Now With U (Living In The Past - Book 2) (WheeByul)

CHAPTER FOUR

"Okay. So what do we know so far?" Solar asked the room.

They were back at the station now, some still clearly disturbed by what they had just discovered. Jimin was especially quiet. He kept staring at the toy car in the plastic evidence bag. Everyone noticed it but decided to leave him alone for now.

"Shin Rin-Ah, age 12," Tae Hyung said, displaying the picture of the deceased young girl on the large screen.

WheeIn flinched. She diverted her eyes, looking at Jimin instead. She could handle seeing dead bodies but not dead children who had turned blue after being abandoned in the cold winter.

"What have you found out about her?" Solar asked again.

"Her fingerprints, dental records and even DNA are in the system. She was reported missing seven years ago by her mother. She disappeared from the small restaurant her family owned. The report stated that she always spent her afternoons in the restaurant while her mother worked there. It was just another normal day when she disappeared. The mother thought the child was playing right outside but found her missing a short while later."

"How short is that short while?" Byul asked.

"Almost half an hour. She called her, asking whether she'd want a snack but when there was no answer, she went out to check and couldn't find the girl anywhere," answered Tae Hyung.

"Half an hour isn't short to leave a five year old alone," Hwasa mumbled.

"It was quite busy at the restaurant that day, according to the family."

"Trace?"

"So far we've found nothing on the girl except the clothes she was wearing and her pocket contents," Sandeul spoke. He looked at Jimin. "There was a toy car and this piece of crumpled paper." He signaled for Tae Hyung to display the picture of the evidence on the screen.

The paper was torn and a bit dirty, like it was ripped out of a book in a hurry. It had the word 'Save us' written in messy Hangul and drawings of three stick figures. One is taller than the two and had long hair while wearing what looked to be a skirt. Another had short hair and was wearing pants - indicating it to be a boy - and the third also had short hair but was wearing a skirt. The last stick figure was the shortest among the three.

"Does this mean what I think it means?" Byul asked the room.

"Well..." Sandeul cleared his throat. "Hyung," he gently called out to Jimin. There was no reaction so he called again. "Hyung." A bit louder this time.

Jimin finally looked up. "H-huh?"

"The toy car." Sandeul pointed at the small object in Jimin's hand.

"O-oh. Right." Jimin straightened up in his seat. "I gave this toy car to Woo-jin when he turned four. Just a few months before he disappeared." He swallowed, placing the toy on the table. "I had it customized, put his initials on the hood." He pointed at the yellow 'WJ'. "Because he said he wanted to have his own race car." He smiled sadly at the memory of his cute nephew. "My friend painted this so I'm pretty sure it's one of a kind. He always carried it around with him. He had it when he was taken too. My sister confirmed it and even put it on the official report as one of the items he had on him at that time."

"Bo Mi had tested it for prints but couldn't get a clear result because there are simply too many fingerprints on that small object, overlapping each other," Solar said.

Jimin stared at the toy car. "Did she check for saliva?"

"What?"

"My nephew had a bad habit of chewing things he was holding. My sister had scolded him numerous times but every time he was bored, nervous or simply idle, he would still do it." He paused. "If he had had this with him all these years, he could've been chewing or sucking on it a lot." He looked up, meeting Hwasa's gaze.