Ch.123Request Log #012 – Night of the Mafia (4)

Giuseppina’s virtue was loyalty. It was a loyalty that could set aside hatred if the Godmother wished, a loyalty that could push her men forward even knowing they would die. Such men are necessary in a conflict.

She possessed the same virtues as the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn, so handling her was similar. Create a path to the destination and simply push them along. The Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn disappeared, but I remained.

Giuseppina contemplates. Getting an introduction was indeed the fastest way to meet the mafia, and there could be no disagreement that it was the most polite approach. I was essentially using her methods.

In truth, rather than contemplation, she was swallowing her revulsion. Giuseppina had no other options. I had means to contact the Godmother, so if rejected here, I could simply ask the Godmother directly.

But Giuseppina had no alternatives. There might be better operatives in New York than me, but within her reach, there was no one better. I made sure it appeared that way.

Only after swallowing her revulsion did she nod. It was a kind of surrender, an act of sharing comfort. She wouldn’t have minded even if I had stroked her.

“Fine, I’ll introduce you to that woman. Just make sure it doesn’t harm the organization. What does your client want?”

“Prosperity. Rather than losing this big operation to latecomers or mafias outside New York by wasting manpower and money on conflict, maintaining order in these filthy back alleys without fighting. Think honestly, Giuseppina. You’d gladly sacrifice your life for the conflict. Your branch’s men would too. But every time one of you dies, the Godmother loses a tooth.”

I softened my voice when whispering. I let slip the fact that this came from purely selfish judgment, and naturally pulled down Giuseppina’s chin. Our gazes met perfectly.

“Whoever’s behind this, that’s what these third parties are aiming for. Making your loyalty destroy the Godmother. I work for my client, but I can offer this much advice as a courtesy. Helping me is helping your Godmother, Giuseppina. Once this job is done, I’ll even join a dinner with the Godmother, trust me.”

I pretended to accept the things she valued. Even though I still thought it was a stupid family game, I could play along with that tune just once.

Giuseppina was now convinced. She swatted my hand away with disgust and raised her head to look down at me again. The earlier wariness and displeasure were no longer felt.

“Follow me. We’re going to see Silvia D’Aquila. She’s a small, skinny woman. There are rumors she sleeps with other females. That’s the only weakness I know about her.”

The fact that she maintained her branch manager position despite such rumors meant she was a good money source for the Godmother. The Godmother’s organization was quite well-compartmentalized.

Giuseppina stuck out her tongue in disgust and shuddered, then left the restaurant with a male subordinate to serve as driver. I went along. I got into the car tailored to her body.

The space was quite spacious and comfortable, having been customized for Giuseppina, who was particularly large among her kind. We drove across the city toward another branch’s territory. Heading toward the stock market district and the street of walls.

For now, I needed to be on Giuseppina’s side. That way, if anything happened, it could be dismissed as a mistake from her excessive loyalty. If it was done for the job, I would be at odds with the mafia.

A detective always had to stand one step behind. If I could put Giuseppina forward and hide behind her, she was a sufficiently useful pawn. Soon the car stopped in front of a fairly tall high-rise building.

The building looked clean. The metal decoration inside the lobby, expressing beams of light stretching toward the sky, resembled this golden age. However, it was no different from Giuseppina’s restaurant.

The fur smell was strong. Everywhere smelled of fur. No matter how much they tried to remove the smell from their kind, it never disappeared. The guards in front of the building straightened up when they saw Giuseppina.

“I’ve come with an operative to introduce to that woman Silvia. He’s my operative, so you wouldn’t doubt him, right? And there wouldn’t be any traitors trying to stop someone introducing a person to a colleague at a time like this.”

Giuseppina’s growling voice was uncharacteristically heavy. Loyalty with direction also created weight. I didn’t mind that it changed so easily.

The female guards at the main entrance nodded vigorously while standing straight. They parted to let us enter through the doors they had been blocking.

“Of course, Branch Manager Giuseppina! Please go in. Branch Manager Silvia should be on the 8th floor.”

The 8th floor. It seemed this building wasn’t entirely owned by the mafia. Charles Clichy always stayed on the top floor of his building. We entered the building and took the elevator to the 8th floor.

Fortunately, with just Giuseppina and me, the elevator was almost full, so no one else got on. Being able to have a private conversation was always good.

“Let’s be friendly at first. I’ll say I came to investigate the attacks on D’Aquila branch’s establishments. I’ll introduce you as an operative I trust, and she won’t be able to say anything against that. Then I’ll step back so the people who’ll be working directly can talk. You know how much we value courtesy and honor, right?”

“She’ll also know that I don’t care much about that, and it seems you want me to snap at her, charm her, and intimidate her just like I did with you.”

Giuseppina showed a slight smile, raising just one corner of her mouth. It was clear that Giuseppina and Silvia weren’t on good terms. From what I’d heard so far, they were quite the opposite.

The elevator stopped at the 8th floor. There was a company name written on the entrance, but since it was probably just a shell company, I didn’t bother looking at it and followed Giuseppina down the corridor.

Inside the floor, there was a strong perfume smell as if trying to mask the animal scent. It was the kind male animals used. Of course, the smell only mixed with their fur smell to create an unpleasant air.

Giuseppina knocked lightly on the office door, and only opened it after hearing an invitation to enter. Even as a branch manager, she was the kind who never cut corners when it came to organizational matters.

Inside, unlike Giuseppina’s purple suit, there was one animal so small it was hard to tell if it was male or female, wearing an ivory-colored suit, and two ordinary-sized female animals.

Giuseppina raised her fist, twisted it once, then clenched three fingers twice before spreading them. I couldn’t understand the meaning, but the two female animals who saw the gesture left the office.

The skinny female animal looked up at Giuseppina with an uncharacteristically gentle voice. Giuseppina seemed to dislike her, but she didn’t seem to dislike Giuseppina.

“Ah, Giuseppina. You know how to show courtesy at the door, but you don’t know the courtesy of calling ahead before visiting, which is just like you. What brings you here? And who’s this human you’ve brought?”

“I heard your establishments were being attacked, so I brought him. He’s my operative. No need to doubt his skills or loyalty. You must have heard about the Clichy incident last time?”

That animal smirked. While looking up at Giuseppina, she smiled as if she were her superior.

“Yes. You mean when you lost seven of your men in one car? Yes, yes. I remember well. I also remember how disappointed the Godmother was with you.”

At those words, Giuseppina growled again. I clicked my tongue to calm her since she was showing vulnerability. Giuseppina, who had no talent for verbal sparring, stepped back to let me come forward.

This ambiguous movement was permission. I took a couple of steps forward and stood in front of the animal’s desk, looking down at her. Her smiling face looking up was quite sly. She rolled her eyes and spoke with a voice mixed with laughter.

“Oh, no way. No, Giuseppina? Don’t tell me this human is the operative who shot and killed your branch members back then. How embarrassed the Godmother would be…”

I cut her off. I needed to reclaim the flow she had taken. And to take Giuseppina’s side a bit.

“You seem to know very well what Godmother Masseria would say, Branch Manager D’Aquila. Don’t you? Or perhaps you think you can’t establish yourself above Branch Manager Giuseppina without invoking the Godmother’s name. At least Branch Manager Giuseppina isn’t trying to start a conflict by collaborating with outsiders.”

The woman snorted with displeasure. She was in a state where it was hard to distinguish whether she was male or female, but her voice was definitely that of a female animal.

“What kind of delusional person have you brought, Giuseppina? Me, bringing in outsiders? Can you say I did it after hearing that my establishments were attacked?”

Of course, both she and I knew it was a lie. But I was someone who could do anything to make that lie seem realistic if my client wanted it.

“Sure. Even as a branch manager, your authority is absolute only within your branch. If something happened in your branch that was connected to outsiders, you’re the only one who could have arranged it. Now, you’ll probably say something cliché. Like asking if I have evidence. I have witnesses. There are mixed-bloods who saw two of your branch members driving around in Little Eire.”

While I may not have extraordinary talent for investigation and deduction, I was certainly diligent. Despite me sharing eyewitness accounts, Silvia D’Aquila didn’t back down at all and expressed her displeasure with a cracking voice.

“Ah, so you brought a traitor, not a psychotic patient, Giuseppina? I don’t know why you’d trust someone who frequents Little Eire, but if the Godmother knew about this…”

There seemed to be little difference between this woman and me in exploiting Giuseppina’s weakness. The difference lay in ability. At least I wasn’t just talk. I cut her off.

“Such an overreaction. Who do you think Godmother Masseria would suspect if she saw this? Between Giuseppina, who hired an operative capable of gathering information by entering the enemy’s territory where conflict might break out, and you, who can only move your mouth while sitting in that chair. Have you considered how the Godmother would act if she knew about this?”

I gave her back her own medicine. It’s always enjoyable to take away the authority someone else is leaning on.

Silvia D’Aquila sighed. She growled, baring her small hyena teeth as if my attitude displeased her. Compared to Giuseppina, she looked like a mere puppy.

The woman was at least smarter than Giuseppina, so she seemed to realize how suspicious her behavior would look, trying to silence Giuseppina by repeatedly invoking the Godmother just because I mentioned witnesses. And she also seemed quite sad that, unlike usual, she couldn’t shoot me dead.

As if there was no need to think, she immediately started grumbling. It seemed she preferred to tell me the information I wanted and send me away quickly rather than risk losing her neck over flimsy suspicions.

“Fine, our branch people did go to Little Eire. But it wasn’t related to the attacks. I didn’t send them for revenge, but to make a deal with the gambler Arnold. He said he’d sell the results of Dempsey’s next boxing match. Yes, they went. They bought it. That’s it. Satisfied?”

The gambler Arnold… a goblin. A strong third-party candidate has his foot in this too. The outline was already clear, and the culprit’s image was starting to form.

Goblins didn’t have their own territory. Eastman, who had made the goblin mafia known as the Eastman Gang, had been dead for a long time, and afterward, they scattered to make money individually, lacking the cohesion to create and defend territory. So it wouldn’t have seemed strange for the meeting place to be in Little Eire.

Moreover, if animals who had just been attacked days ago caused trouble in Little Eire, that would create a conflict between organizations, which would be a win-win situation for whoever set this up.

“So you’re involved too. On the day your men visited, a branch manager of the Irish mafia in Little Eire was attacked. Naturally, those Irish mongrels think you did it.”

This animal’s mind worked a bit faster. Silvia D’Aquila growled with an expression like she was chewing stones. It wasn’t as threatening as Giuseppina’s, but it was quite intimidating.

“If that’s true… I wouldn’t be in a position to warn Giuseppina. Let me ask one more cliché question. Do you have evidence?”

“I have enough that I’d like to connect the Godmother with The Morrígan on the phone right now. But I’d need to meet that gambler Arnold to be sure. Where does he stay?”

While she seemed to look down on Giuseppina when teasing her, now she seemed to start trusting me completely, despite being introduced by Giuseppina. Love-hate? Disgusting.

Silvia D’Aquila shook her head. Ah, if I could have gotten the address right here and gone to meet him, I could have really wrapped this up in a day. I had to hear why she was refusing.

“He’s just a guy who moves around gambling dens. He doesn’t stay in any particular place, so I can’t give you an address. He always contacts us first, but we deal with him because his information is reliable. I have nothing to give you.”

The hope of finishing this in one day fades away. Between sports betting and poker games in bars, it would be impossible to count how many gambling places there are in New York.

I can form a hypothesis. To verify what happened in Little Eire, it would be best to stay in Little Eire. He might be staying at the Little Eire casino.

But if so, was he staying near the animals’ territory when he was setting them up? If he was such an elusive goblin, he wouldn’t have left a trail for me to catch here.

Something is strange. This was too extensive for one goblin to have done by hiring a few people. He couldn’t have prepared the groundwork and lured each organization by himself.

He has a collaborator. I don’t know who. For now, hoping this could be resolved just by talking here, I asked:

“Wait, does the gambler Arnold have a gang?”

Silvia D’Aquila shook her head. It was an action without hesitation. Well, that figures. Things have never been easy.

“No, not at all. He just moves around with bodyguards, gambles, and occasionally arranges match-fixing through industry connections. That’s about it.”

No matter where I probe, I only find underlings. Still, I could tell the clues were becoming clearer. If I found the gambler Arnold and made him spill information, I might get a glimpse of who was backing him.