A L L E Y S | Gotham

four | BRUISES

BRUISES WERE LITTERED across the face of the older woman, so much so, it looked like a painting. It was a painting that brought tears to your eyes when you looked or thought about it for too long.

"Mrs Pepper," Gordon said, as the woman recognised him when she had fully opened the door.

"Go away," she shook her head, trying to shut the door on Jim, who placed his foot in the gap, and then tried to keep it open.

"Ma'am, if your husband was innocent, you need to talk to me," Gordon explained.

She hesitated. Mrs Pepper had never met a good man in her life. Her father was a drunk, and her deceased husband was abusive. The bruises he left weeks ago still stung over her body. What hurt her the most was that her daughter, Ivy, witnessed it.

Mrs Pepper reluctantly stepped back, allowing the detective to step inside.

He shut the door behind him, and asked, "If your husband didn't kill the Waynes, how'd he come to have Martha Wayne's necklace?"

"You bastards planted it on him?" Mrs Pepper spat back sarcastically.

"Bastards," Ivy repeated, glaring at the man who had got her father killed, and made her mother slit her wrists.

"Alice, how would the police have the necklace? We didn't kill the Waynes."

"So you say. God knows my husband had his demons, but he never killed nobody," Mrs Pepper sighed.

"Can I see his shoes?"

"Shoes?"

Mrs Pepper was confused at his request, but then showed him the cupboard where Mr Pepper's shows were.

"This is all of them?" Jim asked.

"Uh-huh."

"... Damn."

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"Framed?" Harvey said, lifting the glasses off of his head. "How our figure? You were there. We framed him?"

"Somebody could've planted the necklace on Pepper for us to find. Fish Mooney could've set this whole thing up," Jim explained to his partner.

"Why?"

Jim slowly leaned forward, his voice dropping to a husky whisper, "To cover up for the real killer... Mooney works for Falcone. Maybe Falcone wanted the Waynes killed."

"Wait, wait, wait. Why would such a nutty idea even enter your head?"

"Montoya from MCU," he admitted.

"That pill-head looney-bird? What's her proof?"

"Wouldn't tell me. Didn't trust me."

"She doesn't have any. If they did, they woulda used it."

"Pepper didn't wear shiny shoes," Jim continued. "He didn't own any shiny shoes."