New Gods of North America

After Wayne and his companions left, in the largest and most luxurious office deep inside the casino—

"Wayne National Detective Agency? Is it related to James Wayne, the former U.S. Senator and current U.S. Supreme Court Justice?"

Behind the desk, a man sat in a large armchair.

He asked, looking at the several counterfeit banknotes spread out on the table by the steward.

"It's not clear at the moment, Mr. Shelby. Do you want me to arrange for someone to investigate?"

The steward held a thin piece of cedar wood with flames in his hand, tilted it to light a thumb-thick cigar, and then handed it over respectfully.

Thomas Shelby took the cigar, and as it lit up, he exhaled a large puff of smoke:

"No need. Just asking casually. This is not something we should interfere with.

"Although the previous bishop has 'retired', he still has influence over the newly appointed Bishop of Prague.

"And the newly appointed Roose Bolton actually authorized an investigation into the counterfeit money, and the person in charge of the investigation seems to be quite influential. It seems that the church has not yet really confirmed who will take over the power of the Kankers Diocese, so we don't have to rush to choose which side to 'loyalty' to."

Thomas Shelby finished speaking and looked down at the counterfeit banknotes again:

"Are all the counterfeit bills that Luke used here before here?"

The steward's eyes flickered slightly, "Compared to the amount counted before, it seems that one is missing."

"Ha," Thomas Shelby chuckled and glanced at the steward, "You didn't notice it when you collected it from those people?"

The steward was about to explain,

Thomas Shelby waved his hand:

“It’s OK, we are ‘law-abiding citizens’ and don’t get involved in things that others are clearly breaking the law.

"Just send these counterfeit notes over. Tell the people sent by the Bishop of Prague that all the counterfeit notes we have are here. We all know that this is not a lie."

"Yes." The steward lowered his head and replied.

"Are those people Extraordinary?" Thomas Shelby asked again.

"I can't tell. When we first tried to drive them away, we didn't find any signs that they were trying to use their extraordinary abilities."

"I can't confirm whether they are from the church..."

The steward was silent for a while.

Then I asked, "If those people come to ask again later, how should I respond?"

The cigar flame stayed lit a little longer.

Thomas Shelby then exhaled the smoke. "They have an investigation warrant, so of course we will cooperate. If the powerful people feel that they are getting in the way, they should find a way to revoke their investigation warrant instead of making things difficult for us businessmen."

"Yes, I understand."

…

After Wayne and his companions came out of the casino,

Following the clues I had just obtained, I headed to several pawn shops along the state line.

An interesting point is that the pawn shops here basically appear in pairs.

The taxes on the Kansas side are high, and the laws on the Missouri side are many.

Anyway, as long as you take your things there, there will always be someone who will tell you where to pawn your "goods".

The last victim, Luke,

He is a frequent customer of the pawn shop.

Because there are police officers patrolling the streets with them.

So the pawn shop owner seemed very kind and patient when faced with the inquiry:

"Yes, Luke does come to our place from time to time. But we are just businessmen. We can only judge the value of things, but we can't confirm their origins. So we don't know what illegal activities he is involved in."

Wayne smiled and dispelled his concerns, "We are not here to investigate this. When was the last time Mr. Luke came to your place?"

"He usually comes once a week. But the last time he came was about half a month ago."

The pawn shop owner recalled for a moment, "You know, during the period of preparation for the ordination ceremony of the new bishop, the public security management in Kanks City was very strict. It might not be convenient for him to go to the cemetery to steal graves from outsiders... No, to 'purchase goods'."

Wayne followed his train of thought:

"So, without any source of income, he might go looking for a new source of goods? Do you know where he can get the goods conveniently?"

The pawn shop owner hesitated for a moment, but after the patrolling police officer coughed,

He quickly responded:

"I heard—of course, only heard—that some outsiders thought the cemetery in Kanks was too expensive, so they buried their dead in the cemetery in the nearby Riverbend. I guess Luke might try his luck there."

"Is it likely?" Wayne asked.

"I don't know." The pawn shop owner shook his head vigorously. "But I heard from the guys in our store that Luke once asked about some things over there in the bar. He might want to try it. I was also looking forward to seeing what new discoveries he would bring."

Understood.

Leaving the pawn shop, thanking the patrolling police officer,

Wayne and the others returned to the carriage and for a moment didn't know where to go.

Luke was not a rich man, and his body was not cleaned when he died. The murderer's method of committing the crime was clean and neat, and there was no witness at the scene. He did not seem like a robber who had no time to commit murder.

As for seeking revenge, it would be too troublesome to investigate.

Just talking about the fact that the victim dug up graves secretly, the relevant people involved or some messenger of justice may come and give him "just punishment".

If he ran directly out of Kankers City and went to the next town, there would be no direct target - it is impossible that Luke was so ostentatious and sociable when he dug graves in the past. No matter how you think about it, he should "enter the village quietly, without firing a gun."

Lina looked at the list of victims' names written in Wayne's notebook and was already showing signs of giving up:

"How about we look for any items left behind by the murderer at the crime scene, and then wait until the next moon cycle to try to pray to the sage?"

Wayne thought for a moment, "Can that 'wise sage' find someone by fingerprint?"

The murderer seemed to be too skilled. There was only one record of him being witnessed, and he was the type that could not be followed by people.

It would be difficult to expect him to leave something at the scene, but there might be some hope if we look for fingerprints on the victim.

"Fingerprints?" Lina looked at her fingers. "Can this kind of thing identify a person? Aren't everyone's fingers similar?"

Wayne shook his head. "That's different. Every person's fingerprint is almost unique."

"Even if the 'fingerprints' you mentioned can be used to identify the corresponding person, it doesn't seem feasible to use them in finding the murderer."

Inesa looked at the name on the notebook without looking up:

"In the only eyewitness record, the witness saw that the murderer's weapon was a dagger. However, in the detailed interrogation record, the witness filled in the column of 'skin color' of the murderer's characteristics as 'uncertain'.

"I can see the hands but not the skin color. The murderer may have been wearing gloves."

Hmm...

Since it is not clear, let's go back and find the witnesses to confirm it again.

Anyway, there are two paths ahead.

Either find a way to identify the murderer directly through the characteristics,

Or find the connection between the other victims, find the logic and key of the murderer's target selection, and screen the target.