บท 258: Chapter 167: The Long Easter (Part Seven)_1
In the interrogation room of the Gotham Police Department, Shiller carried a hot cup of coffee and blew on it lightly. The steam billowing from the cup fogged up his glasses.
The police officer across from him stood up, giving way to Gordon. Gordon knocked on the desk and gave an exasperated sigh, saying, "Can't you act a little like a suspect? This is the interrogation room of the Gotham Police Department! The fact that you're not in handcuffs doesn't mean you can enjoy your coffee here!"
"The officer outside was complaining that you refused to drink Americano, insisted on an espresso, and he had to go up to the fourth floor to use the new coffee machine…"
"Can't you stop acting so familiar with this interrogation room, like you're a perpetual criminal?"
"I'm an outsider, that's why I'm sitting here drinking coffee. If I were a local…"
Shiller cast a look around the room. Gordon followed his gaze, and both men looked at the bullet marks densely covering the walls. Gordon was momentarily speechless. He knew the rest of Shiller's statement--A Gotham local would already be armed and ready for a fight by now.
"No matter what you've found, I can only tell you that you've got the wrong man. I'm just a college professor who's never even fired a gun."
Gordon sighed again. He sat down across from Shiller and said, "According to our investigation, out of everyone at the school, you're the only one who had an obvious conflict with our new Principal Sheldon. You're our main person of interest."
"What possible conflict could I have with Sheldon?" Shiller asked Gordon. "I've flawlessly completed every teaching task assigned to me by Sheldon, even those that exceeded the scope of my work. I haven't slacked at all."
"I've served as a student orientation leader, a school librarian, an archivist, and not once did I ask for a raise..."
"But according to other school staff, Principal Sheldon was highly dissatisfied with you."
"If he was dissatisfied with me, why is he the one who ended up dead?"
"That's what we need to ask you."
"You can't just presume my motives by guessing my feelings. He wasn't necessarily a good principal in my opinion, but neither was he terribly bad. Perhaps he personally didn't like me, but we never had any disagreements at work, no substantial conflicts, no infringements on each other's interests. There was simply no deep-seated hatred or reason for me to kill him."
Gordon silently watched him. He, too, knew that Shiller was right. According to their investigation, although Sheldon seemed to have a bad attitude towards Shiller and often looked for trouble with him, there were no major conflicts at work. Shiller hadn't rebelled against any work arrangements, and the two of them rarely even interacted, let alone had a direct confrontation.
In fact, Gordon didn't have high hopes for the investigation into Shiller. Given what he knew about the professor, if Shiller had done it, he wouldn't have used such a direct method. If he had, he wouldn't have left any evidence for anyone to find.
By comparison, Victor was more suspect. He was the first to discover the crime scene, got along well with Shiller, and didn't have a particularly good relationship with Sheldon.
Moreover, Victor had previously complained to his colleagues about Sheldon's strict Easter arrangements. Even if this wasn't enough to motivate murder, it was clear that Victor disliked the new principal.
According to Gordon's investigation, Sheldon didn't have any bad habits. If he had to name something, Sheldon was too much like a politician, always hobnobbing with the elite, attending various upper-class parties and events in Gotham, and making statements on various social events under his principal's identity.
Of course, perhaps out of fear of the mob, he wasn't an upright reformer. He tended to waver, and it wasn't easy for such a person to make deadly enemies.
Shiller sat across from Gordon and said, "Actually, I do have a clue to give you."
"What is it?"
Shiller put down his coffee cup, placed both hands on the table and said, "It's been observed that the new principal has a keen interest in developing relationships with high-ranking members of the mob, much like his networking with elites in other cities."
"But the mob is not the same as ordinary businessmen. The lifeline and secrets of some illegal industries should not be known to anyone. I suspect... Of course, it's only a suspicion…"
"Are you suggesting that Sheldon could have been silenced?"
Gordon pondered for a moment and continued, "That is indeed a possibility. The mob members Sheldon interacted with were of a level that could make them privy to secrets others didn't know. If Sheldon was involved in something…"
"Of course, I must emphasize, this is just a conjecture, and it's just my personal conjecture. I certainly do not mean anything specific, nor have I heard of any rumors."
Gordon stared at him, rolled his eyes upwards, and asked Shiller from the top of his eyes, "The code of silence?"
Shiller shook his head and made the sign of the cross on his chest.
While Gordon continued his conversation with Shiller, a police officer knocked on the door and gave Gordon a salute once inside. He then said, "Chief, we have a new discovery."
The young officer then glanced at Shiller, seemingly asking Gordon if he should talk outside. Gordon stated directly, "No need to step out. Just say it here."
This was a common tactic during interrogations, using the progress of the case as leverage to put more pressure on the person being interrogated. Gordon didn't really intend to use this tactic against Shiller, it was just a habit.
"We found that the victim's desk drawers and cabinets were all messed with. The locked drawer at the bottom of the desk was pried open. So we did a thorough search of the entire desk and found a secret compartment on the side of the middle drawer."
As he spoke, the young officer pulled out a transparent plastic bag containing a cassette tape. Gordon gestured for an officer at the back to bring a tape recorder, then put on gloves and took out the tape, saying, "From the looks of it, there's no visible damage on the surface, it should still play."
Gordon put the tape into the tape recorder and pressed a button. The first thing to come out was the crackling sound of electric current, followed by a burst of noisy sounds.
Then, a familiar voice emerged from the tape: "The merchandise of Plantation No.9 is following Old Wilkin's route, which is the one passing through the three streets in the East District. Their volume is too large, so the delivery point is set in the basement of a nightclub. If needed, I can give them a shout for you..."
"Are you worried about that? That's unnecessary. To my knowledge, Falcone also owns the underground chemical factory in the West District..."
Upon hearing this, Gordon's fingers trembled, and he quickly turned off the tape recorder and said to others in the room, "For your own safety, you didn't hear anything, understand?"
The young subordinates instantly covered their ears, nodded, and then left the room. After they left, Gordon glared at Shiller, who retorted, "Officer, I'd like to report an invasion of privacy and wiretapping."
"What privacy? You..."
"Then you can fully play this recording through the police department's broadcast."
"If you want to wipe out the Gotham Police Department, just say so."
Gordon took a deep breath, sat down first, then gestured Shiller to sit and consoled him. "Well, I am not saying you definitely murdered Sheldon. But at the very least, you should explain to me what the hell this is about."
"As I said before, I did not kill him."
Shiller sat down and sipped his coffee. "You should know that there are surveillance cameras in Gotham University, right? Our Principal Sheldon was in his office every day, monitoring the campus through those cameras."
"Including the phone calls I received in public areas. But I honestly didn't know he even taped it." Shiller shook his head and added, "As an outsider, his audacity was impressive."
Gordon let out a held breath and said, "Seems like he was silenced indeed."
"These are the crime scene photos. " Gordon took out a stack and continued, "According to our investigations, Sheldon was pushed down from the building and the railing of his 8th-floor balcony is quite low. He was probably pushed while standing in front of the railing and fell."
"From the crime scene examination, when he was pushed, he was most likely facing the other way, which means he probably knew his killer. And he didn't suspect anything, was talking back to the killer when he was pushed."
"This is not the style of Gotham's usual criminals. There were no automatic rifles involved, no shotguns, not even a pistol."
"So, that's why Victor and I became suspects, right? Because we were acquainted with Sheldon, we're foreigners who aren't adept with guns, and aren't particularly strong."
"Now you're a way bigger suspect than Victor. After all, he heard certain internal information from you, and you had a reason to keep him quiet."
Just then, a loud commotion came from the center of the police hall, accompanied by calls and curses. Gordon stood up at once, and an officer ran in and shouted, "Chief Gordon, trouble!"
"Calm down, what happened?" Gordon stood, turned to ask him, and the officer blurted out, "The receptionist, Winnie, and the on-duty officer, Bird, have gone mad! The others are trying to restrain them."
"Gone mad?" Gordon immediately thought of something. He quickly opened the metal door to the interrogation room, letting Shiller out, and then they hurried toward the front hall.
By the time they reached the front hall, the lunatics had been restrained, but were still struggling and growling. Gordon was about to come closer when another officer stopped him, "Don't go there, they're mad, I nearly got bitten just now!"
"What exactly happened? Why did they suddenly..."
"Who knows? I was chatting with Winnie. We were talking about Easter arrangements when she suddenly started convulsing. Next thing she violently leaned backward and started smashing the counter with her arms and threw the chairs around. Officer Bird had also gone mad." explained the officer restraining Winnie.
Gordon was about to check the counter, but Shiller sniffed the air and pulled him back. "Don't go there. First, evacuate the residents, take the patients to the hospital, and grab some gas masks from your armory. There might be something going on."
"Are you suggesting..." Gordon paused a second and then shouted: "Evacuate! Everyone get out of this room! Go somewhere open and do not approach here!"
When everyone had left, Shiller walked in alone. He moved so quickly that Gordon failed to hold him back.
As Shiller reached the counter, he noticed broken shards of colorful eggshells.
Gordon stood outside the room, frantically waving at Shiller who walked out after inspecting the surroundings. He turned to Gordon. "Looks like there's an issue with the Easter eggs."
"Easter eggs? I seem to remember Winnie mentioning about receiving a beautifully decorated Easter egg today." said a policewoman.
"Do you recall the incident of mass sickness at Gotham University?"
Shiller squinted and called his colleague Anna on his phone. "Hello… Yes, I wanted to ask, have you distributed the Easter eggs that you bought earlier to the students? ...You have? Can you recall who you gave them to? Could you give me a list? Alright, thanks…"
Then he dialed Victor, "You gave out the Easter eggs you made to the students, right?... You did? Do you remember who you gave them to? Could I have a list?"
Shiller explained to Gordon, "Before Easter, Principal Sheldon suddenly distributed a lot of materials to make Easter eggs and asked the professors to make and distribute them to the students."
"My colleague, Anna, and I thought it was too much trouble and didn't want to make them ourselves; so we bought ready-made ones. Now both types of eggs have been given to the students. We've asked for a list of students who received the eggs and by comparing, we should be able to identify which type of egg is the problem."
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