Chapter Text
Every morning Lili Grimes walked into the building of the GCPD, every day she faced crimes, tragedies, psychopaths, lunatics and death, every night she she stayed up thinking it. The main reason she wanted to be a cop was the fact that she'd rather kill herself than live a gray, boring life. She always sought trouble and adventure, even as a kid, now she just gets payed for it.
Her first weeks weren't easy, she had to fight hard to earn her colleges' respect, to be heard, to be seen. Now she's been working there for years, she made herself quiet a name, many criminals feared her, she was known of showing no mercy, putting the guilty behind bars with cold blood.
But the truth is, she wasn't always so cold hearted. She could be rather soft, even sweet, if someone put some energy into getting to know her.
The only two people she called friends were Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock, her partners in crime, well, her partners in stopping crime. Sure, she got along with other cops but she nowhere near trusted them, or dared to call them her friends. The two man had proven their loyalty many times trough the years, and so has she towards them. Of course they had their fights, disagreements, but no friendship is perfect.
Today was quiet different than any other. The evening went by quiet peacefully, no serious crimes committed, Lili was ordered to take care of a car accident. Honestly she would've preferred to spend the whole day with trying to solve Edward Nygma's riddles. No offence to the man, but it could get quiet annoying.
That was, until she got a call from no other than Jim Gordon about a murder. Adrenaline rushed trough her body as she got in her car and drove to the GCPD, deep down she knew it was wrong to feel so excited about such a terrible crime like this, but she couldn't help it.
She walked trough the doors of the large building, like stepping into a different dimension, the strong smell of coffee filling her lungs, whispers, screaming, arguing coming form everywhere, louder than usual. The room was filled with clowns, dancers, people dressed in colourful costumes. They were quiet loud.
She confidently walked up to her table, finding Jim stranding next to his own, letting out a stressful sight as he looked trough some papers.
"Quiet a night we're having." she spoke, making the man look up at her.
"Nice of you to come by." he said as he handed the papers over to the girl.
"Harvey?" she asked, reading the file she was given.
"He's taking care of the show" he nodded towards the arguing circus crew "I need you with with questioning, I have a feeling this isn't gonna be easy."
"When is it ever easy?" she sighed "So where is the son? Maybe we should start with him."
Jim pointed at a boy, sitting quietly next to the arguing crowd, he had red hair, freckles all over his face, his lips were dry, bright red, Lili was expecting a younger boy, but he seemed to be around her age. He must've felt her eyes on him, because he looked up, revealing his deep green eyes making shivers run down her spine. Lili found it strange, his body language screamed nervousness, shyness, he looked terrified, but in his eyes, there was nothing.
"We definitely should start with him." she said, making her way towards him, Jim right behind her.
"Jerome Valeska, I'm detective Grimes." she said confidently, the boy stood up, nervously pulling his sweater, but his eyes were shining, aggressively staring into hers "I'll be investigating you mother's murder with detective Gordon, who I believe you've already met."
Jerome nodded, turning to Jim, giving him a small smile.
"Follow me."
The detectives lead him into the room, in there, there was a table, two chairs on the further side, one on the closer, that's where Jerome sat. The girl and the man sat on the other side, placing a small recorder on the table.
"So tell us about your mother, Jerome." Jim said, getting straight to the point. The ginger looked up at him, not saying anything for only a second, than he turned back to the boring table, and started talking.
"She's my mother." his voice cracked "What can I say? I love her. She's perfect."Gordon raised his eyebrows while Grimes kept her poker face. His voice was now timid and shy, but his eyes still sparked "Not a very good cook, heh, except for that."
The comment made Jim break a smile, not Lili though, she just kept staring at him, no expressions on her face.
"Did she have any enemies? Someone with a grudge?" he asked again.
"No."
"Boyfriends?"
"No."
"No?"
"Well, she had lovers. Sex partners, really, but not boyfriends." he answered, this time honestly. "She didn't want the commitment"
"Alphonse Grayson?"
"Yes, he was one of them."
"Owen Lloyd?"
"Yes."
"Any others?"
"Not that I could put a name to."
"How did you feel about your mother's love life?" the girl spoke, Jerome's eyes snap to look at her.
"I feel fine about it. If not for my mother's love life, I wouldn't be here, would I? Sex is a healthy human activity."
A small blush appeared on the her face, her eyes widened a little, finally breaking her poker face, Jerome had to bite his lip to stop himself from breaking a smile.
"Yes, it is." James said quickly "Do you have any other family?"
"The circus is my family."
The detectives shared a look.
"Alright, thank you Jerome." Jim said "You're free to go back to your family."
Jerome stood up, he gave a shy, small smile to both detectives, than left the room, closing the door behind himself.
"Something's off about him." Lili said.
Jim let out an ugly laugh "His mother was just murdered. Give him a break."
After hours of questioning and arguing, the suspects stayed the two 'sex partners' of Lila Valeska, both blaming the other.
"Wait, back up a little." spoke captain Essen "You set the snake loose?"
"Yes, ma'am." Jim nodded.
"To track down the body?"
"Yes ma'am" he nodded again "The snakes have an excellent sense of smell."
"Well now I know." she smiles proudly "And your prime suspects are a clown and an acrobat?"
"Yeah."
"Ain't this one a doozy?" Harvey spoke.
Lili let out a small laugh, the sound like a trigger made Jim turn to her. The sweet smile on her face was rare, not everyone had the chance to see it, not many tried to anyways, but it was beautiful. At least Jim thought so.
"Your victim, Lila Valeska, was killed by a large knife or hatchet, multiple blows to the head and upper torso." Nygma's voice snapped him out of his gaze.
"Around three o'clock yesterday afternoon." Lee finished.
"From two thirty to four fifteen both Grayson and Lloyd were in the ring for the matinee." Grimes said, looking at the commissioner.
"Well how precise is that time of death?"
"Give or take forty five minutes." the doctor answered.
"Still possible then, but cutting it close. Hold and press your guys, but keep looking."
"Yeah, boss. Forensics is working the crime scene, we're going trough her phone records." Harvey spoke as the three detectives left the room.
"I wanna check out the crime scene too, I feel like I missed something." Lili said as they walked towards the circus crew. The two man only nodded, knowing they couldn't stop her even if they wanted to. Once she got something in her head, you just couldn't get it out.
"Alright!" Jim yelled, getting the people's attention "We're gonna send the rest of you home now, but the investigation is ongoing. Nobody leaves town."
Lili's eyes found the ginger boy, he stood in the back, quietly and alone, just like before. She found it weird how the rest of the people all seemed to be comforting each other, but the son of the victim, the person who was supposed to be the most devastated, who's in need of comfort, stood alone, not one person caring to check up on him.
Unexpectedly his eyes meet her's, she looks away quickly, suddenly feeling nervous, small blush appeared on her cheeks. She mentally slapped herself, she was a cop, she wasn't supposed to feel nervous. Pulling herself together she looked back at the boy, they make eye contact again, he doesn't break it, instead he smiles. It's strange, his lips are smiling but his eyes aren't. His eyes are sparkling, shining, she's not sure what it means, but she'll figure it out.
Jim says something else, she's not sure what it is but the crowd began to leave, and causing Jerome to look away. She stares at his empty spot for a few more seconds before snapping herself back to reality.
"Nobody leaves town." she mimicked Jim by lowering her voice "For a second there you seemed like you were tough."
"Says the good cop." he teased, small smirk on his face.
"We both know I'd be a better bad cop, I just don't want to ruin Harvey's fun." she spoke. Jim mouthed a 'sure', and before the girl could snap at him, she was interrupted by a raspy beep voice.
"Excuse me." an old men with a strange hat, wearing suit and tie and dark lensed glasses "Am I speaking to detective James Gordon?"
"Yes." he turned towards him.
"Than this must be detective Lili Grimes."
"I'm sorry, how did you know who we were?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.
"My name is Paul Cicero, I'm a psychic with the sideshow." the two detectives shared a look "Lila Valeska was an old friend of mine."
"A psychic. I see. How can I help you Mr.Cicero?"
"I sense that you don't think Owen or Alphonse are guilty." he spoke confidently.
"You must be psychic." Jim said sarcastically, Lili let out a small laugh.
"In which case, perhaps you'd like to hear the message Lila sent from the other side."
The detectives shared a look again, raising their eyebrows. Was this man serious?
"Thanks, Mr. Cicero. We're not quite looking at the other side just yet."
"As you wish, I'm merely a messenger." the man turned around to walk away. Lili let out a sigh before speaking up.
"What's the message?"
Jim gave her a questioning look, which she ignored.
"Thank you, detective. Lila told me that the servant of the devil lies in the garden of the iron sisters."
Grimes sighed again, already regretting to be curious "The iron sisters? What does that mean?"
"I don't know." the man said.
"We'll get right on it." Jim spoke sarcastically again.
"I don't think sarcasm is your métier James. Make of the message what you will, good day to you both." he whistled a strange tone before walking away.
"Well you just got told off my a fraud." Lili laughed at her partner, who had an annoyed look on his face.
"Yeah and now he's gonna go to the press and say he's consulting on the case."
"Maybe." she said "Or maybe he actually knows something."
"What, you believe in people talking from beyond the grave? Sending messages?"
"No, that's bullshit. But who knows? Maybe he's just scared to confess that he found out something."
"Whatever, partner." he sighed.
"I'm gonna check out the crime scene, call me if you find something?" she said as she put on her black leather coat and purse.
"You know I will."
They shared one last smile before she walked away.