Manhattan Island, 23rd Police Precinct

Lieutenant Elisa Maza looked into one of the precincts interrogation cells through a two way mirror. Inside the room, haggard looking young man in his late twenties was staring unerringly back at her, as if he could see right through the two way mirror and into her eyes.

"It has to be…him." Matt Bluestone whispered, as if afraid the man might overhear his whisper, "Look at those scars…"

The man in the interrogation room leaned back in his chair and started to rock back and forth; the gesture might seem to indicate anxiety in some, but he gave the impression of doing it of boredom. Occasionally, one of his cheeks would bulge out as he ran his tongue along the scars that were gouged deeply into the flesh on either side of his mouth.

"It could just be coincidence, Matt." Elisa warned, "Those scars don't prove he's the Joker. Although I suppose they could help make us make an educated guess."

Matt sighed,

"What about finger prints?"




"Anything? Shouldn't there be something on file from GCPD?"

"Apparently, someone's replaced the Joker's file on their system with eight gigabytes of Hentai."

The man at the table suddenly slammed his chair down and stood up,

"They're…they're sending over an officer with up close experience of the Joker to confirm it's him. They should be here tomorrow morning…" Elisa trailed off as the man walked over to glass mirror and began to breathe heavily on it,

"What's he doing?"

The man scrawled something on the glass, and then breathed on it again to make the message clear; 'Bored, come n & play'.

Elisa bristled as the cocky criminal swaggered back to the steel table by the chair and hopped up on it before sitting cross legged and staring at the door plaintively.

"GCPD don't want any interrogations until they get here." a new voice warned from behind the two NYPD officers.

Deputy Commissioner Maria Chavez moved alongside her subordinates and peered into the room.

"Has he said anything?"

"He asked the officers who found him dangling from the fire escape if…" Elisa looked down at her note book, "'…those gargoyle things were all so much fun.' Since we brought him here he's been in isolation."

Maria shook her head,

"It's time to get him out of here, before someone tips off the press. There's a high risk prisoner transport with a SWAT escort waiting outside. They'll take him to Rykers Island; we'll hold him there until the GCPD get here."

"You're that sure this guy is really the Joker?" Blustone asked,

The man on the other side of the glass began to whistle tunelessly to himself and roll his head from side to side; the harsh florescent lights over his head cast dark shadows down on the crust of dried blood on the deep scars on either side of the mans mouth.

"If it isn't him it's a very good imposter."

The three officers turned to look as a heavily armed tactical team filed into the hallway; Chavez motioned to the door next to the observation window and the SWAT team set up next to the door.

"Ready?" the lead officer asked his chief.

Chavez nodded, and the SWAT team cautiously opened the door and moved into the room.

"They'll get him out of your hair in just a moment Maza." Chavez said, as she turned to leave.

As he and Elisa watched the chief go, Matt said,

"Good thing too. The last police station the joker was ended up minus a couple of floors."

Elisa shrugged and followed Chavez.

From inside the interrogation room, she heard a bizarre nasal voice;

"You know…you could at least chat me up before moving to the rough stuff."

Elisa froze, back stiffening as a wheezing cackle of laugh filled the hallway and the Swat team dragged the inmate out of the interrogation room.

As they passed Elisa, the captive half rolled, half turned his head to look at her; his stringy, unwashed hair hung across his face and obscured the ragged scars on either side of mouth, but his keen eyes still shone from their dark sockets.

His eyes met Elisa's, and he flashed a yellow toothed grin and winked.

In a sudden, frenzied out burst, he kicked loose of the burly Swat tem members who'd been holding his hand cuffed arms and flung himself into Elisa, pinning her to the wall.

"Oh my…" he said, just before the SWAT team tackled him to the floor.

"You all right, Lieutenant?" one of the SWAT officers asked, getting in between the floored prisoner and Elisa,

"I think so…"

The man chuckled slightly, sounding like he was trying to hold back even greater laughter.

Instinctively, Elisa checked herself for injury.

She looked down, and met the mirth filled eyes of the prisoner again.

Her eyes narrowed as she checked her pockets, and the mirth left the prisoners eyes.

The mans laughter abruptly ceased and he let loose an annoyed snarl.

His hand, cuffed behind his back clenched down.

Without saying a word, Elisa quickly bent down and pried his right hand open, then snatched a heavy ink pen out of it.

The SWAT officer growled and hauled the man to his feet.

"This was a gift from my husband. I'd like to hang onto it, if you don't mind." Elisa said drily, holding the pen up to the prisoners face. The man cocked his head to one side and gazed thoughtfully at Elisa's hand.

"He the hell did he get that? Didn't you search him when he got here?" one of the SWAT officers demanded.

"I think our boy here is a damn good pick pocket, on top of…whatever the hell else he is." Matt said, coming up behind Elisa.

"Well, that's me de-tec-tive…I'm a regular renaissance man." The bound prisoner said, giggling, he locked eyes with Elisa again, "So uh, tell me, ah, Lieutenant. Were the, uh, matching wedding rings your idea, or were they hubbies?"

Elisa gapped as the prisoner leaned forward and studied the gold wedding band on her ring finger more closely.

"I'm guessing it was yours…tall, dark and, uh, laaavender seemed a bitold school."