IC Inbox (v1.0)

[jumpthegun]

You've reached Dr. John Watson. Please leave a message.

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[devoutish]

[There's another pause from Alfie.]

Show me.

[jumpthegun]

[John flips to video briefly and points down at his lap where Fiona's hat sits. It's somewhat battered from being shoved in a drawer for a few days, but John's done his best to straighten it out. He flips it over to show Alfie the bloodstains along part of the rim.]

What d'you want me to do? I can contact Batman. See if he's got a lead on his latest whereabouts.

[John's just going to assume Alfie wants to help with this.]

[devoutish]

[Seeing that puts a catch in his throat and a pang in his heart. He swallows before responding.]

You cannot kill him without a plan for it. You kill him and you lose him, if he comes back.

I'd like to know for sure whether or not it was him.

[He couldn't care less if the Joker gets wrongfully accused - but he doesn't want someone else getting off scot-free, unblamed and unpunished.]

[jumpthegun]

[John's seeing red. Who could it be? To leave the hat like this?]

He wants Batman's attention. He wants to punish me. Who the hell else would it be? [His own voice cracks, and John has to swallow a few times.] He'll cop to it. Just wait. He'll crow it now someone's asked on the obituaries.

[devoutish]

The rest of her things - are they there, too? She'll need her supplies if she comes back. And she--

[He hesitates.]

She had my bracelet with her. That may be near where the hat was.

[Which will probably lend credence to Watson's completely correct "they were totally snogging" theory, but he's already guessed a lot on his own anyway.]

[jumpthegun]

[There's a delay in the reply as John asks Quark if he's found anything else.]

There's nothing else here. 'Course there isn't. He probably looted her body and... [He has to stop. There's bitterness in his voice.] And Eve's spiders took care of the rest.

[devoutish]

Then we'll loot it back, if it was him. Don't involve Batman.

[jumpthegun]

[He doesn't bother to question that logic for the moment. It's Sherlock logic--don't involve the police until you have to.]

Quark said Alphonse came this direction the day I left for the aquarium. Should I contact him? Might've seen something without realizing it.

[devoutish]

Contact either of them to ask. Don't contact them to tell them what you plan to do about it.

[Especially if that plan continues to involve killing.]

[jumpthegun]

Okay. I'll start with the kid. [It's continuing to involve murder, yes. The Joker is not a very nice man. John feels no remorse.

Anger is a much easier emotion to process than grief, as well.]

[devoutish]

Mm.

[There's yet another lengthy pause.]

She might have been in the police station, with me.

[The blood on that hat is days old.]

[jumpthegun]

She might've been in the hospital morgue. [If he could just walk, he'd go back and check right now.] I could've stopped this Alfie. She was right here. If I'd've just gone north to meet her instead of walking into a bloody trap. Christ...

[Okay, so, he's speaking more candidly than he means to, but hopefully Alfie's going to be focused on Fiona. It doesn't quite register for John that there's anything wrong with what he just said.]

[devoutish]

[Luckily for Watson, none of it really registers. There's no annoyance at him putting all the blame on himself, and no reasoning that they don't really know what happened.]

She was angry. She got into a bad row with Duster. She went walking off--

[jumpthegun]

Yeah. I was keeping in touch with her every day after you... y'know. It's why I was starting to get worried after a couple of days.

[devoutish]

How did she sound? Was she doing all right?

[jumpthegun]

She was doing as well as could be expected. [Given the circumstances.] Nothing that was really a tip off that there was anything wrong beyond the obvious.

[devoutish]

Fucking hell, Watson.

[He's really trying to tamp down on letting the emotion show through, and he's mostly succeeding. But there are cracks.

The last thing he remembers of her is his hand on her hair, as he drifted off to death.]

[jumpthegun]

[It's easier to be angry. Focus on the anger.]

Just heard back from Alphonse. He and Batman are after the Joker already. Apparently they found Fiona. And didn't bother to tell anyone.

[devoutish]

[Oh yeah, that gets the blood boiling.]

How long ago?

[jumpthegun]

Days. [John's voice is tight.] After Al left the hospital. Four days ago.

[devoutish]

Days.

[Fuck them both, then.]

[jumpthegun]

[At the moment, John's angrier at Batman just because... well, he's the adult in that pair. But Al is not sitting in a great place with him, either.]

I'm pressing Al for where they are now. Probably best you don't mention I said this 'til I've got that.

[devoutish]

[Al is adult enough to be held responsible, in Alfie's mind. He's young, and he's a kid, but he's not a child.]

Yeah.