Broken Cause [Book 1]

Chapter 1 (Part 2)

Lisa stretched and yawned. She disliked graveyard shifts but sometimes a lead in a case came at an unexpected time so she had no choice. She stood up from her chair after switching her computer off. "Let's go home, Unnie," she said to her teammate.

Jisoo looked up from her computer screen. "You don't want to wait for the noisy kid?"

"We'll see her tomorrow anyway." Lisa grabbed her jacket and put it on. "What have you been reading?" She approached Jisoo's desk.

"I'm trying to find this 'Kitty' lady that man mentioned."

"How? By Googling?" Lisa grinned.

"Been going through every database we have for such nicknames in previous cases."

"I don't think she's in the system."

Jisoo looked at Lisa - confused. "Why did you say that?"

"You heard the guy. This girl is a college graduate. Smart enough to predict every bet's win so probably a math major? Only been working for them recently... I'd say we're looking for a young, recently graduated female student who came from a middle or low class family."

"Why?"

"She needs the money. High GPAs don't necessarily mean high paying jobs these days. Probably needs to pay off tuition loans?"

Jisoo frowned - returning her eyes to her screen. "So how are we going to find her?"

"Not by searching criminal databases, that's for sure."

"So what? University databases?"

"You know it's impossible to search for a nickname in those databases. Let's just go home, sleep then come back tomorrow with fresh minds. We'll figure something out. Seungwan might have better luck than we do." Lisa moved back to her desk. "Besides, we have that ahjussi now. He'll lead us further slowly but surely." She took her bag out of a locked drawer and shouldered it.

"You trust him?" Jisoo leaned back in her chair. She spun it around a bit in Lisa's direction.

"No but he's all we got right now. And I think he won't let us down."

"Why is that?"

Lisa raised her eyebrows. "Twenty years in prison?"

"Hm. True."

"Go home, Unnie." Lisa started to walk away. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"See ya."

--

Lisa sighed once she stepped inside her quiet apartment. She took off her shoes and jacket, walked to the living room and threw her bag on the couch.

She went to the bedroom, placed her badge, phone and wallet on the nightstand then took off her holster. She stored her gun safely in the drawer then threw herself on the bed.

She closed her eyes.

There was a time when Lisa wouldn't be greeted by silence after a long day at work. But her job was dangerous and didn't exactly leave much time for anything else. There was only so much that other person could take so she was left alone after more than a year of sharing her apartment.

She let out another sigh and tried to keep her mind on the current case, going through the case details starting from the murder of Choi Kyujun up to the latest arrest of Lee Jukchae - both money collectors working for the same unknown person.

She fell asleep a few minutes later.

--

The sound of the alarm woke her up. She groaned when she felt a slight throb in her head. One would think that after years of irregular and lack of sleep, she would get used to it by now. She never did. She always woke up with a slight headache when she didn't get enough sleep.