Chapter 32: Unrest
"Age?"
"24 years old. I work as a waiter at a restaurant."
"Gender?"
"Male."
"Name?"
"Tony Smith."
The bright, white lights in the interrogation room made him squint his eyes.
"I was just driving by, sir. Do you really need to bring me in for questioning?"
"You don't really look like a good person."
Hearing such a blunt and straightforward answer, Tony was momentarily at a loss for words.
"Wait a moment, where did my glasses go… oh, here they are."
He put on his glasses, instantly giving off a bit fancy but a little sneaky.
"What do you mean?"
"After you finish giving your statement, you can go. Just remember to take your personal things with you."
That was kind of considerate.
"This might be your first time here, so it feels a bit uncomfortable, but don't worry. In Gotham, no matter which gang you belong to, you'll always see me around. We meet a lot."
"But I'm not part of any gang in Gotham City."
Tony shook his head, "I'm just helping out at a restaurant."
The blonde old detective looked closely at his face like he was trying to see if he was lying.
"But you know the background of that restaurant, right?"
"I do, but only a little."
Tonny shrugged, "Anyway, I try not to get involved in their business. I'm just working there, and I'm a law-abiding citizen, officer."
"Interesting."
The detective glanced over Tony's hands, wrists, and neck.
There were no tough calluses from holding a gun and no gang tattoos from the Falcone family.
"Since you're still young, I'd advise you not to keep working at that restaurant."
"But they do pay well."
He instinctively responded to the questions.
Looking at the detective's blond hair and mustache, Tony suddenly felt the man looked familiar, and he asked without thinking, "Hey, what's your name, by the way?"
"You don't recognize me?"
Gordon smiled, "That's not necessarily a bad thing, it means you probably haven't gotten into trouble in Gotham."
"My name's Gordon. Jim Gordon."
...
After leaving the Gotham Police Department, Tony got into his car and drove home.
'Sigh, unbelievable now Jim Gordon knows who I am too.'
Tony could only behave as a good citizen and pray he wouldn't attract Batman's attention.
Then...
'The president of the Gotham Bank resigned and was killed?'
He thought to himself, 'Is this a sign of something bigger? I don't remember hearing anything about it.'
He opened the door and returned home.
It was dark outside, and far away, the big clock tower showed it was two in the morning.
Strangely, Tony hadn't run into any robbers or thieves on the way. He wondered if it was because of the notorious reputation of his beloved car.
'Sigh... only a workaholic like Gordon would drag someone to the police station for questioning at this hour.'
He let out a sigh and pulled out his phone. He opened the Gotham Gazette website and typed "Gotham Bank" into the search bar, then hit search.
A bunch of news articles popped up in order, and the titles caught Tony's eye: "Gotham Bank and Falcone Company to Soon Reach Cooperation."
He tapped on it.
[Since June, Falcone Import Company and Gotham Bank's cooperation proposal has been in intense preparation. After months of negotiation, the bank president, Richard Daniel, stated that he is willing to advance this partnership, considering that the collaboration will provide millions in available funds to Gotham Bank...]
"Woah, who's crazy enough to mess with Falcone's business? He's the Godfather of Gotham's Underworld! Why's he running an import company now?"
"Is this money laundering?"
He thought carefully for a moment, then clicked on the latest news article, dated just this morning.
[Today, Gotham Bank president Richard Daniel officially announced his resignation. However, he refused to disclose the specific reasons, only stating that he no longer felt capable of continuing as the bank's president.]
Tony suddenly began to understand.
Daniel had probably made an agreement with the Roman or Godfather. He was supposed to support the cooperation between Gotham Bank and Falcone Import Company.
However, now it looked like Daniel had backed out.
He suddenly resigned before the cooperation was finalized, causing the whole thing to fall apart, and Roman's plan was ruined.
Suddenly, Tony remembered some last words he heard a man mumble as he was dying on the street.
"…Leave Gotham… Paris… find a place…"
'No wonder he wanted to leave Gotham City for Paris, France. No wonder he resigned this morning and was shot tonight. The Roman doesn't wait around to get revenge, and that's just how he works.'
Below the news article, there was also a link to a follow-up report.
[After Richard Daniel announced his resignation, the successor for the next president was also revealed... it was none other than the heir of Wayne Enterprises, Bruce Wayne. The famous playboy himself publicly stated that he had no interest whatsoever in the so-called import company and that Falcone Import Company would be better off finding another bank to cooperate with.]
After reading this news, Tony raised an eyebrow.
'This guy can't be bought, and threats won't work. If The Roman wants to make money or launder it, they probably can't use their usual methods against Bruce Wayne.'
'But on the other hand, why would an ordinary bank president dare to back out on The Roman? Was he really not afraid of dying?'
'And how did Bruce Wayne manage to seamlessly take over as bank president? Did he buy Gotham Bank?'
He continued searching through Gotham Bank's corporate news, and to his surprise, the bank had always been a subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises.
In other words, although Bruce Wayne's stance was clearly against Gotham Bank cooperating with Falcone Import Company, Gotham Bank had nearly finalized a partnership agreement with the company, only for the deal to be interrupted by Daniel's resignation.
As the heir to Wayne Enterprises, Bruce Wayne seemed unable to control the decisions of the companies under his name.
'I guess it's the same old story from the movies. The board only cares about making money and thinks any money is good money, but Bruce Wayne believes money from the gangs isn't acceptable.'
He closed his phone and casually tossed it onto the table, then slumped down on the sofa.
'Sigh… If The Roman never gives up until he gets what he wants, Gotham is probably going to get messy soon.'
...
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