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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It was just after eight-thirty when he and Lalisa left by the front door, the heat and humidity already like a slap in the face as they walked outside.
¨I thought it was humid in Gwacheon, but this makes Gwacheon feel positively arid,¨ he said as they stepped off the porch.
¨That's why July and August are our slowest months of the year. We only had two couples booked for the next few weeks, and I emailed them this morning to cancel their visit.¨
¨Hopefully we can tie things up here before the next couple weeks.¨ Jungkook replied. He pointed toward a shed near a dock that extended out over the pond. ¨What's that?¨
¨It's a big shack. You don't think...¨ Her voice trailed off as if her thought was too horrible to say out loud.
¨I need to check it out,¨ he said grimly.
¨I'll wait here.¨ Her voice trembled as he left her side and walked into the planks at the front of the dock. The bait shop was an oversize shed and the door was closed.
From outside the wooden structure, he could hear the faint hum of something electric, probably a refrigerator and tanks to hold live bait. He pulled from his pocket a thin latex glove and then reached out for the doorknob, his heart taking on an unsteady rhythm.
He grabbed the doorknob, drew in a deep breath and then opened it. A woosh of relief escaped him as he saw exactly what he'd hoped to see: a refrigerator, several wells holding minnows, a screened-in box full of live crickets and no bodies.
He looked back at Lalisa and shook his head. Even from this distance, he could see the relief that washed over her pretty face. He met her on a graveled path that led near the edge of the water.
¨Does the pond have big fish?¨ he asked as they fell in step together.
¨Some of the guests have pulled out real beauties,¨ she replied. ¨Mostly catfish and bass and the ever present bottom-feeding carp.¨
¨Do you fish?¨
¨No way. This is as close as i ever get to the pond or any body of water bigger than a bathtub.¨ Her eyes darkened with a hint of fear. ¨I never learned how to swim.¨
He absorbed this information as he did every minute detail about her and his surroundings. ¨What other buildings are on the property?¨ he asked, focusing back on the reason they were taking this walk.
¨Just a big gardening shed, Chan's place and the carriage house,¨ she replied.
¨We'll check out the gardening shed, and then I want you to let me into the carriage house. It was too late last night to search there by the time we processed the kitchen and interviewed you, your brother and Chanyeol, but we need to check the place and make sure nothing is out of order there.¨
¨Okay,¨ she replied, her voice filled with anxiety. They walked in silence for a few minutes, following the path that edged the side of the pond. ¨You think I'm guilty of something, don't you?¨ she said, finally breaking the tense silence between them.
