In a Maze...

Chapter 13

After closing the drawers and retreating back the keys to the wardrobe, Mark moved quietly out of the room. It seemed everything was clear now. Jinyoung had deceived him so successfully.

He was more shocked and hurt by, than furious at this discovery, or at the fact that he had been fooled. A few minutes later he heard Jinyoung moving around in his room.

Mark remained in the living-room till Jinyoung came out fully dressed. Mark could not look straight into those eyes, which had betrayed him.

"Sorry, it was quite long. I was shaving and washing my hair. Let's go now?"

Mark just gave him a nod; he had decided against revealing what he had found out, to Jinyoung, and instead to report to the other detectives first before acting on his own.

They headed for the restaurant Jinyoung had chosen, by Mark's car. Jinyoung would talk once in a while, but Mark kept his silence, which Jinyoung must have assumed, was due to his focus on driving.

When they were seated for dinner at the restaurant, as well, Jinyoung seemed oblivious of Mark's intentional silence and his judging eyes. Mark felt that he had never actually understood Jinyoung. What he had always seen in Jinyoung, might be only on the surface. Jinyoung could be someone a whole lot different from who he had imagined.

"I always told my mother that I wanted a brother or sister," Jinyoung said, "But her health wasn't so stable and I'd to be satisfied with being an only child. I think she was upset about that and tried not to fail me in every aspect. Whenever something terrible happens to me, she's always the one who comes to my mind. I never understood why my father could forget her so easily and married to another woman. Maybe he didn't forget her but all the same, it was hard for me to accept his remarriage. You might not understand me but that's what I feel."

"So you despised your stepmother and stepbrother, to a certain extent," Mark said.

"I didn't want to but couldn't help it, either."

"Good that they're all gone now."

Jinyoung shifted, quite in discomfort, at those words, "It sounds heartless if you put it that way. Actually I don't know how to feel about that. But one thing for sure, is it's frustrating to be suspected of their murder," he looked into Mark's eyes, "But it's quite comforting to know that at least you want to trust me. And I feel a little better these days. Enough sleep, too. I owe all those to you."

If Mark had not had that knowledge of the weapons, he could have melted in those words, right there and then. The more sincere Jinyoung's eyes looked, the more dangerous he became in Mark's eyes.

Next day morning, when the detectives were assembled in the meeting-room again, Mark felt the dread rising in him. It was his duty to report what he had seen in Jinyoung's room, to his fellow detectives. But a part of him was still sorry for Jinyoung, and that frustrated him.

"This is a detailed profile of Chang Younghwan," Seongho started, referring to a file before him. He was going to continue but Mark interrupted him.

"Actually there's something I found out last night," Mark said, "Something important."

"From Park Jinyoung?" Minsoo asked, to which Mark gave a nod.

"Go on, Mark."

Mark drew a deep breath, "Last night, I was at his place. And I got into his room, without his knowledge. There, in a drawer of the bedside table, - in the third drawer, to be exact, - I found a knife, a gun and a silencer."

Silence fell and the other three detectives exchanged glances. "What did he say then?" Hyunwoo asked.

"He didn't know that I saw them. I thought I'd discuss this with you first."

"That's better," Minsoo said, "If you'd told him straight away, he'd have been alarmed and come up with excuses."

"That makes everything pretty clear," Hyunwoo said, "But his motive for killing Chang Younghwan? There's no possible motive."

"Actually, there's," Seongho said and pointed at the file, "I found something interesting there."

The other detectives' attention fell on him and he took the file, "To start with, Chang Younghwan was friends with Park Byungchul, Park Jinyoung's father. His wife died pretty young and left no children. Chang Younghwan was not only Park Byungchul's friend, but also his business partner. He was partners with Park Byungchul and another friend of theirs, who, however, left their joint business, when he was found cheating in the company finance. Anyway, so Park Byungchul and Chang Younghwan were left and continued to thrive in their business, but later they also parted their ways. Their shares were divided but anyhow, it was not half and half. Chang Younghwan received quite more than Park Byungchul. But there were no disputes or whatsoever over that. This all might be unrelated to Park Jinyoung. But there's this one aspect. Revenge."

"He might've kept that grudge against this old man," Hyunwoo said, thoughtfully.

"It's actually about time we took him here and interrogated him. We're taking too long a route," Minsoo said.

"But he'd refuse," Mark said, "Even though the weapons are there and we can point out his motive, it's not like we got those gun and silencer in the crime scene, with his fingerprints over them. So he'd still deny the evidence."

"This is true," Seongho said, "If we're not cautious enough, he'd still have us wrapped around his finger. But I also agree that we can't just let him be like that any longer. Now we're coming back to this. Surveillance. Put him under surveillance all day and night. Especially at night. This is also necessary to prevent any further murder."

"Yes, I think so, too," Hyunwoo said.

They all came to this decision and later reported to the chief. With the chief's consent, they contacted the surveillance team.