the music box killer | bang chan

15. two-faced

JIYEON'S POV:

"I talked to Jaemin," Chan says to me, sliding on dark aviators before stepping out into the morning sun for breakfast. Minho had quickly found himself addicted to the tea at the shop downstairs, so he was busy loading up on his morning fuel before joining us. It was good because it gave us a gap to discuss the messy situation in hand.

"What about?"

"I asked him to look into Minho. I think that's the first mistake we made, but within reason. We just let him waltz into the case without any background checks because he was a detective at Levanter. I can only imagine him to have a spotless record, but we still need to try," he shrugs. His frown suddenly turns upside down and he starts smiling widely. I look at him in confusion and turn my head, wondering what the sudden switch up was about. Only then do I take notice of Minho cheerfully making his way to us, a light hop in each step he takes. He looked a bit too happy for a criminal, whatever the logic behind that could be.

"I'm telling you, you need to try this tea! This is my second cup. I got one on the go," he says to us with unusual childlike innocence, eyes glinting with happiness as if the liquid in his hand was the love of his life. I knew he was getting comfortable around us, but it was just making it all the more difficult to believe that it was all pure deception. What was his real personality? Did he actually like tea? Shit, is his real name even Lee Minho? I just wish we had more proof to back up what we found out. 

"Oh, no. Tea makes me sleepy," Chan waves his hands in dismissal at the suggestion, trying to keep the conversation going normally.

We make small talk for a while after ordering our food, which was getting increasingly difficult. Now knowing that he was possibly a threat to the whole operation, I couldn't trust him with even the most insignificant details about the case.

My phone pings with a notification and I hold it under the table to check who the sender is. Seeing Jaemin's name displayed along with a message saying "CALL ASAP", I get extremely curious to find out what the matter was. Did he find anything about Minho?

I nudge Chan and discreetly show my phone screen to him under the table when Minho's not looking, giving him a pleading expression to help me get out of there without being too suspicious. He nods his head understandingly, trying to think up of something.

"Hey Jiyeon, how's your stomach cramp?" He suddenly asks, drawing Minho's attention away from his phone. I raise my eyebrow questioningly and he gives me a look. I get the gist of what he's trying to do and play along.

"Not that great," I say weakly, clutching my stomach for more dramatic effect. "Second days are the worst."

"You're on your period?" Minho inquires.

"Yeah. I'm not feeling my best," I lie through my teeth, knowing fully well that it just got over.

"You should take rest. Chan and I can handle things for today. I didn't know you were in pain all this while," he says with a sincere look, catching me off guard. It was really sweet to hear that, but it was disappointing thinking that he wasn't really the man he seemed to be.

"Really? I don't want to put all the burden on you two. It's not really fair if I skip out on work, is it?" I resist the idea at first. It wasn't like me to give in to rest so easily, and I knew that they knew that. It would only be more suspicious if I jumped aboard the idea without hesitation. 

"It's more than fair to let you rest. Trust me, men wouldn't even leave their beds for the whole week if they were menstruating," Chan says, adding a light chuckle at the end. I smile sheepishly.

"Well...I guess I'll just stay back and rest for an hour or two? I didn't sleep well last night, so I guess it's worsening my condition. I'll join you guys by lunch, I promise!" I say to them, taking my leave.

"Wait, Ji," Chan calls out. "Aren't you going to eat anything?"

"I'm not really in the mood for it," I say with a slight shrug and turn again to leave. I was, in fact, starving. But I had to get upstairs soon. Right as the words leave my lips, my stomach grumbles just loud enough for me to hear. Thank goodness there was enough commotion at the restaurant to conceal the noise.

Once I reach the lobby of the hotel, I get a text from Chan.

Chan <3
I'll get your food delivered upstairs, don't worry ;)

My lips tug up into a smile at the text, but then I remember the original reason why I am here in the first place.

I pull out my laptop and ring up Jaemin's number the second I set foot into the hotel room. We had no time to waste.

"Finally. I thought you'd never call," he says into the speaker.

"Sorry. It's hard to find space to talk when Minho's always sticking with us. What's up?"

"So, I did a background check as Chan asked and...it's safe to say that we were really stupid in letting him jump aboard the investigation without knowing him," he says, an air of disappointment evident in his voice. "You know, I didn't even have to search much. All the proof we needed was right under our noses the entire time."

"What do you mean? What did you find out?" I ask. His serious tone was making my stomach twist in anxiousness.

"Well, I started off basic with the Levanter Police Station. Pretty obvious that his employer would have some details about him, right?"

"Yeah."

"Guess what I found out. He never worked there. Heck, I doubt he's been to Levanter more than once," he says, frustrated.

"But- But didn't the Captain himself speak to us about him? What about that?" I ask.

"That's the interesting bit. I paid him a visit and he confessed that he was being held at gunpoint by our very own Minho when he was attending that call."

"What? At gunpoint? Like, actual gunpoint?" I ask, baffled. God, this was just driving me insane.

"Yeah. He had a gun to his head and threatened to kill his family and all. Poor old man. He didn't do anything to deserve that."

"This situation is getting out of hand. We need to do something soon. Anything else?"

"So far, not much. Just like I'd expect of anyone with a connection with Jisung, his personal records are pretty much spotless. Jiyeon, what are we going to do about this? It's going to be tricky, especially because you're not in town," he says, his voice softening in concern.

"I have no idea. I'll discuss with Chan once I get some time. Call me if anything else comes up, 'kay?"

"Will do. And stay safe, you two. It sounds like a terrible idea to knowingly room with a criminal."

I hang up the call and ponder over every little detail I knew about Minho. What was his deal? I couldn't tell what kind of game he was playing, but all I know is that he's damn good at whatever it is. I felt incompetent as a detective for blindly trusting him.

I think about the time when he'd been worried sick about me going to meet our anonymous tip, and his relief when he saw that I was back alive. In hindsight, he probably thought Jisung was after me. A part of me wanted to believe that he really did care about us, but that felt like a distant dream beyond reach. Just how much of it was a facade?

I hear the doorbell ring and I go to answer it, feeling my tummy cry with joy when I see a delivery boy carrying a little plastic bag in his hands. I gladly accept it and head back inside, unpacking the food and bringing out a plate and some cutlery. Food is fuel for the brain, after all.

I try to get my thoughts in order. What should I do now? It would be odd to text or call Chan right now, because Minho would definitely take notice of it and realize I'm not resting like I said I would.

Right. I should contact the authorities. I ring up the officer we had been coordinating our investigation with to update him on the situation with Minho. Being acquainted with such a high profile criminal made him equally as dangerous. We needed more concrete evidence to actually arrest him, so it'd be better if we kept a watch on him and tracked his activities.

Once that is done, I hop onto the bed and get out my laptop to find out more information on Jisung's files. Were there any details we had overlooked? Anything about another presence at the crime scenes?

Wait. I know exactly who we need.