Chapter 3839: The Nameless Bat (20)

At dusk, Cat Getan rained again. The golden ripples floating on the Cat Getan River rarely added a soft vividness to this city. The dense rain lines fell into the brick seams on the riverbank, and the water flow formed by the rainwater flowed toward the houses on the riverbank. The house number of 125 Kazovo reflected the secret light of the street lamp in the rain.

Schiller stood in front of the telephone stand on the first floor, holding the phone in one hand and stroking the phone line with the other, saying: "I'm very sorry, Ms. Padiria, I need to cancel your appointment tonight. Please come again tomorrow afternoon, can you?"

"I'm very sorry, the incident was a bit sudden. A colleague of mine working in the police department has some urgent police situation that needs to be consulted with me. I don't think I can provide psychological treatment to you immediately after providing murder case consultation. This is an irresponsible behavior for both of us."

"Thank you very much for your understanding." Schiller changed the phone to the other side and said, "Your next psychological treatment will be free; I won't count it into the bill, to thank you for your tolerance and generosity."

There was some movement on the stairs behind him. A girl's voice called Schiller's name. He looked back, made a gesture to stop the other party, and then said: "Yes, it's a victim of a case, currently staying in my psychological clinic as my assistant. Perhaps you will be able to see her tomorrow afternoon. God bless you, ma'am."

"Put the package on the coffee table, Mnemosyne." Schiller turned to the girl standing on the stairs. She looked about thirteen or fourteen years old, wearing a blue plaid suspender skirt, with a head of orange-red hair draped down, wearing a pair of large black-rimmed glasses. Through the lenses, one could see that slightly indifferent and neurotic gaze.

The girl walked down from the stairs and put the package on the coffee table. Schiller turned and walked to the cabinet next to him to get a letter opener.

"You should know that it's useless to keep me from touching sharp objects in this way," the girl said. Her speech was very fast, her voice was very pleasant, but the tone was too flat, sounding a bit like a regular, sounding typewriter.

Schiller held the letter opener, walked over to cut open the package and said: "Given that you have threatened seven foster families with sixteen different knives in five years, I think such management is necessary."

"I didn't threaten them." Mnemosyne frowned, she still used that very fast tone, "It's just that they are too stupid and couldn't understand what I was saying at all. In order to communicate with them, I could only use this means to let them calm down."

"Okay, you have now returned to your first foster family, and out of concern for your mental state, Commissioner Gordon sent you to me."

"I hate psychologists."

Schiller didn't continue speaking. He handed the opened package to Mnemosyne and said: "Is your foster father very busy recently?"

"Yes. He sent me here, not because he really believes you can cure me, but because he doesn't want me to pester him to ask about the ins and outs of that serial murder case anymore."

"Serial murder case?"

"Yes." Mnemosyne's eyes finally had some spirit. She began to become excited, took off her glasses, tore the package with somewhat violent movements and said, "James said it's the trickiest serial murder case he has ever encountered, he calls him the 'Eden Killer'."

"This is a very interesting case. Although he didn't show me the case file at all, just by his description, I knew this killer wasn't simple. He has murdered seven prostitutes and five johns in the past three weeks, and all of them were killed while they were having sex. The crime scene is said to be very strange. Unfortunately, that idiot Gordon didn't show me anything."

"Do you think you can see anything?" Schiller asked.

Mnemosyne seemed a bit surprised. She raised her eyes to look at Schiller and said: "I thought you would be like him, telling me not to touch these things, saying some nonsense like 'this is no good for your mental health', or simply thinking I'm a pervert."

"I wouldn't think so." Schiller said, "No matter what reason you are attracted to the case, I would be more willing to praise you for being a diligent and inquisitive detective."

"Fake as can be." Mnemosyne completely dismantled the package, and she said, "I just went to see my room. This house is as strange as you are. It couldn't have been bought by you; it should have been sent by your friend. When he sent it to you, your relationship wasn't that good yet. I found traces of electric shockers on every door handle. Does James know this?"

Mnemosyne's thinking and the content of her speech were very jumpy, but Schiller still looked at her very calmly and said: "Why are you interested in the Eden Killer?"

"Because this is indeed an interesting person, he is very smart, unlike those other serial killers, who I can know who they are just by taking a casual look at the case file. I'm not sure about this guy, so of course I want to understand him."

"So that's it. A strong thirst for knowledge is a good thing." Schiller said a sentence, and then went to the kitchen to make tea. Mnemosyne went upstairs and tidied up her personal belongings. When she came downstairs again, she saw Schiller flipping through the Yellow Pages.

"I can't understand you." She said, "You are as unpredictable as that Eden Killer. Some labels that shouldn't appear on you are always shaking in front of my eyes. Can you explain to me?"

"Don't rush, miss. Judging from Commissioner Gordon's busyness, you probably have to stay here for at least a week. Mutual understanding is a necessary process during psychological treatment; we have plenty of time."

Mnemosyne suddenly rushed down and picked up the letter opener next to the coffee table. She held the knife and walked toward Schiller; Schiller didn't move at all, just watched her movements.

Mnemosyne stabbed the knife into the high stool in front of the island. She said: "I'm like a carbonated soda bottle about to explode. You must find something for me to do. You are so trusted by James, you must have heard him talk about many different cases, right?"

"Although I have some friendship with Commissioner Gordon, we don't have very frequent contact. However, another friend of mine often discusses some cases with me."

"The one who gave you this house?" Mnemosyne sized up the house and said, "About six feet tall, very strong, showing some characteristics of avoidant personality. Never wears a suit to come here. Tactical boots? Could he be an agent? Oh, my God, that Batman freak in tights? How could you be friends with him?"

"Some coincidences." Schiller said, "I haven't known him much longer than I've known you. By the way, you don't know the truth about the Lincoln March case back then, right? I can tell you about it."

"I don't want to hear any boring bedtime stories. I didn't lie to you, Doctor, I really feel very uncomfortable. My brain is very messy. The medicine those people gave me has no effect, and sleeping pills can't soothe my brain nerves either. Will your story be effective?"

"You'll know after listening." Schiller put the tea on the coffee table and let Mnemosyne sit opposite. He began to tell the story of meeting the main universe Batman back then and teaming up with him to deal with Lincoln March.

This story wasn't long, and Schiller wasn't very good at telling stories, but fortunately, the story itself was full of twists and turns. Schiller was just telling the climax when the door was suddenly knocked on.

Schiller stood up to open the door. Mnemosyne jumped up like crazy and began to pace quickly in the room. Schiller had to return quickly to stop her from smashing things.

"Oh, God. I forgot I also sent you a trouble." Gordon, who was covered in rain, walked in and said, "Sorry, Nemo, I don't mean you're a trouble. Unless you threatened Professor Rodriguez with a kitchen knife again. Did you?"

Gordon took off his raincoat and hung it up, wiped the water off his shoes on the carpet, and stomped his feet lightly. Seeing the letter opener stuck on the high stool, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

"Don't mind." Schiller said, "She is just a child with pedigree characteristics. High function and over-excitement are always closely linked; her aggressive behavior can't hurt me, and you don't need to feel sorry for this."

Mnemosyne suddenly calmed down, standing there coldly watching the two people, as if standing outside the world watching a rain. Then she sat on the chair at the dining table next to her, began to swing her body back and forth, and lowered her head to play with her fingers.

"You interrupted our story time." Schiller said, "I was telling her about the March case back then. I heard you've been busy with an Eden Killer recently?"

"Yes. I was really too busy to handle it, so I asked Batman to invite you over to help me take care of Mnemosyne. The entire Cat Getan can no longer find any orphanage or special school willing to let her go to school, and can't find a foster family either. If it weren't for this case being really tricky, I wouldn't want to come and trouble you."

Schiller shook his head and said: "When Batman wrote to me asking for help, the trouble I imagined was much bigger than this. Fortunately, it's just taking care of an autistic child."

"Mnemosyne she..."

"Typical high-functioning spectrum patient. She has self-care ability, which is good news, but when she has an attack, she will have some aggressiveness. I can soothe her, so it's not any trouble."

"Okay, thank you so much." Gordon breathed a sigh of relief and said, "It's all my fault. I really didn't expect the first foster family I picked for her to be like that. Otherwise, her situation would definitely be better than it is now. Forget it, don't talk about that. I came to you precisely for the Eden Killer."

Mnemosyne seemed to be suddenly awakened. She rushed over like a violent hunting dog, almost knocking Gordon to the porch.

"Oh, don't be like this, miss. You aren't seven or eight years old anymore."

"Tell me everything about the Eden Killer!" She said to Gordon, "I can help you catch him, I've said it many times! I'm much more useful than those stupid police officers under you!"

Gordon was about to open his mouth to refuse, but Schiller said: "Whether Mnemosyne becomes you or the next Eden Killer, this is determined by you, James. Why not let her try?"

"Those things are too advanced for a 14-year-old child, seriously violating the Child Protection Ordinance." Gordon said, "Letting a child participate in a murder case should be regarded as a shame, especially since she is still a sick child in the process of treatment."

"This is helpful for alleviating her condition." Schiller said, "I hope you can fully refer to my professional opinion."

Gordon was obviously half-believing, but he still took out a file bag from his briefcase. They came to the dining table and sat down.

"You look first." Gordon said, "Make sure these photos won't cause stimulation to her before giving them to her."

Schiller nodded, took out the photos from the file bag, scanned them, and said: "Indeed not very suitable for children to see, James. Bring a marker, you need to manually add some mosaics to these photos."

"No!" Mnemosyne said, "I said I'm not afraid of blood!"

"It's not to cover up blood." Schiller explained quite patiently, "It's to cover up pornographic elements. You know when the Eden Killer took action, that's not a scene that a child of your age group should see."

Mnemosyne glared at Gordon again, as if asking why his movements were so slow. Gordon brought the marker and photos, painted over the places that should be painted, and then handed them to Mnemosyne.

The moment she came into contact with the photos, this little girl quieted down. She looked carefully at every photo, and then said: "No, this isn't a serial murder case."