Jimmy had also taken the opportunity to look around the FBI building that day, noting that most people wore suits, but there were also a considerable number dressed casually. Jimmy didn't stand out too much in what he wore, and it seemed there was no need to rush out and buy a suit unless there was a special requirement; he would prepare one when necessary.

After resting for the night, Jimmy arrived early the next day at the Dallas office, at Lambert's office on the top floor. This time Lambert didn't delay but handed over three case files to Jimmy, instructing him to review them in the adjacent conference room.

Jimmy entered the conference room and opened the files; they were related—a trio of murder and dismemberment cases. The dumping sites were not far from each other, all near Ray Lake.

There was a reason why these cases had been left unresolved. The three bodies that had been pieced together were all incomplete, missing crucial head and hand parts—not one had been found. With the DNA database still imperfect, it was impossible to extract DNA from the remains to determine identities, and without hands, there were no fingerprints to go by. Thus, the cases had to be shelved.

Jimmy hadn't finished going through all the materials yet, but he felt something was amiss. Handing such a case to a trainee agent fresh from Manhattan—who exactly had a problem?

Jimmy set the case files aside and began to ponder the reason behind it. Was this someone's way of setting him up? Was it Hughes's idea or Lambert's? What was the purpose? To drive him out of the FBI?

After some thought, Jimmy picked up the files again and laid the three out side by side on the table. The incidents occurred at intervals.

The first happened in June 1999, when two hikers camping near Ray Lake stumbled upon a leg. After reporting it, the police found other remains nearby. However, with the bodies incomplete and no identification, they were unable to determine the victims' identities, and the case was temporarily archived.

The second case occurred in December 2000 to the northeast of Ray Lake, and the third in March 2001, found in a forest on a peninsula in the middle of Ray Lake.

The cases were linked primarily due to the modus operandi. Even though the cuts on the remains differed, they shared one commonality—the heads and hands were never found. Local police had thoroughly searched the surrounding area, confident no clues had been overlooked.

The files contained photos of the discovered remains and were marked with numbers on a map to indicate the precise locations of the findings. Jimmy, not very familiar with the map of Texas, would be quite lost just looking at the files.

Jimmy looked around; there were few people on the top floor. It should be fine to leave the case files in the conference room, right? He stood up from the conference room and went to Jessica's office.

Jimmy, "Jessica, I need your help."

Jessica, "Sure, what do you need?"

Jimmy, "I need a map of Ray Lake, including nearby residential areas and roads, as detailed as possible."

Jessica thought for a moment, nodded, "I'll get it to you in a bit."

Jimmy, "Thanks, I'll be in the conference room next to Lambert's." With that, Jimmy turned and left Jessica's office.

A few minutes later, Jessica arrived at the conference room with several printed maps.

Jessica, "Here's a satellite photo of Ray Lake and an enlarged map."

Jimmy, "Thanks."

Jimmy picked up a pen from the table in the conference room and began marking the map. He carefully cross-referenced the locations of the remains found in all three files. Due to Ray Lake not being a regular circular or oval body of water but having its southern part relatively regular while the north was split into jagged projections by land intruding into the lake, connecting the marked locations was not straightforward.

As Jimmy perused the maps and files, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing. Time, place, characters, evidence, suspects, motives, methodology—there seemed to be a lot of information in the files, but suspects and motives were completely blank. Could it mean that after three successive cases of dismemberment murders, with the most recent over a year ago, no suspects had been identified yet?

Jimmy organized the files, closed them, and knocked on Lambert's door.

Jimmy, "Agent Lambert, I wanted to ask if these three files are all there is? Are there any other documents?"

Lambert, "Have you found any discrepancies?"

Jimmy, "There are no suspects in the file, not even speculative ones. Hasn't anyone been handling these cases before?"

Lambert looked at Jimmy expressionlessly and didn't speak; Jimmy was not a rookie at work, and he looked back at Lambert, waiting for his response.

Lambert looked at Jimmy and suddenly laughed. He motioned with his hand, "Hand me the files."

Jimmy passed the files to Lambert. In addition to the original three, there were also a few maps given by Jessica. Lambert picked up the maps, studied the points Jimmy had marked, as well as the several routes he had drawn, and nodded, "These lines are the ones you speculated as where the bodies were dumped, right?"

Jimmy nodded, "From the satellite map, one can see that there are no residents in the vicinity of where the bodies were dumped, and the road conditions are not ideal. I speculate that the line for dumping the bodies must have started from the lakeshore, meaning the suspect must have arrived by boat. However, there is too little information, and the lake is too large to deduce from where the suspect would have entered the lake; the satellite photos did not mark the small docks in the lake."

Lambert glanced at his watch. It had been two hours since he handed Jimmy the case files, and it was now approaching noon. Considering the given information, drawing up a route was already impressive.

Lambert, "It's good to come to a conclusion, but your question can be easily answered. It's not that we're missing any data; these three cases have been resolved. It's just that the details regarding the suspect were removed from the files."

After he finished speaking, Lambert put the maps marked by Jimmy inside the file and turned to place it back on the bookshelf behind him. Jimmy was somewhat speechless. What was this all about? He had really thought that he was about to independently solve these three dismemberment cases, having spent over two hours of mental energy, and it had just been a test?

Jimmy, "Agent Lambert, who was the suspect in the end?"

Lambert, "A mentally unstable cult fanatic. There was a gunfight when we found him; the suspect was shot dead. We found the heads and arms of three people in the basement; he had placed them on an altar as offerings. Later, DNA identification matched them to the three bodies, and their families have been notified. The case has been closed."

Jimmy, "How did you find him? These clues don't suggest anything at all."

Lambert, "Pure luck. Someone was threatened by him while fishing on the lake. Local police went to his house after receiving the report, and everything unfolded as I just described. Often you have to rely on luck with such cases, but as you guessed, he did live on the southern side of Ray Lake. Following the investigation, we also found his transport boat, and the blood traces on it were confirmed."

Jimmy, "Alright, but I don't understand why you showed me this case?"

Lambert, "It's just a preliminary assessment. The real case assigned to you is coming up next." Lambert then handed Jimmy another file folder.

Lambert, "You will handle this case on your own. I won't assign any other detectives to assist you fully, but if you need to consult any information, you can find Agent Ray Hope on the second floor."

Jimmy carried the file, bid farewell to Lambert, and returned to the meeting room next door to start going through the file. He had only looked at the beginning when he began to feel overwhelmed; this case seemed, perhaps, maybe a tad troublesome.

"A tourist found a cave on a deserted mountain in the Big Bend National Park, where they discovered six bodies. The bodies were decomposed and weathered, with forensic doctors estimating the time of death to be at least 3-4 years. As the bodies had not been buried but merely placed in the cave, some skeletal remains showed signs of being gnawed on by animals, resulting in incomplete corpses. There were clear signs of a gunfight in the cave, with dozens of bullet holes inspected on the cave walls, and no remaining weapons found at the scene.

The case was submitted by park police and initially investigated at the scene by local police."

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