The situation has indeed escalated. This was Natasha’s first thought upon seeing the corpse. This corpse should be marked as "not suitable for viewing by those under 80 years old." In other words, no one present, except for her, should be looking.
But evidently, that’s not what the people of this city think. They seem to be used to it. Natasha had already seen many young faces hurrying past the cri scene, probably intern officers or interns, possibly not even over 20 years old. Besides their furrowed brows and quick steps, they showed no discomfort.
What a godforsaken city, Natasha couldn’t help but think.
In previous cases, although the victims of the Eden Killer had been slain by him, with blood splattered at the scene, they couldn’t be described as brutal, just classic murder scenes.
But this ti was different. For so reason, the Eden Killer started to toy with the corpses. These two corpses were still in a connected state, but this ti, a rope passed through their chests. The two were very close, and their arms were sewn together, hung up vertically. The whole scene ford a horizontal and vertical cross shape. It wasn’t very bloody, but it was eerie.
The victims’ identities were quickly confird: one was a judge from the Gotham Prosecution Office, the other was his lover.
That’s right, this ti it wasn’t a prostitute but a lover, and the judge had just recently divorced. The two were currently both single, making them legal lovers.
Gordon was overwheld and flustered. The biggest issue still clearly ca from the reporters. They rushed in like mad, with most of the police forces being used to maintain order at the scene.
Natasha found this a bit absurd. If there isn’t a good person in the entire city and murders are commonplace, what exactly are the reporters so excited about? Shouldn’t this be their daily routine?
Soon she understood the conclusion. Because the words the reporters were shouting clearly had a bias. They were feeling panic, which ant their employers behind them were also in fear.
It seems that in the past, most of those who died in this city were ordinary people. The upper-class was well-protected by their money and power. Lunatics like Joker or Scarecrow had never threatened true upper society figures, except for Bruce Wayne.
But now there’s an Eden Killer who doesn’t play by the rules, so of course, they are worried. Even though the mayor and the judge are their puppets, this kind of threat is sothing they cannot accept.
Natasha frowned deeply. There are informants of these people in the police station. The situation of the corpses might be exposed to pressure the police station. Before the situation gets chaotic again, she must do sothing.
She saw Gordon talking to Shiller. Shiller pointed at the corpses, nodded, then shook his head. After they finished talking, Natasha seized a mont and approached Gordon, saying, "Mr. Commissioner, what do you plan to do?"
"I wish I had a plan." Gordon said, "Listen, I know you’re thinking about how useless Gotham’s police are, but this goddamn city is like that. To have so many normal humans who act with reason instead of delusional fantasies at a cri scene, I’ve already exhausted everything Batman and I have. We can’t expect them to make any progress."
"By the way, I know there are many young people here, so even too young, but this is also not what I wanted. They are... Batman recruited them. We had an organization here before, called the Robin Gang, you could say they are Batman’s fanatics. To prevent them from going astray, Batman dumped them all on ."
Gordon was clearly under too much pressure, grabbing soone and talking incessantly. Natasha managed to understand what he was describing. She was about to speak when a figure walked over.
"It’s , Jas." said a black-haired, blue-eyed young man.
Gordon seed to see a savior, he rushed over and hugged him, then said, "Oh my God, Tim, did you finally dig yourself out of that pile of files?"
"Actually, not yet. It’s just that Barbara said you’ve been clearly overloaded lately, and the na Eden Killer has been circulating in Gotham for too long, so I thought I’d co over and see if I could help you with anything." Tim said, turning his head to look at Natasha, "This beautiful lady is..."
"CIA Agent, Natasha Romanoff." Natasha didn’t say much. Although the young man in front of her seed to be an adult, he was still sowhat young, and his attire was quite costly, not looking like any kind of officer.
"CIA?" Tim was a bit surprised. But he quickly rembered his purpose for being there, he looked at Gordon and said, "Can I take a look at the cri scene and the bodies?"
Gordon nodded and took him into the room. He stayed there for about 20 minutes. Natasha finished two cups of coffee and a half donut outside. Tim finally ca out of the room.
"I get why a CIA agent is here now." Tim said to Gordon, "The killer is Russian, most likely a mber of the Russian Mafia. You’ll need to check out Binder Street."
"How did you figure that out?" Natasha couldn’t help but ask.
"Oh, you didn’t know?" Tim once again showed slight surprise but quickly went into the details, saying, "When you go in, you should see that the rope wasn’t straight, with so small creases and wear and tear. Taking the rope down, restoring to its original shape, and closely inspecting the worn areas, you can see what they were originally used to tie up."
"Tying up what?"
"Yes, initially it appears to be six AN94 automatic rifles. These guns are produced in Russia, only the Russian Mafia can get them. And both ends of the rope use a special knot, the kind used in at shops in St. Petersburg for hanging hams, so the killer is most likely a Russian."
"You’re really smart." Natasha bluntly praised, then added in her heart, "Much better than the spiritualists."
Imdiately after, she heard Shiller say beside Gordon, "... The killer has an almost manic exhibitionism and has been hiding for a long ti. Now, he’s been lured out. The raised arm represents cheering; he needs an audience. But obviously, not that many people are cheering for him, and he’s feeling frustrated. He thinks he’s not suited for his current work, but has nowhere else to go. He’s afraid of letting down many people’s expectations... In summary, soone who might be in the pri slot, but whose TV show’s ratings have recently plumted. A host with a criminal history who has recently turned over a new leaf—at least those around him think he has. The thod of interpreting his own emotions is like a Russian."
Natasha sprayed her coffee.
"Antonio?!" Gordon almost imdiately shouted the na, and then his face turned grim.
"If your judgnt is correct, the only one who fits these criteria is Antonio. He used to work for his brother’s Russian Mafia, then was saved by Batman. Penguin Man arranged a TV host job for him, but since he’s not very professional, his performance hasn’t been great, and recently the ratings have really dropped..." Gordon introduced.
"This is going to be troubleso." Gordon sighed deeply, "He’s a man of Penguin Man. Even if he isn’t very valuable, Penguin Man won’t give him up easily. That would be losing face."
Natasha also frowned and said, "Why is it such a coincidence? The Eden Killer is manipulating Penguin Man’s subordinate this ti?"
"Nobody knows." Gordon said, "From the beginning, nobody knew what the Eden Killer’s motive was. He seems like a killer who commits cris for pleasure, but the choice of his targets is very peculiar. Now the situation has beco even more chaotic."
Natasha looked at Shiller. Shiller said nothing more, standing aside as if he was daydreaming. Then quickly, a young officer brought another bad news—the bartender at the Iceberg Restaurant had been killed.
When Gordon and his crew arrived at the Iceberg Restaurant, they heard Penguin Man swearing loudly. Although he knew now wasn’t the ti to demand anything, he still had to repeat the details of the judge’s death and the cri scene to Penguin Man.
"Damn Antonio! What evidence do you have?!" Penguin Man was obviously infuriated, he said, "How can you not tell this is an obvious set-up? What are the police good for?!"
"And, one of my n just got killed. Instead of investigating, you co asking for the killer? Gordon, who gave you such audacity?!"
Gordon took a deep breath, tried to suppress his anger, then said, "I’m just reminding you, Mr. Cobblepot. Antonio is very likely being manipulated by the Eden Killer. If you don’t hand him over to us, if he kills your man or you, I’ll be there cheering for him."
Penguin Man’s face was terrifyingly dark. He said, "Anyway, find out who dared to kill soone on my turf first. Once I figure out what’s going on, I’ll give you Antonio."
So Gordon was troubled again. He had no choice but to let Tim and Shiller co in for another look. This ti Tim couldn’t figure anything out because he’s been busy and doesn’t know much about the Eden Killer. But Shiller told Gordon, it was done by a copycat.
The deceased, also a man and a woman, but this ti it was the bartender and server at the Iceberg Restaurant. They died in the restroom, and when they died, they weren’t connected, but they might have just had an intense mont. The thod was once again strangulation followed by stabbing, identical to the mayor’s murder case.
But it was precisely because the cri scene was extrely clean and the work was so efficient, there was not the slightest clue. Gordon realized he couldn’t rely solely on help and began directing technicians to extract clues at the site.
"He’s turned the situation into a complete ss." Gordon took a deep breath and said, "If the people at the Iceberg Restaurant hadn’t died, I’d be confident to have Cobblepot hand Antonio over. But now he’s enraged, not only can we not catch Antonio, but Penguin Man might even throw him into the Atlantic to feed sharks. All clues would be cut off."
"Why do I feel this copycat is just causing chaos?" Natasha frowned, saying, "If the mayor hadn’t died, it wouldn’t have caused such a ss; If the employees at the Iceberg Restaurant hadn’t died, Penguin Man wouldn’t refuse to have the suspects cooperate with the investigation. Every ti he acts, it interferes with our actions."
"Of course, I see it. The cases he’s committed previously have boosted the Eden Killer’s fa quite a bit, and now he’s blocking us everywhere, but the problem is his moves are cleaner than the Eden Killer’s. We simply can’t catch him."
Natasha sighed and said, "Rushing around all day but catching no one, must be quite tiring, right?"
Gordon looked at her sowhat surprised, and said, "I thought you’d be blaming us for being useless."
"I wouldn’t. Because there’s soone even more useless than you."
"Who?"
"New York Police."
The car drove all the way back to the New York Police Departnt. Consultants not part of the police departnt went ho. Natasha sat by the office window, looking out at the small rain starting again, then opened the Battleworld interface, starting to send ssages to agents:
"What are you up to?" Natasha attached a smiling emoji.
"No ti for chit-chat, thanks."
Natasha directly dialed him.
User Comments
0 comments from readers