Mox hesitated slightly before heading into the dining room the next morning. He was the last to arrive, and his eyes darted to meet Roman's before he walked to the side table and began filling his plate. He knew Roman had told everyone that he was part of the Bloodline, and they would be moving to protect him as well as Samoa Joe and the Bloodline's business interests. Part of him was silently screaming for him to leave before any more trouble came to Roman's door. But a single glance at his brother by choice silenced that particular voice.
The talk around the table was light and on various subjects. Mox even chuckled a couple of times when Naomi swatted both her husband and his twin for some alleged offense. Finally, Roman spoke up.
"The cops are trying to tie Samoa Joe and Mox into Mizanin's murder and still have Mox as a so-called person of interest in the Young murder," he began. "One cop used me to threaten Mox." He saw his brother glance down at his empty plate. "While the new Chief of Police has cleared out a lot of the bad cops, they're still cops. What they're not going to expect is that we're going on the offensive to solve those murders."
"Hoo-wee!" Jimmy laughed. "We're going to out-cops the cops?" He ducked a swat from Naomi.
"Is the Authority involved?" Ricochet asked.
Roman shrugged. "Possibly. If so, we hand them to the cops on a silver platter." He glanced around the table. "Naomi and Ali. I want every details of Renee Young's life from the time she decided to be a journalist until she was murdered. Samoa Joe. I want copies of the police investigation into Young's murder. They were led down the garden path to Mox, and I want a clearer picture of how that was done. And anything you can get on the current investigation of Mizanin's murder as well."
He saw Samoe Joe slowly nod. "Zelina. Ricochet. I want to know everything about Mizanin's business including about his partner and his wife. Every deal that he closed, and every deal he missed out on. And include his two flunkies, Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas."
Roman turned to look at the twins. "Jimmy. Jey. Hit the streets. Somebody had eyes on Mizanin in order to phone in that tip to the CrimeStoppers Hotline. Work your contacts to see what you can find out. Also, see if you can pick up any information on Bray Wyatt. Allegedly his DNA was found in relation to Young's murder."
"Jericho, get everything you can on Bray Wyatt's background. Coordinate with Jimmy & Jey," Roman ordered. "Mox and I will work on finding out what we can about Seth Rollins. Mizanin wanted that bookstore pretty badly for some reason. I'm going to go through my father's files to see what connection he had with John Rollins."
"You think your Dad and Old Man Rollins were working together?" Mox asked.
Roman shrugged. "They had some sort of connection. I want to know what that was." He glanced down the table. "Aleister, a few minutes in my office, please." When Aleister silently nodded, he stood. "That's it, everyone. We'll meet in the library after dinner, around 8pm unless someone finds something critical before then."
"Uh…I just want to say…thanks," Mox spoke up. He took a deep breath. "I was going to leave until Roman pointed out that wouldn't stop the cops from coming after the Bloodline."
"Hey, man, no sweat," Jey grinned as he got to his feet. "It's family, man."
Roman saw the emotion briefly flash in Mox's blue eyes before he silently nodded. He put a hand on Mox's shoulder. "Give me five minutes with Aleister, then we'll get started."
Once in Roman's office, Aleister closed the door behind them then turned to face Roman who was leaning against his desk.
"Thank you again for last night," Roman quietly spoke.
Aleister briefly inclined his head in acknowledgement. "You said part of my job would be to challenge any decision you made…to make sure the decision wasn't made in haste or…for other objectionable reasons."
Roman briefly smiled. "Are you still satisfied that I've made the correct decision?"
Aleister hesitated then nodded. "You're correct the police will keep coming after us. Mox is just another weapon they believe they can use against us. Samoa Joe was impressed with how he handled the situation at Rolllns' Bookstore. Zelina and Naomi feel he's loyal to you. Zelina's instincts are rarely wrong."
"I have something I need you to do that is to be strictly between the two of us at this point," Roman confided. "Most certainly, Mox isn't to know anything about it." He took a deep breath, then continued. "I want to know about Mox's time in prison. From the day he walked into that place until the day he walked out of it."
Aleister studied Roman's face for several seconds, hearing a tone in his voice that was heard only on rare occasions. "You're looking for vengeance."
"If necessary," Roman grimly answered. "God knows Mox isn't the easiest person to get along with. I'm pretty sure more people than Samoa Joe heard us in here yesterday afternoon."
"But you think there might be more involved that not being an easy person to get along with?" Aleister probed.
"Let's just say, Mox may have let something slip out that may have referred to his time in prison," Roman answered.
Aleister silently nodded and turned to leave. "I'll get right on it."
A few minutes after he left the office, Mox strolled in. "This is going to be boring, isn't it?" he grunted.
Roman grinned and pointed to the computer. "I'll show you the databases where you can start checking on Seth Rollins. While you're doing that, I'm going to start going through Dad's stuff."
They'd barely had enough time for Mox to started making threats under his breath against Roman's computer when Samoa Joe entered the library. "Sorry to disturb you, but you need to hear this."
"What now?" Roman asked, glancing at Mox who was scowling at the computer monitor.
"I got a call from a source I've got in the coroner's office," Samoa Joe explained. "The coroner got a call from the Chief of Police that two autopsies needed to be done immediately. Complete with full tox screens. Swagger and Colter were found dead in their cells this morning."