Murder at Wayne Manor

Chapter 21

Wayne Manor; September 6th, 18:37 EST

I can feel my anger smoldering deep inside of me, steadily rising and growing hotter with every single file I read that I've accumulated on Ash. Three more kids dead, two young adults. It was making me nauseated as I stare at the pictures of the faces of the deceased, their young lives cut so short.

I know Diana shares in my frustartion and anger that our efforts seem to be doing so little to stem the tide. The street fair last month had been a big hit with thousands attending and learning about the dangers of the drug, but the number of deaths keeps rising, especially among sixteen- to twenty-five-year-olds.

My eyes fall on a beautiful seventeen-year-old-girl with blue eyes and blond hair. She had run away from an abusive home life a few weeks ago on a Sunday, only to be found dead in the park last Friday night. She'd had so much to live for if only someone could have helped her before it was too late.

My attention shifts to a young man with red hair much like Wally's. He worked as a paralegal at an important law firm in Gotham. High stress and constant demands led him to drugs in order to deal with it, to try to bring some measure of relief to his life. He tried Ash once and now he's in the morgue, his stress ended permanently and in the worst possible way.

Next to him is a college student from Gotham University, a girl with near genius-level intellect. The pressures and demands of school led her to try Ash according to her dorm roommate who had tried to talk her out of it, but her pleas had fallen on deaf ears.

That's the problem with Ash. It gives an intense euphoric high, a peaceful sense of relief that lasts for longer than a lot of the other streets drugs. The problem comes when it begins to wear off. The user crashes so hard after that it's like a shocking jolt to the body that the heart can't recover from. Everything just starts shutting down after that, the organs failing and falling one by one like dominoes.

The hard part is trying to find a way to tell a teenager or a young adult who thinks they're invincible or desperately seeking a moment of peace that Ash isn't worth the risk. If there is a way, we haven't been able to find one yet. It definitely wasn't for lack of trying, especially on Diana's part. She's been working relentlessly since I hired her to find some sort of way to get a handle on this drug problem that's been plaguing Gotham.

The unexpected sound of the smoke alarm in the manor causes me to freeze for a brief second before I take off, racing up the stairs. I'm greeted by the stench of something burning, but I don't see any smoke yet. I run towards the kitchen, somewhat confused. Alfred never burns anything, J'onn is with Clark in Metropolis, and Diana is...nowhere to be found as I enter the smoky kitchen.

I quickly shut off the smoke alarm before opening the windows. Turning, I notice the kitchen is a complete disaster area with pans and various ingredients scattered everywhere and very un-Alfred-like. I follow the trail of smoke out the open balcony doors to find Diana standing before a smoking pan lying in the grass.

"What happened?" I ask as I run towards her, my eyes immediately roaming over her and looking for any sign of injuries. "Are you okay?"

Diana looks up at me from the burned pan lying on the ground, tears shimmering in her eyes. "I was going to surprise you by making you dinner," she angrily confessed, frustration etched in her face.

I glance down at the burnt pan still smoldering on the ground, unsure what it was that she had actually been making. "You didn't have to do that, but thank you," I gently tell her.

Her face and hair are streaked with flour, chocolate on her nose and chin. She's also wearing one of Alfred's aprons that says "kiss the cook" and I find that I'd love to do nothing more than that at the moment. A single tear slowly beings to roll down her cheek, mingling with the flour. She averts her eyes, wiping at the unwanted tear with the back of her hand in embarrassment and I can't take seeing her like this a moment longer.