Coup De Grace | D. Wayne

[05] The Cons Of Reporting

After Richard Grayson's wedding, Ember did not get to cover any other significant event. She was back to her usual tasks of writing articles for the pages no one checked out and her current job was starting to bore her out.

Maya Lebouf had taken the credit for the entire article that was posted by Gotham Daily on the first Wayne family wedding and Ember's name had not even been included as a collaborator. But she didn't protest against it, knowing that if she lost that job too, she would not be able to get another one.

However, she always kept an eye open for any new crimes that were reported in the city, being extra aware of those that could be linked to the families she had been investigating earlier. Gotham Daily's crime section was squeezed into the very last pages of the publication that no one read and even though Ember did get to check out what her fellow writers were working on for that section, it was just trivial reports of street crime and an updated list of areas that shouldn't be frequented at night.

Nothing interesting.

She had not heard from her friend Evan either so she had no idea what was going on back at the Gotham Gazette. And even though she was checking all the publications sent out by the Gazette too, there had been no further proceeding on the article she had been working on.

Perhaps Evan Sinclair had also been threatened into silence and was no longer working on that story.

She checked her phone again but there was no text from him. He too had taken care not to reach out to her again.

But all that silence and state of unawareness was starting to get to her.

She couldn't keep living in fear of being targeted any minute but currently, there was nothing she could do about it.

"Sullivan!"

She looked up to hear her name being called and saw Raoul Valdez, the cameraman from the daily reporting department standing a few cubicles off.

"Yes?" She asked, a bit skeptical about why he was asking for her.

"I had to cover the robbery in the East End but Michelle couldn't make it today. Boss said you're free at the moment so can you accompany me?"

She considered, "Sure, what do you need me to do?"

"Just take some notes while I take the pictures. Charlie will be helping with the equipment so you won't have to worry about that," he told her and handed her his phone, "here, you can talk to Michelle too, she will tell you what she needs for the article."

"Okay."

Ember took the phone and talked to the reporter who wasn't able to come to the office that day. The task was being given to her on short notice but she was getting bored and in that way, she would finally have something to work on that was a bit closer to her initial line of work.

After talking to Michelle and confirming with her boss, she went to the location with Raoul and Charlie. The two briefed her about the robbery that took place in a supermarket on the way and by the time they reached there, there was quite a crowd gathered at the place so it was rather noisy.

Ember did not hear her phone ringing as she got to work, dispersing the people so that Raoul and Charlie could get their work done. She took notes of the crime scene as well but by then the police had shown up so they had to back off.

When she was finally back in the van while Raoul and Charlie were packing their equipment, she felt a vibration in her purse and took her phone out to check.

There were a few missed calls from Evan and she hadn't been able to answer her phone earlier as she was busy on site. She tried calling him back but his phone was switched off.

Worried, she got out of the van just as the two of her colleagues returned.

"Hey, what happened?" Charlie asked, "we're done shooting, we just have to go back to the office and get the prints out."

"Guys, I'm sorry but I have an errand to run," she spoke up, giving them her notebook, "can you give it to Michelle, I will call her back too soon as I get free."

"But where are you going? We can drop you on the way," Raoul offered.

She considered but then agreed, "fine, can you drop me off at Robinson Square?"

"Sure."

She felt a terrible feeling of dread as she got back in the van and throughout the ride to Robinson, she was worrying about Evan. She knew he never put his phone on silent or switched it off either so the fact that he wasn't responding was quite strange.

She got off at the main square and waited for Raoul and Charlie to leave before making her way to the street where Evan's house was located. However, when she got there, she found his car windows smashed and the bin outside his door toppled over.

Worried, she rang the doorbell but there was no response and when she pushed the door, it creaked open. A shiver ran down her spine as she considered whether to go in or not.

Deciding to be cautious she dialed the police helpline.

"GCPD, how may we help you?" The call was answered at last after a few rings.

"My friend's house has been broken into," she replied in a low voice as she stepped in, "the address is 132-B, near Robinson Plaza."

"Ma'am, where are you at the moment? And whose house has been broken into?"

"Evan Sinclair," she replied, her voice shaking in uncertainty, "and I'm at his house... It's... Everything's a mess..."

"Please stay where you are, we are dispatching a squad to reach you shortly."

However, her eyes got caught by a body sprawled in the corner and she almost dropped her phone in shock.

"Evan!"

She rushed to the beaten-up and bruised body, recognizing Evan immediately. His eyes fluttered open as she reached him, crouching down on her knees beside him.

"Miss, can you hear us? Stay on the line," the operator on the phone called out and Ember tried to recover from the shock. "Please give us your name..."

"Ember Sullivan..." She whispered as she tried to keep herself composed, knowing she had to get Evan to the hospital so that he could be treated. There were cuts all over him and he was bleeding so any minute's delay could be fatal.

But she saw Evan's phone lying close to him and it was crushed. The sound of footsteps behind her alerted her and just as she turned to see who it was, a heavy thwack sounded as a bat hit her across the head.

Her ears rang from the impact and the last thing she saw was Evan's hand closing onto her wrist feebly before everything blacked out.

***