“There are still some things Oswald hasn’t explained clearly.”
Will wanted to lure Charlie back into the apartment, but unfortunately, the other man didn’t fall for it.
“It’s already very late.
Whatever it is, we can talk about it tomorrow.”
Charlie remained unmoved.
Oswald had told him a great deal, and the information was already enough for him to report back.
Seeing that the other man was about to step outside, Will became anxious.
The fake Harvey was tall and powerfully built.
If he made it out the door, Will had no confidence that he could restrain him.
Fortunately, Will had already pieced things together in the short time available and guessed who was behind this.
If the man really worked for that fox, then he’d have to throw out something explosive.
“Oh?
That’s a shame.
I was actually going to give you the evidence I have of Maroni’s crimes.”
Will deliberately pulled his hand back.
It was a gamble—retreating in order to advance.
If he appeared too eager, there was a good chance the other man would notice something was wrong.
Will’s concern was justified.
Charlie was a professional con artist.
Especially when he had passed Will on the stairs, his sixth sense had already faintly warned him that this might be a troublesome opponent.
Right now, he only wanted to get away from this uncomfortable building as quickly as possible.
Yet Will had thrown out a bombshell at precisely that moment.
Evidence of the boss’s crimes?
Good God!
They actually had something this dangerous!
The moment Charlie heard it, he nearly wavered.
Watching Will walk away, Charlie’s hand tightened around the doorknob.
“If I go back like this, will the boss blame me for failing to obtain the crucial evidence?”
“What if they’ve already handed the evidence over to the GCPD, and I didn’t notify the boss?
Will I be held responsible…?”
“But what if it’s fake?
What if he’s already discovered my identity and is trying to lure me inside so they can kill me…?”
“Charlie, what are you thinking?
Harvey Dent only took office this evening.
How could some mob underling possibly have had contact with him?
Harvey and I look almost identical.
There’s no way they’ll see through me!”
What ultimately put Charlie at ease was Will’s indifferent attitude.
“If he really had figured me out, he’d definitely do everything possible to keep me here.
How could he be acting so casually?”
Charlie comforted himself with that thought.
In his arrogance, he’d completely forgotten that he had used exactly the same tactic to extract information from Oswald earlier.
The full moon emerged from behind the clouds.
Its pale light streamed through the doorway and spread across the dust-covered floor.
Before Charlie lay a bright, empty street.
Behind him was the staircase hidden in shadow.
The moment he closed the door and followed in the direction Will had disappeared, fate had already placed the killing move on the board.
Following behind Will, Charlie still hadn’t completely lowered his guard.
He tried to find clues in the man’s words.
But he had severely underestimated Will’s ability to bullshit.
“About half a year ago, Mr.
Maroni sent us to collect a debt.
We were received by a beautiful woman.
When we got there, she had long, curly white hair, a red evening gown, and a priceless pearl necklace around her neck…”
Will slowed his speech.
He rambled about one thing and another, gradually leading Charlie back toward the trap.
After listening for a while, Charlie finally realized something was wrong.
Will was talking complete nonsense.
When asked to describe the case, he kept describing this woman—from her appearance to her clothes, even her alluring voice, with incredible attention to detail.
Charlie ran the description through his mind.
The woman Will was describing was none other than Marilyn Monroe!
“Damn it!
He’s stalling for time!”
Realizing the danger, he turned and ran.
But Will wasn’t about to let him.
He spun around and suddenly wrapped his arms around Charlie’s waist.
The two of them lost their balance and tumbled down the stairs together.
Will was knocked dizzy from the fall, but the first thing he did after getting back up was tackle Charlie to the ground while shouting for reinforcements.
“Help me!”
The apartment lights came on.
Oswald came leaping down from the third floor with a baseball bat in hand.
Everything had happened too quickly.
Will hadn’t had time to explain his plan, so Oswald had no idea what was going on.
One was his most trusted partner.
The other was Falcone’s handpicked man who was supposed to break through the deadlock.
Now the two of them were rolling around on the floor, twisting together like maggots writhing in mud.
Who should he help?
What a joke!
Even if Oswald thought about it for another second, he’d feel guilty for betraying Will.
Without the slightest hesitation, he raised the baseball bat and smashed it into “Harvey’s” head.
Bang!
The first blow knocked Charlie unconscious.
But Will hadn’t told Oswald to stop, so why would he?
One strike.
Then another.
And another.
Only when Charlie’s skull had been reduced to a mangled mass resembling a smashed watermelon did Oswald finally stop, panting heavily.
Will released his grip and let the corpse slump limply to the floor like a pile of mud.
Blood had splattered across his face and chest.
Watching a living man die right in front of him, it would be a lie to say Will wasn’t afraid.
But panic and terror were useless emotions right now.
If he didn’t solve the problem immediately, he and Oswald would be nothing more than two corpses that happened to be breathing. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
“Will, what happened?
I think we just killed Harvey Dent!”
Will pinched the golden wig between two fingers and lifted it from the pool of blood, holding it in front of Oswald.
“Fake?”
“Yeah.
If I hadn’t met Harvey first, he probably would’ve fooled me too.
That bastard Maroni really has some tricks up his sleeve!”
Will cursed as he crouched down and searched the corpse.
“You said this fake Harvey was sent by Maroni.
Couldn’t we hand over his corpse as the real Harvey and take credit for killing him?”
Oswald had come up with a bold idea.
Not only would they avoid having to cover it up, they could even disgust Maroni in the process.
“I thought of that too at first.
But that’s only possible if this guy wasn’t carrying a recording device.
Something like this, for example…”
Will pulled a voice recorder from the inner pocket of the corpse’s coat.
A red light was still blinking on the device, indicating that it was still recording.
This was the worst possible outcome.
Will had to get rid of the recorder.
But if he did that, he wouldn’t be able to put on an act in front of Maroni, pretending that he’d killed “Mr.
Harvey Dent” because of his loyalty to the boss.
The fake Harvey had undoubtedly been following Maroni’s plan to test the loyalty of his men.
As long as Maroni retraced his movements, the two of them would inevitably be exposed.
“Two choices!”
Will held up two fingers.
“First, we run before word of his death reaches Maroni.”
After explaining the first plan, Will himself almost wanted to laugh.
The people who had hunted them a few days ago—the ones Falcone had called “owl hatchlings”—were a group of highly trained assassins.
Escaping from them wouldn’t be easy.
“What about the second choice?” Oswald asked.
“We find another Harvey.
As long as we leave behind evidence that he was alive when he left the Senate, that’s enough.”
“That’s even worse than the first plan!
It’s the middle of the night.
Are you planning to grab some random guy off the street and tell him, ‘Hey buddy, I’ve got a high-paying job playing Harvey Dent’…
Wait.
You don’t mean the real Harvey, do you?”
“What do you think?”
Will reinserted the battery into his phone and dialed a number.
Harvey Dent’s hearty laughter came from the other end.
“Hahahaha!
Let me guess.
Do you have some news, or are you in trouble?”
“Don’t laugh just yet.
You’ll have plenty to laugh about later.”