"That's right, Detective Bullock, Ben Cross," said Dr. Leland, who was once more on the phone with GCPD with the inmates gathered around her in her office. "Could you search the police databases for that name please?"
"Yeah, I've got nothing else to do right now, so sure," said Bullock, in his usual sarcastic tone. "It's not like we have lowlifes packing the station to the gills. I'll just sit here on my ass sipping my coffee and typing in some computer searches for you, because that's a real urgent task."
"I can see why Commissioner Gordon doesn't give you desk duty more often," commented Dr. Leland.
"He probably doesn't want him out on the streets tonight so he's not tempted to steal candy from the trick-or-treaters," spoke up Joker. "That diabetes is only going to get worse."
"This won't help the clown at all, will it?" demanded Bullock.
"No, it's a personal favor to me," retorted Dr. Leland. "Could you please just look up the name?"
"All right, let's see," sighed Bullock. "Benjamin Leonard Cross, Gotham resident of fourteen years. Glad he's managed to survive that long despite the best efforts of your patients. Got a record here for a couple of domestic disturbance calls – he and his wife fought loud enough to disturb the neighbors, apparently. Those were all a little while ago – nothing from this past year. Except it says here there was a missing persons report filed on his wife Julie by somebody called Greg Andrews, who was a co-worker of hers. But she disappeared on Halloween last year so everyone assumed she was just one of the fear gas victims. That's what was written on the report, so case closed."
"Did you ever question Ben Cross about his wife's disappearance?" asked Dr. Leland.
"What for? Nothing suspicious about it," retorted Bullock. "Lots of people disappeared that night. It'd be a pretty unbelievable coincidence to commit a murder that just happened to take place on the same night as a fear gas attack. Unless he was working with Crane to organize the attack, of course."
"I don't work with amateurs!" snapped Crane. "How insulting – the very idea!"
"But that unbelievable coincidence is technically possible," said Dr. Leland. "In fact, the inmates tell me that's exactly what happened last year. So why don't you go over to Ben Cross's address and confront him about the murder? It would be good to know if he's at home in any case - if he is, we can cross a suspect off our list."
"You want me to check out a tip from a bunch of supercriminals accusing someone else of murder, is that right?" asked Bullock, skeptically. "You sure you haven't been spending too long in that asylum, Doc?"
"It'll get you away from desk duty," retorted Dr. Leland.
"Ok, I'll call you back," said Bullock, hanging up the phone.
"It'll probably take him a while to get over there – he doesn't move very fast carrying all that weight around, and he'll probably wanna stop off at every house for free candy," commented Joker, as Dr. Leland hung up.
"Well, at least we can confirm if this stalker is Ben Cross or not," said Dr. Leland. "And if it's not, we can work on other theories, including that not-quite-dead wife one."
"What about the co-worker who filed the report?" asked Ivy. "If he and the wife were romantically involved, maybe he wants revenge for her murder."
"But how did he know we were involved in it?" asked Two-Face. "He wasn't there, and I doubt Ben would have told the guy his wife was having an affair with that he killed her and had us cover it up for him."
"It's not unheard of for men to gloat," retorted Ivy. "Especially since they see women as property they can trade amongst themselves. Maybe Ben wanted to show off that he owned the woman so completely that he could take her life without any repercussions."
"Have you ever actually met any men, Weed Lady?" demanded Joker. "No, really. You seem to have these weird ideas about how men talk to each other, like we're in some creepy cabal. Is that this patriarchy you keep whining about? How long have you had these delusions?"
"Bragging about the murder does seem an unlikely thing for Mr. Cross to do, but then again, so does stalking us around the asylum," said Crane. "We have no way of logically predicting the actions of a lunatic."
"Welcome to my world," sighed Dr. Leland.
"The co-worker may have been angry that the police didn't follow up on the missing persons report he filed," said Tetch. "He may have done some digging himself – we do seem to have a surfeit of vigilantes in this town. Maybe Mr. Cross didn't remove those bloodstains from the boot like we suggested. Maybe the co-worker found those, and confronted Mr. Cross, and he told him about our involvement to shift the blame to us. It's a likely enough theory – I know how mad love can drive someone, and vengeance for the one you love seems like a reasonable enough motive for threatening people with a knife."
"I'm telling you, there's nothing reasonable about this," retorted Crane.
"And it's not exactly reasonable anyway since he was the guy cheating with the wife," said Harley. "I also get wanting to murder people for love – it's basically how I live my life. But if Mr. J were cheating on his wife by having an affair with me, I wouldn't feel entitled to take revenge on anyone since I'd be the bad guy in that situation."
"That could be the reality of our situation though, pooh," said Joker, nodding. "I could be married, after all. I don't remember who I am, or what I did before I became the Joker, so who's to say? And you're telling me if you found out I was accidentally murdered by my wife, you wouldn't want to spill her guts as revenge?"
"Yeah, I guess I would," agreed Harley, nodding slowly. "Both for killing you and marrying you in the first place. But I would have killed her the instant I found out she was your wife, which would have avoided any further complications. Murder makes things quick and easy."
"Not in this guy's case," retorted Joker. "In this guy's case, the murder has come back to haunt us. But we'd better put a stop to it now – I don't want being stalked around the asylum to become a yearly thing. Or for it to turn into one of those franchises that just won't die."
"Shouldn't you ask the cops to investigate that hideout we found?" asked Two-Face. "Maybe that'll hold some clues to the stalker's identity."
"I've already called in help for that," said Dr. Leland, pressing a button on her desk. "Ask Glenn to come in, please."
The janitor of Arkham Asylum appeared in the doorway. "Glenn, nice to see you again," said Dr. Leland, smiling at him. "There's a wet floor area that needs cleanup and a sign – let me show you."
"Really? You're gonna make Glenn search the hideout for clues?" asked Joker. "Hasn't he suffered enough?"
"I'll be searching the hideout for clues," said a voice behind them.
They all turned to see Batman appearing from out of the shadows. "Buddy!" exclaimed Joker, beaming and rushing toward him with his arms outstretched. Batman immediately punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground.
"Mr. J!" shrieked Harley, racing over to see to him. "You're a trick, not a treat, Batsy!" she snapped, glaring up at him.
"I'd rather not be here, believe me," replied Batman. "I'm sure there are still crimes going on out there that need my attention. But I can't deny it's been a relief to know that this Halloween there won't be any surprises from the Scarecrow."
"That you know of," retorted Crane. "Little do you know that I have rigged a bomb capable of covering the entire city in fear gas which is set to go off at midnight…"
"No, he hasn't," interrupted Tetch. "He said he was taking this year off."
"Jervis, why would you tell him that?" demanded Crane, rounding on him.
"Because I'm not in the mood to play games – Batman is here, and if he can actually be useful for once, why would you want to distract him by setting him up with a fake crime?" demanded Tetch. "Let him do something to help the situation for once in his life, for goodness sake! It might improve his disposition."
"Unlikely," said Joker, feeling his nose tenderly. "But it's always worth a shot!"
"I'll just show Batman and Glenn where they need to go – you guys get back to the Rec Room," said Dr. Leland.
"But I wanna help Batsy investigate!" whined Joker. "Now that he's here, he can be Fred, and we can unmask the guy together!"
"I work best alone, and even if I didn't, I would never willingly work with you," retorted Batman. "You probably think it'd be funny to mess up the crime scene so I couldn't find any clues."
"There's nothing funny about that crime scene," retorted Joker. "Just the ravings of a deranged maniac, which I know always fascinate you. I'll try not to be jealous!" he chuckled.
Batman ignored him as he and the janitor followed Dr. Leland out of the office. "You can see the wet footprints here, Glenn. The hideout's in there, Batman," she said, nodding at the open grate.
"Let me see the footprints," said Batman, holding up a hand to stop the janitor's mop. He knelt down and measured the length of the stride, and the width of the feet. "It does appear to be a man," he said, straightening up. "Large feet, and large gait, in what appear to be boots."
"That would confirm Ivy's suspicions," said Dr. Leland, nodding.
"There's also traces of dirt here," said Batman, running his glove through the water and examining what remained on his fingers. "Some kind of soil - I can analyze it in the Batcave," he said, taking a sample and putting it in his utility belt.
Batman crawled through the vent, and came out in the damp hideout. He held up a flashlight, and looked around carefully at the photos. "These are actual photographs," he murmured, feeling them. "They've been developed by hand."
He shone the light around, but couldn't see any chemicals or lighting that would work for developing photos in the hideout. "He must have another place he's hiding in," murmured Batman. "With a darkroom."
He removed one of the photos, examining it closely. "If I could analyze what chemicals were used to develop these, I can maybe search for traces of them in the asylum," he murmured, sticking it in his utility belt.
"Batman, any luck?" asked Dr. Leland, as he returned to her office.
"I'm heading to the Batcave," said Batman. "I think he has another hideout in the asylum. I'll get back to you."
"Another hideout? Where?" asked Dr. Leland, but Batman had already disappeared out the window. "Why does he do that? So rude," she muttered, slamming the window shut behind him.
Her phone rang at that moment. "Dr. Leland speaking," she said, answering it.
"Doc, Ben Cross cracked like a nut," said Detective Bullock. "I've got him here at the station now, sobbing and blubbering about how he didn't mean to kill his wife…"
"Wait, he's there?" asked Dr. Leland. "Has he been to the asylum at all?"
"I dunno – he won't stop crying," said Bullock. "He's saying something about wanting to be caught, about how it's a relief for him after what he did…hey, I guess you were right, Doc! That does sometimes happen! Uh…he's saying he wants to talk to the inmates? Does that help?"
"Maybe," said Dr. Leland. "I'll go get them. If this is our guy, I'm glad it had such a tidy solution."
"Tidy for you maybe – he's making a mess all over my desk," retorted Bullock.
Dr. Leland headed out of her office toward the Rec Room. "It'll be such a relief for the inmates for this to all be over – they're used to being the ones scaring people, not vice versa…" she commented to herself.
But she stopped talking as she turned the corner. There, on the door to the Rec Room, was written the words: I Still Know What You Did Last Halloween.