North America Gunman Detective

Chapter 1295 - 706: Stronghold (Part 2)

Jimmy: "Of course, is it convenient for you? I'd like to ask you about a few things."

Jack hesitated slightly before saying: "Sure, where are you?"

Jimmy: "I'm at the police station now. Let me know your location and I'll come find you."

Jack: "The café we met at yesterday."

Jimmy: "Wait for me a bit."

Jimmy drove the car again, he'll have to wait on Hope's side for now, the investigation of his materials will surely take some time.

Upon seeing Jack, he'd already sent the rookie inside the café, Jimmy and Jack went to a nearby alley, "Any more questions?"

Jimmy: "The photos and name we got yesterday, we couldn't find any information on him in the system. I think I need some extra intel, is that skinny guy still around?"

Jack was silent for a moment, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a palm-sized notepad, flipped through it and tore out a note in the middle for Jimmy, "Hammer's phone number, this is the only one. These guys don't have a fixed address; the only way to contact him is this."

Jimmy took it, glanced at it, and nodded: "Thanks. Do you have any intelligence on Hammer? What did he do before, and what's his usual business?"

Jack: "He's an aging thug, hasn't made it to the top of any gang despite his years. He's done all the things other guys have done, nothing different from any ordinary thug."

Jimmy: "Does he have family?"

Jack: "As far as I know, no, not even a fixed residence."

After speaking, Jack took out a pen from his pocket and wrote down an address on the note, "This is the address that the skinny guy disclosed, the only one he knows, there's no house number, just the street name."

Jimmy took the note again, Jack is really a slick operator, answering bit by bit can be really frustrating, "At least there's an address, I'll go investigate. Thanks, Jack."

Jack waved his hand and turned to walk towards the café entrance, "Rookie, my coffee?"

Jimmy watched from behind as Jack, with all his wobbling fat, bossed the rookie cop around, shaking his head, remembering how much better Noah was when he brought him into the business years ago.

With the address and phone number in hand, Jimmy returned to the police station, borrowed a meeting room, and Hope began contacting headquarters to locate the phone number, while Jimmy also borrowed a map to start plotting the route, preparing to investigate Hammer's address.

After contacting headquarters' tech department, Hope picked up a few documents and handed them to Jimmy, "These are some materials found here at the police station, take a look."

The station's materials were pretty good, some suspects in a few cases were suspected to be Hammer, but there's no evidence. Hammer is a member of a local gang, and usually their gang members gather at a restaurant, which is not a secret to the police, but for an ordinary, non-managerial gang member, people usually don't pay attention to him.

Jimmy: "Hope, how long will the headquarters' location tracking take?"

Hope: "It will take some time, we'll need to apply for authorization, that phone number is currently off, their current permissions aren't enough to check previous records."

Jimmy: "Then let's first investigate this address."

Hope: "Still provided by that informant?"

Jimmy: "Yes. By the way, how's the informant fee we talked about yesterday?"

Hope: "500 bucks, reimbursement as a subsidy, I'll get it for you later."

Jimmy: "No need to give me, just give it directly to Officer Jack, say it's the informant fee for the skinny guy. You handle it, good cop bad cop, understand?"

Hope shrugged: "Sure, looks like you're playing the bad cop role thoroughly. Let's go."

They couldn't occupy the police station's meeting room long-term, so they tidied up all the clues and materials they had and drove away from the station.

Kalin City is a small town, besides the city center, the surrounding residential areas are mostly small detached houses. Of course, don't expect these houses to be too good, just like the road sides where Jimmy and his team are now, mostly single-story wooden structures that look old over time, and if not regularly repaired, can appear downright shabby.

The gap between rich and poor areas is indeed vast, even just looking from the outside, one can tell the people here aren't wealthy.

Although this street isn't long, with a total of around twenty houses on both sides, Jack's given address only had the street name, no house number, so Jimmy and his team could only slowly drive along, while observing the surroundings.

Soon, after circling around, apart from a few houses that appeared uninhabited for some time, none of the other houses showed any abnormal signs, and some even had people inside, making it hard to identify which house Hammer might be living in.

They soon circled back, this time just scouting; such investigations don't happen quickly.

Peter managed to pull some strings at headquarters, and the investigation on Hammer's phone soon got approved. In the hotel, Jimmy and Hope started matching the computer-recorded data with the map, marking several locations where the phone spent considerable time, two of them aligning with their intel—one a gathering restaurant, the other the street they scouted—but the third location was intriguing; it should not be a residential area based on the map.

Hope glanced at Jimmy, "There should be something off here."

Jimmy nodded, checking his watch, "Let's go see tomorrow morning, it's getting late now."

Hope: "Alright, we can also check out his residence tomorrow."

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Jimmy and Hope drove to the location they were most interested in—the location outside the residential area—and after seeing the on-site environment, the two exchanged smiles, sure enough, there's something up.

Here, close to the Mississippi River, the surroundings were similar to where Jimmy and Jack had taken the skinny guy, dirt roads flanked by sparse woodlands, nothing like a dense jungle, and from the edge of the woods, they could see a small cabin inside.

Getting closer, the cabin showed its age, with moss and small grasses on the wood, yet there was a path in front of the door indicating frequent movement, and the door appeared cleaner, better than other parts of the cabin.

Hope donned gloves and examined the lock on the door, then took out a small pouch from his pocket, and Jimmy watched him expertly unlock it, genuinely surprised, knowing there was no lockpicking skill taught in their training; Hope clearly had some tricks.

Jimmy could pick simple locks, theoretically easy to learn, and he did, but didn't apply for the department's lockpicking toolkit, as he didn't need it much.

This padlock didn't stand a chance against Hope; as the cabin opened, they surveyed the interior from the doorway, Hope commented: "Seems we've found the place."

The cabin contained a low bed and some basic furniture, but on the wooden wall beside the bed, several iron hoops held chains, two of which had leather loops at the other end, one bigger than the other, with small locks fastening them.

The small cabin nearby had a corner where some old clothes lay scattered, some appearing to be women's.

Hope and Jimmy didn't enter the cabin; its current state was their most crucial lead.

Jimmy: "Contact the Saint Louis office, have them send a forensics team over, everything in the cabin needs inspection."

Hope: "Okay, and judging by the clothes, it looks like more than one person was held here."

Jimmy: "This should be their human trafficking ring's holding site, probably connecting via water routes if nothing unexpected happens."

Hope: "Too many boats on the Mississippi for us to monitor."

Jimmy: "Forget about that for now, just focus on the investigation here. Make sure the team that comes keeps things confidential; Hammer and his crew will likely come back."