Red Alarm [A Detective/Thriller Story] DISCONTINUED

Chapter 11

"You re-investigated the murder of Mcintosh?!" the chief placed a hand on his bent down head. "Without my consent?!"

His orders were clear about discontinuing the case for the sake of SSO's reputation along with the rest of the police force and out of all people, his own daughter, Atarah, was the one who disobeyed him. She sat on the couch facing her fathers sermons but her thoughts were still left with the incident in the cemetery. Many of them died through wrongful deaths, she was drowning inside their thoughts and pleads.

"We found a lead this time chief," Cole defended the girl from her father.

"And what? Will this lead to another dead end again?" he said having too many doubts in his mind.

"If that happens, I'll take full responsibility," he bravely stood up replying to his negative comments.

Both officers were dismissed. They head back to their headquarters and rested their backs on the chairs. Two more hours - that was the time they needed to wait before finding out if the DNA from the body matched the substance from the dumpsters. If Atarah's eyes and Cole's suspicions were true then this case wasn't hopeless at all but if it wasnt the case, the police would suffer another wave of humiliation from the press and the public.

Meanwhile, the rest of the SSO: Detective Hopkins, Officer Gonzales and Officer Millard, were dumbfounded with everything that had happened. Their own team captain and the best detective (in which Hopkins did not agreed on) in their team were keeping it a secret. The next thing they knew they were receiving a phone call saying that the cold case from last year just came back to life.

They stood up, narrowing their eyes to the both of them.

Sam had high hopes in the young team captain. "How could you do this to us lieutenant?"

"Yeah," Khen agreed then turned his gaze to Cole. "I feel totally betrayed."

She gave out a heavy sigh. "I'm really sorry for keeping it all from you guys," she said in a weary tone.

"We just needed enough evidence for the case to go on," Cole explained. "We didn't want to waste your time if this was all just a wild goose chase."

As much as Hopkins hated the young detective, he wanted SSO to function as a whole and not just one or two. "Well, let us carry your burden too."

"We're all in this together," Sam agreed.

"Officer Millard," called out an officer who was talking to the phone. "Someone wants to talk to you."

The officer headed over to the man's desk and picked up the phone from his hand. He looked at his team while hearing the message of the person who was on the other line. After hanging up, he rushed over to his seniors.

"I need to go to Uncle Jung's."

"Did something happen?"

He gave out a nod. "He found his wife lying on the floor dead."

The Min Guk's apartment was covered with police tape labeled DO NOT ENTER. Soon enough, Officer Millard arrived together with Lieutenant Camembert and Detective Carter. They wanted to get their mind into other things before finding out the results from the samples. They showed their IDs and entered the yellow taped door. Mr. Jung-il was sitting on the chair with two policemen who were asking him a bunch of questions. The forensics were brushing off every parts of the room, from counter tops to the wooden table.

Officer Millard leaned closely to the body, but not too close as to tamper with the evidence. The woman was lit open. Her neck was red due to strangling from the tied rope on her neck. Not only that, but there were multiple stabs on her chest. Forensics expected it was more than five but they have to wait for the autopsy to find out.

"I brought extra chilli since shes making kimchi today," he looked at his wife, covered with a white blanket, who was being carried by the cops. "I opened the door and saw her dead on the floor!"

Khen knelt down to level his eyesight at the weeping man. "We will find whoever is responsible for this."

Mr. Jung replied with a silent nod.

The wind blew the silk curtains. The officer peeked through the open window. The killer must have seen Uncle Jung from up here and did not have time to clean up his mess. He even left the murder weapon inside the building.

"Her husband told us that the knife was close to the door when he swung it open and it clattered away," a policeman said.

The police stepped aside for the SSO to see the bloody knife placed in a plastic container.

"Did you already scanned for fingerprints?" Cole asked.

The officer shook his head. "Not yet. They will in a minute."

Khen wanted to help by all means. Jung-il had been a fatherly figure to him for all those years, the only thing he could do was help with the investigation.

"Let's head over to Alester lane," he suggested. "Their son lives there. He should know that his mother is dead."

~ ⚜️ ~

He knocked on the door. A bulk man opened the door, he wiped the sweat on his forehead.

"Is Felix here?" he asked.

"He's still working, I guess," the man replied.

The officers entered the place. The room was like a spot the difference game, and that they would easily win. Except for both half having similar colored beds, the rest were all different.

The other side was neatly cleaned - books placed in a perfect color combination on the shelves, the desk completely spotless, while the other part was a garage sale - clothes scattered on the floor, cigarette butts left burns on the table. The man chuckled as they viewed the filthy side of the room.

"Sorry about that," he poured some coffee for the cops. "Felix rarely cleans his mess."

"Last time I checked he was living alone," Khen said.

"I came from the military last month," he explained. "Felix couldn't afford the whole rent so we decided to split it in half."

"Will he be here soon, Mr?" asked Atarah.

"Jackson, miss. Jackson O'Neil," he smiled. "Yes, he will be soon."

Another man barged in. His body was like a living gallery with his tattoos and he had three piercings: one on his right ear and two on the other. The orange haired dude looked at the unexpected visitors.

"Hyung,"he spoke to Khen. "What's with the sudden visit?"

"Felix," the officer stood up. "You see..."

Suddenly, they were interrupted by the distant wailing of sirens, growing louder and louder. They didn't call for backup, did they also wanted to inform him about Mrs. Min Guk's sudden death? More policemen entered the room, however, instead of carrying a pen and notepad, one of the officers was carrying a handcuff.

"What the heck are you doing? Let me go!"

They grabbed Felix's arms and yanked him on the ground.

"What are you doing?" Khen questioned.

"We were just about to inform him that his mother is dead," Atarah interrupted the cops.

Felix's eyes widened. His body was slowly loosing its energy. From the tough persona that he displayed, he became a frail man who had dropped on his knees. "M-mom w- what?"

The cop who was tugging him acknowledged his statement with a condescending sneer.

"You should know better, you punk."

The visiting officers were baffled by what hed just said.

"Because you were the one who killed her."