What really made Tim a bit dissatisfied was that Brainiac, knowing full well Ethan was here and not too friendly towards artificial intelligence, didn't even give him a big gun when sending him over. That damned electronic life could just take his weapons and equipment from the armory to the grave with him.
When he first met Bruce Wayne, he could still get a shotgun, but now he could only use a broken police handgun. It felt like he was regressing as he lived longer.
Ethan looked at Cobblepot again and asked, "Where were you last night?"
This question focused everyone's attention once more; indeed, it was time to check alibis. Although Ethan didn't believe Tim's statement that "someone here went to Arkham Psychiatric Hospital at night," it was best to eliminate some suspects if they were taking turns as detectives.
"Last night, I was invited to visit the Professor," Cobblepot said, "We talked about my mother's health condition and discussed a new drug while having some wine. I arrived a little after 8 and didn't leave until almost 10."
It's quite a distance from Arkham Mental Hospital to Shiller's house, and with the rain outside, the road conditions were bad, which would take over an hour. If Cobblepot wanted to act, it could only have been before 7 o'clock, before the storm surge arrived, and the hospital was still operating as usual. It's not impossible to act, just that hiding the corpse would be complicated.
Cobblepot then looked at Tim again, but instead of asking for an alibi, he wanted to get more clues from Tim. He asked, "What time was the police call made?"
"At 9:01 PM," Tim replied, "It seemed like a panic-stricken patient in evacuation discovered the body in a room not yet completely submerged. But he couldn't articulate the specific situation."
At the same time, Tim provided his alibi: "Last night, I was drinking with Barry and the others. We drank from a little after 4 PM until midnight. There were seven of us, mostly FBI agents, in their office. No one left for more than five minutes. They can all testify."
This alibi is indeed solid, a typical public setting, and the time frame is long enough. If someone killed before 4 PM at Arkham Psychiatric Hospital, the body would be hard to hide and wouldn't be discovered only at 9 PM. Moreover, there is surveillance in the building; it would be next to impossible to act under Brainiac's watchful eyes without being flooded.
Tim then turned to Shiller and asked, "Where would be the first crime scene, Professor?"
"Ground floor," Shiller replied, "The ground floor would be the first to get flooded, and the cameras would mostly stop working. Even if they kept working, the water quality would be too murky to see clearly. All you need to do is kill the person in the water and transport them upstairs, waiting for the tide to rise."
"Furthermore, evacuation must have been chaotic. Doctors and nurses would want to evacuate all patients and count heads, which is most likely done on the ground floor. During this time, there were a lot of people, making it chaotic and the easiest to act. After counting, the water would rise quickly, and everyone would evacuate promptly, so they might not notice someone doing the opposite. It's the best opportunity to slip through the chaos."
"As for that police call, I'm more inclined to think the killer staged it themselves. There are two loopholes: First, the water rising takes time, and when the ground floor is half-flooded, you should leave; no one would stay until it's fully submerged unless the killer wanted to use it to kill someone."
"Second, if it's a patient who can't even speak clearly, they'd have little mobility. After witnessing the corpse, they'd struggle to flee from a floor half-flooded. A storm would bring a surge, making swimming difficult and escaping by boat uncertain. Thus, it's more likely there'd be two corpses left in the hospital, not just one."
The crucial clue finally surfaced; everyone understood this was very likely the killer's modus operandi—using the chaos of the seawater influx evacuation to act, killing in the confusion.
Shiller finally posed a case-related question: "Why didn't the killer leave the body on the ground floor?"
It's indeed a worth pondering question. Even with water, moving the body would still be difficult, possibly requiring the water to rise bit by bit to move the body into a room on one floor. What's the point of that?
Alberto thought for a moment, shook his head, and said, "I really don't know. I don't often mess around with corpses."
He took a sip of wine, pursed his lips, and slightly frowned. With time passing, the wine had aired a bit too much, turning too sour and really tasting like some kind of punishment.
Alberto repeated Shiller's question, seemingly wanting Victor to deduce the reason. Victor gave it a try and said, "The only thing I can think of is framing someone. They might want people to think the first crime scene was on the ground floor, making it seem like the killer was one of the victim's colleagues on the first floor."
This reasoning seems a bit far-fetched, as it doesn't really illustrate necessity. There are many ways to frame someone. Rather than moving to the first floor, just moving through the front door, letting the body float on the surface, and tampering with it would make it easier to frame and simpler.
Victor also felt his reasoning was somewhat unreasonable, so he took a sip of wine and looked at Ethan. Ethan said, "I don't know; unfortunately, I can't drink it."
"That's a good thing," Alberto said, "Next time, remember not to drink red wine on such occasions; it airs out too much."
Ethan also threw the question to Cobblepot. Cobblepot thought carefully, then said, "The hall of Arkham Psychiatric Hospital is probably square. Directly in front is the main entrance, there are windows on both sides, but behind is the wall of the nurse's station, with stairs on either side of the nurse's station."
"The distance from the hall to the main entrance is much shorter than to the stairs. If the killer wanted the body to be discovered quickly, they would indeed have moved it out through the main entrance. So, it's likely the killer wanted the body to take longer to be retrieved."
Cobblepot paused for a moment: "I think I understand now."
Everyone looked at him, Cobblepot said, "This could very likely be related to the time of death of the corpse. The evolution process of a corpse after death is greatly influenced by the surrounding environment. In lower temperatures, the process is slower; in higher temperatures, decomposition accelerates."
"There is another condition when submerged in water, which is swelling. Even living people will swell if soaked in water for too long, and Gotham's water is especially potent. A corpse entirely soaked in water that can't be retrieved immediately will swell more than in a dry state, possibly leading to a misjudgment of the time of death."
Those present could be considered professionals. As universally known, the evolution process of a corpse follows a predictable pattern, showing certain states at certain times without significant exceptions. Behavior may vary slightly depending on temperature and environment, but the general pattern remains consistent.
For example, the state of giant observation usually begins at a specific time point, with possible fluctuation, but not too much. And the time of reaching the most swollen state is also traceable.
And if, at a designated time, one sees a corpse in its most swollen state, one can deduce the time of death retrospectively. However, if this most swollen state is fabricated, the retrospective estimation would be inaccurate. This is why novice killers fake alibis, while experienced ones begin to fabricate the corpse itself.
"No, that's not right," said Tim, "The backflow of seawater swelling the corpse isn't a secret, it's immediately visible. Brainiac isn't a fool, he would factor in the 'soaked in water' attribute of the corpse, correct the data before deducing, so arriving at an incorrect time is impossible."
The others realized this too. If the body appeared in a dry environment and wasn't examined by a forensic expert—simplified as appearing in the late 18th to early 19th century, at a time when science wasn't as advanced—it could possibly slip through the cracks.
Yet now, when the body was discovered in water, everyone knows it was soaked, its swollen state was unreliable, preventing any erroneous deduction. Moreover, it would eventually be retrieved, and once retrieved, the corpse would undergo forensic examination, making it clear if it was soaked or not, making it hard to justify.
"When did Brainiac send the drone over, and discover the corpse?" Cobblepot looked at Tim and asked.
"Half an hour after receiving the report," Tim said, "Around 9:31, the drone arrived at the scene, discovering the corpse floating in a ground-floor room from above the water surface. However, the drone lacks underwater operation capability, and other equipment was dispatched elsewhere for disaster relief, so retrieval wasn't done immediately. And now the water level is too high to retrieve."
Tim actually wanted to discuss his reasoning but felt it still had flaws, so he looked at Shiller and asked, "What do you think, professor?"
"The key is 'seeing'." Shiller said enigmatically. Everyone perked up, knowing he was about to use spirit communication again.
But he didn't. Shiller indeed reasoned based on existing clues, he said, "The main reason it wasn't on the ground level is that once the water rises, the drone wouldn't be able to see through such deep and murky water to spot the corpse inside the ground level hall. But on the first floor, it's easier to be noticed."
"A critical piece of evidence is," Shiller slightly raised his hand, "Victor previously mentioned maintaining buoyancy balance in water, meaning the corpse's weight might be substantial. The reason for maintaining buoyancy in water, stopping the corpse at that position, is the key."
"If the corpse floated to the ceiling, it would be almost impossible for the drone above the water surface to see it, certainly blocked by the wall above the window, visible from no angle."
"But by slightly submerging the corpse, it gives the drone an angle to see it, allowing it to pinpoint the room containing the corpse from a higher position."
Shiller paused briefly then continued, "This proves the killer must know the approximate height the water would rise, so he knew ground level wasn't viable. He also knew causing the corpse to slightly submerge would allow it to be seen from the surface observer."
"He judged the water rise height would certainly submerge the first floor, but not excessively exceed, such that his arrangement exposes the corpse. If the water didn't rise this high, there's no need to move it upstairs; if it rose to third or fourth floor heights, placing it on the first floor wouldn't reveal it either."
Having finished his reasoning, Shiller looked at Alberto: "Why would the killer want the corpse discovered?"
Alberto sighed. He took another sip of wine, placing the glass gently back on the table, then said, "Sorry, I really can't drink this awful wine anymore. I concede."
No one laughed at him. They realized the previous rounds were just warm-ups. As more reasoning unfolds, it increasingly resembles a true detective game. Non-detectives will surely be eliminated; the following will be a display of the professionals.