New Gods of North America.

Chapter 470 Omissions
Although the development of things was slightly different from what was initially expected,
But no matter what, after reaching a consensus with Mr. Molière, the investigation of the detective agency finally returned to the main line and began to gradually dig out other members of the murderer gang.

Although Mr. Morrie still had a moderate level of trust in Wayne, he was obviously very upset about the inexplicable problems with his previous goods.
The corresponding intelligence was quite detailed, and even supported to a certain extent. For example, one of his secretaries would follow Wayne to "scan his face", and the staff in charge of managing the warehouse would allow the detective agency's staff to enter and exit, and cooperate in providing some information.

A batch of goods is bought from a trading company. After inspection, it involves transshipment and short-term storage while waiting for the ship. After the ship arrives, it has to be loaded at the dock. The ship does not leave directly after loading the goods.
If you really look into it, there are quite a few people involved.

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

From the information he revealed, Wayne speculated that the core backbone of Mr. Morier's line was actually only the few people around him, while the actual storage and transportation of the goods were all outsourced to several groups of locals.

The advantage of doing this is, of course, that it is easy to cut off if your identity is exposed, but the disadvantages are also obvious. If you want such a service to be relatively safe, then the premium will naturally not be low.

The locals who cooperated with him were not ordinary people. It might be a bit too much to call them "gangsters". After all, they didn't seem to do violence. The money they received from Mr. Molière was obviously too much, but they didn't force him to buy or sell.

But it is not quite right to say that they are "ordinary people". A more appropriate description should be "a relatively well-organized and dynamic social group."

If we understand it from Wayne's perspective, it is probably a bit like the relatively small-scale "Cao Gang" in martial arts novels.

Due to the blockade and commercial embargo between several warring countries in the Old World, America remained neutral in theory at this time and could only provide civilian goods to the warring countries. Many things were actually not allowed to be sold to some countries.

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

The federal government adopts a pragmatic approach in this regard. If the relevant country catches solid evidence, then the customs and relevant agencies will cooperate in sealing and confiscating the goods. However, if no one reports it, some things will be regarded as "unknown".

This is one of the reasons why people who cooperate with Mr. Molière seem a bit "secret". They are clearly trading things that are legal in the United States, but they try to create the atmosphere and profits of smuggling contraband.
The same is true for the shipping routes. Although according to public information from shipping companies, there seems to be no difference between the ships, not everyone can consign goods to certain ships, and the management on some ships is stricter than that on other cargo ships.

The next day, after learning this information, the detective agency discovered that the murderer's gang was actually not easy to deal with.
These "Cao Gangs" are relatively self-contained systems with basically stable members. Unlike the circulation of some normal goods, it is not possible to infiltrate them by simply pretending to be a manual worker or applying for a temporary warehouse manager.
No outsiders will be recruited here temporarily, and they are very careful about irrelevant people approaching or trying to find out information. The same tricks don't work here.

"Although their organization seems to be quite tight, it is not professional after all, and in fact they are not as vigilant as real criminal groups. It is actually very simple to tamper with the goods during this process. Either arrange for powerful people to sneak in when the opportunity arises, or bribe the members."

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

The reason is simple. After all, even if they are both gray businesses, there is still a big difference between a business where "you will only be fined if caught" and a business where "you will most likely go to jail if caught." If these "Cao Gangs" have no other businesses, they can only be considered the former at best. If you look closely, they may be cleaner than many bounty hunters in the West.

Wayne and Inesa had reached similar conclusions. The detective agency had already arranged for agents to learn more about the problematic shipment, such as investigating the night watchman at the corresponding warehouse and the delivery man to see if they had encountered "friends visiting" or "a romantic encounter" or "a haunted event at night". However, Lina obviously didn't come here to talk about this. After she finished her conclusion, she started to complain:

"So how long do I have to cooperate with that guy? He is not the target of our investigation this time. After providing information, it will not be of much value to the subsequent investigation. Even if this identity is not suitable to be exposed now, I can arrange a car accident for myself..."

Wayne tried to comfort her:
"There are two benefits to continuing to act with Mr. Molière. First, from his perspective, I and Inesa are two different groups of people, so we can compare his different words and deeds to determine the authenticity of some of his intelligence. We can also help him out or warn him in time when he is suspected.

"Secondly, he obviously has a secret identity, and Mr. Walter, who previously managed the postal system, may be interested in him. But we also need to determine his value first. If there are hidden dangers or the value is not high, it is not suitable as a gift for powerful politicians. If it is too expensive, maybe you can keep it for yourself first.

"And we also need to avoid the embarrassment of finding out later that they are actually 'a group of people', so overall, this is something that you naturally have to do."

Lina was reliable in her work. After complaining and finding it useless, she quickly sneaked out of the temporary base through the side window and went back to continue playing her role as the "distressed daughter of a noble family".
The whole play was played out. Her recent residence was a luxury hotel in Richmond. The invitation was obtained by Tom Hagen's assistant, and the person who invited her was Simon Sherman, the chief scapegoat of the detective agency who spent $10,000 on the mirror. I believe that even if he knew about this by accident, he would not sell Lina out.

As soon as Lina left, Inissa, who had led a separate team to investigate, returned to the temporary base.
Unlike Wayne, who had no results at the warehouse and planned to send agents to test the warehouse's security in the middle of the night, Inissa seemed to have made some preliminary discoveries at the dock:

"According to the manual workers at the dock, someone noticed that when the ship came to load cargo, a man in work clothes wearing a peaked cap appeared near the dock and stayed there for quite a while.

"From the description of his appearance and temperament, and from the fact that several witnesses were unable to see his face, I felt that he seemed to be very similar to someone we had heard about earlier in the investigation, the man in the windbreaker who had secretly met with the murderer.

"They all seemed to have the habit of deliberately covering their faces. I thought it was possible that they were the same person. As for why he was there at the time, it could be that he was keeping watch for his accomplices, or that he was confirming that the tampered goods had been successfully loaded onto the ship."

Given Inissa's personality, she wouldn't just come back without any follow-up.
So Wayne asked directly, "Have you found any follow-up clues about him?"

Inissa nodded:
"A foreman who was responsible for collecting 'management fees' at the dock also noticed him and thought he might be a colleague or a newcomer who didn't know the rules, so he had someone pick on him.

"After a brief conflict, a small manager who was beaten wanted to take revenge on him in a deserted place. The man also found out about this matter. Perhaps he was unwilling to continue to tangle with such a small person, and was finally seen getting into a rented carriage.

"After visiting, we found out that the man had gone to this address. Since the fee was quite high and it didn't match his clothes, the coachman still has an impression of it."

(End of this chapter)