The Death Knell

"Well, he's right."

Taking the time to take a look at Harley's condition, she found that she was no longer reading comic books, but playing with the big-ass TV sets on the table. Su Ming continued to talk to the cat:

"My point of view is that the fire started in the basement."

"Huh? Why do you all say meow like that?" The cat still kept its hands-on-hand posture, but its eyes were a little wider. It didn't ask Batman this question, because it knew that bats were never responsible for answering, so it was better to ask directly. Death knell.

There was nothing to hide about the cat. Su Ming smiled and took a sip from the cat as reward, then replied:

"I don't know where Batman made the judgment, but my evidence is that the rubber ring next to the faucet in the bathroom melts not by an open flame, but by heat from the inside out, and in this house Old-fashioned cast iron water pipes are used, and the wires are routed from the wall. Iron metal is an excellent conductor of heat, and the intersection of all water pipes exposed to the air is most likely in the basement, where the main water supply valve is located. "

Under normal circumstances, due to air flow, flames generally travel upward, so there is basically no situation where the fire starts on the second floor first and then burns to the basement.

In other words, there was a fire in the basement first, and the open flame heated the water pipes. The water pipes conducted the heat to the bathroom on the second floor, melting the rubber gasket. About five minutes after the incident, the open fire spread up, and the interior of the bathroom was covered with ceramic tiles. , retaining the integrity of the clues to a great extent.

Of course, the premise is that Christopher's memory of these is true, but in this case, if he knows about the changes in the bathroom, it will actually increase his suspicion.

Maybe the main consciousness has no impression of these, but the subconscious mind has the memory of the fire scene. This is simply a scam.

But there are indeed other possibilities.

"The window is deformed." Batman rarely explained the basis for his inference, but it was only this sentence. When the cat opened his eyes and looked at him, waiting for the next step, he fell silent.

Maybe it's because there's nothing to talk about, and it's the kind of ability that others can't learn even if they know it, such as summarizing the rules of deformation of wood during burning? It's all detective stuff.

Anyway, after he said these words, he went down the stairs. After passing the first floor, he did not look at Christopher who walked into the house with the cake, but went directly to the door of the basement.

As expected, the door is locked. Most families with children are accustomed to locking this door to prevent children from bumping into accidents in the dark basement.

Or maybe it's to prevent them from encountering bats, causing them to become fearful and turn into Batman?

Okay, this is a new joke in Su Ming's mind, so there's no need to say it out loud.

"Boom!!!" Batman kicked the door open without caring about Christopher's feelings. He didn't even light a lamp and walked straight into the darkness.

There was only a dim light in the dark basement, and the small window was almost completely blocked by debris, which was a pile of huge cardboard boxes.

Without being reminded by Deathstroke, Batman walked over to the cardboard boxes, opened one and examined the contents.

"It's not a corpse or ashes, just some rags. Cat." The cat lost interest and curled its lips. Felines' vision in the dark is not affected, let alone this is a nightmare.

"It's not just tattered clothes, it's bloody clothes."

Su Ming laughed, and he motioned to Batman to pick up his clothes and show them:

"For example, the shirt in Bat's hand would look good on a fat teenage girl. Our victim's family does not have women of this size. Oh, especially since there are seven or eight small holes on the chest of this shirt. , I guess the murder weapon is a screwdriver commonly used by workers?"

Yes, don't think that Christopher's family was burned to death, he was a poor victim, and remember that he is a serial killer.

Although in daily life, he seemed innocent and a very good family member, but after he was admitted to the hospital and became a vegetative state, didn't the Gotham Police Department find out that he was related to a serial murder case?

Although we do not rule out the possibility that he became the 'mute' who took the blame, this possibility is too small. You must know that more than 20 years ago, Gotham gangsters did not need to avoid people at all when killing people.

If you kill them, they will admit it. What can you do?

After shooting at pedestrians with his front foot, he could still stop and wait for the traffic light at the intersection. While doing maintenance on his submachine gun, he could chat and joke with the police on duty at the intersection.

He was so arrogant, and the matter was obvious, but no one could say anything else. Otherwise, why would Batman choose to act at night after his debut? Choose to use violence?

It was because at that time, under the so-called "order" during the day, it could be said that he could not move even an inch.

But speaking of it, it was also a simple era. During the period when the eight major families ruled Gotham, even at the end of the ruling era, serial killers were regarded as madmen and perverts at that time, but there was no white leftist who is now regarded as a 'patient' treatment.

Batman put down the shirt in his hand, picked up another suit, and looked at the holes and black blood stains on it.

"The child is innocent."

It seemed that he had not forgotten that Christopher was a serial killer, and he did not even think about trying to defend him in this regard. After all, there were so many big boxes in the basement filled with irrefutable evidence.

Batman knew as soon as he got started that these were clothes ripped off from dead people. Judging from the number of holes and the amount of bleeding, the people wearing these clothes should have been attacked by screwdrivers and claw hammers, and the injuries were absolutely fatal.

"So is that blood?" The cat rubbed its eyes with its paws, and it became more interested: "I thought the clothes were originally dark red. I wonder, why don't I smell the smell of blood at all?"

"It's like if you live in a trash can every day, you won't be able to smell the odor on yourself after a long time."

Su Ming smiled and said dark words. His eyes fell on the boiler not far away. This was something only used in winter. It was clean and had nothing in it:

"If Christopher kills people every day and associates with blood every day, then of course there will be no smell of blood in his subconscious dreams. For him, there will only be fresh air, and this is the natural smell in his home."

"What about the owners of these clothes?" the cat asked again.

"It was most likely disposed of in the garage, right? No need to look or smell, I guessed it."

Deathstroke told the cat not to forget that there was still a room in this home, and to think about why Christopher didn't park his Ford car in the garage when he came home, but parked it on the roadside.

It was never the five members of his family at the scene. Maybe while everyone was having a happy birthday party, there were still undismembered bodies in the dark garage.

As I said before, Christopher also killed people, but after his family was killed, he couldn't accept it and went crazy. What else could it be if he couldn't afford to lose?

Shouldn't the murderer have already prepared himself to be killed?

Su Ming didn't like such half-hearted murderers, so he didn't approve of Batman helping him solve the case. There were only rags in these boxes, and there was no wallet at all, let alone the money inside.

If Christopher used the money from his prey for his family, are his wife and children really innocent?

This is Gotham, don't forget this. The Dionysian factor has existed underground since the city was founded, and the crazy factor has already seeped into the water. Just think about things here in a dark direction.