**Tuesday Night**
"Entrance costs two hundred,"
The Stacked Deck lived up to its name. The main room was set up like an extravagant bright casino floor—card and game tables, many bars and food tables, with some booths in darker corners upstairs where private conversations could happen.
The clientele was exactly what she'd expected: criminals and gangsters but no villains. She spotted at least three people carrying concealed weapons, well badly concealed weapons, suggesting they wanted others to know they were armed.
Nemuri made her way to the bar, ordered something expensive but not something that would mark her as either cheap or showing off. The bartender was a woman in her forties with sharp eyes and hands that moved with practiced efficiency.
"First time here?" the bartender asked, sliding the drink across.
"Yes. My friend recommended it as a place where people know things."
"Depends what you want to know. We get a lot of people asking questions they shouldn't." The bartender's tone was neutral, but the warning was clear.
"I'm looking for information about a person. I am Willing to pay what is needed." Nemuri discreetly slid $5000 in hundred dollar bills across the bar.
She had earned her large amount of wealth by abandoning her son so it didn't matter how much she spent to have a chance of finding him.
The bartender pocketed it smoothly. "Person got a name?"
"Suguro Crane. He should be around twenty now"
The bartender's expression didn't change, "That's not a name I know, but tell our owner upstairs he is well connected and Ill let him know your not broke"
"Thank you."
Nemuri took her drink to a small table with a view of the room and after about twenty minutes, a man approached her table, a man in his late thirties around her age, in an expensive yellow suit and tinted sunglasses.
"Mind if I join you?"
"Please." Nemuri gestured to the empty chair.
He sat, ordered his own drink from a passing server, then leaned back with practiced casualness. "One of my employees told me you're asking about someone named Crane. That's interesting because that's not a name most people should know"
"Why?"
"asking about some people can be hazardous to your health if you don't know what you're doing." He studied her carefully. "You don't look like law enforcement, and your definitely not one of the few heroes left here, in fact you don't look like you belong in this city at all. So what's your interest in this name?"
Nemuri had prepared a cover story, one close enough to truth to be believable. "I'm looking for someone's child who I knew before she passed away in a villain attack. I recently discovered that her son might have survived."
The man's expression became more guarded. "And you think asking around in criminal bars is the way to find a missing kid?"
"The police told me they couldn't help. Someone suggested that this might be more effective."
"Someone gave you dangerous advice." He leaned forward slightly, the casino lights glinting off his glasses. "if the kid you're looking for is who I think you're looking for…"
"You know something!?" she blurted out.
He studied her for a long moment, clearly weighing how much to say.
"Crane isn't just some missing kid anymore"
Nemuri's chest tightened, but she kept her expression neutral. "I understand you're being vague. I need specifics."
He remained quiet and his expression looked as if he was considering just leaving the conversation.
"If I wanted to contact this person," she said carefully, "how would I do that?"
The man laughed, she intrigued him enough to respond, maybe—*maybe*—I could you get a meeting but I need to really know why you want to speak with him lady"
"I just need to talk to him."
"About what?" The man's expression was genuinely curious now.
Nemuri realized she'd reached a decision point. She could continue being vague, or she could tell something closer to truth and risk the consequences. Her drink had loosened her control slightly, the desperation was overwhelming her caution, and she was so tired of carrying this secret alone.
"He's my son," she said quietly. "I gave birth to him and left him with his Grandmother in the West end Narrows because I wasn't ready to be a mother. I never checked on him, never sent money, never did anything. And now I've discovered he survived, and I need to see him. I need to explain, or apologize, or… something. I don't even know what I need. But I can't leave Gotham without at least trying to reach him."
The man stared at her for a long moment, his expression cycling through disbelief, recognition, and something that might have been pity. "You're serious. You're actually the kids mother."
"If he is who you believe he is, then yes."
"Let me make a call in my office Ill be back in a few minutes" and the man left upstairs.
"So the boss actually is interested?" Nemuri turned and saw the bartender from before waving her over.
"Seems so" she said as her drink was topped up
"Who is he anyway?"
"Goes by Eraser. He specializes in making problems disappear, mostly evidence, I think he has some sort of cleaning or DNA quirk. He is pretty well connected in the mafia groups in the city, if hes interested in what your problem is… funny I didn't take you for a crime family type"
She laughed a little in her head then realized what she said after.
"Crime family?"
"Well ya? Whoever you're looking for is in one right?"
"I suppose thanks for telling me." Nemuri answered before heading back to the small table drinking faster now unsure what to think, did her son work for gangsters?
"Mr. Eraser?" she asked.
"I talked with your supposed son." The man returned.
She immediately pressed the conversation "I just need to talk to him. And I can pay whatever your standard rate is."
"My standard rate is ten grand for simple jobs, lady. This isn't a simple job, this is potentially putting me in the crosshairs of some of Gotham's most powerful men. I want double for this, you able to pay that?"
"Yes."
He was quiet for a very long time. Finally, he said, "You're serious."
"Will you help me?"
"Meet me here tomorrow night at this time. Ill call again and tell him who you really are and see if he's even willing to believe or hear from you. But I'm not promising anything. If he says no, that's final. Understood?"
"Also I am a fair criminal amongst this city so I only want half of my fee upfront"
"Understood. Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet."
He left, disappearing into the crowd, and she finished her drink, paid her tab with a generous tip, and left. The night was cold, and Gotham's streets were dangerous, but she barely noticed. Her mind was already spinning with what she'd say, how she'd explain, what words could possibly account for a lifetime of abandonment.
There were no words. She knew that. But she had to try anyway.
Back at her hotel, she attempted sleep again, knowing it would be fitful. Tomorrow would either bring confirmation that Suguro would meet with her, or final rejection that closed the door forever.