The Joker's New Toy { Wattys 2016}

Emma Napier

"Emma Napier, daughter of William and Lucy McKinley. Husband Jack Napier. Emma was found brutally murdered eight years ago near 5th street and Westchester Avenue, in the alley behind 'The Mad Hatter's Comedy and Magic club.' She was pregnant at the time. No suspect was ever found. Suspects were believed to be street thugs," Alfred read off the old police report to Bruce.

Bruce raised an eyebrow. "So what do you make of it, just a coincidence or perhaps one of the Joker's early murders?" He asked Alfred.

"The details of her...murder don't seem like the Joker's style sir. This poor young woman was not only murdered she was butchered to the point of being unidentifiable. It took an extensive autopsy to figure out who she was. It was believed that more than one suspect committed the crime, and that she was gang raped before they hacked her to pieces," Alfred felt ill in his stomach, as he continued to read the details of Emma's murder.

"Despicable, just despicable." Alfred continued.

"Her husband Jack Napier was never seen again after that. At first he was believed to be a suspect upon his disappearance, but now they believe he was murdered alongside his wife, and his body was dumped somewhere else. Or that he was kidnapped by the suspects and murdered elsewhere." Said Alfred.

"It all still seems pretty suspicious to me," Said Bruce. "How could her husband disappear into thin air?"

"Well sir," Said Alfred. "From the Joker's track record, I firmly believe that he did not murder Emma Napier, unless of course, he has gotten cleaner over the years. But butchering a young woman in an alley is not his style. He has always seen himself as a higher class of criminal. His crimes usually involve explosives, and his murders are usually clean and swift, except for the occasional Glasgow smile which he usually carves into his victims after they're dead, as his trademark."

"So you believe this links to the Joker calling Stacey 'Emma Napier' somehow?" Bruce asked.

"I don't know sir," Said Alfred. "But only a few months after the disappearance of Jack Napier, the first crime of a man who called himself 'The Joker' was reported. It could all be a coincidence or...."

"Or Jack Napier became the Joker," Bruce finished Alfred's sentence for him.

"Maybe," Said Alfred. "But it's still just a theory. Perhaps we're looking too far into this. It could all just be a coincidence. But I feel for that poor Emma Napier girl. She was quite beautiful wasn't she? May her and her unborn child rest in peace."

"Yes she was pretty," Bruce agreed, as he examined the picture of Emma Napier more closely. She had long dirty blond hair, a youthful face, rosy cheeks and big blue eyes. She had an innocent girl next-door beauty about her. "She reminds me of Stacey." Said Bruce.

**

Stacey had been lying cuffed to the bed for several hours. The handcuffs clanged against the bedposts, as she tugged at them, trying to get comfortable. The Joker had been taking so long to return that she feared he was going to pull a Mister Hyde and leave her there for days again. She could almost breath a sigh of relief when the door swung open. She shivered from the slight breeze that the door had created when the Joker opened it, as she was still completely naked.

The Joker stood in the doorway, grinning ear to ear. Well, at least he was smiling. Stacey would rather see him smiling at her rather than scowling. Whenever he had a scowl, Stacey knew that she would be sore for the rest of the night. The Joker calmly shut the door and then sauntered over to Stacey and stood over her cuffed naked form. "Well, well, well. How is my naugh-ty naked little girl hmm? Has she had time to think about what she did?"