Chapter 17:
I Am My Father's DaughterAfter a morning of driving around to four of Jongin's leads on finding Neptune, and they all ending in failure Baekhyun was more than a little on edge and miffed which was why Chanyeol was driving and why Jongin was silently pouting in the back seat like a scolded child. Chanyeol had tried to dis-spell the heavy tension in the car by turning on music, but Baekhyun just snapped it off saying he was listening to the police radio, and then tried to get the two sourpusses to answer one of his knock-knock jokes only to have Jongin grumble something about doorbells and guard dogs. After that Chanyeol gave up and they rode in silence most of the rest of the way back to the station.
That was until Baekhyun's attention was stolen by a page going through the radio waves about a B-and-E with gunshots and two dead bodies. He knew the address, even the apartment number, her was told to keep an ear and eye out for it if it ever passed through the station. Gnawing on his bottom lip he grabbed the radio and told dispatch that they would be responding alongside first responders. He felt Chanyeol tossing him a curious sideways glance while Jongin was basically drilling holes into the back of his head.
“Family friend lives in that building, I just want to make sure they're okay,” Baekhyun lied smoothly.
“We'll be acting detectives on the case you know?” Jongin spoke from the back seat. He sounded annoyed by this prospect.
Turning around so he could glare at the underling he shot, “I'm well aware of how our job works.”
“We don't have time to be messing with a simple breaking-and-entering case, we have to fine Neptune,” Jongin argued.
“And when you finally find a viable lead that doesn't waste our time and the station's resources I'd love to hear it! Until that happens we can spare the time to actually solve a goddamn case to help the ing city,” Baekhyun snapped back vehemently.
“Guys, guys calm down. It's been a tense week. Just chill. We're not even that far from the complex so we'll be in and out in no time,” Chanyeol said calmly.
Jongin opened his mouth to argue but Baekhyun could see that he had nothing to retaliate with so he closed his mouth into a hard line as he crossed his arms and turned to leer out the window.
Baekhyun could barely feel smug about shutting up the chatty newbie as he spun back around in his seat to stare out the windshield as he worried about what had happened at one of the Circle's safe houses, one of Xiumin's personal safe houses.
The arriving officers on the scene blanched at the state Xiumin and Yejin were in, and a few younger ones nearly turned green when they surveyed the condo. Yejin was asked about what happened and she explained her story to one policeman while Xiumin spoke to another on his. There wasn't much point in lying since it had been self-defense and the two men had stormed in unwelcomed. After the initial questioning Xiumin and her were escorted down to an ambulance that was parked just outside on the street to get their injuries looked at before being taken to the hospital for CSIs to collect their clothes and evidence and doctors to give a full exam.
Yejin was holding an icepack to her forehead waiting for the medics to finish up with Xiumin when three men strolled up to the ambulance in suits. One had a sympathetic smile and was tall probably taller than Tao, the next tallest who was still towering over her was a man who looked grumpy and refused to look at her, then the third man who stood several inches shorter than his buddies stepped forward like he was in charge. He looked serious but there was an underlining kindness to his expression that Yejin knew wasn't normal especially if they were involved with the police.
“Miss Kang?” The shorter man offered his right hand to her. Yejin was hesitant to shake it, mostly since her right hand was holding the icepack and she didn't want to swap hands. She glanced back at Xiumin in the ambulance who was pulling out of the medics hands as he moved to sit next to her on the bumper of the truck. He took the handshake instead, both of his hands were now wrapped up –his knuckles had been badly beaten and busted after the fight. “Mr. Choi?” the man said shaking hands.
“Yes, can I help you?” Xiumin replied.
“I'm Officer Byun. This is Officers Park and Kim, we're the lead detectives on your case,” he introduced. Gesturing to each officer respectively.
“And you want to ask us more questions?” Xiumin inquired flatly.
“I have a few,” Officer Byun nodded.
“Can you make it quick? I want to get Jongsim out of these soiled clothes,” he said firmly.
“Yes, we can do this quickly. First, who was the one who shot the gun?” Byun said.
“I did,” Yejin answered. “Two shots, one each.”
“Not bad,” Officer Kim muttered, sounding almost impressed.
“Have you ever shot a gun before?” Byun asked.
Yejin swallowed nervously as all three pairs of police eyes stared at her. It was more attention than she ever wanted, or was used to getting from the law – or anybody for that matter – and she was pretty sure it was her father's paranoia rubbing off on her. Then there was a hand on her lower back and some of the anxiety melted away.
“Yes,” she answered honestly. “My dad was sort of a gun buff, and taught me.” It wasn't a lie
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