Harvey Bullock sat at the bar admiring his favorite bartender. He had been sipping on the same beer for an hour. He wasn't here for the beer, he came here mainly for the company. His favorite company was the beautiful bartender, Selina, who was working this very evening. Harvey snorted in disgust and said loudly, "Alright, Selina, come clean. Who's the lucky stiff?"

Selina looked up from washing the glass in her hand like she had been caught doing something wrong. "Excuse me?"

Harvey took the cigar out of his mouth and breathed out a lungful of cigar smoke, "Look I ain't a detective just for show, lady. You have a hickey on your neck, you've been sighing all night long, and probably the greatest tip-off, you have been washing that same glass now for five minutes. So I say to you, who is the lucky stiff? The guy. The piece of shit you are thinking about."

Selina blushed brightly, "Who says it's a guy?"

Harvey smiled and put the cigar back between his teeth, "Alright then, who's the lucky lady?"

Selina put the glass behind the bar and then took a towel and started wiping the bar top, "I don't even know his name. It was just a stupid one-time fling. He probably doesn't even care who I was."

Harvey nodded and said, "Wham bam thank you, ma'am, huh?" Harvey finished off his beer and then put a couple of bills on the bar, "Selina honey, I don't think you should be so quick to say you'll never see the bum again. I know that some guys in this city see a woman like you and can be like... She's just a broad. But there aren't many of them, yeah? For the rest of us, a woman like you is a Ferrari. The top of the line best there is." He waved his hand around, "You are way too good for this place. This city. You should be a fashion model or an actress. Maybe like, I don't know... Just like someone famous."

Selina blushed again and then said, "Thank you, Harvey. Alright, the next beer is on me. Anyway, it's different with this guy Harvey. I was in a costume for a party and so was he, it just kinda happened so fast we didn't have a chance to exchange names. Even if we met again we wouldn't be able to tell who the other person was... It's just not meant to be."

Harvey nodded and then asked softly, "Just something to get your mind off what happened to Julie?"

Selina nodded and then raised her head and asked, "Do you know, have there been any more leads? Do they know who it was?"

Harvey shook his head, "We are still looking into the mob angle, that creep Wayne stirred up a hornet's nest when he declared war on crime. The big mob families are all but broken up and only the small-timers are left. Those guys are afraid to do anything now, we had a single robbery last night, you know that? One, not dozens or hundreds like a normal day. The CSI guys were treating that simple burglary like it was the case of the century."

Selina flinched and then looked around to make sure Harvey was the only cop in the bar. "Then homicide is also slow like that?"

Harvey nodded, "The only cases we have seen since terrifying Tuesday have been domestics and the occasional homeless people. That's one of the reasons Julie's case is so important to the department right now. It's like the city is holding its breath waiting for the other shoe to drop."

Harvey watched as Selina went to pour him another beer but before she could do so, "Selina honey, thanks for the thought, but I can't drink it tonight. I gotta get up early tomorrow but thanks for the thought." Tapped his hand on the bar twice and then said, "Hey goodnight sweetheart, stay safe going home, ok?"

Selina watched as he left earlier than normal. She looked over at the clock and noticed she still had a couple of hours left in her shift just to make sure she wasn't losing track of the time.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

----------------------------------------

April 2, 2022

Basil Karlo remains my top suspect. I was able to cross Charlotte and Katherine off my list of suspects as they both have strong alibis during the murder. Alfred's list didn't make sense for the crime, no motive for any of them. I called Dianna Prince to see if she was in the city that day, but she wasn't.

What do I do about Catwoman? I can't have her committing crimes in the city if I am truly stopping crime. Do I have feelings for her? I know that I enjoyed the sex, do I want more? Is she the kind of woman that I could even have a serious relationship with?

Wayne put down his pen and closed his journal before launching into his normal routine. The hellish workout that starts every Bruce Wayne day. His mind went to that blank place that allowed him to put his entire self into his workout distraction.

During his hour of computer time, he looked up Basil Karlo's career. He started to see a pattern forming later in Basil's life. Roles he took on bad movies. A series of accidents and accidental deaths happened on the sets of some of the worst films. A Tabloid article from the 1970s about Basil Karlo calling him Clayface. The article accused Basil of being a real-life Clayface. They even had a picture of Basil's face covered in clay morphing into the Clayface monster Wayne had seen in Basil's living room.

The second part of his workout did its magic helping him clear his mind and bring him back to a place where he was able to bring a laser-like focus to the case. He found that the tabloid reporter was still alive and living near Selina Kyle. He had an excuse to drop by her place after visiting the man. He smiled and said to Alfred, "Alfred, I'm going to take the Rolls tonight, we're going to the East End."

Alfred smirked and then said, "I'll alert the media, Master Bruce."

Wayne looked at Alfred with his head slightly tilted, "Did you just quote the movie 'Arthur'?"

Alfred shrugged and then grabbed the car keys, "Did we need to stop at the lingerie store?"

Wayne smiled, "You've read my mind, Alfred!"

----------------------------------------

Selina almost felt like throwing the jewelry down the sewer after her normal fence acted like she was trying to murder him by bringing the merchandise to him. She stopped in an alley between buildings just outside of the fence's pawnshop. She looked at the bag of jewelry. She didn't steal for herself, she only stole to get money for the orphanage. Over the years they had come to rely on her monthly donations. Without being able to fence the stones, she wasn't going to be able to help like normal this month. She started to tear up and stuffed the jewels back into her bag and hopped on her bicycle. Wiping her eyes on her arm she put her helmet on and then started to ride home.

A fancy car cut her off and pulled to the side of the road in front of her, she saw that it was an old man driving the car so she bit back the insult she was about shout. Instead, she just said, "Be careful, you almost hit me!"

The old man bowed to her and said, "My apologies. It's dark and you are wearing dark clothing. I should have used my signal as well."

She sighed and then gave him a wave before pedaling away. She turned the corner and rode up to the entrance of her apartment building. The group of teens that usually stood out front had been missing for the last few days, which was odd.

She brought her bike up the stairs and into the apartment. Thankfully she could save on the rent so she would at least have a couple of thousand to give to the orphanage this month even without the money from the heist.

After taking a long hot shower she flipped on the TV and then curled up on the couch, her cats Kitty and Slinky made an appearance to get pets and ask for their food. She sighed and then got up to add some kibble to their bowls.

Suddenly the door opened and Bruce Wayne walked in carrying a box from Wayne's of Hollywood. He set it down on the table and then took his jacket off and started taking his shirt off. Selina stood there blankly unable to speak for a minute, "Excuse me! What the fuck do you think you are doing?"

Wayne just finished taking his shirt off and then lay face down on her couch, "I need you to rub this on my back," He held up a jar of salve, "I don't want it to get infected."

"The fuck?" Selina walked over to the table and grabbed the box from Wayne's of Hollywood and held it up, "And this?"

"You said I owed that to you. Come on, this stuff isn't going to rub itself on my back."

"I know you pay the rent here, but this is very..." She looked at his back and saw the scratches. Then with a feeling of dread, she opened the box and saw that it was the exact style she had been wearing that night. "You... No, no fucking way."

Wayne looked at the TV and commented, "I didn't picture you as a Doctor Who fan."

Her voice went up an octave, "You're Batman!"