Close To Midnight

Chapter 41

Sergeant Constable Ki-Tae slowed down as he neared the lift. When he got assigned to shadow Nayeon, he had little idea about what he was getting into. She was fast, disappeared if he dared to blink and he was positive that if someone asked him to catch the wind he'd choose that willingly over this.

The staff he had befriended at the rehab continued to have a monologue of his own. "Our CEO is a really lovely man. He doesn't visit often because he lives in Japan."

"Really?" Ki-Tae commented, hiding a bored yawn behind his hand. He was supposed to find why Nayeon had been to the centre, not learn what flavour ice cream some random Japanese guy liked.

"He even has a special ward for people who hospitals have given up hope on." The staff member pointed to a ward on their left and rambled on not caring about how much he was telling a random stranger. "You see that boy, he was only given two months to live. He's still alive, thanks to our CEO."

Ki-Tae looked over his shoulder to see a kid on a wheelchair. "And that woman over there, she's been in a vegetative state for 10 years. Hospitals wanted her life support gone, our CEO took her in."

Ki-Tae realised he was going to get no useful information from this young man. Maybe there was nothing to investigate here. He'd already seen the registers and security footage. The registers didn't have Nayeon's entry, the CCTV didn't have her footage. He was almost convinced he'd imagined seeing her at this centre. 

He made a mental note to make more enquiries about their seemingly magnanimous CEO. "Everyone calls that patient the Hulk because of his peculiar skin condition, and that girl a sleeping beauty because she's beautiful and she's in a coma. This little girl, we named her Thumbelina because-" Ki-Tae decided he needed to put a stop to his endless rant and get back to the precinct.

"Thanks for all your help." He said, pretending to look at a message on his phone. "I've been called in by my superiors."

"If Nayeon comes by, you'll let me know right?" He asked, passing him his phone number.

The staff's face brightened. "Of course."

____

Chief Dahyun walked downstairs where the forensic analyst was waiting for her. The police constables guarding the door bowed slightly as she approached them.

"Chief, I have some bad news." The forensic analyst, a middle aged woman announced.

Dahyun sighed. "Get it over with quickly." She instructed.

"There was only one person's fingerprint and footprint at the abandoned hospital." The analyst passed a report to her. "And the fingerprints matched with the ones we collected from Jiwon's house."

Dahyun bit her lip wishing she'd had her coffee before coming here. She passed the file back to the analyst.

The broken bottle, the objects clattered on the floor, it was easy to get the impression that there had been a struggle. But it was all staged for someone, she now knew. Why would Jiwon stage his own disappearance? Most importantly, who did he stage it for? Was it the police or the perp?

"Thank you for pulling an all-nighter to get this report done." She smiled vaguely at the technician, passing the report back to her. "Can you forward a copy to the Cyber Forensics team?"

"They're here." The analyst said looking over Dahyun's shoulder. 

Dahyun heard the rushing footsteps and turned around to look at the detectives. Her heart lurched. "What's it?" From the expression on their faces, she knew it was something big.

Momo and Tzuyu shook their head.

"You'll have to see it yourself Chief."

She frowned at the pair, but followed them to the interrogation room anyway.

When she sat down at the desk, Tzuyu brought a laptop before her and pressed play on a video file that was left open. Dahyun drew a breath, mentally preparing herself for whatever she was about to see.

A dimly lit alleyway came into view.

The frames moved, only couple of dumpsters and parked vehicles repeatedly showing up on the screen. Twenty seconds into the video a young couple stumbled into the view. It was too dark to make out their faces, but the moonlight was bright enough to show what they were doing.

They were kissing. Dahyun squinted at her detectives. Surely they didn't bring her here in the midst of a serial killer murder spree to show two kids sucking faces?

"Just a few more seconds Chief." Momo interjected as if understanding her confusion.

A faint flash of light appeared next to the couple. "Is that a gunfire?" Dahyun's face paled as she spoke. She went a few steps back on the video and paused on a frame. It was definitely a bullet bouncing off the walls.

"Yes, but we aren't at the most shocking part yet Chief." Tzuyu gave Dahyun a nod, signalling her to continue playing the video.

Dahyun's fingers tightened around the mouse as she hit play again.

The slightly taller girl took a protective stance before the girl who was up against the wall. Then she slowly turned around. Both their faces came into view.

Dahyun felt her blood freeze.

Because before her on the screen, was Im Nayeon.

Around her neck was a dog tag.

The top button on her shirt was undone.

On her chest was the faint outline of a tattoo.