Black, Blue, and Gold (Book 2)

The Murder in Jeju (Part 5)

The disheveled man slouches in his chair with his right hand wrapped around the handle of a half empty coffee mug. His stare is empty and he hasn't said a word after he calmed down from one of his drunken rage.

In front of him sits Mr. Cha, Lieutenant Park and Jisoo. Lisa said she'd observe first so she stays in the viewing room, looking at the quiet room next door.

Police officers found Lee Geunil after they got an anonymous tip. The tipper said that he saw someone who matched the description of the wanted murder suspect at a small, shady bar, picking drunk fights with patrons.

They brought him back to the station after plenty of threats and struggles to keep him in check.

Luckily, he has calmed down since then and when they told him that he was the main suspect in the murder of Manoban Dokho, he instantly shut his mouth and drank his coffee.

"Ready to talk, Mr. Lee?" asks Jisoo.

The man lifts his head and looks at the captain in silence.

"You've been told why we brought you here. Care to explain what happened two nights ago around midnight at the Ocean Suites hotel?"

"Hotel?" He frowns, as if trying to painfully search his memory. "What hotel?"

"The one where you picked up Kim Dokho before you took him to your brother's restaurant."

"Wha-... but that was lunch!"

"You came back later that night, didn't you?"

"I did not!" exclaims Geunil before groaning and holding his head in pain.

"But you knew he was dead, am I right?"

"..."

"Look. You killed a cop so no matter what lie you're going to tell us, we will make sure that you get the worst sentence. Maybe even a death penalty."

"But I didn't kill anyone!" shouts the man who winces in pain yet again. "I swear! I didn't kill anyone!"

"Then why did we find the murder weapon in your car?" asks Junho as he places the heavy bloody hammer on the table, startling Geunil.

"In my car?! How is that possible?! That's not my hammer! I don't own a hammer!"

"You tell us. We found it so you must've put it there."

"I have a small company and my employees have access to my car. They probably put it there," argues the man.

"We asked them and checked the company log. Your car has not been used by anyone but you since the day of the murder," states Junho.

"Best confess now, Mr. Lee. Maybe the prosecutor could take your confession into consideration and skip the death penalty," remarks Jisoo casually.

"I didn't do it!"

"So this isn't you?" Junho takes out the screen capture from the bar CCTV, pointing at the picture of the angry Geunil. "Threatening our victim?"

He slumps and sighs. "That's me. I was there and yes, I was angry. He... he took something that belongs to me."

"You don't have to be cryptic. We know about your relationship with Jung Seunghwan," says Jisoo. "You were jealous, weren't you?"

Geunil clenches his jaws and looks away.

"You offered to pick him up during the day and take him around the island. Maybe you wanted to threaten him or hurt him, but either you didn't get a chance or you lost your courage and changed your mind," Junho starts describing the possible scenario that he has discussed with Jisoo and Lieutenant Park earlier that night. "So you took him to your brother's restaurant but told him to get another car after that."