Chapter 3-3: You're more of a detective

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by TemporizingWriter

by TemporizingWriter

"Ugh, I should have known something was off about that guy's screen name," the woman mumbled.

Detective Park removes the women's handcuffs, us all now back at the police station. The woman massages her wrist frowning.

"I'm sorry," Detective Park sounds disheartened. He pressed the woman for answers, but she quickly proved her innocence. "Why did you try to buy second-hand?"

The woman becomes enraged by his additional comment. "Is buying a second-hand phone illegal now? Do I look like I would kidnap a child? Can the police do their research?"

Detective Park gives us the death glare. But both Namjun and I pretend not to notice.

"That cell phone belongs to a missing girl..." He tried again.

"Excuse me," but the woman would not budge. "Are you trying to question me again?"

Detective Park shook his head quickly. "No, definitely not."

"You should check the trade site history," the woman says, crossing her arms. "I wanted to return it. He said it was brand new, but it had that dumb sticker and a ton of dents. I'm already mad about it, getting ripped off and now this!"

The woman had only been trying to buy a used cell phone. She wasn't a suspect.

"Thank you." Namjun, who has been watching silently, suddenly speaks to the moment. She gives him a bolder look, confused by the sign of things.

What's he thinking? I am intrigued.

"Your help led us to a clue.

I furrowed my brows. Clue?

"Thank you for turning on the phone when you did," Namjun went on. "I'm sorry about all the trouble it has cost you since."

Namjun's polite thank you and apology go a long way towards softening the woman's stony expression.

She sighs. "At last, someone civilized!"

Sensing an opportunity Namjun asks more questions. "Do you happen to have the number you used to contact him?"

Woman shook her head. "It was a temporary number."

"Can you give us that at least?" I piped up shyly.

The woman looks me up and everyone else up and down. She sat straighter. "Well, okay. On one condition."

Detective Park steps forward. "Anything. I swear on my badge."

The woman instantly frowns. "Not you. Him." she gestures to Namjun. "I want to talk to him. He seems competent. Make sure you catch that clodman."

Namjun smiles as he answers. "Of course."

She nods then writes down a number on a memo pad to answer.

Detective Park frowns. "I'm the detective here!"

But no one responds. The woman slides over the memo to Namjun, and is eventually let go.

"All right," Namjun announced, satisfied. "Our first order of business is to trace his phone number."

Receiving orders from Namjun leaves the detective looking very taken aback. "But you can't just boss me around like that!" Despite Park's complaints. He makes a call for support.

"We'll have to go back to the surveillance control room in Gangnam," Namjun says.

"That man..." I trail off.

But Namjun understood, nodding. "Yeah, we have to find him and Jiyoung's cell phone and Jiyoung."