The Long Easter (7)

In the Gotham Police Department's interrogation room, Schiller blew on a cup of hot coffee, and the rising steam drifted away, staining the lenses of his glasses.

The officer sitting opposite him stood up and gave Gordon his seat. Gordon tapped the table and said exasperatedly, "Can't you act like a suspect? This is Police Department interrogation room! Not handcuffing you is no excuse for you to drink coffee!"

"The police officers outside were complaining that you wouldn't drink an Americano and insisted on an espresso, so they had to run up to the fourth floor to use the new coffee machine..."

"Could you please stop acting like you know the interrogation room like the back of your hand, like a repeat offender?"

"I'm from out of town, that's why I'm sitting here drinking coffee. If I were a local..."

Schiller looked up and glanced around. Gordon followed his gaze, and the two looked at the dense bullet holes on the wall. Gordon was speechless for a moment. He knew what Schiller meant by the second half of his sentence. If they were locals from Gotham, a full-blown fight would have already broken out by now.

"Whatever you've found out, I can only tell you that you've come to the wrong person. I'm just a university professor who has never even fired a gun."

Gordon sighed again. He sat down opposite Schiller and said, "According to our investigation, you are the only one in the school who has a clear conflict with the new principal Sheldon. You are our key target for investigation."

"What conflict do I have with him?" Schiller asked Gordon. "I have completed all the teaching tasks he assigned perfectly, and I have not missed a single assignment, even those that were outside my job scope."

"I've taken on the roles of freshman guide, Administrator, and archivist, and I haven't even asked for a raise..."

"But according to testimonies from other faculty and staff, the new headmaster Sheldon, was quite dissatisfied with you."

"He was dissatisfied with me, so why was he the one who died?"

"That's a question for you."

"You can't assume my motives by guessing what I'm thinking. In my opinion, he's not a good principal, but he's not too bad either. Maybe he has personal issues with me, but we haven't had any disagreements or real conflicts at work, and we haven't infringed on each other's interests. There's no deep-seated hatred that would make it worth killing someone."

Gordon looked at him silently. He knew that Schiller was right. According to their investigation, although Sheldon seemed to have a bad attitude towards Schiller and was always looking for trouble, they did not have much conflict at work. There was no instance of Schiller disobeying work arrangements, and the two rarely communicated or had any direct arguments.

In fact, Gordon didn't have high hopes for Schiller's investigation, because based on his understanding of the professor, if he were to take action, he wouldn't use such a direct method, and if he did, he wouldn't let anyone catch any evidence.

In comparison, Victor is more suspicious because he was the first to discover the crime scene, and he had a good relationship with Schiller but not with Sheldon.

Furthermore, Victor had previously complained to his colleagues that Sheldon's Easter schedule was too packed. While this wasn't enough to warrant murder, it did show that he didn't particularly like the new headmaster.

According to Gordon's investigation, Sheldon had no bad habits. If anything, he was too much like a politician, always moving among the powerful and wealthy, participating in various banquets and events of Gotham's upper class, and expressing his views on various social events in his capacity as the principal.

Of course, perhaps out of fear of the gangsters, he was not a righteous and rational person, and his attitude was quite wavering. Such a person is not likely to make a deadly enemy of others.

Schiller, sitting across from Gordon, said, "Actually, I do have a clue to tell you."

What is it?

Schiller put down his coffee cup, placed his hands on the table, and said, "This new principal is keen on associating with the upper echelons of the mafia, just as he has with powerful figures in other cities."

"But gangsters and ordinary businessmen are different. The lifeline and secrets of certain illegal industries cannot be known to anyone. I suspect... of course, it's just suspicion..."

"You mean, Sheldon might have been silenced?"

Gordon for a moment, then said, "That's certainly possible. The level of the gang members he associates with does allow them access to secrets unknown to others. If Sheldon is involved in something..."

"Of course, I want to emphasize that this is just a guess, and it is my personal guess. I am not implying anything, and I have not heard any rumors."

Gordon stared at him, rolled his eyelids up to look at Schiller from above, and asked, "The law of Hush?"

Schiller shook his head and made the sign of the cross on his chest.

Just as Gordon continued his conversation with Schiller, a police officer knocked on the door, walked in, saluted Gordon, and said, "Boss, we've made a new discovery."

Then the young officer glanced at Schiller, seemingly asking Gordon if he wanted to go outside to talk, to Gordon replied directly, "No need to go outside, we'll talk here."

This is also a common tactic in interrogations, using new developments in the case to increase pressure on the person being interrogated. Gordon didn't actually intend to use this method against Schiller; he was just used to it.

"We discovered that all the drawers and cabinets on the victim's desk had been ransacked. A locked drawer at the bottom of the desk had been pried off. So we searched the entire desk carefully and found a hidden compartment on the side of the middle drawer."

As he spoke, the young officer took out a transparent plastic bag containing a cassette tape. Gordon gestured to the officer behind him to bring a tape recorder, then put on Gauntlet, took out the tape, examined it, and said, "There doesn't seem to be any damage on the surface. It should be playable."

Gordon put the tape into the tape recorder and pressed a button. The first sound that came out of the recorder was a buzzing electrical sound, followed by a burst of noise.

Immediately afterwards, a familiar voice came from the tape. "The goods from Plantation Number Nine go through Old Wilkin's route, the route that goes through three streets in the East End. Their volume is so large that the delivery point is set up in the basement of a nightclub. If you need, I can put in a word with him..."

"You're worried about that? There's no need. As far as I know, that underground chemical plant in the West End is also Falcone..."

Upon hearing this, Gordon's finger twitched, and he immediately turned off the recorder. He said to the others in the room, "For your own safety, you didn't hear anything, understand?"

The young subordinates immediately covered their ears, nodded, and left. After they left, Gordon glared at Schiller, Schiller said to Gordon, "Officer, I'm calling the police. Someone is eavesdropping on my privacy and recording me."

"What kind of privacy is this? You..."

"Then you can simply broadcast this recording over the Police Department's loudspeaker."

"If you want to destroy the Gotham Police Department, just say so."

Gordon took a deep breath, sat down, and gestured for Schiller to sit as well, saying soothingly, "Alright, alright, I'm not saying you killed Sheldon, but you should at least explain to me what happened."

"I'll say it again, I didn't kill him."

Schiller sat down, took another sip of coffee, and said, "You should know that there are cameras inside Gotham University, right? Our Principal Sheldon observes the campus every day through cameras from his office."

"That also includes the phone calls I received in public areas, but I really didn't know he was recording them." Schiller shook his head and said, "I have to say, as an outsider, he's really bold."

Gordon exhaled the breath he had been holding in, and then said, "It seems he really was silenced..."

"This is the crime scene." Gordon picked up a stack of photos and said, "According to our investigation, Sheldon was pushed off the building. The balcony railing of his 8th-floor office is very low. He must have been standing in front of the railing when someone pushed him and he fell down."

"According to the on-site investigation, he was likely Facing Away the person when he was pushed down. This means that he probably knew the murderer and was not on guard against him. He was pushed down while speaking to the murderer with his Facing Away him."

"This was an inside job, and the method was very different from the Gotham style. It didn't involve Submachine Gun or shotguns, or even a pistol."

"So, Victor and I became suspects, right? Because we two knew Sheldon fairly well, and we were outsiders who weren't very good with guns and weren't strong enough."

"Now you're much more suspicious than Victor, after all, he heard some inside information from you, you have a reason to silence him..."

Just then, a loud noise came from the center of the Police Department lobby, accompanied by shouts and curses. Gordon immediately stood up, and an officer rushed in and said, "Sheriff Gordon, something's happened!"

"Don't panic, what happened?" Gordon stood up and turned to ask him. The officer shouted, "Winnie at the front desk and Bird on duty have suddenly gone berserk! The others are trying to stop them..."

"Gone mad?" Gordon immediately realized something. He turned around and opened the Iron Gate of the interrogation room, letting Schiller out. Then the group hurried to the front hall.

When they arrived at the lobby, the madman had been subdued, but he was still struggling and growling. Gordon tried to approach, but another Sheriff stopped him, saying, "Don't go over there, they're crazy. I almost got bitten just now!"

"What exactly happened? How could this have happened so suddenly..."

"Who knows? I was chatting with Winnie about our Easter plans when she suddenly started convulsing, then she leaned back violently, started slamming her arms against the counter, and even threw a chair. Bird on the other side also went crazy..." said an officer who was holding Winnie down.

Gordon wanted to go to the counter to check, Schiller sniffed, pulled Gordon back, and said, "Don't go there. Evacuate the people first, get the patients to the hospital, and then look for the gas masks in your armory; there might be something wrong with them..."

"You mean..." Gordon paused, then shouted, "Everyone back off! Get out of this room! Get to an open area, don't come any closer!"

After everyone else had left, Schiller went in alone. He walked too fast for Gordon to stop him.

When Schiller walked to the counter, he found some fragments of eggshells there, and they were even colorful.

Gordon stood outside the room waving incessantly at Schiller. After observing the surroundings, Schiller came out and said to Gordon, "There must be something wrong with the Easter eggs."

"An Easter egg? I think I heard Winnie mention it, saying she received a really nice Easter egg today..." another policewoman said.

"Do you remember the mass outbreak of illness among Gotham University students?"

Schiller squinted, took out his phone, and called his colleague Anna, saying, "Hello... Yes, I wanted to ask if those Easter eggs you bought earlier have been distributed to the students yet?"

"Really? Do you remember who you sent them to? Could you give me a list? Okay, Thank you..."

Then he called Victor and asked, "Did you give those Easter eggs you made to the students?... You already gave them to them? Do you remember who you gave them to? Can you give me a list?"

Schiller explained to Gordon, "On the eve of Easter, Principal Sheldon suddenly distributed a lot of materials for making Easter eggs, asking the professors to make their own Easter eggs to give to the students."

"My colleague Anna and I found it too much trouble to make them ourselves, so we bought ready-made ones from outside. Now both types of Easter eggs have been distributed to students. I asked them for the list of students who received the Easter eggs, and by comparing them, we can figure out which Easter egg is problematic..."