Barry walked into Melanie's lab as she stared at the dead man's face, squinting hard. "The paralytic our killer injected this man with was highly concentrated. He overdosed on it."

"Dick just came back from doing a sweep around nursing homes and hospitals. No one has bought any paralytics in the last few months. He's still going to bring some people in for questioning." Barry explained as Melanie nodded. She turned the dead man's head, walking around the table and looked at the back of his neck.

"There wasn't any blood in the office, but these wounds right here is what killed him. But it wasn't a knife. I think the killer may have used the syringe to stab him multiple times in the head."

"Brutal. Have you found out what the killer injected himself with?" Melanie was quiet for a moment and glanced up at Barry, shaking her head. "He left no evidence of it. Stupid question, sorry."

"You apologize a lot, Barr. No need to be sorry for asking questions." Melanie slipped her gloves off and threw them away, tearing her apron off as well and let out a sigh. "His name was David Juneau. His wife is here for questioning, I should go see her. You should probably head back to Central City and take care of your own business."

"Yeah, probably. It was nice to see your new job." Barry smiled as he followed Melanie towards the door to her lab. "I'll see if Iris or Cora would want to stop for a visit sometime."

"I think I would like that, Barry. I'll let you know if I need any help with this case. But you know me. I probably won't." Barry let out a quiet scoff and Melanie raised a fist. Barry smiled, fist bumping her before walking away. Melanie stood in the doorway of her lab for a moment before walking towards a hallway to the interrogation room.

She pulled out a small notepad and pen from her pocket before knocking gently on the door before opening it, hearing a woman take a shuddering breath and sniffle. "Are you Mrs. Juneau?" Melanie asked and the dark haired woman nodded. "I'm CSI, and Detective Nyx, I'm working on the robbery to you and your husbands store. I would just like to ask you a few questions."

The woman stayed silent and nodded again as Melanie sat down. Tears streamed down the woman's cheeks, her running mascara darkening her eyes. "Can you tell me where you were at the time of the robbery?"

"I was... I was home. Making dinner for my children." Melanie raised a brow as she set the notepad down. "I work late at the homeless shelter when I'm not at our store. It was a stupid idea having a jewelry store in Gotham."

"How old are your kids?" Melanie asked. The woman sniffles again, wiping a tissue under her nose.

"8 and 12. They stay with their Aunt when they get out of school."

"What was your husband doing at the store so late?" Melanie questioned. The Mrs Juneau stayed silent, her eyes wary and glancing everywhere. Melanie tilted her head to try and meet the woman's gaze. "Miss Juneau?"

"He got a call." Melanie's look softened as the woman stared at her, jaw clenching. "That someone was going to rob us, okay? It was stupid for the guy to call the place he was going to rob, but I— I didn't believe them. But David he... He was so scared about losing the money that he stayed after hours.... And..."

The woman broke down again, covering her mouth. "The man said he wasn't going to kill him. He just wanted the jewelry. That's all he wanted."

"And he still killed your husband." Melanie mumbled and the woman nodded quickly. "Do you have a number for who called you?"

"No. I tried calling them again but I think it was a burner." Melanie sighed through her nose, standing up.

"I'm sorry this happened to you, ma'am. I'll make sure we find who killed your husband." The woman once again nodded, covering up a cry as Melanie left the interrogation room.

Dick rammed into her side, the two quickly looking to each other. "Sorry. I was—"

"No. My fault. I should have been walking on the other side." Dick apologized before looking down at Melanie's notepad. He then glanced over her head into the window of the room. "Did you question the jewelry store owner?"

"Yeah. Turns out they got a call before the robbery. But she doesn't have a number,m. Another dead end." Melanie slapped the notepad in her hand and started walking, Dick Grayson following slowly behind.

"He knew he was going to get robbed?" Melanie nodded, shrugging.

"Yeah. The robber claimed he wasn't going to kill anyone, either. I watched the footage with Boone and I got a few details on our suspect. I was just about to go up to Gordon."

"I can do it." Dick said as he outstretched his hand, waiting for Melanie to give him her notepad but she pulled away.

"I can do it myself. It's Detective now. Will probably stay that way with how outdated all of the equipment is in my lab." She complained, continuing to walk. Dick frowned at her, then looked down at the notepad.

"I'm sure if I had a look at the footage, I could come up with more details on the suspect." Melanie stopped in her tracks, turning to face Dick, who took a step away from her.

"What are you implying, Dick?"

"Real original. Look, I'm just trying to help, I didn't mean any harm from it." Dick argued and raised his hands in defense. Melanie raised her brows, forcing a smile.

"And while I appreciate it, this isn't my first murder / robbery case with little evidence. I have details on a suspect, and I have a heartbroken widow in the room behind you that needs to find justice in this shitty city. I got this." Melanie turned on her heel and walked away. Dick watched her for a moment before huffing, rubbing his eyes before going back to his office, mumbling incoherently.

He turned back only for a moment to see Melanie walking up the stairs to Gordon's office. He knew she wasn't a bitch despite the very few interactions they have had, given that he had worded his help the wrong way. But still, this was mostly his case, and he needed the information she had to catch the killer.

Why she wouldn't simply give it to him, he didn't know. The fact that she was cold and closed off towards most of her new coworkers had caught his attention, seeing as he was the cold and closed off one in the station.

Now that there were two of them, it peaked Dick's interest. There had to be a reason she gave everyone the cold shoulder, right? She wasn't just like that to be like that. He had his reasons, she had to have hers.

Dick shut the door to his office, glancing around before closing the blinds and walked over to his computer. His chair swiveled a bit as he sat down, pulling himself closer to the desk and quickly typed into his keyboard.

There was a long array of answers to his search, but none of them seemed to correlate to Phoebe. If he wanted a better search, he'd have to use Bruce's computer. He sighed a bit in frustration, resting his elbow on the desk and his head in his hand.

•••

"You're telling me you got all of this information from two minutes of security footage?" James questioned Melanie as he held her notepad. She nodded quickly, keep ling a straight face.

"And from what I gathered with the evidence. Force of impact from the injury on David's body, the pressure points in the shoe prints. And, even though it was black and white footage, I'm assuming our suspect is blonde."

"Blonde, 6'1 and relatively muscular." James scoffed, shaking his head. Melanie nodded again as she took the notepad from him.

"Yes. He has more of a defined jaw from what I saw on the security footage, and there was a tattoo on his wrist, but his clothes were covering it up. I also got one thumbprint on the crowbar that was mistakenly left behind and—"

"Mistakenly?" James interrupted Melanie as she looked up from her notepad, eyes wide with confusion.

"Well, why would you want to leave a murder weapon at a crime scene when your prints are all over it? It's stupid, really. Idiotic." James gave Melanie a strange look, and she cleared her throat awkwardly. "Anyways, the shitty little computer in my lab is still searching for a match on the thumbprint, but as soon as it's complete, I'll let you know."

James nodded to Melanie and she quickly walked out of his office, pausing and turned back for a moment. "And for the record, I'd rather play detective than CSI. At least until that computer gets replaced."

"It probably won't with our payroll." James answered honestly. Melanie pressed her lips together tightly, nodding before walking out.

"Mel! Your thing is done!" Melanie turned to her lab door to see Sterling standing by it, and she frowned in confusion.

"What are you doing in my lab?" She asked as she walked over. Melanie swung the door to her lab open and walked inside, followed by Sterling.

"I was trying to find you. I went to question the guy that saw the robbery go down. He said he saw a tall man running from the area before he called the cops. Blonde hair, 6'0-6'1 like you believed. How did you get all of that from security footage, by the way?"

"I didn't. I measured David over there and rewatched the footage. There were only a few clips of the killer and David standing near each other and I just went off of that. David's 5'9 and the killer was just a bit taller." Melanie explained as she walked up to her computer. She froze in her spot, trying to not show a look of fear as she stared at the picture of the suspect.

"What is it? You know the guy?" Sterling wondered, walking up to the computer. "Jackson Pilar. He's been arrested before for shoplifting, but nothing about assault or murder."

"He's from Central City." Melanie said quietly. Sterling turned to her, raising his brows. "He was the first criminal I ever caught. But he was let out on probation for good behavior. He.. He was just a kid when he got arrested." Melanie walked over slowly to the computer, a hard frown of confusion on her face.

"You can't be thinking 'He'd never do something like this' can you?" Sterling scoffed and Melanie shook her head hard.

"He wouldn't! He was a good kid! All he has ever stolen was food and prenatal vitamins for this girl he knocked up. The most expensive thing he ever stole was a flipphone. This kid isn't capable of killing." Sterling slowly looked over to the body bag near the window, and then to Melanie.

"Right. He wouldn't hurt a fly." Sterling stood up straight, exhaling sharply. "Hate to tell you this, Mel, but Gotham changes people. You gotta be tough to live here. And some people take it too far."

Melanie stared at the picture of Jackson with a heavy heart. Something felt awful about the situation, and she turned to Sterling.

"I'm going to put out an APB on this kid. Someone's bound to see him. I'll catch you later, Melanie." Sterling patted her arm before rushing out of her lab. Melanie watched for a moment before walking towards her desk and sank down into it. She covered her face, rubbing her hands down before turning to her intercom.

"Someone get this fucking body out of here." She spat, turning back to her computer. She slumped in her chair, staring at the blonde boy.

"Unbelievable."

•••

MelNie poured herself a large glass of wine and turned the TV on, taking a large gulp of the dry drink and sat down on her couch. She stared blankly at the TV for a long time before the picture of Jackson popped up on the screen.

"Gotham has had yet another tragedy. 32 year old David Juneau was found dead in his jewelry store at 9:37 last night, which had also been robbed of nearly half a million dollars. DNA testing has proven that Jackson Pilar is the prime suspect in this investigation. If anyone has details on Jackson's whereabouts, call Gotham City Police Department immediately. Jackson is 6'1, with blonde hair and green eyes. He was last notably seen wearing dark clothes and carrying lethal injections of a paralytic medication."

"This sounds really familiar." MelNie mumbled to herself before taking another sip of her wine. She glared at the TV as she thought, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Maybe it would come to her eventually.

•••

Melanie scribbled her notes on the file of the jewelry store robbery, dropping her pen on the table and flicked the file closed. She leaned back in her chair, turning to look at the now empty autopsy table, and stared for a long time.

The door to her lab suddenly swung open and Melanie shot up unconsciously, staring straight at the door. Dick paused, giving her an odd look before gesturing outside.

"We caught Jackson. Detective Boone said you might want to interrogate him first." Phoebe nodded in understanding and rushed towards the door, letting Dick step out of the way before following him towards the interrogation room that Jackson was being held in.

Dick watched as Melanie stood in front of the observation window, staring at Jackson for a long time. He glanced into the interrogation room, then back to Melanie as he attempted to pick apart what she may be thinking. Melanie suddenly walked towards the door and into the room, leaving Dick out in the hallway.

"Jackson..." Melanie spoke softly. Jackson slowly looked over to Melanie with a stone look, staring at her. Melanie stopped walking, feeling frozen in her place with the way he was looking at her.

"I remember you. You're the woman that got me locked up the first time. For stealing." Jackson's voice was complete different from the last time the two had interacted. Now, he spoke in a freakish tone that still sounded dead, as if his brain was working like a machine.

"How are you feeling?" Melanie asked him quietly, slowly walking up to the table. She sat down, still staring at Jackson as he followed her moves.

"I'm doing great." He answered monotonously, a weird smile cracking his lips. "I've been doing great for a long time."

"When did you get to Gotham?" She asked him. Jackson didn't move a muscle, but glanced behind Melanie to the observation window, where Dick was watching them closely.

"I can't answer that."

"Why not?" Melanie wondered, crossing her arms.

"The Operator wouldn't be very happy if I told you." Melanie's brows raised, confused as to what Jackson meant.

"The Operator? Whose that?"

"I can't answer that, either." Jackson's smile dropped, looking at Melanie. "But you know who he is. He told me you will remember."

Melanie shook her head, shrugging. "I don't know who the Operator is, Jackson. Can you tell me why you robbed the store?"

"The Operator needs money for his supplies, of course." Melanie shifted uncomfortably in her seat with the way Jackson spoke. The way he was staring straight through her, like he could see every thought that worked through her mind. Like he knew every secret about her.

"And the man you killed. Why?" Jackson's arms raised up robotically before dropping, his smile returning.

"He was in the way of my orders. It had to be done." He answered, looking up at the observation window again. He turned back to Melanie. "I will get out of here, you know."

Melanie slowly shook her head. "You've been arrested for robbery and murder, Jackson." Jackson very slowly shook his head.

"I am getting out. This is only the beginning of it. You will see." Jackson nodded once and leaned forward. Melanie scooted her chair away and stood up, walking out of the interrogation room.

"The Operator. Is that some Central City villain or something?" Melanie turned her head to see Dick standing by the window, hands in his pockets. Melanie raised her hands up.

"Fuck if I know. Jackson's been brainwashed. He's just rambling nonsense at this point." Dick turned to the window, watching Jackson, who still hadn't moved a muscle.

"Explains why his so... Robotic. Should someone do a blood sample to see what he injected himself with?" Melanie turned to Dick, frowning.

"How long has he been in here?"

"A few hours." Dick shrugged, walking with Melanie as she shook her head.

"Whatever he injected himself with has likely  worn off. We won't find any traces of it and the brainwashing looks to be years of work. He won't answer any questions that would involve The Operator, so he probably won't tell us where he's been located."

"Which means we won't find whatever the hell he shit himself up with." Dick complained, rolling his eyes. "Another dead end."

"Not really. We found the killer, that's one family that can find some sort of peace. We may not have found the guy that brainwashed the killer, but I can work on it."

"You?" Dick looked down at Melanie, who nodded.

"If Jackson thinks I know the Operator, then this is my problem that I need to solve. I'll have to start working right away." Melanie quickly rushed off back to her lab and Dick slowed to a stop, watching her disappear behind the door.