New Gods of North America

After his mistake was pointed out, the assassin's attitude clearly became more cautious.

This effect is actually not bad. Sometimes, unintentional lies can be harder to detect because the person might subconsciously believe them themselves.

Conversely, sometimes when you tell one lie, you might end up needing a hundred more to cover it up. Even a master might be overwhelmed by their own chaotic actions.

After confirming that they had asked all the questions they could think of, Wayne and the others decided to leave the assassin for a while and take advantage of the daylight to search his home.

Naturally, this kind of thing required the accompaniment of local law enforcement, and the sheriff named William kindly led the way.

Speaking of which, Wayne had already met several 'Williams' by now.

In Black Stone Town, besides knowing Mrs. William and her dead husband—who was nameless, so the townspeople were used to calling him that—the Constantine family also had an enemy named 'William Bonney,' whose bounty was already as high as $5,000 back then.

Now in Virginia,

if William Kidd, who called himself a 'pirate captain,' was a 'regular William,' and Tom Hagen's assistant, William Brandt, was an 'excellent William,' then the remaining one was this Sheriff William Kenzie.

Although Sheriff William did lead the way and had a good attitude, Wayne found him a bit annoying.

He kept muttering to himself, saying things like, 'We've already searched here,' or 'There's no need to look at these things so carefully,' and so on.

Considering that this guy might just be 'emotional' rather than 'problematic,' Wayne decided to let it go for the time being.

One good thing about Ryan's return was that he could half-push, half-drag this guy out for a smoke, preventing him from wasting time here.

The agents had basically taken the detective agency's related courses by now, so they could all follow Wayne and Ineisha's example, trying to figure out investigation techniques in practice, learning how to extract clues from the 'ordinary.'

Lina's courses had clearly played a role in this. Wayne saw Willie, wearing gloves, carefully put a vase back on the windowsill after examining it, turning it to make the plant's orientation to the sun 'correct.'

Although protecting the scene was a good habit, Wayne felt that this style seemed a little out of sync with a proper 'law enforcement officer.'...

The scene had actually been searched several times before, but law enforcement agencies in this era didn't pay much attention to preserving evidence. For example, if there was a murder and the victim was stabbed to death, the police would most likely just pick up the knife and take it back, at most taking away notebooks, diaries, wills, and the like.

This left the detective agency with plenty of room to maneuver. At least, the reason why Tom Hagen didn't die was quickly confirmed again.

Similar to the reason Ineisha gave, the assassin was a moron. After using the potion to poison the bullet, he added insult to injury by drying it with an alcohol lamp.

The potion contained ingredients similar to snake venom, which could be lethal if applied directly to the wound, but after being decomposed by high temperature, it was only good as a seasoning.

If one had to make a connection, then the assassin's timing seemed to be a sudden decision.

He still had expensive red wine at home that he hadn't finished, and a letter in his desk was only half-written, not looking like 'everything was ready, just waiting for the opportunity.'

Unfortunately, 'knowing there's a problem' isn't a skill; being able to 'find the problem and the answer' is what matters.

If you want to check bank account transactions these days, you need to go to the banks one by one with proof from law enforcement and the name you want to check. Some banks will refuse to provide information in the name of 'protecting customer privacy.'

You also have to ask about daily interpersonal interactions and the opinions of the surrounding neighbors one by one, and you have to make a trip to his workplace.

As for the tracking of letters and cash, there's no way to do it these days. You can only search the mailbox and the like. If there's something, there is; if there isn't, there isn't.

The detective agency had people at this time, so after the tasks were assigned, Wayne and the others didn't have to run around themselves. They just had to wait for the preliminary results to come out and then summarize them.

However, compared to a private detective working alone, as a partner in the detective agency, Wayne also had other things to do.

For example, when a group of people goes to another place, they need a place to rest and stay, right?

So, after the group searched the assassin's single apartment suite for a while, they split up and acted separately.

Doug was assigned to find a short-term rental for a whole row of townhouses, which would be more private and convenient than staying in a hotel, and the price would be more suitable.

Lina and Conner separately took people to visit and search for clues.

Wayne and Ineisha went to freeload a meal from, ah no, share information with, Pastor Tyrrell.

There were actually two major directions to investigate this assassination case.

One direction was naturally to start from the assassin and follow the clues back.

The other direction was to investigate from Tom Hagen's side. If there were problems with security, it wouldn't feel realistic if the people around him had no problems at all.

Fortunately, Pastor Tyrrell had an 'inside man' by Tom Hagen's side and was also a member of the church, with a more suitable identity and status, so Wayne pushed the other line to him to see what demons and monsters he could find there.

Anyway, the two were not in a competitive relationship in this matter. Even if Wayne didn't trust Pastor Tyrrell's character, he trusted his 'ambition.'

...

Pastor Tyrrell chose a famous Frank restaurant in Richmond.

Wayne didn't know if it was authentic, but it didn't suit his taste as much as Parker's, and he had to wait half a day for a dish, and the waiter was always thinking about introducing the chef's various ingenious ideas when serving the dishes.

Pastor Tyrrell wasn't interested in this kind of nonsense either. He beckoned the head waiter in the hall to listen to his whisper, and the waiter's interruptions were reduced a lot.

Although high-end restaurants in America don't have the so-called 'private rooms,' and everyone has to eat in the hall, fortunately, those who come are decent people, and the guests are all whispering to each other, so it can barely be regarded as another kind of 'privacy' in a noisy environment.

Everyone didn't gain anything on the first day. The reason why they came here today and chose such a place was actually more about 'establishing habits' and 'deepening friendship' to lay the groundwork for the future.

After listening to Wayne and the others' current progress, Pastor Tyrrell reaffirmed that there must be other forces involved in this matter, and he also talked about his situation.

His side was actually not easy either. Although he had the approval of Bishop Corleone, a 'bishop candidate' starting to investigate the personnel in the cathedral would give people a feeling that he was 'reaching too far.'

Pastor Tyrrell thought Wayne would say a few polite words to comfort him, but when he looked up, he found Wayne looking around the restaurant a bit sneakily, which made him curious. 'Wayne, what are you observing?'

Wayne quickly withdrew his gaze and smiled apologetically. 'I was just thinking about how much it would cost to open such a restaurant.'

Such a place where decent people gather, and which isn't very guarded, if Lina were to open it, she could probably find out a lot of interesting news, right?

Thinking about it the other way around, if Wayne can think of this, could others also think of it?