*Knock! *Knock!
"Hey, Richard!" The gangster announced. The gangster had gone to Richard's house, the middle-aged man in charge of Richard's Boats.
*Knock! *Knock!
"Damn!" Richard was pissed off. "Who would wake me up so early?" Richard said as he sung open the door. "Hey, I know you." Richard put on his friendly attitude. This gangster was the same one that always made deals with him, both when the gang used to be the Epilocks, and now that it's Silver Nights.
"Hey Richard," the gangster replied. "Listen, I'm really sorry for waking you up so early." He may be a Silver Nights member, but he knew he wasn't valued as much as this outsider shopkeep, so he made sure to be rather respectable in his words. He was an ally, after all, why cause unnecessary trouble?
"The whole gang was ordered to find information, you understand, I didn't have any other choice but to find you. I just need to ask some questions, and I'll be off."
"Alright," Richard replied. He was just afraid that he had gotten in some trouble with the gang. The Silver Nights were pretty crazy compared to the Epilocs, but if they just needed info, then he was fine. "What do you guys want to know?"
The gangster continued, "Have you seen anything suspicious lately? Have you heard or seen anything regarding the warehouse tonight? An incident occurred there, and we need to find the culprit."
"The warehouse, huh. Let me think… there was some movement during the day, but that was you guys, right?" Richard started.
"Yes."
"Well," Richard continued, "I haven't seen or heard anything, then."
"In that case," The gangster continued, "We request a list of customers who have purchased boats from you."
"Up until when?" Richard replied, frowning. He didn't exactly want to start violating his customers' privacy, what could he do?
"All that you can find." He got a curt reply.
"...ALL OF THEM!?" Richard was shocked but quickly calmed down. What did this have to do with him, anyway? Nothing would come back to bite him after he handed over a copy of the documents he could find.
He began to speak, "Sure, but I keep those documents in my store. Let me go get ready, and we can retrieve them together.
…
On the way to his workplace, Richard began narrating stories. It was always his policy to try to make "friends" with as many people as possible. Who knew when he might need someone's help? He was being supported by the Silver Nights, so he wanted to leave a good impression on all of them. That way, he would get more benefits.
As he was narrating a story about a fish, he suddenly thought of something and stopped, "Say, Matckzie, you guys need my records because you suspect someone used a boat to do whatever they did over in that warehouse you mentioned, right?"
"Well, I'll be honest," Matckzie began, "I don't really suspect it, but I need results to show off. And if by chance they really did use a boat and I didn't get these papers, I'll be done for!"
"I see…" Richard acted sympathetically, "Well, there was one transaction which might fit your description…"
"Oh?" Matckzie was interested, if this was really a reliable clue, he would have made great contributions. He might be treated like a dog at times by Lord Berith, but he was still rewarded well for contributing. If it weren't for that, who would follow such a tyrant?
Richard continued, "You see, yesterday there was this kid, looks like he just turned 18, but he was pretty tall. He rented a speedboat from me 'for the next 24 hours, yet he didn't even immediately take it, as if he was planning to use it later…"
The two of them looked at each other.
"This is our guy, isn't it?"
"Quick! Let's get his information!"
The two rushed into Richard's Boats.
"Come on, come on!" Matckzie was anxious to see how much Richard had on this guy. "Relax," Richard replied, "He paid in cash, so I don't have any electronic records of his ID or anything, but I have hidden cameras, remember? Speaking of camera's didn't you capture whoever caused you problems on video?"
Matckzie was speechless and replied bluntly, "Why would we record ourselves?" Richard then understood he had asked a dumb question. Why would they record their own crimes? They were a gang.
Richard pulled out a piece of paper, "Here's the receipt." He passed it over. "Give me a bit, I'll save a copy of the video surveillance for you." Matckzie felt so lucky that Richard actually had video surveillance, and the fact he had exposed he had hidden surveillance was proof of the mutual relationship between them.
Those things were expensive, and the important part was that no one really liked those things around here. There was once a store that tried installing them, and it promptly got smashed by some ruffian kids, no doubt instigated by someone.
"…Here." After a bit of time passed, Richard finished and passed over the CD to Matckzie. Matckzie received the CD. He didn't have a name, so he would need that…
"Oh!" Matckzie realized, he didn't need to do that, it was time to call in his contributions. The others could take care of that, maybe someone else would recognize him.
…
East Marshall's Warehouse
Berith greeted Matckzie, "Good to know SOMEONE is competent. I heard the news over the phone. If this is really the guy, I'll be sure to reward you handsomely."
They played the CD for everyone there to see.
The quality was pretty bad, they were practically seeing pixels. Soon, someone blurted out, "I know that guy, I think that's Leonard!"
"Who the fuck is Leonard, and what do you know about him!" He responded.
"Alright," He began narrating, "He's just a nobody. Remember how we had to get 10 products? I was part of a trio, our group leader tracked down all the info on this girl, Yukki. She was weak and only lived with her brother, Leonard. We tracked down the times he goes to and from work and took the girl. There was a minor fuckup where he came home early, but he got beaten up, I didn't even expect him to live."
"This must be the guy!" Most people came to an agreement. Leonard was just too suspicious. Even if he was not the culprit, he had to be investigated.
Berith agreed with the last point, but he didn't think Leonard was the culprit. He was certainly suspicious, and had a good chance of being tied to the events earlier, but rather than actually committing the crimes, he had likely transported the actual culprits. He was still suspecting people based on the way his men were killed. Be it a traitor, a highly skilled group, or an old "friend", they all had much higher chances of being the culprit in his mind.
He even considered that he might be being sabotaged for the very group he was working for.
"We actually have a bunch of his info," The narrating man continued, "If you give me a bit, we have papers on his address, job, family, all that stuff."
"Get it."
He nodded in acknowledgment as he went to go contact the relevant people.
Berith ordered, "Send someone to his address once you get it, we need to apprehend him for information!"
The group once again disbanded as they continued their work. They naturally couldn't be content with the clues they've gotten, they needed to know everything!
Soon, Berith received another phone call.
"Boss, I've got some more info on Leonard! It has to be him!"
"Remember, he likely had helpers." Berith replied, "Keep a lookout for any evidence of them, we need to know who our enemies are!"
"Yes… but listen, I found out that recently, he had registered into that "Beds and Angels" place, I asked the girls there, he didn't use their services, and apparently, he was last seen not too long ago! "
!!!
"Keep someone there to apprehend him if he comes back!"
"Yes!"
The call ended, but Berith felt unease. If he fucks this up, he might lose the support of his connections. HE wouldn't be hunted down or anything, just… he might have less help from his "higher-ups"! How could he do that, having been used to a life of debauchery and easy money?
He knew what was truly important for him. Not the culprit, but getting 10 more products to sell. He had to undergo the deal soon! He decided that there was no way he could leave the warehouse to his subordinates. Yet if he left them, another accident may end up happening. Yet, he didn't trust them to be able to get the goods in so little time...
He decided quickly, he would take his men and a big truck, and grab 10 people in one go.!
With that notion in mind, he set off, ready to do everything personally.