Jimmy looked at Justin, and it seemed like horns had suddenly sprouted on the head of this middle-aged Caucasian hunk.
Jimmy, "You crook, why didn't you say so earlier!"
Justin, "You weren't here with me back then, how could I tell you? I couldn't possibly quote a price over the phone, that'd hurt our feelings."
Jimmy, "Telling me now hurts our feelings even more. We're so close, you're breaking my heart."
Justin, "If you're heartbroken, you can go home and recover slowly, but you still have to pay what's due. Separate the things, will you?"
Jimmy silently took a sip of his drink and muttered, "All gone, I used everything on this trip."
Justin was surprised. Jimmy's Gold Coins always came from him, and Justin knew exactly how much one could do with five of them.
Justin, "What? What on earth did you need five Gold Coins for?" Justin leaned closer to Jimmy and whispered, "Did you kill someone? Otherwise, you wouldn't need that many Gold Coins."
Jimmy also whispered, "Two, but I spent two on intelligence and one on borrowing a safe house."
Justin straightened up, "You got ripped off, I can be sure of that." Justin shook his head, looked at Jimmy, and suddenly burst out laughing.
Jimmy rolled his eyes, "It's my first time handling such a task. I didn't know their rules. Justin, fill me in, so I don't face the same issues next time."
Justin, "Two dinners, one Gold Coin for the safe house is fine, no problem there. Two for intelligence might be where the problem lies. If you weren't ripped off, then I can only guess, something unexpected might have happened because usually one is enough."
Jimmy, "Yeah, the information was very detailed. They even had me come by later to update it when new situations were discovered."
Justin, "Then there's no problem, I think I know who the intel broker is that provided you with the information. You're quite lucky."
Jimmy, "Can you tell me? The person's identification."
Justin, "No, it's a secret, I only found out by chance myself."
Jimmy, "Alright, you guys have too many secrets. The guests will be arriving soon, one more drink for me."
Jimmy and Justin really got into their chat, even though a few scattered guests had already arrived. The bartender had guided them to the other side of the bar, leaving space for Justin and Jimmy to talk.
Justin turned around to continue working, and the matter of the coin was not brought up again.
For Jimmy, who was broke, Justin no longer had any interest in extorting him.
Jimmy also felt depressed. He had just handled a matter, and while it was expensive, he had been quite happy with it, but Justin's interference took all the joy out of it.
The next day, Jimmy went straight to the police station for debriefing. Now that the matter was handled, it was time to settle down at work, and it was also approaching the end of the semester's exam period. Jimmy was just in time to use this period to review thoroughly.
Slacking off during work hours truly brought joy, and even though James thought Jimmy seemed to be slacking off, he was not too displeased. Jimmy's work capabilities were incredibly strong. It was better not to let him out, just in case something else happened. His heart might not be able to take it.
A week later, Jimmy received a call from Jerry. Mary had called him too; she was safely back home and hoped that Jerry would visit her.
Jerry couldn't make it on his own, and he couldn't bear to meet Mary looking like a vagrant, so he had no choice but to ask Jimmy for help and to give him a ride to Memphis.
Jimmy didn't mind. During his days off, he took Jerry shopping for clothes, cut his hair short, trimmed his beard, and let him take a shower in his apartment. Jerry now looked quite normal, a lean but handsome middle-aged man.
The only glaring issue was his hair. Jerry wasn't that old, being only around 50, but a significant part of his hair had already turned white, which, combined with the wrinkles on his face, made him look more like 60.
Jimmy drove Jerry back to Memphis Oakville. On the way, Jerry kept talking non-stop about Mary's childhood and kept urging Jimmy to drive faster, which left Jimmy quite speechless.
Mary was already waiting by the roadside. Seeing Jimmy's blue Mercury, she excitedly waved her arms.
Before the car had even come to a stop by the roadside, Jerry pushed open the passenger door and ran towards Mary. Jimmy got out of the car and stood in front of it, watching the father and daughter embrace each other excitedly.
The scene in front of him made Jimmy very sentimental; he felt he had finally repaid the favor he owed Jerry, even though it had been somewhat costly.
Once Jerry and Mary's excited emotions had calmed down somewhat, Jimmy walked over to embrace them and say goodbye. Jerry didn't return with Jimmy; he would stay here with Mary and say goodbye to his life as a vagrant.
Jimmy had another mission this trip: he wanted to stop by a warehouse to collect some boxes he could take back to Little Rock—this was his biggest haul last time, and he couldn't just leave it sitting in the warehouse gathering dust.
As Jimmy passed a hardware store, he casually bought a hand-held mini cutter, the kind with its own battery.
Jimmy took several briefcases from the warehouse and drove to a deserted outdoor location where he cut open the briefcases along the edges. Cracking the codes was too troublesome; for Jimmy, this violent method of breaking them open was more effective.
When he opened the briefcases, Jimmy was disappointed. These briefcases probably belonged to a gang leader preparing to flee, containing his photos in several different passports, each stored in separate boxes, ready to be grabbed and used to board a plane without any packing necessary.
Beyond a bit more money, the other items were of no use to Jimmy at all.
Jimmy gathered some dry branches nearby, dug a hole in the ground, dumped the contents of the boxes into it, and set them on fire to dispose of everything. As for the sliced-open boxes themselves, he planned to disperse them into large trash bins as he came across them—no one would pay attention to a few unmarked damaged boxes.
Afterwards, Jimmy made two more trips to Memphis to finally clean out the warehouse completely. He kept the suitcases, but the clothes inside were unnecessary. Jimmy directly packed them and dumped them near a vagrant camp, where they would help him clear everything completely without leaving any trace.
For Jimmy, this period had been busy—working, helping out, studying, and occasionally taking on private jobs. His life was very fulfilling. By the time everything settled down, it was already June.
That day, Jimmy received a letter at the police station's front desk. He returned to his desk, opened the envelope, and found two A4 papers with two paintings on them.
The first painting depicted a person holding a gun in the left hand, angled upwards, but there was nothing else in front of him.
The second painting showed a person with arms outstretched, appearing to float in the air, with two handguns below.
The paintings were peculiar. If viewed together, the first seemed to depict resistance against something, while the second depicted death. The paintings were drawn in pencil and were unsigned, and the letter contained no other text.
Jimmy picked up the envelope again. It had no return address, but there was a Texas postmark on it.
Texas—Jimmy could only think of three people: Torsten, Jerry Mikulek, and Roland. The only one likely to send paintings would be Roland, but Roland? The last time they had parted, he had made it clear that he didn't want Jimmy to come looking for him. Why would he send such a letter?
These two paintings must have some special meaning, but Jimmy couldn't decipher them. He tried to recall his initial meeting with Roland, but since over half a year had passed, his memory was a bit fuzzy.
Suddenly, Jimmy remembered a detail: Roland had mentioned that he used paintings by Chambers to find doors to other worlds. Chambers' ability was similar to precognition, able to showcase scenes through his paintings. But Chambers had been gone for many years and was no longer with Roland. How could there suddenly be two more paintings? Could it be that Chambers had returned to Roland's side?