the naked face || bts

fourteen

The coroner's men had finished their work and gone. Seokjin's body had been taken away and everyone had departed except Yoongi, Jungkook, and Jimin. They were sitting in the manager's small office, decorated with several impressive calendar nudes, an old desk, a swivel chair, and two filing cabinets. The lights were on and an electric heater was going. The manager of the plant, a Kang Seowoo, had been tracked down and pulled away from a pre- Christmas party to answer some questions. He had explained that since it was a holiday weekend, he had let his employees off at noon. He had locked up at twelve-thirty, and to the best of his knowledge, there had been no one on the premises at that time. Mr. Seowoo was belligerently drunk, and when Jungkook saw that he was going to be no further help, he had him driven home.

Yoongi was barely conscious of what was happening in the room. His thoughts were on Seokjin, how cheerful and how full of life he had been, and how cruelly he had died. And Yoongi blamed himself. If he had not involved Seokjin, the cheery detective would be alive today. It was almost midnight. Yoongi had wearily reiterated the story of Seokjin's phone call for the tenth time. Jungkook, hunched up in his overcoat, sat there watching him, chewing savagely on a piece of gum. Finally, he spoke. 'Do you read detective stories?'

Yoongi looked at him, surprised. 'No, why?'

'I'll tell you why. I think you're just too goddamn good to be true, Dr. Min. From the very beginning, I've thought that you were in this thing up to your neck. And I told you so. So what happens? Suddenly you turn into the target instead of the killer. First you claim a car ran you down and-'

'A car did run him down,' Jimin reminded him.

'A rookie could answer that one,' Jungkook snapped. 'It could have been arranged by someone who's in this with the doctor.' He turned back to Yoongi. 'Next, you call Detective Jimin with some bullshit story about two men breaking into your office and trying to kill you.'

'They did break in,' said Yoongi.

'No, they didn't,' snapped Jungkook. 'They used a special key.' His voice hardened. 'You said there were only two of those keys to that office- yours and Ara's.'

'That's right. I told you- they copied Ara's key.'

'I know what you told me. I had a paraffin test run. Ara's key was never copied, Doctor.' He paused to let it sink in. 'And since we have her key- that leaves yours, doesn't it?' Yoongi looked at him,  speechless. 'When I didn't buy the loose maniac theory, you hire a detective at random off the net and he conveniently finds a bomb planted in your car. Only I can't see it because it's not there anymore. Then you decide it's time to throw me another body, so you go through that charade with Jimin about a phone call to meet Seokjin, who knows this mysterious nut who's out to kill you. But guess what? We get here and find him hanging on a meat hook.'

Yoongi flushed angrily. 'I'm not responsible for what happened.'

Jungkook gave him a long, hard look. 'Do you know the only reason you're not under arrest? Because I haven't found any motive to this puzzle yet. But I will. Doctor. That's a promise.' He got to his feet. Yoongi suddenly remembered.

'Wait a minute!' he said. 'What about Don Vinton?'

'What about him?'

'Seokjin said he was the man behind all this.'

'Do you know anyone named Don Vinton?'

'No,' Yoongi said. 'I assumed he'd be known by the police.'

'I never heard of him.' Jungkook turned to Jimin, who shook his head. 'Okay. Send out a make on Don Vinton. FBI. Interpol. Police chiefs in all major cities.' He looked at Yoongi. 'Satisfied?'

Yoongi nodded. Whoever was behind all this must have some kind of criminal record. It should not be difficult to identify him. He thought again of Seokjin, with his stupid nicknames and his quick mind. He must have been followed here. It was unlikely that he would have told anyone else about the rendezvous, because he had stressed the need for secrecy. At least they now knew the name of the man they were looking for.

Praemonitus, praemunitas.
Forewarned, forearmed.

.

The murder of Kim Seokjin was splashed all over the front pages of the newspapers the next morning. Yoongi picked up a paper on his way to the office. He was briefly mentioned as being a witness who had come across the body with the police, but Jungkook had managed to keep the full story out of the papers. Jungkook was playing his cards close to his chest. Yoongi wondered what Hoseok would think. This was Saturday, when Yoongi made his morning rounds at the clinic. He had arranged for someone else to fill in for him there. He went to his office, traveling alone in the elevator and making sure that no one was lurking in the corridor. He wondered, even as he did so, how long anyone could live like this, expecting an assassin to strike at any moment. Half a dozen times during the morning he started to pick up the phone and call Detective Jimin to ask about Don Vinton, but each time he controlled his impatience. Jimin would surely call him as soon as he knew something.