Close To Midnight

Chapter 36

Sana massaged her temples. She could feel a headache onsetting. Momo looked at her apologetically.

"I'll take this call outside then." Momo pacified the disgruntled girl, laying a kiss on her shoulder.

"Please." Sana sighed and laid back on the bed, pulling the covers over her naked body.

Momo slipped on her robe, walked to the living room and removed the hand covering the speaker. "This better be important." She told Tzuyu.

"I tracked Jiwon's mobile." Tzuyu rushed out. "It was last switched off in Gyeongsang."

"You want me to check it out." Tzuyu's sympathetic sigh was the confirmation she needed.

"Jeongyeon and Chaeyoung are busy making enquiries." Tzuyu paused, "I'm sorry."

Momo's face relaxed as she spoke. It wasn't Tzuyu's fault they had a creep to catch. Creeps, she corrected herself. "I'll do it."

She finished her call, put her hand on the door handle absent mindedly and pushed it open. The door slammed against something soft.

Sana was on the other side of the door, crouched on the floor, holding her head which was rapidly turning pink and bruised.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry baby." She bent down, checking the damage she'd done. There was a bump fast rising on her soft skin. Momo felt a pang of guilt choke her.

She apologized repeatedly until Sana interrupted her, "I was coming to see if you were done." She gave Momo a watery smile, reassuring her despite the pain she was in. "You couldn't have known that. Stop saying sorry."

Momo exhaled a worried breath. Sana was hurt but she had to leave, she had a job to take care of. "It's fine baby." Sana pecked her cheeks, soothing her worries. "It's just a small bump. I'll be okay. You go ahead and take care of the bad guys."

Momo felt her heart melt into a puddle. She wondered how she got so lucky to land someone as understanding and loving as her girlfriend.

"Lock the doors." She laid a tender kiss on Sana's forehead. An uneasy feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. She repeated what she always said whenever she had to step out late at night. "Don't open the door for anyone without confirming who's on the other side."

Sana shook her head, muttered something about her worrying too much, and promised to be careful.

Momo felt the uneasy feeling grow.

___

"I don't know how you tracked me down." The frustrated woman yelled. There was a hint of unresolved anger and pain in her voice. "I've had nothing to do with Gunwoo in years. Please leave me alone."

Jeongyeon observed her, her posture nonchalant, unaffected by her rude outburst. "One question. That's all I'm here for."

The woman's shoulder tensed. She narrowed her eyes at the pair of detectives. "What's it?"

"Did he have any friends?"

"Not that I was aware of." Her eyes grew contemplative, as she added in a low voice. "Gunwoo was quiet and moody. He wasn't a social butterfly."

Chaeyoung managed an encouraging smile, asking her to continue.

"He wanted me to be like him." Her face was shadowed and troubled. "Didn't like if I spent time with my friends. Didn't like if I stepped out of the house other than for work. He was-" Her voice faltered, eyes filling up.

Chaeyoung paused the recorder. She suggested softly, "If you want this to be off the record, I can turn the tape off."

She cleared her throat, smiling weakly at the compassionate young officer. "It's fine. You can record it."

It was for the best, Chaeyoung knew, but it didn't mean she liked what she had to do for her job sometimes. This woman seemed vulnerable, on the verge of an emotional breakdown.

"He was emotionally abusive and manipulative." The woman said quietly after a while, "He never hit me but he might as well have. What he did was beyond twisted. He was a classic gaslighter. Loved controlling me, making me feeling guilty for his insecurities, he made me hate myself." Her voice broke.

Chaeyoung sat down across the shaking woman, taking her hand in hers.

"When I broke up with him," Tears streamed down her face. A shiver ran through her. "He didn't take it well. Stalked me for years. It got to a point where I had to get a restraining order against him. I had to change my name, jobs, move to a new city." Her eyes skittered to their linked hands. She breathed out, "And despite doing all that, and I swear to god I'm not delusional, he seemed to be everywhere, watching me all the time."

A sick sense of dread descended into Chaeyoung's heart. Another common pattern they'd failed to notice earlier. All their victims had been single, separated or stuck in unhappy relationships. Pattern after pattern were getting unrevealed in the case. But none of them made any sense.

She cast away her thoughts, giving the woman's hand a gentle squeeze. "I'll leave your name out of the investigation. This will be the last time anyone from our department knocks at your door."

The woman bestowed a grateful smile at her.