Jimmy looked at the files, and then reflected on his previous two years, which seemed filled only with moments of taking down some folks and tearing down the streets in a police car, nothing particularly memorable.
The historic cases he had studied at the Quantico FBI Academy didn't seem particularly unbelievable at the time, each case having its own crime scene, clues, cooperation from other agencies, and suspect screening. It all felt perfectly natural how they were concluded, although the investigations took a long time and were rather convoluted; the cases generally had plenty of leads.
So how come in these real cases, there are so damn few clues? Just one suspect and that's it.
There were no methods of forgery or places of forgery identified, and even the suspect was based on intelligence from an informant with absolutely no usable data.
This just doesn't make sense, Jimmy thought as he looked at the mere two or three sheets of paper, feeling like he might have chosen the wrong career.
Jimmy idly flipped through the case files, trying to approach them from every angle, but unfortunately to no avail; he simply couldn't figure out how to handle it. After a while, Jimmy also picked up a file from Diana's desk with her permission, after all, these cases kept piling up, unresolved.
Well, that was careless. The second case was also a dead-end for Jimmy, involving commercial fraud, also entirely beyond Jimmy's expertise. If he were familiar with business, he wouldn't have left his own company in the hands of someone Justin arranged.
Since handing it over to Justin, Jimmy only had to wait to receive the laundered money in his account. The company's former part-time accountant was now Jimmy's full-time personal accountant, handling his taxes while he was studying at the FBI.
Now Jimmy's bank account held a tidy sum of several hundred thousand, available for immediate use—clean income. This kind of money was spendable without second thoughts, and for someone like Jimmy, it already represented a fortune. If he hadn't joined the FBI, he could probably afford a house and be neighbors with James by now.
Jimmy was overwhelmed, wondering if joining the FBI was a mistake. But wait, they have FBI over in Little Rock too; Harten and the others didn't handle cases like these. Whether it was the unresolved cult case or the interstate serial killers they had caught before, they all seemed like normal cases. So why did things change so drastically when he became an FBI agent?
At noon, Jimmy went down to lunch with Jones, who was Black. Well, actually it was fast food, mainly because Jones needed to come downstairs for a smoke, and Jimmy tagged along for a cigarette as well.
To make a good impression on his new colleagues, Jimmy was dressed in a black suit, white shirt, and blue-and-white striped tie today, with shiny shoes, and a mid-priced Timex watch on his left wrist, costing a few hundred dollars, fitting his role perfectly.
To match his sharp look, he didn't carry cigarettes or a lighter in his pockets; after all, Jimmy didn't have a smoking habit, he just bummed a cigarette off Jones and that was it.
During lunch, he learned that, unless there was a major event, Peter's team normally worked nine to six with weekends off—a regular weekend!
Of course, Jones also offered to let him crash on his couch for a couple of days since he was single and it wouldn't be too inconvenient, although his apartment wasn't big, just enough for Jimmy to stay on the couch.
Having a couch wasn't bad, and Jimmy accepted while also checking for available apartments in Jones's building. Jimmy, although not wealthy, didn't lack money for rent, and if Jones's place was near Federal Square, it would be perfect, even if the rent was a bit steep, it wasn't a big problem.
In the afternoon, upon returning to the office, Jimmy's computer had already arrived, and IT had set it up before leaving. Jimmy could only use basic functions, like browsing the internet; the FBI database was still not accessible to him, as they hadn't assigned him an account yet.
As a newcomer, Jimmy had no chances of handling cases yet; he could only follow others and handle miscellaneous tasks. According to what Jones had told him at lunch, when he first started as a trainee agent, he did paperwork for three months before he began participating in case discussion meetings; before that, he just sat on the sidelines.
Today, since Jimmy arrived late, he missed the morning case discussion meeting, and ended up doing nothing but reading documents at his desk all day.
Just as he was getting bored, Peter called from upstairs, "Jimmy, come here."
Jimmy looked up and saw Peter turning back to his office; he quickly put down the file he was holding and dashed upstairs.
Peter, "Jimmy, you've gone through the files on the Vince Gade antique forgery case, right?"
Jimmy, "Um, roughly a few times."
Peter, "OK, this case has been sidelined for a while. You'll spend some time learning in the department first. It's June now; students are preparing for summer vacation. When school resumes in September, you'll be assigned to go undercover for a while, focusing on monitoring Vince's movements and finding his forged evidence."
Jimmy, "Shouldn't our cases be resolved as quickly as possible? Why wait so long?"
Peter, "Solving cases requires prioritization. Not all cases can be dealt with urgently. We could have arranged for surveillance, but now that you are here, we have a better plan.
Just look at yourself. Though you are 26, you only look about 20 years old, a perfect fit to act as a student. It's ideal."
Jimmy was speechless. During his time at the FBI Academy, Jimmy was the youngest, with most recruits being around their 30s, having ample experience to excel in internal recommendations. Jimmy had thought that after leaving the academy, he'd see more young people, but everyone he'd encountered at the FBI today lacked youthful faces; his overly young appearance was indeed a disadvantage.
Jimmy, "I will comply with the arrangements, no problem."
Peter, "OK, this is just a long-term plan. For now, you still need to familiarize yourself with our case workflow and continue reviewing the case files. Remember to come in early tomorrow morning.
Jimmy, "Yes, sir."
Jimmy left Peter's office, feeling like he was being fully utilized. It astounded him how a new agent could be assigned to undercover work three months in advance, simply because Jimmy looked too young.
The 1976 birth year on his driver's license really frustrated Jimmy. Now in 2002, at the age of 26 and with the face of a 22-year-old, it seemed his baby-faced image was here to stay among these people.
After work, Jimmy went to Jones's apartment, located in the semi-basement at the bottom of an apartment building, with the door in a sunken passageway off the road. Good grief, if there was a heavy downpour, it'd definitely flood.