New Gods of North America.

Chapter 420 Pause
“According to our initial assessment, even if the person who enshrined the evil god statue was indeed Reverend Pycelle, he should not be a believer in the heretical evil god.

"The statue itself is not heavy. According to what you said, it can also attract the 'attention' of the evil god. No believer would leave the so-called 'holy statue' at the scene when they have time to deal with the situation."

Tom Hagen said as he stood behind Wayne and Inissa as they examined the body in the bedroom of the Pycelle Reverend House.

The situation at the scene did not seem complicated. Judging from the burning situation, the fire should have started from a bedside table and then spread to the bed.

The valet was missing, and the other servants' rooms were all downstairs. By the time the fire was discovered, the bedroom was no longer accessible.

"Is there a doctor in the church? We may need to arrange for someone to perform an autopsy on his body to confirm whether there is any soot or charcoal in his respiratory tract and trachea."

Wayne covered his nose and turned the man over with a small stick. The man was lying straight there. His body no longer looked like a human being, but most of his "body" was still there. He didn't know whether the inside was cooked or not.

Although Wayne remembered that movies and TV shows said that people who died of fire would appear in a "boxing shape", he himself was a half-baked person and only remembered that this method seemed not to be 100% accurate, but he didn't remember how to distinguish it.

It’s safer to “open” it and take a look.

As for forensic medicine these days... Actually, the prototype of forensic medicine in the Old World appeared very early, and there are corresponding unofficial "practices" in America.
But what can I say? The average level of American coroners in some aspects is probably not as good as Wayne, the movie and TV enthusiast in his previous life.

For example, in a small town in the West, for some cases, all you can do is "what the doctor says is what it is", which basically means judging some blows or something like that.

It is still far from being precise enough to distinguish whether a person is killed by a single punch or by an external force or caused by an illness of the individual.

Anyway, if you beat or injure someone and then they die, it counts as "murder".

As to whether it is a "crime" or not, it depends on who died, or "what kind of person" was killed.

Tom Hagen quickly arranged for someone to do it, and then stayed there to continue "supervising". "If we start the investigation from here, it will probably be difficult to find the real murderer."

It's easy to imagine that even if there really were people from the Church of Light lurking in the church, they probably wouldn't kill them themselves.

Unfortunately, Wayne had discovered evidence while investigating the Church of Light, and those involved happened to be people from the church. He wanted to hand over the half-cooked rice to the cathedral to report, but he didn't expect that now even the pot was sent back to him.

Wayne pondered for a moment, "Since the church has 'conventions' in dealing with the Church of Light, shouldn't we investigate according to conventions?"

"No need. The bishop wants you to take the lead in the investigation, and we can do it according to your method. No matter what the result is, you must give me an investigation report to hand back."

Good guy,
I didn’t expect that the detective agency would really become “outsourced temporary workers”.

Wayne thought for a moment and said, "Then can we search the residences of those pastors?"

"Of course. I think they'd be happy to oblige if you asked."

That's fine.

I don’t want to do it for now, but I don’t believe that you won’t translate it yourself.

Wayne asked again tentatively, "If our detective agency's investigation yields no results, can I just say that Reverend Pycelle committed suicide out of fear of guilt?" "I have no objection." Tom Hagen shrugged. "Just don't forget to sign your name at the end of the report. The bishop will probably read it himself when the time comes."

Well……

Wayne turned his head and looked at the large piece that had fallen to the ground. It was not certain whether this thing was "his real self".

……

"Reverend Tyrell, don't you see it? This is Corleone's plot to eliminate dissidents."

In George Berg's church, two pastors were doing nothing in the lounge. Pastor Bazzini glanced outside the door and kept a "polite" distance from the nearest guard.

Reverend Tyrell stroked his sparse beard, which was not long enough to make him look more like he was "stroking his chin".
He raised his eyebrows slightly after hearing this, "I have nothing to do with the Church of Light. Why, are you connected with them?"

"of course not."

Pastor Bazzini looked very peaceful. "But your people should have also been to that manor privately, right? If Corleone wanted to suppress us, Wayne wouldn't need to find too much direct evidence. He only needs to make these things public, and the suspicion will naturally fall on us."

Reverend Tyrell paused for a moment as he lifted the cup in mid-air. "Will he?"

Pastor Bazzini lowered his voice slightly:

"I don't know. But it is obvious that under the current circumstances, the next bishop of Fugenia must be you, Reverend Tyrell.

"But if we exclude the two of us and Wayne who is directly involved in the investigation, the only one left who participated in the 'Great Purge' and is eligible to compete for the bishop is the future heir of the Beaton family.

"His qualifications were far from enough, but once we were all on the suspect list, he became the only candidate."

Reverend Tyrell seemed to be thinking.
Pastor Bazzini, who was sitting on the sofa next to him, continued, "Even if the heir of the Beaton family is not strictly speaking a member of the church, Corleone can use this as an excuse to reject all the candidates and take the opportunity to nominate the candidate he wants.

"You know, Corleone has always been prejudiced against us southerners. And look at Wayne today. The suspects he pointed out are all people who will firmly stand on your side."

This is the truth...

The clues Wayne gave me before were also very strange. He asked me to arrange for someone to investigate Richmond’s lawyer, but he himself was investigating Pycelle’s estate...

Reverend Tyrell's eyes became sharper. "Recall, when was it possible that Pycelle became associated with the Church of Light?"

Pastor Bazzini did not intend to think about this question, and changed the subject:
"I suspect that the whole thing was a conspiracy of Corleone from the beginning to the end. Pycelle has been guarding the church of the academy honestly. What's the point of the Church of Light developing him?
"If Pycelle is a believer of the Light of Dawn, then who killed him? The people of the Church of Light cleaned out the entire manor and set fire to the secret room, but they left the most obvious statue of the evil god as evidence. Is this reasonable?
“Maybe what I said is not necessarily the truth, but I think it is a question worthy of your serious consideration.”

Reverend Tyrell listened to his words, looked at Reverend Bazzini, and then looked out the window.
A finger began to tap lightly on the thigh, and finally stopped in mid-air.

(End of this chapter)