wHy Is A rAvEn LiKe a wRiTiNg DeSk?
Gordon shook his head in disbelief. The message was carved across the girl's stomach. The Mad Hatter had used her body as a piece of paper with her blood as the ink. It disgusted Gordon beyond even some of the Joker's crimes. At least the Joker usually just used that Smylex gas to make his victims laugh to death. No, it wasn't humane. But it was better than this. And in one of Gotham's elementary schools, no less.
"He's taking new measures."
Gordon spun around, not believing the voice he had heard. "Batman? But it's still daytime."
"If Mayor Hill is wiping all the crime scenes clean, I need to be here before he can do that. Day or night. I have to do this." Batman looked less than thrilled to be present during the day. He had made a vow a long time ago that he would only work under the cover of darkness. It was the way the bat worked, and it was the way he had decided he would work. But this was becoming a case he needed to spend more time with. They had no leads as to the Hatter's whereabouts or where he would strike next.
"Yes, of course."
"Who is the victim?" Batman could hardly look down at the body. The girl's face was twisted in pain and fear. It was truly a horrible crime scene to be present, and he could see why Gordon was so upset.
"Alice Cro. Twenty years old. Her car was found in the parking garage where she works. She must have been abducted from the walk to her car. We found traces of some unknown drug in her mouth. We're sending samples to the Medical Examiner as we speak. I definitely wouldn't wanted to have been in her position though."
"Because she was alive when he started cutting that message into her?"
"How do you know? We thought that he cut her throat first and then carved the message."
"The scars from the message started trying to clot themselves. You can see the basis of scabs forming where the cuts are. If she were dead before that, her body wouldn't have tried to clot the wounds. He carved the message first. Then, he went for the throat."
Gordon shook his head again. "I really shouldn't have asked. I didn't need to know that much. Dealing with the teachers was enough. One of them came in this morning and saw the body before her classes started. I thank God that no children saw that body. It might have scarred them for life."
"I'll do what I can," said Batman briefly. He was too disgusted to say much, and there were no clues at the scene itself.
"Oh, wait. The press is swarming 11th Street outside. How did you get in without bei-," started Commissioner Gordon, but Batman had already vanished. "Oh, why do I even bother?"