XXXVII
One Last Riddle, One Last Time
Commissioner James Gordon surveyed the man's corpse laid out on the coroner's table. Its gruesome smile made him uneasy...
It was hard to believe that this pale, bloodshot thing had caused so much trouble six days ago - and now it lay… grinning. Almost as if mocking the world it had departed. It was now morning and James Gordon had been promised answers after the grim discovery of the night before. His patience grew increasingly thin as he waited alone with the unnerving cadaver. Moments later, a young Indian lady, entered the morgue.
His new coroner was even younger than Barbara...Doctor Chatterjee. They got younger every time. Or maybe it was him who was getting older.
"Good afternoon, Commissioner. A most unusual case." Her English was good even if she was late.
"Can't say I'm surprised... Mr. Nigma was… unusual. That smile is rather disturbing. What was the cause of death?" Edward Nigma had been found dead in his holding cell, late last night. His request for police protection was pending. Gordon didn't know what to make of his cryptic claims of a threat to international security. Three years in the Gotham State Penitentiary hadn't done the man any favors.
"Tetanus, Commissioner… Caused by a most lethal dose of tetanospasmin1. That is why the facial muscles display risus sardonicus. But what was most interesting was the method of delivery." Gordon couldn't fathom the young lady's excitement. To have one of Gotham's prisoner's poisoned… someone would be made accountable.
"How was he was poisoned?" Gordon dreaded the thought of an internal investigation... A guard? Detective? Attorney? He had hoped those days were behind them. Until 10 years ago, this practice had been all too common.
"Oh, most ingeniously, Commissioner. And it would have been a most difficult mystery had not Mr. Nigma been so kind as to swat his killer and leave the culprit attached to his neck."
Gordon glanced down at Nigma's neck and stared at the flattened mosquito trapped in dried blood. "A mosquito bite did this?!"
"Indeed. Tell me Commissioner, are you familiar HI-MEMS?"
"What do hymens have to do with all of this?" Gordon was perplexed and then slighted when Dr. Chatterjee suppressed a giggle.
"Please, allow me to bring up a screen." Gordon watched as a wi-screen popped into view in front of the coroner as she thumb-printed her identity. He was one of the few cops who even owned books these days. He knew the younger cops saw him as a relic of a bygone era. The young coroner continued…
"HI-MEMS are Hybrid Insect Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems. Think of them as 'robo-bugs'… Very hush-hush spy stuff. This mosquito attached to Mr. Nigma's neck is actually a combination of insect, micro-circuitry and poison bred to be an assassin. This flattened little girl was fitted with a micro canister of tetanospasmin1 and directed at poor Mr. Nigma."
"That evidence will need to be preserved. I'll notify the technical crimes division right away. You've done fantastic work here, Dr. Chatterjee." Gordon was impressed.
"Thank you, Commissioner. There is one more thing though… Mr. Nigma had a rather cryptic tattoo on his… nether region." Did she cringe a little?
Gordon watched as Dr. Chatterjee spread Nigma's legs apart to reveal the tattoo ink hidden beside the corpse's testes. The tattoo was a riddle in small writing. Gordon leaned over and had to peer much closer than he would have preferred to …
"The varied star,
Montanari saw,
It all begins,
With the Hebrew R"
"Do you know what it means, Commissioner? An old legend, perhaps? " With her lack of an answer, Gordon suddenly didn't feel as outdated as he had moments ago. Nigma's deathly grin seemed to ridicule them both while they pondered.
"Not yet. Luckily, I have Gotham's greatest riddle-solver on speed dial." Gordon smiled at the young doctor's quizzical look as he departed. Let her figure that one out as well...
Moments later in his office, James Gordon placed the call to his daughter. If there was a person who could out-riddle Barbara Gordon, he would eat his badge. He knew perfectly well who the anonymous person was who had provided the financial transactions that had linked the mayor with Nigma. And now, she could help him decipher Nigma's last riddle.
1. Tetanospasmin is a deadly neurotoxin.
Author's Challenge:
75 FanFic points if anyone can decipher that riddle before Chapter 45.