## Chapter 50: The Riddler (Part 1)
*Zzt!*
The female officer beside Gordon inserted the USB drive into the computer.
“It’s already reading… it’ll be a while. We’ve slowed it down… frame by frame.”
“Here it is.”
Gordon, seated on the Gotham Police Department’s elevating chair, adjusted his glasses.
“This happened a few hours ago. That’s John Peterson, the victim of this murder. There.”
The screen gradually lit up. The grainy, black and white footage, occasionally interrupted by signal interference, had a surreal absurdity and a sense of dread, like a silent film.
“Our victim usually took the subway home, but that day he decided to take a cab.”
“Now look to the left.”
Jim Gordon narrowed his eyes.
“That’s The Riddler. He already had the gun drawn when the monitor captured him. See? Left hand. I remember The Riddler’s not left-handed.”
“It all happened in the blink of an eye, no hesitation… or any other movement.”
The female officer’s voice resonated: “It’s hard to see if he spoke – we’ve looked carefully, his lips don’t seem to have moved, so based on what we know now, we assume he didn’t speak.”
Gordon already guessed what would happen next, but he wasn’t sure if he dared to believe it.
“This is the moment the gun fires.”
Commissioner Gordon pursed his lips.
He saw The Riddler on the screen raise his hand towards the back of the head of the innocent victim.
*Bang!*
The gunshot seemed to explode in Jim Gordon’s ears, even though the surveillance footage was completely silent, like a silent tombstone.
“One shot to the head, instant death. The crowd begins to panic, fleeing from the source of the noise.” the female officer said, “The Riddler lowered his gun, didn’t aim at or attack anyone else.”
“The crowd was still in a panic, running away. He threw the gun next to the victim’s body, and didn’t move it until we got there.”
“Very calm, no screaming or anything similar, very professional. Up to this point… he hasn’t said a word.”
“Here’s the first patrol car that arrived. We just happened to have an officer named Sean a half block away, he got out of the car… yelling right at The Riddler.”
“He heard,” Gordon said, “no doubt about it.”
“This is all the footage from the case of The Riddler shooting John Peterson on the street.”
Commissioner Gordon saw The Riddler in the footage turn towards the camera, taking out a card with the Batman logo from his pocket. He smiled gently and then said—
“Where is he?”
Interrogation room.
The desk lamp was turned on, The Riddler tilted his head slightly, avoiding the glare.
Commissioner Gordon sat down opposite The Riddler.
“He won’t come. Edward’s not worth wasting his time.”
“Do you know the oldest riddle? In ancient Sumer, roughly 4,000 years ago.”
He held up his handcuffs slightly:
“I am everywhere but cannot be seen, I often get away with it but never escape, I will find you at the crossroads and even chase you around the next corner, what am I?”
“Death.”
“I can be broken, spoken, made, and played, what am I?”
“I don’t have time for riddles with you.”
Commissioner Gordon interrupted him: “Nygma. You shot poor John Peterson in the head in broad daylight, then waited for the police to arrive.”
“Do you have a reason for doing this? Did he owe you money? Did you owe him some money? Did you lose a poker game to him or something? Maybe he slept with your girlfriend —”
“Do you have a girlfriend?”
“The answer is a joke.”
“So… is that a no about the girlfriend?”
“You don’t like jokes?” The Riddler said.
He smiled gently, shyly like a student answering a teacher’s question in school, his eyes even seemed to hold a clear stupidity.
“Do you want to guess another one?”
“How did Joker know that Harleen was home that day? How did he know where you live? How did he get past your security system? We both know him, he’s a strange guy—both crazy and complex, but he’s not good at making plans.”
“……”
The Riddler made a phone call gesture, imitating the conversation with Joker on the spot:
“Hey~ dear Ed~ how’s the plan going? I want to make a ‘bad day’, but I have no idea where to start.”
“Well, uh, Jack—what about starting with the sheriff and his daughter? I’ve already planned everything, but it’s too simple, I find it boring. Sing me a song, and I’ll give it to you.”
“Wow, that would be perfect, Ed. Listen, I’ll throw in a dance for free.”
“Ha, ha, ha, ha!”
The Riddler spoke lightly, yet a girl’s fate was smeared with such malice, like a dark ink stain on the wall.
Gordon slowly clenched his fists.
He kept reminding himself that The Riddler just wanted to provoke him.
He couldn’t let his emotions be manipulated so easily by the other party, which meant a complete loss of initiative and a complete shaking of his mind. Facing The Riddler, this was a highly dangerous state… ”
“You *##%%@#* – How dare you?” Gordon jumped up from his chair, grabbing The Riddler by the neck: “You dare *##%%@#* in front of me!”
But the next second Gordon forced himself to stop venting his anger.
“Cough, cough, cough!” The Riddler coughed violently behind him: “Are you okay, Gordo? You don’t look happy.”
“Oh no… did everyone find out about Sergeant Sarah? How did you… you know, *##%%@#* her, then force her to transfer?”
“So you can hide your affair from your pregnant wife?”
“She was your subordinate, buddy, she used to have a career of her own, and then… well, we know what happened next, don’t we? Poor woman.”
Jim Gordon calmed down. Anger was gradually replaced by shame, just as he was about to be consumed by it, he suddenly realized that in front of The Riddler, his emotions were like ceramics, easily molded.
So he turned around, no longer facing his prisoner.
But it wasn’t normal. Over the years, whenever The Riddler committed a crime, there would be a riddle left at the scene.
Passionate murder without a riddle? This was contrary to The Riddler’s crime patterns. Edward Nygma should despise such low-end crimes the most.
Gordon had a faint feeling: something didn’t seem right. The Riddler… he wasn’t the same Riddler he used to be.
But in any case, he was caught now.
Gordon said, “You’ll be transferred to Arkham Asylum, which has been rebuilt. You can wait there, maybe Batman will have time to interrogate you.”
He looked at The Riddler, his pupils reflecting the sinister smile on the other’s face:
“Do you believe that?”
He heard Edward Nygma say: “Escape from the cage… only takes 20 seconds.”
(End of Chapter)
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