After hanging up Rodney's call, Jimmy stood there dazed.

Something was off about what Rodney just said. Although his voice didn't sound any different from before, there was an underlying message that he was now in danger. Having a Catholic New York Archdiocese exorcist in danger definitely implied a high-risk supernatural event; it couldn't possibly be because the police were hunting him for something, right?

Even though the collaboration with Rodney hadn't progressed much, the fact that he was helping to arrange a purification ceremony for Jimmy's revolver showed that he was someone worth trusting. If he truly encountered life-threatening danger, and if Rodney couldn't resolve the crisis himself, at least Jimmy could help him out.

This crisis might put him in danger as well, but abandoning Rodney without any intelligence or clues seemed a bit heartless.

After pondering for a while, Jimmy decided to follow his heart. He turned to Agent Randall beside him, "Agent Randall, I need a map. Also, do you know where Middleton is?"

Randall looked at Jimmy in surprise, "Middleton isn't too far from here, it's also within our jurisdiction. What's up?"

Jimmy: "A friend of mine is there. I plan to visit him on my way back to New York."

Randall: "You're heading back? What about the case...?"

Jimmy: "The case is still yours. I just found the case rather unusual and came to take a look. Could you help me find a map?"

Randall: "There's a map in my car, hang on."

Randall retrieved a map from his car and handed it to Jimmy. It was a customized map that only covered the three counties of Duchess, Orange, and Sullivan, overseen by the Hudson River Valley field office. Middleton, where Jimmy needed to go, was in Orange County.

Carefully listening to Randall's explanation of the relevant routes, Jimmy noted down the key points on the map and, after bidding farewell to Randall, drove off.

Middleton was considered a relatively large city, just relatively so. When Jimmy arrived, he dialed Rodney's phone again. This time, it rang until it automatically disconnected without anyone answering.

Not a big issue, having the phone number was what mattered. Jimmy called Julia: "Julia, head to the tech department for me and locate a phone number, it should be in Middleton."

Julia: "On what grounds?"

Jimmy: "Uh, let me think... Just say I need it for a case. If they ask for authorization, secretly tell them I'm working on a task for Dave the leader."

Pulling rank to get things done, the tech department people aren't that rigid. If they really refused, Jimmy truly dared to call Dave; it was his connection through Bishop Anderson at the Church that had introduced Jimmy.

Julia was speechless, "Yang, are you sure about this?"

Jimmy: "Alright, go ahead, and send me the location once it's tracked."

Jimmy didn't enter the city, instead, he found a gas station in the suburbs to fill up his car and parked in an empty lot to await the news. Not knowing what lay ahead this time, Jimmy wasn't well-prepared. He checked his gear and saw he only had two 1875s and 24 rounds of .44 Magnum bullets, which made him somewhat uneasy.

After checking the time, Jimmy started his car and drove into the city, locating a gun shop to swipe his card and purchase two boxes of .44 Magnum bullets as backup.

A while later, Julia called, "Yang, we've located that phone number, but it's not in Middleton. It's north of Middleton, in Scotland Town."

Jimmy: "I understand. I'm heading there now. Update me every five minutes."

Jimmy started his car and drove northward. Scotland Town was not far north of Middleton, but the fact that Rodney Priest didn't answer the phone either time was quite worrying.

Scotland Town was similar to other small towns, mostly standalone houses with front and back gardens, but the environment was excellent. As Jimmy drove through, he found himself wanting a small house like that.

Julia reported the phone's location to Jimmy for the third time, but there was an issue. The phone signal could no longer be tracked, and the second location was at the church on the north side of Scotland Town.

Jimmy arrived at the church and looked around. There were two churches here, one Catholic and one Protestant. Thankfully, he looked carefully, otherwise entering the wrong one would have been ridiculous.

The white church was currently closed, and there were no cars parked outside. If Rodney Priest had come, he would have driven, right? Jimmy knocked on the church door and used Heart Eye Observation; there was no one inside, which was quite odd.

Jimmy returned to his car and looked around. This was just a small town with a sparse population, and there wasn't a single pedestrian in sight within his visual range.

It was now almost certain that Rodney's phone should be in the church, but the person wasn't. It seemed that when Jimmy called the first time, he was there but had left afterward. However, why didn't he take his phone with him?

Jimmy dialed Rodney's phone again, but this time it went straight to a shutdown message, suggesting it had likely run out of battery and shut off automatically.

Now this was troublesome. Jimmy got back in his car, started it, and began driving around the town. He kept using Heart Eye to observe the surrounding houses, hoping to notice something.

Having made a full loop around the town and found nothing, Jimmy turned his gaze to the northern forest. Trouble was, according to the map, there were no complete roads in the northern forest, just a dead-end path leading into it. Though there were plenty of roads around the forest, checking them all would take quite a lot of time.