North America Gunman Detective
Chapter 78: 077 New Discovery
Cage quickly returned to the police station. Although his arm had not fully recovered, simple patrols and daily routines were not greatly affected. Cage and Jimmy left the station, parked the patrol car on a secluded road, and got out to chat while smoking.
Jimmy, "In recent days, I've gathered some additional information. I'll start, and you can interrupt any time if you have questions.
First, the drug lord Nut, he was betrayed by his subordinate Frog and has been put in prison. However, since the exact time of his incarceration is unknown, we can't currently identify which one is Nut. Nut is a black male.
Second, Colin, there were no issues with the autopsy report I gave you a few days ago. He was killed two months ago, and now an informant claims that Colin's death was committed by Frog after Nut went to prison. Currently, there is no evidence.
Third, the woman who was killed after reporting the crime a few days ago; an informant says she was Nut's lover, and that house was Nut's safe house, which Frog had people handle.
Fourth, there are two people in Pinnacle Mountain State Park who are subordinates of a drug dealer. At the moment, there is no evidence."
Cage, "Is that all?"
Jimmy, "There's some unverified news as well. First about Frog, the current leads are that he's a white, middle-aged man, who owns a pawn shop, but the location is unknown. Since he was an underling of Nut, he should be on our side.
I suspect he's either in Little Rock or around Double River Park. My judgment is based on following Colin's subordinates in recent days. They have a relatively fixed route toward Double River Park. Because I drive a patrol car, I can't follow closely enough to pinpoint the location.
Second, it's likely that a significant portion, if not all, of Colin's subordinates have switched allegiance to Frog. There hadn't been news coming out, and they hadn't disbanded, likely to lull other drug dealers.
Third, Frog likely has relatively professional gunmen. This can be seen from the deaths of Colin and his son and that woman. Ordinary gangsters can't do such things."
Cage, "Okay, so your target is Frog now, right?"
Jimmy, "Yes, Frog has only been in charge for two or three months. Now should be the time he's buying loyalty and expanding channels. I assess that if we strike down this line now, our area's drug trafficking network could be quiet for a few months."
Cage, "But we can't stop these people indefinitely. Taking down Frog, there will still be other families coming to take over the territory. That's undeniable."
Jimmy, "But we need to strike anyway, at least it could quiet them down for a while."
Cage, "Alright, I got it. I'll ask around."
After Cage spoke, he turned back to the patrol car and drove off to patrol, leaving Jimmy feeling helpless. If he really couldn't handle it, he wouldn't have spilled everything to Cage so early; he should have waited until he had specific leads to report.
It seemed Cage clearly wasn't very interested; he still wanted to smooth things over.
Jimmy also helplessly got into the patrol car and started on patrol.
It had been a long time since they had received a support task. Crime was still frequent in the city areas, and for county patrol officers roaming outside, dispatch would only notify them if there happened to be nearby county officers who could provide support, so most support was for the State Police, mainly the highway patrol teams. They roamed the highways, and when they found a need for support, it wasn't always that there were other state officers nearby.
Perhaps the State Police had fewer incidents recently, and Jimmy missed the chance to rush with police lights on the highway; now, he could only meander on the lower roads. His destination was still Double River Park.
It was a confirmed place of transaction. Double River Park had only one main exit road; relatively speaking, any car passing could be seen by him.
After warning a few passing drivers, Jimmy was in a severe slack-off moment but soon perked up.
A pickup truck from a park ranger passed in front of him; this time, the truck bed was empty. If he remembered correctly, this truck's plate was the same one he had stopped last time. However, there were no irregular driving patterns this time, so he couldn't pull it over.
The driver wasn't Kyle Bly anymore, but rather a shorter white male. The last time, Kyle Bly looked about 190 cm tall and was big-built.
If nothing was amiss, this man should be another drug trafficker, Sven Horn, also known as Ed.
Luck seemed to be on his side today. This Ed must have just come from Double River Park. If he was delivering goods, then there must be another group inside the park collecting the goods now. If he was picking up, then going to Double River Park now—could he intercept a group delivering goods and picking up money?
Jimmy got tired of idling at the intersection and drove the police car straight to Double River Park. The last intel they received was about the Gardening Center, although last time Noah was staking out in the Gardening Center, and he was at the intersection. Now he drove the patrol car to the park entrance, parked it, and walked into the park.
There was a park map at the entrance; the Gardening Center wasn't too far from the entrance. As Jimmy walked in, he observed everything around. There weren't many people around the entrance. Jimmy immediately activated Heart Eye and scanned objects like nearby trash cans.
The premises were extensive, and Jimmy couldn't scan everything as the range of his Heart Eye was limited. Upon reaching the Gardening Center, he first walked around the outside, scanning all nearby trash cans and benches, but there wasn't any movie-like scene of trades being made under seat cushions.
He went into the Gardening Center, which was too cluttered, and if a trade was happening, it wouldn't be in a central area with many people. So, was it possibly in another area with fewer people? He glanced around; nearby, there was an emergency exit and a sign for a WC.
He walked directly towards the emergency exit, scanning outside the WC on the way. He found nothing, guessing that their trade had likely already ended.
Jimmy left the Gardening Center and headed back to the park entrance, thinking that coming earlier next time might allow him to follow the ranger's truck directly to their hideout.
As Jimmy walked to his patrol car, he noticed a familiar car driving up the road; it was Colin's subordinate's car.
What were they doing here? Jimmy scratched his head, thinking something was off. Just as one left, others arrived; definitely something was up. Jimmy got back into his police car, watched them get out and head into the park, then he discreetly followed from a distance, discovering that one of them went to the Gardening Center.
Jimmy didn't mind the others but kept his eyes on the one who entered the Gardening Center. After a few minutes, the man came out, now carrying a bag. If the leaving Ed was connected to Colin's subordinate, then this must have been their transaction of goods, either drugs or money.
Jimmy didn't continue watching. He simply returned to his patrol car to wait for them to come out.