Dear Lawyer | Jikook ff

27 - Investigation (iv)

When it approached evening the next afternoon, Chief Kane returned to the villa compound, bringing with him 1.5 pieces of good news.

"One good news is—" Kane's gaze swept across each of the faces of the men and women standing or seated around. "Lawyer Jason Charles is out of immediate danger. He awoke an hour ago, stayed conscious for twenty minutes, and answered some questions for us with hand gestures. The doctor said that thanks to his weight, the pressure from his ascent was buffered to an extent..."

Coming to this point, Chief Kane couldn't help but grimace. "Naturally, his body shape is also part of the cause of this incident; I hope all of you will be more diligent in exercising and keeping fit. If you are overweight, don't obsess over sports like diving. Promise me to live a safer lifestyle, let us police answer less calls, got it?"

Everyone in the hall laughed, and the gloomy atmosphere that enshrouded the island all day and night was finally dispelled.

"I called it, a good man like Jason is bound to live a long life." Laura and the rest visibly let out a relieved exhale, cheering up significantly.

Jimin's heart also lightened. But not everyone appeared to have a weight off their minds.

His gaze unobtrusively scanned everyone present, and found that there were two whose expressions were incongruent with the rest, as if they were still bogged down by other troubles, or were simply zoning out.

One was George Manson, whose mood had been down in the dumps the whole time. When opening the door this morning, he had even accidentally toppled over a bottle of spirits. His pants still reeked of liquor.

The other was the instructor who was responsible for their safety on the dive, Chen Zhang. He was an average man in both appearances and build who always wore grey for his casual wear. He was very unobtrusive in a crowd and was often overlooked by others. At this time, his presence was greatly heightened, because as others were celebrating, for some reason, he appeared rather absent-minded. He kept fidgeting his left foot at a certain frequency; it was a habit that many people had when lost in thoughts or feeling uneasy.

His motions were very slight, and he quickly stopped as soon as he noticed. Aside from Jimin, most others had probably not noticed this.

However, there were many complex factors that could affect behaviour. Someone who looked innocent today could look suspicious the next day. It was difficult to discern if it was the person's mentality or the observer's mentality that had changed. After many years of practising law, Jimin was keenly aware of this point.

Compared to suspicions based on subtle outward gestures, he was more inclined to believe the lack of evidence and facts.

After all, for lawyers, presumption of innocence was an immovable principle of highest order.

He watched this for a moment, then calmly shifted his gaze away. He listened as Chief Kane started to deliver the second piece of news, spittle flying. "The other 0.5 good news is that based on some information given by Lawyer Jason Charles, when pieced together with the conversations we had with each of you, as well as the results from the scene investigation... the vast majority of everyone present has been cleared of suspicion."

"Then why do you say it's only half-good?"

"Because we hope to reach a conclusion through rigorous investigation, with no loose ends. A few of those more closely related to the incident will have to remain patient for another day," 

Chief Kane explained. "We have to conduct a second investigation. If we can confirm that everything lines up, then this incident is really just an accident of mistakenly taking the wrong diving suits."