"Was his disappearance related to you?" Tim's tone was somewhat sharp, but Cobblepot was indeed suspicious. He could have made the call inquiring or sending a tip-off.
"If I intended to cover for Edward, I wouldn't have let you deduce to this point." Cobblepot vigorously refuted, "Besides, even if you arrest him, you can't sentence him to death. The worst outcome would be forcing him into treatment, and he's already hospitalized, so it doesn't make a difference."
Everyone fell silent. They also knew that if Cobblepot wanted to cause trouble, disrupting the calm of the inquiry night, he actually had plenty of ways. After all, the North District used to be the Mob's territory, and there really are many die-hard followers of the Twelve Families here.
Not to mention anything else, just by adding something to the wine to make them drowsy quicker, they wouldn't have deduced to this stage before all falling asleep. Or slightly misleading when the truth was initially elusive would easily result in erroneous conclusions.
Cobblepot had provided quite a bit of useful information during the deduction process, such as the structure of Arkham Mental Hospital, for instance. If he didn't want Edward to be suspected, he could easily muddle through, rather than delving deeply as he did now. Realizing to get Edward on the run at this point is truly not up to his standard.
Moreover, considering the actual situation, Edward couldn't escape. His condition is documented by Brainiac, and his current state leaves him lacking self-care ability, coupled with harsh external environments, making survival outside difficult even if he managed to escape. He must have been taken by someone.
"Did you capture anything?" Tim asked Brainiac, "The hospital should have surveillance, right?"
"I'm digging into it." Brainiac said, "Ah, found it, he walked into a surveillance blind spot, then vanished."
"You really should learn from Batman how to set up surveillance." Tim said, "How could there be blind spots?"
"I do have my limits." Brainiac explained, "I can't install cameras in any area involving human privacy, such as restroom stalls, changing rooms, and baths."
"What's the reason for this?" Victor asked, "Why would you hold ethical concerns similar to humans? How is human privacy especially significant to you?"
"It's not. But I can't guarantee the footage I capture would never be stolen by humans; my defenses aren't completely foolproof. If someone hacks in to steal privacy and exposes it, I would certainly be expelled by humans. Might as well not film at all."
Tim was at a loss. It's indeed hard to accuse Brainiac of being overcautious. There are too many oddities among humans, and they will continue to arise. If someone really does this, people wouldn't consider the hacker excessive, they would just think Brainiac didn't protect their privacy. For Brainiac, the best way to prevent such situations is avoiding suspicion. No filming, no records mean he can't be blamed.
Moreover, Brainiac is already evolving; the future form of life is unclear, it's hard to say if there will be ethical entanglements with humans. Even if the data was collected before his evolution, it's unclear afterward. Not collecting is the best choice.
Brainiac sent over a video clip, showing Edward stumbling in a certain direction. He went through one door and then another, and was never seen again. Beyond that second door was a surveillance blind spot area, he never re-emerged after going in.
"That's the place where they do ECGs." Brainiac said, "Since there might be skin exposed, there's only surveillance near the doctor's desk. Edward didn't go close to it, so nothing was captured."
"Edward seems to have walked there voluntarily." Tim watching the video said, "Why would he go there? Does he have an ECG examination?"
"No. And all doctors are off duty now, there's no one in the office or hallway. He has no reason to go there." Brainiac said.
Cobblepot examined the video carefully, then said, "He seems to be having an episode. Previously, he would often wander around being guided by some sort of illusion. Once, he almost jumped off the window ledge. This time seems the same."
"Did someone use an illusion to guide him? But how was that achieved?" Victor staring at the screen said, "Could killings also be guided by someone? But who would do such a thing?"
Tim glanced at Cobblepot, who returned his look with a cold gaze. Tim pursed his lips and said, "How did you two meet? Why did you become friends?"
"You're suspicious of me?" Cobblepot sneered, "I'm not the kind of person you imagine, focused solely on interests without genuine friends. Are you disappointed?"
"I'm not attacking you." Tim sighed, "But befriending someone with such severe mental symptoms is challenging. They can't even express normally."
"Edward's condition wasn't this severe before." Cobblepot said, "I met him while my mom was hospitalized here. We both shared many similarities and common interests, naturally becoming friends. At that time, he was quite lucid, apart from a particular interest in riddles, he was no different from anyone else."
"He liked playing checkers, watching movies, and listening to my mother telling stories of old Gotham. His thoughts were as simple as a child's, conveying his emotions in the most straightforward manner. Doctors and nurses in the hospital all liked him because he was very likable."
"He also considered me a friend because I could solve many riddles for him, which many doctors and nurses couldn't do. I'd bring him lots of stuff from outside, including books of riddles. During that time, he heavily relied on me, and we'd talk on the phone daily, sometimes discussing riddles late into the night."
"When did his symptoms start to worsen?" Shiller asked.
"I don't know when it first started," Cobblepot replied, "but after the Black Death Emperor's invasion ended, I went to see him, and he seemed a bit off, his mood was very bad. We parted on bad terms, and then it got progressively worse."
"Did he say anything to you?" Victor asked.
"I asked, but he wouldn't say," Cobblepot shook his head and said, "I thought he was blaming me for not visiting him for so long. I wanted to comfort him, but at that time, my mother's condition was also worsening, and I could only manage both sides, which ended up not going well for either."
Victor sighed, and the others sensed the pressure Cobblepot was under. On the one hand, he had a friend experiencing a mental illness outbreak, and on the other, his mother's deteriorating physical health. Plus, he had a vast business to manage, no wonder he was exhausted to the point of memory loss.
"Professor, interfering with Edward's mind, manipulating him to kill, and using illusion to guide him to a designated place at the right time, is that possible?"
"Firstly, it's much easier to manipulate a normal person to commit murder than to manipulate someone with a mental illness," Shiller said shockingly. "The thinking of a normal person follows a traceable pattern, you just need to find the loophole. But most mentally ill people's psychic_battlefield is too chaotic, full of loopholes, making it hard to exploit."
"Even attempting to leverage these loopholes is not advisable. For a psychiatrist, plunging into the psychic_battlefield of a mentally ill person is inherently dangerous. Especially with someone like Edward, whose pathology is yet to be understood, with severe mental symptoms, engaging in deep psychic communication would be suicidal."
"If I could truly penetrate the chaotic external spirit domain, reach the core, and issue effective commands, healing Edward would be easy as pie. The reason I haven't done it is not that I don't want to, but simply because it's impossible."
"Did anyone interact with Edward after he was admitted to the hospital?" Shiller asked Brainiac.
"No one. Neither the doctors nor the nurses have spoken to him, and he hasn't interacted with anyone else."
"Assuming he is indeed the murderer, then from the time he committed the murder and handled the body until now, more than a day has passed. Without interacting with him and strengthening hypnosis, it is impossible to suddenly create specific illusions to guide him. As far as I know, no one can induce such a long-lasting spiritual influence through hypnosis, myself included."
This led to another round of silence. If Shiller couldn't do it, then indeed it seemed no one could. Even using superpowers to explore the psychic_battlefield of such a mentally ill person would be extremely dangerous. Even with superpower manipulation, executing it so precisely would be tough. Ultimately, it's the uncontrollable mental state of such severely ill patients that's the core issue.
"If we consider Edward as the murderer, what would be his motive for killing?" Victor asked, "Did he see some anomaly in the victim and kill them to alert us? But given he could easily contact Cobblepot, I don't see the necessity to use a murder to alert us. Couldn't he have just made a phone call?"
"Mental disorder patients may not have such normal logical thinking," Ethan said, "They immerse themselves in their illusions, feeling that no one is trustworthy, showing severe paranoia symptoms..."
Upon hearing this, Tim seemed to suddenly remember something, he said, "'Untrustworthy'..."
He looked at Cobblepot, "Could Edward think you're untrustworthy?"
"But he still called me to pick him up..." Cobblepot paused while saying this. Edward didn't actually call him; he called his assistant.
Indeed, it could very well be that Edward randomly dialed a number. But in times of crisis, one should think of those closest. Cobblepot had already set up an emergency dial key on Edward's phone, allowing him to call with just a press of a button. Dialing the assistant would require flipping through the contacts, even for convenience, Cobblepot should have been the first choice unless Edward didn't trust him.
"Why would this happen?" Cobblepot was completely puzzled, "Why would he think I'm untrustworthy? I've never done anything to hurt him, even though there had been some misunderstandings before, it shouldn't lead to this."
"It's not your fault," Shiller interjected, "Paranoia itself can lead to hallucinations, where they might interpret mundane details as evidence of being monitored, listened to, or persecuted, thus suspect anyone."
"However..." Shiller paused, "It's worth investigating what specific detail led him to doubt you. You've interacted with him even after his condition worsened, and he didn't seem very resistant, which proves he hadn't yet doubted you..."
Cobblepot paused for a moment and said, "I interacted with him a day before the murder occurred. At that time, he was merely ignoring me and reading by himself, without showing any aggressiveness. That means he didn't doubt me then... Did the issue arise on the day it happened? The day I visited the doctor?"
"Seems like it," Shiller said, "Maybe a specific action of yours or contact with someone made him consider you aligned with those allegedly monitoring him, thus adding you to the suspect list."
Everyone felt this was indeed unusual. But since Edward is a mental disorder patient, the abnormal might be the norm. Shiller also explained to them that patients with paranoia are often like this—suspicious, jumpy.
"Could it be he knew I was seeing the doctor and presumed my illness had suddenly worsened, leading him not to trust me?" Cobblepot frowned.