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Chapter 167: The Long Easter (7)

In the interrogation room of the Gotham police station, Schiller held a cup of hot coffee and blew on it, causing the white mist rising from the cup to scatter on his glasses.

The police officer sitting across from him stood up and gave his seat to Gordon, who then tapped the table and said helplessly, "Can you at least act like a suspect? This is the police station's interrogation room! I won't handcuff you, nor is it a reason for you to drink coffee!"

"The officers outside are complaining that you're not drinking American coffee and insisting on espresso. One of them had to go to the fourth floor to use the new coffee machine..."

"Can you stop acting like you're familiar with the interrogation room, like a habitual offender?"

"I'm an out-of-towner, that's why I'm sitting here drinking coffee. If I were a local..."

Schiller looked around and Gordon followed his gaze, both looking at the densely packed bullet marks on the wall. Gordon was at a loss for words, knowing what Schiller meant to say in the latter half of his sentence. If the suspect was a local of Gotham, they would have started a fight already.

"No matter what you've found in your investigation, I can only tell you that you've got the wrong person. I'm just a university professor who has never even fired a gun."

Gordon sighed again and sat down opposite Schiller, then said, "According to our investigation, you're the only one at the school who had obvious conflicts with the new principal, Shelden. You're our primary suspect."

"What conflict do I have with him?" Schiller asked Gordon. "I've perfectly completed every teaching task he arranged for me, even those beyond my job scope, and I haven't delayed anything."

"But according to the testimony of other school faculty, the new principal Shelden was quite dissatisfied with you."

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

"That's what we're asking you."

"You can't assume my motives by guessing what's in my heart. In my view, he wasn't a good principal, but he wasn't too bad either. Maybe he had some personal issues with me, but we didn't have any substantive conflicts in our work, and we didn't infringe on each other's interests. There was no deep-seated grudge that would lead me to kill him."

Gordon silently looked at him. He also knew that Schiller was right. According to their investigation, although Shelden appeared to have a bad attitude towards Schiller and always wanted to find fault with him, they didn't have any major conflicts in their work. Schiller never disobeyed any work arrangements, and they rarely communicated with each other, let alone any confrontations.

In fact, Gordon didn't hold much hope for Schiller's investigation because he knew the professor well enough to know that if he were the culprit, he wouldn't take such a direct approach. And if he had really used this method, he wouldn't have left any evidence for anyone to find.

Compared to others, Victor is more suspicious because he was the first person to discover the crime scene. Additionally, he has a good relationship with Schiller, but not with Sheldon.

Previously, Victor complained to his colleagues that Sheldon's Easter schedule was too tight. Although this is not a reason to commit murder, it shows that he doesn't like the new principal.

According to Gordon's investigation, Sheldon doesn't have any bad habits. If anything, he acts like a politician and attends various upper-class events and parties in Gotham as the principal, making comments on various social issues.

However, perhaps due to fear of the gang, he is not a staunch advocate of justice and his attitude is quite ambivalent. Such a person is not easy to make enemies.

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

"What is it?" Gordon asked.

Schiller put down his coffee cup and placed his hands on the table. "This new principal is fond of meeting with the upper echelons of the gang, just as he does with other powerful people in the city."

"But the gang is different from ordinary businessmen. Certain illegal industries and secrets cannot be known by anyone. I suspect... of course, it's just a suspicion."

"You mean Sheldon could have been silenced?" Gordon pondered for a moment before saying, "There is a possibility. The gang members he associates with could have access to secrets that others don't know. If Sheldon participated in something..."

"Of course, I want to emphasize that this is just a guess, and it's my personal guess. I'm not insinuating anything, nor have I heard any rumors."

Gordon stared at him and raised his eyebrows, asking, "The law of silence?"

Schiller shook his head and made a cross over his chest.

While Gordon continued to talk to Schiller, a police officer knocked on the door and walked in, saluting Gordon before saying, "Boss, we have a new discovery."

Then the young officer looked at Schiller, seeming to ask if Gordon should go out to talk. Gordon said directly, "No need to go out, just say it here."

This is a common tactic used during interrogations to increase pressure on the person being questioned by presenting new developments in the case. Gordon didn't intend to use this tactic on Schiller, but he was just used to it.

"We found that the victim's desk drawers and cabinets were all turned over. A locked drawer at the bottom of the desk was pried open, so we carefully searched the entire desk and found a secret compartment on the side of the middle drawer."

As he spoke, the young officer took out a transparent bag containing a cassette tape. Gordon signaled for a police officer behind him to bring a recorder, then put on gloves, took out the cassette tape, and looked at it. "There doesn't seem to be any damage on the surface. We should be able to play it directly."

Gordon put the cassette into the tape recorder, then pressed the button on top. The first thing that came out of the tape was a crackling electric sound, followed by a noisy buzz.

Then, a familiar voice came from the tape: "They're using old Wilkins' route for the shipments from Plant Nine, the one that goes through East District's three main streets. Their volume is too large, so the delivery point is set up in an underground club. If you need it, I can talk to him..." - Valley.

"Are you worried about this? You don't have to be. As far as I know, the underground chemical plant in West District is also Falcone's..."

Hearing this, Gordon's finger shook and he immediately turned off the tape recorder. He said to the other people in the room, "For your safety, you haven't heard anything, got it?"

The young subordinates immediately covered their ears, nodded, and then left. After they were gone, Gordon stared at Schiller. Schiller said to Gordon, "Officer, I want to report this. Someone has been eavesdropping on my privacy and recording it."

"What kind of privacy is this? You..."

"Then you can just broadcast this recording through the police station."

"You want to destroy the Gotham police station, just say it."

Gordon took a deep breath. He sat down first and then made a gesture for Schiller to sit down too. He said in a soothing tone, "Okay, okay, I'm not saying it was you who killed Sheldon. But you should at least explain to me what's going on."

"I'll say it again, I didn't kill the guy."

Schiller sat down and took another sip of coffee. "You should know that there are cameras inside Gotham University, right? Our principal Sheldon, who was in his office every day, observed what was happening on campus through the cameras."

"Even the phone calls I answered in the public area were recorded, but I really didn't know he was recording them," Schiller shook his head and said, "I have to say, as an outsider, he really is brave."

Gordon let out the breath he was holding and then said, "It seems like he really was silenced..."

"This is the crime scene." Gordon brought over a stack of photos and said, "According to our investigation, Sheldon was pushed off the building. The balcony railing on the eighth floor of his office was low. He was probably pushed when he was standing in front of it, and then fell down."

"According to the on-site investigation, when he was pushed down, he should have been facing away from that person. That is to say, he is likely to know the murderer and did not have any defenses against the murderer. He was pushed down while speaking to the murderer with his back turned."

"So, it was someone he knew who committed the crime. The method used was far from Gotham style and did not involve the use of assault rifles, shotguns, or even handguns."

"That's why Victor and I became suspects, right? Because the two of us knew Sheldon quite well and we were outsiders who are not familiar with using guns and are not strong enough."

"Now your suspicion is even greater than Victor's because he heard some insider information from you. You have a reason to silence him..."

At this moment, a loud noise came from the center of the police station hall, accompanied by shouting and cursing. Gordon immediately stood up, and a police officer rushed in, saying, "Chief Gordon, something happened!"

"Don't panic, what happened?" Gordon stood up and turned to ask him. The police officer said loudly, "Winnie at the front desk and Bert on duty suddenly went crazy! Other people are trying to stop them..."

"Crazy?" Gordon immediately thought of something. He turned around and opened the iron door of the interrogation room, letting Schiller out, and then hurriedly rushed to the front hall.

When they arrived at the front hall, the crazy people had already been subdued, but they were still struggling and growling. Gordon wanted to go over, but another police officer stopped him and said, "Don't go over there. They are crazy. I was almost bitten!"

"What happened? Why did it suddenly..."

"Who knows? I was chatting with Winnie, and we talked about this year's Easter arrangement. Suddenly, she started twitching, then violently tilted her head back and started smashing the counter with her arms. She even threw the chairs out. Bert on the other side also went crazy..." a police officer who was holding Winnie said.

Gordon wanted to walk to the counter to check, but Schiller sniffed and pulled Gordon back, saying, "Don't go over there. Evacuate everyone, send the patients to the hospital, and look for gas masks in your weapons depot. There may be a problem..."

"You mean..." Gordon paused for a moment and shouted, "Everyone, retreat! Leave this room! Go to an open area and stay away from here!"

When everyone had left, Schiller walked in alone. His steps were too fast, and Gordon didn't stop him.

When Schiller approached the counter, he noticed some eggshell fragments scattered on the ground, still colorful.

Gordon was standing outside the room, waving at Schiller repeatedly. After Schiller looked around for a moment, he walked out and said to Gordon, "It must be a problem with the Easter eggs."

"Eggs? I think Winnie mentioned that she saw a beautiful egg." another female police officer said.

"Do you remember the incident where the students at Gotham University got sick together?"

Schiller narrowed his eyes, took out his mobile phone, and called his colleague Anna, "Hello...Yes, I want to ask, have you distributed those Easter eggs you bought to the students yet?"

"Oh, you don't remember who you gave them to? Can you give me a list? Okay, thank you..."

Then he called Victor and asked, "Have you distributed the Easter eggs you made to the students?...You have? Do you remember who you gave them to? Can you give me a list?"

Schiller explained to Gordon, "On the eve of Easter, Principal Sheldon suddenly provided a lot of materials for making eggs and asked the professors to make Easter eggs to give to the students."

"My colleague Anna and I found it too troublesome, so we bought ready-made eggs from outside. Now both types of eggs have been given to the students. I asked them for a list of students who received the eggs, and we can compare it to find out which type of eggs is problematic..."