Chris and the others were chatting outside, unaware that Jimmy had already begun overthinking the situation. He wasn't sure whether the case had been reported to the FBI by a detective or if Chris sought it out himself. If it was the latter, he guessed the detectives weren't too pleased. Without any attention, they would just feel a bit awkward and be inclined to close the case.

After a few minutes of conversation outside, Chris came back in, handed the file back to Harold, and said, "I'm not taking the case, you guys deal with it. Goodbye, Harold."

After Chris finished speaking, he grabbed his coat and prepared to leave. Jimmy followed him out of the conference room.

Once they reached the parking lot, Jimmy stopped Chris, "Chris, how are we going to handle this case?"

Chris asked, "What are your thoughts?"

Jimmy shook his head, "It's not about what we think, it's whether the detectives are planning to close this as an accident."

Chris nodded, said nothing, and continued to look at Jimmy.

Jimmy said, "There are a lot of suspicious aspects to this case, and I think it's worth investigating, but..." Jimmy paused, gesturing toward the police station.

Chris said, "Don't worry, even if the case is closed, we can still investigate a little. Are you interested?"

Jimmy nodded. It was evident that this journalist must have been connected to some case, and while investigating such cases may not yield any results, at least it would be interesting.

Chris nodded, "Alright, you follow up on this case, but don't take it for yourself."

After Chris had spoken, he turned, walked to the passenger side of the car, opened the door, and got in.

Jimmy drove Chris back to the office and began researching Ashi's information on his computer. He had already jotted down the name and birthday from the file; the rest would be easy to find in the system.

Ashi was from Bourbon County, Paris City, Kentucky—yes, a city with the same name as Paris, France. To avoid confusion, sometimes it is translated as Paris City.

After graduating from the University of Kentucky, Ashi moved to Brooklyn, New York. His record in the system included a job as a real estate agent, but nothing thereafter, indicating that he had changed careers quite some time ago to become an investigative journalist.

Unfortunately, he wasn't a well-known figure, and the system only contained his basic information without any reports of his previous work. It seemed that if Jimmy wanted to investigate, there would be much to do.

Jimmy jotted down Ashi's personal information in a notebook and turned to ask Chris, "Chris, are you going to investigate with me?"

Chris shook his head, "This is your private investigation, take care of it yourself. Remember to answer your phone at all times."

Jimmy shrugged. It seemed Chris also knew there wasn't much of a case here. Having nothing better to do, Jimmy decided to take a walk. He grabbed his coat and went downstairs, intending to visit Ashi's place first. Although he didn't have a search warrant, maybe someone was there, as the NYPD had already notified Ashi's family after confirming his identity.

In an apartment building in Brooklyn, the address registered for Ashi in the system was this one, but the name of the property owner wasn't his; he must have been renting it. Jimmy knocked on the door, and a woman's voice asked from inside, "Who is it?"

Jimmy replied, "FBI, please open the door."

The woman opened the door, leaving the safety chain on. She looked young, probably in her twenties. Jimmy showed his badge and said, "FBI Special Agent Jimmy Yang, is this Ashi Perino's home?"

The woman nodded, "What do you want?"

Jimmy asked, "And you are?"

The woman answered, "Jinnie, Ashi's girlfriend."

Jimmy said, "Jinnie, please accept my condolences. May I come in and talk?"

Jinnie bit her lip, thought for a moment, and then unhooked the safety chain, allowing Jimmy to enter the small apartment, similar in size to one he had previously rented.

Jimmy shared, "Ashi had given me some information in the past; he was kind of like my informant. I'm sorry, I just learned about his accident."

Jinnie asked, "What do you want?"

Jimmy explained, "Here's the thing, Ashi's departure was quite sudden. Do you know what he was investigating recently?"

Jinnie shook her head, "He never talked to me about his work."

Jimmy asked, "May I see what he left behind?"

Jinny, with a suspicious glare, questioned, "Who exactly are you?"

Jimmy, taking out his badge and offering it to her, explained, "FBI Special Agent. Jinnie, Ashi was kind of my informant, and now that he's had an accident, I'm here to see his situation and confirm if it really was an accident. I have a responsibility to my informants; if it wasn't an accident, then I need the information on what he was recently investigating." Jimmy couldn't outright say he needed the information for a case since he was investigating privately, so he had to come up with a reasonable excuse.

Jinnie inspected the badge several times, clearly unfamiliar with what an FBI badge should look like. She just examined it without knowing how to verify its authenticity.

After returning the badge to Jimmy, Jinnie thought for a moment and then nodded, walking into the bedroom. She came back with a notebook, "This is Ashi's work notebook. He usually carried his laptop with him, so it's not here."

Jimmy narrowed his eyes momentarily, then resumed his normal demeanor, "Did he always take his laptop with him whenever he left the house? Anything else?"

Jinnie shared, "Laptop, camera, voice recorder—he always carried those with him in his bag."

Jimmy nodded and, taking out a pair of disposable gloves from his pocket, put them on before taking the notebook from Jinnie's hands.

The notebook hadn't been used much, with only three pages of content. It appeared to contain shorthand notes from a conversation, lacking full sentences and mostly consisting of various times, items, names of individuals, and transportation routes.

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