"We're going to find her, Bruce," Commissioner Gordon assured Bruce.
Bruce was sitting alone in his home office. A sense of grief came over Bruce, he felt hopeless. His home was full of police officers. They had set up all types of monitoring devices on his phones and were listening to everything at all times. They were expecting a ransom call.
"We had a fight," Bruce confessed to Gordon.
Like deja-vu. Just like in the erased past.
When the police had questioned him before, over half a dozen times, he didn't mention the argument. He told her the time Adriana left. Answered their questions. No she didn't tell him where she was going. No she didn't say when she'd be back. No she didn't say who she was going to see. With Gordon, he opened up.
"I see," Gordon said to Bruce.
Bruce looked up and at Gordon who was standing a few feet away.
"Aren't you going to ask me what happened?" Bruce asked, expecting Gordon to be suspicious of Bruce's innocence in the situation.
"You argued before she left," Gordon said, as though it was obvious. "I know you didn't hurt your wife, Bruce."
"I said hurtful things to her," Bruce said.
"I'm sure she knows you didn't mean to-" Gordon started to say.
"I threatened to take our son away from her," Bruce blurted out. "I told her...essentially, that she was a bad mother. I used her past against her."
"Her past?" Gordon asked.
"She was institutionalized...medicated for years.." Bruce said.
Gordon knew this very well.
"Yes," Gordon said. "She wasn't sick, Bruce. She had...something unreal within her. A gift that we at the police force relied on heavily for a few years. She did excellent work for us. But living with what she had to live with...no silence, thoughts and memories of everyone around..."
"I know," Bruce said.
"The last time I saw her," Gordon said. "She told me that noise had been silenced. Her abilities were gone."
"That's true," Bruce told him. "And I...still used her past against her."
"I can't imagine she would be an unfit parent, Bruce," Gordon said.
Gordon knew that Adriana struggled, but she was a caring and good person.
"She's a great mother," Bruce said and looked away. "I was just...drunk and angry. She told me that she hated me before she left."
"Adriana doesn't hate you, Bruce," Gordon said. "She hated whatever it was you said."
Bruce nodded.
"How can you be so sure she doesn't hate me?" Bruce asked.
"I've known Adriana for a long time," Gordon said with a sigh. "Perhaps this is the downside of what her abilities have done for her. She has an unimaginable capacity to forgive. Beyond reason at times, I would say. I've never met anyone less capable of hatred...and believe me when I say, I've seen her go through some things that have warranted it."
Bruce interlaced his fingers and placed the inner sides of his hands over his eyes and leaned forward on his desk. He felt Gordon's hand firm on his shoulder. Bruce knew it was for reassurance, but inside he felt bereaved.
.
.
.
"Lovely shack you have here," the Joker said.
