Evan (Eight of Ten)

Dara figured something out using the internets. I'm gonna let her explain.

[Trace drew several further conclusions based on the information we had gathered. The contractor possessed extensive resources; a contract killer hired to assassinate a mob boss's mistress would have carried a steep price tag. He likely wouldn't have been anyone we knew, for a high-end assassin would keep a very low profile. This individual probably worked only for the mob families. Who else could secure those sorts of funds? They had been active for a while, so any unsolved mob murder from the past few years that also carried a high-enough profile to make the news likely was perpetrated by our mystery man.

Trace examined the crime scene and the Wharf Rat to determine whether or not any new information might come to light. Meanwhile, after I returned to the office, I searched the Tribune-Bugle's archives dating back an arbitrary seven years, locating five other unsolved murders, all victims members of the Rivano family. Armed with their names, I started locating other members of the family, using Facebook and Myspace, looking for friends, associates and the like.

One trend stood out. All of the murder victims held very close ties to “Marbles” Rivano. At first, it appeared some other entity was systematically trying to destroy the Rivano family. Obliterate the support system, and Mr. Rivano would be left vulnerable to a coup or an outside threat, like the Devarises.

However, something seemed suspicious about the murder victims. I charted the current Rivano organization, then placed the deceased next to their current counterparts. I checked the dates of the murders, and based on newspaper articles and size of the family, I charted their strength relative to the other crime families. Even a mere decade ago, they were the weakest family. Two decades ago, when I was a toddler, they weren't even considered a major player.

Their rise to prominence turned out to correlate with the assassinations. Somehow, these murders were strengthening the organization. Every replaced murder victim proved to provide a major influence on the family's business. Their predecessors? Nary a drop in the bucket. No one had yet replaced “Marbles's” mistress, but based on the information, we could expect some power player within the next few months to fill the void.

“Marbles” ordered the assassination of his own people. -Dara]

I figure she typed what she did in there. Me, I came back at four in the morning, and she was still pecking away at her keyboard. Next morning, I woke up with a hangover the size of an elephant. Then she dropped that lead weight on me, that Marbles was fixing his family.