Ch 3. The Second Interview
"Your looks won't get you shit from me!" His voice yelled at me again, and again, and again. I watched his lips move. It was dark and the only thing I could see was his face, yelling at me over and over.
I woke up like surfacing from deep dark waters, my mind becoming conscience with a gasp as I sat up in bed. The morning light was soft in my studio apartment in central Gotham City. I looked around seeing the vibrant colors of my possessions in my home, it felt very relieving after that dark dream. I hopped out of bed and headed straight for the bathroom to pee, my bladder was very insistent when I woke up. While I sat on the pot I checked my cell phone, finding a text from my cousin Sarah saying she would love to get together for drinks tonight.
Harleen replied she was down.
She got out of the bathroom and made herself breakfast, ate it, and headed to the gym. Harleen worked out about three days a week, always on Saturday's. She did her routine at the gym and sat in the hot tub for a while afterwards. It was noon by the time she got out and she stopped for lunch at a bistro around the corner from her home. She was mid bite of a sandwich when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Then a man sat down across from her at her table. It happened to be the man that she saw Dr. Lisbon arguing with the other day. She only recognized him because he was wearing the same clothes from last Wednesday. Black collared shirt, khaki pants, a receding hairline.
"Hello doctor." He said plainly. His eyes met mine mindly.
"I am here on the behalf of my employer, someone who is one of your patients at Arkham. He wants you to do him a little favor."
I blinked at him. I couldn't believe that the Joker has been locked down for less than a week and he has already sent someone to threaten me.
"This is a shake down?"
He shook his head. "All he wants is that you write good reports about him for the courts."
It was simply asking me to lie.
"Why would I do that?"
"You want money?" He looked at me hard ball, like he wanted to give me a low offer. It pissed me off quickly, I hated people treating me like some low life.
"No!" I yelled at him. Other people looked at us and he cringed away from their stares.
"Okay, okay!" He growled at me.
"If he wants me to write good reports then he can be good during our meetings and stop hurting our staff." I shook my head. "All he has to do is be a good boy for three months until his first behavioral overview."
The man just stood up and shook his head at me. "Just write good reports doc, or you'll regret it." He walked out of the bistro, I could see him move away through the glass windows. I sighed and rubbed my temples. He had threatened me, but only a little.
Was it crazy that I hadn't just gone along with it? That I had just told one of the Joker's henchmen no, I wouldn't be bullied or bribed? I was surely in danger now, but, somehow I wasn't scared. I was...stubborn. I refused to give into intimidation or threats.
I just told the most powerful crime lord in all of Gotham no. I have balls.
I felt powerful and maybe a little tense. I worried that the henchman would be back to threaten me again. So I needed to arm myself. I left the bistro and used my phone to search the best gun store in Gotham and went there. I looked through the glass cases of guns, I tried handling a few I liked and picked out a metallic blue colored Colt 45 pistol and a thigh holster for it. After leaving the store I went to the local gun range and practised with it.
Yes, I casually bought a gun after being threatened by a gangster. This is a normal thing when you live in Gotham City.
It annoyed me that men kept asking me, "What does a pretty little thing like you need a gun for?" As if a pretty lady could never get in trouble, or maybe she should just let men handle her problems. No, it's my life and I am going to protect it myself.
I think, that I was safe tonight. So I didn't need bring it with me to meet up with my cousin Sarah. I hung it from my bedframe at home and got ready to go out. I wanted to feel sexy tonight, since five days a week I had to be unnaturally conservative. I decided on my tight red bodycon dress and my red heels that I wore on Wednesday. I curled just the ends of my long golden blonde hair and put on some gold jewelry to accent my outfit. Looking in the mirror was like looking at the cover of a fashion magazine. Every woman would want to be me.
It was about 9 o'clock when I text Sarah asking her where she would like to meet up. She told me to go to Gonzie's,an awesome chinese restaurant with a full bar. She said we would start there and walk to the other bars that surrounded the restaurant. I liked her idea because Gonzie's was a very short cab ride away. I put my phone, cards, keys, and lipstick in a small gold clutch purse and left my apartment.
I hailed a cab and took it to Gonzie's. I walked in the front door and immediately spotted Sarah, she was dressed in a bright canary yellow dress, it was that classic 1950's style with a halter strap. It looked great on her. We made quite a pair as we hugged and sat down at the table with about a dozen of her friends.
Sarah was a very attention needy socialite type, she only went out if it was with a large group and she was the prettiest woman there. Which meant that she usually didn't call me to go out. So this was kind of a special occasion for me. She was so bright and bubbly today that I understood how she thought that I wouldn't outshine her tonight. Not when she was dressed like the sun!
I began talking with her friends, charming the shit out of them. There are many perks to having a doctorate in psychology, the ability to integrate into a group of people is one of them. Well, it's not something that they trained you to do in college or med school. But, after taking dozens of psychology classes, if I didn't know how to talk to people then I would fail as a psychology major, right?
So I ate delicious food, drank fancy sake cocktails, and talked to Sarah's snobby friends. After only an hour I knew that two of the couples were cheating on eachother, and that Sarah was sleeping with at least three of her friends husbands/lovers. Most of them had killer insecurity issues, and one of them even had an oedipus complex, constantly talking about his horrible step father and angel mother. I felt like I was doing group therapy at Arkham. Not that I let this bring me down.
You see, everyone has issues and baggage from their lives. No matter if they have had great parents and a rich upbringing, everyone walks away with issues. No one is perfect, few are "normal", and most adults are extremely childish. Gotham was a city filled with people wanting to become what they always dreamed they would be. So even though the crime rate is outrageous and we have giant destructive monster battles every few years, thousands of people came to Gotham city every year to try their stake at fame and fortune.
It is any wonder I became a psychiatrist?
"Let's go to Treble!" Sarah yelled over the table so everyone could hear her, her friends cheered. She was ready to move on to dancing if she wanted to go there, Treble had the best dance floors in town. So we all paid our bills and headed over there.
I liked this club, because it had a dance floor for all types. The first one when you walk in is the usual club scene with colored lights, fog machine and shitty DJ. The second floor was a disco theme, which was a lot of fun. The third floor was a patio outside in the back for us old time dancers who loved swing, salsa and the foxtrot. It had rope lights and small romantic tables on the sides with candles and flowers.
Sarah liked the club floor, some of her friends liked the disco, I was the only one who went outside. As I approached, I saw several men stop and stare at me. I knew I had my pick tonight. I chose a tall dark haired man who was obviously had more exotic blood than the average Gotham citizen. I liked that.
