novelonline Chapter 3002: The Green Trees Are Thick and the Summer Is Long (36)
Chapter 3002: The Green Trees Are Thick and the Summer Is Long (36)
Chapter 3002: The Green Trees Are Thick and the Summer Is Long (Thirty-Six)
"Oh my god, who are you?!"
Schiller was not surprised to hear a scream. He turned around and saw a red-haired woman, but he was a little hesitant to recognize her because she was too old compared to the photo.
Although ten years have passed, this woman seemed to have aged 30 years out of thin air. Her red curly hair, which was neatly tied up in the photo, was now draped messily on both sides of her cheeks. Her cheekbones were completely sunken, making her nasolabial folds particularly obvious. She didn't look like a middle-aged person at all, but more like an old woman.
The man pushing the wheelchair was not as healthy and strong as he looked in the photo. He was so thin that his shoulders were angled. His skin was not tan, but very pale, and his thick brown hair was gone.
Schiller was speechless for a moment. The man seemed to want to rush into the house to get a gun. Schiller had to say: "Don't be afraid. No robber who breaks into a private house will choose to wear a suit. It will give them a heat stroke."
It was only then that the man noticed the suit Schiller was wearing. It was obvious that he had once been an elite. A quick glance at him told him that the suit was very expensive.
"Are you a gangster?" He was still a little wary. After all, he was a native of Gotham. When he saw a man in a suit appear in his house, his first reaction was that he was a gangster.
"I don't think the gang will recruit someone like me. I'm a terrible shooter." Schiller sat down on the sofa and put the business card on the coffee table. The man was a little hesitant, but it was too hot outside, so he had to push his wife into the house.
He pushed the wheelchair to a place farther away from the sofa and walked over cautiously. He didn't have to get close to see the title of Professor of Psychology at Gotham University written on the business card.
Schiller is indeed a very famous psychologist, but most ordinary people do not care about psychologists, and cannot name who is the most famous psychologist in contemporary times. Men are more concerned about the position of professor at Gotham University.
"You are a professor at Gotham University? Why...why are you here?"
The man was about to say something when Schiller continued, "James Gordon asked me to come because he was worried that you would do something stupid, but I came too early and it was very hot outside, so I had to go into your house first."
"But it's outside now...well, it's really hot in that outfit. Did he ask you to comfort us?"
"I guess so. He knows that you may not be able to accept this sad news."
"We can't accept this!" the man said in a raised voice, "Our child is dead, but the police station doesn't even have a suspect name! How can we accept this?!"
"Don't worry, that's why I'm here." Schiller buttoned up his suit leisurely, stood up and said, "You know Gordon is a responsible sheriff. If he really didn't have any clues, he wouldn't have informed you so early."
The man was slightly stunned, then stared at Schiller closely.
“Do you know what the police department would do if they caught a suspect?”
"Let him go to jail?"
"Yes, but that's all." Schiller sighed and said, "This is the limit of what the law can do. Do you think it's enough?"
The man pursed his lips tightly, then waved his arms and said, "Our son is dead, but that damn cruel murderer is still alive! But...but what can we do?"
"I said, if the police catch the suspect, he will go to jail, but what if the police can't catch him?"
The man was completely stunned. Before he could react, he said hurriedly, "How can they not arrest him! This is their responsibility, they must..."
Then he reacted and asked tentatively: "You mean, the police can only let him go to jail, but I can..."
"No." He said pessimistically, "I don't know who he is or where he is. How can I catch him?"
"Then why am I here?"
The man suddenly looked over, as if he had grabbed a life-saving straw, rushed to Schiller and said: "You mean you know where he is? You know where that damn guy is? ! ! "
The woman suddenly started screaming wildly and kept hitting the armrests of the wheelchair. The man rushed over again and it took a lot of effort to calm his wife down.
"That's exactly what I want to tell you. Do you remember the primary and secondary schools your son attended? Why were these two schools demolished?"
This was not a question, the man realized immediately, but he still answered instinctively: "They said it was due to poor management..."
"Suddenly the business went bad after your son disappeared?"
The man slowly opened his mouth, and then suddenly started coughing violently. He couldn't even stand up straight even with the help of the chair back. He slowly knelt down, covered his face and started crying.
"Buffa's death may be the key." Schiller began to pace the room and said, "There may have been some children missing in the school before, but people only thought it was an ordinary case of missing children. They may have gotten lost, or they may have accidentally entered the lake, or fell off the cliff."
"But Buffa was different because as soon as he disappeared, the school was urgently demolished, which meant that someone had discovered something, so they had to quickly destroy the body to prevent the matter from being exposed."
The man seemed to suddenly remember something, and he said, "Pari... that is, my wife, she is the physical education teacher of the community primary school. I remember that she was not in a good mood a few days before our son disappeared. It seems that she had a quarrel with someone in the school..."
"Can you tell me who it was with?"
"I don't know. She didn't elaborate." The man shook his head and said, then his expression became complicated and he said, "My wife is not in a good mental state. If you want to get clues from her, I'm afraid..."
"Do you remember my major?"
A glimmer of hope suddenly appeared in the man's eyes. He looked at his wife, then at Schiller, and said, "I don't know much about psychology, but I know that psychotherapy is effective, but the cost is too expensive..."
"It's free, sir, because there is obviously a lack of conclusive evidence. If we can find clues from your wife's memory, it will be enough to pay for your consultation."
"Okay." The man mustered up his courage and said with his fists clenched, "If she feels uncomfortable, stop, but I think she will be willing to tell you."
After a little preparation, Schiller began his hypnosis. Just like looking for answers in Nygma's memory, he once again entered the mother's spiritual world.
Finally, he got the most accurate clue since the investigation, because he saw Mr. Nygma's face in Pari's memory - he was the principal of the Polokin Community Middle School at that time.
And, Pari saw his modus operandi.
At that time, as the principal, Nygma could not hide his desire to do evil, but he was worried that something wrong in the school would affect his future, so he chose not to do it in school.
The primary school department does not have a separate principal and is still under his management. He will play games with the children during breaks to get closer to them, and then pull some children aside for questioning on the pretext of investigating the teachers' teaching level.
Some of them were normal inquiries, but he would make an appointment with other children, or to be more precise, those who had a good relationship with him and liked to be around him, to go on an adventure somewhere.
This place is usually not far from the school, but because the school is located on the edge of the forest, he always tells the children to wait for him on a small path in the forest near the school on weekends.
As for how to ensure that the children do not tell their parents and go out alone on weekends, Pari does not know, but Schiller knows that children's minds are not fully developed and they are easily manipulated by adults. If someone is deliberate, these are not difficult to do.
Even if we take a step back, some children are smart and will not be fooled, but among so many students there are always some who are not smart enough, and they just need to be screened out.
At that time, Pari actually didn't know what Mr. Nigma was going to do. She thought the children were being naughty and were pestering the principal to take them to the forest to play. The principal couldn't stand their noise and agreed to their request.
But Pari was a very responsible physical education teacher. She knew that playing on a gentle slope with some small trees was one thing, but going deep into the forest was another, so she went to the principal's office to dissuade Mr. Nigma.
According to Pari's recollection, when she mentioned this, Nygma showed a surprised expression, as if he did not expect that someone had heard his conversation with the children.
Shortly after this, Pari's son, Buffa, who also attended the community primary school, disappeared, and Pari was diagnosed with mental illness.
Does it sound familiar? Edward, Pari, and Miss Richie all had the same experience: they all discovered certain clues and were diagnosed with mental illness.
This resulted in the police being unable to get any valuable clues out of them because they spoke incoherently. Even if they did get some information out of them, the court would not acknowledge the testimony of a mentally ill person, and naturally there was no way to punish them with legal means.
It's a pity that they didn't expect that there would be someone like Schiller who could dig out the truth from the chaotic brain of a mentally ill person.
After exploring Pari's brain, Schiller highly suspected that Edward's uncle, Mr. Nygma, had a background in psychology education, and that there were human factors in the madness of Edward, Miss Richie and Pari.
It is much easier to drive a person crazy than to cure a mental patient. With just a little guidance, some people who are not determined enough will easily doubt themselves.
However, there is still a doubt. Schiller feels that whether it is Edward, who was supposed to be the Riddler, or the determined and stubborn Miss Richie, or the kind and responsible Pari, they are not the kind of people who are easily affected by hypnosis.
As I said, hypnosis is not that magical. It cannot fundamentally change a person's personality. If it were really possible to make an evil person become kind through hypnosis, then the psychologist could change his name to Jesus.
The above three people are not the hesitant, cowardly and unintelligent ones. How did Mr. Nygma drive all three of them crazy?
Before, Schiller investigated this case just because he had nothing to do, but now he was very curious.
Because even if he didn't resort to any supernatural powers, he wasn't completely sure that he could turn these three people into what they are now. If the mysterious Mr. Nygma had this ability, how could he not have a place among Gotham's super criminals?
When it comes to academic issues, Schiller has no choice but to take it seriously. He has a hunch that this is not a simple case of child abuse, but that there must be a deeper secret behind it.
A-choo!
(End of this chapter)