case 143 | lee felix

2. fixation

HWAYOUNG

I let out a blood curdling scream, sprinting to where Felix was behind the car.

"Hwayoung??? What happened???" He asks, panicking at my state. I shudder as I wrap my arms around him in fear. He hugs me back. I was usually not affected by gore but something about this disturbed me horrifically.

"Th-th-there's s-some-someone inside," I shakily let out.

"What? Who?" He asks, stepping forward. I take a deep breath, slowly following behind him. I can't be a detective if I can't handle these things. I mentally prepare myself this time.

"What the..." He gasps.

"We can't identify him," I say, regaining my composure. "I can barely even tell that's a person!" The upholstery was irrecoverably damaged, but that wasn't the important part.

It was the human...remains. Completely charred from head to toe without missing a single millimeter. Just a motionless, human shaped black mass placed on the driver's seat. 

"One thing is for sure. This is not an accident. It's a murder," Felix declares, sending chills down my spine. This was the most gruesome killing I had ever witnessed.

"Whoever did this clearly did it with the intention of destroying his fingerprints. Forensics will probably have to check his teeth or something to find the DNA. Let's leave that up to them."

I dare to go closer to the body, scrunching my nose at the smell. I switch on my flashlight for better closure and notice faint, blurred marks on the chest and grimace. I spot a discarded silver lighter engraved with a wing shape on it and put it into an evidence bag.

"This is probably a long shot because I can't tell how deep the charring of the skin is, but I'm 90% sure he was repeatedly stabbed in the chest. Look at these marks," I pull Felix towards me and point the light at the body of the deceased.

"Whoever committed this murder is roaming in the streets freely. We can't waste any time so let's call forensics right away. The probable scale of this investigation is too big for us to handle alone," he says, pulling out his phone to call the department. I cough to the side, retching as I feel the contents of my morning coffee rise up to the back of my throat. I pull down my mask and run to the nearest bushes to puke my guts out.

Felix rushes to me. "Are you okay? Is this too overwhelming? It must be the smoke, right? Let's get out of here," he bombards me with questions, guiding me out and away from the gas station. We walk far enough so that we can remove our masks and breathe a little. He hands me a bottle of water from the backpack.

"I'm so sorry, I'm really not in my best form today. I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm usually not like this," I gulp down the water, feeling the headache and the dizziness slowly ebb away. I really need to catch up on my sleep, especially if I'm going to be working on such a complex case for who knows how long.

"Don't worry, Hwayoung. You've proven more than enough what a capable detective you are. We all have our days," he says with a comforting smile, and I can't help but smile back. I felt much better.

"Thanks for dealing with whatever mess I was back there, I swear I won't bother you like that again," I chuckle, patting his arm in appreciation. We were waiting for the van to come pick us up from this hellhole.

"Come on, don't-"

Boom!

We both get startled at the sound and look up to find the gas station in flames.

"Shit, I think there must've been a leak. We need to run," he swiftly grabs my arm as we begin to sprint as fast we can without turning to look behind us. It could spread like wildfire.