Dangers in the Dark

Unrecognisable 2.2

After Bullock had had a bit of time to cool down, Sarah Essen, Captain of the G.C.P.D. called through the two detectives for an update on what they'd found out.

"He's saying he has a right to stop me from beating on a mope," Bullock complained to Essen.

"Damn right, I do," Jim said.

"How am I supposed to work with this?" Bullock asked.

"Look, Jim, it's not like I can order you to break the law, but this is Gotham. You don't bend, you'll get broke," Essen told him.

"I understand," Jim assured her.

"I thought you were with the program?" Essen asked.

"He is," Bullock confirmed.

"Well, let's get back to work. Where you at?" Essen asked.

"If the boy we have was telling the truth... there's a couple kidnappers out there abducting homeless children. In numbers," Jim said, keeping out the part about Holly knowing. But that didn't mean he couldn't use what she had told him to his advantage. "They lured them with a food truck from the mayor's homeless outreach project. Then they drugged them with a jab from a big pen."

"Why would anyone want to abduct scraggly-ass orphans in bulk?" Harvey asked. "I mean, where's the market? They're on the street because no one wants them anyway. If they said they were snatching up cute girls, I'd believe them. But what would anyone want with a lard-ass like Mackie?"

"What is it, Ed?" Essen asked when Harvey had finished. Jim only remained confused at the captain's odd question for a minute as he soon saw Edward Nygma poking his head round the window.

Ed, realising he'd been caught, came walking quickly into the office holding a file.

"Guess what I found," Ed smiled. "I did a blood test on him and he had high levels of ATP. What's ATP? It's a fast-acting knockout drug. Used to use it at the old Arkham Asylum. Bring down troublesome patients. It's hard to get, no recreational use."

"Okay, that's interesting," Harvey admitted to his annoyance.

"Anything else?" Essen asked, but Ed just shook his head. "Thank you, Ed."

Ed continued to stand there smiling at them all, causing Jim to clear his throat hoping Ed would realise; he didn't.

"Thank you, Ed," Essen said again, making Ed finally realise. He then walked out of the office leaving the three of them alone again.

"Get to work," Essen ordered them. "And keep this quiet. No press. Not a word."

"Shouldn't we tell the public what's going on? Warn them?" Jim asked, knowing that if he found out the G.C.P.D had been hiding something from him when he has a child that could be taken, he would be pissed.

"Department policy. We don't advertise this kind of stuff. Causes panic. The headlines will read, 'Gotham's Kids Snatched," Essen explained.

"Which would be true," Jim muttered.

"No press. That's an order. Follow up on the drug. The ATP. And the Arkham connection," Essen ordered them.

"Arkham's been closed for, like, 10 years," Harvey reminded her.

"Yeah, 15," She corrected.

"The drug suppliers might still be in business," Jim figured, going to walk out the door.

"Uh, this happened on Fish Mooney's turf. Do you wanna see if it's safe for us to go back there, or is, uh, she still mad at us?" Harvey suggested.