The princess & the detective

7. The knight

"Kao, can you answer this fucking phone?" Ohm yelled to his colleague who took his cell phone and went out to a more private area where he could better hear the call.

"Dude?" Boun chided Ohm.

"Sorry, sorry!", the youngest asked. They were all stressed out by the lack of progress of the case. The search for property on Mok's name hadn't returned results, nor had the calling center received any useful clues that showed the criminal's location or even guaranteed that Titi was still alive.

"Ohm, Boun! Good news! The person who called me was a friend of one Mok's victims. She called because she found it strange to see her dead friend's phone receiving messages and when she opened it to see, it was a message from the credit card company denying the purchase due to error in customer identification." Kao said with a smile, the first in over a week after the serial killer's recognition and disappearance.

"Location?" Ohm asked.

"Chiang Mai, I'll give you more details in the car! Let's go!"

The three detectives went out in a whirl, leaving orders for the other colleagues who followed close behind. Mok probably ran out of money after Ohm asked the judge to block his bank accounts and this prompted the desperate murderer to use one of the victim's credit card. Since the purchase was refused because he most certainly didn't know the password, they now had concrete evidence of where they were.

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Titi had just placed a drink order at the bar and was waiting for the bartender to hand her the glass when she overheard some people talking about a mall that had just opened. She had been thinking about ways to get rid of Mok for some time now and believed that in a place with so many people it would be easier to ask for help. So, as soon as she received her drink from the employee's hands, she returned to her seat by the pool.

Once there, Mok continued reading a newspaper and didn't divert his attention. He was so reassured by the threats he had made against Titi that he was sure she wouldn't try anything against him. "You're so wrong about it, jerk!", she thought contrary to what she said:

"Mokie~! I want to go to the mall I saw some girls talking about. Will you take me there please?", Titi used her sweetest tone, almost puking into her own mouth for being so kind to that unscrupulous monster.

"Of course, princess!" the man replied without thinking.

That's how Mok's card was refused at the store. Titi had seen a beautiful necklace with a bear pendant that reminded her of her beloved detective and decided to go in and buy it.

The jewelry wouldn't match Titi's style, but Mok wouldn't know how to judge that for himself and just gave in to her desire. However, when it was time to pay, he realized that he had no more money and decided to use the card of one of his victims that he was taking as a trophy. Without knowing the password and after several incorrect attempts, the store employee was already showing signs of annoyance. Instead of a good commission, she was facing a headache.

"If there's no way to pay now, I can reserve the product and you can come get it later!", the girl tried to be helpful.

"Are you saying I don't have any money, bitch?" Mok yelled attracting the attention of everyone inside the store.

"No, sir! Please, I don't--" the woman was stopped from continuing with the shot that Mok fired straight into her face.

Panic was widespread and Titi tried to take advantage of it to run, but when she walked away from Mok, he hit her in the head and she fell unconscious to the ground. Many hours later when she woke up, she felt her head throbbing and doubted it would ever stop hurting. She looked around and realized she was still inside the store. Next to her, sitting on the floor, was Mok.