Back at Federal Square, Parker was still interrogated by Peter, and afterwards, Jones applied for an arrest warrant, and Rachel was also brought back. Sure enough, just as Peter had guessed, the painter Rachel was also involved in the plan.
The remaining cleanup work was done by Diana, including the case report. Peter had mentioned before that Diana handled everything he didn't do. As for Jimmy, well, even if Jimmy volunteered, Peter wouldn't have him do it. The case report is a very important matter, and letting Jimmy practice on it is too much of a luxury. If there were any errors, Peter and the others would ultimately be the ones in trouble.
After finishing this case, the weekend had arrived. The apartment's residents had moved out early. Jimmy had contacted the apartment manager in advance and hired cleaning staff to clean up the apartment before moving to the unit above Jones's.
Speaking of which, this studio apartment was much smaller than Jones's basement, but the rent was essentially the same. It was quite a loss to live up there, but Jimmy wasn't thinking too much about it for the time being.
Relative to before, Jimmy's current job was indeed a challenge for him. After tidying up the apartment, Jimmy went downstairs to buy groceries. He had invited Peter, Diana, and Jones for dinner that evening as a housewarming celebration. Since he knew in advance when he would be moving, he had already mentioned it to them. Peter was also going to bring his wife along, so Jimmy would be busy for quite a while.
Back in Little Rock, Jimmy hardly ever invited others over for dinner. Now that he was in a new place, he felt it was necessary to show some gesture. The reason for not dining out wasn't because Jimmy was stingy, but rather, as a former Chinese in his past life, inviting people over and cooking a meal by hand was clearly a more friendly gesture.
For this reason, Jimmy had to prepare the ingredients in advance. Since the room was small, he had made arrangements with Jones to use his kitchen and living room. If it had been the apartment Jimmy previously rented, this wouldn't have been an issue at all.
Let's be honest, Manhattan's Chinatown is really good. At the very least, Jimmy was able to get everything he needed—dark soy sauce, cooking wine, green onions, ginger, star anise, and fermented black beans. This time, Jimmy pulled out all the stops, making a super sweet version of caramelized braised pork. He also prepared a tomato beef brisket dish. There was plenty of the dish, so Jimmy divided it into two portions, freezing one in the refrigerator to reheat with some rice the next day, saving the trouble of cooking a meal.
Two main dishes, plus two stir-fries, a bowl of egg drop soup, and a vegetable salad—it was all set. Of course, he had to disconnect the smoke detector in advance; otherwise, the fire department might be on their way by now.
Jones watched Jimmy cook the entire time and declared that he would definitely not cook himself in the future; being able to fry an egg was enough. Life was bearable without asking for too much.
When Jimmy lived in his Little Rock apartment, he frequently cooked for himself to improve his meals. Relatively speaking, these home-cooked dishes were not a problem, except that they took a rather long time to prepare.
In the evening, Peter and his wife, Elizabeth, came together. Elizabeth was not tall, about 165cm, with a round face and dark brown long hair, looking somewhat plump.
Jimmy greeted them at the door, "Hi, Peter, Elizabeth."
Peter: "Hey, Jimmy."
Jimmy took the wine from Peter's hand and invited them in, of course, into Jones's place.
Peter: "Jimmy, I didn't expect you to be able to cook."
Jimmy: "Hahaha, living alone, one has to have some life skills. You guys sit down, I'll go clean up the kitchen a bit."
Peter and Elizabeth sat on the sofa, watching Jimmy busily finishing up in Jones's kitchen, while Jones himself also came out of the bedroom.
The dishes, utensils, and tableware were already set out on the table in advance, and the rice cooker was ready with rice. However, the guests weren't all there yet, and the dishes were still covered.
Jones didn't have so many tableware and kitchenware here. Jimmy had counted what Jones had and bought some more in order to have enough to use, of course, he would take these items to his own apartment later.
After a while, Diana also arrived, and everyone took their seats. Jimmy lifted the lids off the dishes one by one.
"Wow," Diana exclaimed first—indeed, aside from Elizabeth, it seemed that no one else present could cook. Everyone took a share of each dish, and they chatted casually while eating.
As expected, the sweet version of braised pork and tomato beef brisket were the most popular. They all liked dishes with sweet and sour flavors.
However, Jimmy's favorite was still the twice-cooked pork. While making the braised pork, he had intentionally set aside a cooked piece for stir-frying with garlic sprouts, and although the stove's heat wasn't enough, it worked out. This dish, less appealing in presentation, didn't interest the others much, so Jimmy nearly finished it by himself.
Speaking of which, everyone at the table was using forks and spoons, except for Jimmy, who used chopsticks and a spoon. It looked somewhat out of place, but he couldn't help it—he still preferred chopsticks; forks always felt awkward to use.
After dinner, Elizabeth and Diana chatted on the sofa, while Jimmy and the other two stepped out of the room, taking to the sidewalk outside.
Jones and Jimmy smoked while Peter just watched. Although he didn't smoke himself, he didn't say anything about Jones and Jimmy smoking.
Jimmy, "Peter, I've been thinking about something these past two days. The files I've been looking at are mostly business cases, art cases, but they are all relatively large cases, and the artworks are either well-known or of high value. Do we handle these common cases like the Dengli Gallery theft as well?"
Peter, "Yes, in principle, we can take on all art theft cases. It's just that some minor cases get dealt with by the NYPD, and we don't need to take them over. But for cases with high value or high profile, they'll transfer them to us. As for this case, it's just not considered a major one over here."
Jimmy, "There's no other reason?"
Peter glanced at Jimmy, "It's for your training, to get you familiar with our way of working."
Jones laughed, "Hahaha, Jimmy, do you have some other idea? Relax, it's the same for all of us when we started. We dealt with some minor cases first; otherwise, the NYPD would have handled this case."
Jimmy nodded, "Most of the cases I dealt with before were public safety incidents. This art theft case is indeed my first time dealing with one. The cases I've worked on with FBI agents before were all related to drugs and violence."
Jones, "You've worked with us before?"
Jimmy, "Yes, before I came to the FBI, I spent two years with the county police. I've cooperated with the FBI, DEA, USSS."
Peter raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything, while Jones looked surprised, "You've had quite the experience, Jimmy. Did anything interesting happen?"
Jimmy thought for a moment, "Hmm, doesn't seem like there were any particularly special cases. Does nearly getting the Vice President blown up count?"
Jones, "F**K!"