(Untitled)

[cmmrjamesgordon]

Three of the four high security Arkham escapees are in custody. Sort of. All three are beig held for treatment and observation; a gun shot wound to the head, a brain tumor and recently awakening from a coma brought on by blood loss by a severe physical assault

Comments

[onlynothuman]

Simon might be easier to visit first, simply by virtue of being finished with all his surgeries and consultations. He's unstable, personality vacillating wildly depending on the time of day, but mornings and early afternoon are still a good time to visit him, if you don't mind the nearly-paralyzing guilt and tears. Except for the tendon-damage to one shoulder and some lingering weakness to his ribs, all the injury that Walter did is scarred over. All the physical injury.

[cmmrjamesgordon]

Simon does prove to be the easiest. And his guards are happy to let Jim in.

"Good morning, Mr Garoux. It's good to see you're doing better."

JIm's going to just pull up a chair and watch Simon's reaction, okay? Great.

[onlynothuman]

Simon doesn't know Gordon, and the look he gives him is guarded and confused, but not hostile at all.

"Morning," he says softly, voice a bit raspy. "Sorry, I don't... should I know you?" Advocate, he thinks. Or maybe another therapist.

[cmmrjamesgordon]

Jim looks rather pleased to not be recognized. He's not going to think about the fact that it's more likely because Simon wasn't one to watch a lot of local news.

"Commissioner Gordon. I wanted to come speak with you, if that's alright?" No, not an interrogation at all. Just a friendly chat. Really.

[onlynothuman]

"... Oh, police." A little more guarded, then. Afraid. "Yeah. Anything you want."

[cmmrjamesgordon]

It's not like they can arrest him more... Right? Maybe they can.

"I wanted to start with your interactions with Harvey Dent. He helped you escape. Do you know why? Did you meet up with him after escaping Arkham?"

[onlynothuman]

His shoulders hunch, and he looks down. Guilty. "Um. We were... I worked... for him. K-kind of. Ran errands. And- Ah..." He swallows hard, rubbing his face on one shoulder. He should maybe have a lawyer here for this, but he's not about to ask for one.

"We killed some people." His voice goes flat with despair, with guilt and resignation.

[cmmrjamesgordon]

Jim wasn't expecting a knitting circle, Simon.

"Was he paying you? Other than room and board, I mean. Did he have you assist with his actions against the Falcone Family? Or escaping Arkham?"

So many questions, Jim.

[onlynothuman]

Agh, one at a time. Simon's breath is getting shaky. "He wasn't... not money, he kept the money, but I got the... um. He flipped for it and if he flipped burnt, I got the- the bodies."

[cmmrjamesgordon]

Jim was trying to avoid Simon needing to bring that up. He heard that the young man has had a... Change of heart about his cannibalism. He doesn't want to upset him too much.

Jim will just nod for Simon to continue, when he's ready.

[onlynothuman]

He swallows a few times, not quite gagging. It's a hard thing to think about. There's a great deal of the last three years that are very fuzzy to him, and he'd rather not admit that it's by choice. "I- I mostly helped him out underground. I live- lived in the subways and stuff."

[cmmrjamesgordon]

"Was that how you got out of Arkham? Through underground tunnels?"

If he has to get someone to cement the basements of that place....

[onlynothuman]

"I..." Simon glances at him, and down. Sniff. He wants to admit to that, to say yes, to tell him where it is, but he's going to be put back into Arkham, he knows it. And he deserves that. But the rest of his life looks very, very long from right here, and Arkham very very small. (And he never knew where the other end of that tunnel went.)

"No," he works out, finally. "N-no... I-I snuck out with a deliv'ry." And now he's lied to the police. He lets his head sink back onto the pillows, grimacing.

[cmmrjamesgordon]

Jim knows that Simon's not being honest about his escape. But the list of things he could be lying about are long enough that Jim isn't sure he wants to get into them with the young man already upset.

He'll just make sure to request having a team of professionals inspect Arkham's basements and walls.

Enough about Dent, really. And though he wants to talk about Walter Kovaks, just because the man was being so unhelpful to his own defense, Jim can see the story there rather clearly.

So a new line of discussion.

"This may be difficult, and understand that it won't effect your case. But you've never been able to give a consistent answer of how many victims you have. I'm asking for a number, and possibly a location where you dumped the remains. This is for identification of the bodies only, not to charge you."

[onlynothuman]

"Oh god." He's been braced for that question, from the moment Gordon identified himself, but it still makes him feel sick. "Fuck. I've- I've been trying to count... I know it's a lot more than- It's- fuck, I'm so sorry. I never bothered counting when I... I think it's twenty? Twenty-one or twenty-two. And I just... hid them anywhere, all over." His voice is strained and thin, quieter as he goes.

"I'm so sorry."

[cmmrjamesgordon]

That's nearly double what Simon's been charged with, but fits a lot better with the time frame during which the young man had been killing people. Hearing that the bodies were disposed of at random is upsetting, only because of the mountain of missing persons in Gotham City. For some, any answer is better than no answer.

"Is it right to assume that 'anywhere' is mostly in the subway tunnels or the drainage system?" Or by now, Gotham Harbor.