And Nothing But The Truth

There was dead silence for a minute and a half.

Then someone began to laugh. Onew looked up and saw Kim Junmyeon laughing, the sound broken and harsh and false to the ears of all present. The older man was near tears. “You’re mad.”

“No, I am not mad.”

“You can’t think we’d believe that,” he managed, “That…Jongin would kill someone…”

“I do believe it, and I believe he did it twice more,” Onew responded softly. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Taemin slumped over, an expression of pure numb disbelief on his face. Onew had expected tears, even rage – not a simple, blank soullessness that spoke far more than words could have. Even Jonghyun, Key and Minho, usually quick to offer support to their newest and youngest, could only appear aghast at what Onew had just declared to them.

“I don’t believe you,” Junmyeon insisted.

Onew smiled sadly at him. “Would you believe me if I told you the entire story? It was really all very simple – we were wrong to believe the crime was committed on the spur of the moment. It was made to seem that way, that someone had alighted upon the idea when Jongin showed the revolver to all present. On the contrary, this was a carefully planned out crime, all details worked out right down to the timing of the phone call and the drugging of Doctor Zhang. The telephone call was a blow to the idea that this had been a spontaneous crime!

“Now, I’d gathered quite quickly on that first day that the murderer must have unlocked the door himself. Baekhyun’s trained servant complex, so prone to noticing if something was out to place, instantly made clear to me that the easel had been moved to cover that. The information from Mr Kim that Jongin had recently had his portrait painted by his uncle suggested to me that something was amiss there. Added to the fact that he was present when the body was discovered, it was possible, with these slender indications and the facts I gave you earlier, that Kim Jongin could have been the murderer.”

“So you have no proof that Jongin did either,” Junmyeon retorted.

“You’ve no real idea; we could sue you for slander,” Sehun added, but something in his tone lacked the usual venom. His lips were very white.

“On the contrary, because soon an event occurred that rendered all doubt superfluous. Byun Baekhyun was killed in circumstances that strongly suggested he’d been blackmailing the murderer due to the bank note clutched in his hand. When we interrogated him, he gave a very strange answer: ‘But sir, I was nowhere near… What could I have seen or heard? My room is on the other side of the hall. It is impossible that any of us should have heard anything. Naturally, if I had been unable to sleep, if I had walked through the halls, then perhaps I might have seen him, but it was not so.’ Now, why would he have said that?”

“He was hinting that he did see something?” Jonghyun considered.

“No, that was not my point. Why would he hint to us?”

“Because…” Jonghyun stopped short.

“Exactly. What money could we have given him? He could have told us if he knew who the murderer was, or he could have kept his mouth shut – unless he was attempting to force the murderer to agree to his demands. Remember, Jongin was in the kitchen then. And Jongin says, ‘Aren’t you being awfully harsh on him?’ It was an assurance to Baekhyun!”

“Jongin is injured – and he’s…he’s not capable of being so cunning!” Junmyeon argued, but his retort was feeble. It struck Onew then, sharply and painfully, that as much as Junmyeon loved his children, he might not have quite known them at all, so consumed by his work. And what children he had produced - an angry anarchist of a son, and a murderer. If only, Onew thought, and then shook his head.

“I disagree. Jongin had probably planned to murder Yifan at least a few days in advance from that fatal night. He’d likely discovered the pearl-handled revolver some time ago, and decided that it would be useful. It was then a matter of preparation and working out all the details slowly and carefully: the narcotic to remove Doctor Zhang he could easily request from the Doctor himself with the excuse that he was sleeping poorly. The keys he stole when Yifan had painted his portrait. And the telephone call he secured by obtaining the help of a friend. All was set for the night.

“Earlier in the evening, Jongin entered the kitchen and administered the narcotic to Doctor Zhang’s water. Jongin frequently went into the kitchen to meet with Kyungsoo, so of course the matter would not have been remarked upon. He did not want the vigilant doctor to wake up and put his finger in the pie. Later in the night, he unveiled the revolver before all those present – this was also beneficial to him as it cast suspicion on all present and made the crime appear, at least initially, as being a moment of opportunity rather than premeditated. He pretended to return the pistol to the cabinet, palming it in reality.”

Someone croaked out softly, “That can’t be.”

It was Taemin. He appeared near tears, and the sight stopped Onew for a moment, for he had never thought the younger as someone who cried easily in front of others.

Then Onew carried on, swallowing down his pity. “The household quickly retired, with Jongin waiting until he was quite certain that everyone would be asleep. I would estimate this was around midnight or later. He then stole down the stairs, unlocked the door of Yifan’s studio, shot him, and wrapped Yifan’s fingers around the revolver to confuse people. Then, unable to hoist himself over the window to get outside, he is forced to lock the door behind him with the key and go outside through the front door. That is where the plan begins to go wrong. Baekhyun had been wakeful; he saw Jongin and easily pieced together what had occurred when the body is discovered.

“But for the moment, Jongin goes ahead and takes Chanyeol’s boots, achingly and painfully creating the trail to frame the gardener. Remember that after the murder, Doctor Zhang commented that Jongin’s injury had gotten worse because he’d been exerting himself. Jongdae spots him because of his slow movements - it would take Jongin longer than the two to three minutes to go from Chanyeol's cottage to the house, but thankf