Mama's Boy

8-Ghost in Gotham

Luckily I had a few days of no crazy crimes happening. Then one day, someone reported the dead body of a woman tied up by her limbs at the docks.
It was just Bullock and me, which I'd normally hate, but Bullock seemed out of it today.

He didn't even stop Nygma from telling him a riddle about a man, a wolf, a goat, and a cabbage. He looked zoned out.

I cringe as Nygma poked him back into reality.

"Detective Bullock, do you give up?" He asks as he pokes him with his pen.

"What?" Bullock asks, annoyed.

God, I'll miss those silent Bullock moments.
Gone too soon and will be missed.
All we can do is pray to be in his presence again one day.

"My riddle. A man has to cross a river with a wolf, a cabbage, and a goat-"

"Ed, please. What's the time of death?"

Huh...
Still, more polite than usual.

"Examiner pegs it at just before 3:00 a.m. this morning. He's a bit eager with his coagulation markers, so I'd put it at closer to 1:00. Killer left her identification for us."

Bullock picks up the I.D. left with multiple white flower bouquets.

"Amanda Hastings, 21 years old."

"She comes from money."

"Mm-hmm." Nygma nods as he writes in his notebook.

"And I'm guessing she was the oldest in her family."

"Why is that?"

"The Goat always kills the firstborn. It's all the same." He stands up. "The same M.O., the same victim choice, presentation... it's all the same. We got a copycat."

"You all right, Detective?"

"You dealt with this guy before?" I ask.

"No, I'm not all right! And yeah, I already solved this case!" He sighs. "Where's Gordon?"

"Apparently, he's not answering his phone." Nygma giggles, continuing to write in his notebook.

"He's not answering his- You mean I'm on the clock before the Boy Scout?"

Yeah, shocker.

"Mm-hmm." Nygma smiles and nods, not looking away from his notebook.

"This fucking ridiculous." Bullock takes out his phone.

"He'll probably be here soon." I shrug.

"Fine, I'll tell you the answer. So the man crosses the river with the wolf and the cabbage. He leaves the wolf, he goes back with-"

"Ed." He holds his finger up, putting his phone up to his ear.

I take this time to check my phone's voicemails.
I told Cobblepot we needed to talk, and he's been pushing it off.

I just need to make sure Maroni doesn't know where he's been staying. The last fucking thing I need is having that man's attention on my family.

"'Gotham Goat'?" Jim says as he looks at the scene.

"A wannabe. For a copycat, the copy is... ugh. Downright, creepy, is what it is. You moonlighting or something?"

"Huh? Me?"

"Yeah. 'Cause you're late and you look like crap warmed over."

"Write me up if you want."

"Screw you, Boy Scout."

"You're in a good mood."

"I'm in a deja vu acid flashback. Someone's hunting the kids of Gotham's top one percent, the press will have a field day, city turns upside down, the whole thing's gonna come down on the GCPD like a ton of bricks."

"Well, then, let's catch him quick."

Harvey sighs. "I'm guessing the killer knew the victim, Amanda Hastings, somehow. We'll go see the family, see if we can try to get something we can work with." We turn around to leave. "And, Nygma... let me know when they're set up for the autopsy, all right?"

"Anything in particular you want me to look out for?"

"Just call me." He says, angrily.

"I'll meet you guys there, family situation.", I tell them.

"Be quick about it.", Bullock says.

I went to a flower shop Cobblepot needed to go to. Coincidentally, I bought flowers from this shop before.

"You know when I said we needed to talk, I meant a nonpublic where we could talk privately. Not just a quick errand in the middle of my job.", I say as I pretend to look through the flowers.

"Well, I'm sorry, you're not the only one with things to do. Now, if you could make this quick, I have places to be."

I make a small scoff under my breath, "Of course, I'm sure Maroni has you doing all sorts of errands for him. Look, I know he knows about you. And I have a feeling you wanted him to. I don't care what games you're playing, I just want to make sure he doesn't know where you've been staying."

"Of course not. I know what I'm doing." He snides.

"Oh, I'm sure." I roll my eyes.

"I have somewhere else I can stay. Thanks for your previous help, but I no longer need it."

"Your mother I'm guessing. That's who the flowers are for right?" I can see him pick a beautiful bouquet of lilies.

"That's none of your business." He glares at me.

"They're nice, I'm sure she'll like them. I suppose this is the last time we'll ever have to speak to each other. It was nice meeting you, Mr. Cobblepot."

I leave and go meet up with Jim and Bullock at the victim's building.

"Anything?" I ask Jim as I walk over to them.

"No." He shakes his head.

Bullock for once seemed deep in thought, "Amanda Hastings was last seen entering this building-- Tuesday, midnight. That's about 36 hours ago."

"You think she was abducted from here?" I asked.