the naked face || bts

nineteen

In the soundproofed, neon-lit communications centre at Police Headquarters, a dozen shirtsleeved police officers manned the giant switchboard. Six operators sat of each side of the board. As the calls came in, the operators wrote a message, put it in the chute, and sent it upstairs to the dispatcher, immediate relay to a sub-station or patrol car. The calls never ceased. They poured in day and night, like a river of tragedy flooding in from the citizens of the huge metropolis. Men and women who were terrified... lonely... desperate... drunk... injured... homicidal... It was a scene from Hogarth, painted with vivid, anguished words instead of colours.

On this Monday afternoon there was a feeling of added tension in the air. Each telephone operator handled his job with full concentration, and yet each was aware of the number of detectives and FBI agents who kept moving in and out of the room, receiving and giving orders, working efficiently and quietly as they spread a vast electronic net for Dr. Min Yoongi and Detective Park Jimin. The atmosphere was quickened, strangely staccato, as though the action were being staged by some grim, nervous puppeteer. Captain Kyungseok was talking to Lee Hyunmin, a member of the Mayor's Crime Commission, when Jungkook walked in. Jungkook had met Hyunmin before. He was tough and honest.

Kyungseok broke off his conversation and turned to the detective, his face a question mark. 'Things are moving,' Jungkook said. 'We found an eyewitness, a night watchman who works in the building across the street from Dr. Min's office building. On Wednesday night, when someone broke into Dr. Min's office, the watchman was just going on duty. He saw two men go into the building. The street door was locked and they opened it with a key. He figured they worked there.'

'Did you get an ID?'

'He identified a picture of Jimin.'

'Wednesday night Jimin was supposed to have been home in bed with the flu.'

'Right.'

'What about the second man?'

'The watchman didn't get a good look at him.' An operator plugged in one of the innumerable red lights blinking across the switchboard and turned to Captain Kyungseok.

'For you. Captain. Highway Patrol.' Kyungseok snatched up an extension phone. 'Captain Kyungseok.' He listened a moment. 'Are you sure?...Good! Will you get every unit you can in there? Set up roadblocks. I want that area covered like a blanket. Keep in close touch... thanks.' He hung up and turned to the two men. 'It looks like we got a break. A rookie patrolman spotted Jimin's car on a secondary road. The Highway Patrol's combing the area now.'

'Dr. Min?'

'He was in the car with Jimin. Alive. Don't worry. They'll find them.'

Jungkook pulled out two cigarettes. He offered one to Hyunmin, who refused it, handed one to Kyungseok, and put the other one between his teeth. 'We've got one thing going for us. Dr. Min leads a charmed life.' He struck a match and lit the two cigs. 'I just talked to a friend of his- Dr. Kim Namjoon. Dr. Namjoon told me he went to pick up Min in his office a few days ago and found Jimin there with a gun in his hand. Jimin told some cock-and-bull story about expecting a burglar. My guess is that Dr. Namjoon's arrival saved Min's life.'

'How did you first get on to Jimin?', Hyunmin asked.

'It started with a couple of tips that he was shaking down some merchants,' Jungkook said. 'When I went to check them out, the victims wouldn't talk. They were scared, but I couldn't figure out why. I didn't say anything to Jimin. I just started keeping a close watch on him. When the Taehyung murder broke, Jimin came and asked if he could work on the case with me. He gave me some bullshit about how much he admired me and how he had always wanted to be my partner. I knew he had to have an angle, so with Captain Kyungseok's permission, I played along with him. No wonder he wanted to work on the case- he was in it up to his ass! At that time I wasn't sure whether Dr. Min was involved in the murders of Kim Taehyung and Sang Ara, but I decided to use him to set up Jimin. I built up a phoney case against Min and told Jimin I was going to nail the doctor for the murders. I figured that if Jimin thought he was off the hook, he'd relax and get careless.'

'Did it work?'

'No. Jimin surprised the hell out of me by putting up a fight to keep Min out of jail.'

Hyunmin looked up, puzzled. 'But why?'

'Because he was trying to knock him off and he couldn't get to him if he were locked up.'

'When Jungkook began to put the pressure on,' Captain Kyungseok said, 'Jimin came to me hinting that Jungkook was trying to frame Dr. Min.'

'We were sure then that we were on the right track,' Jungkook said. 'Min hired a private detective named Kim Seokjin. I checked Seokjin out and learned that he had tangled with Jimin before when a client of Seokjin's was picked up by Jimin on a drug case. Seokjin said his client was framed. Knowing what I know now, I'd say Seokjin was telling the truth.'

'So Seokjin lucked into the answer from the beginning.'

'It wasn't all luck. Seokjin was bright. He knew Jimin was probably involved. When he found the bomb in Dr. Min's car, he turned it over to the FBI and asked them to check it out.'

'He was afraid if Jimin got hold of it, he'd find a way to get rid of it?'

'That's my guess. But someone slipped up and a copy of the report was sent to Jimin. He knew then that Seokjin was on to him. The real break we got was when Seokjin came up with the name "Don Vinton".'

'Cosa Nostra for The Big Man.'

'Yeah. For some reason, someone in La Cosa Nostra was out to get Dr Min.'

'How did you tie up Jimin with La Cosa Nostra?'

'I went back to the merchants Jimin had been putting the squeeze on. When I mentioned La Cosa Nostra, they panicked. Jimin was working for one of the Cosa Nostra families, but he got greedy and was doing a little shakedown business of his own on the side.'

'Why would La Cosa Nostra want to kill Dr. Min?' Hyunmin asked.

'I don't know. We're working on several angles.' He sighed wearily. 'We got two lousy breaks. Jimin slipped the men we had tailing him, and Dr. Min ran away from the hospital before I could warn him about Jimin and give him protection.' The switchboard flashed. An operator plugged in the call and listened a moment.

'Captain Kyungseok.'

Kyungseok grabbed the extension phone. 'Kyungseok here.' He listened, saying nothing, then slowly replaced the receiver and turned to Jungkook.

'They lost them.'