Prince of Darkness ~ Gotham

~ Chapter Thirty: Remember This Kindness ~

Not only was desperation coursing through Jim's body, but rage soon was added to the toxic concoction as he sped toward Dent's office. How could he be so irresponsible?! I told him no names! His heart beat faster than a drum as he sped through the city. The thought of Holly being harmed was imprinted in his brain, and it wasn't going away so easily. As he reached the office, Jim stormed down the hallway, found Dent's office, and slammed the door just as he finished a phone call. "Lovecraft isn't at home. Housekeeper hasn't seen him since yesterday," Jim said, trying to calm his anger.

"Allen says he didn't come into his office. He and Montoya are watching it," Dent explained, trying to avoid the topic of the witness leak. Though Dent didn't say it out loud, just by the look on the detective's face, he knew he messed up big time. "How did the killers know where to find my witness?" Jim growled. "Let's keep calm here. It's a win. We've made Lovecraft panic. This is a panic move," Dent spoke calmly, putting his hands up. "A win?! There's three children out there with professional assassins coming after them! My daughter is with them! Bruce, Holly, and Selina could end up dead!" Jim's voice rose in anger.

"We're gonna get Lovecraft to call them off," Dent vowed. "How did they know? I never told you her name, let alone where she was hiding, so you couldn't have..." Jim paced around the office. "I should say not," Dent shook his head. "And you never mentioned my name to anyone, right?" Jim questioned. "No, we agreed. I didn't mention any names out loud," Dent answered. "No names out loud? What about whispering?" Jim stepped closer. "Don't hold out on me. I'll know," Dent sighed, realizing it was no use hiding it anymore, and explained that for deep background, Dent leaked Jim's name to a couple of select sources.

Jim shook his head in disbelief. To think he could put his trust in Dent, this only proved you couldn't trust anyone in Gotham. Some people, no matter how well they might be at their job, had a dark way of completing it. And in this case, it was putting people's lives at risk. "I had to, for credibility! You're the Wayne murders cop!" Dent insisted, reading Jim's mind. "Damn it! That's how they got to her. I'm surprised it took them this long to find her. This is on you, Dent!" Jim glared. 

"Whoa. I'll stipulate mea culpa. Kick my ass, be my guest. But let's find Lovecraft first and get him to call off the killers," Dent reasoned. For a moment, Jim allowed his anger to subside, but the hunt for the assassins and the children was far from over. "He's not at home, he's not at his office. He could've left Gotham. Someone could be hiding him," Jim explained as Dent opened a file cabinet and pulled one out, flipping through it.

"Lovecraft has a couple of condos that he keeps under his mistress's name. One up in Stevensburgh and one uptown," the lawyer mentioned. "I'll take the one uptown," Jim nodded. "Dent, if anything happens to my daughter or these kids..." Jim trailed off. With the rare threatening tone of his voice, Dent got the message loud and clear before Jim walked out, the ball of anger still burning like a damn inferno.

~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Alfred and Harvey stood across the interrogation table, face to face with someone they hadn't seen since the child snatching case. "We know you ran with a girl called "Cat" She's in serious danger," Harvey leaned in closer. "Who isn't, right? Crazy world," Mackie shrugged, as the sense of danger was all too normal for him. Then again, it was normalized to every kid living on the streets.

Alfred reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, sliding a bill across the counter towards the teenage boy. "How much? There's $100," the butler bribed. Mackie was quick to cave in. "All right, listen. I don't know where Cat lives, all right? She's private about stuff like that. But I heard that she got a new fence, cause her old one got popped," Mackie explained. "Who's the fence?" Harvey questioned.