Chapter Sixteen
Star Witness
“Amber, you seem bothered,” Eunhyuk noticed as he drove his Civic into the giant parking lot of the National Police Agency. The female agent sat next to him in the passenger seat. Her brows were knitted and although she was gazing out the windows, she was not paying attention to the world around her. “Amber!”
The girl shook herself out of her thoughts. “Oh, it’s nothing.”
Eunhyuk clicked his tongue. “You’re worried about His Highness, aren’t you?”
“Don’t call him that!” Amber retaliated then sighed as she sank back in her seat. “Siwon’s supposed to have gotten better three days ago. The flu isn’t supposed to last that long…”
“What can we do?” Eunhyuk said as he pulled the brakes to park. Unfastening his seatbelt, he added. “Siwon’s a workaholic. Instead of resting, he’s been pouring over paperwork day and night.”
Amber got out of the car and a small but visible frown appeared on her face. “If only he’d ask. There are a lot of people who are willing to help him.”
~~~~
Siwon neatly put the stack of papers aside and his revolving chair to face his assistant. It took him two days to finish reviewing the forensic results of the case and much to his disappointment, there weren’t any relevant findings.
“Cho Kyuhyun,” he commanded, rubbing his forehead. “Review the details of the Jeongsan case.”
The assistant nodded. “The victim is Park Chohee, a twenty eight year old female. She works as an Executive Assistant at a life insurance company in Jeongsan. At 5:30 am, on Thursday last week, the victim was murdered. She died of excessive blood loss due to a severed common carotid artery. She lives alone in an apartment in the same town. The place where she was murdered was her path from home to work. Obviously, the murderer either knew her or had been observing her for a while.”
“The suspects,” Siwon required.
“Suspect number one is Park Minhee, 26, female. She’s the victim’s sister,” Kyuhyun continued, turning the page. “Park Minhee works as a librarian in Jeongsan. She has no alibi. Her motives include sibling rivalry and according to Donghae, Chohee stole Minhee’s first love.”
A slight smile found its way on Siwon’s face. “Amusing. Next?”
“Suspect two is Jin Youngmin, 30, male, a self-employed graphic designer. He lives alone and rarely leaves his home. He’s the victim’s ex-boyfriend. He has no alibi either and his motives are unclear,” Kyuhyun looked up at Siwon. The latter nodded at him so he continued. “The last suspect is Kim Kyubong, 33, a butcher. He lives with his wife and child. He has a grudge against the victim because Chohee caused him to be fired from his job.”
“Strong enough motive. And he has no alibis, either,” Siwon concluded.But then, none of these suspects match the witness’ description of the murderer. Yellow skin and pointed nose… Are we dealing with someone else?
~~~~
It was the night of the Moon Festival.
That night, Jeongsan High School looked more like a carnival instead of an academic institution. The grounds, which stretched from the building to the giant iron gates, were decorated with blue and pink banners. Beige paper lanterns were scattered all around, giving off their gentle golden glow. The area was filled with students dressed in their finest. Some were busy trying out games at the booths. Some were eating giant lollipops, candies, and sweetmeats. Some were just walking around with their friends, enjoying this occasional opportunity to have fun.
Yoona was doing neither of these. She was sitting on a bench, listening to Taecyeon’s endless jabbering about how festivals in the city were like. As the tall, muscular man described the breathtaking rides, shows and other activities that were held in Seoul, Yoona sighed quietly to herself. I can’t believe I allowed this to happen.
A while earlier, Taecyeon picked her up from her home in his black Mercedes Benz. Of course, he was accompanied by Mrs. Kim, the matchmaker, who enthusiastically introduced the two.
“He’s the son of the president of a well-known insurance company!” Mrs. Kim eagerly whispered to Yoona once Taecyeon was out of earshot. “He’s as sweet and as refined as sugar. I hope you two enjoy your night out together.”
But, now, as Taecyeon tactlessly compared Jeongsan to the city, Yoona regretted her decision. He wasn’t sweet or refined – more like rude andarrogant. He didn’t even open the car door for her nor offered to buy her any food. Instead, he complained of how “primitive” Jeongsan was.
“And the fireworks display in Seoul is incomparable to whatever pyrotechnical attempts you have here,” Taecyeon was saying.
Yoona sighed heavily. “Oppa, let’s go watch the play.”
Fortunately, Taecyeon agreed and followed Yoona towards a makeshift stage in the middle of the grounds. While they were looking for seats, Yoona spotted someone familiar backstage. She detoured for a closer look and realized that it was Kim Kyubong, the butcher. He was dressed in bright colors and his hair was sprayed with blue and pink dye.
He must be one of the actors in the play, Yoona assumed. That was when she also saw Park Minhee, walking around with a clipboard and shouting orders at the stage actors.
“Come on,” Taecyeon steered Yoona towards the array of plastic chairs arranged in front of the stage. “Let’s grabs some seats, although it doesn’t make any difference if we sit on the ground and if we sit on these cheap plastic products.”
Yoona’s patience was wearing thin when she and her blind date sat down among other students. I can’t believe I might end up marrying this man.
When the actors came out on stage, Yoona tried hard to keep herself from screaming. One of the actors had on a mask that was golden yellow with beady eyes and a curved pointed nose!
It was the face of the killer!
~~~~
Meanwhile, at the NPA, Eunhyuk and Amber rushed immediately to the Conference Room to share what they just discovered. Earlier, they were told to go to Jeongsan to follow up on one of the suspects.
“Good evening, Siwon,” Eunhyuk greeting, bowing slightly as he and Amber arrived. The female agent followed suit and immediately took a seat along the long table, keeping her head down.
“Alright, what have we got?” Siwon asked. His voice was still a little hoarse.
“Kim Kyubong couldn’t have been the murderer,” Eunhyuk answered and took out a video cassette from his backpack. “This is a copy of a Jeongsan convenience store’s security camera tapes. The Thursday recording showed that at the time of the crime, Kyubong was at the convenience store, buying liquor.”
“That explains his behavior,” Kyuhyun spoke up. He rubbed his chin, thinking. “According to Lee Donghae, Kim Kyubong acted defensively in front of his wife… And apart from that, he’s hypertensive.”
“I see,” Eunhyuk grinned. “The dude didn’t want his wife to know he was going around buying alcoholic drinks when he’s not supposed to.”
“So he’s off the list,” Siwon said, glancing down at his notepad and crossing out Kim Kyubong’s name with his pen. “That leaves us with the two other suspects.”
“It’s up to Donghae to narrow it down to one,” Eunhyuk verbalized, sounding worried. “I wonder how he’s doing?”
~~~
“Donghae!” Yoona called out. She left the play immediately and went looking for the Junior Agent. All the anger and bitterness she had felt towards him earlier were instantly replaced by fear and panic. She had just seen the killer. Now where is he?
She ran down an aisle of game booths, then down another aisle of booths selling food. She was so disoriented that she didn’t notice she was about to bump into someone.
“Ow! Watch where you’re going, freak,” Sooyoung complained.
“Sorry, unnie,” Yoona said, bowing swiftly. “H-hey, did you happen to see Donghae-oppa anywhere?”
Sooyoung smirked and pointed towards a large empty square area further down the lane where a lot of students were gathering. With that, the older girl stomped off.
Yoona dashed towards the square. She was surprised when a familiar ballad about blossoms and love came on.
No, it can’t be.
It was the Moon Festival’s main event – the Plum Blossom Dance. It was during this dance where couples would finally confess their love to one another, take their first steps together and dance.
A long time ago, she’d disregarded this event as something silly and traditional. Now, though, her emotions grew turbulent as the song rushed into her ears and into her heart, shattering it to pieces.
Right in front of her were Jessica and Donghae and they were slow dancing.
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