Carrie Kelly had short yet curly strawberry blonde hair, bright green eyes and looked younger than her age, Barbara deduced from the first impression of the girl as Richard had brought her to meet her.
Her aunt had been rather nosy about what they wanted to talk about but Barbara had shown her the GCPD badge and politely asked her to stay out of the interrogation.
Right then, Carrie did not look scared but was a bit nervous.
When Richard was about to leave the room as well to give both privacy to clearly talk, the girl held on to his wrist and shook her head, as if asking him to stay.
In that short time, Barbara had observed that Richard was very kind and caring towards the girl and treated her like a younger sister. There was no doubt that Carrie trusted him more than she trusted anyone else there so Barbara decided she would have to let him stay.
Besides Carrie might be more comfortable if he stayed so that she would be assured that she wasn't alone facing a detective.
"It's okay, Grayson, you can stay."
"Oh, thank you," he replied, sitting back on his seat.
Barbara started with the easier questions on what Carrie had been doing when she was taken and where she was, carefully recording each word on her phone. She held that notepad with her too, noting down the important points.
Then she asked her further about the place she was being kept in and indeed it turned out that Richard's assumption of a warehouse being used temporarily had been correct.
Almost half an hour later, Barbara had answers to all her questions and she smiled at the girl appreciatively, telling her that she did right to open up about the incident and they would make sure the kidnappers were dealt with properly.
Though as the two were to leave, she turned to see Richard talking softly with Carrie, assuring her that she should not be scared anymore and that it wasn't her fault that she had gotten taken.
"In fact you did me proud by escaping from there," he remarked, ruffling her curly hair gently, "I'm proud of you, Carrie. You've been very brave."
A small smile flickered on Barbara's face to see him as such, it was a side to him she had never even considered before. And she couldn't help but be reminded of those words he had said to the audience that night in the club.
We have no idea how much our eyes deceive us.
And at that moment, she felt as if he had spoken an undeniable truth. Perhaps her eyes had kept deceiving her about him for so long.
Behind that facade, he was actually a very caring person.
Behind that deception painted for her to see everyday hid a very genuine man who could go to any lengths for the people he cared about.
"Anything else you need, Miss Gordon?"
She was startled to hear him speak to her but disguised it, "no. Thank you very much, Carrie. You've been a great help."
"I hope you find the rest of them," Carrie spoke up.
"We will try our best," she replied determinedly.
The plan was already forming in her head and the determination in her tone indicated that she meant to find those girls even if it was the last thing she could do.
"Grayson, if you would come along please?"
"Oh sure," he straightened then turned to Carrie, "bye, I'll see you later, okay?"
Saying farewell to the girl, he joined Barbara outside and she gestured him to get in the car again. When he had closed the door, she took in a deep breath and didn't start the car just yet.
He knew she was pondering over something as she had that deeply thoughtful look on her face and her green eyes were focused.
"I have a plan that might work," she stated at last.
"And I'm guessing you can't do it with the GCPD's help?"
Her lips pursed together into a thoughtful frown, "precisely. If I were to discuss it with my fellow officers, they won't agree since we might have to go a bit against the law..."
He could sense that his assumption of it being. adventure had been entirely correct. "I'm in."
***
She had brought him to Gotham Tower and told him her plan to expose the kidnappers and free the girls, for the first time trying the strange thing called trust with him.
Barbara never trusted anyone but at that moment, she felt as if he could help her out and for that, he had to know everything.
But after listening to her plan, Richard had gotten very silent, thinking it over and over in his head.
At last, she got irritated by his silence and spoke up, "what are you thinking?"
"This isn't safe," he mumbled, icy blue eyes focusing on her, "you could get hurt."
"So? I am positive that place has twenty to thirty girls in there. I would be able to get them all out if I follow the plan. If we wait and do things according to procedure, they would get moved to the next spot in the meantime."
His foot tapped the floor impatiently, "what if they figure out what you're up to and suspect you?"
"I can handle a fight, Grayson, don't underestimate me," she challenged and right then the spark in those green eyes clearly told him not to mess with her.
But Richard had always loved challenges and a smirk broke out on his face, "oh, do you? I have always loved a challenge."
However, she broke the momentum, "look, right now we are discussing the plan, so don't you dare flirt with me."
"I don't flirt with you, Miss Gordon, I just happen to be bluntly honest," he gave her a slight wink and her clenched fist came straight at his face as a result.
But he dodged in time, doing a backflip off the slab he was sitting on.
"Alright then don't be such a show off either."
"My sincere apologies but I can't assure that."
However, her eyes had narrowed again, "so you have good reflexes and you've been an acrobat."
"Still am."
"Yeah, whatever. You can use that in a fight to your advantage, can't you?" Her eyes were sharp as she analyzed him.
"I guess so."
She nodded, "good. Then my plan must definitely work."
But then Richard realized something, "wait, you said you would tell Helena too. Why is she not here?"
A soft sigh escaped the woman, "because... Because I did not tell her."
"Why?"
She thought for a while, "I mean she does know that I am taking your help on this case and she appreciates that. But she doesn't know of this plan because then she would not let me carry it out."
His brow furrowed slightly as he came to the point, "basically, you're saying that your friend cares about your personal safety so you thought it would be better not to tell her anything about this plan, right?"
"Well... Kind of."
"Miss Gordon, either you are very brave or very naïve," he mumbled.
"This time I will actually punch you in the face. Your fancy acrobat moves won't save you either."
He pondered on the plan she had told him once again, finding a few loopholes within, "may I have your notepad then, please? If you have to follow the plan without putting yourself in lethal danger, we might have to alter some things."
She gave him the notepad and watched him take out an unused page and a pen, "look, I'll be fine. You don't have to worry about me. I've dealt with worse gangs than this one."
He looked up, icy blue locking with forest green, "I know. But it doesn't hurt to be a little cautious."
"Look who's talking," she folded her arms defiantly, keeping her stare somewhat cold.
He chuckled, the soft sound of it resonating around them, "you might have never stepped foot into a juvie, right? I spent my teenage years there and let me just say that it taught me a lot."
"What exactly are you implying?"
"Now let's go through your plan once again, shall we, but this time please let me explain. You can disagree if you want to later and we will rework it."
She would never openly admit it, but Richard was actually a very good partner to solve the case alongside her.
So far he had kept exceeding expectations.
"And that's my cue to drop in," he resumed, "I will distract them and you will free the others, just like you had planned earlier, okay?"
"About that news highlight you were mentioning?"
"Well, I think we might have to get Helena in on that one," he stated, satisfied that she hadn't found any errors with the reworked plan, "but be careful, Miss Gordon. These people do not give a hoot about morals, so you'll have to be very cautious for your own safety too."
"I'm a detective, Grayson, I know my job."
He smiled, eyes softening ever so slightly, "of course you do."
***