Donghae slumped in his seat and heaved a huge sigh. It was already midnight, and still there weren’t any leads on either the car thieves or the gunman. He had already gone through the files and papers several times, and his head and back were killing him now. In fact, he’d read them over so many times that he was pretty sure he could memorise all the words printed on the few sheets of paper already.

A knock sounded on the door, and Hyukjae let himself in, balancing a tray of hot coffee in his hands.

“Baby, take a break. You’ve been at this ever since we got back.”

Donghae gave him an annoyed look, but his eyes softened when he realized that Hyukjae was just worried about him.

“I’m fine. Is that coffee I smell? Latte?” he asked with a small smile.

Hyukjae grinned and placed a steaming hot cup in front of his fiancé. “Only the best.” He took the other cup and put the tray on the ground, before sliding into a seat next to the Chief. “I think you need a massage. But first, I need you to take your mind off the case.”

The Inspector smiled. Hyukjae’s massages were the best. He obliged and set his papers down. “Go ahead, then.”

Hyukjae happily put his coffee away and started kneading Donghae’s stiff shoulders, prompting a couple of soft moans from him. “Goodness, you’re harder than a rock. I think I need to do you properly on a bed.”

Donghae groaned and rolled his eyes. “Hyukjae, please. No ual innuendos at work.”

“But it’s past work time, so I get to do whatever I want. And I want to do you properly on a bed. Or at least, on the couch,” Hyukjae grinned. His face turned serious however when Donghae didn’t whine or hit him as he expected. Donghae said nothing. “Baby? I was only joking. I’m not gonna—”

“I know,” Donghae snapped.

Hyukjae shut his mouth at once. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to.” He continued kneading Donghae’s shoulders, working at certain parts to get rid of all the knots. Donghae only hummed in response. Hyukjae could feel his insecurities rising again but he fought to keep them down. The last thing he wanted to do was make Donghae feel uncomfortable with him.

* * *

“Chief, they’ve caught one of the car thieves red-handed today. Do you wanna go take a look?”

Donghae nodded at the police officer and stood up. “Of course. Where is he?”

The officer bowed and explained that the suspect was being detained at the juvenile detention centre. “He’s only seventeen but it seems like he’s willing to spill the beans for a lighter sentence.”

“Good. We’ll be able to get some information on the syndicate, then,” Donghae smiled.

Donghae arrived at the centre and was let in immediately. He saw a haughty-looking teenager in the middle of the room, looking like he owned the place. The Chief kept a stoic face and entered with a few other officers.

“Taemin,” one of the officers spoke up. “Seventeen years old, no specific address. But you’ve got a couple of records for shoplifting and vandalism. I see you’ve upgraded yourself by joining an actual syndicate to steal valuable cars, you punk.”

Taemin lifted an eyebrow and shrugged. “Nice to see you again, Kibum-ssi. I haven’t seen you in a while.”

Kibum growled. “Don’t call me by my first name like we’re buddies. It’s Officer Kim to you.”

“Whatever.”

After a few rounds of questioning, with occasional outbursts from Kibum and interruptions from Donghae himself, they left the centre. The boy was surprisingly cooperative but none of his answers were able to help the investigation. All he knew was that he received orders on which cars to steal from time to time through a private number he couldn’t call back and actually knew nobody else from the syndicate. He’d receive the order, find a car that fit the description and steal it, then deliver the stolen car to a certain place. He didn’t know exactly what place it was, but gave the police a vague description of it. It was situated pretty far away from the city and he had to drive for nearly half an hour before reaching the place, where his pay would be hidden under a rock. He’d then park the car there, collect his money then catch the next bus back. That was all. When prompted, he confessed that he had only reported once to a man who covered his face with a black mask and helmet all the time, in the middle of the night, when he was first recruited. He couldn’t remember how the man’s eyes looked like, but only said that the man was quite short in height, at least a few inches shorter than him.

Donghae didn’t think that the boy’s information was able to shed much light on the case. His leads only led to dead ends, but he had to make sure his men checked out the area that the boy described where he left his stolen cars. Taemin was still being detained for further questioning.

* * *

The next day however, Taemin wound up dead.

Donghae was outraged. “How is it possible for a suspect under police supervision to be killed just like that?”

Kibum shook his head. “I don’t know, sir. He was found in his cell with a gunshot wound to his back. He died of excessive bleeding and suffocation because the bullet pierced through his lung. None of us know how the murderer sneaked in without alerting the guard on parole.”

“When did this happen?”

“Sometime between midnight last night and this morning at six, when the guards changed shifts. Taemin asked for an extra blanket around midnight. We’ve questioned a couple of guards and officers at the centre but they know of nothing. When we asked for CCTV footages, they said that the surveillance cameras were tampered with and thus they don’t know when or who the culprit was.”

Donghae slammed his fist on the table then collapsed onto his chair with a huge sigh. “I thought of asking the boy to take us exactly where he left the cars each time because none of the officers were able to find the place he described. He gave us a false lead. Now with him dead, we’re back to square one again.”

Someone knocked on his door. Henry peeked in and placed a folder on Donghae’s table. “I’ve compiled all the information on Taemin in here. You might want to take a look, chief.”

Donghae thanked him and flipped open the folder. The first document was an autopsy on Taemin’s dead body. Like Kibum described, Taemin died of blood loss and suffocation. However, the bullet found lodged in his body was a .45 Auto as well, the same type used to kill Jonghyun last time. No dots were found on his body however, so they couldn’t physically tie Taemin’s relationship to the car theft ring. The bullet, although similar, was still a fairly common type of ammunition sold anywhere. Donghae wondered if he’d got his hands on the wrong person and made wrong assumptions after all. After Taemin lied about the place, the Chief wondered just how much of what the teenager told was true after all.

* * *

After updat