"You saved her life," Lucius said to the Joker.
The Joker placed the guns, both Lucius' and Damien's, onto the table and returned Lucius' car keys.
"He wouldn't have killed her," the Joker said, and Lucius could see he was downplaying the magnificence of what he had just done.
"You are a hero," Lucius said to the Joker. "You rescued her."
The Joker looked at Lucius and said nothing and went over to the couch to sit.
"The footage of you entering and departing the hospital and the parking lot has been wiped," Lucius said. "The police won't be able to retrieve it. I doubt they will attempt to but just in case. The press may also try, but they will not be successful."
Lucius watched the Joker nod.
"I met Bruce Wayne," the Joker told Lucius without looking at him.
"Yes," Lucius said. "I saw some footage of him entering the bathroom you were in. I must admit, it was a stressful moment. Not knowing what was happening in there."
"He didn't recognize me at all," the Joker said to Lucius.
"Well, he wouldn't, would he?' Lucius asked. "Your appearance has changed."
The Joker pulled out the card Bruce had given him.
"Gave me this," the Joker said. "The Batman's card..."
Lucius watched the Joker ruminate as he turned the card over in between two fingers.
"He has no idea...who I am. No idea that I know he is the Bat," the Joker said. "All I kept thinking was, he's going to recognize me any second now. Any moment now, it's going to click..."
He looked at Lucius.
"Adriana will be fine," the Joker said. "I could tell. She's strong. The cop will serve a long sentence for this."
"You haven't heard," Lucius said.
"Heard what?" the Joker asked him.
"Damien Ricard is dead," Lucius told the Joker.
The Joker's fingers stopped turning the business card around and around.
"I..." the Joker said in a low voice and looked away from Lucius. "It wasn't my intention to kill him. I shot him in a spot that I knew would keep him down. But I thought I dodged the main artery. My aim...must have been off."
"He committed suicide," Lucius said.
The Joker looked into Lucius' eyes.
"Are you just saying that?" the Joker asked. "To make me feel...like less of a murderer? I am a murderer, you are aware of that. Did you get there to change the scene somehow or-"
"No," Lucius said to him. "I mean it. He ended his life and left a note. Don't worry, it didn't mention you. It was an apology to Adriana. The fatal gunshot wound was to the head."
The Joker didn't deliver that shot. He still felt sad for the cop somehow.
"They also found a body buried behind the cabin," Lucius said. "A man's body. The evidence so far seems to link Damien Ricard to the murder of...whoever it was. The body has not been identified yet."
"You've seen the note?" the Joker asked Lucius, not caring about the other body found there at all. "The one the cop left for her?"
"As soon as it was scanned and in digital police records," Lucius replied.
"You know I've...ah...abducted a number of people," the Joker said to Lucius. "Clearly."
"Yes," Lucius said.
