2012-07-11 Minutes Before Dawn

The ringing of his cell had come while he had been at home, this time. Jeremy Vitter took one look at the name on it and quickly picked up. "Vitter," he said in a clipped tone. He knew who it really was.

"Mr. Vitter," the voice on the other end of the phone stated. "So prompt. A good quality to have." He had answered the call because it had come from Alicia's phone. They had said he would know when they would contact him.

"What do you want?"

"Did you receive our package to run on the nightly broadcast?"

He had. It had come via UPS earlier today as a priority delivery. That, too, had been a clear sign of its origin: the package had come with Alicia's name and address as the sender. Had she been the one to actually send it? There had been a CD inside, as well as a note in Alicia's handwriting, instructing him to not do anything with it until the call.

"Yes."

"It will be tomorrow's breaking news, won't it, Mr. Vitter." That wasn't voiced as a question. "Also, a little teaser for it earlier in the day would be best as well. A Message for the Batman as a headline should catch interest, don't you think? Lastly, you have permission to discuss this with the police. After you run the story. We leave the details of each to you. Remember, not a word until then." Click.

For a time, the Gotham News Executive Producer sat there, staring at the floor, sitting on his couch with his head in his hands. Soon enough, he was passed out, the brandy bottle he had intended to take only one or two shots from before the call significantly less than that by the time he was asleep.