Dangers in the Dark

Trying for the Team 8.4

Third Person POV

After returning to the precinct with the thumbless man, Jim and Harvey took him straight into the interrogating room to get anything they could out of him. And as usual, they played good cop, bad cop. While Jim was sat at the table, calmly twirling a pen around in his hand, Harvey was bearing down on the man as though there was no such thing as personal space.

"Most killers leave their prints at the crime scene. But not you, no. You left your whole thumb in the dead guy's mouth. You got style. I like you, kid," Harvey said.

"This is your last chance," Jim told him calmly. "Once we walk out that door, it's over."

"It was self-defence," the accused man answered, making Jim roll his eyes.

"Course it was. Wasn't that what I said, Jim? Didn't I say it was probably self-defence?" Harvey said sarcastically.

"Talk," Jim requested once again.

The man quickly realised he wasn't going to be leaving this room without giving them something to work with, so he spilled his guts on the entire situation. After doing that, they tried to get him to repeat it all onto his statement. But with Harvey breathing down his neck, the man started to become extremely uncomfortable and refused to do it with Harvey there. Harvey left the room and allowed Jim to sort the situation out by himself. Instead, he returned to Essen's office to update her on their progress.

"Gordon's getting the rest of his statement. Apparently it was part of the hiring process. Sionis told the top three candidates to fight it out. They weren't supposed to fight to the death—" Harvey began to explain, but Essen had heard enough.

"This is unbelievable," Essen muttered.

"They all signed confidentiality agreements. They're accomplices to whatever happens," Harvey said.

"Do we know where the fight was?" Essen asked.

"Some old office building," Harvey shrugged. "The windows were boarded up and he was taken there blindfolded."

At that moment, Ed Nygma decided to enter the room, hands clasped in front of him.

"Yes, Ed," Essen acknowledged, allowing Ed to talk.

"Printer toner," Ed answered simply.

"Do you know what he's talking about?" Essen asked Harvey, who just shook his head in confusion.

"The medical examiner's report said it was black ink..." Ed began, taking the seat next to Harvey. "But I did my own exam and it was printer toner. Also I pulled staples from his shoulders... and found graphite chips between his ribs. Your man was killed in an office."

"Yeah, we're kind of past that, Ed. But thanks," Harvey said, making the smile on Ed's face fall. Harvey got up to go and overlook the precinct while Essen turned back to Ed.

"Is there something else?" Essen asked.

"Yes, it made me think of a case from a year ago. Young man, business suit. Oesophagus lacerated from index cards shoved down his throat. So I did some digging," Ed said.

"How many other bodies were killed with office supplies?" Essen asked, leaning forward in her seat.

"Four. In the last three years," Ed answered, making Harvey listen in from his place by the door.

"Get that man to sign a confession. Now," Essen ordered Harvey, who had turned back to looking out the door.

"I think we have a problem."

While this had all been happening in Essen's office, in the lower part of the precinct, Jim was currently being nagged at by a defence attorney of Sionis Industries.