Jongdae carefully checked his surroundings before getting back into the car, making sure no one in the dark night was able to see him.

“Here we go.”

He handed one of the brown delivery bags that he was carrying over to Minseok – who was on the driver’s seat – and kept the other one to himself.

“They didn’t have orange juice, so I got you a grape one.”

He explained as he placed the drinks in the cup holders.

“That’s okay.”

Minseok responded, taking a sip from his juice and then proceeding to unwrap his warm burger out of its paper package.

The two had been at it for hours already, and they were more than due another snack, so those burgers were a brilliant idea.

Their car was naturally parked on the side of the street, among many others – they requested a civilian car to be able to blend in perfectly and not scare the robbers away – and they had a perfect lookout into the cemetery; precisely where the newcomer’s grave was. Per that being a very small installation, it also lacked in staff, and was very badly guarded, as it was only surrounded by a small iron fence. It seemed like the perfect target, and the duo was more than hopeful that they’d put an end to the case that evening.

It would definitely be a good boost to their ego to be able to solve the case in just one day. But once again life didn’t seem to want to make it easy for them.

In the early evening, there were still quite a few people walking around on the streets, so they knew that the thieves would not act yet. They enjoyed those early hours to relax a bit more, taking turns to go buy snacks, or to take naps; but they made sure to always have one of them keeping an watchful eye on the grave, letting nothing pass by. When the night deepened, and the streets grew quiet, the detectives became more alert, ready for something to happen at any minute. But there was nothing but silence out there. They wished to remain very sharp – which was when the burgers came into the scene; to re-charge, they said – but it was getting difficult. Sitting in a car for hours just starting out, of the window was maddening.

“Oh god, I forgot how boring this was.”

Minseok mentioned, taking a huge bite from his burger.

“I know! Dude, it feels like we’re back at the academy, training.”

Jongdae also complained, feeling annoyed with the memories that immediately came to his head. Back in their training, they had a practice round where they were sent on a stakeout where nothing ever happened; that way they trained their resilience. But he tried not to think about that; he liked to believe it would be different that time; that time there was a real chance of something happening. He held onto his hope as much as he could.

But it got later and later, and soon the remaining hours of darkness were very few. The two detectives grew bitter, the thought of them missing the action invading their minds. What if the robbers decided to go for the grave on the next town? They couldn’t help but wonder if they were so unlucky that they’d miss the chance of making their most important arrest; they couldn’t help but wonder if some officer from another precinct would be the ones to end their case and catch the bad guys.

It was horrible, and the deep quietness of the night only made it worse, but none of them felt like talking. If they started any conversation, it would only end up in a shower of complaints, so both decided to not even start.

They just hoped that at some point, something would happen; that the hard work they did up to that day would be compensated. And they stared out into the graveyard, watching the ground remain untouched, as no one came to steal the dead body it carried.

It was mid-morning of the next day, and the two detectives arrived at the precinct after only a few hours of sleep on their own cozy beds. They held their ground in front of the cemetery up until about 7AM, around the time when the streets were getting busy again, and so there was no more reason to stay, since their robbers M.O. was stealing during the night. Before going to their houses and resting, they made sure to call the officer at the other location, and they were surprised to find that nothing had happened there either. No grave robbery had happened that evening, and somehow that meant bad news for them, because it meant that the thieves were breaking the pattern, and that would only make them more difficult to find.

But still, even after the failed stakeout, and the minimal sleep, the two still arrived with energy and excitement. After a lot of coffee, and a quick pep-talk during breakfast, the two were ready for another hard day at work, because even though they didn’t manage to close the case the previous night, they still had a lot to investigate, and a lot more evidence to examine.

It felt better than going in for another day of boring paperwork and stupid cases, so neither dared to complain.

“It was hard to fall asleep once I got home. I kept thinking about the case.”

Minseok said with a smile as they climbed the last steps onto the second floor.

“Me too.”

Jongdae simply responded, observing their desks as they came closer to them. He moved a few papers around, but aside from what was already there, there were no new reports for them, which was disappointing since they were counting on a result from their theory from Kyungsoo.

“Maybe we should go down there again and see how it’s all coming along.”

Jongdae suggested, not even sitting down on his chair. Minseok had already gotten comfortable on his seat, but hearing those words made him get ready to get up again.

“Yeah, even if he doesn’t have the results for what we asked, his team might have found something else valuable to us.”

Minseok was half way up from the chair when Jongdae’s hand pushed him back down on it. He gave his colleague a questioning look, and saw Jongdae staring back at him with an apologetic look.

“Maybe you should stay up here this time? We just had breakfast… I’ll catch you up when I’m back.”

Jongdae seemed very sorry to be saying that, but he didn’t look like he would back down, and Minseok understood him. Kyungsoo already disliked them enough; if he had another nausea fit and actually threw up this time, it would guarantee them a lot of hardships in the future whenever they had to deal with the cranky man.

“Yeah, okay.”

Minseok hesitated, but he had to agree. Still, he would at least make himself useful too.

“I’ll call the guys from the crime scene forensic, to see if they have something for us. You go.”