New Gods of North America

Although things didn't exactly go as initially planned,

after reaching a consensus with Mr. Morrie, the detective agency's investigation has finally returned to the main track, gradually uncovering other members of the culprit's group.

Mr. Morrie's trust in Wayne is still only so-so, but he is clearly unhappy about the inexplicable problem with his previous goods.

He provided relatively detailed information and even gave some support, such as having one of his secretaries follow Wayne to 'show their face'. Only then would the warehouse staff allow the detective agency's personnel to enter and exit, and cooperate in providing some information.

A batch of goods is bought from a trading company, and after inspection, it involves transshipment and short-term storage while waiting for ships. After the ships arrive, the goods must be loaded at the dock. And the ships don't leave immediately after loading.

If you really want to investigate carefully, there are quite a few people involved.

Perhaps because of his secret identity and special mission, Mr. Morrie's channel management model is quite unique.

Wayne deduced from the information he revealed that the core members of Mr. Morrie's line are actually just the few people around him, while the actual custody and transportation of the goods are all outsourced to several groups of locals.

The advantage of doing this is that it is easy to cut ties if the identity is exposed, but the disadvantage is also obvious. If you want such services to be relatively stable, then the premium will naturally be high.

Those locals who cooperate with him are not ordinary people. It might be a bit of an exaggeration to call them 'gangsters', after all, they don't seem to be involved in fighting and killing. The money they receive from Mr. Morrie is indeed significantly higher, but there is no forced buying or selling.

But it's not right to say they are 'ordinary people' either. A more appropriate description would be 'relatively well-organized, dynamic social groups'.

Using Wayne's way of thinking, it's a bit like the relatively small-scale 'transport guilds' in martial arts stories.

Due to the mutual blockade and trade embargo between several warring countries in the Old World, America is theoretically neutral at this time and can only provide civilian goods to the participating countries. In fact, many things are not allowed to be sold to some countries.

But in reality, after the goods are traded in the New World, no matter how they are transferred, they will eventually reach the hands of the actual investors.

The federal government adopts a pragmatic approach in this regard. If the relevant country catches solid evidence, the customs and relevant agencies will cooperate to seize and confiscate the goods. But if no one reports it, some things will be treated as 'unknown'.

This is one of the reasons why the people who cooperate with Mr. Morrie seem a bit 'mysterious'. They are clearly trading in things that are legal in the American Federation, but they have created the atmosphere and profits of smuggling contraband.

The same is true for the shipping routes. Although the publicly available information from the shipping companies shows that the ships seem to be no different, not everyone can consign goods to certain ships. The management on some ships is stricter than on other cargo ships.

The next day, after learning about this information, the detective agency realized that the culprit's gang was actually quite difficult to deal with.

These 'transport guilds' are relatively self-contained systems with basically stable members. Unlike the circulation of some normal goods, where anyone can pretend to be a manual laborer or apply for a temporary warehouse manager to successfully infiltrate, this doesn't work here.

They don't temporarily recruit outsiders and are very concerned about irrelevant personnel approaching or investigating information. The same tricks don't work here.

"Although their organization seems relatively strict, they are not professionals after all, and they are not as vigilant as real criminal groups. It's actually very simple to tamper with the goods in this process. Either arrange for skilled people to sneak in, or bribe the members."

As a professional, Lina is very sensitive to the subtle differences between different organizations and quickly came to a conclusion.

The reasoning is simple. After all, even if it is the same gray business, the difference between a business where 'you will only be fined if you are caught' and a business where 'you will probably go to jail if you are caught' is still quite big. If these 'transport guilds' have no other business, they can only be regarded as the former at most. Upon closer inspection, they may even be cleaner than many Western bounty hunters.

Wayne and Inessa had come to similar conclusions before. The detective agency had already arranged for agents to learn about the batch of goods in detail, such as investigating whether the night watchmen and freight drivers of the corresponding warehouses had encountered 'friendly visits' or 'unexpected romantic encounters' at the time, or even 'ghosts in the middle of the night'.

However, Lina obviously didn't come to talk about this. After finishing the conclusion, she complained:

"So how long do I have to cooperate with that guy in this act? He's not our target in this investigation, and he doesn't provide much value to the subsequent investigation after providing information. Even if this identity is not suitable to be exposed now, I can arrange a car accident for myself..."

Wayne tried to appease her:

"There are two benefits to continuing to cooperate with Mr. Morrie in acting. First, because in his perspective, Inessa and I are two different groups from you, we can compare his different words and actions to judge the authenticity of some of his information. We can also rescue or warn the other party in time when they are suspected."

"Second, he obviously has a secret identity, and Mr. Walter, who manages the postal system, is likely to be interested in him. But we must first determine his value. Those with hidden dangers or low value are not suitable as gifts for powerful politicians. Those that are too valuable might as well keep for ourselves first."

"And we must also avoid the embarrassment of discovering that they are actually 'a group' afterwards, so all in all, you still have to do this."

Lina is still reliable when it comes to serious matters. After complaining and finding it useless, she quickly sneaked out of the temporary stronghold from the side window again and went back to continue playing her 'noble lady in distress'.

To make the act complete, she recently moved into a luxury hotel in Richmond. The invitation was obtained with the help of Tom Hagen's assistant. The inviter was Simon Sherman, the detective agency's chief sucker who spent ten thousand dollars to buy a mirror. I believe that even if he accidentally finds out about this, he won't sell Lina out.

No sooner had Lina left than Inessa, who had been leading people to investigate separately, returned to the temporary stronghold.

Unlike Wayne, who had no gains at the warehouse and planned to have agents test the warehouse's security strength in the middle of the night, Inessa seemed to have made preliminary discoveries at the dock:

"According to the dockworkers, someone noticed a workman wearing a peaked cap near the dock when the ship came to load goods. He stayed there for a considerable amount of time."

"Judging from the described image and temperament, and the fact that several witnesses failed to see his face, I think he seems very similar to someone we heard about in the previous investigation, the man in the windbreaker who secretly met with the culprit."

"They both seem to have a habit of deliberately obscuring their faces. I think they might be the same person. As for why he was there at the time, he might have been acting as a lookout for his accomplices, or he might have been confirming that the tampered goods had been successfully loaded onto the ship."

With Inessa's personality, she wouldn't have returned directly without any follow-up.

So Wayne directly asked, "Did you find any follow-up clues about him?"

Inessa nodded:

"A foreman at the dock who is responsible for collecting 'management fees' also noticed him and thought he might be a colleague, or a newbie who doesn't understand the rules. He once asked someone to pick a fight with him."

"After a brief conflict, a beaten-up little manager planned to retaliate against him in a deserted place afterwards. That person also noticed this, perhaps disdaining to continue to entangle with such a small person. Finally, he was witnessed getting into a taxi carriage."

"After investigation, that person went to this address. Because the fare was not low and did not match his attire, the coachman still has an impression of him."