North America Gunman Detective

Chapter 578: A Frustrating Case Closed (Part 2)



Back home, seeing Jimmy slightly tipsy, Nia knew he had been at the bar again. While Jimmy took off his coat, Nia got his glass out, put in some tea leaves, turned on the kettle, and by the time Jimmy came out of the bathroom, the water was already boiling.

Nia poured hot water into the glass, "What's wrong? You don't look happy?"

Jimmy: "Sigh, first case back on field duty, closed out, but there's still something that doesn't make sense."

Nia: "As long as it's closed, don't overthink it. We have plenty of cases over here we can't even manage to close."

Jimmy: "Yeah, just a bit unsatisfied, that's all. How was your day?"

Nia: "Same as always, never-ending cases."

Jimmy: "By the way, did you talk to Kevin about us planning to buy a house?"

Nia: "Yeah, mentioned it a few days ago. My dad thinks we should wait till after we're married, you know, joint tax filing, marriage tax benefits."

Jimmy nodded, hadn't thought of that before, but since it's Kevin's idea, it'll be later then. It's just a matter of personal assets vs. joint assets, as long as we don't divorce, it's not a problem.

Nia: "By the way, heard about something today, four students went on a trip together and their families reported them missing to the police, they lost contact three days ago. The last contact was one of them calling home on Saturday night, and after that, no more contact."

Jimmy: "Missing? Where did they go missing?"

Nia: "Last contact was when they went to Lake Ontario, called from the lakeside in Rochester."

Jimmy: "Nothing we can do, just issue a coordination notice to the Rochester police. Sigh, tens of thousands of people go missing nationwide every year, how many are actually found? Just wait for them to contact us."

Nia: "They're only seniors, about to graduate and enter society. Going missing at this time, their families are going crazy."

Jimmy: "You won't die if you don't ask for trouble. When traveling, always pick fully developed tourist spots. Those who just wander aimlessly, there's no way to ensure they won't encounter emergencies. Many places don't even have cell signal, once something goes wrong, no one can help them."

Nia slapped Jimmy: "How can you be so unempathetic?"

Jimmy tried the temperature of the tea: "It's not that I'm unempathetic, it's just I've seen too many files, seen too many of these situations, it's numbing.

The FBI released some data before, the number of reported missing persons annually fluctuates between eighty thousand to one hundred twenty thousand, quite a lot because they went traveling then lost contact. Sadly, no one thinks it'll happen to them, they ignore notices, and don't prepare backup plans and rescue plans."

Nia sighed, they're police and know a lot more unpublished things than the public do. The United States' national parks, the natural environment is really too good, every year quite a few people get lost or fall, get attacked by wild animals or run into criminals, usually by the time their families report, too much time has passed, don't even know where to start searching.

Nia thought for a bit and asked: "Do you guys have any plans for finding missing persons?"

Jimmy frowned thinking, then shook his head: "Don't recall, maybe because I've been in fewer groups. For missing persons, I remember that headquarters compiles reports from various police departments each year, then releases a total number."

Nia: "What about your investigators?"

Jimmy: "If it's near our field office, we handle it ourselves. For distant places or those without branches, we contact local police or State Police for assistance, usually, if it's not especially important, we won't go on-site.

New York is an exception, your NYPD covers a wide area, if there's someone to investigate, we might contact your local branch to have them send patrol officers to investigate, then our people will go on-site."

Nia: "Alright, looks like we'll just have to wait for a response from Rochester PD, but it probably won't be quick."

Jimmy picked up his tea cup for a sip: "Let's just wait for news, if there's someone among them you're familiar with, you could consider investigating a bit. For those unrelated, just follow the procedures."

Nia picked up her cup, thought, "If it's someone familiar, there really is one, but not among those four. Do you remember my two classmates who used to work as models?"

Jimmy thought, "I recall, saw them at the bar, right?"

Nia: "Yeah, one of them hasn't appeared for some time, hasn't responded to AIM messages either."

Jimmy: "They're models, probably have events to attend or went abroad."

Nia: "Not sure, but we don't usually meet, only when they're back in New York for events do they return. They're usually over in Los Angeles. Yeah, not talking about them anymore, they should be back in New York by Christmas."

Jimmy: "Everybody's adults, have their own lives, maybe she's just unhappy with her life and doesn't want to contact others. It's been years since they've worked, anything's understandable."

Nia nodded: "Old classmates contact less and less, many even don't leave contact information."

Jimmy: "If you really miss them, take advantage of the Christmas break and organize a class reunion, most people should have time by then."

Nia: "And you? Haven't you gotten in touch with old classmates?"

This question stumped Jimmy completely, where would he have old classmates? Nia: "Right, during our engagement, it seems your classmates didn't come either."

Jimmy: "Uh, you know, my line of work determines I can't contact those old classmates. Yeah, special circumstances, can't help it."

Nia: "But now you're an FBI agent; it's a profession you're proud of."

Jimmy: "Yeah, right, I'm afraid I'd get too excited and throw them all in jail."

Nia was truly speechless, what kind of path had Jimmy's old classmates taken, seemed like none were on the right track.

-----------------

The next day, Jimmy still arrived at the office early. Before work hours, just kill time with tea and reading the newspaper. It's not so much that he wanted to come early every day, just that he needed less and less sleep now, lying awake bored, better to get up, make some breakfast, and head out early.

During work hours, Ruiz came looking for Jimmy, he needed to handle pre-arranged matters. David White needed to get familiar with the anti-crime group as soon as possible, and according to higher-up arrangements, Peter only had a bit over a month, if he wanted to sort through that huge amount of data and relationships in the anti-crime group, it wasn't going to be done in just a day.

Jimmy: "Ruiz, I don't mind David going over, but I'm left with nobody here."

Ruiz: "Don't worry, I'll talk to Peter, after selecting the right newcomer, arrangements will be made for you."

Jimmy: "Sigh, you're all big bosses, you call the shots. Have some tea."

With Jimmy, a genuine Chinese native here, over the years, these people have really gotten used to drinking tea, at least they're no longer in that initial state of finding the taste too strange to try again.

Ruiz: "By the way, another thing, I got word from an informant, your information has been leaked out, some folks are wary, but quite a few plan to use you as a stepping stone for gaining position, be careful."

Jimmy: "Stepping stone? Do gang gunmen have that capability? I find it hard to believe."

Ruiz: "Don't underestimate them, they're like rats, you never know where they might hide and shoot you from behind."

Jimmy: "Got it, any target?"

Ruiz shook his head: "No, just a rumor, you know, this bunch of gangsters never says anything with certainty, unless it's a timed mission to kill you, no one's sure what they're thinking."

Jimmy: "Then let them be, as long as someone dares to reach out, I'll cut it off. If they don't want their whole gang implicated, they'd better wise up."

Ruiz sighed, who could think they could gain fame by killing a god of death like Jimmy, if they take action and survive, that would be a miracle.


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