Broken Cause [Book 1]

Chapter 2 (Part 3)

Chaeyoung gagged and covered her nose with her hand.

Lisa took off her scarf and handed it to Chaeyoung. "Breathe through your mouth."

Chaeyoung took it without a word. She wrapped it around her nose.

"Are you sure it's him?" Lisa stepped inside the apartment - grimacing at the foul stench.

"Well, the ID card in the wallet says Choi Ilwoo," the man in the medical examiner uniform said. "I will check dental records and fingerprints to confirm."

"How long has he been dead?"

"Judging from the state of decomposition, I'd say a little less than two weeks. But the heater had been on all this time so it might be less than that. Go with a week. I'll reconfirm later."

"Thanks, Doctor."

Lisa saw the boys and the forensic team searching the apartment, taking pictures everywhere. She suddenly heard someone gagging and turned around to see Chaeyoung running out of the apartment.

"Minhyung, check everything thoroughly. Jisoo Unnie and Seungwan Unnie, go talk to the neighbors, family, friends... everyone. Who found him?" Lisa quickly gave out the orders.

"The neighbor. He wanted to complain about the smell but found the door unlocked and this," Eunwoo answered - gesturing to the body on the floor.

"Jisoo Unnie, talk to him. I want to know how anyone failed to realize that the door wasn't locked all this time. Seungwan Unnie, talk to the other tenants on this floor. Maybe one of them heard something."

"On it, Lis." Jisoo and Seungwan left the room while taking their masks off in relief.

Lisa stepped out of the apartment to see Chaeyoung standing at the end of the hall, near an open window.
"Are you okay?"

Chaeyoung was pale. "Y-yeah." She was sticking her face out of the small crack of the window. She never felt so nauseated in her life.

Lisa took out a case of breath mints from her pocket. "Here. This usually helps against nausea even though only for a little bit." She put one of the white round candies on her palm then offered it to Chaeyoung.

Chaeyoung took it. She put it in her mouth. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Lisa rubbed Chaeyoung's back to soothe her. "Sorry. I didn't know the body was already in this state."

"It's fine." Chaeyoung took deep breaths. "Can I just wait downstairs?"

"Sure. Come on." Lisa walked alongside Chaeyoung. She didn't take her hand off Chaeyoung's back.

They were about to step inside the elevator when Minhyung ran out of the apartment, looking for Lisa.

"Inspector Manoban!"

Lisa stopped and turned her head. "What is it, Minhyung?" She took her hand off Chaeyoung's back to hold the elevator open.

The excited young man showed Lisa a phone. "Apparently this man had a computer problem as well. He made a note to pick up his laptop last week from the same service center that Hwakyung went to."

Lisa raised her eyebrows. "Are you sure about this?"

He nodded. "Positive. This is a bit too coincidental, Inspector. Two ex-colleagues who had problems with their computers in the same week going to the same service center?"

"You might be right. Text me the address of the service center. I'll go down there to find out more about this."

"Will do, Inspector."