I have to tell her…

“- need an ambulance! Hurry!”

“Is he going to-”

She needs to know…

“-parking lot near the baseball field! We’re looking for a black sedan-”

Haruki, listen to me…

“Lu Han!” A hand on his cheek, fingers at his throat. “Can you hear me?”

Taemin…he learned something…he hid it in his diary…

"Haruki, he’s not breathing! Do something!”

Something warm on his lips, someone gripping his hand hard enough to break his fingers-

There’s more than one…

Ryeowook rubbed his eyes before stretching his arms above his head. “I’m done,” he complained. “If I stare at another computer screen any longer, I think I might go blind.”

Siwon chuckled as he stacked the notes they’d taken of the videos into a neat pile. They’d just spent several hours watching the hospital’s security footage and noting down every single one of the girl’s interactions with the patients. “There are a few rooms that she visits frequently. Once Sungmin returns with-”

“Did I hear someone say my name?” Sungmin entered the room, smiling as he pulled out a sheet of paper and unfolded it on the table. “The nurses weren’t very happy about me making this. They kept saying that it went against patient confidentiality.”

“So how did you get it in the end?” asked Ryeowook.

Sungmin looked embarrassed. “I emphasized how bad this murder would look for them and how it might spark an extensive internal affairs investigation.”

Siwon raised an eyebrow as he smiled. “Threatening witnesses doesn’t sound like you, Sungmin.”

“Well, it hasn’t exactly been a good day,” Sungmin replied. “So, which patients does our mystery beanie girl visit?”

Ryeowook was already jotting down the names, matching the room numbers they had gotten from the security footage with Sungmin’s map. “She visits a girl named Jiyeon quite a lot.”

“Jiyeon. I remember Haruki speaking to her the first time we visited the hospital,” Siwon murmured. “She’s the one who said Taemin deserved it.”

“Is there any connection between the victims?” asked Sungmin.

"I’m not sure. They don’t all live in the same wing,” Ryeowook replied as he stared down at his notes. “But since we can’t access their medical records…”

Sungmin groaned. “Man, I hate dealing with that hospital. We can’t talk to the only witnesses we have. If we find the killer, we won’t even be able to call on them to testify!”

“There’s no ‘if’,” Siwon retorted. “I always find my perps. Where’s Haruki? She should be down here, too.”

“I’ll call her,” Ryeowook offered as Sungmin turned back to the list.

“Something bothering you, Sungmin?” asked Siwon.

The younger man just shook his head as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Why?”

“Every time someone says Haruki’s name, you grimace,” Siwon replied. “I thought you two were friends.”

“Well-”

“What?” Both men turned around at Ryeowook’s gasp. “Of course, we’ll be right there!” He slammed down the phone and sprang to his feet, sprinting towards the door as he called over his shoulder, “Come on, you two!”

“What’s going on?” asked Sungmin.

“She’s at the hospital,” Ryeowook replied. “The new kid’s been in a bad accident!”

“Do you think he’ll be alright?” asked Jongin for what seemed like the hundredth time. Haruki resisted the urge to retort with a biting comment and instead simply squeezed his shoulder.

“He’ll be fine,” she repeated.

She’d called for help immediately, but by the time the EMTs had gotten Lu Han into the ambulance, he had stopped breathing, even after she’d started CPR. Jongin had volunteered to ride with him as Haruki had needed to answer some questions about the car and the driver that had hit him.

She hadn’t been able to tell them much, other than the driver had stopped to bend over Lu Han for a moment before driving away. She remembered the car had been a BMW and she thought the license plate started with an “A”.

“That’s not much to go on,” Jonghyun had complained when she finished her story.

She’d rushed to the hospital immediately after, leaving Jonghyun and Yesung in charge of tracking down the driver. She wanted to be out there searching with them, but she knew that her responsibility had been to watch over Lu Han.

She’d already failed.

“Detective?”

Haruki immediately stood up as Hangeng entered the waiting room with a tired smile. “How is he?” she asked.

“He’s still unconscious, but I think he will be making a full recovery,” Dr. Han replied. “He sustained several injuries, the worst of which are a concussion and a broken leg. We won’t know the extent of any potential brain damage until he wakes up.”

“I am so tired of hearing those words,” Haruki murmured. “May we see him?”

“Of course,” Dr. Han replied, gesturing towards the double doors leading into the emergency department. Jongin immediately followed after him, but Haruki hesitated. An image of Taemin, swathed in white sheets, reaching a hand out to her, crossed her mind.

“Detective?”

She forced herself to smile as she swallowed hard. “Actually, I just remembered that I need to make an important phone call. Maybe some other time.”

Jongin looked confused, but Hangeng merely nodded. He smiled at the younger man and gestured for him to leave her alone. As the two of them disappeared through the double doors, Haruki pulled her phone out of her pocket.

There was still a message from Lu Han that she hadn’t listened to and she dialed voicemail, bringing her phone up to her ear.

“Haruki!” came Lu Han’s barely audible pant. “Found something…Taemin…diary. The dates…are wrong. He knew…have to show you…”

Have to show you? Is that why Lu Han had been at the baseball park? What had he found that was so urgent it couldn’t wait?

He knew?

“Haruki?” Siwon came sprinting into the emergency room, with Sungmin and Ryeowook on his heels. “Are you alright? How is Lu Han?”

“I’m fine,” Haruki replied. “But he’s in a coma right now.”

Ryeowook smiled as best as he could. “He’ll be fine. Don’t worry. All of us cops have hard heads. Don’t blame yourself for this.” Haruki glared at him and he quickly took a step back, holding up his hands. “I’m just saying…”

After a moment, she sighed. “You’re right. But I should have been watching him.”

“He was shadowing you,” Siwon replied. “You’re not his babysitter.”

“If I hadn’t been out playing softball, he would have been able to tell me whatever he found directly,” Haruki replied. “Then-”

“Accidents happen,” Ryeowook assured her. “Right, Sungmin?”

The three of them glanced at the fourth member of their group, who merely shrugged.

Jongin came out of the emergency department with his head down and his hands in his pockets. “Ready to go?” asked Haruki. The younger man just nodded slightly.

“Who’s this?” Siwon asked.

“This is Jongin, a friend of mine from Evidence,” Haruki said. “Jongin, these are my colleagues, Ryeowook, Sungmin, and Siwon.”

“Hi,” Ryeowook said brightly, stepping forward and holding out his hand. Jongin took it slowly.

Haruki placed a hand on Jongin’s shoulder as she followed her partners out of the hospital. “You okay?” she asked quietly.

“He was so pale,” Jongin murmured and she tightened her grip slightly.

“It always looks worse than it actually is,” she said, more for herself than for him. She thought back to a year ago, when she had come to visit Donghae after he’d taken a bullet to the gut. At first, he’d barely been able to talk without groaning in pain, but within a week, he was doing push-ups in his hospital gown (while some of the younger nurses secretly watched). “Don’t worry, Jongin.”

“Kai.”

“Huh?”

He offered her a slight smile despite the concern on his face. “My friends call me Kai.”

“Hey.”

“Gah!” Haruki stumbled back against the door of her apartment as Jessica tried to hide the smile crossing her face. “What are you doing here? How did you even get in?”

“I still have my key, duh,” the model replied as she unfolded a shirt and held it up. “What do you think?”

“What’s all this?” Haruki asked, turning slowly as she took in the racks of clothes that had once again invaded her living room.

“Oh, that. It’s for fashion week!” Jessica replied. “Remember? You promised me earlier on the phone that you’d help.”

Is that what she’d agreed to? Haruki resisted the urge to smack herself. Hard.

“I figured you’d be distracted while you were at work,” Jessica told her. “That’s why I called then.” She smiled innocently at her best friend.

Haruki had dealt with some devious criminals, but Jessica definitely had them all beat. “And I’m helping by being your extra closet space?”

"These? Oh, these are just some extra samples that came in from all the different designers,” Jessica replied. She held up a top and squinted. “Pink’s not your color, but this would look fabulous on you.”

“So what are they all doing here?” Haruki demanded.

“In between all my fittings and shows and photoshoots, none of us have time to pick out our fashion week outfits,” Jessica replied. At Haruki’s blank look, she sighed and rolled her eyes. “See, usually, we’re running around doing modeling stuff for all these designers and brands and such. But fashion week is this huge event at Mirotic where we get to pick our own themes, choose our own clothes- basically show off our own style. That’s what really puts you on top in our world.”

“Must be hard,” Haruki mumbled as she picked her way into the kitchen to grab something from her fridge.

“You have no idea,” Jessica said seriously. “Anyway, I need all my spare time to choose my own outfits. And I’ve run out of room at my apartment, so I decided to bring everything here, since my best friend is so nice to me and her place is my place, right?”

Haruki just groaned. “Yeah, why not? Just don’t expect me to actually, you know, touch any of that.”

Truthfully, it was nice having Jessica around. Listening to the other girl chatter about things that had nothing to do with her own stressful life was comforting.

“You’ll come, right? To our shows?” asked Jessica.

“Sure,” she said absentmindedly.

“Can you help us set up, too?” the model continued. “We were supposed to ask our families, especially our dads and brothers, to volunteer and, well, you’re the closest I’ve got.”

“Thanks, I think.” Haruki wove her way back into the living room with a sandwich in hand and plunked down on the couch after shifting several boxes aside. “Yeah, I’ll help.”

“Thank you!” Jessica tossed a blouse at her. “This one’s more your style, isn’t it?”

“Are you going to bribe me with free clothes?” Haruki asked as she moved the blouse where she wouldn’t spill crumbs on it.

“Hey, most girls would be thrilled to get their hands on the latest designs before they’re even out on the market,” Jessica retorted. “I met your lawyer friends for brunch and invited them to take first dibs on anything they liked before we went.”

"Tiffany and Hyoyeon?” Haruki frowned. “You met with them?”

Jessica nodded. “We’ve met several times to talk about…” Her voice trailed off and her gaze dropped guiltily as Haruki leaned back against the couch.

“It’s okay,” the detective said after a long pause. “I know you’re all just worried about me.”

Jessica said nothing as she picked several outfits off the racks and scrutinized them closely. After a while, Haruki stood up and headed over to her. “So, what did they take?”

“Oh!” This seemed to snap the model back to life as she rushed over to a different rack and began showing off random articles of clothing. “Hyoyeon took one of these dresses, with the glitter on the straps, which was too bad, because I really liked it. And Tiffany picked a chiffon scarf, one of the ones with the sequins, and one of these cashmere sweaters. I think Hyoyeon also took a silk chemise and Tiffany took a camel hair coat.”

Haruki dropped the item of clothing that Jessica had just handed her. “Camel?”

“Is that weird?” Jessica asked as she picked up the coat and dusted it gently. “Did you keep those sheets that I used to keep the dust off-”

Haruki’s phone buzzed at that moment and she picked it up. “Sorry, I have to take this. Morita,” she added, turning towards the kitchen and tripping on a shoebox in the process.

“Hey, we found that car,” came Jonghyun’s reply. “Guess your info was good for something after all.”

“You found it? Where was it?”

"Not far away,” Jonghyun told her. “Found it parked against the curb.”

Haruki frowned. “You’re sure it’s the same car?”

“Care to come down and check?” he retorted. “We’re impounding it. It’s sitting in our lot right now.”

“Any idea who the owner is?” Haruki asked.

“The Crime Scene girls are on it,” Jonghyun replied. Why don’t you ask them?”

“I’ll be right there.” Haruki snapped her phone shut.

“Duty calls?” Jessica asked. “Is it another body?”

Haruki shook her head. “This actually has nothing to do with my case. I’ll explain later, if you’ll still be here.”

Jessica gestured to a mound of unopened boxes. “I’m not going anywhere for a while.”

“I’ll see you later, then.” Haruki grabbed her jacket and rushed out the door.

“Right there.” Taeyeon stopped and knelt in front of the car, running a gloved hand against the bumper. “There’s a dent here from a hard impact with something.”

Haruki shifted her weight to the other foot and sighed. “I’m sorry, you guys.”

“It’s not your fault,” Yuri replied as she opened the passenger door and unlocked the glove compartment. “No registration in here. Do you notice something weird about this car?”

Taeyeon nodded as she straightened, while Haruki shook her head. “Besides the fact that it was used to run one of our guys over?”

“You spend too much time looking at dead bodies, Detective, and not enough at other things,” Taeyeon said with a slight smile. “I think this car is a cut-and-shut.”

“A what?”

In response, Yuri ran a hand along the middle of the car. “Yeah, you can feel the crappy welding job they did. It’s a miracle this didn’t fall apart right after the accident.” She opened up the back door and leaned backwards, staring up at the roof. “Paint colors don’t match.”

“What’s a cut-and-shut?” Haruki asked impatiently.

“A car made from a wrecked car,” Yuri replied. “The damaged part is sawed off and the car is welded with a matching part from another car. The whole thing is painted over to look like a brand new car.”

“That sounds dangerous,” Haruki murmured. “What if it fell apart?”

“That happens,” Taeyeon nodded. “It’s a form of vehicle fraud.”

“Do you think the owner knew that when he bought it?” asked Haruki.

“Hey, that’s your job, Detective,” Taeyeon chuckled as she opened the driver’s door. “Can you grab one of those flashlights for me?”

Haruki reached into the bag lying off to the side and picked one up, passing it to the other woman. “These brakes ,” Taeyeon announced after a while. “No wonder the driver couldn’t stop in time. They barely work.”

Haruki breathed an inaudible sigh.

“Oh.” Taeyeon sounded puzzled as she straightened, pulling an evidence bag out of her pocket. “This is interesting.”

“What is?” Haruki asked.

Taeyeon held up the bag, revealing a long, curly hair. “We may not be dealing with a guy after all.”

Haruki was usually one of the first to arrive at work, but the next morning, she was surprised to see that someone else had beaten her. “Good morning, Yoona,” she nodded as she passed the lab analyst. “You’re here pretty early.”

“Couldn’t sleep,” Yoona replied as she yawned and stretched her arms over her head. “I wanted to get started analyzing the evidence Taeyeon and Yuri found in that car last night.”

“Were there any fingerprints?” asked Haruki. Yoona shook her head and headed towards the lab.

“Of course not,” she called over her shoulder. “Why would anyone make it easy for us?”

Haruki frowned as she remembered Lu Han’s message and chased after the other woman. “Yoona, what was Lu Han looking at yesterday when I left him with you?”

“I handed him Taemin’s diary and told him to look for anything he could find,” Yoona replied.

“What did he find?” Haruki pressed.

Yoona frowned, looking confused as she unlocked the door to the lab. “You mean he actually found something?”

“He didn’t tell you?” asked Haruki. “He left me a message saying that he found something really important that Taemin had left in his diary and rushed to the park to show me. And then…”

The lab analyst was quiet as she pulled on a pair of gloves and emptied several evidence bags into small plastic dishes. “I’m sorry, Haruki. He didn’t tell me anything.”

Haruki watched her use a pair of tweezers to move the hair from last night under a microscope. “No root ball attached,” she sighed. “I can’t get any DNA from this.”

“Like you said, why would this be easy?” the detective said with a small smile. She wandered towards the dishes, keeping her hands in her pockets so that Yoona wouldn’t snap at her for touching anything. “What’s this?” she asked, pointing towards one with her elbow.

Yoona glanced over. “Looks like a fiber.” She placed the hair back in the dish and set the fiber under the microscope. “Lavender dye. Looks like wool, from a sweater or something. My guess would be cashmere.”

“I’m impressed,” Haruki murmured.

“Don’t be,” Yoona replied, shaking her head. “I’ve never seen anything like this make before. I’d have to do some comparison tests, but my guess is that this is something brand new.”

Haruki stopped pacing as she glanced down at another tray, one with a small sequin lying in it. “I think I might know where it came from.”

Hyoyeon looked up in surprise as Haruki and Siwon entered the office. “Detectives? What brings you two here today?”

“Is Tiffany in?” asked Haruki.

The dark-haired lawyer appeared, smiling as she approached them. “Morning, Haruki. Morning, Detective Choi. Do you need something?”

“Is this a new scarf?” asked Haruki, reaching out for the silk scarf draped around Tiffany’s neck. “May I see it?”

“Why?” asked Tiffany, but Haruki grabbed the ends and peered at them closely.

"You lost a sequin,” Haruki said as the lawyer took a step back, narrowing her eyes at the two of them.

“What is this about?” she asked.

Haruki held up an evidence bag with the sequin from the car up to the scarf. “It’s a match. Tiffany Hwang, you’re under arrest for leaving the scene of a traffic accident.”

“What?” Tiffany demanded.

“Put your hands behind your back,” Haruki ordered as Siwon handed her a pair of handcuffs.

“This has to be a mistake,” Hyoyeon protested, half-rising out of her seat.

“She hit a cop,” Siwon said gravely as he began leading Tiffany out of the office. “That young man is currently lying in the hospital in a coma,” he added, fixing his reproachful glare on her. “If he doesn’t make it, you could be looking at worse than just a hit and run charge.”