New Gods of North America

After reconfirming the testimonies of several arrested individuals, it became clear that the confessions of the culprit gang didn't seem to offer any more useful clues. Wayne bundled up the interrogation records, and then his attention temporarily shifted to finding and comparing fingerprints.

Perhaps in the eyes of some police officers in the police station, the detective agency had entered a relaxed state of "successfully capturing the culprit gang members and just waiting to complete the paperwork to close the case." They even temporarily purchased alcohol and food, holding an informal celebratory dinner at the police station that everyone was welcome to join.

But in reality, the detective agency had truly entered a phase of full power. As crate after crate of wine glasses temporarily bought from the bar were moved back to the detective agency's temporary base, the agents began to handle a large pile of marked glasses.

The police officers at the police station were still marveling at the thoughtfulness of the Wayne Detective Agency tonight, bringing out new glasses every time they served wine with the late-night snack, but the agents acting as waiters to collect the glasses were not so happy. Just secretly sorting them into different categories took a lot of effort.

In the room, Wayne stated his opinion expressionlessly: "The key to the problem now lies in figuring out the reason for the conflicting testimonies among the culprit gang members. Even if we finally confirm that the culprit Karl is indeed lying spontaneously, we must be able to objectively prove the reason or inducement for him to do so."

Inessa nodded in agreement, but couldn't help but feel a little puzzled: "But based on the current situation, shouldn't we continue to focus our investigation on the conflict's focal points, the culprit Karl and the leader Iverna? Why did you call everyone back except for having Conner and 'Shockwave' continue to stay near the police station to monitor secretly? Did I miss any important clues?"

Missing something isn't the case.

It's simply because I plan to 'burn the mountain to catch the game'…

In Wayne's view, the Cathedral isn't really interested in Karl, the apparent murderer in the assassination case.

Originally, as a passing grade standard, as long as Wayne apprehended the leader of this gang and the remaining gang members, then even if the Cathedral was still not satisfied, the detective agency should be able to barely pass.

After all, the detective agency was instructed to investigate the case. Being able to find the "mastermind behind the scenes" through the superficial culprit wouldn't be considered completely useless on paper.

It's like investigating those murder-for-hire cases: catch the direct murderer, then find the person who hired or instructed the murderer. Regardless of whether there is a deeper level of instruction behind this, at least at the "case" level, the logical chain has completed a closed loop.

As for whether the story behind this can be filmed into dozens of episodes of political struggles or emotional ethics dramas, that's none of the detective agency's business.

But to Wayne's surprise, the culprit gang leader's confession actually didn't match the culprit's testimony.

Both sides were unwavering in their versions, but the content contradicted each other.

The "cooked duck" turned into "undercooked rice," so how could Wayne hand in the assignment?

Passing the buck to that culprit named Karl seems simple, easy, and logical. He did commit the crime, and he was caught red-handed.

Now his unilateral statement doesn't have any evidence to support it, and even his accomplices tend to believe that the assassination was his personal unauthorized action. If sent to court, even if he's assigned ten defense lawyers, the coffin lid will still be nailed shut.

But if Wayne really hands in the assignment so foolishly, and if Bishop Corleone asks about it later, and the culprit says the case was instructed by their gang leader, and the leader says the case was created by the culprit on his own initiative, and this problem can't be resolved, then the first thing Bishop Corleone will suspect is probably that "there's a problem with the detective agency."

——Did they catch a "scapegoat" to pass off as the real thing? Are they covering up for the real mastermind behind the scenes? Is it because their ability is limited and they can't find out the truth, or have they chosen to stand on the side of "fooling the Cathedral"?

A good, innocent person investigating a case, only to end up being investigated as a suspected accomplice in cheating, is what really made Wayne's head hurt.

Why make it like this.

After realizing this, Wayne immediately knew that his plan to slack off had completely failed.

Therefore, it's not just as simple as investigating the case anymore. Seeing that the fire might burn the detective agency, Wayne didn't care whether the mastermind behind the scenes was intentional or unintentional, and thought it would be better to add some fuel to the fire, "everyone roasting together" is better than "the detective agency being smoked alone."

So now no forces related to the case can run away. First is Chief William, who secretly tipped off the culprit, second is the local intelligence organization that knew about it in advance, then there's that third-party force that popped up from nowhere, and even the police station has to be gone through. If there's a witness, use the witness; if there's no witness, check the fingerprints. Ignite anyone you can.

Anyway, if good citizens like the detective agency can't sleep well, then the perpetrators who have a part in the story have an obligation to stay up all night together.

However, there's no need to say this kind of not-so-environmentally-friendly idea to pollute Inessa's database, so Wayne came up with a pre-planned excuse:

"From the perspective of solving the case as soon as possible, I hope to make the mastermind behind the scenes more proactive by providing some favorable conditions. So I deliberately withdrew all the manpower on the surface to see if the mastermind behind the scenes would jump out to kill and silence people, and then follow the vine to make the case simple again."

Doug belongs to the kind of example that has already been polluted. After hearing this, he thought for a while and tried to propose the simplest solution: "Since the problem now lies in the conflict between the culprit's testimony and that of his accomplices, then can we spend more effort on him to make him change his statement?"

Inessa, as an old hunter who respects order, does indeed have her own standards in her heart. After listening to Doug, she frowned slightly, seeming to disagree with this approach of distorting the facts.

Although Lina doesn't mind throwing mud at the culprit who is likely to be buried soon, she was the first to object: "Churches often regard the crime of 'deliberate deception' as more serious than 'wanton killing.' If that guy recants again or the church notices that the testimony is false, we will instead get ourselves into trouble for no reason, which is not worthwhile."

Wayne also disagreed with this proposal, but he felt that Doug was somewhat "teachable" because of this, so he just waved his hand to indicate that it was not to be considered. Then he felt that if he planned to do bad things secretly in the future, he could let Doug do it quietly.

Damn,

I seem to understand why those stupid bosses like sycophants…

No wonder the Jiajing Emperor didn't let Yan Song fall for decades, so this is where the happiness lies.

Having set the tone, what the detective agency needs to do at this time is to continue to dig up and preserve the "sparks" related to other forces.

Chief William's fingerprints are now being prioritized for comparison, to see if the police station is completely untrustworthy. If there's time, you can go to Mr. Biton's place to stir up trouble again. I believe there must be no shortage of people in the political world who want to take the opportunity to rise.

Previously, Pastor Tiriel sold a contact person from a local intelligence organization. This line can also be followed up again. Although I don't want to offend Senator Walter, as long as the organization is large, the food must be divided into pots. He should also be very good at the "firing temporary workers" routine. Anyway, it's a fact that they knew about it in advance and didn't report it. Wayne can just pretend to be a white lotus and write an anonymous letter to report it himself.

Finally, Wayne currently believes that the most suspicious and suitable person to hand in the assignment is that sneaky third-party force.

The detective agency has already scanned all the fingerprints in Mr. Moliere's house where he was attacked. Now it depends on whether there are any clues that can allow them to match the fingerprints. Big shots don't do things like the detective agency investigates cases. Bishop Corleone said before, "Sometimes speculation is fact."

Everyone collected fingerprints and marked them for comparison, and worked until the second half of the night. Each person was playing with carbon powder shaved out with a small brush. Some people's hands looked blacker than slaves.

Even the gold master Mr. Moliere, who had nothing to do, curiously poked his head over a few times. Everyone thought he was in the way but didn't need to chase him away, so they just told this injured person not to touch things randomly.

The next day, just as dawn was breaking, Wayne suddenly woke up from his dream.

Good heavens, as soon as he opened his eyes, he saw the big spider Peter standing in front of his face, almost completely occupying his field of vision, looking so big, and stretching out a long leg without retracting it, seemingly exploring his breath.

Wayne shrank his head, turned over, and looked to the side. The perpetrator Lina's head was hanging in the half-open door, looking at Wayne with a shameless face, and then looked back and said, "Looks like he's okay."

What's going on?

After Doug knew that Wayne was awake, he carefully entered the door to report: "The agents found that the food purchased this morning had been poisoned. Just in case, they wanted to confirm everyone's status. Currently, everyone in the temporary base, including you, sir, is completely normal."

Huh?!