PFC Chapter 3865 The Nameless Bat (35)
Chapter 3865 The Nameless Bat (35)
Chapter 3865 The Nameless Bat (Thirty-Five)
The situation had indeed escalated. That was Natasha's first thought upon seeing the body. The body should have been labeled "Not for those under 80." In other words, no one present should have seen it except her.
But clearly, the people of this city didn't see it that way. They seemed quite used to it. Natasha had already seen many young faces hurrying past the crime scene, probably trainee officers or trainee agents, no older than 20. And apart from frowning and walking quickly, they showed no signs of discomfort.
What a cursed city. Natasha couldn't help but think.
In the previous cases, although the victims of the Eden Killer were killed by him and there was blood splattered at the scene, the scenes could not be described as gruesome; they were simply classic murder scenes.
But this time was different. For some reason, the Eden Killer began to toy with the corpses. The two bodies were still connected, but this time, a rope passed through their chests. The two were pressed tightly together, and then their arms were sewn together and hung vertically. The whole scene formed a cross shape, one horizontal and one vertical. It wasn't very bloody, but it was definitely eerie.
The identities of the deceased were quickly confirmed: one was a judge from the Gotham District Attorney's Office, and the other was his lover.
That's right, this time it's not a prostitute but a lover, and the judge had just gotten divorced recently. Both are currently single, making them a legally recognized couple.
Gordon was swamped with work. The biggest problem, clearly, still came from the reporters. They were rushing in like madmen, and most of the police force was being used to maintain order at the scene.
Natasha found it a bit absurd. If there wasn't a single good person in the entire city, and murders were commonplace, what was there for reporters to get excited about? Shouldn't this be your daily routine?
She soon learned the conclusion. The reporters' pronouncements were clearly biased. They were feeling panic, which meant their employers were also panicking.
It seems that most of the people who died in this city before were ordinary people. The upper class was well protected by their money and power. Madmen like the Joker or the Scarecrow never posed a threat to the real upper class, except for Bruce Wayne.
This time, an Eden Killer who doesn't play by the rules has emerged, so naturally they're very worried. Even though the mayor and judges are also their puppets, such a threat is unacceptable to them.
Natasha frowned deeply. There were informants for these people in the police department. The condition of the body could be leaked to pressure the police. She had to do something before things got chaotic again.
She saw Gordon talking to Schiller. Schiller pointed to the body, nodded, then shook his head. After they finished talking, Natasha seized an opportunity to approach Gordon and asked, "Director, what do you plan to do?"
“If only I had a way,” Gordon said. “Look, I know you’re thinking how useless the Gotham police are, but that’s just how this shitty city is. Batman and I have done everything we can to get so many normal people at crime scenes acting on their reason instead of their crazy fantasies. We really can’t expect them to do anything more.”
"On another note, I know there are a lot of young people here, some even too young, but that's not what I want. They are... recruited by Batman. There was an organization here called the Robin Gang, which were basically Batman's fanatics. To prevent them from going astray, Batman dumped them all here with me."
Gordon was clearly under a lot of pressure, grabbing someone and talking nonstop. Natasha barely understood what he was describing. Just as she was about to speak, a figure walked over.
“It’s me, James,” said a young man with black hair and blue eyes.
Gordon looked at him like a savior. He rushed over and hugged him, saying, "God, Tim, you finally dug yourself out of that pile of papers?"
“Actually, not yet. It's just that Barbara said you've been noticeably overworked lately, and the name of the Eden Killer has been circulating in Gotham for too long, so I thought I'd come and see if I could help you in any way.” Tim finished speaking and turned to Natasha, “And this beautiful lady is…”
“CIA agent, Natasha Romanov.” Natasha didn’t say much more. Although the young man in front of her looked like an adult, he still looked somewhat young, and his clothes and appearance were quite expensive; he didn’t look like a policeman or anything like that.
“The CIA?” Tim was somewhat surprised. But he quickly realized why he was there, and he looked at Gordon and said, “Could I take a look at the crime scene and the body?”
Gordon nodded and led him into the room. He stayed there for about 20 minutes. Natasha finished two cups of coffee and ate half a donut outside. Tim then came out of the room.
“Now I know why the CIA agents are here,” Tim said, looking at Gordon. “The killer is Russian, most likely a member of the Russian mafia. You’ll have to check out Binder Street.”
"How did you figure that out?" Natasha couldn't help but ask.
“Oh, so you didn’t know that.” Tim was slightly surprised again, but quickly got to the point. He said, “When you went in, you should have noticed that the rope wasn’t straight enough. It had some small creases and wear. After you took the rope down and restored it to its original shape, you could examine the worn areas carefully and see what it was originally used to tie up.”
"What are you bundling up?"
"Yes, the initial assessment is that it consists of six AN94 automatic rifles. These rifles are manufactured in Russia, and only Russian gangs can obtain them. Furthermore, the ends of the rope use a special knot, the kind used to hang hams in bacon shops in the St. Petersburg area, so the killer is very likely Russian."
“You’re really smart,” Natasha praised bluntly, then added in her mind, “much better than those psychics.”
Then she heard Schiller say to Gordon, “...The killer has an almost manic desire to perform, which has been hidden for a long time and has now been brought out. The raised arm represents cheers; he needs an audience. But obviously not many people are cheering for him, and he is feeling frustrated. He feels he is not suited for his current job, but he has nowhere else to go. He is afraid of letting many people down... In short, the host of a TV show that may be in prime time but whose ratings have recently plummeted, has a criminal record and has recently reformed—at least those around him think he has reformed. His way of interpreting his emotions is like a Russian.”
Natasha spat out her coffee.
“Antonio?!” Gordon shouted the name almost immediately, then his face turned ugly.
“If your judgment is accurate, then only Antonio fits these criteria. He used to work for his brother’s Russian mob, and was later rescued by Batman. The Penguin gave him a job as a TV presenter, but because he’s not very professional and his performance isn’t great, the ratings have dropped sharply recently…” Gordon explained.
“This is troublesome.” Gordon sighed. “He’s one of the Penguins. Even if he’s not that valuable, the Penguins won’t hand him over easily. It would make him lose face.”
Natasha frowned as well. She said, "What a coincidence! The killer manipulated by the Eden Killer this time is one of the Penguin's henchmen?"
“Nobody knows,” Gordon said. “From the beginning, nobody knew what the Eden Killer’s motives were. He seemed like a killer who committed crimes for pleasure, but his choice of targets was very peculiar. Now the situation is even more confusing.”
Natasha looked at Schiller. Schiller didn't say anything more, standing aside as if lost in thought. Then soon, the young officer brought another piece of bad news—the bartender at the Iceberg Restaurant had been murdered.
When Gordon and his men arrived at the Iceberg Restaurant, they heard the Penguin's tirade. Although he knew it wasn't the right time to demand the judge's life, he still had to recount the events at the scene of the judge's death to the Penguin.
"Fuck Antonio! What evidence do you have?!" The Penguin was clearly enraged. "You can't even see such an obvious frame-up? What are you cops for?!"
"Besides, my man was just killed. Instead of investigating and gathering evidence, you come asking me for the killer? Gordon, who gave you the audacity?!"
Gordon took a deep breath, struggling to suppress his anger, and said, "I'm just reminding you, Mr. Cobblepot. Antonio may very well be under the control of the Eden Killer. If you don't hand him over to us and he kills your men or you, I'll applaud him."
The penguin's face was terribly grim. He said, "Anyway, you find out who dared to kill on my turf first. Once I figure out what happened, I'll give Antonio to you."
Gordon's headache returned. He had no choice but to let Tim and Schiller come in again. This time, Tim couldn't figure it out, as he had been busy recently and didn't know much about the Eden Killer. Schiller, however, told Gordon that this time it was the copycat who did it.
The victims were also a man and a woman, but this time they were a bartender and a waitress at the Iceberg Restaurant. They died in the bathroom, not in a tethered position, but possibly after a passionate encounter. The crime was similar—strangulation followed by stabbing—just like the mayor's murder case.
However, because the crime scene was very clean and the operation was swift, there were no clues whatsoever. Gordon knew he couldn't rely entirely on his helpers, so he began directing technicians to collect clues from the scene.
“He’s completely messed things up.” Gordon took a deep breath and said, “If the people at Iceberg Restaurant hadn’t died, I was confident I could get Cobbler to give me Antonio. But now he’s enraged, and not only will we not be able to catch Antonio, the Penguin might even throw him into the Atlantic to feed the sharks. All leads have gone cold.”
“Why do I feel like this copycat is just causing trouble?” Natasha frowned. “If the mayor hadn’t died, there wouldn’t have been this much chaos; if the staff at the Iceberg Restaurant hadn’t died, the Penguin wouldn’t have prevented the suspect from cooperating with the investigation. He’s been interfering with our operations every time he’s done something.”
“Of course I can see that. His previous crimes have enhanced the Eden Killer’s reputation, and now he’s hindering us at every turn. But the problem is, he’s even cleaner than the Eden Killer. We simply can’t catch him.”
Natasha sighed and said, "Running around every day but not being able to hold onto even one person, it must be quite tiring, right?"
Gordon looked at him with some surprise and said, "I thought you were going to call us useless."
"I won't. Because there are others even more useless than you."
"Who?"
"New York Police Department."
The car drove all the way back to Gotham Police Department. The consultants who weren't part of the department went home. Natasha sat by the office window, looking out at the light rain that had started to fall again, then opened the DouJie interface and began sending messages to the agents:
"What are you doing?" Natasha added a smiling emoji.
"I don't have time to chat, thank you."
Natasha called him directly.