Chapter 129: Jenkins Did It Too

"Carmine! Good news! Great news!"

The slightly portly Carla Vitti suddenly threw open the room's large door and shouted excitedly at Falcone: "Do you know what happened yesterday!"

"Carla, I know you might have something important to tell me, but I really need rest right now—very much so."

The Roman rubbed his brow with one hand and sighed: "Last night's birthday party went on too long; you people simply can't stop going wild—I didn't sleep well."

However, Carla ignored his words, pointing at the newspaper and shouting on her own: "Maroni didn't testify against us in court; instead, he turned and attacked Harvey Dent! Carmine, do you know what this means?"

"A district attorney could hardly cause us much substantive harm anyway; if he hadn't leveraged Maroni, we wouldn't have needed to care about the outcome of this trial at all." Falcone replied calmly: "As for Maroni no longer testifying—that was an arrangement I made."

"But the biggest good news is that Maroni failed—Harvey Dent came out unscathed. It's said that after leaving the courthouse, he went straight to a restroom to wash his face; the only thing he lost from head to toe was a suit."

"Hmm?"

Hearing this news, the Godfather finally rose and took the newspaper. As he read, an expression of shock appeared on his face.

"Maroni's actions are truly strange; when did he become so merciful?"

"It's said he confused strong acid with medicine, but that's not the point. The point is, that dog-skin plaster Harvey Dent is still claiming he'll stick to Maroni for a lawsuit—how heavy the weight of this lawsuit is, you can imagine, right?"

The Roman narrowed his eyes and replied: "A crime committed under everyone's gaze, completely undeniable; everyone saw the entire process of this incident happening, and there was even video recording in the courtroom—this lawsuit is almost impossible to lose. The point is, how much cost it can make Maroni pay."

"Excellent—look at these photos again."

"."

The Roman looked at photo after photo of Maroni lying in a pool of blood, his mind racing rapidly. He could not think at all that Sophia was actually able to make Maroni reach this point, to the extent of being shot by a bailiff in court.

What exactly did she say to Maroni?

"My birthday... truly received a great gift."

"Falcone, this is an unprecedented opportunity; you should understand what I mean, right?"

"I know. If Harvey dies, Maroni will sooner or later be pulled out of prison, or even directly out of the lawsuit, by his Laozi. But now, now, they are stuck together."

Carla Vitti nodded. At this moment, she was no longer considering forcing Falcone out; there would be plenty of chances for internal strife later. Swallowing Maroni first was the most important.

Basically, the relationship between the two families was originally like that: whoever wanted to deal with the other, I, Falcone/Maroni, would certainly have to help out. It's just that both sides still observed the rules, so the intensity of bloody conflict was always restricted and never raised up.

"Harvey, that fool, his lawsuit was trivial and easily settled by Maroni; it was really no fun. But if we also get involved, we can directly take down Sal Maroni, this leader, and also indirectly affect the Maroni family."

"Cooperate with Harvey Dent?"

"Giving a push can hardly be called cooperation. No loss of soldiers or officers, no bloody conflict, not even needing to personally enter the fray; it only requires spending some money—besides, if we hadn't gotten involved, Maroni would have already cooperated with that prosecutor. Doesn't he also clearly know the benefits of finding another path?"

The Roman fell into deep thought. Underworld struggles borrowing the means of law; such things had not appeared in Gotham City for many years.

Changing the chessboard of the game to Gotham's judicial system—what hidden dangers would it leave behind?

Falcone thought for a long time. He thought of that St. Patrick's Day, the silent and sorrowful moment of mourning between the Maroni and Falcone families; he thought of that green dream; he thought of his son Alberto, who died by gunshot.

Finally, he exchanged a glance with Carla Vitti and made his decision.

"Then, we will not make contact with Harvey Dent; we will only strike from behind when he accuses Maroni—let this court, influenced by Maroni, restore justice, and increase the punishment."

The one who sent the photos to Falcone was naturally Ma Ma Zhaodi.

"Sigh, so stingy. Another sixty thousand, and it's a one-time payment."

Ma Ma Zhaodi helplessly hung up the phone and sighed.

This morning, he took some photos of Maroni being shot to the supervisor, and the supervisor was very happy, gave him another sixty thousand US dollars, and told him that if he wanted to keep getting money, next time he should bring evidence of Maroni's misfortune as usual to exchange.

"Wait, aren't you going to rehire me as an employee?"

"What nonsense are you talking?" the supervisor replied with a cold sneer: "I'm just asking you, after seeing Maroni's fate, who would still dare to hire you as an employee? We gave you sixty thousand US dollars because we hope you'll keep working. If possible, we don't want to have any relationship with you at all."

"Then what relationship do we have now?"

"Don't ask; just keep working."

Ma Ma Zhaodi thought carefully. After all, a temporary worker is still a worker, and an informant is still a person. Since he took money from the Falcone family, he definitely counts as a person of the Falcone family—Maroni has no reason not to give me money.

Thinking of this, his mood immediately improved. Seeing that the time had already reached the afternoon, he hummed a little tune, put on a cheap coat, spent ten minutes gesturing at his face in the mirror, casually picked up his toolbox, and then went out the door.

Half an hour later, downstairs of the Gotham City Courthouse building.

Security personnel saw a bearded man in civilian clothes trying to walk in and immediately stopped him.

"Wait a minute, who are you?"

"Electrician Marcus, here to fix the cameras in the underground prison." Ma Ma Zhaodi replied: "Forgot me? A month ago, Jenkins came here and asked me."

The security guard then remembered; he seemed to recall this electrician, and Jenkins indeed knew him.

"Wait a moment, I—"

"Just call Prosecutor Harvey directly and tell him Old Ma is here to fix the cameras."

"Then you wait."

Ma Ma Zhaodi watched him finish the call with Harvey, then put away his phone and said to him: "It's done; you can go in."

"Thanks, buddy."

Carrying his toolbox, he strolled into the courthouse building.

No one in the building cared about this passing electrician. He whistled and hummed all the way, walked familiarly into the underground prison area, showed his work ID, had the guard open the door, and then started fiddling with the camera. A moment later, he took out a tiny bug wired in parallel inside the circuit from the disassembled camera.

"Sigh, Jenkins, you are really too careless."

(End of this chapter)