19 Chapter 19: The Night of the Hunt - Aftermath
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"A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard, clean questions: Was it good or was it evil? Have I done well — or ill?"
— John Steinbeck, (East of Eden)
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<(James Gordon pov)>
"Who else do you think did this?" Harvey shouted at me while holding his cross tight in his palms.
"Whoever it was, It wasn't a mummy Harvey. This is not a horror film. Mummies do not exist in real life just like aliens or ghosts or demons or any other made-up stuff you see in movies. We cannot just conclude the case by saying that the crime was done by mummies." I felt a headache coming my way.
It seemed like the world itself didn't want me to rest. Just when I was thinking of going on a vacation with my daughter, I'll have to deal with a high-profile case once again. After the entire thing with the Waynes, crime has almost tripled in Gotham. It was like everybody is trying to screw everybody.
"Then what do you call this? Those four bodies in there were withered like mummies. I am telling you either an Egyptian mummy has gotten loose from the museum or the family threw some curse at the gang members or something before they died." Harvey said as he continued to rub his cross in frustration.
"Sir, we found another body at the back. It looked like the man was staying close to his car as a quick getaway plan. His cause of death seems to be a goopy brain." A young cop approached the two senior detectives and reported with a straight face.
"Excuse me?" I said looking at the rookie with one of my brows raised.
If this was a joke, I wasn't appreciating it.
"The man doesn't have a brain anymore. Most of his brain seems to have liquefied and leaked through his... orifices. We will know more once we send the body for post-mortem." The younger cop said with a slightly disgusted face.
"Seems I was right. This is a curse after all. I knew I should have listened to my mother and taken that firefighter job. A least I wouldn't have to fight god-damn mummies." Harvey said looking like he wanted to shoot himself.
"Okay, first this was not done by a mummy. And, second, there is no curse just a very smart person who either wanted to send a message or is just trying to hide how he committed the murders." I said looking at Harvey.
This was one of the weirdest murders I have ever seen in my life. It isn't that I haven't seen dehydrated bodies before but normal bodies take weeks to dehydrate like that and also they are not nearly as intact as these are.
The Bertinelli family is a very famous crime family in the Gotham Underworld. Those four gang members are most probably from a rival gang who came here to kill the Bertinellis and steal whatever wealth they could get their hands on. It's a classic tale of the cruel and competitive underworld. But what changed this simple case was how every gang member included in the crime was killed by weird unexplainable methods.
"What about the survivor? Did she say something?" I asked the younger cop with some hope.
"No, she hadn't said anything. She is still in shock. We tried to ask her some questions without trying to further worsen her condition but she isn't even paying attention to us. She just ignores us and stares at the void with tears in her eyes." The young cop said as he signaled towards an ambulance parked a little further from where we were standing.
"I see. I didn't expect her to know anything about it anyways. She was hiding under a table when we came. I doubt if she wasn't hiding from the very beginning, those monsters would have even let her live." I said as my fists tightened on their own as I remembered the two little young bodies lying in a pool of blood.
"I told you, Gordon. Gotham is a shithole full of people who loves shitting and then throwing their shit at others. What happened here today is almost a daily occurrence in the city except for the part about the weird deaths. You should stop caring if you want to truly live your life without depression because justice in Gotham is the same as a rose growing in a shithole." Harvey smirked somewhat sadly at his own words.
"Yeah, but I am still gonna try. Whether it's the person who killed those criminals today or the gang who ordered the hit, I am at least going to find out the reason why an innocent child became an orphan today." I said determined as I went towards the ambulance.
Getting close to the ambulance, I saw a small girl a few years older than Barbara sitting with a towel wrapped up around her for warmth and comfort while shedding silent tears from her eyes.
"Your name is Helena, right? Are you okay?" I tried to start a conversation but the girl didn't respond in any way. She just kept silently crying while ignoring me.
"Look Helena, I am sorry for your loss. I know I probably won't understand your pain but I want to help you. I promise you that you are safe now. We have already contacted your uncle since he is your closest living relative. He will be coming from Europe to meet you. Bruce Wayne has also contacted us. He said that you can stay with him till your uncle reaches Gotham. You will be safe with him.
But before that, I have to do my duty and ask if you know anything about this incident. Did you hear or see anything while 'this' was happening? Anything out of the ordinary at all?" I asked while mentally swearing at myself for even trying to interrogate a young victim like her.
"No. They entered through the back door when most of my family had gone to sleep. And began to shoot everybody. I was eating at that time because I had arrived late from Bruce's house after we played Dungeons and Dragons all evening. When we heard shooting, one of the maids in the room told me to hide under the table while she checks out what was going on. But..." Helena could no longer continue and broke out in tears.
"It's okay. I understand. Thank you for your cooperation. Sit tight, I think your friends would be coming soon to pick you up." I said as I turned around but stopped after just taking a single step.
"By the way, did you or any of your family members contact Alfred or Bruce by any chance? Because they were the first ones who knew about this and informed the cops. You wouldn't happen to know how they knew about this right?" I asked wondering if they had any connection with this case.
"..." Helena was silent. From her sad tear-stricken face, it looked like she was thinking about something.
"Helena, Do you know anything about this, anything at all? If you do, you should tell me, any clue could be a big help in solving the mystery of why, how, or who did this." I asked again.
"...No, I don't," Helena said after a while.
"I see... But don't worry, I'll still try my best to find out who did this. And when I do, I'll bring them to justice whoever they are." I said with determination in my voice.
"Detective, please try to find out more about the people who killed my family and not the people who avenged them by killing those criminals and saving me in the process." The girl said with a certain coldness in her young voice just when I was turning around to leave.
"Umm, okay miss. We will do our best." I say, not blaming the girl for her rudeness. If I was in her place, I would have been much ruder than her. I understand what and how victims of such crimes think. So, I decided to just leave her alone for some time until the Waynes get here.
'This city truly is going to hell.' I mutter in my mind as I went to a quiet corner and lighted my first cigarette in months. I have tried to quit for a while now after Barbara was born and succeeded too but its times and crimes like these when I need them to continue to function properly and do my duty despite the massive frustration that whispers in my mind to just kill every criminal and gang member and be done with it.
While thinking all this, I suddenly felt a gaze on me as I looked around but didn't see anyone near me. But then I noticed a bat hanging upside down from the roof of a nearby house looking straight at me with its menacing red eyes.
A bat? Well, I did hear there have been reports of too many bats in Gotham now. I guess darkness always invites the bats huh?
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