Owner	Pose
Stephanie Brown	Dick Grayson's partner, Matt DeLuca, is quite the devoted father. And one who has passed on his love of baseball to his only daughter. The girl of ten is currently playing in a summer softball league, and in slow moments, at the precinct or driving around on cases, Matt frequently shares tales of his daughter's athletic exploits with Dick. And this weekend, Matt invited Dick to come to one of his daughter's games, and to bring Stephanie as well. Since he hasn't had a chance to meet her, nor has his wife. "We can all watch the game together, and then go out for root beer floats after it," he had suggested. Stephanie was amenable, wanting to meet Matt and his family as well. She puts on a pair of jeans and a nice blouse. It's late afternoon when they arrive at the ball field, the lights coming on already in anticipation of it getting dark soon. Matt and his wife can be spotted sitting up in the bleachers, with there being empty spots near them.
Dick Grayson	Dick, as is often the case, has hold of Steph's hand as they walk. He's in casual clothing, chinos and a blue short sleeve polo shirt. Spotting Matt and his wife, he waves to them and says to Steph, "There they are, looks like they kept us some seats." He leads her over and greets his partner, "Heya Matt, Liz, this is my girlfriend Stephanie. Steph, my partner Matt and his wife Liz. Let's grab a seat." He settles in with Steph beside him after the greetings.
Stephanie Brown	Stephanie's hand curls into Dick's as he takes it, the younger woman having a glow about her today as they cross the green grassy field that surrounds the ball diamond. Though it's a kid's field, it's well-cared for, the fence surrounding it kept in good repair, and dugouts covered for the kids to sit in and avoid any rain. Though today it's been a nice day, so no worries about rain. A smile is flashed from the blond girl up towards Matt and his wife. "Nice to meet you both," she says warmly, letting go of Dick's hand to greet both of them and offer it for a hand shake. "I've heard a lot about you. And about your daughter," she says, moving to take one of the empty spots on the bleachers near to Matt and Liz. "Which one is she?" Stephanie asks as she looks out at the diamond where the kids are just finishing warming up, and about to start.
Dick Grayson	Dick points to the girl warming up on the pitcher's mound, "That's her, got a cannon for an arm, just wait till you see her pitch." He looks over to Matt, "I haven't been following the games, how are they doing this year?" "Three and oh so far, we're doing really well. Danica's only allowed ten hits so far, she's kicking serious ass." replies the proud father with a big grin. "Kid's gonna go far." With a smile, Dick replies, "Well, that's awesome, I'll have to congratulate her." He looks over to Steph and slips an arm around her, "Don't know if softball's much of your thing, but it makes for a pretty fun time out. And they actually have some decent hot dogs here."
Stephanie Brown	Stephanie turns to look towards Danica where she has taken the mound. She watches as the brunette girl whirls a pitch towards home. "Wow, that is an arm," Stephanie says, impressed to see a kid that age throwing so hard. "I only played softball for a year when I was... hmm, maybe about this age," she says. A wry smile is given first to Dick and then the others. "I wasn't very good I'm afraid. But then I found gymnastics at the community center and that was my groove." Liz smiles to Stephanie and says, "So you're going to Gotham U if I heard right? What are you studying?" The blond girl gives a quick nod. "Studying forensics and criminology. Maybe be a CSI. Or who knows, maybe I'll even end up going to the police academy or something." Liz chuckles and shakes her head. "Dick, if you pushed her that direction!" she says in a mock threatening way. Meanwhile, out on the field the game has started, the other team coming up to bat first and Danica whizzing balls towards the plate with the small cannon she calls an arm.
Dick Grayson	Dick laughs and holds his hands up with a grin, "Not my fault, she chose that before we were seeing each other. Gives us stuff to talk about though, so I have no complaints." He winks at Steph. When the game starts he turns his attention to the field, cheering as Danica starts whipping the ball past the opposing team. The first half of the first inning goes quickly, only one hit popping up in the infield to be caught by the third base player. As the teams start to exchange places on the field, he looks back to Matt and asks, "So how have things been going? We haven't had any big cases lately, did all the criminals take a vacation or something?" Not mentioned in that question is the growth of the Bat Family and the recent showdown of the Court of Owls, which had the effect of dampening crime a bit of late.
Stephanie Brown	"I sure hope so," Matt DeLuca says with a laugh. "It is the 4th of July. And with so many people at work taking vacation this weekend, the least the bad guys can do is take a break as well, right?" he says. Stephanie claps as Danica strikes someone out, and then her team goes to take their turn at bat. "Let me go get us some hot dogs and sodas," she suggests to Dick as she stands up. Liz rises as well, saying, "I'll come with you Stephanie." The two head off together. Liz is a good dozen years older than Stephanie, but the two can be seen chatting away as they head over to the concession stand. They are laughing animatedly as they return, passing the food back to Dick and Matt and taking their seats. The game continues, Danica's team scoring two runs in the second inning, and another in the fourth. But at that point, the phones of both Matt and Dick chirp with text messages almost simultaneously. Generally something to do with work when that happens. Matt pulls out his phone to check it.
Dick Grayson	Dick also pulls out his phone, the look on his face saying he knows what's coming before he pulls up the text. With a sigh, he shakes his head and looks to Steph, "Well, there's the down side of our job. We have to go." He leans over and kisses Steph lightly, "Sorry about this, but why don't you stick here with Liz, take her and Danica out like we were supposed to do. You guys can get to know each other." He looks at Matt, "Well, so much for holidays. Let's get moving, maybe if this turns out to be something simple we can make it back for part of dinner or something." Matt nods, kissing Liz and stands, the two detectives heading for the parking lot.
Stephanie Brown	Liz looks the most disappointed out of everyone, though she says, "Well, you two be safe, Stephanie and I'll stay and cheer on Danica. That ok with you, Stephanie?" Stephanie Brown nods her head. "Sure. I'd ask if I could tag along and observe, but this way Liz and I can talk some more," she says, turning and giving a grin towards Liz that might have both Matt and Dick groaning slightly. "If you can make it to the restaurant, great. If not," Liz says, "I can drop Stephanie off after." Stephanie raises a hand to wave goodbye, eyes warm on Dick as he departs.
Stephanie Brown	The ride takes about 30 minutes over to the small home on the west side of Gotham's Miagani Island, a little south of the University and not all that far from the new brownstone that Dick Grayson bought. It is a small two story built on a hill, the entrance on the upper floor at the hill's top, and a lower floor with a view of a wooded area. When Dick's car pulls up, there is one police car out front, the lights left flashing. One patrolman is standing with a man out front. The other man is slight of build, wearing a brown jacket and horn-rimmed glasses. The patrolman recognizes the two detectives as they arrive, saying something to the man and then gesturing their way before he steps away from the man to greet Dick and Matt. "Detectives," he says. They are familiar with the patrolman, Ernest Tish works at their precinct. "Got a man here who came to check on a friend that wasn't responding. Went around back and saw him hanging inside on the lower level. Called 911," he says.
Dick Grayson	Getting out of the car, Dick already has his note pad out, taking notes as Ernest fills them in. Nodding, he asks, "Any open doors or windows, or do we have a sealed house? I assume the friend didn't go in after seeing that, just called us?" An unspoken 'I hope' is part of that question, as nothing messes up a crime scene like civilians blundering into it. He looks around, not expecting to spot anything right off the bat, but you never know. He gestures to Matt to check around the left side of the house while he takes the right side himself, working around towards the back. Interviewing the friend can wait, first is a search for any physical clues on the outside of the house before more people start tromping around.
Stephanie Brown	Patrolman Tish replies, "When we arrived, we checked the door and found it unlocked, and went inside to check for vital signs, and confirmed the person is deceased. Otherwise left the scene untouched for you." He pulls out his own notepad. "The home belongs to Michael Donner. The man who called in is Eli Rothchild. I'll stay with him while you guys do your thing. Joe's keeping an eye on the inside," he says of his partner. The house is relatively nice but not overly expensive. It's kept in good repair. No signs of any forced entry around the outside of the house. There's a sliding glass door on the bottom floor plus some windows that give a view into a room of the house where a man's form can indeed be seen hanging from the ceiling, though it's tough to see too much in great detail from outside with the reflections in the glass.
Dick Grayson	Once the outside is covered, Dick comes back around to the front and heads inside, looking around for any signs of trouble, anything out of place. Besides the hanging body, of course, those are pretty much always out of place. Once the rooms between the front door and body are checked, it's time for the body itself. He moves over to the body, starting with what the man is hanging from, looking closely to see if there are any obvious wounds, bruises, anything to indicate foul play. After that, he checks the method of hanging, just to be sure if it is something a person could do to themselves.
Stephanie Brown	The house is fairly clean and tidy and in good repair. A desk with a computer sits in one corner down here on the lower level. A set of shelves has a number of books, while a row of matching binders each with different labels like "North Korea", "Moon Landing", "Philadelphia Experiment" and other such things make a tidy row upon another shelf. Another table nearby holds a glass tank that holds a small turtle. It has a little pool in the tank, surrounded by various rocks. There is some slightly wilted lettuce over in a food bowl. There is a small home gym set up in the room where he died. A hook up on the ceiling was probably meant for part of the workout routine. However it seems to be getting used for something else. Michael Donner is a trio of inches short of six feet, and of very slender build, with dark hair. He looks to be about 35. He hangs from the hook, a thick, long belt around his throat, wrapped around it several times. His pants are down around his ankles, leaving his lower body clad in boxer shorts, giving the impression it might have been a case of autoerotic asphyxiation gone wrong.
Dick Grayson	Dick examines the body, pointing and and noting down the man's broken finger and the size of the belt. "Check this Matt, not likely this is his belt, it'd be huge on him. Did you see those binders on his shelves? Looks like he might be one of those conspiracy guys. Wonder if maybe he found a real one, cause something seems just a little bit off." He starts looking around the room, looking for any evidence of another person being in the room, anything that might give a clue as to what happened here. "Check his pockets Matt, let's see if there's a note."
Stephanie Brown	Matt moves over to start going over the body in more detail. The additional patrolman is standing over by the stairs that lead up to the rest of the house. "Yeah," Joe says, "You should probably talk to the guy who found him. Said something about knowing him from some website that sounded like a conspiracy theory kind of place." "Nothing in his pockets except a receipt from Big Belly Burger from two days ago," Matt says as he eyes the receipt and shrugs, not seeing any thing important on it. He walks over to the tank that holds the turtle. Beside the tank is a knitted 'turtle cozy' from the look at it, which has the name 'Humphrey' on it. "Cute little guy, never thought of having a turtle as a pet before," he says, reaching down and giving Humphrey a little prod. As he does, Dick might notice one of the rocks in the tank that line the little pool of water looks a bit different than the rest. Not only that, but Bruce has trained him on identifying a lot of the common places that people store keys outside of their homes. Dick can even tell just from looking who the manufacturer of the fake rock with a hidden compartment is.
Dick Grayson	"Yeah, they're not exactly a high energy pet, but I suppose it could be kind cool to have one or two. Looks like he took care of the little guy." He indicates the cozy by the tank. "Hang on a sec Matt, I think we've got something interesting here." He moves over to the tank and picks up the fake rock, turning it over to check for a compartment in the bottom. If what he recognized is correct, he'll open it up and see what, if anything, is inside.
Stephanie Brown	Matt turns back and joins Dick back at the tank as he picks up the fake rock. It's easy enough to twist the top section to open it if you know what it is, revealing a hollowed out space within that is generally meant for holding keys as it sits outside someone's house, blending in as part of their landscaping. Though in this case it's something very different inside. The rock, which was a fairly good match for the rest in the tank, contains a bug. Of the listening variety. Dick's knowledge of such things is quite extensive, again thanks to his mentor. Though he doesn't recognize this model at all, not something produced by the normal manufacturers that a civilian might turn to. Matt sees what it is and looks to Dick, an eyebrow going up when they meet eyes. "I think maybe we'd better talk to the person who knew him," he says.
Dick Grayson	Dick nods, but holds a finger to his lips, not wanting to alert whoever might be listening on the bug that it's been discovered. He puts the rock down carefully just outside the tank so as not to disturb the bug and answers Matt, "Yeah, nothing out of the ordinary here besides the belt size." He jots a note on his pad 'Need a minute to look around, you two go start talking to the witness please.' Once they go, the non-standard equipment comes out. A signal analyzer gets pulled out of an inside pocket and the bug gets examined and it's info uploaded to the Bat Network for Oracle to trace. Best way to crack this is to find out where the signal from the hidden bug is being sent. That done, he tucks the analyzer away and heads outside to join the talk with the witness.
Stephanie Brown	The information goes out to Oracle, and he receives back a text message: Oh something for me to play with! How sweet! Outside, Matt is just jotting something down in his book. "Eli, this is my partner, Dick Grayson. So go ahead and tell us how this all came about," he tells the man. Eli nods. He looks about how most people do who have come across a dead body. A bit of angst and emotion, but he's had sometime to process the worst of it in the time it took between then and now. "Well, I met Mike on a website that he runs. FindTheTruth.com. It's a site where critical freethinkers can gather and discuss the truths that are trying to be kept from us," Eli says. "So, he hasn't responded to anyone the last couple of days. I had met him once or twice before, we got together since we both live in Gotham. He didn't answer any texts or calls either. I told the rest of the site I'd come and check on him. I got here, rang the bell, no answer. I walked around the house, and saw him through the window there. And called 911. I didn't see anyone here," he says.
Dick Grayson	Dick Grayson says, "And had he been talking about any specific things lately, did he feel he was onto anything big, or seem worried about his safety? I imagine there may have always been a certain amount of worry with the kind of site he ran, but was there anything that stood out to you? Even something he just mentioned in passing?" He pauses, then adds, "And just to cover all the bases, had he mentioned anything about harming himself? You never can tell how these things have gone down, of course." He looks over the man, judging his reactions as they speak with him."
Stephanie Brown	Eli considers the question before slowly shaking his head. "Nothing to out of the ordinary I can think of. I mean, it's usually kind of a contentious place. People don't always agree, and then there's just the plain trolls. But there wasn't anything that really stands out that I can think of. Never talked about harming himself. I mean, he was kind of argumentative, but mostly a good guy. He sells stuff on Ebay for people. Volunteers at some shelter somewhere." The man looks over to the house and shakes his head. "Man, this is just... hard to believe. Do you need anything else from me?" he asks. Matt looks to Dick to see if he can think of any other questions before letting Eli go. Matt says to Dick, "We should probably take his computer back to go through. And maybe grab those binders too to take a look at?"
Dick Grayson	"Thanks Eli, we've got your info, so you can go. He's my card, if you think of anything unusual, please let me know. Other than that, if we have any other questions, we'll give you a call. He nods to Matt, "Yeah, we'll have to go through all his stuff. Let's go back in and take a look through some of his stuff." He heads to the room with the computer and binders, and starts by examining the desk to see if there are any notes, anything written down at all. He'll also check the desk drawers to see if he keeps stuff he's currently working on in his desk.
Stephanie Brown	Dick and Matt go through the rest of the house. Photos are taken and some evidence bagged. The desk gone through and binders collected. No signs of forced entry, no scratches on locks or scuffs on windowsills. Matt gathers up the binders and says, "We're heading over to Chesapeake Bay for the weekend, if you want to hang onto this stuff and see if you have a chance to look at any of before I get back on Monday," he says of the binders. The medical examiners have arrived to collect the body, taking it down after all the pictures and such are taken, and bagging it for a trip to the morgue and an autopsy. "Call it a night?" Matt says once they are done.
Dick Grayson	Dick nods, "Yeah, I don't think we're going to get much else done here now. I'm gonna grab the computer also, I don't want to leave it here. With that bug in the other room, there's something up, and I don't want someone breaking in and grabbing the thing over the weekend, plus I can work on it while you're gone. Got no real plans this weekend, so I can play a little computer hacker." He goes back in and before grabbing the computer, dusts the face rock and bug for prints, not likely if it was a pro but worth checking. After that he collects the computer as well and takes it out to the car. "Ok, let's go, maybe we can meet up with the girls."