After getting to know a bunch of wealthy people, when Wayne left this time, there were no reporters or strange butlers blocking his way outside.
The wealthy people Mr. Russell knew were similar to him; although they likely owned farms or land, they were clearly more “businessmen” in nature.
If one were to simply discuss their net worth, the best among them might not necessarily be worse than some landlords, but if one were to comprehensively talk about their “actual influence” in various aspects, they would usually appear to lack “sufficient foundation,” unable to compare with those old-school slave owners who had operated in various places for many years.
At least in terms of votes, currently in America, “factory owners” are often not as influential as “farm owners.”
Factory owners can deduct workers' wages, but they cannot demand that free citizens vote for specific people, whereas slave owners can inherently represent all the slaves they own.
In the South, it is not uncommon for a single vote from a slave owner to offset an entire block's votes.
In this era, not many people were eligible to vote; even white female free citizens did not yet have the right to vote, and when not incited, people busy with their livelihoods often had a generally low voter turnout.
For example, the widely respected Founding Fathers Washington’s vote count in his term, divided by the total Federal population, was actually only 6%.
By the recent terms of the America Federation, if only looking at the “eligible voters,” a total voter turnout of 70% is considered high—the further one looks into remote rural areas or the urban lower class, the lower the voter turnout tends to be. Otherwise, people wouldn't call the mainstream voices of the urban middle class and above “public opinion,” as they are truly more active in voting.
However, these matters are a bit distant for Wayne right now. Currently, the Detective Agency is already overwhelmed just by the new orders Mr. Russell reserved. If new clients come with security Delegation and the remuneration isn't high, Wayne estimates he'll have to politely decline.
In the past, when he heard others say, “I'm so busy I can't even earn all the money,” he thought they were humblebragging. Now that it's his turn, he knows that the more he says, the more tears there are.
He needs more people.
If Ryan doesn't bring more people out quickly, then when it's time to open new offices in the future, Wayne estimates he'll be busy.
As Wayne thought about it, he quickly set his sights on the several captives currently held in the restaurant's basement.
In terms of nature, these people “acted on orders,” and their sentences would likely be judged as “accessories,” with treatment usually lighter than the main culprits. If the crime isn't punishable by death, then in places with the conditions in this era, long-term imprisonment is common.
Good labor should not be wasted. So-called “labor reform” must involve both “labor” and “reform” to be reasonable.
Hehehehe, you wouldn't want to be locked up in a prison or a monastery picking up soap, would you?
Think about how society will view you after you get out, whether it will be easy to find a job, whether the community will accept you, and whether your family and children will suffer strange looks?
Now I'm giving you a chance to turn over a new leaf. If you do well, you might even get a formal appointment with a good salary. Do you want to consider joining us?
Hmm…
Refusing to join is also an option. Anyway, those few are Extraordinary Person. Otherwise, sending them to the church for Extraordinary materials is also fine. In a sense, it's also a reasonable allocation of resources.
As for how the church will deal with them afterward, that's beyond his control.
Respect, blessings.
It wasn't until Wayne had organized his persuasive speech into a “grateful heart” in his mind that the carriage stopped again.
Sanders tapped on the carriage partition from outside, “Boss, we've arrived at the Police Station.”
At this point, Wayne didn't have much hope of getting any new information at the Police Station.
Even a wealthy person like Mr. Russell had to get secondhand information from him. The Cathedral's relationship with the local police before seemed to be just so-so. At least Sheriff William might even be “kept in the dark.”
But when he walked in, it wasn't just “no news”; there were hardly any “people” left.
A duty sheriff quickly came over. After a brief inquiry, Wayne learned that many cases had occurred in Richmond last night. Some were cases where the Cathedral was forced to act in self-defense while arresting church traitors, while others were murder cases with no definitive conclusions yet.
Even if local police officers didn't need to directly participate in the investigation, they at least had to “take a look” at the scene, and this “look” almost drained the police force.
Wayne asked a few questions and found that the duty sheriff's newspaper was probably not as comprehensive as his own. He was about to find an excuse to leave when he was called back:
“Mr. Wayne, please don't leave yet. I still have a bounty for you to sign for. The chief specifically instructed that if anyone from your Detective Agency comes again, the bounty should be paid immediately.”
Oh, it must be the bounty for those people who were previously wanted along with the “captured ringleader.” Liam had previously bundled and sent all the bodies found in the Indigenous people community, so he probably didn't get it directly. No wonder Lina didn't mention the bounty when they were splitting the spoils.
He took it and saw that the envelope contained a thick wad of cash. Looking at the amount on the receipt, it was 1500 America dollars.
“Is this more than the total bounty for those people last time?” Wayne asked.
He remembered that the previous total was only around 1000 America dollars—and that was because they were involved in the Cathedral assassination case.
The duty sheriff's expression was natural, “This is the chief's instruction. He said that since your Detective Agency was able to catch the criminals so quickly, it must have consumed a lot of extra manpower and resources. Plus, you are a special investigator sent by the City Committee, so the corresponding subsidy must be issued.”
“Please thank your chief for his understanding on my behalf.”
After leaving the Police Station, the City Hall was also clearly affected by last night's events.
However, unlike the Police Station, the City Hall seemed significantly busier at this time. As soon as he walked inside, it felt like everyone was either writing reports or submitting them, so busy that no one even questioned Wayne, an outsider, entering.
Ms. Susan, the archivist, was relatively free at this time and even had the leisure to make coffee for Wayne and chat.
Because Wayne had testified and defended Ms. Susan when the “archives were lost” before, her impression of Wayne, this “great detective,” was clearly getting better and better, even carrying a hint of personal admiration.
“Mr. Wayne, have you heard? It's said that when the incident happened last night, the senior police officials were all sent away in advance by the City Police Committee. I heard there was also chaos in the army; it seems some soldiers fought over barbecue while drunk, and many were confined. Also, some rebels from the church seemed to have been arrested while trying to escape. Someone heard the commotion at the time, but no one intervened. They only dared to tell their wives after returning home. I just heard Mrs. Miller talking about it and found out…”
Goodness gracious,
After I left the Cathedral, I wandered around Richmond for most of the day, and even with the newspaper I bought on the way, I probably didn't have as much solid gossip as you.
