"It's like this," Victor explained, "think about it, when facing this kind of disease, the doctor is very likely not to be straightforward in front of the patient. Even if the doctor is a long-time friend, I must ask carefully to feel at ease."
"Moreover, Oswald had an appointment with Shiller, and he didn't want to miss it, so he left early. I didn't have much to do, returning to school means looking at those headache-inducing papers. So, I stayed longer to make things clear."
"So, you can prove that when Cobblepot left, no one was dead?" Tim asked.
"Yes, everything was normal at that time," Victor nodded, "everyone was doing things as usual, and no one was murdered."
"Can you elaborate on what you were doing at the time?" Tim asked again.
Victor showed a look of reminiscence: "I first consulted the doctor carefully about Oswald's situation. I had a good talk with him about his past, his mother, and some of his experiences. But the doctor did not change his judgment and still believed that Oswald's situation was not serious, with a low risk of the disease occurring. However, he also reminded me to observe well as there might be changes later."
"Then I decided to visit Edward," Victor said, "Edward is Oswald's friend, and he has always been worried about him. I thought I should also greet him. His ward is on the third floor, I went up to find him, but unexpectedly he was not there."
"I'm not sure if he went for a routine check-up or was doing some rehabilitation training. I originally wanted to wait a bit, but by that time, the storm surge had already started. I realized something was wrong and quickly notified the nurses and doctors to evacuate."
"The seawater rose quickly. When I went down, there was already a lot of accumulated water outside. Some people wanted to block the door and run to the rooftop to wait for rescue. But at that time, I had a Freeze Gun, as long as I was fast enough, I could pave a road to let people run straight out."
"The nature of Arkham Mental Hospital is quite special, there are many mentally ill patients here. Waiting for rescue on the rooftop might cause some to lose control, and some may be stimulated into an outbreak. So it was better to run straight out."
"We gathered in the lobby, I used the Freeze Gun to open the road, leading them all the way out of the hospital's island, back to the North District of Gotham. Then they went back one by one, most should have returned to the East District where their homes are."
"Did you notice anything unusual in the lobby?" Tim asked with a frown.
"Actually, I'm the least likely to notice anything unusual," Victor said, "I was standing at the very front, and I also had to create an ice layer to pave the way, no time to worry if there was a murder behind me. And I really didn't hear any loud noise, no screams or anything."
Although Victor said a lot, there were not many useful clues. He basically saw nothing. However, Tim keenly captured a point, he looked at Cobblepot and asked: "Where is your friend Edward now?"
"He is in another hospital, the same one where my mother is," Cobblepot said, "his condition is not optimistic, he can only stay in the hospital. I sent him there as soon as I picked him up."
"When did you pick him up?"
"Around 9:20," Cobblepot continued, "I can't really say I picked him up, it was one of my assistants. He received a call for help from Edward, sent someone to pick him up, and then sent him to the hospital. I only knew about this after leaving Professor Shearer's house."
"9:20..." Tim repeated the time.
The evacuation was roughly from 8:30 to 9:00, the alarm call was about 9:01, and the body was discovered at 9:31. Edward had time to commit the crime.
But this cannot be considered as conclusive evidence because Edward can say he was waiting there in the North District for a while before contacting Cobblepot's assistant. This is normal, after all, he is a mentally ill patient with poor self-care ability, it is understandable that he struggled a bit to find someone to contact.
But one key point is, why didn't Victor pick up Edward directly? Tim looked at Victor and asked: "After taking people to the North District, didn't you think about settling them?"
"They also need to let me settle them," Victor said, "every patient has their own thoughts, and I can't manage them. Besides, they are not all alone, letting family members take them is naturally the best."
"So you didn't pay attention to Edward's whereabouts? Was he in the crowd? If he was, why didn't you pick him up?"
"Because there was no time," Victor said, "I just sent these people to the North District when Nora called me, saying the power was out at home. I was afraid something might happen to my family, so I hurried back as fast as I could, and I couldn't take care of him."
Victor looked at Cobblepot with some guilt and said: "I only remembered not seeing Edward when I got home, I really should have picked him up at that time."
"Not seeing him is the best," Cobblepot said, "Edward is in the onset period, and the medication control is not very good. If you brought him home, it might have put your family in danger."
"Could it be Edward?" Ethan asked, "He is also a mentally ill patient, and he might hurt people because of a breakdown."
Obviously, Ethan still doesn't understand Gothamites well enough, liking to attribute murders to some irresistible force, rather than an artistic pursuit.
Cobblepot's expression darkened, not because he was angry at Ethan, but because he himself couldn't completely deny this possibility. Tim asked the key question: "What's actually wrong with Edward's condition?"
"I'm not entirely sure," Cobblepot said, "Edward seems to have a hereditary mental illness, but not schizophrenia. It's difficult to classify it as any specific illness pathologically. If anything, it's a sensory system-based mental disorder."
"What are the specific symptoms?"
"Auditory and visual hallucinations, racing thoughts, poor empathy, paranoid delusions," Cobblepot said, "Additionally, it leads to anxiety and paranoia, occasionally manic symptoms. The most severe is compulsive behavior, which manifests as constantly speaking and solving riddles."
The group fell silent; it's practically a compendium of mental illness symptoms. It's rare for one person to have so many symptoms, no wonder even doctors are at a loss.
Alberto opened his mouth, momentarily unsure of what to ask. Can such a person commit murder? Of course, they can. But after they've committed murder, what can you do? Isn't the only option to lock them in a psychiatric hospital?
From a practical perspective, Alberto felt it was unnecessary to further investigate the killer. Since the likelihood of a mental patient committing a crime is high, even if the perpetrator were found, it wouldn't change the situation.
Tim clearly didn't agree. He believed that even if the final verdict might still involve treatment in a psychiatric institution, at least the deceased and their family should receive the truth. Despite the deceased possibly not being innocent, legal procedures must still be followed.
"Under what circumstances would he commit murder?"
This question was slightly excessive. Because without evidence, you can't assume anyone is the murderer and then ask leading questions. But obviously, this wasn't a regular situation, because even Cobblepot knew that Edward was not a normal person.
Riddler has significant mental disorders, but one bug is a bug, a pile of bugs can work. His collection of mental problems together gives him immense mobility, setting him apart from traditional psychiatric patients, sometimes even making Batman stumble.
So Cobblepot couldn't guarantee that Edward wouldn't commit murder. He said: "You can't provoke him, especially with riddles. Don't stop him from solving riddles or mock his riddles. But I believe doctors and nurses wouldn't make that mistake, otherwise, he wouldn't have stayed here this long."
"What's changed, then?" Tim asked, "Something must have disrupted his usual state of living, leading him to possibly act out and commit murder."
"Does this mean we're assuming he's the murderer?" Ethan asked.
"It's just a possibility," Tim shook his head and replied. He then turned to Cobblepot and asked, "If you're good friends, why didn't he call you directly but instead reach out to your assistant?"
"He has both my number and my two assistants' numbers," Cobblepot said, "to prevent situations where one number can't be reached. I guess he might have just called a number randomly; he's done this before."
"Did you visit him at the hospital afterward? What was his condition?"
"After leaving Professor Shearer's house, I went straight there. When I first saw him, he was a bit disheveled, like he had just been caught in the rain. But after a hot shower, he seemed much better. We chatted for a while, and I didn't notice anything abnormal about his mental state."
The situation became more perplexing. If Edward had an episode, it wouldn't happen without abnormalities. Cobblepot couldn't hide this matter because, when the assistant sent him over, surely other hospital personnel witnessed it. The state of a psychiatric patient experiencing an episode is easily identifiable; just review the surveillance from that day, and lies would be easily debunked.
But if he didn't have an episode, then his motive for murder is undeniably weak. The fact that he has stayed in that hospital for so long implies the environment and people there are suitable. The regular people who interact with him wouldn't provoke him; otherwise, issues would have arisen long ago. Why would he kill when all is well?
"Without experiencing an episode, Edward wouldn't commit murder," Cobblepot said, "Leaving aside that he has no motive, he's a congenital mental disorder patient but not one of those antisocial individuals who kill for pleasure. He only shows aggressiveness when experiencing abnormal mental states; otherwise, I wouldn't be friends with him, I dislike the Joker."
"Is it possible that by the time you saw him, he had already calmed down?" Victor proposed another possibility.
"The likelihood is small," Shiller spoke, "The act of murder itself is a significant stimulus, and its impact is hard to dissipate within tens of minutes, let alone show no abnormalities."
"Oswald is right; Edward isn't an antisocial personality madman. He's indeed a mentally disordered patient with pathological mental disorders, and people like him don't possess refined acting skills nor can they disguise all their abnormalities in a short time."
In this regard, Shiller was absolutely professional. He made his judgment, and there was no angle for the others to refute. Therefore, Edward's suspicion was quite low.
After all that discussion, they were still at a loss for answers. Tim still wanted to ask Brainiac for any more detailed clues. But at this moment, he saw the message sent to him by Brainiac, and looked up to say: "The rain is easing; Brainiac is preparing to retrieve the body."
Tim was about to say something else but received another message from Brainiac.
"... The body is missing???"