New Gods of North America.

Chapter 472 Dereliction of Duty
Transactions at different prices often correspond to supporting services of different grades.
Generally speaking, the higher the premium, the closer the service is to "making friends". Not only will the other party be willing to spend time communicating with you in detail, but they will even seem to consider you.

The lower the premium, the closer the service is to a "vegetable market", with clear prices and nothing to worry about if it doesn't work.

The real estate agency Wayne found was no exception. Since the housing rentals in this area were basically aimed at the working class working in the commercial district, the information of sold and unsold properties in the real estate agency's office was posted like a wanted poster wall in a police station.

The address and general information of the house, such as the area, layout and whether it comes with furniture, were written on the pages. Some of the house information was circled in red handwriting on the paper, and "when it was rented out" was written below.
The staff are not overly enthusiastic in providing service, allowing potential customers to come in and out freely and browse the publicly posted housing information. They will only approach and chat with the other party when they feel that the other party has obvious payment ability or transaction intention.

Although the specific tenant information is confidential and the rental price will not be easily disclosed, real estate agents do not mind clients knowing what rental agreements they have recently facilitated.
After all, this is a testament to the ability and strength of the real estate agency. A large number of transactions means that they can select the most suitable accommodation for customers, and a wide distribution of properties means that they have sufficient market recognition and market share.

This made the investigation of the detective agency easier.
Wayne was dealing with an agent who judged the purchasing power of a client based on his or her clothing and whether or not he or she brought a servant with him or her, while Inesa and two agents were browsing the house information on the wall.
After paying a small tip, Wayne even received a stack of past property catalogs offered by the staff, implying that "if you don't find a suitable house, it may just be because you didn't come at the right time this time, not because the agency can't provide enough options."

Simple techniques like "big data killing familiarity" or "little magic routines" were actually very useful before they were officially known to the public.
Inissa quickly noticed that the records in the past property catalog did not match the transaction records posted on the wall. After confirmation, she secretly tugged at Wayne's clothes, indicating that she had found a clue.

After regretfully telling the staff that they still needed to think about it, Wayne and the others quickly left the real estate agency.
Inessa then spread out a map of Richmond in the carriage and began to draw a simple enlarged map of the nearby neighborhood on white paper:

"The past listings they provided were updated weekly, and two rentals disappeared at the same time in the first week two months ago, but they were not found in the transaction records on the wall, which I think is worth paying attention to.

"We have just been to that street. Judging from the distribution and order density of the house numbers there, the distance between these two addresses is not too far. They should be at these two locations, which meet the characteristics of setting up a 'surveillance point'."

Wayne is more inclined to be practical in this kind of thing. Now that he has a clue, the next step is to confirm it once to see whether it is accurate or not.

……

After the carriage and several agents passed by the suspected location one after another, the surveillance point set up by local agents was soon discovered.

In this day and age, no decent person living in a place like this would stay inside during work hours and look out at the street view.

They neither go out to work nor rest at home or do housework. Looking at their appearance, although it may seem a bit offensive, they do not look like the kind of artists who can receive funding from rich women.

It was also impossible to meet two artists at the same time by chance. After all, this was Richmond, not a mainstream gathering place for artists. Georgeburg, where the "college" was located, was a possible place. There were more poor students and art students there, and there were more wealthy women. Crossing the river by feeling the stones was easier than wading through the water by yourself. A more accurate topographic map was soon redrawn:

"There were four houses available for rent nearby. They were all floors or rooms that were rented out separately from the entire building. Since the local spy organization chose these two places, judging from the field of vision and route, their surveillance range is probably in this area, that is, these two key houses.

"The most likely ones are the rooms on the side of the house close to the alley. We just don't know whether they are rented out individually or as a whole. If it's the latter, then we can already lock on to the target."

While Wayne was giving his analysis, he was observing Inissa's reaction.

After listening to this, Inissa recalled a little:
"The real estate agency does have a record of the transaction here, and the transaction took place within a week before the two surveillance points were set up. Assuming they followed the target here, then the target should live in this location.

"This house is rented out separately. The transaction record shows that the other party rented one of the units on the second floor. He jumped out of the window, which is the alley you mentioned. This unit has a living room and bedroom, and a separate bathroom, but the kitchen is shared and has basic furniture."

It is convenient to have a personal computer nearby. Once the specific location is determined, verification will only take a day or two.

In fact, that evening, Ryan, who was pretending to read a newspaper on the street and had already finished two packs of cigarettes, saw the legendary "windbreaker man".

Dark blond hair, blue eyes, likes to hold his hat with his hand when walking, and looks back from time to time when turning corners and before entering a door, showing high alertness.
If they just passed him on the street, he might not seem suspicious, but after observing him from several positions, the detectives felt that he looked like a guy haunted by ghosts in a horror movie.

From the perspective of solving the case, this guy has obviously met the conditions for being taken back to assist in the investigation, and he can now be "put away in peace".

However, if you consider following the clues, then a more reasonable approach is to continue to play the long game and catch the big fish.

Wayne was still struggling with this "choice between the two", and the more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong.

Judging from the setting of surveillance points, it seems that the local agents have been targeting this guy for a long time, long before the assassination began. Even the last time this guy moved, it seemed like he moved to a new place after the previous operation was completed. It was just that he was accidentally caught on the tail by the detective agency.

The local spy organization does not seem to be in the same group with them, otherwise there would be no need to set up additional surveillance points.
But if they didn't notice any signs before, wouldn't that be a bit remiss?
(End of this chapter)