New Gods of North America

As darkness fell, Wayne had to leave temporarily to meet with Father Tyrrell, as agreed, to discuss their respective work progress.

Not wanting to easily lose the newly discovered target, Inessa stayed behind to personally oversee things, determined that even if she had to 'pick it up' later, she wouldn't 'let it get away'.

Father Tyrrell, who had specifically chosen another upscale restaurant, seemed slightly disappointed that Inessa hadn't come, perhaps thinking Wayne was deliberately preventing him from poaching talent from the detective agency.

Wayne still didn't like the atmosphere of these American upscale restaurants. They didn't even have private rooms, and everyone ate in the main hall. Some tables even required 'qualified people' to reserve.

It was great to eavesdrop on other people's private conversations, but it would be unpleasant to be eavesdropped on himself.

Father Tyrrell was clearly more familiar and comfortable in this environment, so after instructing the waiter to avoid excessive interruptions, he quickly got down to business:

"I've recently screened a batch of people. Among them, there are indeed instances of violating confidentiality principles and revealing security duty information to personnel 'outside the scope'.

"However, upon closer inspection, the current evidence only suggests that a few people were negligent. For example, boasting to friends about the importance of their work, or satisfying someone's curiosity. These are all leaks with little subjective malice.

"But based on what they've said in bars to outsiders, the confidentiality awareness of some young guards needs to be strengthened. I'm preparing to propose appropriate disciplinary measures for them, but unfortunately, following this lead doesn't seem to lead to anyone like a 'mastermind'."

Wayne didn't find this strange. These days, there probably weren't very strict confidentiality regulations. America had been peaceful for decades since its founding, so it was inevitable that there would be laxity regarding some seemingly non-core information.

Previously, Lina had secretly inquired about some internal church information from exorcists while investigating a case. Basically, it could deter obvious bad guys, but it didn't prevent well-intentioned 'good guys' with ulterior motives.

Moreover, Father Tyrrell's regret was probably that he couldn't tie the matter to Father Bazzini or someone close to him.

Just uncovering some small fry would make it difficult to explain to Bishop Corleone.

When Wayne spoke about his side of things, he wasn't as comfortable as Father Tyrrell, trying to make it a roundabout, 'semi-encrypted' account:

"I've made some initial progress and found someone who might be an accomplice of the killer.

"However, do you know Senator Walter? He seems to have already掌握了some relevant clues, but he doesn't seem to have revealed them to the cathedral before."

Father Tyrrell obviously knew him. "Walter... He's one of us, and he has a lot of people under him. The postal system makes things easy. You said he had clues about the killer before? That Karl is also connected to foreign organizations?"

Wayne nodded. "We haven't found the mastermind yet, but from the looks of it, the assassination seems to be the work of a secret organization. We're still following up to see if we can find their sleeper cell."

Father Tyrrell pondered slightly. "Virginia does a pretty good job in this area. The scale of sleeper cells isn't usually too large... And investigating them doesn't seem to benefit us."

It seemed Father Tyrrell still hoped to pin the assassination on someone from the church.

So, after pondering for a while, Father Tyrrell continued:

"I'll talk to Walter in the next couple of days to see if he has more information. If it's really the work of a sleeper cell, what's their purpose? The cathedral's treasurer isn't an ordinary position. Even if they remove Tom Hagen, it would be difficult for them to replace him with 'one of their own'. That doesn't make sense. Unless Tom Hagen has already set his sights on them, and they have to eliminate the obstacle."

Hmm...

That stumped Wayne. Currently, on the surface, the killer acted out of 'personal grudges'. Even if you add the likely existing intelligence organization behind him, you could only say that 'someone instructed' him.

But it was hard to understand what benefit they could gain from this.

It felt like a piece of the puzzle was missing. Even saying they were secretly connected to the 'Church of Light' would sound more logical.

So, Wayne planned to go back and confirm with Tom Hagen, but the investigation would continue according to the existing pace.

If they could dig out the sleeper cell behind the killer, the identity of the instigator would be roughly indicated. This would provide both the person who actually acted and the 'mastermind'. Although it wouldn't involve certain powerful figures in the local church, it would probably be enough to get a passing grade.

By the way, the situation across America seemed to be similar. The local powerful figures were still a small circle.

Father Tyrrell, a 'bishop candidate,' casually mentioned the senator with a familiar air. Maybe getting the people in their circle together for a meal would solve many problems more easily than ordinary people struggling for years.

While Wayne was letting his thoughts wander, Father Tyrrell seemed to be considering something. The scene became somewhat silent for a moment.

Then Wayne noticed that Father Tyrrell, after seeing something, suddenly waved in the direction behind him and called the waiter over to add a seat.

Wayne turned around and was speechless.

Richmond wasn't a small city. How could he run into them everywhere?

At the other end of the restaurant, Lina was slightly stunned after seeing Father Tyrrell waving. The person with her was the Frenchman, Monsieur Molière, whom she had recently been trying to charm.

Father Tyrrell hadn't had much interaction with Lina before, but he obviously knew that Lina was one of the detective agency's partners. So, after seeing Lina here, he probably thought she was here to replace Inessa for the appointment, but something might have delayed her slightly.

Wayne hadn't decided whether to officially bring Molière into the case.

Now, he had walked right into the trap. Father Tyrrell had a large group of people under him and was also acquainted with Senator Walter, the head of the local postal system's intelligence agents. If they were targeted because of this, then this Molière would be suffering the consequences of his own actions.

Serves you right for running around with people all day while chasing girls.