“How could someone that was that hell bent on getting away, obviously guilty of something, be so damn ready to fall asleep?” Jungsu asked loudly, startling Kyuhyun from his sleepy stupor. He dragged the second chair closer to Kyuhyun and plopped himself down, resting his chin on his fist.

“When you came to my door, you woke me up ‘cause you were making a ruckus knocking and ringing the bell.”

“Regular people are up by then.”

“Yeah, well…” Kyuhyun slowly straightened up in his seat.

Jungsu watched Kyuhyun rub his eyes. “How come you haven’t lawyered up, Kyuhyun?” he asked contemptuously.

“Like I said, I didn’t do anything.”

“Uh-huh. Then I take it you’re ready to answer some questions?”

“Sure,” Kyuhyun answered but his voice only came out as a whisper. The same eyes that were fighting off sleep just a few seconds ago were now wide awake and full of insecurity. ‘This is it. The hour of my doom draws near.’

Jungsu leaned in closer to Kyuhyun. “What do you do for a living?”

“Programming.”

“Wow. That’s some smart stuff going on there, huh?”

Kyuhyun briefly glanced at Jungsu. The older male was taunting him. In any other situation Kyuhyun would have shot back a sly remark but he tamed that sardonic beast for the time being. “It’s alright,” he answered as calmly as he could.

“Does that keep you busy?”

“Yes. It’s nonstop.”

 “Do you clock-in?”

“Yes.”

“Do you ever work from home?”

 “No. Our boss thinks working from home is for lazy people.” ‘He better not check.  I don’t even remember how many times I’ve logged in from home to make changes to our program.’

“So you don’t work from home? That means you keep regular hours at the office.”

“Right.” Kyuhyun’s hands began to sweat in nervousness.

“But you have the capability?”

“Uh, yes. I guess I would if I asked my boss.” He thought he had a command on his voice but it cracked. The conversation was going somewhere he didn’t want to tread.

“Do you like your job?”

“Yeah, it’s alright.”

“You’re happy working there?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you have friends?”

Kyuhyun cocked his head to the side. “Yeah.”

“Hmm…okay. You volunteer at the Crisis Hotline?”

“Yes. Every Friday and Saturday. Graveyard shift.”

“Hold on. So what time does your shift start?”

“Midnight. I come home after work on Thursday, take a nap, head over to the Hotline office and start my shift at twelve A.M. on Friday. Twelve A.M. for Saturday too.”

“Gottcha. What got you started volunteering there?”

“I had a friend…” Kyuhyun trailed off. He avoided eye contact, instead taking a sudden interest in his hands folded on the table.

“What was your friend’s name?”

“Is,”Kyuhyun corrected, “His name is Heechul.”

“Heechul then, what became of him?”

“He moved away. He didn’t keep in touch.”

“That it?”

“Yeah. He went through a depression. I dogged him for a long time. Maybe in the end, I should have been more persistent but at the time, I let him go. I thought he might have wanted a fresh start, away from everyone he knew, his friends, me…” Kyuhyun sighed.

“If it was that bad for him, how do you know he’s still around? You rule out the possibility that he’s dead?”

Kyuhyun shrugged.

“You haven’t had contact with him? He left you high and dry, didn’t he?”

“He left, yeah.”

“Do you resent him at all?”

“No.” Kyuhyun didn’t bother to mask the hurt inflicted by the question. “I just miss him. That’s all.”

“You miss him. Is that why you volunteer for the hotline?”

“I guess I just want to help others that feel down. Maybe I’m trying to make up for not being able to help Heechul? I don’t know. I just signed up to volunteer. I felt like doing it, in my heart.”

“Aww. How sweet. So would you say you don’t want any harm to come to these people, your callers?”

“Of course not. What does that have to do with anything?”

 “So you’re out of work by…?”

“Five. I’m on a four day, ten hour schedule. Monday through Thursday, seven A.M. to five P.M.”

“Mmm…” Jungsu nodded. “Where did you go after work this Thursday?”

Kyuhyun was about to answer the question but he suddenly had a realization. His eyebrows shot up. “Wait! What is this investigation about?”

“Nothing much, Kyuhyun. Just procedure. So where were you?”

“Home! I always go home after work.” Kyuhyun shot back, fighting the urge to go into a complete panic.

“Could anyone corroborate that?”

“Do I have an alibi?! No! I live alone. What department are you from?”

Jungsu ignored Kyuhyun’s question. “Hmmm… Well, I don’t know if you remember this but you made a call to 911 at one in the morning on Friday.” He watched as Kyuhyun cringed. “Do you remember?”

Kyuhyun nodded. “Wouldn’t be able to forget if I tried.”

“What happened?”

Kyuhyun took a deep breath and exhaled slowly before speaking. “I took a call from a guy. H-he called himself H-hyu-hyukjae.” Kyuhyun hung his head and slouched in his seat. “He sounded so calm, so serene. People are usually distraught, desperate but he was… I don’t know, different.”

“What did he tell you?”

“He said he wasn’t going to change his mind, that he didn’t want to go on. I-I tried to make him listen to me b-but he would always cut me off. He was only worried about his dog. He kept bringing the conversation back to his dog. He told me the only reason he called was to make sure she was taken out of the house. I tried to make him tell me what happened to make him feel that way but he said ‘I have to go’. Those were his exact words. ‘I have to go.’ Then he hung up.”

“Did you know Hyukjae?”

“No.” Kyuhyun sighed and stared down at his hands. “Help didn’t get to him on time did it? You’re talking about him in the past tense.”

“You know what happened.”

“No, I don’t.” Kyuhyun’s demeanor dramatically changed, taking on a defensive stance. He frowned at Jungsu.

“You mean to tell me you don’t know?”

“No, I really don’t,” Kyuhyun said sternly.

“Oh, really?” Jungsu slid the crime scene picture of Hyukjae’s body, slumped on the armchair. It stopped just in front of Kyuhyun, who glanced at it. As soon as he saw what it was, he grimaced and turned his head away. He had his answer.

 “We weren’t fast enough.” Kyuhyun mumbled.

“What did you say?”

“We couldn’t save him,” Kyuhyun said a little louder.

“We? Who’s ‘we’?”

“We! You! Me! The other cops! The paramedics! Friends and family! This could have been prevented. People just need to open their eyes and see the warning signs.”

“Like Heechul. Is that what you’re trying to tell me? This reminds you of the friend you couldn’t save so you go all bat- on the very people you say you want to help. And on top of that, you got a call at one in the morning from a guy that died at seven P.M. the previous evening and you expect to pass that off!”

“What?” Kyuhyun raised an eyebrow.

“Stop playing dumb and give me some real answers.”

“No. What did you say?” Kyuhyun asked incredulously.

“I said he,” Jungsu shoved the picture of Hyukjae’s body in Kyuhyun’s face, “died hours before you made the call to nine-one-one.”

Kyuhyun blinked rapidly, trying to make sense of what Jungsu was telling him. “I don’t know how that happened.”

“There’s some you’re not telling me. How the hell do you expect me to believe that you received a call from a guy that was already dead? Was it his ghost, Kyuhyun?”

Chills ran through Kyuhyun’s body. He felt the blood drain from his face. He only managed to look up at Jungsu with half-lidded eyes.

Jungsu snapped his fingers. “Hey, wake the up, Kyuhyun. You were unaccounted for at the time that Hyukjae was killed and you ran like a and won’t tell me why. I need answers.”

Like an old picture show, Jungsu’s face faded out. Kyuhyun’s head dropped to the table as he lost consciousness.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Geez, did you just leave the kid passed out there by himself?” Detective Sungmin Lee questioned as soon as Jungsu stepped into the room where he was watching the interrogation from the two-way mirror.

“So?” Jungsu was still on edge.

“Somehow, I don’t think he had anything to do with the death,” Sungmin offered.

“I’m going to have to subpoena the phone records,” Jungsu said.

“I think you scared him too.”

“Either he scares easy or I’m onto something.”

“Well, let’s just wait for the phone records then.” Sungmin calmly crossed his arms and looked through the mirror at the sleeping Kyuhyun.

“Hey, do me a favor and call me when he wakes up.” Jungsu walked out without waiting for an answer from Sungmin.

Sungmin shook his head at Jungsu’s retreating form. In a way he understood. He had been there also. Interrogations brought out the worst in him. He even surprised himself sometimes.

Sungmin felt an obligation to at least check on him to make sure he was alright. He walked into the room where Kyuhyun was still slumped on the table.

He poked Kyuhyun’s cheek. The younger man stirred but didn’t wake up. Sungmin groaned. ‘This is gay.’ He reached for Kyuhyun’s water bottle. He poured a little on one hand, parted Kyuhyun’s hair with the other and pat Kyuhyun’s forehead with his wet hand.

“Hmm?” Kyuhyun woke up and saw Sungmin pulling his hand back. “The good cop?” Kyuhyun asked as he fought to keep his eyes open.

Sungmin chuckled. “You’re a little dazed, I take it. Here.” He slid the water bottle to Kyuhyun’s hand that rested on the table. “Detective Park just stepped out for a second. He’ll be back soon.”

Kyuhyun took the rest of the water into his mouth and held it there for a few seconds before swallowing. He looked at Sungmin through his peripheral vision. The kind gesture inspired a type of trust that he didn’t think possible with Detective Park.

“Are you a cop?”

“Detective. Sungmin Lee.” He held his hand out to Kyuhyun, who glanced at it before taking it.

“Detective. What type of detective?”

“Homicide.”

“And Detective Park?”

“Homicide.”

That’s what Kyuhyun was afraid of hearing, although he already had an idea. He immediately felt the need to explain himself. “Look, I got off on the wrong foot with Detective Park. I thought- I didn’t… I thought this was about the hacking. But you guys aren’t interested in that right?” He would much rather serve time for his cybercrimes, which he would now happily admit to after being faced with a murder investigation.

“Hacking? That’s why you tried to take off on him?”

Kyuhyun nodded.

“Well, Detective Park only wants to clear this case about Hyukjae up but he’s just going to keep badgering you if you don’t tell him clearly.”

“Fine, but if he starts asking questions about programming or anything related to computers, the buck stops. I’ll have to call for an attorney.”

50° F at 10AM.

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