Chapter One
Angel Vessel
Taking a long drag out of my cigarette, I dropped it and stepped on the smoldering . "There you are." a voice commented and I looked up. "Sorry I'm late." I pushed away from my black Audi. "No worries. It isn't like the dead can go anywhere. That being said, it's pretty bad, Minji." My partner Kim Myungsoo said beckoning for me to follow him.
I saw a few stragglers trying to peer into the alley past the yellow police tape. We were in one of the most run down parts of city. It wasn't safe to walk around here alone at night. Most of the buildings were vacant and run down. The windows and doors were either broken or boarded up. This was the neighborhood that belonged to the homeless and the drug users. Even as we approached the alley I could smell something musty and moldy. The brick walls were stained with things that I didn't even want to discern.
"There's nothing to see here." a female officer in uniform tried to shoo them away. "Ma'am." she put her hand out to stop me when I tried to follow Myungsoo under the caution tape and I blinked at her. I flashed my detective badge at her and she backed down with a look of surprise on her face. "Yes, I'm one of the detectives assigned to the case." I said reading her mind. What had she expected? I was woken up at four thirty in the morning by a series of phone calls to come take a look at a murder. I wasn't going to look like a model about to walk down a runway. I just pulled on anything I could reach in the darkness of my room, which included black jeans and a t-shirt that read "Rawr, Fear Me!" complete with a picture of a cute cartoon dinosaur.
My saving grace was probably the blazer I threw on at the last minute.
Myungsoo tried to hide a chuckle. Rolling my eyes at him, I ducked underneath the tape. "Laugh it up." I said to him and then turned serious. I could smell the blood now that I was in close proximity. "What do we have so far?" I asked. "Nothing. No wallet or purse so no name or identity. I went over to the forensic examiner who was working on the body and I stopped short when I finally saw the body more clearly.
"Bastard." I cursed under my breath. The young woman looked like she was about my age. Her long dark hair seemed even darker in the places matted with blood. Dried blood caked one side of her face and her arms and legs were bound so tight I could already see the harsh red lines they left against her pale skin. Her body was just left in the middle of the alley. Usually murderers tried to hide the body any way they could, but with her so out in the open it felt a taunt. That even if people could find the body, noone would be able to find the murderer.
Her clothes looked like they were put through the shredder. I squatted next to the forensic examiner as Myungsoo handed me a pair of latex gloves. After pulling them on I examined her hands under the lamps that were set up. "She held her fists so tight, her nails cut through her skin." I commented softly. The crescent print of her nails were deep and traces of dried blood caked her palm. "Was she ?" I asked. "We need to get her back to the lab for a better examination but from preliminary examination, she could have been, yes." the medical examiner replied. "From her body temperature, she must've been killed between 10pm and 1am." he added.
"We're going to have to move her now." he said and I got out of the way, taking off my gloves. It was too dark in the alley to see the complete extent of the damage on her. When they picked her up to move her into the body bag, what was left of her sleeve fell away and suddenly a piercing pain went threw my skull. My eyes tried to focus on what I was seeing on her skin. It seemed like a tattoo, but it was silver in color. The tattoo had an iridescent glimmer to it. It looked like a pair of angel wings burning in silver flames. I blinked rapidly and took a step back. "Woah there." Myungsoo steadied me by grabbing my arm. "You okay? You usually don't faint at the sight of blood." he said. Instead of answering his question, I asked one of my own. "Hey, do you see anything on her right shoulder?"
Myungsoo left my side to go take a closer look. "No, there isn't anything." he said.
I cradled my head. "I must be tired still. The darkness is playing tricks on me." I commented, but my eyes stayed on the bizarre tattoo until the coroner finally zipped up the body bag. "I'm glad it didn't rain." Myungsoo said as he walked me back towards my car. "Yeah, it would've washed away the evidence." I nodded.
"I'm going to head to the office." he said. "You coming?"
"Yeah." I started to pull out a cigarette and he took it from between my fingers. "Stop smoking, it's not attractive." he said with a slightly disapproving look. "Who do I have to look attractive for?" I asked incredulously and met his eyes as I spoke. I saw a glimpse of some sort of emotion there, but I quickly looked away. "Stop taking away my stress reliever." I grumbled to change the subject and got into my car. "See you at the office." I called through my slightly open window before driving away.
Once I got on the road I let out a breath of relief. Myungsoo and I had graduated at the same time from police academy. He had it all, the looks, the brain and the dedication. I noticed the way he looked at me a year ago, two years after we graduated and have been skillfully dodging the topic since. To many he would have been a catch. Who didn't want a man that would treat you right and protect you. But, I couldn't accept his feelings. Myungsoo actually meant something to me. He was willing to be patient with me even when I let my fiery temper get the better of me. He was a friend that had become irreplacable. If we didn't work out, I would lose one of the only people who showed me genuine concern.
He had so many girls he could choose from, but he seemed to only look at me. He gave me all the space I needed, but recently his hints got a little less subtle. Nothing good came out of letting people get too close to me and the things I had locked away. Misfortune seemed to have always followed me and I would be damned if I let Myungsoo get hurt on my account.
I closed my eyes briefly when I reached a stop light. I couldn't seem to shake off the chill I got from seeing that mark on the victim's arm. I've never seen anything like it before. And even though, I only got a brief glimpse of it, the image seemed to have ingrained itself into my memory.
"Why couldn't Myungsoo see it?" I muttered in wonder to myself. Suddenly a loud beeping sound jerked me out of my thoughts and I opened my eyes.. "Would you move it?!" An irritated driver yelled from behind and I had to bite my lip to keep from making a retort.
Finally pulling into the lot after the half an hour drive, I parked in my usual space. I got out and walked towards the police department. I sighed as I looked up at the dark gray building. The sun wasn't even out yet.
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