Chapter 117 One Deadly Detonator
Chapter 117 A Deadly Detonator
The day after the fire.
Patrick led a dozen or so dockworkers who volunteered to help clear the rubble.
Arthur stood to the side, holding a damage assessment report that had just been delivered.
"Arthur!"
Patrick's shouts echoed from deep within the ruins. His voice was filled with barely suppressed excitement.
Arthur closed the report and rushed over.
Patrick crouched in a corner as several workers carefully moved a pile of charred and deformed iron frames.
Under the iron frame, in a crack in the concrete floor, was something strange.
It was a metal cylinder, somewhat deformed, but the overall structure was still relatively intact.
"What is this?" Arthur asked, crouching down.
Patrick took a handkerchief from his pocket, wrapped the metal cylinder in it, and carefully handed it to Arthur.
"A detonator fuse. I've seen these things in mines and docks. They're timers used to detonate engineering explosives."
Arthur took it and looked at it closely.
On the side of the metal cylinder, a series of stamped numbers, blurred by smoke, can still be faintly seen: NYC—PW—2908.
"NYC—PW————"
Arthur read these letters aloud.
"New York City Public Works?"
Patrick nodded and lowered his voice, saying, "These detonators are strictly controlled; ordinary people can't get their hands on them. Only companies that have contracted with municipal blasting projects have them."
Arthur stood up and looked at the little gadget in his hand.
The fire broke out too quickly and too fiercely that night. The fire department said it was due to aging electrical circuits, but Arthur didn't believe it.
The evidence has now been found.
This was clearly a well-planned arson attack.
The arsonist used a very professional, yet very arrogant, method.
They used municipal detonators, probably thinking the fire would burn away all the evidence, or perhaps they didn't care about being discovered.
"Can you find out who this batch of detonators was sent to?" Arthur asked.
Patrick gave a cold laugh: "It would have been difficult before. But now the Westbli Inquiry Committee has taken over the accounts of municipal works, and they have all the records of the municipal works bureau's material requisitions. As long as there's a serial number, tracing the source isn't hard."
Arthur handed the detonator back to Patrick: "I'll talk to Samuel Sibyl. Could you please go and make the connection with them? I need to know the company name corresponding to this number by tonight."
At 5 p.m. that day, Patrick brought back the message.
"Found it." Patrick placed a copied list on Arthur's desk.
"This batch of detonators was just received last month; the receiving unit is a company called Metropolitan Construction Company."
"It's a shell company, registered in a basement in the Bronx. But its actual controller is Danny Costello. He's a dirty worker for the Tammany Society."
"On the surface, they are union representatives, but in reality, they control several shell construction companies that specialize in taking on subcontracts for municipal engineering projects. After obtaining the contracts, they subcontract them to small companies that actually do the work, and collect 30% of the management fees themselves."
"This batch of detonators was ostensibly intended for a blasting project to clear silt from the bottom of the Hudson River, but in reality, they didn't use it all; a portion of it was embezzled by them."
Arthur leaned back in his chair, his fingers tapping lightly on the table.
Walker controlled the Municipal Works Department through the Tammany Association, awarding contracts to his cronies' companies like Danny's. These companies then used their positions to obtain controlled materials, which Walker used to eliminate his rivals.
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This is a perfect closed loop.
Arthur smiled and said, "Very good. This detonator not only proves who set the fire, but also exposes how the Tammoni Society launders money through municipal projects."
He took a piece of white paper from the drawer and rolled it into the typewriter.
"Patrick, keep that detonator safe. It's evidence."
"What do you want to write?"
As Arthur typed, he said, "Who's burning down our newspaper with taxpayers' money?"
The next morning, the report exploded in New York like a bombshell.
Arthur did not name Walker directly in the article, but he described in detail how the detonator was discovered, the serial number on it, and the relationship between "Metropolitan Construction Company" and Danny Costello, which was found through the serial number.
At the end of the article, he raised a fatal question:
If a company that undertakes municipal engineering projects actually uses controlled explosives to burn down the office of a newspaper that criticizes the mayor, then we can't help but ask: Is this company a construction company or a private militia?
And who was the person who gave them the contracts and detonators—the mayor or a gang godfather?
The damaging aspect of this report lies in its transformation of an isolated arson case into one involving public safety, corruption, and gang politics.
A systemic scandal.
The Westbury Commission of Inquiry announced that morning that it would conduct a thorough investigation into Metropolitan Construction and all of its municipal contracts.
town Hall.
Jimmy Walker slammed the newspaper on the table, his face turning ashen.
McGuire stood to the side, barely daring to breathe.
Walker roared, "That idiot Danny! We told him to set a fire, and he used one of those numbered things! And he left it at the scene!"
McGuire said in a low voice, "Danny said it was windy that night, so he used the best fuse to ensure a good ignition. He didn't expect the fire wouldn't melt the metal casing."
Walker paced back and forth in his office like a trapped wild animal.
This is a big problem.
If Samuel Sibyl's investigation goes deeper, it will find that Danny's company not only received detonators, but also large quantities of cement and steel bars that did not exist, and even falsely reported hundreds of thousands of dollars in project payments.
Most of this money ended up in the pockets of Walker and the association's top officials.
"We can't let him investigate any further. If he follows Danny's trail to the end, we'll all go to jail."
McGuire asked, "Then what do we do? Sibbury has already filed a case."
Walker said sternly, "Sibry's audit will take time. But Arthur Kennedy must shut up immediately."
He immediately ordered McGuire to bring the envelope over.
McGuire quickly pulled one out of the drawer, but didn't notice that the envelope had the stamp of "Mayor's Office of the City Hall".
Walker didn't even look at it, and casually handed the two train tickets to Chicago, along with a stack of consecutive US dollars, to McGuire, telling him to put them all in the envelope.
"Call Danny. Tell him this is his last chance. If he messes up, I'll bury him myself without Kennedy lifting a finger."
McGuire hesitated for a moment: "Mayor, things are getting tense right now, wouldn't it be risky to take action directly—"
"If we don't act, this is our end. Go. We need to finish this tonight." Walker gritted his teeth.
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