At that moment, Batman stood in the doorway, looking at the fierce Thomas choking Lex, and to one side of them, Cobblepot was holding a dagger drenched in blood.
The cool light flickered, and the scene they were in seemed like frozen ice, where time would suddenly stand still and then begin to rewind.
When the first rays of morning light spilled into Wayne Manor, Bruce was already at work in his study. The Ark Reactor model he obtained from Shiller rested by his side. However, he was not studying this model; he had immersed himself in his previous work.
He hadn't forgotten that he was investigating the death of the Elliot couple. To this end, he wanted to investigate Falcone.
However, his investigation into Falcone had reached a deadlock; every single thing that happened in this city seemed to have ties to him, yet it also seemed like nothing to do with him.
When his line of thought became stagnant, Bruce tried another approach. He again inspected the crime scene and collected quite a few detailed clues. Among these, what caught his particular attention was the footprints of the Elliot couple.
It had recently rained that day, and some of the ground's mud and dust hadn't completely dried yet, making it possible to collect information from tire prints and footprints.
The tire prints indicated that the Elliot couple had parked their car on the main road and walked into the alley. From the car to the place in the alley where they were attacked, both were walking normally, judging from their strides. Neither of them were in a hurry.
This meant that they were not forced into the alley, neither were they chased or dragged there. They walked in voluntarily.
Bruce looked at the photos of the footprints, squinted his eyes, and began to reconstruct the scene in his head.
In the dimly lit alley, two figures gradually proceeded toward the alley's end. As Bruce tilted his head, he realized that there was nothing special about this alley. The only exception was at the end of the alley where there stood a record store.
If the Elliot couple voluntarily entered the alley, their only likely destination was the record store.
But why would the Elliot couple go to the record store when they were supposed to be visiting the Falcone Family?
Even though stores like these sold mainly cassettes, and better quality records, Falcone wouldn't appreciate such things.
According to Bruce's knowledge, the Elliot family could not compete with the Falcone family. Hence, the Elliot couple, despite their anger, would bring something they know he would like, when they went to visit the Godfather of Falcone Family.
The Elliot family wasn't so poor that they could only afford to buy cheap gifts. Even if they were going to buy a CD, they would definitely choose a good one and would not pick one in a record store.
Bruce recalled a detail: at a party, Thomas once invited others over to his house to listen to CD songs, saying that he possessed a CD player and many CDs with songs recorded on them at home.
Having discovered that the CD could be a clue, Bruce put down the materials at hand and headed toward the record store at the end of the alley.
Only when he entered the record store did Bruce realize that there weren't many CDs here. Mainly cassettes and records were sold. It was not until he asked the owner did he learn that CDs were not immediately available.
CDs didn't become widespread until the mid-1990s. It was early 1989, so CDs were still rare. The shopkeeper wouldn't specifically stock them in fear of not being able to sell them off, so if anyone wanted to buy, they had to place an order and pick it up when the order arrived.
Bruce chatted with the shopkeeper for a while. He played himself off as a CD enthusiast willing to order a batch of CDs from the store. The shopkeeper was very enthusiastic and unintentionally revealed some information.
As Bruce had suspected, the last person to place an order here was Thomas, and the scheduled pick-up date was the day the Elliot couple was murdered.
The Elliot couple had gone into that alley merely to pick up goods for their son. However, they were shot to death before they could reach the record store.
The answer was now almost in plain sight from the deduction, but the one unanswered question was what was the motive of the murderer?
The Thomas known to Bruce was an ordinary person. He was rather kind and always polite. His grades were above average and he enjoyed attending parties, making him one of those typical rich second-generation lads.
Based on Bruce's understanding, Thomas had a pretty good relationship with his parents. After all, he was their only child. His parents devoted a lot of attention to educating him, both spiritually and materially. There had never been any major conflict between him and his parents, so there should've been no reason for him to kill his parents.
To solve this mystery, Batman came to the Gotham Police Department, wanting to find Gordon and interrogate Thomas again.
Batman laid out his deductions about the Elliot couple's death case to Gordon. Gordon thought his theory made sense, but he also noticed another nuance. He said, "Do you ever feel that the investigation of the male dormitory murder case that had Thomas arrested was way too smooth?"
"Rarely have I encountered such a simple case in Gotham. Even the mob's methods are simple and crude. Still, they are professional at evading charges. The remaining lunatics can create all sorts of tricks to misdirect attention... "
"Moreover, there was no resistance at all during Thomas' arrest. This is very rare in Gotham. If everyone was like him, the interrogation room in Gotham wouldn't be so vandalized."
"Without examining his records, I knew he is a local from Gotham. Otherwise, I could hardly believe that he would calmly accept his arrest."
Batman narrowed his eyes, saying, "Unless, he deliberately fabricated this case, intending to use it to cover up another murder."
"At the time of the Elliot couple's death, he should have been in jail, with sufficient alibi. So, even though I have some clues, I can't convict him based on these clues alone."
Gordon frowned and said, "But this doesn't make sense. Murdering a cheerleading squad member is murder, and so is murdering his parents. He doesn't need to use one murder case to exonerate another, because the sentences for murder are the same. Even if the punishment for murdering his own parents is slightly greater, the difference is not significant."
"If he killed a cheerleader to create an alibi, he could be in jail for decades. If he doesn't create this alibi, he might also be in jail for decades for murdering his parents. Then why would he create an alibi? Either way, he's going to jail."
"Unless he's confident that he can overturn the previous case where a cheerleading squad member was killed," Batman speculated. "Remember? Not long after Doris was murdered, another cheerleader was murdered. Then another..."
"This looks much like a serial murder case. The murderer, Thomas, is in jail for the first case, but the cases continue to occur, and the victims keep appearing. Some people will think Thomas is wronged. The real killer is the serial killer still committing crimes outside."
Gordon covered his forehead, said, "Indeed, now everyone is saying this is a serial murder case, as the characteristics are too obvious."
But Batman shook his head and said, "No, on the contrary, this is not a serial murder case."
"How do you know?" Gordon asked. "I remember I heard Shiller say that there would be some common factors among the victims of a serial murder case, and there were also similarities in the crime scenes and the methods of killing. I think this case perfectly fits these features, doesn't it?"
Batman shook his head and said, "Did Shiller ever tell you that in a real serial murder case, there would be connections between each case, and the killer would deliberately create these connections?"
As Gordon was thinking, Batman said, "The perpetrators of these cases are desperately trying to eliminate evidence. They are not like those crazy psychopaths. They don't kill for pleasure. They just kill for the sake of killing."
"I think Thomas likely had accomplices. After he was jailed for a murder case, his accomplices outside continued to commit crimes, so he could be exonerated."
At this moment, an unexpected visitor came to the police department, Harvey Dent. When he walked into Gordon's office, Gordon went up and hugged him, saying, "Long time no see, you're back from your vacation?"
"Yes, in fact, I was called back. Guess who called me back?"
"Who?"
"The lawyer from the Elliot family. They asked for my help. They hope I can defend their lord Thomas Elliot and prove his innocence."
"As expected." Batman said in a low voice: "Isn't their defense argument precisely that the murder of cheerleading squad members should be a serial murder case, and since the case continued to occur after we arrested Thomas, it shows that he is not the murderer."
Harvey raised his eyebrow and said, "How did you know? His statement is exactly the same as what you said."
"Can the defense be successful?" Gordon asked.
"If I step in, it is indeed possible." Harvey didn't show any modesty and just told the truth.
"This is a bit troublesome." Gordon frowned, seeming a bit stressed, but just then, a policeman rushed into his office and shouted:
"Chief! It's terrible! Thomas Elliot escaped from prison during the transfer from the police station to the prison!"
Everyone fell silent for a moment. Gordon immediately asked, "Why? Why would he escape? Wasn't he planning to defend himself?"
Obviously, they all thought that if Thomas didn't confess and found a lawyer to defend him, he should stay honestly and wait for the legal measures to take effect. But now he violently broke out of prison, losing all chances to defend himself, which equates to admitting that the murder was indeed his doing.
His behavior is contradictory, and thus they did not quite understand the reason for it. However, Batman knew he had to stop Thomas. He couldn't let a maniacal murderer run wild in the city.
So, he followed the clues provided by the police station and found the place where Thomas had escaped from prison.
But the process of Thomas escaping from prison was not smooth. He had bumped his head and twisted his ankle, leaving a lot of traces. Batman followed these traces and found him at Gotham University's laboratory building, where Lex and Cobblepot were.
And at that moment, Thomas who was cornering Lex said something surprising:
"I'm not here to kill! But to protect my fiancée!"
"There's a crazy serial killer on the loose! She's in danger!!!"