“Your move, hyung.”

The eldest thought deeply about the different possibilities then finally moved a pawn on the board. Donghae and his brother were comfortably sitting in their living room, playing.

“Why did you suddenly want to play chess again?” Donghwa asked him.

True that his brother and he hadn’t played in while now. But there was a time when they did, every single day. Especially after the accident, since Donghae had to stay in the hospital for some time and so they would spend all their time playing chess. It was Donghwa who taught him and it was a symbol of their time together. And Donghae found that game quite relaxing…

“I just needed some perspective.”

“Is it about the case you’re working on, right now?”

Donghae smiled, his brother was too smart to hope to fool him.

“I am trying to see what his strategy is.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

The brunet hesitated. His brother’s opinion would be very helpful he was sure, but he didn’t know if he could actually talk about an ongoing investigation… But he decided that in the end it wouldn’t hurt… Donghae told him everything he knew about the Checkmate killer. After he was finished he saw that his brother was thinking deeply.

“What did you say the numbers he wrote were?”

“It’s chess moves and so I thought it was probably coordinates also.”

Donghwa nodded.

“But how can he move his pawns without an adversary? You can’t play chess alone.”

That’s what Donghae have been thinking about for some time now. That was THE big question…

***

The week end passed by in a blink of an eye and Monday morning Donghae was back at the NP. Even if it had only been a week, the young analyst was now familiarized with the locals, how things worked over there and with the people. He learned that each member with each one of their craziness was still of importance to the precinct. Kyuhyun was on his computer, while Leeteuk was sleeping on his desk, as usual, and the brunet was reviewing some old cases. Suddenly the red door of the lab opened in a fly and Yesung came out with Ryeowook, debating over something.

“I’m telling you its missing!”

“Maybe you put it somewhere else?”

“No, no no! I’m sure someone took it!” Yesung insisted.

“What’s the problem?” Donghae asked.

The red haired man turned to him frowning.

“My tuna sandwich!!!!”

“I’m telling you! You probably ate it and don’t even remember.” Ryeowook scolded him.

Donghae tried hard to stay calm and just sighed in exasperation. It was like this every single day, always for unimportant things… The two men continued arguing while Kyuhyun and Leeteuk just ignored them. Donghae was just wondering if he should do the same when suddenly, in the confusion of their fight, Donghae picked up on something.

“What did you just say?” he asked.

“It’s like the file that disappeared a few weeks back.” Yesung said.

“What file?”

“I was doing a review of the autopsy I did in an old case, when the file went missing.”

“I’m sure you also put it in the wrong place. That’s what happens when you don’t let me handle things.” Ryeowook commented.

But Donghae wasn’t in the mood to joke around. For some reason, that information seemed relevant, something was telling him it was important, and for a long time now Donghae had learned to trust his instincts.

“What was the case?”

“It was a murder of the Classic killer.”

“The name , doesn’t it?” Kyuhyun suddenly said, looking up from his screen. “It’s because he only left messages quoted from classical books.”

Donghae ignored the comment and waited for them to tell him more about it.

“It’s the serial killer that murdered Eunhyuk’s sister…”

For an unknown reason, Donghae’s heart clenched. He didn’t know the detective had such a tragic past. He who thought the guy was just a bully and a stupid ambitious detective, but he realized he was maybe much more than that and that his attitude was maybe justifiable.

Donghae was going to ask more about it but the two scientists were back to their argument and totally ignored him. Kyuhyun too had his attention back to his computer.

Suddenly the phone on Leeteuk’s desk started ringing. Half asleep the blond man answered.

“Yeah? Alright I’ll send him up.”

Then hanging up he turned to Donghae.

“The boss is calling you up.”

And he went back to sleep. Donghae frowned, finding it strange his boss wanted to see him, but at the same time he wouldn’t complain, it was always better than to listen to Yesung and Ryeowook arguing. When the brunet got up he immediately was taken apart by the other blond detective, he remembered was called Sungmin.

“This way new guy.” He said pushing him to an interrogation room. In there, Eunhyuk was sitting on a chair eyes closed. Sungmin just pushed Donghae in and closed the door behind, leaving only him and the thin detective in the room. He would’ve preferred if the blond detective stayed with him, the brunet had to admit that he was nervous being alone with Eunhyuk.

“I thought the boss wanted to see me.”

“Sit down.”

Suddenly Donghae felt uncomfortable. There was only one other chair in the room, in front of Eunhyuk, so he did as commanded and sat down. The other man didn’t say a word and Donghae also stayed silent, not wanting to break the heavy silence first. Then, finally, Eunhyuk opened his eyes.

“Now let’s get serious, who the hell are you?”

“Huh?!”

“How did you know there was something on the board?”

“There was something?” Donghae exclaimed, suddenly excited. “What was it?”

Eunhyuk leaned forward and put both hands under his chin, leaning over the table.