There's an alarming vacancy at Dalgom Moon Bed & Breakfast. Now its up to NIS profiler Jungkook Jeon to investigate the sudden disappearance of the owner's entire family. But the steely agent finds it hard to do his job when distracted by the B&B's...
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Out of the three and NIS agents, Jungkook intimidated Lalisa the most. Since the moment he'd met her, his eyes had remained dark and flat, his lips seemingly unable to curve into any resemblance of a smile.
Within minutes it was established that Agents Park and Kim would share the blue room and Jungkook would take the lavender room. While the other two men went out to their car to bring in duffel bags and crime-scene kits, Jungkook gestertured her into a chair in the common room downstairs and then pulled up one of the other chairs close enough so that their knees practically touched.
Lalisa wanted to scream at him that he was wasting precious time, that he and his men should be out checking the woods, beating the bushes, knocking on doors in an attempt to find the missing family...her surrogate family.
From the pocket of the black shirt that stretched across impossibly broad shoulders, he pulled out a pen and a small pad. He was definitely a hunk, his slacks fitting perfectly to a slender waist and long legs. He also wore a shoulder holster and gun that would constantly remind her he wasn't a guest here but rather a man on a mission.
His black hair had just enough curl to entice a woman to run her fingers through it, but those eyes of his would stop any impulse a woman might have to touch him in any way.
Cold and with a glint of keen intelligence, his dark chocolate eyes appeared to be those of a man who had seen too much, who trusted nobody and held not a hint of any kind of invitation.
¨How long have you worked here as a manager?¨ he asked.
¨For the past 17 months or so. Before that I was living in Thailand for three years. I was born there but I grew up here in Gwacheon. Jisoo unnie and I were best friends all through high school. I went back to Thailand after she got married to Sokjin oppa for some personal matters. But things didn't go well for me there so I took a flight back here after three years. And while looking for a job, unnie was kind enough to offer me the manager position.¨ She knew she was rambling, giving him more information than he'd asked for, but it was nerves. Whenever she was nervous and frightened, she talked too much.
¨I was the maid of honor of their wedding and even if we are miles apart, we were always communicating the two of them and little Lia have been my family. They took me and Lucas in when we had nothing and no place else to go.¨
He stared at her mouth, and she wondered if he was somehow judging the words that fell out of it. Did he believe she'd had something to do with the family's disappearance? Did he think she was lying to cover up some sort of heinous crime?
He turned his attention to the pad in his hand, made a couple of notes and then gazed up at her again. ¨Lucas?¨
¨My brother. He just turned nineteen, and he works as the gardener's assistant here. My mother abandoned us when we were just kids and my father...well, he did the best he could, but I basically raised Lucas. The reason why I went back to Thailand three years ago was because my father has an incurable decease. When he died, I petitioned the courts to get custody of Lucas since he just turned sixteen that time. He's been with me ever since.¨ Again she realized that she was talking too much and firmly chastised herself just to answer his questions as simply as simply, as succinctly as possible.
The man was silent for a moment. Until he asked, ¨And where does Lucas stay?¨
¨He has a small apartment built onto the back of the carriage house, but he'd never do anything to hurt oppa or unnie, and he thinks of Lia as a little sister. He loves them as much as I do.
¨Who else works here?¨
How she wished he'd just give her a hint of a smile, a tiny indication that he understood the panic that seared through her soul, that the fabric of her fragile world had become undone and she felt utterly lost.
She frowned and focused on his question. ¨The housekeeper is Nayeon Im, she lives in an apartment in town and only works two or three days a week, depending on the guest load. Then there's Chanyeol Park. He's the gardener and lives in a cottage down by the pond. Chan's the only person who works here full-time besides me and Lucas.¨
¨What about other part-time workers?¨
She was aware of agents Park and Kim returning to the kitchen, where she knew they'd be looking for further evidence to substantiate the possibility of foul play.
¨Jisoo does most of the cooking for the guests but she occasionally has Seulgi Kang come in to take over the job for her. When we're really busy Jennie Kim comes in to help with the cleaning. But none of these people would have any reason to do anything bad to oppa and unnie. We all love them, and Lia is the smartest, cutest little girl on the face of the earth.¨
A sob caught in her throat and she quickly choked it down. "You shouldn't be wasting your time sitting here and questioning me. You should be out there someplace looking for them,¨ she said passionately.
His eyes stared at her dispassionately, and she decided at the moment that she didn't particularly like special agent Jungkook Jeon.
¨I assume you live here on the premises. Where is your room?¨
¨Just off the kitchen.¨ She caught her lower lip to keep it from trembling.
He raised a dark eyebrow. ¨And when was the last time you heard or saw the family?¨
¨Last night around eight. They went upstairs and I went into my room.¨
¨I'd like to see your room.¨ He stood and looked at her expectantly.
She felt as if he viewed her as a suspect, and she didn't like the feeling. She stood, her feet leaden as she thought about going through the kitchen to get to her room, the kitchen where she knew something bad had happened to people she loved.
She was acutely aware of him following behind her as she passed through the kitchen, where the two agents were fingerprinting the back door. They nodded to her as she went to the door that led to the suite of small rooms she had called home. There was a sitting room, a bathroom and two small bedrooms, one where she slept, and one that she and Jisoo had turned into a storage room.
The sitting room was relatively plain - a sofa, a rocking chair and a television. There were no knick-knacks or trinkets to mark the space as hers. She'd traveled light through life, with her brother as the only thing of importance to her.
Jungkook stepped into the room, and it instantly seemed to shrink in size. She became aware of his scent, a faint but pleasant woodsy cologne.
His eyes narrowed and a frown furrowed his brow as he took in the immediate surroundings. He glanced into the storage room and then stood in her bedroom doorway, his back a broad mountain in front of her.
Thank goodness there were no silk panties sneaking over the top of an open drawer, no lacy bra hanging from a door knob. Lisa was definitely grateful at the moment that she was a neat freak.
He whirled around to gaze at her speculatively. ¨ You were asleep right here, and you didn't hear anything in the kitchen that caused your concern last night?¨ his deep voice was rife with disbelief.
¨I get up at the crack of dawn, work hard during the day, and I sleep hard at night. I've always been a deep, heavy sleeper, and unless somebody screamed, I probably wouldn't have awakened.¨ She raised her chin a notch.
¨So you don't think anyone screamed.¨
She hesitated a moment and then shook her head. ¨I can't be positive, but I'm relatively sure that a scream would have pulled me from my sleep.¨
He held her gaze, and she fought the impulse to squirm. It was as if his piercing eyes attempted to crawl inside her head, look into her soul, and she realized at the moment that she was his number-one suspect in whatever had happened to the family she loved.
