Blurred Lines.

round table discussion,jason

I didn't even put up a fight. I know, we're all so impressed. I sat down at the round table facing five other guys.

The first four were unimpressive. They were the muscle of the party. They were probably packing some knives and some other hardware that could do a lot of damage. But so was I.

My first clue that this was just a meeting with the head of this little group was that I wasn't patted down for weapons. They didn't aggressively push me to the destination. They guided us here.

We sat down after being offered a seat and no one guarded us with heavy guns. So, we weren't an enemy. We were just curiosities to them.

"I'm familiar with you, RedHood. But what I'm not familiar with is why you've been sniffing around my club for a few days now. We've been extra careful about getting your attention." His accent tells me he's only a henchmen.

The tall guy at the very end of the table who watches me with calculating eyes is the real head here. But I play the game. Because that's what I do best.

"I took a special interest in the Brown murder. I needed to know who was showing up here and who wasn't." Which wasn't a lie, but I didn't want to give away that Agatha was a live an well.

"We don't know nothing about that. We were just as shocked as you were." He darted his eyes to the side to the actual head, then back to me. He was unsure of his answer.

"I wasn't shocked." I said flatly. The head at the end smirked at me and adjusted himself in the seat.

"No? And whys that Red?" The one playing pretend said, pulling my attention back to him.

"Because, when you play the games that he has for almost a decade, then you make some powerful enemies. Wouldn't you agree?" There was a silence in the room. They knew.

"But that's not what you guys think, is it?" There's a shift. No one wants to say anything, so I expose the hand that I have and turn to the leader of this shindig.

"I know this is your party." He leans forward, resting his elbows on the table and clasping his hands together.

"Oh?" He said with mild interest. The others were on edge. They apparently didn't play the part very well.

"That's right." I didn't want to come off as hostile, but I wanted to know everything that they knew.

"I'll tell you everything I know if you tell me everything you know." We were like two children who knew Christmas gifts and were sitting down to discuss them.

His eyes twinkled with delight as much as mine did. We were both finally getting what we wanted.

"First, if I tell you, you'll stop brooding outside? You'll leave us be. We really are keeping our nose clean." I believed him. I hadn't seen anything that raised flags with me, which was partly my frustration.

"I do not brood, firstly, and as long as you don't do anything that draws my attention, then I'll leave you be. But I cannot promise that if you break the law, I'll turn the other cheek." He thinks it over.

"Deal. So, what do you want to know." He leaned back in his chair as if we were discussing the weather and not the death of their former leader.

"I want to know everything leading up to his death and after his death. Any details that you have or that you might think about that didn't seem important. I want to know everything." I was trying hard to reach for something. I wanted to know everything.

He thought about it for a few minutes then held a hand up and waved everyone out of the room. Like scared dogs, each man jumped up and ran for the exit. He takes the chair directly in front of us.

"Brown and I were best friends. I know about Agatha. I know that he put her somewhere and was taking care of her. I know that she was never suppose to get out of there because what she did was unforgivable." He watched my face to see if I already knew that.

"I didn't know until later that YOU had let her out of her cage and was trying to figure out her story. He told me the night that he was found dead that he found her in the street and she wasn't lucid. She kept talking about a man in red." He exhaled loudly.

"I didn't put it together until you were seen standing outside our building watching us. When I last spoke to him, he didn't sound scared or under any kind of distress. Nothing more than what this place brings anyway. He sounded upbeat, positive." The head shrugged his shoulders as if dismissing the idea all together.

"I don't know where the girl is though. I figured that's what you were here for. After I made the connection, I knew you were watching for her. But we haven't seen her. The guys don't even know she's still alive." He lowered his voice as if telling me a daring secret that no one knew except him.

"There's quite a few people in the gang that would not appreciate her being alive." He didn't elaborate, but I didn't care if he did or not.

He was finished with his speech, now it was my turn.

I told him everything I knew about her and her family. I told him how I found her. I didn't leave out a single detail. I couldn't trust him, I knew that, but I made a deal and I'd never go back on a deal.

"I just want to know if she's running the place now or is she hiding somewhere." I finally concluded.

"I promise she's not here. Like I said, she's done some terrible things and some members here would have her head on a stake if they knew she was alive still."

We sat in a silence. Each lost in our own thoughts.

"Can I leave you my number and you give me a call if you see from her?" It was Jett that broke the silence. As if the Head was seeing him for the first time since we arrived, he noded and took a business card.

"Thank you. I truly am sorry for your loss." I mumbled.

If I were a normal person I would almost feel responsible for that death, but I didn't feel responsible. I didn't pity that he was dead. He was a bad dude. I just felt bad that I turned someone like her lose to terrorize Gotham.