Close To Midnight

Chapter 11

The lip reader scrunched his face, a blatant sign that things weren't looking good for them. "Side profile. I can barely make out 'Meet me at the l' can't be too sure what Dong-Hyun says after that."

Jeongyeon wanted to punch something. How did every breakthrough they ever managed lead to nowhere? What was L? Was it an address? Was it a place? Was it a code word? What did Dong-Hyun and Yi-Jun even have in common? She took a deep breath. Frustration and anger tended to cloud common sense. Maybe the answer was simple and she was missing it because she was looking for complicated.

The fact that they only had a week to catch the killers before the body count raised, before the police became a laughing stock to the public only served to heighten her frustration.

"You're going to drink yourself to death." Chaeyoung stated in a voice that barely contained its concern. Jeongyeon ignored her partner, and chugged down the next shot, enjoying the burn it left down her throat and chest.

Tzuyu observed the tall detective's miserable expression, she was obviously under a lot of stress. "I'm going to join you." Her tone was empathetic as she clinked her glass with Jeongyeon.

"The police is fucking stupid." A guy cackled from behind them. From the seat she was perched on, Momo squirmed. Alcohol fuelled frustrated detectives and aggravating comments never went along well together. "We had an enquiry coming in to my boss about people who bought wolf masks. I bet it has to do with the Cupid Murders." The unaware youngster continued in a mocking tone.

"Calm down." Chaeyoung gripped Jeongyeon's hand tightly in hers, knowing how her partner liked to throw hands without thinking it through.

"You think you're smarter than the police?" Another guy snorted. "You're just a sales assistant Jihoon."

"People in the most insignificant jobs notice the most significant things my dear friend."

"Alright wise one. What would you have done if you were a cop?"

"I wouldn't ask for a list of clients all year round. It's common sense these masks sell only for Halloween."

"Go on."

"I would check CCTV footage of the stores where they had anyone who bought these masks in bulk off season, around the time of the first murder."

"Why just the first murder?"

"The killers aren't going to go shopping before every murder." The guy snorted.

The thing about frustration clouding common sense, Jeongyeon just realised how right that was.

Calls were made the next day. Faxes were sent. And phones rang non stop. The call they expected came after mid day.

"We had a young man in his late twenties coming in to buy six wolf masks around the month of July last year." Tzuyu's mouth curved into a frown. This was the hundredth call that fit the timeline of the first murder. "I wouldn't have though it odd, except someone else came to order a dozen of the same masks again in February this year."

"You must have been hundred of clients. Why do you remember these two clients?" She interjected the man on the other end.

"One, it was off season. Barely anyone buys these masks during that time of the year. Two" Tzuyu waited with bated breath for him to continue. "On both these days we had our security cams hacked and footage completely wiped. We even filed a police complaint."

Tzuyu's mouth dropped open. "Do you remember their faces?"

Three pairs of eyes stared at her expectantly as she put the receiver down with a wide smile.

"Momo, get us a sketch artist." Tzuyu's eyes gleamed with excitement. "We're about to catch these fuckers."

___

"How do you know so much about hacking?" Chiho leaned into Jihyo's side to stare at the code she was writing. It made no sense to him. He was a high school graduate, he barely understood how computers worked. Jihyo didn't even go to middle school, yet she could break into even the most sophisticated and secured systems.

"You don't need education for this." Jihyo shrugged like she could read his thoughts. "You only need passion."

Min-jun rushed into the garage just then. He was out of breath as he rattled off the words he was holding in a rush, "Nayeonnie. Where? They've hired assassins. She can't be alone."