"She's not a nurse from our department, she was just giving injections downstairs. I'll go and call her over now." The head nurse gave a slight nod and left the room.
Shortly after, Selina appeared in the doorway, leaning against the frame, a somewhat embarrassed smile on her face. "Yes, it's me, but I swear, I didn't do it," she said with a chuckle.
Bruce looked a bit helpless as Selina slapped her arm and said: "It was Gordon who brought me in, these cops are so desperate that they've resorted to recruiting a thief...well, times are hard, the market where I usually hit has closed down, so I have to take a break."
Gordon rolled his eyes, knowing that Selina was referring to her career as the Flying Thief.
The spread of Broccoli has rendered many parts of the slums unusable, requiring redevelopment. As a result, Catwoman has no place to sell her stolen goods and needs to find some work to afford meals.
Gordon is good at using these softer measures to control these not-so-bad criminals, so he introduced Selina to a job as a nurse. It's fair to say, with her skill at picking locks, Selina was the best in this batch of trainee nurses.
"You all know, now I'm the head of these girls, they're clumsy, either inserting the needle wrong or causing backflow of the blood. Whenever anything goes wrong, they call me and I have to run up and down the stairs. It's perfectly normal that I cross paths with doctors making their rounds," Selina added proudly, uplifting her hair and glancing at Bruce, "You've always told me to find something legitimate to do, now I'm just like you, saving lives. Big hero!"
Bruce took a glance at Selina, then a look at the body on the floor, considered for a moment, and concluded that Selina wasn't lying.
Catwoman's fighting style suggests that she wouldn't stab someone in the chest, because if the knife's position wasn't accurate, it might get stuck in the ribcage. Selina was experienced enough not to make such a mistake.
The chest wound on the corpse was straightforward: not deep, probably caused by a rather short weapon. However, the strange thing is, the cause of death appears to be a ruptured heart, not drowning caused by lung penetration, nor suffocation from tracheal injury.
The fact is a short dagger isn't suitable for stabbing the heart. The organs in the human chest are protected by ribs, making it easy for a knife to get stuck in the ribs if the victim struggles. The handle of a short dagger is not long enough to exert sufficient force, in case the blade gets stuck, it won't be easily removed.
Inability to remove the knife could cause excessive bleeding, which might not immediately incapacitate the victim, potentially leading to a counterattack. Any experienced hand wouldn't make such a move.
The initial target being the heart was quite unusual.
Even if ordinary citizens of Gotham have never killed anyone, they've surely seen a murder scene or learned about basic knowledge of the process from friends or relatives.
Only those who learned from formal education might assume from their teachers' teachings that the heart is the most crucial organ in a man. They might think that destroying the heart would kill a man, but from a cost-performance and efficiency perspective, this is not a good choice.
Bruce first looked at Shiller, expecting him to be absolutely bored, because as Bruce knew, a crime scene as mundane as this wouldn't merit Shiller's attention.
Bruce didn't count on Shiller investigating the case, but as the crime scene was in a hospital - unfamiliar terrain with unfamiliar rules for Bruce - he was hoping that Shiller, who had previously worked in a hospital, could offer some professional insight.
Unexpectedly, Shiller was extremely focused on the corpse. He seemed interested as he said: "Have you noticed? The victim was attacked head-on but there are no signs of a struggle."
Gordon contemplated for a moment and replied, "If the murderer attacked the victim from the front with a weapon, there should have been resistance. The victim should have raised his arms to defend himself. But there are no signs of any struggle in this room, and no wounds on his arms. It's quite unusual indeed."
Shiller glanced at the shiny tiles in front of the corpse, then the top and bottom of the windowsill, and remarked, "The body has been moved."
Bruce suddenly looked up, sharply focused on the hospital window. He quickly walked over, looked up at the window handle, using a magnifying glass to inspect the traces on the handle, and said, "It seems you're right."
Shiller snapped his fingers, saying, "I'll go downstairs."
After he left, Bruce didn't try to prevent him from leaving the crime scene as he usually would. Instead, he fell into contemplation,
Gordon was still catching up to their train of thought, but soon, Bruce looking at the body said, "Let's move the corpse and reconstruct the crime scene."
Upon hearing this, Gordon knew that Bruce had figured out most of the puzzle, so they moved the body, and Bruce stood in front of the hospital room window.
The room wasn't very big, with only one window. There was no balcony outside the window, but when Bruce pushed open the window and looked down, there was indeed an awning below.
Almost at the same time, Shiller also pushed open the window downstairs, his voice came, "It's shaded because there's an examination machine here... close the window."
Bruce closed the window, and Gordon stood by the window. Suddenly, there was a "thump thump thump" sound. Gordon was startled as the sound didn't come from the door but the window.
Gordon instinctively turned his head, but he didn't see anyone outside the window. At this moment, Bruce took a few steps back, stood in the middle of the room, his back to the window, and checked the sickbed.
After hearing the "thump thump thump" sound, Bruce turned his head, puzzled, and looked at the window. It clicked for Gordon; Bruce and Shiller were reconstructing the process leading to Doctor Richard's death.
As Bruce turned his head back, the "thump thump thump" sound rang out again, prompting Bruce to turn around, stride to the window.
As Bruce was about to push open the window, Gordon's heart was in his throat. He thought he was about to encounter a murder scene, but instead, when the window was opened, there was nothing.
From Gordon's perspective, no one could be seen either.
Just as Gordon thought it was because Shiller hadn't gotten into position, Bruce moved to press his body against the window frame, grasped the ledge with both hands, and leaned forward, looking down.
The next second, a pen was pointed at his chest. Bruce immediately clutched his chest and leaned forward.
Just before his chest touched the windowsill, Shiller, who was squatting underneath, stood up, first holding Bruce's shoulder, pushing him to prevent him from falling forward.
In the situation where both were face to face, Shiller slid one hand under Bruce's left armpit and his other hand pushed against his right back, holding him before turning him around.
As Shiller let go, Bruce fell to the ground in the position where the corpse had been.