North America Gunman Detective

Chapter 1291 704: Initiating the Investigation

The FBI's memorial service did not have the police escort parade formation, and the number of people was not many. After the burial at the cemetery, the agents' families walked over to Jimmy and Hope to express their gratitude. Jimmy offered a few words of comfort before leaving the cemetery.

It was still the unlucky Hope accompanying Jimmy on the investigation this time. In fact, Peter initially planned to replace him with someone else. Hope gained a lot from this; it was the right time for him to continue delving into other cases at the bureau to bolster his promotion prospects. Cases like this, which require long periods away from headquarters, are quite unprofitable.

Peter had also discussed his plans with Hope, but after working with Jimmy for a few days, Hope suddenly felt he still had a lot to learn. He hoped to stay with Jimmy a little longer.

Peter's plan was repeatedly disrupted, and now he was quite troubled. Hope was his responsibility—not because he cultivated him, but because he was recommended by certain people who saw potential. Certain things were generally planned out, and after spending time at headquarters, he was supposed to be sent to other branches to gain experience and prepare for the future. Hope's request meant being away from headquarters for an extended period, deviating from the established route, which would inevitably have some impact.

After much consideration, Peter finally agreed to Hope's request, mainly because he trusted Jimmy's attitude towards him and was sure he would protect Hope well.

Peter specifically instructed Hope that during this external investigation, everything should be based on Jimmy's arrangements. For this type of fieldwork case, Jimmy was the one genuinely experienced in comparison to someone like Hope who coordinated things at headquarters.

Jimmy's assigned car was parked at the headquarters parking lot. Together with Hope, they dragged their suitcases and equipment bags to the airport, preparing to fly to Missouri St. Louis.

Although the capital of Missouri is Jefferson, the most populous city is Kansas City, with Saint Louis being the second. The FBI branch is also in Saint Louis. Jimmy and the team had previously contacted the Saint Louis office, and once they arrived, they could borrow a vehicle from the Saint Louis office to head to their target location.

This is the inconvenience of being out of the office. If they were in New York or Washington, D.C., they would have their own vehicles, making investigations easier. When traveling, they could only handle things nearby.

As for renting civil vehicles, at least for Jimmy, it was not practical. Since they were investigating a case, various unexpected things could happen, and many times it was more convenient to use the FBI's own car, especially the onboard radio and hidden police lights and siren, which were very useful in specific situations.

Moreover, this was considered reporting at the Saint Louis office. When needed, they could directly contact the office here to apply for support, not just for personnel but also for intelligence support, which was necessary for their next investigation.

Dragging their suitcases and equipment bags, taking the flight was somewhat troublesome for Jimmy and Hope. Mainly because, even though flight attendants often see people carrying guns on planes, they had never seen anyone so fully equipped, so the eyes observing them only disappeared after Jimmy and the others landed and left the airport. Airport security had been watching them earlier.

Taking a taxi from the airport to the Saint Louis office, Jimmy let Hope handle the procedures. Since Hope was a legitimate senior agent from headquarters, he was slightly better suited for the paperwork than Jimmy, at least avoiding having to explain why someone from the New York office was handling matters with a notice from headquarters.

Hope was not new to fieldwork out of town, so he handled these formalities well. Soon, a Suburban prepared for them was waiting in front of them. The driver got out of the car, handed Hope the keys, and after signing the papers, the vehicle was temporarily assigned to their use until they finished the case and left.

Hope opened the back seat and trunk, and they placed their luggage inside. Next, they set off to find a hotel to check in.

They did not first contact the office staff. The intelligence this time was not particularly clear, so Jimmy and the team had to conduct some preliminary investigations before contacting the designated contacts for local intelligence.

As for data intelligence, Hope brought a laptop from headquarters, which could directly connect to the headquarters server, eliminating the need to contact the branch for data inquiries.

Mark, that scum, connected with the other party through a person he met in prison. That guy in prison had now entered the FBI's radar. Peter had assigned others to follow that lead. Jimmy and the team were after Mark's contact, the one who sold the girl to Mark's home.

Kalin City, Missouri (my fictional name, trying to avoid using real small city names to prevent issues), is not large, but it's located at the border area between Missouri and Illinois, along the Mississippi River, so it's relatively convenient for transportation. The key factor is the traffic advantage provided by the Mississippi River, and it was once an important material distribution center nearby, though it has since declined with a significant population shift to other big cities.

Mark met his contact in this small city. Currently known is that the contact's name is Hammer, but it's unclear if it's the nickname "Hammer" or the surname Hammer. Mark provided a relatively complete address, including street names and nearby features, but the exact house number was unknown. When he met the contact, he was just sitting in the car waiting for the contact to get in, never entering Hammer's house.

This wasn't much of a problem for Jimmy and the team. It was still Hope driving, while Jimmy navigated with the map. Although some errors occurred because the map didn't match the actual street names, they eventually found the target neighborhood, but couldn't drive in for now.

This was a suburban residential area, but several houses nearby looked like they hadn't been inhabited for some time. In such a place, driving a Suburban was too conspicuous, like shining a spotlight for curious eyes.

After discussing outside for a while, Jimmy had Hope turn the car around and confirm the situation nearby, including the locations of restaurants and hotels, and note down the surrounding street names. Then they drove around the target street once before leaving.

This kind of run-down area with some people still inhabiting it was the most troublesome. Jimmy and Hope, wearing suits and driving a good car, seemed out of place, so just a quick look and they had to leave. Parking would certainly draw attention.

After circling, Jimmy wasn't sure what Hope saw, but he did notice some issues. The run-down houses appeared to have been uninhabited for a long time, but some houses had people living inside. He had already spotted several houses with internal movement, and some people lying or sitting about. Though, due to time constraints, his observations weren't very detailed, it was likely the homeless had made these abandoned houses their base.

This was problematic. Mark met Hammer here two or three years ago, and judging by the state of decay, it's not a place that became like this overnight. So, after Mark met Hammer, the area could have been abandoned by Hammer.

It seemed they couldn't investigate this themselves. Jimmy instructed Hope to drive to the local police station. Even if news leaks due to the police, it's far quicker than them searching aimlessly.

Hope and Jimmy showed their badges, smoothly entering the police station to meet a deputy chief. Although they weren't part of the same system, since they came here just to find clues related to the suspect, the police didn't make it too difficult. The deputy chief assigned a sergeant to coordinate with Hope before inviting them to leave the office.