Prince of Darkness ~ Gotham

~ Chapter Forty Four: What Would Dad Do? ~

"Gerald called in one day and said he wasn't coming in. That's the last I heard of him," The headmistress of the Gotham High School explained as she led Harvey and Jim into her office. "Let me guess, three weeks ago?" Harvey questioned. "Yeah," The headmistress confirmed. "That's when neighbors said he moved out. Unis searched the place. Nothing," Harvey said as he and Jim sat in the chairs across from her desk. "So, what can you tell us about Crane?" Jim asked. "He was a good teacher. Focused. And a good father. He was very protective of his son, Jonathan. But he could be quiet too. Somber. I think it had to do with his wife. She died six or seven years ago,"

Harvey and Jim looked at each other, the same thought crossing their minds. Perhaps Crane's wife dying was just the tip of the iceberg before he sank into madness. "She died? How?" Jim inquired. "I think it was a car accident," The headmistress recalled. " Did Crane ever talk about fear or phobias?" Harvey asked her. "Why? Is someone targeting phobics?" The headmistress glanced between both men. "Yeah," Jim nodded, a bit surprised where their questioning was going. Did she know something about Crane they didn't? "Does this mean something to you?" Jim asked.

"These victims, were they missing their adrenal glands?" Her eyes widened to the size of saucers. "How'd you know that?" Harvey squinted. "This was an academic paper Gerald wrote a few months ago. He asked me to proof it," The headmistress walked to the cabinet by her desk, pulling out a rather large notebook, presenting it to the detectives. "See, Gerald had a theory that fear was an evolutionary flaw in humans. That war, rape, theft, murder, it was all caused by fear. He was obsessed with it," "So Crane killed these people and took their glands to test a theory?" Jim asked, looking back to Harvey. "No. Gerald wasn't trying to prove he was right about fear. He was trying to cure himself of it,"

Just as Harvey had suspected, some twisted form of therapy. But Jim, on the other hand, remained suspicious, and as they returned to the precinct, Ed was able to give a more lengthy and detailed explanation. "Crane's idea of curing fear was to inoculate himself against it," he said, reading through the lengthy booklet. "Like a disease?" Jim inquired. "Exactly. But in order to do so, he needed a condensed source of the hormones that cause fear," Ed replied. "Phobics," Harvey nodded as he picked up one of the beakers containing a strange red liquid. "Crane's been praying on them? Spiking their fear by scaring them and then killing them in order to harvest hormones?"

"Damn," Harvey sighed while Ed nodded in reply to Jim's inquiry. "How much of this stuff does he need?" Jim questioned. "What do you mean?" Ed looked confused. "How many more people is he going to kill?" Harvey clarified. "Oh. Of course. Good question. It depends on how scared he is, I guess. What's he scared of?" Ed asked. "In Scottie's phobia support group, he said he was afraid of failure," Harvey said, sniffing another beaker containing a bright green liquid. Ed carefully took it from his grasp and set it back on the counter, not trusting that Harvey would take a sip from it if given the opportunity.

"Who isn't? It's gotta be something else," Jim commented on Harvey's statement. "Did you hear that we got a new medical examiner? Much better than the old one," Ed smiled. "And she smells nice," He muttered. Jim looked up from Crane's booklet at the mention of his girlfriend. Harvey could only chuckle, joking that Jim had competition already. Jim rolled his eyes as he returned to the book. "Look at this. Crane developed protocols for two inoculations. Himself and somebody else. Subject B," Jim pointed. "Ooh. I wonder who that is!" Ed clapped his hands gleefully, taking the book back from Jim, further intrigued.

If Crane wasn't facing his fears alone, who was subject B? And why were they involved?