Bruce imagined Richard’s life going forward, without a father, with guilt hanging over his shoulders after falling in with a crowd that had changed his life. Maybe after serving his time, Richard could find some solace and peace with his remaining family. “Thank you, Detective,” Bruce said.
Draccon gave him a kind smile. “Look, Bruce—I know I originally came down hard on you. When you first landed yourself in community service, I wanted to remind you that you can’t just go around doing whatever you like.” She paused. “But you have your reasons for seeking out justice. I’ve actually enjoyed working with you these past couple of months, through all the ups and downs. You’re a good kid, Bruce, with a good heart. And with what you’ve seen and suffered, that’s not nothing.”
“Thank you, Detective,” Bruce decided to say. Was he good? He had hurt those he loved before; he had disobeyed orders a hundred times over. But perhaps there was something at the end of all that, something that would make more sense to him as he stepped into his parents’ legacy.
One edge of his lips tilted up. “So…do I have more probation to look forward to? Not that I don’t enjoy probation.”
At that, both detectives let out a chuckle, and for a moment, Draccon sounded more like herself. “Not this time, no,” she confirmed. “Given the situation you were involved in, and what you contributed, you’ve been granted a full pardon and your record will be cleared of anything from this case.” She fixed Bruce with a stern frown. “Don’t push your luck, though. Let’s make this the last time you cross hairs with GCPD.”
“The last time,” Bruce said firmly. “I doubt I’ll ever be involved with anything this intense again.”
Draccon pursed her lips. “I suppose not.” This time, Bruce noticed an uneasy expression pass on the detective’s features, as if there was still something else on her mind.
Gordon leaned forward. “We found evidence linking Cameron Wallace to the three murders originally put on Madeleine—we didn’t know he was alive, so our DNA evidence against her is looking less conclusive. She was there, but she likely didn’t commit the murders.”
Bruce nodded numbly, trying not to picture Madeleine’s still body. When he looked at Detective Draccon, he noticed the grimace on her face again. The curious part of his mind flared up. “What aren’t you telling me, Detective?”
From behind Bruce came Alfred’s voice as he returned from the kitchen. “You might as well tell him, Detective,” Alfred said. “He’ll find out on his own, one way or another.”
Draccon rubbed her temple once, then straightened her blazer. “Madeleine…her body vanished from the hospital an hour after we took her in.”
Bruce stilled. “What?”
“We tracked her to the airport, where we learned that she had already managed to take a flight out of the country.”
Madeleine hadn’t died. Not even close.
She was alive.
She had fooled the medical teams into taking her to the hospital, and in the chaos she had slipped away. Bruce thought back to her pale face, her tears, her farewells. Another, final con.
He couldn’t help lowering his head and letting out a single laugh. Of course she found a way to free herself.
“Well,” Bruce said, after a long pause. “She must have found a way to wire all that money to herself, wherever she is now.”
Gordon cleared his throat, and Bruce looked at him. “What?” he asked.
“Madeleine didn’t take the money from the Nightwalkers’ accounts,” he replied.
Bruce paused at that. “She didn’t?”
“No,” said Gordon. “She funneled everything into a charity. The Gotham City Legal Protection Fund just received a donation in her mother’s name, in the millions.”
At that, Bruce looked back and forth between the detectives. The Gotham City Legal Protection Fund—that was the charity his mother had always contributed to with her benefits, the group that defended those who couldn’t afford to defend themselves in court. And Madeleine had just given away the Nightwalkers’ money to it. As the detectives fell into conversation, Bruce found himself looking out the windows and wondering what had gone through her mind as she did it, what had prompted the move.
Perhaps she no longer believed that they were fighting for opposite sides. Perhaps he had changed her just as she had changed him. Perhaps it was a final gesture of goodwill, whether they’d been friends, or enemies, or more.
Or, perhaps, after all the lies between them, this was her way of telling him the truth of who she really was.
A full moon illuminated the streets of Gotham City tonight, painting its corners black and white and silver.
Bruce tore down the freeway in a new car, lost in thought. Earlier in the day, he had joined Harvey at the airport to see Dianne off as she flew to England; later in the week, he would do the same with Harvey as his friend headed off to college. And soon, Bruce would step into university life himself, right here in Gotham City, and into the shoes of his parents as Lucius and Alfred continued to groom him for Wayne Industries.
It seemed like life had organized itself again, that all the blocks of his future had aligned in the appropriate order and that he knew exactly what he needed to do. Everything was back to normal.
And yet, as Bruce drove, he still felt like he didn’t quite know where he was going. The GPS in his car kept dinging, reminding him that he needed to make a turn eventually if he was going to head back home. But he kept driving forward, passing one intersection after another. His thoughts lingered on the pockets of his life that still, after everything, seemed unfulfilled. Waiting.
A half hour later, he realized that he had ended up right in front of the Gotham City Concert Hall.
Bruce parked his car in the empty lot, then pulled on his long coat and walked toward the building. The streets here that had once teemed with police and flashing lights were now empty, and the concert hall itself sat shrouded in shadows, instead of illuminated by floodlights. A cold breeze blew about him, and he hiked up the collar of his dark coat so that only the upper half of his face could be seen. There was no event at the hall tonight, but the outer stairwell doors were unlocked, and so he went in, taking the stairs all the way up to the hall’s roof.
Once there, he headed to the ledge, where he could see the glittering lights of the entire city.