New Gods of North America.

Chapter 485 Arrest
Wayne wasn't sure if it was because of the law enforcement characteristics in Richmond, or if the local police were still skeptical about Wayne's "micro-expressions".
However, at the request of Sheriff William, after they arrived at the residence of "Avner", the suspected leader of the assassination gang, they did not directly launch a capture operation. Instead, Sheriff William led his men to pretend to conduct a routine investigation, intending to first call the other party to the door for a preliminary judgment, and then choose a specific control method, either civil or military.

Anyway, Connor, who was sent by Inesa to follow up in advance, confirmed that the suspected target had returned home.
Now that so many people have come from the detective agency, with Wayne personally in charge and Inissa choosing a commanding position and carrying the authentic runes of the church used to temporarily remove the restraints, if they still let the person get away, it can only be said that they will never be able to catch him.

This neighborhood is not very high-end, and the residents have a high mobility. It is a bit impolite to call it a slum, but it is basically moving in that direction. Once the residents find relatively good working-class jobs, they tend to move out quickly.
Even Connor said that not long after he came to keep watch, he encountered two groups of kind strangers who tried to ask him for change. One can imagine the security situation under normal circumstances.

The target's townhouse should theoretically be divided into different suites for rent.

But in fact, there was only one person living in the house at that time, otherwise Connor would not be able to determine who the target was.

Many of the neighbors nearby are newcomers from other places. Even the locals who have lived here for a while don't have much time to pay attention to socializing.

So when Connor inquired before, he didn't get much additional information. He could only confirm that there were indeed people living here, and occasionally a man could be seen coming in and out.

Since the detective agency had already witnessed how cunning this gang was when they arrested another murderer's accomplice, they set up a maximum-scale encirclement this time.
Before Sheriff William, the police officers and Connor knocked on the door, everyone in the detective agency had already taken their positions around. Inissa was sitting a little further in front of the house, while Wayne himself and his men were squatting in the corner of the alley diagonally to prevent escape.

"Dong dong dong."

"Who is there?"

"Community patrol, sir, we have a routine matter to inquire about."

The sound became a little quiet at this point, and the person in the house seemed to be walking towards the door. Then the sound of the door opening was faintly heard, followed by a not very loud conversation.

"Bang!"

"Swell——"

Soon, there was the sound of a door slamming, followed by the sound of a door being kicked, and then a chaotic sound of "ping-pong-clang".
Wayne already had the gun in his hand, but fortunately he didn't have to use it this time. After the noise died down, the agent in front gestured towards the alley, indicating that the person had been caught.

After searching the house again to confirm that there were no other people, Connor explained the situation to Wayne while putting the target on the carriage:
"Boss, this guy reacted immediately when he heard the police ask about the name 'Avner', so I took action immediately. Fortunately, there were no other accomplices in the house, otherwise it might have made the arrest more difficult."

The target did not choose to call out at the time, which proved that the probability of there being accomplices in the house was low. Connor's choice was correct.

Wayne praised, "Well done!" and then waved his hand to signal the agents to pack up, as there were three accomplices waiting to be caught, so they would be busy tonight.

Sheriff William was slightly injured in the brief conflict. He probably didn't expect the other party to slam the door suddenly. He was rubbing his nose at the moment.

After seeing that the detective agency had quickly taken the man under control, he didn't say anything more and quickly got on the police station's carriage, intending to follow the detective agency's convoy.

Once the leader is caught, the rest of the matter will be easy in theory.
Anyway, so many police officers have witnessed the efficiency of Wayne's "interrogation" using micro-expressions tonight. Now they just need to pretend to interrogate them again in the carriage and then continue to arrest people according to the list.

As long as Wayne insists that the addresses of the other accomplices were confessed by this guy, and he really catches them,
It doesn't matter whether this guy admits it or not. Let him find a way to explain it to his accomplices himself.

…things seemed to be going smoothly, and the rest seemed to be just some legwork.

Unexpectedly, as soon as Wayne arrived at the second address given by Pastor Tyrell, something unexpected happened.

After breaking into the target's residence and finding it empty, the "Chameleon" who came from the police station to keep an eye on the place seemed surprised.
Facing Wayne's speechless gaze, he quickly explained:
"Boss, I checked the situation when I came here. There was indeed someone in the house at the time. Later, he seemed to be writing something by the window, and his shadow kept falling on the curtains, so I didn't notice anything unusual..."

There was indeed a confusing device in the room. A small piece of paper resembling a silhouette of a person was fixed by a clip next to the kerosene lamp. Volatile oil was smeared on it, and it would tremble slightly under the effect of heat. From the window, it really looked like someone was moving around in the house.

But that's not the point. Wayne quickly picked up the torn paper with the silhouette of the person next to him and asked, "Before the shadow was fixed in the same position, was there anything unusual here?"

Chameleon tried hard to recall: "I really didn't see anyone entering or leaving this house. After finding out from the neighbors that the target lived on the second floor, I kept watching outside, and nothing unusual seemed to happen..."

"Think about it again."

"Yes!"

Wayne quickly walked out of the room, and Inesa had already found the target's escape route. "He should have climbed out of the kitchen window and out of the back alley. There are fresh traces on the windowsill, but there are no street lights behind. It may take a long time to track him down."

"It's probably too late. Let's go to the next place first."

……

The third address was even more lively. Before everyone arrived at the scene according to the address, they could guess the approximate location from a distance.

A fire broke out here not long ago, and there is still black smoke floating into the sky.
As there were wooden townhouses all around this area, the residents and neighbors reacted very quickly. They took spontaneous action after discovering the fire, even before public officials came to direct the fire, for fear that their homes would be burned down as well.

The "shock" who was in charge of keeping watch here was also an old hunter, but as people came in, other residents of the house also came in and out.
It is indeed difficult to confirm the target when you only know a name and address that you don't know whether it is real or fake.

Wayne didn't even get off the carriage this time. After calling Shock into the carriage, he directly asked Sanders to speed up to the last address.
Sitting opposite the two partners, Shock seemed a little cautious, just like Chameleon beside him, but fortunately he seemed to have noticed some clues:
“If there is something unusual… before the fire broke out, a horse-drawn carriage passed by here at a fairly fast speed. A few minutes later, I vaguely heard the sound of furniture being moved on the floor, and then the man closed the window.

"If I were to guess, it's possible that someone threw some information in from a blind spot..."

The "Chameleon" next to him seemed to have been reminded, "The same thing happened to me. A horse-drawn carriage passed by a few minutes before the shadow 'sat down'. It seems unlikely that there are residents in that neighborhood who are willing to spend money on this."

Wayne's fingers bounced silently on his knees.
Looks like someone is tipping them off...

If they were accomplices, given their cunningness, they might have a more direct emergency warning method, such as imitating special bird calls when passing by.

After a few minutes...it felt like it might be the work of a third party.

(End of this chapter)