Jimmy rested for a night and drove straight to the Big Bend National Park. After coordinating with the park police, they led him to a cave.

All the skeletons in the cave had already been removed, but the cave had been sealed off since the discovery of the remains, so the traces inside were not too badly disturbed. White lines marked the ground and the cave walls, and the bullet holes found on the walls had been preserved intact. The police had only removed some bullet fragments from inside, and as Roland had said, these fragments couldn't be traced back to any specific source, nor were any fingerprints or similar traces found.

The first investigation Jimmy undertook was ballistic trajectory analysis. Bullets had been found on the bodies, and bullet holes were on the cave walls, so figuring out the ballistic trajectory was essential for determining the gunman's path.

Jimmy took out a laser positioner from his toolbox, placed it in a bullet hole, and then began to stretch a ballistic trajectory line with red string, assisted by the park police who had gathered some sticks and branches from outside to help with the positioning.

This wasn't a simple task; precision was key. There were dozens of bullet holes on the walls, and after stretching lines through each one, the shooting scenario at the scene became fairly clear.

The determined shooting directions showed several shots from the mouth of the cave, indicating that the shooter had fired into the cave after entering. Since some of the bullets hit other people or animals, they didn't end up on the cave walls, so the plotted path of the shooter was somewhat disjointed and not entirely continuous.

Jimmy asked the park police to leave the cave as he began photographing and mapping the shooter's path. Of course, Jimmy's map was a simplified diagram; he sketched the layout of the cave on paper, then labeled each position determined based on the ballistic trajectories.

Jimmy didn't discuss with Roland how he and the former Jimmy had killed the "Demon" in the cave. It wasn't that he didn't want to ask, but he didn't want to interrogate Roland as if he were a suspect. As long as this case wouldn't be linked back to Roland or himself, Jimmy was free to proceed however he wished, regardless of whether he uncovered anything or came up empty—it was all just about filing a report. All he needed to do was investigate the scene, without needing to provide a definitive conclusion or identify suspects.

Just dealing with the shooting paths inside the cave took until nightfall. Jimmy and the park police left the cave and headed back to the camp. Given the cave's remote location, to avoid unnecessary travel, the park police had brought their patrol tents, and Jimmy stayed with them in a tent—fortunately, it was the kind of elongated tent with several folding beds inside, with the park police even assigning shifts for night duty.

Inside the tent, based on the ballistic trajectory maps and the bullet count, Jimmy began drafting the report. It obviously wasn't the final report but rather a phase report. After collecting various phase reports, they would be combined to create the final report.

The park police seemed to have had a busy day, assisting with the investigation, setting up tents, and taking shifts on duty. In reality, they didn't mind; for the park police, their main task was usually just patrolling around, so helping out like this was almost like a vacation for them, worry-free and pleasing to everyone.

Watching the FBI agent busy investigating during the day and typing at night, they admired his diligence. Everyone had their roles, so they didn't disturb Jimmy.

By the time Jimmy finished the report, it was past 9 p.m. He tidied up a bit and stepped outside for a walk to clear his mind. Outside, a bonfire had been lit, and the park police were gathered around it chatting. After Jimmy joined, they encouraged him to share some of the cases he had encountered to pass the time. Jimmy obliged, picking some cases from those he had seen in the files—of course, only those that were not classified. Any case making it into the FBI files was no small matter; exciting stories abounded. Compared to that, the park police lived relatively mundane lives, mostly uneventful.

After killing some time, everyone returned to the tent to sleep. The next day, Jimmy returned to the cave and based on the details organized the previous night, added some more finer points. He also began searching the cave floor because a thought had suddenly struck him the day before: if the people on the floor had been those Jimmy had killed initially, and there might even have been shots fired while they were down, there could be bullet holes on the cave floor that hadn't been reported previously because they had only documented those on the walls.

Since none had been found before, it was possible that if there were bullet holes, they were very small and possibly clogged with dust or other debris. This time, Jimmy brought a small handheld blower, battery-operated, along with a small brush, and began inspecting the cave floor—a meticulous task. The park police didn't bother entering the cave; they just rested outside instead.

After more than an hour, Jimmy finally finished inspecting the cave floor and found three shallow bullet holes. Because of the possibility of ricochets and the shallow depth of the holes, it was impossible to stretch lines directly. Instead, he took photos, then noted the positions and estimated shooting locations in his notebook.

The investigation at the shooting site concluded, and Jimmy began searching inside the cave for other clues. According to Roland, there was a spatial rift here, connecting two planes, so there should have been some relevant traces left behind, but the previous cave investigation revealed nothing abnormal.

Jimmy started turning over the rocks inside the cave and examining the cave walls. Eventually, in the innermost part of a wall, he discovered an anomaly. While other walls had some unevenness and holes, this area had a section about one square meter of smooth wall, looking as if it had been cut, considering the existence of the rift, there definitely were some inconsistencies; this had to be the spot.

This was something Jimmy wanted to know for himself, and he wouldn't record it in his report. After locating the position where the rift had been, Jimmy packed up and prepared to leave the cave.

After dealing with the situation in the cave, Jimmy started inspecting the surrounding area with the police, focusing on whether there were any backpacks or wallets that could verify the identities of the people who had been in the cave. Unfortunately, time had erased any traces, and there were no identifications on the bodies in the cave either, so their identities remained uncertain.

Jimmy and the park police returned to their station because the case had occurred years ago, and Jimmy needed to check the park police's records to see if anything unusual had happened back then.

Fortunately, though years had passed, their records were still intact and not lost. Jimmy checked the police station's files for two days and finally understood some of the preliminary details about Roland and his team investigating and killing the Demon.

There were several designated camping areas in Big Bend National Park, relatively safe and offering nice scenery, which made it a popular hiking and camping spot. Back then, there had been an incident involving a campsite attack. Although no one died, it still caused a headache for the police, who then started investigating the area. However, the cave was very far from the campsite, and it hadn't been discovered during the initial investigation.

Ultimately, the police chalked it up to a malicious attack on camping tourists. Since the National Park did have unauthorized immigrants, this theory was plausible, but due to the conditions at the time, they had not been able to trace the actual attackers.

After the incident was reported in the newspapers, Roland and his team took notice because the described monster was familiar to Roland from previous encounters, which confirmed the presence of a rift.

When Roland and his team closed the rift, it was usually accompanied by activities such as killing Demons, so they never communicated with the police and no firings were recorded in the police reports.

The true nature of the case definitely couldn't be reported, so Jimmy continued to search the records. Eventually, he chose several police reports along with some guesses to compile an investigation report. Based on the police's information, there was a significant presence of smuggled individuals in Big Bend National Park, along with a likely cross-border smuggling route. Due to incomplete information for the case of six deaths, Jimmy suggested that a conflict had erupted between unauthorized immigrants and smugglers leading them to violently chase down several individuals into the cave, where they were then shot and killed by gunmen.

There were a large number of bullet holes, suggesting the involvement of multiple gunmen. According to ballistic leads, there was indeed a possibility of multiple gunmen considering deviations and disruptions in the shooter's positions and trajectories.

The gunmen began shooting from the cave entrance, continuing inside, which could also indicate that the gunmen drove the crowd into the cave and then executed a massacre there.

The gunmen used .45 caliber handguns. The bullet types didn't reveal the model of the guns, and there were no identifiers like fingerprints on them. It was recommended that the case be put on hold temporarily, waiting for further related smuggling cases in Big Bend National Park to determine if they could be linked together.

Although this report couldn't conclusively close the case, for Jimmy, listing out the suspicious aspects along with his own deductions should suffice for now.

After obtaining permission from the police department, Jimmy photocopied some documents along with his investigation report and the ballistic examination results. After resting in the park, he drove back to Dallas.

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