2020-08-08 - Batman and Gordon

Afternoon might be an odd time to find one hungering for breakfast food, but given the ME's schedule? This might very well be Yule's breakfast time. He is settled at the bar counter, a plate just now put before him with waffles and bacon, and held in his hand is the local newspaper, neatly folded over to make it more manageable with one hand. His cup of coffee is half full, having been delivered earlier. The man himself is dressed in a blue dress shirt and a pair of black slacks, keeping to that fashionable appearance he's known for.

Esme's been working odd hours herself. Sometimes pulling all nighters, trying to get ahead of the craziness that seemed to suddenly pop up overnight. She may or may not have texted Yule to find out what he was up to, but not all too long after a quick text exchange, she's walking into the restaurant. She looks tired and maybe a tiny bit stressed out but over all, is keeping it together. She orders a coffee and her own plate of waffles, waiting for the coffee before heading over to Yule's table. A smile blossoming on her lips despite her mood when she sees the ME. "Hey you." She leaned in to kiss his temple lightly before settling into the seat across from him.

"Detective Wilkinson," Comes the familiar greeting, a flicker of a smile gracing Yule's features as he leans briefly into that kiss before she settles down to join him. "Looks like we have enough to keep us busy well into fall," Comes the dry humored glance he casts towards the newspaper, a deep breath drawn in before he nestles it down to let it all be pushed out of mind, at least for the moment. "Your new," Well, not so new now, six months old or so! "apartment still treating you well? Or bad guys still haven't let you actually get around to enjoying it, yet?"

"Unfortunately." Esme agreed with a touch of a wry smile before taking a sip of her coffee. She mulls over the question about her apartment and then gave a light shrug of her shoulders. "It's just fine. Better than being home...and dad's liking the retirement community in Seattle. Though, I did have an unwanted visitor the other day apparently. A helpful one...I hope. But I'm requesting better locks on my door for future. In case anyone else decides they want to drop in while I'm not home." She relaxed in her seat. "Still enjoying the forest?"

"What sort of visitor?" Yule's eyes narrow at that, as if trying to figure out if it were a stray cat, or One Of Them, before he settles in just a touch. "How often do you go up to see him these days? Least it is close by, yeah? Most of the family has moved on out. Too much strangeness for them." Which surely the detective had heard tidbits from the man before, of Noelle and Ellis, Nat and the others. "Better in summer than in winter, that's for sure. Hoping autumn won't be too creepy, yeah?" Comes his offering about the forest, a twinkle of mischief in those dark eyes.

Esme debates a moment longer before, "The sort of visitor that leaves video evidence and a case of AKs in my house for me to turn over to forensics." She rubs at her forehead a bit. "I'm going crazy...I just hope I can figure all this out sooner rather than later." She's likely mentioned already that she's having trouble trusting anyone else on the force right now with this case. Though she hadn't elaborated much on the 'why'. "I haven't been able to go up since all this stuff started popping off. But I've been trying to get up there a couple weekends a month. I talk to him every other day or so though." She thanked the waitress as her pancakes came by.

Esme chuckled softly with his response about the forest. "Hope not. Though, if it is I suppose that's just all the more reason to stick close together hm?" A touch of tease in her tone.

His mouth parts, and then closes. This is repeated about twice, before he finally murmurs, "Either you've stumbled on the most incompetent criminal ever that wants to get caught, or you are playing the role of Gordon to Gray Harbor's very own batman." Yule brings his form up, slicing through waffles to stab a couple of pieces, lifting up to hover before his mouth as he murmurs, "Yeah. If the trees start moving at Halloween? I'm crashing at your place, detective." A playful wink comes to accompany that thought before he places that bite in, chewing to savor his food.

"I have my suspicions on who it was, but I am waiting to see what all comes back on the report of the forensics. " Esme mused. "But maybe I am Gordon...I don't know. All I know is that I want this stuff squared away and then I'm going to take some kind of vacation somewhere." She relaxes against the table, picking up a piece of bacon to bite into. "You're welcome over any time, Examiner Duchannes." Esme flashed another bit of a grin. "How's work been for you recently?"

While the Black Bear Diner is magnificent for most of the greasy food needs Alexander might have, there's one thing it doesn't do: omelettes. So when he has a craving - and right now he has a craving - he has to go farther afield. So a classic Ford Fairlane pulls carefully into a space away from all the other cars, and Alexander gets out, looking...generally Alexanderish. He's got a deeper tan than usual, and is wearing an overlarge, long-sleeve flannel shirt despite the weather, with worn jeans and stompy black boots. He schlumps his way into the Waffle Shoppe, staring around like he was casing the place. His eyes come to rest on Yule and Esme, and there's a flicker of pleasure there. He gives them both a nod as a host grabs a plastic menu, then hesitates, noting the look. "...are you with them?"

"What, you think batman's fingerprints are in the system?" Comes Yule's incredulous statement to Esme, but the small widening of his eyes shows it is all in good innocence. "Either way? Yeah, that's creepy. If you need some place to stay at for a bit, you always know you can." That fork works to slowly cut up and deposit waffle into his mouth, before his head sways one way and then another, "Busy. A lot of gun shots. Nothing out of the ordinary, really, at least in comparision to some of those other things." It's that small, awkward exchange that happens that has his eyes lifting, fixing upon Alexander, and before he can answer? Yule does for him. "Yeah. He's with us."

"Oh no. The prints were wiped clean from the case handle. I'm not expecting his prints. I just hope that the interior of the case finds something useful." Esme says as she hears the door opening. Looking over her shoulder and spotting Alexander, she levels a bit of a look at him. But whatever she might be thinking, she doesn't vocalize. Instead, she smiles some. "Yeah, come sit." She agrees with Yule. "How are you doing, Alexander?"

Alexander brightens when Yule says that - then just as quickly freezes and almost backpedals at Esme's look. But when she smiles, he follows the host to the bar and slides into a place on the other side of Yule, like the ME can be a defense against the detective. "Batman is smart enough to keep his prints out of the system," he says. "Even I know that, and I don't read comics." He orders a soda, and offers a thin smile to them both. "Detective Wilkinson. Yule. Hello. Are you both well?" His shoulders straighten. "Isabella took me diving. It was wonderful, so I'm fine. It's been a while," he adds to Yule, giving the man a once over, as if looking for wounds.

"Well, let me know what you find out, yeah? I could use something out of the realm of ordinary," Along with it is a touch of concern, a wary look cast towards Esme. It's her own glance towards Alexander that has one dark brow ticking upwards, but as Alexander comes over to sit and join, up his hands lift to show off that he seems to be all in one piece. "Did she? Sounds interesting. I've been brain deep in dead bodies, all normal, all things considered. Mostly gun shot related. Between that and keeping low..." Up one shoulder comes into a hapless shrug, and if there is more to Yule's quietness over the past few months, he is keeping it to himself.

"You know I will. Though I can't promise it won't still be ordinary." Esme laughed. "But at least it might be interesting." She shrugged a touch. Taking a bite of waffle as Alexander talks about diving. "Diving? That sounds like it would be a fun thing to do with the nicer weather." She agreed. "I've been interviewing people, gathering up more evidence for this debacle of an investigation I've got going on." She nodded. "I was telling Yule I had an uninvited guest in my apartment the other day that left a present. Waiting to see if it was a good one or not." Perhaps trying to gauge Alexander's reaction to his news.

Alexander is a terrible liar, and rarely even tries. When he does try, it looks a lot like what he's doing right now, which is reaching for his plastic menu and doing his best to hide behind it. "Mm," he says, and clears his throat. "Uninvited is...not great. Hopefully you weren't too bothered," he mumbles at the menu, then adds, "I'm going to get waffles. And diving was beautiful. There's an underwater park, with shipwrecks, and fish, and turtles, and kelp forests." The words are quick, trying to distract from the fact that, for once in his life, Alexander is not pouncing on talk of investigations and dead bodies.

"Yeah? You can tell Isabella that the ship buying has merely been postponed... soon. She still owes me figuring out how to name it right and all of that." A faint quirk of a smile is cast towards the other man, before his head shifts back towards Esme. "Pretty sure a box of AKs being left nice and neat in your apartment already makes it /beyond/ ordinary," He deadpans to the detective, and she? Is watched quizically for a few moments. Not because of anything she's done, but all due to Mr. Clayton. His brow furrows, and then those boring eyes turn right upon the other fellow when there isn't a single question about work, or dead bodies, or even any inquiries about what Esme found in her apartment. "What's going on?"

"Maybe I'll have to get this one here to go diving some time." Esme mused, flashing a smile to Yule. "Sounds relaxing." Then she focused back on Alexander. Yep. Suspicions mostly confirmed. "I'mfairly certain Mr. Clayton is playing batman." She offered even though the question is directed at Alexander. But she studied him with a mild curiosity to see what he would say.

"I will tell her," Alexander promises Yule. "I think she'll be happy to hear it. She's been busy trying to find a tomb, of late. Not locally. She's doing it remotely, and it's a fascinating process..." And then Esme just has to come out and say it, and he sighs. He doesn't deny it, but he frowns at his menu and orders waffles. Because waffles are going to happen. "I don't own a rubber suit," he says, at last.

"You name the time, and I'm game. I'll even pick out your swim suit for you," Comes his helpful addition for Esme, Yule casting a momentary innocent look her way. But that playfulness fades as she levels her suspicions towards Alexander, one dark brow ticking upwards as if he's about to deny it for the man. But the way she studies? It's enough to have his head swiveling to the man. It's one blink. Two. Three. A long moment of contemplation, and one may well think he's vascilating between laughing or taking a punch at his friend. Finally, he decides to let the detective handle it - since she wouldn't let him borrow her spare gun, surely! - and combines diving and batman all together as he deadpans with dry humor, "You don't? So did you just go diving naked then, Alexander?" Because every good scuba diver should have a rubber suit. And with this, the ME stuffs his face full with a piece of bacon.

Esme winked towards Yule in return as he spoke about picking out a swimsuit, but then it's back to business brifly. Of course she just comes out and says it! Beating around the bush isn't her strong suit. "Maybe you should invest in one. I'm sure it would make the diving go smooth." Esme plays along with Yule's own quip. She doesn't necessarily seem angry with the revelation. Perhaps she's even a bit relieved that Alexander was the culprit and not one of the crazy people she's trying to build a case against. They would probably discuss it more in length at a later time. In the middle of the Waffle Shoppe wasn't the place. "What sort of tomb is Isabella looking for?"

Alexander makes a disgruntled sound, unwilling to really look at either of them at the moment. Instead, he glares at his soda. "I borrowed a suit from Isabella. She's not Batman, either," he adds, after a moment, as if that would be a serious concern they might be having. "I can't afford one of my own. There's a lot of...equipment involved in a diving suit, and it's all fairly expensive. And I'm not sure. Egyptian. A lot of what she does is under some level of NDA, since people might try to jump ahead to loot things for private sale, and so forth." He takes a sip, and finally dares a sidelong look at the two of them.

"Of course not. She's catgirl to your batman." Comes Yule's drab response towards Alexander's reasoning about whom Isabella is not. "Yeah. I remember her telling me about all the NDA stuff. Told her if it ever got to where she needed an ME? I'd be happy to help. But Egyptian," There is something in it that has his curiosity for a second, before his head just shakes, the last piece of his bacon put in. It's Esme he's watching, gauging her reaction, and once she seems comfortable? Yule seems content to let the whole thing rest.

A soft chuckle escaped at the catwoman comment. "An Egyptian tomb? That sounds pretty cool." She pondered. "I hope she finds it soon." There's a beat of pause and she might say more but then her phone started going off. She huffed softly and took a long drink of her coffee. "I should take that. If I don't need to run off, I'll be back." She looked to Yule, "Can you get me a togo box pretty please?" Pulling her phone out and answering it as she's heading outside.

Alexander brightens at Yule. "Autopsying a historical body which had never been studied before would be amazingly interesting," he says, completely on board with this idea. "I wonder what you could even find out from that sort of thing. Maybe upend what was thought to be a cause of death, or unearth a fascinating story." He bobs his head. "If she has the opportunity, I hope she calls you." When Esme's phone goes off, he pauses, barely noticing his food behind delivered, and watches her go, his expression flat and fixed until the door closes behind her.

"Of course," Yule offers up to Esme as her phone rings, a thing that happens all too often between their two respective jobs. Up a hand lifts to flag down the watier, asking for a to go box, but there is no sense of urgency to it as he leans back into his chair, eyes shifting to focus on Alexander. "It would depend upon the condition of the body, and the means of death. Discovering strangulation, for example, on a body with no flesh and muscle tissue, just bones... well, good luck. But there is more than just cause of death that might be useful... who they were, or at least a gender, rough age, time they lived." But he? Once that door closes, he has no qualms in getting right to the first curiosity that has been tugging at him, "Why did you break into her place, rather than just talking to her? You really think she wouldn't figure out who did it?"

Alexander drinks in the information with a clear and intense interest; yes, he's read piles of books on forensics, and has a decent working knowledge - but it's nothing compared to the dedicated study of it, and one can almost see him inscribing information on some internal archive. The shift of subject draws a little sigh from him, and he looks away. "I don't know her," he mutters. "I needed to see what she did with it. Didn't intend to run into her again anytime soon." His shoulders hunch. "Besides, if she doesn't know who it came from, it's admissible. If she does, a good defense attorney can make an argument that she asked or solicited the illegal acquisition of evidence, and that's fruit of the poison tree."

It's all listened to, even as he studies reaciton of the man, before he finally murmurs, "And you weren't worried she'd figure it out? Or her boyfriend might?" One dark brow arches upwards, before a soft huff comes from him, and he murmurs, "I don't even want to think about how you got them. Or got into her place. /That/ is the scary part... she's already talked about changing her locks before you came on in." Up one shoudler lifts into a small shrug, the last of his coffee cup lifted up and drawn out, "And what about you? What have you been up to recently, besides breaking into detectives places and diving?"

"Does she have a boyfriend?" Alexander wonders, his brow furrowing. He shrugs. "No. I don't make a habit of dropping things off in random detectives' homes, and we have no previous relationship that would expect it. And I was careful about evidence." He frowns. "I'm surprised she figured it out, actually." Which may not be flattering, but is characteristically tactless and honest. "And...I've been looking into this whole mess. The Chief, the incursions. Interrupted an attempted assassination at the Casino - some of your bodies came from there, I think." A sidelong look. "What about you? You've been quiet. Figured you'd had enough and were making exit plans."

"Last I checked, she does," Yule offers up dryly, a hint of amusement glimmering in those eyes, even if Yule doesn't seek to expand any further on the matter. "Yeah. Some of them have been. A lot of gun violence of late. Most of my family has packed up and left... which is good. Better somewhere else than here. But," His mouth curls into a small frown, eyes glancing out the window, clearing leaving /him/ at a loss, given it was at first a primary reason for returning. "Work has been busy. And after the explosion? Figured keeping low for a bit would be best. Still have plenty of ideas to start poking at, however."

Alexander stares at Yule, think. "Oh. You? Hm. That would have been awkward." But it doesn't seem like it would have made him rethink his BRILLIANT plan, because he just moves on. "Yes. Gang war. Incipient phase. Likely to get worse. They're going after non-combatants, which is gonna encourage the locals to do the same. It'll get nasty before the end of it," he says, glumly. "Be careful." The rest, he listens to, and nods. "I noticed that they were leaving. It's good, to be out of Gray Harbor. Will you stay? Anne doesn't want anything to do with the Veil anymore, I think. And she was the only reason Patrick tried to get involved at all, I think. He's smarter than most." A crooked smile. "But you say you have ideas." A pause. "Should tell you about the Doctor."

"Would have been?" Yule quips back, his head just shaking a touch before he leans back, a small snort of distaste at all of the talk of violence. "Trust me, it already is nasty. But yeah. I get it. Especially around here, it'll get worse. It's good not thinking it'll be one of the family coming in on the slab each time a new body arrives, at least. As for me," A beat of a pause, but there really isn't anything to decide, his own interests hooked in well now within the town. "I'm staying. Helping to figure shit out. Where else am I going to get cases like this, anyway?" It's the mention of the Doctor that has a brow ticking upwards in interest, "Yeah? Who is that?"