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

BONUS CHAPTER - THE MURDER IN JEJU ISLAND 3

Bo Mi skips happily towards the table where her friends are having breakfast, greeting them with a chirpy "Good morning!" that makes them look at her as if she's gone crazy.

"What happened to you?" asks Byul.

"The forensic lab just called. We got results," says the tall woman. "But breakfast first," she adds as she goes to get some food from the buffet.

They wait until Bo Mi has finished her first plate before asking her what the lab found.

"First of all, we got the killer's DNA profile and it matches the blood on the towel," says Bo Mi. "They also found fibers stuck to the watch band and a blood smudge on the back of the watch. There's no prints except for the victim's, unfortunately, but the fibers match the hotel towel they found in the trash and the blood is the killer's."

"So the watch and probably the credit card too were wrapped in that bloody towel?" concludes Solar.

Bo Mi nods as she eagerly chews her food.

"Now all we need is the suspect," says the captain. "Let's hope they found-..."

She hasn't finished her sentence when her phone rings, flashing Lieutenant Kang's name on the screen.

"Hello? Yes, Lieutenant. What? That's great! Yes, Bo Mi has updated me. Of course. We'll be right there. Yes. See you soon. Thank you." She ends the call to see everyone at the table looking at her with wide, expectant eyes.

"They got him," she says, breaking into a grin. "Lieutenant Kang will fill us in on the details as soon as we get to the station."

"Let's hurry then," replies Byul.

-------------------------------------------------------

"Where did they find him?" WheeIn asks the Lieutenant who's standing next to her. They're watching the ongoing interrogation through the glass. On the next room are Solar and Jang-hoon, sitting across the man cradling his head in his hands. Byul is standing near the door, leaning against the wall with her arms folded across her chest.

"He was trying to sneak out of the island on a cargo ship. The captain recognized him as the man he saw on the wanted poster stuck to the port security's glass window," says Lieutenant Kang. "I let him sit in the holding cell all night, just to make sure he knows that this is one serious business."

"I didn't kill him!"

The suspect's voice startles the two people behind the glass.

"I didn't know he was IA!" the middle-aged man exclaims.

"What would you have done had you known?" asks Jang-hoon. "Would you have taken more care in killing him?"

"Wha-... OF COURSE NOT! I didn't kill anyone! I wouldn't have killed him even if I knew! I'd run the other way, yes. I'd probably leave the country or disappear but I will never kill him!" says the man.

"Then why did you run?" asks Solar.

"Because I knew that people would talk about seeing me with him and I do not want to be a suspect."

"Really? That's all?" Jang-hoon says. "What about the fact that you're here to meet with the local dealers? And all those money and drugs you took for your own benefit?"

"The meeting was his idea, okay?!" The man then lets out a long sigh and goes back to cradling his head, filled with regret.

"So you're not even going to deny the rest?"

"What's the use?" mumbles the man. "I know how things work and I know what I've told him. If he's IA, I'm doomed. It's over," he says, slowly lifting his head. "But I refuse to go down for murder. I did not kill him. I did not go anywhere near him that night. Like I told the officer who questioned me, I was out for a walk to clear my head. I know that sounds like a lame alibi," he continues. "But I'm not lying. I came back shortly after midnight and went straight to bed. Check the hotel security cameras."

"What about that shouting match at the bar?" Byul suddenly speaks up, eyes glued to the man who looks at her in surprise. "We knew you were with him at that bar before he went back to the hotel and got murdered. Who was the man that came shouting at him?"

For the first time that morning, they see a different glint in the man's eyes and his face suddenly hardens as he looks away, staring at the table without saying another word to them.

"Now that's strange," mumbles WheeIn, watching her friends and Jang-hoon trying to make the man talk. But it's as if he has retreated into his shell and refuses to talk. "Why is he suddenly so quiet? Who is that man to him?"

"I don't know but he's definitely hiding something," says the Lieutenant. "I'll ask my forensic team about the bar's CCTV recordings. Hopefully they found a clear image of that man." He then leaves the viewing room and WheeIn who's still observing the quiet man.

"One more question," Byul speaks again. "Do you happen to have a white car or knows anyone with a white car?"

The man moves to turn his head, raising his eyebrows at Byul, but says nothing.

WheeIn has returned to watching the ongoing interrogation when her phone vibrates in her purse.

She takes it out and raises her eyebrows when she sees the name flashing on the screen. "Hello?" she answers the call while taking a step away from the mirror, hoping that nothing's wrong.

"Hello. It's me, Imo," says Solar's mother. "Am I calling at a bad time?"

"No no, it's okay, Imo. Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine. Ha-eun skipped school today because she said she wasn't feeling well," says Solar's mother who then lowers her voice. "I think she just misses you so I suggested we call you."

"She's not sick, is she?"

"She's fine. Her temperature's normal and she's eating well."

"Ah good then. Sorry for troubling you, Imo."

"No trouble at all. Here. She wants to talk to you."

WheeIn waits for a second before she hears the voice that never fails to brighten her day.

"Hi Mommy."

"Hi baby. How are you? Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm okay now but I miss you."

"Aw... I miss you too," replies WheeIn, feeling her heart aching after being separated from her daughter for almost a week now. Even though she makes sure to call her every day while they're away, she still misses her a lot.

"When are you coming home?" asks the girl.

"I'm not sure. Maybe tomorrow or the day after tomorrow."

"What about Umma?"

"Umma too. I'm sorry, Ha-eun-ah. We'll try to get home as fast as we can but we still have work to do." She then grins when she hears her sigh, finding her very cute. "Just a few more days, okay?"

"Okay then."

"How's school?"

"Meh."

WheeIn can't help but chuckle. "Why?"

"It's boring. Mommy, I wanna go home."

"I'm sorry. Just a few more days and we can all go back home, okay?"

"Okay. Where's Umma?"

"Umma's working right now. I'll tell her to call you later. Is that okay?"

"I guess so."

"Don't sound so sad. We'll try to get home as soon as possible." She then notices the group next door moving to leave the interrogation room so she quickly ends the call with a promise that they would video call later that night.

Because the suspect has become completely unresponsive to their further questions, Solar, Byul and Jang-hoon decide to let the man have some time to think. They go to the viewing room where WheeIn is and everyone agrees that the suspect is protecting someone, most likely the man who yelled at the victim on the night of the murder.

An officer in uniform then knocks on the door and tells them that the Lieutenant needs to see them in his office.

As everyone walks out, WheeIn pulls Byul back and tells him about the sudden phone call just now.

The blonde inspector smiles apologetically, feeling the same guilt while finding it cute how much the girl misses them. She agrees to the video call later that night then they quickly catch up with the others.

Lieutenant Kang welcomes them at his office with a screen capture of the side profile of the man they're all curious about: the third person who was with both the suspect and the victim.

"It's not the best quality," he admits, "but it's the best angle we could get from the security cameras. I've issued an alert so every authority on this island is looking for him. I've also told my men to go back to the hotel and find out whether anyone there had seen him."

"Can we run his face through the database?" asks Byul. "I know it's just a side profile but maybe we'll get a similar hit."

The Lieutenant nods. "I've alerted the forensic lab. They'll be running a facial recognition search through our criminal database but it's a long shot."

"A long shot is still a shot," says Jang-hoon who then looks at Solar and her team. "Anyway, I'm going to call the Commissioner and ask him to let you extend your stay for at least another day. I know we're close. All we need is that third man."

Solar agrees and says that they would go back out there to find the white sedan and interview more witnesses.

On their way out of the Lieutenant's office, WheeIn suddenly gets an idea. She asks to review the suspect's phone records.

"Why?" asks Byul.

"Because to protect someone, you have to care about them," answers WheeIn. "And to care about someone, you need to have some kind of relationship or contact."

"I see. So we need to find a recurring call to a local number?" asks Solar.

WheeIn nods. "Or to a Seoul number that happens to be here during the past few days."

"Let's go find it then."

The three women go back to the small room assigned to them and once again go through the suspect's phone records.

WheeIn quickly finds the pattern, a recurrence of one specific local number that the suspect calls frequently, even before he came to the island for the conference.

"I'll ask Lieutenant Kang to check the number," Solar says, leaving the room with the paper in her hand.

"Good job," Byul proudly tells her wife. "Now if we could only find that white sedan."

"Let's hope the search at the car rentals and chauffer services pays off," WheeIn says. She checks her watch, sees that it's lunch time and asks whether they could go back to the seaside restaurant they visited yesterday but for a meal this time.

Byul agrees and asks Solar to come along.

Bo Mi has returned to the M.E's office to help him with testing several theories about the murder weapon so she skips the lunch, opting to meet them later.

As the three approach the restaurant, they make a startling discovery when they see a white sedan parked a distance away from the restaurant. It fits the description the witness gave WheeIn.

"Could this be..." mumbles Byul, slowing down as they drive past it.

"There's only one way to find out," Solar says, taking her phone out. She calls the Lieutenant, tells him what's going on and he immediately orders his men to pick up the witness who could recognize the car. Then he asks Solar to keep an eye on the vehicle, not letting it out of her sight until his men and the witnesses get there.

Byul parks her car down the street, making sure that they have a clear view and path to the vehicle should it start to move. She has her reservations about the situation since WheeIn's there but she has no choice. It's not like she can drop her off somewhere safe first.

To her relief, the Lieutenant and his men arrive an hour later with the witness who positively identifies the car as the one she saw the victim stepping out of on the day of the murder, all the way to the specific dent on the front bumper.

When the officers question the restaurant owner, he denies knowing that car, its owner or why it's there.

They run the license plate and it comes back to a small local chauffer service.

"I'm sure that the victim has used that chauffer service," Solar tells Byul and WheeIn as they sit down to eat after the Lieutenant assured them that he would immediately follow up on the lead and talk to the chauffer service owner. "The only part I don't understand is why leave the car here? When the investigation is clearly still active."

"Maybe they thought we wouldn't look in the same place twice," answers Byul. "One thing that's been bothering me though... How could a regular customer notice and recognize that car but not the owner?" she says in a low voice, her eyes fixed on the man serving his customers as if nothing is wrong.

"He was busy working maybe?" suggests Solar.

"He had enough time to accompany the victim for lunch so I doubt he was always that busy," counters WheeIn. "I agree with Byul. Something here feels off."

"Then let's just keep an eye on him until we hear from the Lieutenant."

The three continue their meal normally, casually talking about their friends and families until Solar gets the awaited call from Lieutenant Kang.

"The chauffer service owner is in the wind," says the Lieutenant. "He only has one other chauffer and a receptionist employed and neither of them had seen him today. They also hadn't seen the white car since days ago. They thought the owner had taken it home or out on a job."

"I see but did you find any link to our victim?" asks the captain.

"Yes but a circumstantial one. The receptionist said that when she asked the owner about a potential booking on the day of the murder, he said he wouldn't be able to handle it because he was meeting a client at the hotel and was booked all day. We asked for a picture of the owner and the receptionist showed us a picture of a man that looks similar to the angry man in the bar. So we're heading back there to ask witnesses whether it's really the same man."

"Has the car been brought to the forensic lab?"

"Yes. They're going to search for forensic evidence that could place our victim there. Your team member, Miss Yoon, will assist."

"Good. Thank you for the information. We're going to go back to the hotel to find out how the victim knew about this chauffer service," Solar says.

"Keep me updated."

After she updates Byul and WheeIn, she asks to be dropped off at the hotel while the two head to the station to continue digging through the victim's files.

"I want to follow up on your hunch," WheeIn tells Byul as soon as she has the laptop in her hands.

"Which hunch? The restaurant owner?"

"Yes." WheeIn starts typing, searching for background information about the restaurant owner. "He has no criminal records," she says, disappointed.

"Can you pull up the files on the chauffer service owner?" Byul asks. "Let's read up on that first," she says as she pulls a chair and sits down next to her wife.

"He has no criminal record either," WheeIn says after taking some time to read the file. "Well, there's a DUI once and some parking tickets but nothing else. Nothing severe."

"They don't keep his DNA, do they?"

"No. We only have his picture." WheeIn shows Byul the man's mug shot.

"Well, this is annoying," Byul says with a sigh. "I know that we're close but we need more evidence. There's a link somewhere. I know there is."

Right then, her phone rings and she answers the call. It's Solar telling her about the result of her talk at the hotel.

"One of the hotel concierges said he saw the victim getting into a white car," says the captain. "Which was weird because the victim had approached him first, asking about a similar car service. But he had forgotten about the request and when he remembered it, he saw him getting inside that car so he thought he'd asked another concierge for help."

"Why hadn't he come forward with this info earlier?" asks Byul.

"He was on leave from the moment his shift ended that day of the murder. Just came back to work today," answers Solar.

"So the question is how he got in touch with the chauffer service," mumbles the inspector. "And why he didn't use it for the entire day. Why did he walk from the first restaurant to the second?"

"I don't know. Has Lieutenant Kang found out anything new?"

"Not yet."

"Okay then. I'll go ask around some more. Update me as soon as you've found something."

"Will do."

As soon as Byul ends the call, WheeIn lets out a gasp.

"What is it?" the inspector asks her wife.

WheeIn points to the laptop screen. "Look! I knew the chauffer service owner had a brother from his social media posts but couldn't find a picture of him until I checked the restaurant owner's social media page and their mutual friends."

"They're related?!" Byul stares incredulously at the photo of the two men with a group of friends. The restaurant owner is tagged in the image and he's pictured with an arm around another man whose face matches the one in the DUI file they just saw minutes ago. Both men were wearing birthday hats and the caption says "Cho brothers' birthday party".

"This could be the break we're waiting for! I'll go tell Lieutenant Kang to bring that restaurant owner in!" exclaims Byul as she rushes out of the room.

================================================================================

Who do you think was it guys????  Any ideas???? 

Thanks for reading this joyfully....

Don't forget to vote guys....