Cold Case

Dresses

Their apartment was directly opposite Dr. Park and Choi Seunghyun's, and it was difficult because they had to keep their blinds shut at all times in case either Park or Seunghyun were by the window. Lisa insisted that it was a stupid idea, because it made them look like hermits, but Jennie wasn't feeling too great about encountering the two causes of her best friend's death. Lisa was a detective, and a fine one at that, so she had no problem deciphering why Jennie, clearly the most outgoing of the lot, did not want to even look at Park and Choi from across the balcony.

"You know," Lisa said, making breakfast. She had a killer recipe for blueberry pancakes, and within three days it had suddenly become Jennie's favourite breakfast. "At some point, you will have to open those blinds."

"I know." Jennie went over to the kitchen bench and poured them both a glass of orange juice. There were still boxes everywhere of Jennie's stuff, at which Lisa had marvelled at. Lisa was something of a minimalist. Even undercover, Jennie looked as if she'd dropped a bomb in the place. "Can that come after you feed me your delicious pancakes, though?"

"What, fork by fork?" Lisa teased.

"Whatever works for you."

Lisa tossed a fork at her, ignoring Jennie's offended proclamation. It was stupendously easy and disconcertingly so, flirting with Lisa. Ever since Lisa's slightly dull admission that she was gay (Jennie wasn't sure what she had expected. Fireworks?) Jennie had practically been eating out of Lisa's very suggestive hand. And it wasn't healthy, because Jennie knew she did not feel that way about women. Or most women, anyway. College phases did not count.

"Look, we're running on limited time," Lisa told her seriously over breakfast. "If you give me time to set up Jisoo's tech in here, as well as find out the best spots for watching them, and do a background check on both Park and Choi—you could maybe distract them by—well—doing—your...thing?"

"My thing?"

"Well." Lisa chewed deliberately slowly. "You're very personable. If you just go over with a bouquet of flowers and introduce yourself, I'm sure they will be charmed."

"You're not coming?"

"I've got all this to set up!"

"Okay, okay. So you need me to buy you time?"

"Yes. Yes, please."

"Okay. Then—then I'll say you're...reading," Jennie said lamely. "I'm just keen because Jihoon Choi is a bit of a celebrity in my field, so his son's like Jihoon's Jesus, and I'll go over because Dr. Park is clearly into his work and so is his son—"

"Just go—" Lisa ushered her out of the door, shoving some money into her hand. "Don't forget to buy flowers!"

Jennie relented to this with an overly loud grumble as she clattered down the stairs, her hair still mussed with sleep. Lisa threw herself into work. It was all she could do when faced with situations like this. Undercover work was stressful enough. The last time she'd gotten caught in too deep with a gang, and she'd done horrible things—in the name of the law, apparently. She didn't want this to turn out the same way.

Still, Jennie seemed harmless, if a little too comely in her flirting. Lisa was used to women flirting with her as soon as they found out she was gay, but Jennie was something else. Every half-innuendo Lisa hadn't even intended to make was suddenly the gayest remark Lisa had ever made, and she wasn't even quite sure how that worked.

Sighing, she plugged in Jisoo's devices, one for her purse and the other for...wherever Jennie put it. That was the easy part. Next, following the hastily scribbled instructions, she opened the curtains and blinked as sunlight streamed through. A quick check confirmed her suspicions: Seunghyun and Park weren't at the balcony. If Jennie was headed to the florist then back up, then she'd have to be quick. She bent down and crouched to try and find the best angle to snoop on the duo without getting spotted, and set up a preliminary camera by the sofa next to the window, just in case they had to hide behind a solid surface. Otherwise, the balcony was safe. There was a small oval table with two rickety chairs, and Lisa planted one listening device underneath the balcony itself, in case Seunghyun and Park ever visited.