Nia reached out to take it, but Jimmy quickly pulled back his hand: "You go wash up first, I've already made dinner."

No need to tidy up right away. Jimmy threw the clothes into the washing machine and went to wash his hands before eating dinner.

Speaking of which, Nia usually tidies up the room on her days off. Jimmy rarely does this kind of cleaning and is not very proficient at it. But it's nice to do it once in a while, at least it makes Jimmy realize how wasteful they are with the random knick-knacks they usually buy... For example, he cleared out three pizza cutters, quite a few bottle openers, and barbecue tools. Heaven knows, they rarely barbecue—where did this stuff even come from?

While eating, Nia mentioned she might have to go on a business trip for a while to check out a few places and investigate some leads.

Jimmy listened as he ate, and he already understood what was going on.

Kevin and the others, after receiving Jimmy's earlier tip, started looking for case leads, mainly about those college students' disappearance cases. Since it involves multiple locations, normally there's no need to follow up on such cases; at most, they'd send an assistance request to the concerned police department and be done with it. Now, they plan to make some moves on this front as well.

Nia, being nearby, was asked by Kevin to take two people with her to check out the locations where some disappearance cases occurred. Of course, they had to inform the local police in advance, unlike Jimmy and their FBI team who can contact them on the spot.

The jurisdiction of city police has strict limits. The NYPD's jurisdiction is within New York City. Since quite a few of these college disappearance cases were reported by schools in New York, they technically have some jurisdiction. But outside the state, their police credentials don't work, and they have to rely on local police to handle cases. The treatment they receive varies greatly—not everyone is kind to out-of-town colleagues...

The FBI is different. Even agents from different offices have national law enforcement authority. If necessary, they can coordinate investigations locally and have the authority to coordinate investigations between different agencies, so the procedures for Jimmy and his team are very simple when working outside.

It's good in a way. Such disappearance investigations mainly consume time and are relatively low-risk, but solving a case brings great credit. It's also good for Nia to be involved, especially since the higher-ups are paying attention now.

Besides giving a few reminders, Jimmy couldn't do much else. But he especially emphasized, should they encounter anything not caused by humans, they should evacuate immediately. If necessary, Jimmy could go support them on-site. They shouldn't tough it out.

This reminded Jimmy of when a priest named Rodney had a task where a few college students went missing and were killed by possessed individuals. That incident was covered up and not reported.

As long as Nia and her group aren't exceptionally unlucky, they shouldn't run into such issues right away—hopefully.

Jimmy looked at his belongings. He took off the ring on his hand and handed it to Nia: "This ring was given to me by Father White. Wear it when you go out of town, and don't ever take it off. It will protect you."

Nia looked at Jimmy in surprise, glanced at the ring: "Are you serious?"

Jimmy nodded. Although he hadn't seen the ring's power firsthand, during the ceremony that Father White and his group performed for him, they discovered the ring was absorbing the energy of the Holy Light, "It should be true. Actually, the cross pendant has the same function, but I gave it to that little guy Elliot."

Nia examined the ring and casually put it on her right middle finger. Her fingers were a bit slimmer than Jimmy's.

Jimmy put down his fork, "The one with real effect should be the exorcism badge, but I don't even know how to use that thing..."

Nia replied, "Alright, alright, don't bother with that. I'm just going to investigate a case, not single-handedly take on a demon."

Jimmy shrugged and picked up his fork to continue eating dinner: "Just make sure to protect yourself. Keep your gun with you and don't go anywhere alone. It's not very safe nowadays."

Nia was a bit surprised to hear Jimmy so concerned for her safety and asked, "Do you know some special information?"

Jimmy nodded: "Paranormal incidents have been rising annually across the globe since 2000, becoming more frequent and severe. Father Rodney, responsible for coordinating exorcism activities in the New York Archdiocese, even has to handle matters personally. I've saved him twice before, and several exorcist priests have been lost."

Overall, if you're heading to remote, isolated places, be extremely careful and bring enough supplies and defensive gear.

By the way, ask Kevin for a couple of satellite phones to take with you; it'll make things easier, and regular check-ins should be manageable."

Jimmy took a sip of water to clear his throat, "These are all based on experience. You're not very familiar with handling cases outside the city. This disappearance case investigation will likely take place mostly outside urban areas. Better to be overprepared."

Nia nodded, ate a bit, then looked at Jimmy: "How do you know so much? Did you frequently handle cases outside?"

Jimmy shrugged slightly, "There've been quite a few field investigations—deserts, badlands, forests, mountains. Frankly, it's safer when you're facing people."

Nia bit her lip: "How much do you still know that I don't?"

Jimmy: "You'll find out gradually."

Some words were left unsaid during dinner, but during a break afterward, Nia brought up the topic again. Jimmy could only briefly mention some of his investigations in the deserts of Texas and New Mexico. As for the forests, he recounted his recent collaboration with DHS in tracking down mercenaries—a high-profile affair worth retelling.

However, Jimmy often criticized the DHS people, as none of them got injured while quite a few DHS personnel suffered casualties; it was somewhat embarrassing.

Come to think of it, the medals Jimmy recently received were all left at the office without bringing them back for Nia to see. This... Nia's displeasure made Jimmy surrender instantly, promising to bring all the medals home from the office, allowing them to finally rest peacefully.

Nia's business trip was pretty much set in stone, but Jimmy wasn't ignoring it. He specifically went to the police department to see Kevin and got the locations where Nia and her team would soon head. He planned to look into it in advance in case anything major cropped up, so he could warn Nia. After all, as his wife, he couldn't just let it go.

Fortunately, checking through the FBI's data showed nothing particularly alarming in the area, putting Jimmy's mind at ease.

Kevin mentioned that Nia's investigation might become a long-term operation, but maintaining regular phone contact was crucial.

Nia and her team were quite lucky this time, taking only a week to uncover a missing case.

Two backpackers on bicycles were attacked while riding through the National Park. They were found in a dire state, and their personal belongings had been taken. Only through fingerprint and facial recognition was their identity confirmed, and even then, the case was filed away by local law enforcement without any special marker.

This time, Nia's team prepared all necessary information in advance: fingerprints, photos, and family contacts of missing persons. Matching with the missing persons' fingerprint database, they identified the deceased as two of those they were looking for.

Having confirmed the deceased's identity, Nia's team contacted the NYPD office, informing the missing persons' families to come over and complete the formalities. They finally breathed a sigh of relief, at least not returning empty-handed this time.