Jimmy used to be a good-for-nothing, often thrown in jail for fraud and petty theft. Chuck had lost count of how many times he’d defended Jimmy, exploiting legal loopholes to help him escape punishment every single time. Now that Jimmy was a lawyer himself, he’d started to develop a sense of conscience—something he’d never really had before. After hearing Nacho’s plan earlier that day, he’d been on edge all afternoon. Late at night, as he paced around the closed beauty salon (where his office was located), he finally couldn’t hold back and dialed Kim’s number.
Jimmy and Kim shared a special connection, and Kim also worked as Howard’s associate attorney. After some rambling small talk, Jimmy tried to subtly warn Kim that the Kettelmans might be in danger. But his hints were so vague that Kim didn’t take them seriously. Undeterred, Jimmy made a crude voice changer out of a paper towel roll and napkins, then drove to a public phone on a remote road in the middle of the night. After hesitating for a long time, he called Craig to issue a warning. Once he’d done this, Jimmy finally felt a weight lift off his chest.
The next day, Jimmy went about his usual work at the courthouse—bickering with prosecutors and fighting to get the lightest possible sentences for his clients. But a call from Kim made his legs go weak: the Kettelmans had gone missing, and there were signs of a struggle in their house. Jimmy immediately rushed to leave the courthouse, only to be stopped by Mike, the parking lot attendant, at the entrance. This time, Jimmy had no patience for arguments. He waited until Mike wasn’t looking, reached into the booth, and pressed the button that lifted the gate. Under Mike’s furious gaze, Jimmy hit the gas and sped away.
The Kettelmans’ driveway was already packed with police cars, and Howard and Kim were also at the scene. Howard clearly had no idea Kim had called Jimmy—he gave Jimmy a quick greeting as he hurried over, then rushed to join the police in their investigation. It wasn’t just Craig and Betsy who were missing; their young son and daughter were gone too. Faced with Kim’s suspicious stare, Jimmy didn’t dare tell the truth. He could only mumble reassurances that everything would be okay before hurrying away.
Jimmy found a public phone in an alley and dialed the number Nacho had given him, but no one answered. He waited by the phone booth for ages, but Nacho never called back. Just then, two burly men appeared at both ends of the alley. Jimmy instantly recognized this as a classic setup to trap someone. Had Nacho found out he’d leaked the plan? Jimmy didn’t dare stay a second longer. He ran to his car, but the beat-up old thing chose that exact moment to fail— it wouldn’t start. Jimmy abandoned the car and fled, only to be cut off by a police car. The two men caught up and pinned him to the ground.
As it turned out, after a neighbor noticed the Kettelmans were missing and called the police, the authorities launched an investigation. One neighbor had seen a van parked across from the Kettelmans’ house two nights in a row and, being cautious, had jotted down its license plate. The police traced the plate to Nacho and found the van in his garage—with suspicious bloodstains inside. Nacho had already been arrested, and when the police saw someone repeatedly calling his number, they assumed it was an accomplice and moved in to arrest Jimmy. After checking Jimmy’s ID, the police confirmed he was Nacho’s lawyer. Only then did Jimmy learn that Nacho had specifically named him as his legal representative.
In the interrogation room, Nacho had no patience for Jimmy’s nonsense about “showing a good attitude to get a lighter sentence.” While he had staked out the Kettelmans’ house for two nights, he hadn’t gotten around to doing anything before the family was abducted. As for the bloodstains in the van? They were from the two skateboarders who’d tried to stage the fake accident earlier. Nacho suspected Jimmy had told someone about his kidnapping plan, then framed him after pulling it off. It was a reasonable suspicion—one Jimmy couldn’t even refute. But Nacho wasn’t worried about that. He hadn’t done it, so the police would never find evidence. What did worry him was that the police might uncover his and his crew’s illegal activities while investigating the kidnapping. Nacho gave Jimmy a chance to “atone”: he had to get the police to drop the investigation by the end of the day, or Jimmy should start preparing his own coffin.
The police only had Nacho as a suspect—they’d never let him go easily. And DNA testing on the bloodstains would take weeks. Jimmy was so anxious he broke out in a sweat. With Kim’s help, he went to the Kettelmans’ house. The place was a mess, as if a fierce struggle had taken place. The kids’ rooms were equally chaotic, but Jimmy noticed something: every photo Betsy’s daughter had taken showed her holding a doll—and yet, there was no doll to be found in the room. He voiced his confusion: why would kidnappers take a doll? The only explanation was that the Kettelmans had taken their kids and fled with the money themselves. Before he could finish, the detective accompanying him shot down the idea. The Kettelmans’ car was still in the garage below, and there was no record of them using trains, planes, buses, or taxis. The Kettelmans couldn’t have walked out of the country—so the only possible scenario was that the kidnappers had given the doll to the crying girl to calm her down before taking her and her parents away. Jimmy was left speechless.
Jimmy still thought something was off. The kidnapping had happened the very night he’d issued the warning—it was too much of a coincidence. But time was running out; he had to go back to the police station and convince Nacho to give him more time. The police station and courthouse shared the same parking lot, but this time, no matter how many times he pressed the ticket button, nothing came out. Mike had blacklisted him—he’d never be able to use the parking lot again. Jimmy begged and pleaded, but Mike wouldn’t budge. Finally, Jimmy lost his temper. He jumped out of the car, marched over, and jabbed a finger at Mike’s chest. But Mike wasn’t someone to mess with—he’d been a cop in Philadelphia for over a decade, and he wasn’t about to let this deadbeat get the better of him. He grabbed Jimmy’s arm and twisted it behind his back, slamming him face-down onto the ground as Jimmy howled in pain.
But the story didn’t end there. The two detectives working on the case found out what had happened and convinced Mike to cooperate. They threatened to press charges against Jimmy unless he spilled the details of Nacho’s “crime.” Jimmy refused, insisting Nacho hadn’t kidnapped anyone—and that the Kettelmans had run away on their own. Mike, who was standing nearby and heard Jimmy’s words, suddenly decided not to press charges, ruining the detectives’ plan. Jimmy was just as surprised by Mike’s change of heart. He caught up to Mike and finally learned why: during his time as a cop, Mike had handled a similar case—a bookie who’d vanished after losing a big bet. Everyone had assumed he was either living it up overseas or rotting at the bottom of the ocean, but he’d actually been hiding in a nearby pawnshop for six months. It was a classic case of exploiting people’s habitual thinking.
Mike’s words gave Jimmy an idea. He went back to the Kettelmans’ house. The neighborhood was right next to a hillside, and a small gate in the Kettelmans’ backyard led straight into the woods between the hills. Jimmy walked along the mountain path for a few miles. As dusk fell, he heard singing in the distance. Following the sound, he found a camping tent in the woods—and inside, he could hear Craig and Betsy singing a children’s song. The huge weight in Jimmy’s chest lifted instantly. He collapsed onto the ground, out of breath, and dialed Kim’s number. His next step was to get the Kettelmans to come back. Jimmy pulled open the tent flap, startling Craig and Betsy so much they jumped to their feet. When Betsy tried to stall, Jimmy grabbed the duffel bag on the ground and started walking toward the woods. Betsy went crazy, grabbing the other end of the bag. They pulled, and the bag’s zipper burst open—bundles of cash spilled out. Looking at all that money, the truth was finally clear.