Mr. & Mrs. Crazy Pants •A Jerome Valeska FF• On Hold

Six: Please Don't Take My Sunshine...Away...

I find Leslie just as she was stepping out.

"Ready for lunch?" I ask. "Yeah." We step out side and head to my car.

"I was thinking about what that fortune teller said."

"Oh yeah.." I don't like where this is going.

I hold open the door for her then get in on the drivers side.

"Yes, I mean I think I know what the blind-man's message means. The servant of the devil lies in the garden of the iron sisters. It's Arkham Bridge. The iron sisters. Arkham bridge. Uh, the towers are called, Mary and Betty."

"Yeah I remember as a kid we use to call them that." I say as I drive into the street. "Right. And there's a park, under the towers on the Gotham side. A garden? It all fits."

From the corner of my eye I see her smiling from ear to ear and I sigh. "Lee, it fits an impossible story. He didn't speak with Lila. She's dead-"

"So you say."

"Come on you're a doctor. A scientist." I reason with her. "There are plenty of things in the world that can't be explained by science."

"People who enjoy folk dancing, for instance. Doesn't mean ghosts exist."

"You're very arrogant in your certainty. What if this is a clue to a murder? That poor woman."

I look back at the road feeling Leslie's eyes on me the whole time. "Fine I'll check it out later myself."

"Thank you."

"Sure, so does Chinese sound good to you?"

"How about I come with you?"

"Okay, later on then, so about lu-"

"Later?

I cringe hearing her question. "Now? You wanna go now?"

"It's only, what a half a mile away."

"I'm hungry."

"We can get food on the way back, I promise." There's no winning with her to I switch to the left lane and drive to Arkham Bridge.

We go searching by the bridge and see just a few people around, mostly elderly couple and small children.

"So what are we looking for exactly, do you think?" I ask her. "I know. I know. This is probably a complete waste of time. Thank you for doing this."

"Not a problem. But, let's not make a habit out of this okay? Even though it's daylight it's still no place for a lady."

She scoffs. "Ha!"

"What do you mean ha?"

"You're a hypocrite. You say you want a strong woman to share this crazy life you've chosen... But when push comes to shove, you want me to stay home and bake cookies."

"Not cookies, necessarily. Pie. Any kind of pie."

"Ha-ha.." She rolls her eyes and smiles at me."..so if someone three something from a car on the bridge, this is where it would land."

"Yeah, I guess you're right..." We keep looking and I happen to come across a hatchet.

"...Lee." I crouch down and with a gloved hand I pick up the dried blood hatched and dust off the leaves.

"T-H-F-C. What does that mean?" Leslie asks after she reads the inscription on the hatchet.

"The hellfire club. It's a satanist cult that commuted a string of ritual murders. But they haven't been active for a decade or more."