New Gods of North America

Leaving Mr. Russell's estate, Wayne realized that he hadn't discussed much business at all, spending more time chatting about the fast-food restaurant.

Since it was still early, Wayne simply went to see the financial backer of the "Second Office," but unfortunately, the guy had only left a company address and was out on business.

Originally, Wayne just wanted to give him a "reassurance," telling him that the detective agency's personnel would soon be executing the security contract for the new route as agreed.

So, after having the secretary relay the message and leaving the address of the detective agency's temporary base in Richmond, Wayne went back to continue investigating the case.

Throughout the day, Ineisa had visited several places where the killer had previously lived. The guy seemed to have a habit of changing addresses regularly, or it could be said that it was for work convenience. In this day and age, it's not too uncommon for city dwellers to change their rental places.

Linna mainly visited the companies where the killer had worked, asking former colleagues about their impressions and opinions of him, and also learning about his previous words and actions.

The essence of both is still to find the "sameness" among them, such as seeing if the killer has any frequent contacts, and whether there are any places he goes to regularly.

Sometimes a person may be able to hide very well in front of the same group of people, but as long as you ask more groups of people and run it through big data, some suspicious points will often emerge quickly.

Just like some scammers' tricks may seem flawless at first glance, but as soon as the victims meet and learn about each other's experiences, they can often quickly detect the inconsistencies.

If Linna felt yesterday that the killer was "a bit like" her colleague, then her view today is close to "certainty."

Linna suspects that the killer should be a member of a sleeper cell. Although the crime may not have been at anyone's direction, and this crime may have been the killer's own unauthorized action, she no longer believes that the killer is just an "ordinary person."

Linna's judgment on this is actually a bit "metaphysical":

"The reasons for this guy's job changes are not sufficient. It is clear that his salary decreased after two job changes, and the impact on his living standards was even greater after deducting the rent difference. However, those two job changes were not beneficial to his career development."

"And this guy's character background has also undergone obvious changes. Most of the time, he played the role of a 'marginal person' at work, trying to reduce the attention of the people around him. Only once, at a trading company, did he suddenly show a more positive attitude towards socializing."

"Excluding the possibility of wanting to pursue a partner, I think he should have been on a mission at that time. As for the other times, it may have been a regular change to avoid suspicion."

In this day and age, there are not many people who have received a good education. Although they may not be able to get a very high salary, as long as they show good qualities, it is not difficult to get an ordinary clerical job.

At the same time, because the weekly wage system is generally adopted, the bosses of small companies are also very accustomed to the situation of employees resigning for no reason. In the case of insufficient work performance, even if they feel a little pity, they will not actively try to retain them.

Of course, this is also related to the actual situation in Richmond. The local pillar industry is agriculture, and many small companies in the city do business in the sale of tobacco and agricultural products such as wheat and cotton.

Whether these things are sold depends mainly on the price or the stability of supply, which has little to do with the ability of the employees themselves. Clerical work is almost the same no matter who does it.

Unlike some processing workshops or factories that require more technology, bosses will try their best to retain technicians or skilled workers.

Wayne really didn't want this case to become a "spy case" again. If it turns out that the real culprit behind the scenes is also a foreigner, I don't know what Bishop Corleone will think.

But if that's really the case, Wayne doesn't plan to force a change in the conclusion, at most he will continue to dig deeper to see who is involved with the foreigners this time.

A good detective agency originally wanted to do the job of "cross-border arrests" and also take on some "security" orders.

As a result, it is running more and more off course. Not only has investigating cases become the main business, but it also seems to be leaning towards the direction of "Military Intelligence Section". Who can you reason with about this?

...

To find a "sleeper cell," the most professionally suited in the detective agency are Linna and Damon McReady.

Unfortunately, the latter is not suitable for running around because of his "Kirin Arm," and he is currently guarding the house at the detective agency's headquarters, and coaxing Emma, the brat who is unilaterally in a cold war with Wayne.

Doug followed the police officers arranged by Sheriff William and ran through all the local banks. Several banks initially insisted on "protecting customer privacy," but after hearing about the general situation of the case, they all said "it's not impossible to cooperate" and "some things are higher than others."

This also made Wayne realize the limitations of "private detectives" in America. Some information may be able to be probed out indirectly, but some information, without the endorsement of law enforcement agencies or authoritative departments, is probably out of the question.

After suspecting that the killer may be related to "spies" or sleeper cells, this line is basically useless.

It is not difficult to open an anonymous safe in a bank. After taking the money, hide the key in a designated place, and it will be unknowingly. Face-to-face cash transactions are also very convenient. There is no need to honestly transfer money through the bank, which will expose a large area when checked, which is not cost-effective.

Ineisa looked at the map of Richmond for a while, but put forward a view:

"The places where Karl lived before are these places, and the places where he worked are not too far away, in these places respectively. If you define them by region, then he deliberately staggered these areas in Richmond City before."

"However, the bars where he used to go to 'have a drink' regularly are often in these areas. Assuming he really needs to secretly contact someone or wait for a mission regularly, then the probability that the other party often appears in these areas should not be low, right?"

"Taking the intersection, it seems that this block is the most suitable. It is neither on the same street as those bars, but it is not too far away, so that it will not expose itself in a completely unfamiliar environment."

Normal people don't have Ineisa's exaggerated memory, so after Connor learned from Ineisa for a while, he developed the good habit of "marking."

Ineisa pointed at the map continuously for a while, and Connor quickly circled a bunch of marks on the map, and then used small pieces of paper of different colors to make distinctions.

Everyone looked at the marked map. It is easy to understand, but such a large area, it is not something that the detective agency's dozen or so people can handle if they really want to find a needle in a haystack.

However, the plan proposed by Ineisa is not so drastic. "I can take one or two people to visit these bars a few more times to see if there are any people with whom the killer has been seen communicating who have repeated or similar appearances. If there are, then we can deploy manpower to conduct detailed follow-up investigations in a targeted manner."

Linna also thought for a while:

"If it is indeed a sleeper cell, then his superior must have cut ties after the case, and it is estimated that it is difficult to be brought in now."

"Why don't we find his team members first? Executing a mission probably requires team cooperation. Didn't he seem to have carried out a mission before? Maybe we can check what happened that time, who appeared, and then compare it with the characters that appeared in this case?"

So the two lines are carried out simultaneously,

Ineisa only needs to take one or two people who can make the drunks "talk well" to complete the preliminary screening.

As for the remaining guys in the detective agency who don't have very good memory compared to each other, they should honestly follow the plan that seems to be less technically difficult and find out what kind of evil the sleeper cell did before.