batman and red hood

"Welcome to the humble house, Mrs. Emma"

Bruce came down the stairs, looking refreshed in a well-fitting casual suit.

"Oh, Mr. Bruce, you don't have to greet me personally"

Mrs. Emma came over and gave Bruce a hug on the cheek.

"This way please, Mrs. Emma"

Bruce welcomed Mrs. Emma into a reception room.

"I heard that you were frightened and recuperating at home. You look good."

"It's really rude to greet customers with that decadent appearance."

"Oh...hehe, you pay attention to etiquette as always."

"Because I have a strict butler with a lot of manners"

"Your compliment is my honor, Master Bruce"

……

"...Aren't you curious what they are talking about?"

When Bruce led Mrs. Emma into the reception room, Alfred did not follow but turned around and walked towards the kitchen. After a while, he walked into the reception room with hot black tea and refreshments.

Jason and Barbara emerged from the turn of the stairs and stared at the closed door of the reception room.

"certainly"

Barbara let out a smile, and dragged Jason back to the Batcave.

"...Don't tell me, there are such things in the rooms of Wayne Manor"

Seeing Barbara skillfully operating the image of the reception room a few times and appearing on the huge screen, Jason said very unhappy.

"Hmm, you just get used to it"

Barbara didn't refute Jason's words, anyway, Jason would discover these after living for a long time.After adjusting the volume slightly, an old voice came from inside:

"Mr. Bruce, you are a smart man, I believe you are very clear about the purpose of my coming here"

Mrs. Emma didn't make any false opening remarks, but stated her purpose directly.

"...I'm sorry ma'am, but I've told the police everything I know"

"I know, but what the police told me must have been censored, I want to know the truth"

Mrs. Emma came for the children. Among the rescued children, only three of the missing children from her Angel Orphanage were found, and the other two were missing.

Mrs. Emma used her contacts to obtain some inside information from the police, but those were only a little bit more than what was disclosed publicly. In the end, her contacts inside the police hinted that this case had been suppressed by the higher authorities, so Not to reveal too much, she came directly to Bruce Wayne to inquire.

"...This, I'm sorry..."

"You should not have been given a password."

The sharp gaze stared directly at Bruce through those cloudy eyes, creating a wordless pressure.

"No, Mrs. Emma, ​​but... I really don't know much"

"...I understand, so let me ask, if you can answer, please be honest, okay?"

"……All right"

Even after leaving the barracks for a long time, Mrs. Emma's military temperament still weakened, making it difficult to disobey her orders.

"... This old woman thought she was an officer??"

Jason looked at the person who was sitting in the chair like a female general interrogating a criminal and asked with some displeasure.

"Watch your words, boy, and Mrs. Emma is indeed an officer."

"... Are you really a soldier?"

"Of course, and if it's not because of marriage, she can sit in the position of admiral"

Barbara's words successfully blocked Jason's complaints, and Jason, who had nothing to say, could only continue to focus on the screen.

The silver-haired old lady on the screen has lost her formerly kind side. At this moment, she is like a falcon staring at its prey, and its sharp eyes can give people a strong impression even through the computer screen. oppression.

"That island should belong to the Lawrence family."

People outside may not be aware of it, but for them in the upper class, this kind of thing is clearly remembered like three meals a day.

Bruce knows quite well that if he doesn't make it clear at this point, it's an obvious lie.

"...yeah, so I'm weird"

"Before you came to the island, you didn't know that you were going to the island of the Lawrence family?"

"Yes, I thought Himmler was going to hold a charity auction on his private island"

"Didn't he tell you what the auction was?"

"...Unfortunately, he just said it was about the kids"

"So you went?"

"right"

After looking at Bruce's smiling face for a long time, Mrs. Emma couldn't see anything.

"Have you seen anyone from the Lawrence family?"

"No, everyone who goes there wears a mask and a cloak that can cover the whole body, I don't know if there is any"

This kind of thing can be answered by asking any guy who was there at the time, and Bruce doesn't feel the need to lie.

Mrs. Emma pondered for a while after listening to Bruce's words, and continued:

"Mr. James Gordon is under house arrest as far as I know, do you know?"

"Huh? Really? I heard it wasn't because of an injury that he was on vacation?"

Bruce's perfect expression did not attract Mrs. Emma's attention.

"What do you know about the list?"

"... what list?"

"Mr. Bruce, you are a smart man, I believe you can understand the purpose of my coming"

"Of course I understand, Mrs. Emma, ​​you are worried about those children who have not been found, so I will try my best to tell you everything I know."

Bruce answered Mrs. Emma's question politely and distantly.

"Why didn't he tell her?"

Jason asked, tossing a popcorn into his mouth.

"Bruce's role is limited to a rich man who is forced to participate in a very disgusting and perverted auction. That kind of stuff is not something he should know, and..."

Barbara also grabbed a handful of popcorn from the popcorn bucket in Jason's hand and stuffed it into her mouth.

"and?"

"Besides, it's hard to determine whether Mrs. Emma is an enemy or a friend."

"...but she seems to really care about the children"

Having been at the bottom of the society for a long time, it has become Jason's instinct to observe people's words and feelings. He feels that the old lady is not lying, and she is really worried about those children.

"...How much do you know about Mrs. Emma?"

Barbara was very interested in what Jason said. According to Bruce's conclusion, Jason should be the kind of person who is very vigilant. He should not be the kind of person who easily trusts others, just like Batman.

"Oh... I used to go to the orphanage under her name to eat, and the people there..."

"Wait a minute Jason"

Barbara suddenly heard a few key words from the screen, and hurriedly stopped Jason from continuing, and at the same time turned up the volume:

"Let me just say it straight, Mr. Bruce, you should know about the discovery of several children's bodies before the police."

"Yes, I know, that's a shame"

Mrs. Emma stopped to look at Bruce, then continued:

"The second body found is one of the missing children of the Angel Welfare Institute. It is a little boy with mental disabilities, but he draws very well. We all think he will become a very good painter..."

That was the result obtained by Madam Emma using her personal relationship to compare her DNA.

"...I'm sorry, Mrs. Emma"

Bruce got up and walked to Mrs. Emma and handed her a handkerchief.

After taking the handkerchief to wipe away the tears from the corners of her eyes, Mrs. Emma said slightly apologetically:

"Sorry, it's easy to be sentimental when you're older."

After sorting out her emotions, Mrs. Emma continued.

"In fact, since the disappearance of the children, I have been using all kinds of connections and even the private detectives I know to track down their whereabouts, but they have found almost nothing. When the third child disappeared, the private detective gave me A message came saying that some clues had been found and needed to be further investigated, but the next day I received a big envelope, which contained clues that he had been chasing for a long time, but those were just suspicious clues and had no direct use , but on the edge of the envelope, there is a name Joseph written in a hurry, and as for the surname, the only one I can guess is Lawrence."

"Why guess?"

"Because Lawrence only wrote half of it, so I can only guess. There is no stamp on the envelope, so it should have been thrown into the mailbox in a hurry... Not long after, the Gotham Police Department notified a drunk man who fell into the water and died..."

When Mrs. Emma said this, she stopped and took a sip from the teacup in hand.

"……It's him?"

Even if he didn't answer, Bruce could guess who the "drunk man" who fell into the water was.

"...Yes, he was killed. My friend at the police station told me that most of the alcohol stayed in the esophagus, but very little in the stomach, indicating that he was injected with alcohol after death, but the autopsy report was tampered with..."

Mrs. Emma's hand holding the cup tightly trembled slightly.

"Mrs. Emma, ​​do you need a cup of black tea?"

Alfred appeared at the right time, carefully took the exquisite teacup from the old woman's hand, and then filled the cup with warm black tea.

"Thank you, you have a wonderful butler"

"Thank you for the compliment"

"And after that?"

"...I couldn't call the police that he was working for me, and the police found the body of the first child shortly afterwards. I had a hunch that the two were related, but I didn't know who to go to. At this time , my nephew who served in the Marine Corps came back from vacation. After hearing about this incident, he took a few friends to follow those clues and continued to trace, but every time he was almost discovered, as a professional special soldier Well, my nephews did not end up in the same fate as that detective, but every time they were almost able to grab their pigtails, they ended up throwing their corpses and interrupting all the clues. Not long ago The child finally got the news that Joseph planned to dispose of the last corpse, and he asked people from the society to dispose of it. After obtaining the corpse throwing line, they lay in ambush in a nearby ruin for a long time until that time. A broken car passed by. In order to avoid being suspected, they deliberately recruited many friends to pretend to be a car accident to block the road... However, the bodies were not thrown into the sea as planned, but in the ruins... They were thrown into the ruins... That's all, so I had to leave..."

"...Oh, my God, it turned out to be her..."

Barbara behind the screen finally understood who the third-party force that forced Joseph Lawrence to discard the corpse was.

"...Is this old woman very powerful?"

Jason was confused, but Jason knew that this old woman must be better than that pervert named Joseph, otherwise the other party wouldn't throw the corpse in a hurry.

"certainly"

"Worse than the Lawrence family?"

"... Mrs. Emma's name before she got married was Emma Fox. It wasn't just a random Fox, it was the family that could make the entire political world tremble by stomping. The Lawrence family is nothing compared to the Fox family. At least half of the congressmen are related to the Fox family... This can explain why Lawrence chose to dump the body instead of killing those special forces secretly. First, it is difficult to deal with, after all, they are professional special forces. Second Yes... it is not a wise decision to attract the attention of the Fox family..."

"Same as the Wayne family?"

"...If the Wayne family is committed to politics, their sphere of influence should be similar to theirs now. Unfortunately, their family is still more interested in making money."

"...What an idiot not only didn't get rid of it, but also attracted the old bat"

Jason threw another popcorn into his mouth and said while chewing.

"Yeah, what an idiot"

……

"Mr. Bruce, I want to know now, the evidence enough to send that scumbag to prison is already in the hands of the police."

"...this... Mrs. Emma... I said"

"Mr. Bruce, I just want to know now, if the invisible hand that put you and that police officer under house arrest is removed, can those scumbags be sent to prison?"

Mrs. Emma didn't give Bruce any chance to refuse, and asked the question again.

For this problem, she deliberately asked her friends in the police station to replace all the people in charge of surveillance with her own people so as to conceal the fact of her late-night visit.

"...Yes, Mrs. Emma, ​​the police did get enough evidence, including those who were not arrested in this operation...but because it was too involved..."

"...Yes, I see. Thank you for spending some time chatting with me, an old lady, tonight. I have other things to do, so I will leave first!"

"Then, Ah Fu, take Mrs. Emma out, please be careful on the way..."

After seeing off Mrs. Emma, ​​seeing Bruce on the phone, he hung up the phone after telling the other party a few words.

"Master Bruce, do you think Mrs. Emma can do it alone?"

"...The involvement is too wide, even the Fox family may find it very difficult, but I found a foreign aid for her"

Bruce shook the phone in his hand, sometimes the media is more useful than anything...

"……That's good"