At this time, Batman was standing at the door frame. Opposite him was Thomas, who was strangling Lex's neck with a ferocious look on his face. On the side between the two of them, Cobblepot was holding up a dagger stained with blood.
Cold lights flashed, and the scene where the four people were was seemed to be condensed into a piece of ice. Time suddenly stopped and then began to reverse.
When the early morning light shone into Wayne Manor, Bruce was already working in the study. The Ark reactor model he obtained from Schiller was at hand, but at this time, he was not studying the model.
, but focused on his previous work.
He did not forget that he was investigating the death of the Elliots before, and for this reason, he wanted to investigate Falcone.
However, the investigation into Falcone has reached a deadlock. Everything in this city is related to him, but it seems that everything has nothing to do with him.
This idea came to a standstill, so Bruce changed to another idea. He checked the scene again and collected many detailed clues. One of the clues that made him feel more concerned was that he had photographed Elliot.
Couple's footprints.
It had just rained that day, and some of the soil and dust on the ground had not dried completely, so information about tire tracks and footprints could be collected.
The tire marks showed that the Elliotts parked the car on the main road, got out of the car and walked into the alley. When they got from the car to the place where they were killed in the alley, both of them were normal.
Judging from the pace of their walking, the two of them were neither hurried nor anxious.
In other words, they were not chased into the alley, nor were they forced or dragged in, but they walked in on their own.
Bruce looked at the photo of the footprints, narrowed his eyes, and began to imagine the situation at that time.
In some dim alleys, two figures gradually walked towards the end of the alley. Bruce turned his head and found that there was nothing special about this alley. The only difference was that the end of the alley opened
opened a video store.
If the Elliotts entered the alley voluntarily, their target could only be the video store.
However, the purpose of the Elliott couple's trip should be to visit the Falcone family. Why did they go to the video store?
Video stores usually sell cassette tapes, and better records are not sold here. Falcone would not like this kind of thing.
As far as Bruce knows, the Elliott family still can't challenge the Falcone family. Therefore, even if the Elliotts are angry again and go to the Falcone family to see their old godfather, they will definitely do what they want.
Bring a gift he likes.
The Elliot family has not yet reached the point where they can only buy low-quality gifts. Even if they want to buy records, they will definitely buy good ones and will not come to the video store to choose.
At this time, Bruce recalled a detail. At a party, Thomas once invited others to his house to listen to CD songs, saying that his home had a machine for playing CDs and many CDs with songs burned on them.
Discovering that the CD might be a clue, Bruce put down the materials in his hand and headed to the video store at the end of the alley.
After entering the video store, Bruce discovered that there were not many CDs here. The main products sold were tapes and records. After asking the boss, he learned that the CDs were not in stock.
Optical discs did not become popular until the mid-1990s. It is now the beginning of 1989. Therefore, optical discs are still a rare thing. The boss will not buy them specially because he is afraid that they will be smashed in his hands and cannot be sold. If you want to buy them, you have to contact us.
He orders the goods here and picks them up when they arrive.
Bruce chatted with the boss for a while and said that he was also a CD enthusiast and wanted to order a batch of goods from him. The boss was very enthusiastic and revealed a lot of information in his words.
And just as Bruce expected, the last person who ordered here was Thomas, and the date he made an appointment to pick up the goods was the day the Elliots were killed.
Elliot and his wife would walk into this alley to pick up groceries for their son, but before they could reach the video store, they were shot and killed.
At this point, the answer is ready to come out, but the only question is, what is the murderer's motive?
The Thomas Bruce knew was an ordinary person. He was kind-hearted, usually polite, had average grades, and loved to attend parties. He was a very common kind of rich second generation.
According to Bruce's understanding, Thomas has a good relationship with his parents. After all, he is an only child. His parents pay great attention to cultivating him, both spiritually and materially. They have never heard of any major conflicts between them. He should
There is no reason to kill your parents.
In order to solve this mystery, Batman came to the Gotham Police Station, wanting to find Gordon and interrogate Thomas again.
Batman told Gordon his inference about the death of the Elliots. Gordon felt that what he said made sense. At the same time, he also noticed another mood. He said: "Do you feel that Thomas was asked before?"
Did the boy who was imprisoned solve the murder in his dormitory a little too smoothly?"
"I rarely encounter such simple crimes in Gotham. Even though the gangsters' methods of committing crimes are very simple and crude, they are still very professional in getting rid of crimes. The remaining madmen will create all kinds of things to attract people's attention.
clues..."
"Moreover, Thomas didn't resist when he was arrested. This is really rare in Gotham. If everyone were like him, Gotham's interrogation rooms wouldn't be so riddled with holes."
"Had I not checked his file and found out that he was a native of Gotham, I would never have believed that he would have been arrested and imprisoned so calmly."
Batman narrowed his eyes and said, "Unless he deliberately created this crime and wanted to use it to cover up other crimes."
"When the Elliotts died, he should have been in prison. He had sufficient alibi. Therefore, even if I had some clues, I could not convict him with these clues."
Gordon frowned and said: "But this doesn't make sense. The murder of the cheerleaders is murder, and the murder of his parents is also murder. There is no need for him to use one murder to excuse another murder, because the sentencing for murder is
It's all the same, even if the crime of murdering one's own parents is more serious, there is not much difference between the two."
"If he killed the dance troupe members in order to create an alibi, he might have to spend decades in jail. If he didn't create this alibi and was imprisoned for murdering his parents, he would have to serve in jail for decades. Then
Why would he create an alibi? Anyway, they are all going to jail."
"Unless he is sure that the murder of the cheerleaders will be overturned." Batman speculated: "Remember? Not long after Doris was killed, there was another dancer.
One member was killed, and then the third one..."
"This looks very much like a serial murder. Thomas, the murderer of the first case, was imprisoned. But as the cases continue and the victims continue to appear, some people will think that Thomas was unjustly convicted and actually committed the crime.
He is a serial murderer who continues to commit crimes out there."
Gordon covered his forehead and said: "Indeed, everyone is now rumoring that this is a serial murderer. After all, the characteristics are too obvious."
Batman shook his head and said, "No, on the contrary, this is not a serial murder."
"How do you know?" Gordon asked, and he said: "I remember hearing Schiller say that the victims of serial murders have something in common, the place where they committed the crime and the way they committed the murder. I think this case
Doesn’t it fit these characteristics perfectly?”
Batman shook his head and said, "Did Schiller tell you that in real serial murders, there will be connections between each case, and the murderer will deliberately create these connections."
While Gordon was thinking, Batman said: "These murderers are desperately trying to eliminate evidence. They are different from those perverted lunatics. They do not kill for enjoyment, but just to kill."
"I think Thomas should have an accomplice. After he was imprisoned for a murder, his accomplice continued to commit murder outside, so that he could be freed."
At this time, an unexpected visitor came to the police station. It was Harvey Dent. When he walked into Gordon's office, Gordon walked up to him and hugged him, saying, "Long time no see, you're back from vacation."
?”
"Yes, in fact, I was called back. Guess who called me back?"
"who?"
"Attorney for the Elliott family. They want me to defend their master, Thomas Elliott, and plead his innocence."
"As expected." Batman said in a low voice: "Their defense argument is that the murder of the members of the cheerleading group should be a serial murder. After we arrested Thomas, the incident was still happening, so it means that
, he is not a murderer."
Harvey raised his eyebrows and said, "How do you know? What he said is exactly the same as what you said."
"Will the defense be successful?" Gordon asked.
"If I take action, it is indeed possible." Harvey was not modest, but said matter-of-factly.
"This is a bit troublesome." Gordon frowned, looking a little stressed, but at this moment, a police officer rushed into his office and shouted:
"Chief! Oh no! Thomas Elliot escaped from prison on the way from the police station to the prison!"
Everyone paused for a moment, and Gordon immediately asked: "Why? Why did he escape from prison? Didn't he intend to defend himself?"
Obviously, several people have thought that if Thomas refuses to admit and finds a lawyer to defend him and exonerate him, then he should stay there honestly and wait for the legal means to take effect. But now that he has directly escaped from prison violently, he will lose
Taking away all opportunities for defense is equivalent to admitting that he was responsible for the murder.
His behavior was inconsistent, so few people didn't quite understand why, but Batman knew that he had to stop Thomas and not let a crazy murderer roam the city.
So, he followed the clues provided by the police station and found the place where Thomas escaped from prison.
Thomas's escape process was not smooth. His head was smashed and his ankle was twisted, leaving many traces. Batman followed these traces and chased him to the experimental building of Gotham University.
Met Rex and Cobot.
At this time, Thomas, who was restraining Lex, said something shocking:
"I'm not here to kill! I'm here to protect my fiancée!"
"There's a crazy serial killer at work! She's in danger!