Black Blue and Gold

Chapter 2 (Part 3)

Maybe One Day

Tiffany gagged and covered her nose with her hand.

Taeyeon took off her scarf and handed it to Tiffany. "Breathe through your mouth."

Tiffany took it without a word. She wrapped it around her nose.

"Are you sure it's him?" Taeyeon stepped inside the apartment – grimacing at the foul stench.

"Well, the ID card in the wallet says Choi Ilwoo," the man in the medical examiner uniform said. "I will check dental records and fingerprints to confirm."

"How long has he been dead?"

"Judging from the state of decomposition, I'd say a little less than two weeks. But the heater had been on all this time so it might be less than that. Go with a week. I'll reconfirm later."

"Thanks, Doctor."

Taeyeon saw the boys and the forensic team searching the apartment, taking pictures everywhere. She suddenly heard someone gagging and turned around to see Tiffany running out of the apartment.

"Joonmyun, check everything thoroughly. Yuri and Sooyoung, go talk to the neighbors, family, friends... everyone. Who found him?" Taeyeon quickly gave out the orders.

"The neighbor. He wanted to complain about the smell but found the door unlocked and this," Jongin answered – gesturing to the body on the floor.

"Yul, talk to him. I want to know how anyone failed to realize that the door wasn't locked all this time. Sooyoung, talk to the other tenants on this floor. Maybe one of them heard something."

"On it, Taeng." Yuri and Sooyoung left the room while taking their masks off in relief.

Taeyeon stepped out of the apartment to see Tiffany standing at the end of the hall, near an open window.

"Are you okay?"

Tiffany was pale. "Y-yeah." She was sticking her face out of the small crack of the window. She never felt so nauseated in her life.

Taeyeon took out a case of breath mints from her pocket. "Here. This usually helps against nausea even though only for a little bit." She put one of the white round candies on her palm then offered it to Tiffany.

Tiffany took it. She put it in her mouth. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Taeyeon rubbed Tiffany's back to soothe her. "Sorry. I didn't know the body was already in this state."

"It's fine." Tiffany took deep breaths. "Can I just wait downstairs?"

"Sure. Come on." Taeyeon walked alongside Tiffany. She didn't take her hand off Tiffany's back.

They were about to step inside the elevator when Joonmyun ran out of the apartment, looking for Taeyeon.

"Inspector Kim!"

Taeyeon stopped and turned her head. "What is it, Joonmyun?" She took her hand off Tiffany's back to hold the elevator open.

The excited young man showed Taeyeon a phone. "Apparently this man had a computer problem as well. He made a note to pick up his laptop last week from the same service center that Hwakyung went to."

Taeyeon raised her eyebrows. "Are you sure about this?"

He nodded. "Positive. This is a bit too coincidental, Inspector. Two ex-colleagues who had problems with their computers in the same week going to the same service center?"