The NamSeok Mysteries

Five

"Erm, Jacquie obviously doesn't mean it literally, Mr Moore. I'm sure she won't do anything illegal, or something that might get her arrested." Hoseok looked pointedly at Jacquie who just shrugged her shoulders as if to refute any that statement.

Mr Moore naively replied, "In that case, I would strongly advise you not to go after the MI6 or the Russians, Jacquie. The police are your best option when it comes to solving your friend's murder."

"Then, will you tell them what you told us?" she asked,  not expecting him to say yes.

As she guessed, he shook his head, "I certainly won't volunteer this information to them if, or when, they come to question me. MI6 will deny all knowledge of course, so the police won't be able to do much even if I did tell them."

"So I assume you've told us all this because some how you think we'll be able to do what the police can't" she asked.

"Yes" he said. Looking at all three of them, he continued, "As incredulous as it sounds, I think a reporter, a cryptanalyst, and a priest, might just be able to get further, and might be able to get to the bottom of this. I'm sure you'll be able to use your own, er, unique means of investigation that the police won't be able to. Right, before you go, I've still got one last thing to tell you. Strike called me from a plane a few minutes before it was due to take-off and that was the last time I heard from him. He mentioned something about his op being compromised and he had to destroy his notes, which he apparently managed to do, hours before flying out. It wa a very brief conversation, and now all I know for sure is, he was on that plane, but never arrived at his destination. Do what you will with that information. Now, I think it's best you leave and never come here again since I won't be here. I probably only have around 12 hours before I'll need to leave. With Strike and your friend now gone, there's a good chance I'm next on their list."

With that ominous last phrase, Moore then ushered them out and, before closing the door, he said, "Good luck."

As they three 'investigators' headed back swiftly to the car, Jacquie muttered, "He'd be lucky to last 2 hours not 12."

Hoseok nodded his head and said a silent prayer for Mr Moore's soul, soon to be surely departed. Namjoon appeared to be deep in thought. "So, what's our next step?" asked Hoseok.

Without missing a beat, Jacquie replied, "I'm going back to base to check Maggie's desk. She might have left some clues we can use. There's no point you two tagging along, you'll just slow me down (Namjoon scoffed which Jacquie ignored), so let me know where I should drop you off. We can meet again in an hour or so."

"Sure," Hoseok agreed. "That sounds good. You can drop us off back at the church. It'll be quiet at this time of the day. Namjoon and I can call the pathologist and see if she has any information for us." He was careful not to say "Maggie's body".

"Strap yourselves in," is all Jacquie then said. Hoseok uttered a quick pre-journey prayer before Jacquie displayed her aggressive pedal work. Once Namjoon and Hoseok were dropped off at the vestry, Jacquie zoomed off after agreeing to return in an hour. "I'd better rent a car, Father Hoseok, I'm not sure my organs can survive another minute in Jacquie's car," Namjoon said, quickly taking out his phone to search for car rental companies. Hoseok chuckled and replied, "I quite agree, but no need to rent one, I have a perfectly functional car sitting in the church housekeeper's driveway. We can use that one. I'm assuming you can drive?"

"Oh of course. I've had my driving licence for a few years now, but I've just never had the need to own a car, being in the city and all. I'm sure it'll all come back to me soon enough," said Namjoon confidently. Hoseok coughed as he suggested that he did the driving at first to warm the old engine up before Namjoon risked manoeuvring through country lanes. For some reason, Hoseok wasn't convinced that Namjoon would be much safer than Jacquie. He suggested they call the pathologist from his vestry office. Once inside, Hoseok indicted that Namjoon take a seat while he make the call, but Namjoon suddenly asked to be excused for a few minutes, needing to make a phone call himself. Hoseok nodded and started to call the pathologist.

Namjoon walked out of the office and held the star key on his phone. He could Hoseok talking on the phone as he waited for his call to go through. After a few seconds, he said "1", followed by "we're seven wolves, gathering the lamb with a trap". He was silent for a minute or two and then ended the call. He walked back into Hoseok's office and saw him still talking to the pathologist. He took a seat while he waited, and appeared to be processing something. "Right, there's not much to say," Hoseok said, after finishing his conversation. "She said that Maggie had been strangled with a thin cord. She tried to grab at the cord so likely her killer came from behind. Poor lass didn't even have a chance to fight back." He sighed deeply and added. "Do you know what else was odd? She didn't have her phone on her. And of course when they tried to call the number, there was no response. And whoever got her managed to clear her iCloud data. We have nothing to go on." And then with a sudden realisation, "Oh my goodness, I completely forgot about the Binary code we found on Maggie! Did you get a chance to study it?"

Namjoon looked at him, hoping he'd have more time before he'd have to explain what he found out, but of course now he couldn't delay it any longer. "I did," he replied.

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Jacquie was back at her office building and as soon as she'd parked her car, she ran back to the place she'd left only a couple of hours earlier. The mood on the floor was somber after hearing Maggie's news. "Christ Jac, what the hell's going on?" Chris, her boss, said when he saw walking to Maggie's desk. "I'm going to get to the bottom of this Chris, don't stop me. All my other stories can fucking wait, or get someone else on them." She started to determinedly rummage through the desk drawers searching for any clues.

"Of course you should. What I meant was, did you manage to find anything out?" Chris asked.

"Yes. Maggie stumbled across something she shouldn't have and was murdered," she said, and then added quietly, "possibly by MI6."

"What?!" yelled Chris causing others nearby to look at him. He bent closer to Jacquie and whispered urgently," MI6? The fucking foreign intelligence MI6? Are you fucking kidding me? Are you sure?"

The look Jacquie have him was reply enough. "Holy shit Jac. I don't think you should be getting involved. Tell the police what you know and let them get on with it," he urged.

"No fucking way. You and I both know the police will do fuck all. They'll cover it up and Maggie will be forgotten about. Not on my fucking watch. I don't care if it's the last thing I ever do, I will find her killer and make the bastards pay."

She looked at Chris' worried face. "Relax, I'm not going to kill them or anything! I'll just get to the bottom of this."

"Ok, ok, I know I can't persuade you otherwise, so be damn careful Jac. It's bad enough we lost Maggie....." Chris left the sentence unfinished.

"Don't worry, I'll have Father H and Nam-nerd helping me too. We'll be fine. Besides, I'm sure we'll have the Big Guy looking out for us. Father H must be one of His favourites," she smirked.

Chris knew this was part of her coping mechanism, so he left her to her own method. She continued to tug at drawers and pull out papers, searching for anything that might be helpful. Soon all the drawers were emptied and the desk looked like it had been robbed, but she'd found nothing. She sat on the chair, convinced that Maggie must have left something, however small. She was a cautious person who would have given a clue to trace her whereabouts in case something happened to her. Her phone was dead and her laptop and hard drive were gone. She'd saved nothing on the desk PC that was of any help. Jacquie thought hard and a few minutes later muttered, "Jac, you bloody idiot."
She slid her hand under the bottom right drawer and pulled out a small unmarked envelope taped to the underside. She'd remembered a conversation they'd had about a year ago when they'd discussed the best ways to hide information. Maggie had said that in this age of high technological advancements, the most rudimentary ways of hiding information would probably be the most effective. And considering how Jacquie had almost missed the clue in front of her, looked like Maggie had been correct.