CASE FILE

CHAPTER 4.3

THE MYSTERIOUS IMAGE

"Chae, calm down! We'll be all right," Jungkook said, who was sitting in back beside her. He reached forward and patted her soothingly on the shoulder.

Namjoom, meanwhile, was already applying the brakes. After bringing the car to a gradual stop as gently as possible, he got out to see what was wrong. The left front wheel seemed okay, but the right one was a different story.

"This tire is almost flat," he announced with a wry grin at his companions. By this time, all had climbed out of the car.

"Shall we try to change it?" Hoseok inquired.
"Yes, I don't think that there's enough air left so that even if I drive slowly, it might hurt the wheel"

Chaeyoung beamed a weak smile at her companions. "Sorry I threw such a wing-ding, but all that shaking and wobbling-well, I guess it sort of panicked me, especially after that scary note we found on the windshield!"

Namjoon chuckled sympathetically. "Don't worry, I know just what you mean, Chae. To tell the truth, it kind of scared me, too."

The chief detective wheeled a tire jack up to the front end of the car.
Before hoisting the right wheel, Hoseok bent down to pry off the hub cap and unscrew the lug nuts.

"Oh, oh!" he exclaimed suddenly. "This is probably what caused us trouble. Look here." He pointed to the tire valve.

Hoseok gasped in annoyance as he saw the protruding end of a broken match- stick. The stick had been jammed in tightly in such a way as to hold the valve open and let the air slowly escape from the tire.

"Looks like somebody pulled a mean trick on us, Sir" said the teen boy detective. "Too bad." "Well, can you put some air in it."

Namjoon broke off, then said decisively,
"No, wait. I think you'd better put on my spare. I may have damaged this tire by driving on it while it was so low."
They nodded.
Chaeyoung stood near the shade, the gears in her head turning rapidly. While the boys were fixing it.
Soon the work was done. They placed the damaged one in the trunk.

Namjoon looked at the tire and spoke :
"It seems to me we passed a gas station on the way out here. It's just a little way ahead, if I remember rightly, somewhere on the edge of town. We will check up the damaged one there"
The four were soon on their way with the spare wheel mounted in place of the flat.
Luckily, they soon reached the service station, and Namjoon turned into it.

"Help you, Sir?" the grease-stained, cheerful-looking attendant asked Namjoon as he got out of the car.
The rest followed him out.
"I hope so," Namjoon replied with a rueful smile. "As you see, I've got tire trouble."

"Looks like somebody pulled a mean trick on you, Sir" said the attendant. "Too bad."
He looked at the damaged tire and spoke :
"And if you want to leave this one with me, I'll check it over-and also install a new valve stem assembly if this one's ruined. You can pick it up at your leisure."

"That'll be fine, we aren't in hurry" Namjoon said, glancing at his watch.

Jungkook walked over to Chaeyoung, who was deep in her thoughts. She was still uncertain in her own mind whether Choi Sooji had disappeared from the Kwons' house of her own free will, or whether she had been kidnapped by force. But there might be a way to check out one of those possibilities.
"Actually I thought to report to Lee Se-Joo today about what we found out from our hike in the woods," Chaeyoung replied.

"Another thing, Chae ... I know how this must sound, but-well, for some reason I just don't like Baek Kyung. On our way to dinner that day, I actually worried that I might show how I felt about his stealing other people's ideas."
Chaeyoung's expression was grave, and her eyebrows puckered in a faint look of concern.
"Does that upset you, Chae?"
"I must confess it does a bit" She sighed thoughtfully.
"Your feeling could well be based on some deep-down instinctive reaction, it may mean my client is indeed guilty"
"No matter, Baek Kyung is my father's client, and it's up to him to do all he can to prove he's innocent." Chaeyoung got up and rushed to dust off her clothes.