At this point, it was nearing dusk. In the narrow hallway of Living Hell, a sliver of light penetrated across the thin windows, drawing a golden trail across the corridor like a brush dipped in yellow paint.
The sharp light pierced into the dark building. Strands of golden light swept past Batman as he walked through the hallways of Living Hell, until reaching the scene of the crime.
In truth, when he discovered the crime scene, his first reaction wouldn't normally be to call the police. Regardless of whether Gordon was a good officer or not, Batman inherently distrusted the police.
The reason he did so this time was because there wasn't just one corpse, Fish, but a living man as well: Oswald Kolbott. Batman wasn't illiterate; the sight of a semi-conscious Kolbott muttering and convulsing suggested he was likely suffering a mental episode.
To save him, Batman sought out Gordon, who in turn brought in psychological expert Shiller, the most fitting professional in all of Gotham.
However, it now seemed as though he had saved the wrong person. Batman speculated that Kolbott wasn't an innocent who'd wandered into the crime scene but could very possibly be the mastermind behind Fish's murder.
Of course, Batman could easily trace Kolbott's background and discovered that he was the minor boss who took over after Kevin's death. This wasn't difficult to confirm as Living Hell had a limited number of inhabitants who could read the water meter and Kolbott's excellent performance at vocational school made him one of those few. Moreover, he so happened to be present at the scene of Fish's death. With Living Hell's vast expanse, this couldn't just be mere coincidence, right?
Upon returning to the crime scene, Batman surveyed the surroundings more carefully.
This was a small room in the North District of Living Hell. Like all rooms here, it was small and oddly structured, with one window facing west where the setting sun made its appearance outside.
The room with the window served as the living room in the tiny flat, which, due to its size, had not been reserved a separate area as an entranceway. Upon opening the door, one would be directly led into the living room.
To the left of the living room was a wall-mounted sofa, now stained with a pool of blood. Batman was not concerned that the crime scene had been disturbed; his extraordinary memory allowed him to recall every detail of the scene with Fish's corpse once more lying on the sofa in his mind's eye.
Her body was slumped on the couch, leaning to the side of the door, head resting on the armrest. A bullet had passed through her left temple, splattering blood on the right side of the couch and the ground beneath. The entire body slanted towards the right, suggesting she was already seated when a single bullet struck and killed her.
Turning his head to the right, Batman saw Kolbott's figure again appearing in the room, slumped under the window sill, his teeth chattering and body still slightly convulsing.
Moving further inside, Batman stood in the middle of the room. Then, within his field of vision, time began to reverse: the blood splatters on the floor and sofa lifted, returning to Fish's head, and a bullet whirled out from Fish's skull, restoring Fish to her living state. That bullet came to a stop next to her left temple.
Like a marionette, Kolbott rose and stood in front of the window, hunched over and facing Fish.
Batman stepped over the coffee table, moved over to Fish, and leaning close to the left side of her face, stared at the suspended bullet.
During the examination of Fish's body in the morgue, Batman had noticed that the bullet had precisely entered Fish's temple, perpendicular to the injury.
In an instant, the image of Fish disappeared, and Batman took her place on the sofa, the bullet that killed Fish now hovering beside his head.
Time resumed its flow: the bullet spun, entering Batman's temple, blood spurted out and scattered over the sofa and the ground.
Another Batman rose from the sofa, and kneeled to inspect the bloodstains. He realized that indeed, this was the first crime scene of Fish's murder, and her body had not been tampered with. The spray and coverage of the blood were plausible.
Having confirmed this as the crime scene, Batman turned around, and time rewound to a second before Fish was hit by the bullet; Fish reappeared again on the sofa.
Batman walked behind her and from his angle, Kolbott had disappeared from the window perspective.
Suddenly, Batman turned his head to the left and saw Kolbott standing to Fish's left side, in front of the door leading to the bedroom. Kolbott held a gun in his hand, his face contorted hard as he aimed at Fish.
In an instance, Batman found himself in Kolbott's position, clutching the floating gun, absent Kolbott. He muttered to himself, "It's not right."
As Batman turned, Fish turned her head and seemed both startled and furious.
"In a room where there's only the two of them, Kolbott's movements wouldn't have escaped Fish's eyes. The moment he raised his gun, Fish surely turned her head towards him."
Batman pulled the trigger and the bullet flew straight into Fish's forehead, not the left temple.
He let go of the gun, returned to the middle of the living room, and Kolbott reappeared as time began to go back. The bullet returned to Kolbott's gun.
Kolbott's silhouette jerked backward like a movie playing in reverse, retreating into the bedroom. The bedroom door slammed shut with a loud "bang".
Batman walked over, reopened the door, and noticed it swung inward. The door hinges were on the left.
Batman stepped inside, taking up Kolbott's position. As he pulled the door handle with his left hand, in the instant the door swung open, he raised the gun with his right hand and shot. Fish was oblivious and remained seated, not looking back when the bullet hit Fish's temple.
But Batman shook his head again.
The reason this deduction worked was because the one who fired the shot, was Batman.
The door opens inward meaning to open it, one must pull the doorknob inward. So, to accomplish opening the door and shooting a gun instantaneously, it would be impossible to hold the gun with two hands.
If Batman were the shooter, he could indeed achieve it. He could pull open the door in an instant, hold the gun with one hand, and precisely shoot a bullet into Fish's temple. But that's because he's Batman.
For anyone other than Batman to complete a series of actions—holding the gun one-handed, ignoring the recoil, aiming, shooting, and hitting the target—all in an instant, would be highly difficult.
Moreover, the door hinges are on the left side, opening first from the right. Therefore, the quickest action would be to use the left hand to pull the doorknob while using the right hand to shoot the moment the door opens. But Batman had already noticed that Cobblepot's right arm was fractured, not a recent injury at that.
For a slender person like that, untrained, and with a fractured dominant hand, it would be hard to complete the actions of opening the door, shooting, aiming, and firing all within two seconds.
Even if he could, it wouldn't be possible to divert Fish's attention completely; at least, she must have had a chance to turn her head.
One Batman stands where Cobblepot was pointing a gun, another Batman sits on the sofa, another stands in the middle of the room, a fourth stands on the window sill, a fifth is observing from the bedroom up and down, a sixth stands by the door staring at everything…
Countless Batmen fill up the small crime scene, sometimes standing still, sometimes moving along different timelines.
The bullet flies out of the gun, rippling through the air, then quickly reverses back into the barrel. The light in the room switches from bright to dark, and dark to bright, the flame at the gun's muzzle flashes and flashes again. Shadows spread out in all directions, in this quiet dusk, the solitary Batman has thrown quite the lively party for himself.
Before long, all traces of activity in this rather small room have been investigated by Batman. He tested all possibilities then ruled out most modes of attack such as Cobblepot ambushing in different manners and from various angles, or Fish being drugged, tied up, and their movements restricted, and so on.
According to various traces, it is certain that Fish walked into the room in excellent health, then sat on the sofa, and Cobblepot followed her in and he could not have attacked her without attracting her attention.
But this does not mean that Cobblepot isn't the killer.
Batman returns everything to its original state and stands in the middle of the living room looking around.
The entire scene turns into a model room placed on a table, a huge hand places a model of a black figure into the bedroom.
Above the entire room model, Batman lowers his head, staring intently from above at the whole scene. As his gaze moves, the room gradually enlarges in his field of vision. The Batman standing in the middle of the living room walks into the bedroom, observing the black figure model.
If a third party was involved in this murder, everything would begin to make sense.
Time begins to rewind again, the bedroom door is shut, Cobblepot stands opposite Fish, at the window.
And Fish is still sitting on the sofa. She flails her arms, in what seems like angry reproach towards Cobblepot who, stiff-necked, hysterically rebuts. Fish is thoroughly enraged.
Completely engrossed by Cobblepot, Fish did not notice that the bedroom door, which had not been properly closed before, was being quietly opened. Then, a gunshot rang out, blood splattered, and Fish fell onto the sofa.
No, thought Batman, this isn't perfect either. Even distracted by Cobblepot, Fish would still be alert. She might have noticed the bedroom door being opened.
Batman took a different approach. If he were the murderer, he would not risk hoping that Fish would not notice the killer and not fight back. That's just not plausible.
Consider, Fish had reached her current position for a reason. She was a good fighter, quick to react, a sharpshooter. This explains how she survived numerous shootouts and became a gang leader.
If she fought back, even a professional killer might be at a disadvantage. Those who understood Fish wouldn't have come up with such a plan.
So there was only one possibility left, Batman murmured lowly: "Familiar people cooperating to commit the crime."
Batman stood to one side of the room and saw two shadows inside the room, talking with Fish. Initially, they both stood right in front of Fish and they had no weapons in their hands.
Suddenly, Cobblepot distracted Fish with a few words while the other shadow pretended to fetch something and moved to Fish's side.
Cobblepot got into an argument with Fish and managed to hold her attention completely.
In that instant, time froze. Batman's figure replaced the shadow standing at Fish's side. He reached into his coat pocket, felt the gun, pulled it out, raised it, fired. The sound of a gunshot rang out, followed by splattered blood. Fish fell with the sound.
It was close range, the weapon was right, hence, it was very precise.
Suddenly, everything returned to reality. All that remained on the sofa were traces of dried black blood. Batman was the only person left in the room.
Alone, he didn't feel the least bit lonely and seemed very relaxed. He sat on the sofa, leaning back, upper body relaxed, eyes even closed. He seemed like a happy drunk just back from a party.
Until the last ray of sunlight fell below the horizon, the whole room was completely dark. In the darkness, Batman's figure was swallowed. The Batman, who had thrown a party for himself, had disappeared from here at some unknown time.