​Haruki jumped slightly at the sound of the media liaison’s voice and turned to see Sooyoung charging down the hallway towards her. Before she could even think about escaping, the other girl had crossed over to her in three quick strides and stood towering over her.

​“Morita Haruki, do you hate me?” Sooyoung demanded.

​“N-no…”

​“Then how do you explain this?” she snapped, shoving a copy of yesterday’s paper in Haruki’s face. “Did you read this story? It says you have Stockholm’s syndrome and that you’re in love with him!”

​“I read it,” Haruki said quietly.

​“Why didn’t you tell me you were going to his funeral?” Sooyoung snapped. “I could have prepared something to say- no one’s going to believe us now! This story is too good, even if it’s not true.”

​“Sorry.”

​Sooyoung sighed as she folded up the paper and crossed her arms. “I know you don’t need me to tell you this, but you’re a cop. Cops are very closely watched by the public and especially the media. Every time you do something wrong, they will jump down your throat.”

​“I didn’t do anything wrong, though,” Haruki protested. “I went to Taemin’s funeral because I needed closure.”

​“But that’s not how the public sees it,” Sooyoung said gently. “And every time they disagree with your actions, it reflects badly on the entire department.”

​Haruki said nothing as she reached for the newspaper and stared down at the picture for a moment again. “I’m not going to play the victim anymore just to make us look good,” she said finally. “I’m not sorry. I’m done being scared. Chief Park supports me and his approval is the only one I need. The media can say whatever they want. I’ve got a job to do.”

​“Shall I tell them that your reply is ‘ off,’ then?” Sooyoung asked, raising her eyebrow.

​“That would be great,” Haruki replied as she turned and walked down the hall, pulling her phone out of her pocket. She dialed and brought it to her ear. “Hello? Kevin, hi. Remember me? It’s Haruki…”

​Sooyoung watched her walk away and sighed, shaking her head.

​“Haruki thinks that we may have a lead,” Sungmin announced as he walked into Siwon’s office, where the older man and Ryeowook were sorting through a stack of blown-up photographs.

​Ryeowook looked up. “That’s great!”

​“What is it?” asked Siwon, immediately standing up and coming towards him.

​Sungmin picked up a photograph and pointed to the girl’s pocket. “Falls Point Motel. She must have stayed there for some time. Haruki’s calling the police there to see if they can help obtain records of people who visited that motel recently.”

​“How did she know that?” asked Ryeowook, squinting at the picture.

​Sungmin’s jaw clenched slightly as he replied, “Donghae figured it out. He and Haruki stayed there once last year.”

​Ryeowook looked up at the sourness in his partner’s voice and smiled sympathetically. “Come on, it’s not what you think. Don’t you know her at all?”

​“What’s going on?” asked Siwon.

​“Nothing,” Sungmin said quickly.

​“He has a…” Ryeowook began at the same time, though his voice trailed off when he saw Sungmin’s glare.

​“In that case, can we get back to this?” Siwon asked. “There are other people we need to identify as well. We need to figure out which rooms she goes into, which patients she comes into contact with…”

​“Do we know for sure that this girl is suspicious, though?” asked Ryeowook. “I mean, no offense to Haruki, but someone appearing at the same places as her isn’t exactly suspicious. I see the guy who works as at the Disco Drive at the Laundromat all the time, but I don’t think he’s stalking me.”

​“What are you saying?” Sungmin asked.

​“What if she’s just being paranoid?” Ryeowook said quietly. “She was stalked last year. What are the odds that it’s happening again? And besides, most stalkers are males, not females.”

​“In any case, it’s the only lead we have to go on right now,” Siwon replied firmly. Ryeowook dipped his head respectfully and said nothing else.

​“Called the police at Falls Point,” Haruki announced as she came in. “They’re going to get a warrant to look at the motel’s records and they’ll call me back later.”

​“Great,” Siwon nodded. “While you wait for them, Ryeowook and I will rewatch the security tapes and trace her footsteps. Sungmin, can you head over to Miracle and obtain a map of patient rooms or something?”

​“Isn’t that against patient confidentiality?” Sungmin asked, already reaching for his jacket and pulling it on.

​“You’ll figure something out,” Siwon replied with a smile. “Come on, Ryeowook.” The two left to track down Jiyong as Sungmin turned to Haruki.

​“I’m going to need my badge back,” he told her.

​“Oh. Sorry.” She quickly pulled it out of her pocket and handed it back to him. “How have you been getting in these past few days? I thought the new rule was that you needed it?”

​“Kangin doesn’t pay that much attention,” Sungmin replied. “The rule was mostly to keep you out.” Haruki rolled her eyes and shook her head slightly. “Hey, uh, can I ask you something?”

​“Sure.”

​“When you were at Falls Point with Donghae, did you guys…” He cleared his throat, but Haruki just looked at him awkwardly. “You know, share a…”

​“Room? Yeah,” Haruki replied. “It was ridiculous. The receptionist thought we were a couple who had gotten into a fight and refused to give us separate rooms.” She shrugged. “It was alright in the end, though. I was glad Donghae was there. He was really sweet and he said everything I needed to hear.”

​“That’s nice,” Sungmin managed, though Haruki missed the tight smile accompanying his words. He gestured vaguely with his badge. “I should probably get going. Let us know as soon as you hear something, alright?”

​Haruki nodded and he headed out the door, bumping into Lu Han on his way out.

​“There you are!” the younger man beamed. “Okay, I alphabetized your cold cases, reorganized your files, and rearranged your desk.”

​Haruki’s eyes widened as she glanced at her watch. “Already? It’s only been two hours!”

​“I know,” Lu Han replied. “So, what’s next?”

​The detective tried not to grimace as she wracked her brain for another meaningless task she could give him to keep him off her back for a while. “You know, I can’t think of anything, but I know someone who might need your help.”

​“What?” Yoona stared blankly as Lu Han made a beeline towards the nearest microscope and began peering into it, fiddling with the knobs until Minho came over and quickly shooed him away from the device.

​“Please?” Haruki glanced over as Lu Han wandered towards a fingerprint poster. She noticed Kyuhyun watching him warily from the other side of the lab. “I just need you to keep him busy for a few hours while I wait for an important call. I got a lead on one of my cases. And besides, he’s supposed to shadow one of you, anyway.”

​“Haruki, I’ve got an extremely busy day!” Yoona protested. “I have to analyze the fibers we found on the gun that killed G.O. and-”

​“Please,” Haruki repeated. “He’s really eager to be here and he’ll do anything you say. Just give him something easy and repetitive and a place to sit. He’ll be fine until I’m done with my call.”

​Yoona groaned. “Fine. But you owe me.”

​“Thank you so much,” Haruki sighed in relief, feeling her phone vibrating in her pocket. “Hey, Lu Han!” The boy turned away from the blood spatter cards he’d been flipping through as Yoona made a strangled noise, rushing to take them away from him. “That’s Yoona, one of our lab analysts. She has something she needs you to do. I’ll be back in a bit.”

​She rushed out of the lab, ignoring Yoona’s glare as she pulled her phone out of her pocket and pressed it to her ear. “Hello?”

​“Hey!” came Jessica’s voice and she almost groaned.

​“Jessica? What’s going on? Is something wrong?”

​“No, I just wanted to ask you something,” Jessica replied.

​“Sure.”

​“So, remember how we were saying it’s probably best for us not to live together anymore?” asked the model.

​“Uh-huh,” Haruki replied.

​“And remember how we said we probably won’t be able to see each other as much because of that?”

​“Yup.” The detective paced to the end of the hallway and turned around.

​“And remember how we said we should do something together?”

​“Yes.” Haruki leaned against the wall and tapped her foot impatiently against the ground, before shifting her weight to the other leg.

​“Well, I had an idea for something we could do! I was thinking-”

​Haruki’s phone beeped and she looked at the screen to see another incoming call. Kevin.

​“- and we’d be able to hang out-” Jessica was saying.

​“Sure. Yeah, that sounds great,” Haruki said quickly. “Sorry, Jessica, I have another call. I’ll talk to you later.”

​She ended the call and quickly answered the other one. “Kevin? Tell me you have something.”

​“You’re not going to like it, Haruki,” the other detective warned.

​“So?” Haruki pushed off from the wall and headed towards her office.

​“The motel records showed several people living there over the last year. Most people only stay for the night. However, there is one patron that’s been consistently visiting and staying for at least a week,” Kevin explained.

​“Who’s that?” asked Haruki.

​“You,” he replied.

“What?​"

“That girl is using your name while she stays here. I showed the receptionist the photo you emailed me and she immediately said, ‘Oh, that’s Haruki’,” Kevin told her. “She wasn’t the only one. Several of the staff identified the girl as you.”

​“But how is that possible? Didn’t they ask for ID?”

​She could almost see him shaking his head as he replied, “No, that’s not their policy unless the rooms are paid for with credit. Whoever was impersonating you paid with cash.”

​“Did you get a description of the girl?” she asked.

​“Sure,” he replied. “Medium height, petite build, dark hair, Asian. I showed the staff a picture of you, though, and they said, ‘No, that’s not her.’”

​Haruki just sighed and rubbed her forehead. “You’ve got to be kidding me. So we’ve got nothing else? No pictures of her, no security footage from the motel…”

​“We got footage,” Kevin replied. “Kiseop’s looking at it right now, but it’s not promising. It’s like you said, she turns her head away from the cameras. Looks like she’s used to hiding her face.”

​“Can you send me the videos?” Haruki asked.

​“Of course,” Kevin told her. “Sorry we didn’t have better news for you.”

​“No, don’t be sorry,” Haruki replied. “You were a lot of help. Thank you so much.”

​“Good luck. We’ll keep a lookout for anything suspicious as well.”

​“Thanks, Kevin.” Haruki hung up and slammed her phone down on her desk, and pulled out a photograph of the mysterious girl, staring at it blankly.

​Who was she? Why was she using Haruki’s name? Haruki felt her pulse beginning to race again as all the worst case scenarios began to enter her mind. Maybe she was a stalker, maybe she was obsessed, maybe she was-

​“No,” Haruki whispered, closing her eyes and gripping the sides of her chair tightly. She leaned back and took a deep breath. No more panic attacks. No more fear. She wasn’t going to let this bother her. She was going to-

​“Knock knock?” Haruki opened her eyes, frowning slightly when she saw Kris and the other boys from Evidence standing in her doorway. Kris offered her a tiny smile. “Hey. Sorry, didn’t mean to catch you napping.”

​“I wasn’t napping,” she replied. “Just…thinking. What are you doing here?”

​Kris cleared his throat and glanced down awkwardly until Sehun shoved him forward with a meaningful look. “I just wanted to apologize for lunch last Friday. I never meant…I didn’t know.”

​“It’s fine,” Haruki replied. “Really.”

​“And to make it up to you…” Jongin added as he shoved past Kris into the room and tossed a softball glove at her. “Come on! It’s our lunch break. We’re playing at the park.”

​Haruki smiled as she held it back out to him. “Thanks, Jongin, but I really need to focus on work-”

​“Oh, come on!” whined Tao. “Lu Han’s not here anymore, so we’re short one person! If you don’t play, the teams won’t be even and I’ll have to sit out and be the umpire again!”

​Haruki sighed as she stood up and tucked her phone back into her pocket. “Fine. I’ll play.”

​She needed a break, anyway.

Lu Han made a face as he turned the page of Taemin’s diary, which Yoona had handed to him, ordering him to look for anything he could think of. The lunatic’s ramblings focused on nothing but Morita Haruki and his hopes of seeing her again. There was even an entire page devoted to how her tears at court made him feel. Lu Han was beginning to get a sense of why Haruki seemed so annoyed all the time. She was a brilliant detective, but after reading all this he wasn’t sure he could take her seriously anymore.

He frowned as he studied the date at the top of the page before turning it back to the page before. The first entry was dated later than the second one. He flipped back a few pages and began writing down the dates. Many of the entries were out of order. No…the days of the weeks were in order, but many of them didn’t match up with the appropriate date in the calendar. But why was that? Was Taemin so mentally ill that he couldn’t remember the day or the month?

​He didn’t believe it. He had never met Taemin personally, but based on what he had heard from the trial and from water cooler discussions around the department, the extent of Taemin’s insanity revolved around Haruki and getting her attention. He remembered the term “borderline erotomania” being tossed around a bit and from what he remembered of his Intro to Psych class in college, that meant Taemin’s cognitive functions should still be intact.

​So what if he was deliberately messing up the dates? Lu Han turned to the first page and stared at the numbers for a minute, before slowly reading the entry again.

Twenty minutes later, he was rushing out of the lab with the journal tucked under his arm, sprinting towards Haruki’s office. He skidded to a halt in the doorway and peered in to find it empty and her jacket missing.

​He rushed towards the front door and skidded to a halt in front of Kangin. The guard raised an eyebrow at him. “You okay, kid?”

​“Haruki,” Lu Han panted. “Journal…found something. Where?”

​“Saw her heading out with some of the boys from Evidence about thirty minutes ago,” Kangin replied. “They went to the park to play softball. Is something-”

​“Crap!” Lu Han gasped as he raced out the door to his car, dialing her number as he went. “Haruki! Found something…Taemin…diary,” he wheezed as he ran. “The dates…are wrong. He knew…have to show you…notes…”

​He nearly collided with his car door as he tried to climb in before it was open all the way. He quickly started the engine and pealed out of the parking lot while still trying to catch his breath.

​Xiumin swung and missed, the softball landing in Kris’s glove with a soft thud.

​“Come on, man!” yelled Suho. “You got this!”

​“Two balls, one strike,” called Kyungsoo as he wound up for another pitch.

​“Don’t mess up, D.O.!” hollered Jongin and the pitch went slightly too wide.

​“You’re a jerk, Kai!” Kyungsoo called back and Haruki couldn’t help smiling as the other boys laughed.

​She had to admit that playing softball with these guys was quite relaxing. It was a welcome break from being stuck sitting in one position, analyzing photographs all weekend and besides, she hadn’t gotten a real workout in some time.

​Plus, the look on Sehun’s face when she hit a homerun had been priceless. After that, none of them had dared to call, “Move in, guys!” when she stepped up to the plate.

​Kyungsoo messed up the next pitch and Xiumin tossed his bat to the side, walking towards first base as Chen stepped up to the plate.

​Haruki stood up and stretched her arms over her head. Just then, she felt her phone vibrating in her pocket and pulled it out.

​“You shouldn’t keep that thing in your pocket,” Yixing told her. “It might get crushed.”

​“It’ll be fine,” she murmured, though she was staring at the screen. A missed call from Lu Han?

​She was just about to dial when there was yelling from the field and she looked up to see Xiumin sliding into third base as Chen stopped at first.

​Jongin nudged her elbow. “You’re up, Morita.”

​Haruki tucked her phone away and took the bat and helmet Yixing handed her with a nod. She secured the helmet over her ponytail and gripped the bat tightly with both hands.

​Kyungsoo wound up and pitched, the ball arcing so close to her that she had to take a step back. “Ball one,” Chanyeol called.

​“Wait for the one you like, Haruki!” yelled Chen.

​She nodded and tapped the bat twice against the plate before raising it over her shoulder again. Kyungsoo threw the ball-

​“Haruki!”

​The detective immediately glanced over her shoulder, squinting towards the parking lot. She thought she saw Lu Han racing down the asphalt towards them. She lowered the bat slightly as the ball whizzed past her and landed in Kris's glove. 

​“Strike one!” Chanyeol announced. 

​That was Lu Han running towards them, waving one hand. "What's he doing here?" murmured Kris, turning to look in the direction she was staring in. 

“I need to show you something!” it sounded like Lu Han was saying, but it was hard to tell because he was panting so hard, he was clutching his side. 

​The black sedan came out of nowhere, plowing right into him as he stepped into the street. Lu Han’s body rolled over the hood of the car, bounced off the roof, and collapsed in a heap on the pavement.