Howard personally delivered food and daily supplies to Charles, taking meticulous care of this valuable asset to the firm. Charles casually asked about Jimmy’s situation. Unable to hide the truth any longer, Howard told him that Jimmy was working at Davis & Main, specifically in charge of communicating with the elderly residents at Sandpiper Crossing. A clear change came over Charles’ expression. After exchanging a few perfunctory words, Howard hurried to take his leave.
Howard rushed back to the company to attend a regular progress meeting between the two collaborating law firms. In the conference room, Kim sat next to Jimmy, diligently taking notes with one hand while playfully nudging Jimmy with her leg under the table. After the meeting, the two hid in the underground parking lot to smoke. Hearing that Jimmy was enjoying his work—with a company-provided car and apartment—Kim was glad that her efforts to help him hadn’t been in vain. They even began to imagine buying an apartment between Santa Fe and Albuquerque, looking forward to a happy life together.
While Jimmy’s life was gradually getting back on track, Mike was facing a troublesome issue. One day, Daniel rushed into the police station parking lot in his Hummer, right as Mike was on duty in the guard booth. A quick question from Mike revealed that Daniel had been tricked—the police had no intention of recovering the stolen baseball cards; they wanted to investigate Daniel himself. Left with no other choice, Mike agreed to help Daniel get the baseball cards back, on the condition that Daniel would then go home immediately and stay out of trouble.
Mike was certain that Nacho was the one who had stolen the drugs and baseball cards. He tracked Nacho down and explained the current situation: Daniel had been foolish enough to call the police over some baseball cards, and no one could guarantee he wouldn’t confess everything once questioned. To save all three of their lives, Mike proposed a deal: Nacho would return the baseball cards and pay $10,000 in cash as compensation. In return, Nacho wouldn’t lose out—Daniel’s Hummer would be his to keep. Whether he sold it or kept it, he stood to profit. This solution benefited everyone: Daniel would get his baseball cards back, Mike would earn a $10,000 fee, and Nacho would make a small fortune. Most importantly, it would get rid of that eye-catching Hummer that had been causing so much trouble.
With the major crisis resolved, only one tricky problem remained: how to dispel the police’s suspicion of Daniel. Mike thought of Jimmy. Jimmy accompanied Daniel to the police interrogation room, where he watched a detective chat with Daniel in a friendly, relaxed manner—obviously trying to lower his guard. Before Daniel could fall into the trap, Jimmy pulled him out of the room and offered to explain things to the detective himself.
Jimmy got straight to the point: he said the detective was only interested in finding out what was hidden behind the baseboard near the sofa. Seeing that Jimmy had figured it out, the detective dropped the pretense. He pointed out that Daniel had been sweating nervously during their chat, and that his modest salary didn’t match his luxury Hummer—all signs that Daniel was stealing prescription drugs from his company to sell illegally.
Jimmy immediately denied the police’s speculation, then leaned in and revealed the “truth” in a conspiratorial tone: Daniel provided private services for a wealthy client who wished to remain anonymous, filming highly specific videos—like wearing designated outfits and wiggling his butt on pies. That, Jimmy explained, was why Daniel lived in a modest house but drove an expensive car. The theft of the baseball cards and the video tapes hidden in the baseboard, he added, had only been a falling-out with the wealthy client. “It was like a lovers’ quarrel,” Jimmy said—“they made up soon after, and all the items have been returned.”
While Jimmy’s story sounded absurd, the detective chose to believe it; the world was full of strange things, after all. The police dropped their investigation into Daniel. To be thorough, Jimmy even insisted on filming a video of Daniel wiggling on a pie, coining the term “squat-and-wiggle” for the act.
That night, Jimmy and Kim ate the leftover pies from the video shoot while joking about the whole incident. But when Jimmy mentioned they had actually filmed the video, Kim’s smile faded instantly. Describing an unprovable scenario to the police was one thing, but filming a fake video to fabricate evidence was another. If Davis & Main found out, Jimmy would be fired on the spot. Kim asked why he had done it, but Jimmy fell silent—he could never tell anyone about his connection to Mike. Seeing Jimmy’s expression, Kim didn’t press further; she only begged him to promise never to do anything that stupid again. Jimmy agreed—but no one could say for sure if he would keep that promise.