novelraw Chapter 1296 - 707: Smart People
Chapter 1296 - 707: Smart People
Jimmy and them were feeling a bit anxious. Both of them were not from Missouri; they were outsiders to the FBI office here, and the Missouri FBI office didn't have many people. Compared to New York and Washington, D.C., it was more of a branch office, and it didn't even have as many people as the New York field office.
With fewer agents, there were also fewer forensic personnel, including the lab and equipment. So when Hope called to ask if they could send forensic personnel, he was flatly refused. They didn't have enough people and couldn't manage it at the moment.
Jimmy and Hope were speechless. They couldn't believe they ran into such trouble. They were both quite frustrated, and it didn't matter if the Saint Louis office was truly short-staffed or just unwilling to cooperate—they couldn't wait that long.
With no other options, the two of them and Peter had a conference call. Peter had to help by contacting nearby FBI-affiliated testing organizations. They intended to have the police department assist in collecting evidence on site, then send it to a designated testing agency for analysis and identification. The process was crucial. They couldn't directly use the reports from the police department's affiliated organizations, as it was their own case and they found the scene themselves. If the police investigation invalidated any results, it would be unacceptable for future prosecution.
The relationship between the FBI headquarters and branch offices wasn't very close, and everyone was aware of this. For a small FBI branch, ignoring someone from headquarters was normal since there were no directives, and Hope had only made a personal request for assistance, so not helping was expected.
Jimmy and the others discussed it. Someone definitely needed to stay there to oversee things, but for only two people to stay out in the field wasn't sensible. After some thought, they decided to use technology to solve the issue.
They contacted the headquarters' technical department, who provided a solution. Then they contacted the Saint Louis office again, this time to borrow equipment, and finally succeeded.
Hope dropped Jimmy off at the hotel and drove alone back to Saint Louis to retrieve the equipment. After getting advice on how to set it up, he rushed back to Kalin City overnight. The next day, the two of them set up surveillance equipment on site. All they had to do was visit daily to check the recorded footage—there was no need for prolonged human monitoring.
Once everything was settled, Jimmy and his team could finally rest. During this break, Hope settled the informant fee for Jack, leaving Jack to do as he wished with the unexpected money.
Jimmy instructed Hope to give the informant fee to Jack instead of the person who provided the lead, indicating that, in his eyes, Jack was the crucial one, not the informant. Although it wasn't much money, it was officially provided and represented Jimmy's stance, something Jack surely understood.
Indeed, after Hope gave Jack the informant fee, that evening a hotel staff member delivered a letter to Jimmy, which had obviously not gone through the postal service but was handed over by someone to the front desk to pass on to him.
Jimmy took the letter and handed a five US Dollar tip to the server, then returned to his room and opened the envelope. Inside was a photo, an address, and a sentence: "Hammer's off-the-record girlfriend."
Jimmy shook his head with a smile. This Jack, such an old hand, and judging by the photo, it was freshly developed. This meant that Jack likely had this intel before but kept it hidden, revealing it only when Hope showed Jimmy's earnestness. As a return gesture, Jack had someone take a photo of the woman and send it to Jimmy.
Jimmy got up to go to Hope's door to knock, but noticed that Hope had company in his room. The efficiency was high, indeed. Always a good guy! He decided to talk tomorrow.
Jimmy had little interest in amusing himself, so he passed the time by calling Nia for a chat before washing up and resting.
This case was genuinely troublesome, especially with so few leads. Had Jimmy not detested such criminals, he wouldn't have taken the case from Peter. Going back to New York to loaf around seemed preferable to running around out here.
The next morning, when Jimmy saw that Hope was alone in his room, he went over to knock on the door. He handed Hope the photo and note Jack had given him. "Hope, we have work to do today."
Hope, surprised, looked at the photo in his hand. "Did Officer Jack give this to you?"
Jimmy: "Probably, someone delivered it to the hotel for me last night."
Hope: "OK, let's go review the surveillance first."
After breakfast, the two bought coffee and drove to the cabin by the riverside woods. They retrieved their surveillance footage, confirmed by fast-forwarding that no one had been there, and then left. This would be their regular check-up routine for the days ahead.
Hammer's old flame lived far from his residence but wasn't too far from where the gang members met. The photo showed a mature White woman in her 30s or 40s, not unattractive but definitely not a beauty. Common sense suggested that for someone like Hammer, who's just a regular gang member on the surface, having a girlfriend at beauty level was unlikely.
Jimmy looked around, ensuring there was no danger, then signaled Hope to knock on the door.