Harper Isabel Todd

Chapter 14

Batcave, confrontation

"What do you mean you have proof?" Barbara asked as she frantically looked for said proof.

"I didn't kill Jason," Bruce repeated in a more articulate way.

"Tim, play the footage," Dick said, only to be ignored by Tim.

"When the heart stops, it means the person died right?" Tim asked Bruce.

Bruce stared blankly at him, a smart person like Bruce, because he is smart, should understand what the question meant, he should know the answer but for some reason his mind stopped working.

"Right?" Cassandra asked.

Bruce's head snapped towards his daughter, the girl who still lived with the weight of the murder of Harper Row's mother, the girl he promised safety and a family, the girl who always says she wants to be like him; good not a killer like her mother and father. If Cassandra was asking, it meant she's seen the evidence Tim claims to have; it means that Tim really does have evidence, it means Bruce killed Jason, but Bruce didn't kill Jason.

"Yes," Bruce whispered.

"I did something you failed to do," Tim started sharing his findings, "I worked the case."

"What do you mean?" Duke asked as he watched files being opened on the computer.

"I asked myself; why would Jason shoot Penguin out of freaking nowhere? As it turns out it wasn't out of nowhere," Tim opened the letter from Willis to Jason, "Jason found out that Penguin is the reason his dad was sent to Blackgate, a fall guy, he had found out that Willis had sent him letters during his stay in Blackgate, he found out that his dad wasn't a complete and utter piece of shit, sure he was a criminal but he tried to go legit until the system failed him yet again."

"Criminals-" Damian started saying something but Tim cut him off immediately.

"I'm not defending Willis, I'm not excusing him for hooking Catherine to drugs, or driving Sheila away or all the shit he's pulled over the years, but a little digging can go a long way," Tim continued pulling files, "and I'm not excusing Jason for shooting Penguin."

Bruce, Duke, Damian and Barbara were reading the letter from Willis Todd to Jason. Then they saw the police reports that corroborate Willis' story along with footage Tim found after he'd shared the case with Dick, Cassandra and Stephanie.

"Then, Jason, who believed Willis had died in Blackgate discovered that Willis might not be dead, he took a human experimenting deal to cut his time, which prompted Jason to dig up his father's grave. Did you know that?" Tim asked Bruce, "Did you bother to look for a motive?"

"No," Bruce watched as Tim opened a video.

"Spoiler alert, it was empty."

Bruce could feel his blood running through his veins; he could feel each pulse point trying to beat out of his flesh. Willis Todd was still tormenting his son from beyond the grave, Willis Todd was probably alive, Willis Todd was ruining Jason's life again, and it all goes back to Willis Todd.

"I found the footage from Jason's helmet that night," Tim stared at Bruce who lost all color from his face, "and with everything I've found, even if Jason had killed Cobblepot, he didn't deserve what you did, because you're supposed to be better."

Tim played to videos, all the angles of surveillance footage he found of Jason in the cemetery, and then he played the feed he found from the helmet.

"You can't! You can't make me care what happened to you! Not after everything you did to mom ... to me!" Jason said out of breath then screamed at the top of his lungs, "I DON'T CARE! I don't ... care. I don't."