The Long Easter (7)

In the interrogation room of the Gotham Police Department, Schiller held a cup of hot coffee and blew on it. The white steam rising from the cup drifted apart and fogged his glasses.

The officer sitting across from him stood up and gave his seat to Gordon. Gordon tapped the table and said helplessly, "Could you at least look a little like a suspect? This is an interrogation room at the Police Department! Just because I didn’t put handcuffs on you doesn’t mean you get to drink coffee!"

"The officers outside were even complaining that you wouldn’t drink an Americano and insisted on espresso, so he had to run up to the fourth floor to use the new coffee machine…"

"Could you stop acting so familiar with interrogation rooms, like some habitual offender?"

"I’m an outsider, which is why I’m sitting here drinking coffee. If I were a local…"

Schiller looked around the room. Gordon followed his gaze, and the two looked at the dense bullet holes covering the walls. Gordon was briefly speechless. He knew what Schiller had been about to say—if he were a Gotham local, they would already be brawling.

"No matter what you’ve found, all I can tell you is that you’ve got the wrong person. I’m just a university professor who’s never even fired a gun."

Gordon sighed again. He walked over and sat across from Schiller, then said, "According to our investigation, you’re the only person at the school who had an obvious conflict with the new president, Sheldon. You’re our primary suspect."

"What conflict did I have with him?" Schiller asked Gordon. "I completed every teaching assignment he gave me perfectly. Even the extra arrangements outside the scope of my work, I never delayed in the slightest."

"I also served as freshman orientation guide, librarian, and archivist, all without asking for a raise…"

"But according to testimony from other faculty members, the new president, Sheldon, was quite dissatisfied with you."

"He was dissatisfied with me, so why was he the one who died?"

"That’s what I need to ask you."

"You can’t speculate about my motives by guessing what’s in my heart. In my view, he wasn’t a good president, but he wasn’t terribly bad either. Maybe he personally disliked me, but we had no disagreements at work and no substantive conflicts. We never infringed on each other’s interests. There was no deep-seated grudge worth killing over."

Gordon watched him silently. He knew Schiller was right. According to their investigation, Sheldon did seem to have a poor attitude toward Schiller and was always trying to stir up trouble, but they truly had no major conflicts at work. There had been no incidents of Schiller defying work assignments. The two barely even spoke, much less had any direct arguments.

In truth, Gordon had not held much hope for the investigation into Schiller. From what he knew of this professor, if Schiller had done it, he would not have used such a direct method. And if he had used such a method, he would not have left evidence for anyone to find.

By comparison, Victor was far more suspicious. He had been the first to discover the crime scene, and he was close to Schiller while also having a poor relationship with Sheldon.

Before this, Victor had even complained to his colleagues that Sheldon’s Easter arrangements were too packed. While that was not enough of a reason to kill someone, it showed that he did not particularly like the new president.

According to Gordon’s investigation, Sheldon had no bad habits. If there was one thing to say about him, it was that he was too much like a politician. He was always mingling with the powerful and wealthy, attending all kinds of Gotham high-society banquets and events, and voicing opinions on various social issues in his capacity as university president.

Of course, perhaps out of fear of the gangs, he was not some righteous centrist. His stance was quite wavering. A person like that was not likely to make a mortal enemy.

Schiller sat across from Gordon and said, "Actually, I do have a clue to tell you."

"What is it?"

Schiller set down his coffee cup and placed both hands on the table. "This new president was enthusiastic about getting to know high-ranking gang members, just as he associated with the powerful and wealthy in other cities."

"But gangs are different from ordinary businessmen. The lifeblood and secrets of certain illegal industries cannot be known by just anyone. I suspect… of course, it’s only a suspicion…"

"You mean Sheldon might have been silenced?"

Gordon thought for a moment, then said, "That is indeed possible. The gang members he associated with were high enough up to have access to secrets others wouldn’t know. If Sheldon got involved in certain things…"

"Of course, I must emphasize that this is merely speculation, and my personal speculation at that. I am absolutely not implying anything, nor have I heard any rumors."

Gordon stared at him. He raised his eyelids and looked down at Schiller from above his eyes. "The code of silence?"

Schiller shook his head and made the sign of the cross over his chest.

Just as Gordon continued speaking with Schiller, an officer knocked on the door, entered, saluted Gordon, and said, "Chief, we’ve made a new discovery."

The young officer then glanced at Schiller, as if asking Gordon whether they should step outside to discuss it. Gordon said directly, "No need to go outside. Say it here."

This was also a common interrogation tactic—using new developments in the case to put pressure on the person being questioned. Gordon had not intended to use it on Schiller; it was simply habit.

"We found that the victim’s desk drawers and cabinets had all been rummaged through. A locked drawer at the very bottom of the desk had been pried open, so we carefully searched the entire desk and discovered a hidden compartment along the side of the middle drawer."

As he spoke, the young officer took out a clear plastic evidence bag containing a cassette tape. At Gordon’s signal, an officer behind him brought over a tape recorder. Gordon put on gloves, took out the tape, examined it, and said, "There doesn’t seem to be any damage on the surface. It should play directly."

Gordon inserted the tape into the recorder and pressed a button. Once it began running, there was first a crackle of static, followed by a stretch of noisy interference.

Then a familiar voice came from the tape. "Plantation Number Nine’s goods go through Old Wilkin’s route, the one that passes through three streets in the East End. Their shipment volume is too large, so the drop-off point is set up in the basement of a nightclub. If you need it, I can put in a word with him…"

"You’re worried about that? There’s no need. As far as I know, that underground chemical plant in the West End also belongs to Falcone…"

Hearing this, Gordon’s finger twitched. He immediately shut off the tape recorder and told everyone in the room, "For your own safety, you didn’t hear anything. Understood?"

The young subordinates instantly covered their ears, nodded, and left. After they were gone, Gordon glared at Schiller. Schiller said to him, "Officer, I’d like to report a crime. Someone eavesdropped on my private conversations and recorded them."

"What privacy is that? You…"

"Then you can broadcast that recording over the Police Department’s public address system."

"If you want to wipe out the Gotham Police Department, just say so."

Gordon took a deep breath. He sat down first, then gestured for Schiller to sit, saying soothingly, "All right, all right. I’m not saying you killed Sheldon, but you should at least explain what this is about."

"I’ll say it again. I didn’t kill him."

Schiller sat down and took another sip of coffee. "You know Gotham University has surveillance cameras, right? Our President Sheldon watched the campus through cameras from his office every day."

"That included the calls I took in public areas, but I truly didn’t know he had recorded them too." Schiller shook his head. "I have to say, for an outsider, he was rather bold."

Gordon finally let out the breath he had been holding. Then he said, "It seems he really was silenced…"

"This is the crime scene." Gordon brought over a stack of photographs and said, "According to our investigation, Sheldon was pushed off the building. The railing on the balcony outside his eighth-floor office was very low. He was likely standing in front of it when someone shoved him, causing him to fall."

"According to the scene investigation, he was likely Facing Away from that person when he was pushed. In other words, he probably knew the killer and was not on guard against him. While speaking with his back turned to the killer, he was pushed off."

"This was committed by an acquaintance, and the method was far removed from Gotham style. No Submachine Gun or shotgun was used, not even a pistol."

"So Victor and I became suspects, right? Because both of us were fairly familiar with Sheldon, and we’re outsiders. We wouldn’t be as likely to use guns, and we aren’t strong enough."

"Your suspicion is much greater than Victor’s now. After all, he heard certain inside information that came from you. You had a reason to silence him…"

Just then, a violent commotion erupted from the center of the Police Department lobby, accompanied by shouting and curses. Gordon immediately stood up as an officer rushed in and said, "Sheriff Gordon, something’s happened!"

"Don’t panic. What happened?" Gordon stood and turned to ask him. The officer shouted, "Winnie at the front desk and Bird, who was on duty, suddenly went crazy! The others are trying to restrain them…"

"Crazy?" Gordon immediately thought of something. He turned and opened the Iron Gate of the interrogation room, letting Schiller out, and the group hurried toward the front lobby.

By the time they arrived, the people who had gone mad had already been restrained, but they were still struggling and growling. Gordon tried to approach, but another Sheriff stopped him. "Don’t go over there. They’ve gone mad. I nearly got bitten just now!"

"What happened? How did they suddenly…"

"Who knows? I was talking to Winnie about this year’s Easter arrangements. Then she suddenly started convulsing and threw herself violently backward. After that, she began smashing the counter with her arms and even threw a chair. Bird on the other side went crazy too…" said an officer holding Winnie down.

Gordon wanted to step forward to inspect the counter, but Schiller sniffed the air and grabbed him. "Don’t go over there. Evacuate everyone first, send the patients to the hospital, then look for gas masks in your armory. There may be a problem…"

"You mean…" Gordon paused, then shouted, "Everyone evacuate! Leave this room! Go to an open area and don’t come near here!"

After everyone had gone outside, Schiller walked in alone. His pace was too fast for Gordon to stop him.

When Schiller reached the counter, he found fragments of eggshell there, and they were colored.

Gordon stood outside the room, waving continuously at Schiller. After surveying the area, Schiller came back out and said to Gordon, "There’s probably something wrong with the Easter eggs."

"Easter eggs? I think I heard Winnie mention that she received a very pretty Easter egg today…" another female officer said.

"Do you remember the mass illness among Gotham University students?"

Schiller narrowed his eyes, took out his phone, and called his colleague Anna. "Hello… yes, I wanted to ask whether the Easter eggs you bought outside before have already been handed out to the students?"

"Is that so? Can you remember who received them? Could you give me a list? All right, Thank you…"

Then he called Victor and asked, "Did you give the Easter eggs you made yourself to the students?… You already gave them out? Do you remember who you gave them to? Can you give me a list?"

Schiller explained to Gordon, "On the eve of Easter, President Sheldon suddenly handed out a great deal of egg-making materials and told the professors to make Easter eggs themselves and distribute them to the students."

"Anna and I thought it was too troublesome, so we didn’t make any ourselves and bought ready-made ones outside instead. Now both kinds of eggs have been given to the students. I asked them for lists of the students who received eggs. If we compare them, we can determine which kind of Easter egg has the problem…"