Neon Street: Red Herring

🎭5: Statements Alike

Present.

"Did the detective question you already?" Kit asked when he saw France in the hall. "He finished asking me a while ago. It's not as bad as I thought."

France raises his brow. "Not as bad? You probably have no idea about the damage he had caused already." He moved closer to Kit, shoving his hands in his pockets. "When the public finds out that a person got murdered in Chantelle Manor and that we are suspects, what do you think will happen to our family's reputation?"

Kit is clueless about things like that. His parents' positivity had always protected him from the real issues. Hearing that this case might affect his parents too made him feel twice worried. "What should I do, then?"

"You really have no idea?" France looks at him in amusement. "I've never met someone who doesn't know how to handle a situation like this. What the hell are you going to do when your company faces a problem?" Thinking that Kit wasn't worth his time, France left him and continued walking.

While scrolling through his feed, France heard someone humming. Her mesmerizing voice echoed in the hall, and France didn't mind stopping when he heard it. Am I hearing things? The voice grew louder, and he could sense it was coming closer to where he stood.

Just when he was expecting the person to show up, the humming suddenly stopped, leaving him confused. "Where did it go?" He asked and looked around. He suddenly saw Winnie standing at the end of the hall, her eyes growing wide in shock. "You?" 

Winnie couldn't bring herself to answer. Her heart was beating fast, and her thoughts began smoking in her mind. The grip she had on her handbag tightened as she stood there longer. 

"Why aren't you answering? Were you the one humming a while ago?" France asks, taking big steps towards her.

Winnie suddenly felt suffocated and ran away, returning to the hall where she came. 

It happened once again. 

France has no idea why Winnie always ends up running away from him whenever they cross paths. It also happened days ago when he went to the unmanned convenience store within the hotel. Winnie seems fine talking to other people. But, when it's just them, she freezes and starts catching her breath. 

France did try doing something about it. He approached Winnie one day to ask her why she was like that. Or if he has done something that made her act like that. To his disappointment, the only answer he got was a loud slamming of her door.

"Does she like me?" He lifted his head, trying to figure it out. "If that's the case, why would she run? How odd." There wasn't much to think about. He didn't really care about his admirers. Winnie only got him curious. Unlike everybody else, she's running away from him.

Winnie took the stairs and returned to her room. She had plans to shop for clothes this morning. But, now that she had crossed paths with France, she was too terrified to go out again. "Why is this happening? The more I avoid him, the more chances I bump into him." She turns at the carved door, gulping for her life. "I shouldn't have come here."

8 hours ago at a nearby café.

"Who are you, and what were you doing at the hotel? Clearly, you're not one of the guests because you were hiding from the cameras," said Lloyd.

The guy lifted his head and faced him. "Fin Kim. I once worked at the hotel, but they fired me after I found Kane's body. I wanted to ask them why I was wrongfully disposed of when I didn't do anything. I didn't even break anything in the contract."

Lloyd furrowed his brows. "You were the one who reported the body?" So that's why the manager couldn't bring him to me. They fired him. "Were you able to ask them? What did the management say?"

"I couldn't because you went after me. I thought you were someone suspicious, so I ran." Fin took a sip from his coffee and looked at the notebook Lloyd had in his hands. "Were you there to question the guests?"

"Nine of them, to be exact. I already talked to two of them this morning. It's fortunate to bump into you, though. I had questions to ask you." Lloyd leaned against the table and quietly asked. "When you saw the body, did you notice any weapon that the killer must've used? Anything?"

"I couldn't think straight that morning because I was too shocked. But, there was no weapon anywhere. All I saw was blood and Kane's body on the floor," Fin answered.

"Why were you around at that hour? They said you found her before the sun even rose."

"Are you suspecting me, Mr. Detective?" Lloyd cleared his throat at what the other said. "It's okay. I get that it is part of your work. I was assigned to patrol the building that morning. I wasn't expecting to find myself in that situation, though."

Lloyd immediately remembered Geo's statement. He anxiously looked Fin in the eye. "Where were you when the blackout happened. I was told that the staff is at the party, but I just want to make sure."

"I was left in the main building." Lloyd's suspicions immediately grew. "I was supposed to go with the others to the party. But my senior asked me to stay behind to look after the guests who didn't attend."

"By any chance, did you meet Geo Jung that night?" Lloyd continues.

"He asked me to unclog his toilet. What I find strange is he wasn't there anymore after the lights went out." 

Lloyd quickly wrote that down in his notebook. "Geo Jung?" Then, does that mean Geo was telling the truth when he said he saw someone going downstairs before the blackout? But, I can't trust that he saw Swan Kim. His memory must've gotten the faces mixed up. "What else? Anything unusual that night?"

"Nothing else. I couldn't leave the room because I had to fix the toilet. I would've seen more and prevented the murder if I left." Lloyd furrowed his brows. He was fixing the toilet without electricity? "Do you have anything else you wish to ask me?"

"I'll get back to you when I need to clarify anything." He took out his calling card and gave it to Fin. "If there's anything you forgot to say, call me by that number. Thank you for cooperating." 

Lloyd left the building and headed back to the station first. "I have to know the person he saw. The cameras would've caught who left their rooms before the blackout, right?"

He played the footage of that night and watched every room closely. Seven minutes before the blackout, it's clear that Swan, indeed, has left the room. "So, it was really Swan?" He set aside that thought for now and waited if anyone else had left the room. Approximately fifteen seconds before the blackout, Triche was caught by the camera, running to the stairs. "Triche Moon?" The screen turned black, indicating that the footage ends right there.

Lloyd was puzzled. "So... who did Geo Jung see? Swan or Triche?" He replayed the video and realized that the two had similar clothes too. Triche wore a white jumpsuit with her short hair braided. Swan was also wearing a white jumpsuit, her hair tied to a ponytail. "My only hope is their hair. I have to know which hair Geo Jung saw." Lloyd grabbed his jacket and drove back to Chantelle Manor.

--

Yes. Hair🤧 

Another flashback is coming on Thursday! I'm really excited about this part 'cause it's time for my mains🙈 I hope the chapter was entertaining enough, and HOPEFULLY I could update two consecutive chapters on Thurs and Fri💖