl in the locker room, which Maggie had allegedly been on her way to winning when other cops pulled them apart. They’d been fighting over some redhead that had slept with each of them. Kate something.

“We’re here to talk about Major Crimes, Sawyer. You’re homicide,” Bullock says, pulling out his toothpick and pointing it.

“I think some of your shooters were on the Simmons kill,” Maggie says.

“What do you have?” Jim asks before Bullock can go on.

“Simmons had ties to old Gotham money, but he’d made a lot of changes. We’re still working the financials. But the crime lab finally mentioned that he was killed with a Jambiya knife?”

“Like rice and sausage?” Bullock says.

“Shut it, Harvey,” Renee snaps.

“Jambiya. It’s Arabian.” Sawyer takes a photo out of her pocket and tosses it onto the desk. Jim scowls and pins it under a fingertip, then turns it over. “That was dropped inside the pharmacy on sixth during that shitshow last night. It’s not old and fancy; it’s the tactical modern version, but I don’t know how many guys we have in Gotham using these things. Simmons was stabbed literally the night before Elite Pride pulled their first job here. Maybe that wasn’t their first job. Maybe Simmons was.”

“That’s our evidence,” Harvey says angrily. “What are we talking about here? Arabs? Terrorism? Oof!”

Renee elbows him sharply in the side.

“Harvey, just don’t,” Jim says, shooting him a look.

The truth is, what happened last night is baffling. That’s part of what’s making Harvey so disagreeable.

BAE

Barbara crouches on the ledge outside her father’s office at GCPD in the gray, yellow, and blue of Batgirl. It’s a clear night, but cold and windy. She can see her breath. Her mic on the window is picking up everything being said inside. This conversation is relevant to her interests.

Enter the office and join the discussion?

Or wait until the detectives are gone and speak to her father alone?