no rest for the wicked [jason todd]

twenty nine

THE FIRST WORDS OUT OF DICK'S MOUTH,

admittedly, made her heart flutter. It set in some palpitations that made her breathing slightly uneven as she passed him a smile. She was trying to be as calm as possible as she set down her box on a desk, a desk that had a plate with her name on it. She turned toward him and tried to muster the calmest look she could, but he only laughed and pat her shoulder.

If you were curious, the first words he said were simply 'Good morning, Detective'.

Tye was more than excited for her new title. Detective Melrose. She wondered if there was a way to possibly contain herself, but the minute she saw most people looking away, she gave a quiet squeak and punched his shoulder. "Dick," she said, almost breathless, "we are going to be awesome. Dynamite. You know how awesome we're going to be? There are no words for our awesomeness factor, honestly. We're going to knock shit out."

"Well," Dick offered, "that's nice and all, but we have a case. First on the list, we're going to go talk to the ex-wife. She just found out, so she's a little broken up. Guy didn't show up to work for a couple weeks and no one really cared since he's done it before, but his bills were overdue. Landlord unlocked the apartment to make sure he wasn't passed out drunk and apparently..."

She nodded. "So the landlord found the body?" She asked, grabbing her coat from the arm full of things she'd carried in with her. "Do we have any suspects so far?"

"In most cases, the ex-wife could be a factor. I mean, she was fighting for all he had in the divorce, they had two kids. Gonna be honest," Dick continued, cracking his knuckles as they walked toward the door, "heard she was so broken up over it. Officer on the scene said he had the widow's look."

Tye nodded, trying to understand as they got to the car. She slid into the front seat and glanced over at him, adding now, "I shouldn't mention my personal life on duty, right? Especially since you and I are kind of friends...?"

His dark eyebrows raised and he briefly looked over at her before he started the car. "Go ahead," he told her, "doubt anyone's gonna care if we have a couple chats on the drive there. It's not your first day on the job, you're just a rookie in this department, but hey— You're with me, so I'm gonna hope we have no slip ups on the first day. Gordon was really backing you for this. He really believes in you. I do too, that's why..." He motioned between them.

She smiled but folded her hands in her lap, staring out the window. "Jason and I are officially together," she said after a beat of silence.

He didn't even move to stop the car, the only shocked piece in his expression was the slight twitch of his lips. "Barb won the bet," he mused, looking over at her, "we were betting on if it would happen before or after Christmas, but hey, it's still a couple days away. I'm out a twenty now."

"You bet on my love life?" She scoffed teasingly, smacking his arm.

He laughed, jerking away from her but still keeping his eyes on the road. "No," he lied, but briefly looked over at her before back to the front window, "just this once, okay? We were betting on both of your love lives too. Not just you."

Tye slipped her phone out of her pocket and checked her texts. The only one outstanding was a little message from Jason wishing her good-luck. She smiled but swiped the notification away, turning up toward Dick. "Can I make a bet on how long it takes you to get with Barb now? Because oh boy, that is long overdue."

"Ha ha," he told her sarcastically, but parked on the side of the road and turned toward her. "You've got your badge, right? Just in case CSI or the uniforms ask who we are, we kinda need proof here."

She raised an eyebrow, telling him, "do you think I'm an idiot? Yes, I've got the badge they just issued me this morning, Grayson. Are you an idiot? I mean, c'mon here, I'm not that much of a rookie." She reached for the door and opened it, heading up to the sidewalk. "Is this where the crime happened?"

"Nah, victim died in his fancy schmancy penthouse-apartment thing. This is where the kids and the ex-wife live," he looked up at the house, shrugging. "It's a nice looking place, honestly."

Tye leaned back against the car. "Who was the vic?" She asked.

Dick paused, biting the inside of his cheek. Then he explained, "David Ferreira, 42 years old, died from a gunshot to the head. There were signs that the apartment was broken into, but it seems like whoever killed him was someone he trusted. No signs of a struggle."

"Okay," Tye told him now, reaching for the badge to pull it out of her jacket so that it was visible. It was on a chain of sorts hanging around her neck. She nodded toward him and headed to the door, knocking.

When the door opened, a pretty blonde woman stood there. She had some stray hairs falling in front of her face, but the rest of her hair was tucked into a loose french braid. She seemed a little less upset than the officers described her as, but Dick could tell she'd just finished crying.  "Hi, Mrs. Ferreira, I'm Detective Grayson and this is Detective Melrose from GCPD, we're on  the case of your ex-husband's murder. Can we come in?"

She sniffled and opened the door. "My kids are at their grandmother's," she explained in a weak voice, "I couldn't deal with myself, let alone care for them."

"I understand. We just have some questions about David," Tye told her softly, "but take your time, Mrs. Ferreira, we understand that you're going through a hard time at the moment. It can't be easy to lose your ex-husband, even if he is your ex."

The woman laughed almost bitterly. "You can call me Trish," she told her, "and Davey... Everyone used to say we were meant to be."

"Davey?" Echoed Tye, her voice nearly gone. "Was that a high school nickname?"

Trish turned toward her, eyebrows pulling together. "No," she admitted after a moment, wiping some of her tears away, "no, his buddies from the docks used to call him that so much that we all just became so used to it, you know?"

It couldn't be a coincidence that David worked at the docks, was called Davey and had gotten killed shortly after she'd been kidnapped. It couldn't have been...

No, Jason would have told her if he'd done that, wouldn't he have?

—
i lied about being over with updating i have like 2 more chapters written that i'll get to u guys in a couple days