After pondering for a moment, Wayne quickly realized what was happening.
There were bad people in the city.
The logic from the Cathedral was not hard to understand—currently, the only "legitimate" Extraordinary Person organization openly targeting the Dock Area gangs was Wayne’s Detective Agency, and the methods they used were "borderline" tactics like threats or intimidation, rather than "direct action." The more he thought about it, the more it seemed to fit.
But the problem was, this wasn't the Detective Agency's style...
After roughly understanding some of the details and seeing off the Cathedral monk who had "kindly come to remind" him, Wayne turned and had Doug call the relevant personnel into separate rooms.
For safety's sake, it was better to conduct a self-check first.
Willie was a good kid and shouldn't have actively resorted to such a tactic, but among those investigating with him, two were newly joined "outer members," and the remaining one was the old hand, Liam.
If one were to consider the "letting loose" direction... local agent organizations were actually a bit "unscrupulous" in their methods. After changing jobs, they might continue the style of their "original unit," and Liam might also occasionally "act up."
Such a terrible trick as "dressing up as a ghost to scare people" might genuinely be something they could pull off.
Willie and the others had been busy investigating these past few days and were rarely seen all day, but they usually returned for a while before dinner.
On one hand, if there were new developments, they could report them promptly before the partners went out to attend the ball.
On the other hand, it was also because the food at the restaurant was prepared by a chef and didn't cost money, which was indeed more reliable than eating out.
Willie quickly came over. Doug had kept his mouth shut and presumably hadn't given him any warning.
So Willie's first reaction after hearing everything was also a bit bewildered: "We've been investigating another murder case involving that gang these past few days and haven't had any contact with that gang leader. And we certainly wouldn't go so far as to intimidate other gang members—they are not directly involved in this series of cases."
He continued, "Actually, your previous investigation, Sir, has already clarified the general outline of this series of cases. What we are currently doing is trying to find clues from existing evidence that directly point to the mastermind, in preparation for convincing the judge and jury to overturn the case."
"Given that the gang leader is willing to take responsibility himself, it's meaningless for us to contact him privately now. In fact, we might even be led astray by false information he provides."
Hmm...
Willie's investigative approach was sound, and his logic was correct.
Out of caution, Wayne still confirmed, "Could it be Liam or others acting on their own?"
Willie shook his head: "We often act as a team. According to the details provided by the Cathedral, they shouldn't have had the time to commit such an act. Moreover, Liam has recently taken the time to ask Ryan many things and has even transcribed many of your quotes, Sir. He's currently studying how to become an excellent office manager, so he probably wouldn't do something like this."
What the hell is "transcribing quotes"...
He'd better not be making things up!
Having tentatively ruled out Willie's suspicion, Wayne turned and called in "Soften":
"As a local, what do you think of something like this? Does it seem like the style of any local organizations?"
Wayne was implicitly asking if local intelligence organizations had a history of such actions, with the recent "Cathedral Assassination" being an example—could this time also be their doing?
After roughly understanding what happened, "Soften" was a little exasperated, "Boss, I'm not trying to excuse those major local powers, but if this is a frame-up, the degree seems a bit too light... Given your relationship with the two Archbishops, Boss, even the Church probably wouldn't directly deal with something like this, would they?"
My relationship with them isn't actually that close...
Father Tyrrell is better left unmentioned. What exactly happened the night Archbishop Corleone had his accident is something the Detective Agency is still curious about but also dutifully refrains from asking in detail.
Although Wayne was also curious why Archbishop Corleone suddenly passed away, based on various signs afterwards, Wayne could at least confirm one thing: Archbishop Corleone had prepared in advance for "something to happen," and he should not have lost control of the situation until the morning of the second day after the incident, when everything had settled—but the Detective Agency remained completely unaware of this and was not part of Archbishop Corleone's "emergency plan."
This indicated that even as a so-called "april grass descendant," to Archbishop Corleone, Wayne was still "a distant relative, not as good as a close neighbor."
However, "Soften"'s statement wasn't wrong. The Cathedral Assassination was at least a "borrowed knife to kill" that was bound to shed blood. Tom Hagen didn't die because he reacted quickly and was lucky.
Using the incident of "a gang leader being scared by a ghost" to frame the Detective Agency, even Father Tyrrell couldn't be bothered to get involved. For major powers, it's a bit insignificant...
Wayne pondered for a moment and gave "Soften" a new task, "Take a helper and go ask that 'Jimmy' and other gang members tonight to understand the specific situation. See if there's anything else that might involve us."
"Yes, Sir!"
...
In the evening, the Beaton Family manor was filled with song and dance.
Wayne finally got to meet the "old, middle, and young" generation leaders of the Beaton Family all at once this time.
The "old" one was, of course, the vigorous Mr. Basque, the "middle" one was Paster Beaton, who had suffered setbacks in politics in the story, and the "young" one Wayne had met before during a small meeting at the Cathedral, named Victor Biddon. He was said to have served in the Federal Army and now seemed to be involved with the state militia.
According to Olivia, the Cathedral was holding a funeral for the Archbishop, followed by the nominal election ceremony for the new Archbishop. Many dignitaries from all walks of life should be gathering in Richmond recently.
However, the balls also seemed to be tiered. Based on Wayne's own perception, it seemed that the closer the date got to the funeral, the more influential the people hosting the balls appeared to be—perhaps the first few days were spent waiting for important figures from various places to arrive.
Mr. Basque exchanged places with the Mayor as the main guest tonight, but the Mayor of Richmond was clearly not a "heavyweight" among the guests; he seemed to be "riding on the coattails" of others.
Just comparing the people from the political sphere, the politicians were not introduced as "so-and-so Senator," but rather more specifically as "Chairman or member of such-and-such committee in the Federal/State government." The titles of the administrative officials also varied in level; some had "Federal" as a prefix, and most at least had "State."
It was a pity he didn't see the Governor; a deputy came instead. The two Congressional Senators from Virginia also didn't come, though there were Representatives.
Compared to these important figures who had a somewhat "do not approach without invitation" aura and were constantly surrounded by people, Wayne and Mr. Basque's grandson, Victor Biddon, had at least a "brief acquaintance" and were of similar age, so striking up a conversation felt less burdensome.
He even dared to casually chat about gossip to warm up the atmosphere—after all, they couldn't bring up the fact that everyone had attended a "small meeting" at the Cathedral.
This guy clearly "served in the military"; he carried a certain "toughness" and "edge" of a professional soldier, different from Wayne's stereotypical impression of a slick "American soldier."
But fortunately, he might have somewhat acknowledged Wayne's "identity," or perhaps he was willing to show friendliness in a social setting, so he was willing to correct errors in the gossip Wayne mentioned, and his reaction was quite positive:
"Actually, in the rumors, the person competing with the Secretary of State should not be the state militia commander, but his deputy. The actual situation of this matter is also different from the rumors; that lady and I do not have that kind of relationship."
Oh, wow.
Randomly gossiping and hitting the jackpot with the person involved, Wayne quickly changed the subject, "I see. But I'm also curious about your duties. What kind of work does a militia commander usually do?"
Victor Biddon talked more when the topic shifted to work:
"Mainly, it's managing the state militia. Unlike the Federal Army, which has relatively fewer personnel, by law, all able-bodied male freemen residing in this state are obligated to equip themselves with weapons and participate in regular training. There are those who undergo short-term training annually and those who hold relatively stable positions."
"Although the actual implementation is no longer as strict as it used to be, and city residents are generally not required to participate, the basic procedures are still followed as customary, and the slave patrols in each county are still mandatory rotating duties..."
