A Visitor at Wayne Enterprises

Previous posts in this series, in order:

Gotham City and the Overcast of Evil

Gotham City: Things Change

Late at Night in the Batcave

Riddle at Wayne Manor

Another Riddle

In Gotham Park

Riddle at Wayne Enterprises


Mrs. Jones left him alone for a few minutes. This gave him a chance to get ready for the important business meetings he had scheduled for the afternoon. After the sudden phone call from Alfred, though, his mind wasn't really on that business; his mind was on his other business. Unusual for him, he was having trouble concentrating.

Mrs. Jones quietly opened the door and stepped inside, then closed the door again behind her.

He looked up at her, mustering a smile as he controlled his thoughts. "Yes, Mrs. Jones."

"There's a visitor here to see you. He has one of Alfred's cards, and Alfred called a few minutes ago requesting us to inform you when this visitor got here."

"Show him in, please."

Mrs. Jones opened the door again and motioned for the visitor to enter Mr. Wayne's office. "Mr. Nygma here to see you, Mr. Wayne. And just a reminder, that meeting will be starting in twenty minutes."

He was already studying this new visitor as he got up to shake Mr. Nygma's hand. He also appreciated Mrs. Jones' reminder, which wasn't just to remind him of his meeting with the German ambassador and the executives of Wayne Enterprises' German operations, but was also to give him an opportunity to end the meeting with this visitor without offending him.

"Thank you, Mrs. Jones. Welcome, Mr. Nygma. Bruce Wayne," he said, shaking hands. "How do you do?"

"It's a pleasure, Mr. Wayne." The visitor seemed nervous.

"Have a seat."

"Thanks," the visitor said as he followed his host's gesture and moved towards armchairs near the window. They both sat down, and the visitor admired the view of Gotham City.

"So, what can I do for you?" the host asked, sensing his visitor's nervousness.

"I need a job, Mr. Wayne," the visitor blurted out. "An elderly gentleman that I met in Gotham Park a little while ago asked me to show you this. Is he a friend of yours?" The visitor added as he held out Alfred's card, with the words "Curiouser and curiouser" written on the back.

"Yes, he is." He paused. "What kind of work do you do?"

"I'm an investigative reporter."

"Are you working now?"

"No."

"May I ask why not?" He tried to soften the question with a smile, but he could sense his visitor's nervousness increase.

"I wish I knew." The visitor looked like he wanted to leave.

"I take it you didn't leave your past job voluntarily." He didn't mean to say that so directly. And, he was wondering what kind of an investigative reporter would be so nervous in a fairly ordinary conversation. Perhaps that was part of the problem, he thought.... "Where were you working and what were you working on at your last job? Maybe that can help us understand why you no longer work there."

The visitor didn't want to address this. Not now. Not here. It wasn't a way to land a job at the best company in Gotham City. Not talking to the legendary Bruce Wayne. But, then he remembered the advice of the elderly man who had gotten him this far: what, indeed, did he have to lose?

"Corruption in city hall and in the police department. Inside trading at the Gotham City Stock Exchange. The usual stuff," he answered. And, indeed, it did sound like the usual stuff for an investigative reporter.

But his host sensed there was something else.

"That doesn't sound like the kind of stuff they would fire an investigative reporter for."

Damn! the visitor thought. His chance of a lifetime, a job interview with Bruce Wayne, and Wayne just said the "f-word" -- Wayne had picked up on the fact that he had been fired from his previous job. "I was also looking into the collapse of the Gotham Towers."

His host looked out the window at where the towers had been. Despite new construction in the area, the skyline seemed very empty in that direction. He also thought about the riddles he had been receiving, wondering if the visitor he was talking to could possibly be the one sending them.

"What had you found out?"

A thought flashed across the visitor's mind. Mr. Wayne had a reputation for honesty and charity, but what if that was just a facade? What if Bruce Wayne, one of the most powerful people in Gotham City, the man in whose office he now sat looking for a job, was in on it? His nervousness suddenly vanishing, the visitor was no longer a job applicant on the interview of a lifetime; suddenly, he was an investigative reporter again, on the interview of a lifetime.