According to the distance, Jimmy gestured toward the forest on the right, then took another bullet and placed it at a position within the forest.
Jimmy called out, "Sheriff Chad, could you come here for a moment."
Chad emerged from the office and walked over to Jimmy.
Jimmy, "Take a look at this spot. Is this where the fourth person disappeared in the forest?"
Chad examined the area and shook his head, "The missing person is one of our townsfolk, named Ekins. I haven't marked the location of his cabin before. We need to check it on the ground, but it is indeed in this forest."
Jimmy nodded, packing up the bullets on the map, "Let's confirm this location in the afternoon." Chad nodded and returned to his office.
Jimmy went out to the car to fetch the lunch prepared for camping, ate at the police station, and then closed his eyes in his chair. The police station was staffed by only three people. With Chad at the station and the other two alternating patrols, Jimmy hadn't seen any other officers for the past couple of days.
As he dozed off, someone came in from outside, "Who are you?"
Jimmy opened his eyes and sat up straight, "FBI Agent Jimmy Yang, you must be Nora."
Officer Nora nodded and turned to go to Chad's office. Startled awake, Jimmy didn't continue his nap. He got up and went to the washroom to take care of some private matters, washed his face, and upon coming out, found Chad and Nora already standing next to his desk.
Jimmy, "Sheriff Chad, what's up?"
Chad, "This is Nora. We'll be investigating the cabin in the forest together this afternoon. Are you ready to go?"
Jimmy, "Ready when you are."
Chad, "Then let's head out now."
The trio left, driving three vehicles along the dirt road at the northern edge of town towards the forest. The forest was not very large; they parked at its edge, Chad confirmed the direction, and the three made their way into the forest. After walking about fifteen meters, they came upon an area where wood was being gathered, a clearing had been made, and the frame for a treehouse had been constructed—this was where the missing Ekins had been working.
Jimmy circled the treehouse, using Heart Eye to observe the surrounding environment. Because Ekins's exact point of disappearance was unclear, the area Jimmy needed to investigate was quite extensive. After an hour, Jimmy eventually left the forest, but he didn't find anything unusual.
Emerging from the forest and comparing the distances around him, he took out that map from the car and marked the treehouse's location. The distances to the Red River from the other two cases were similar, although there were significant margins of error due to the hand-measured distances.
Looking at the map, Jimmy scratched his head. After some thought, he called Agent Ray.
Ray, "Jimmy, what's the matter?"
Jimmy, "Ray, I was wondering, can you request aerial photography?"
Ray fell silent. What situation was this? Jimmy was handling a case that required aerial photography?
Ray, "Why?"
Jimmy, "I'm dealing with several linked disappearance cases, but there's no detailed map of the terrain here. We need aerial shots to confirm the geography."
Ray, "I'll call you back in a bit." With that, Ray hung up and immediately called Supervisor Lambert.
After a brief conversation, Lambert, surprisingly, didn't refuse and arranged it right away.
Ray called Jimmy back, "Lambert agreed. Send over the coordinates."
Jimmy, "Great, thanks, Ray. By the way, how long will the aerial photos take?"
Ray, "A few hours if it's urgent."
Jimmy, "OK, I'm at Tata Town on the state border. Please have them delivered to the Tata Town police station after the photos are ready."
Ray, "Got it."
Jimmy asked Chad and the others to return to the station. The on-site investigation had yielded little. With Heart Eye, Jimmy had already scanned the entire forest. If anything peculiar had been there, it would have been found, but neither Chad nor Jimmy had come across anything.
Jimmy was now waiting for the aerial photos to confirm his judgment. It was very likely that this was not an ordinary disappearance case but rather one of a supernatural nature.
By evening, no one had contacted him, and Jimmy didn't feel like waiting any longer. He left the police station to have dinner at a restaurant. Just as he was about to finish, a police motorcycle with sirens blaring arrived in Tata Town. Jimmy glanced at it through the window, but didn't pay much attention. Soon after, his phone rang.
Jimmy returned to the police station to find that the police motorcycle from earlier had come to deliver the photos. The aerial photos were developed and enclosed in a cylinder. After signing for them, the motorcycle officer departed.
Jimmy sat at his desk, opened the cylinder, and took out a dozen or so photos. Based on the coordinates he provided, the perimeter of a few hundred meters around his position was captured in the shots.
He laid out the photos on the desk, trimming away unnecessary parts to fit them together into one complete map, corresponding to the terrain.
As Jimmy looked over the photos, the small lake north of town, the Red River, and the forests on both sides were all captured. Comparing the terrain to Chad's map showed that Chad's map wasn't quite accurate; there were discrepancies.
Jimmy borrowed some red string from Officer Nora, the kind used for measuring trajectories, as the station had plenty. He pinned the photos to the table, pinpointed the locations of the cases, and then wrapped them with the string. Using a ruler, Jimmy measured the distance from the locations to the Red River. Eventually, he determined that aside from the case on the riverbank, the locations of the other three cases were at approximately the same distance from the Red River, and according to the timing, Ekins's disappearance in the fourth case was the farthest, but only by a small margin.
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.