"Also in today's news, the body of a woman was found at a local beauty parlor. Twenty-three-year-old Alice Lockhart was found decapitated in Gotham Beauty Salon on Ninth Street. Police sources believe that Jervis Tetch, a man who calls himself The Mad Hatter is the perpetrator. His crimes, usually involving the Alice in Wonderland children's books, haven't been seen in Gotham City since his incarceration ten months ago. He recently escaped from Arkham Asylum. He is considered armed and dangerous, and we remind-"
"How do they find out so quickly!" yelled Commissioner Gordon. He threw a pencil at the television screen in his office. "If my men were as efficient as that damned press, there'd be no crime in this town!"
"But then, you'd be out of a job," said Batman who appeared out of the office's shadows.
"Oh, thank God, you're here. The Mad Hatter has committed a murder, and-"
"I know. I heard. I've been to the crime scene, but your guys cleaned it up already."
"Yeah. The Mayor doesn't want you helping, so he's told us to take every piece of evidence from the scene." Gordon opened his desk drawer and extracted a few pieces of paper. "But I saved these pictures for you. They're not pretty, though, so brace yourself."
"So, he did take off her head," said Batman, not amused in the least.
"Yeah, as you can see, we found it not far from the body. But it…umm…well, it had no hair on it." Gordon hated referring to a person's body as "it", but in this case, it would help him talk about it without losing his lunch.
"And these are all from her head?" asked Batman pointing to the tresses of hair strewn about the ground.
"Yeah. The salon owners clean thoroughly every night before they leave the place. Tetch must have snatched a key from one of the rooms during the day and then snuck in that night with the girl."
"And why was she there?"
"Apparently, she was abducted from her home yesterday. We checked it out, and there are signs of a struggle on the interior of the house. He must have just knocked, she came to the door, and he knocked her out inside."
Batman's lips tightened underneath his mask. "That's not really Jervis's style, though."
"We know. Usually, he's got those mind control thingies, but it seems he's just taking a different approach. We don't know why that could be, though." Gordon seemed more than upset. Batman usually only saw him this way when the Joker escaped, which unfortunately was very often. Gordon had never been so upset about any other criminal that Batman could remember.
"Don't worry. We'll get him," said Batman reassuringly.
"Yeah. But how many more people will die before we do?"