Donghae returned to his car and remained in his seat without doing anything. Why had she suddenly left? Was she panicking that they’d find something out about her so she wanted to leave before they found out that something? Where would she go? Obviously she had no relatives or friends nearby…where would he locate her?

“Do you want to go out and grab a few drinks tonight?” Eunhyuk’s voice answered after Donghae picked up his phone.

“Not tonight, something just came up,” Donghae told starting his car.

“What came up?”

“My suspect is missing.”

“Um…I guess that’s bad.”

“I’ll call you up during the weekend so we can hang, ok?”

“That’s fine. Good luck.”

After hanging up Donghae turned around the corner of the street ransacking his memory for anything she could have said that had hinted anything. It didn’t take long to actually remember that she’d told him herself that she’d been transferred jobs. If she worked at the tech college she couldn’t have been transferred far. Donghae sped toward the Incheon Tech College and climbed up the steps hurrying toward the front counter.

“I’m not sure exactly. It doesn’t list in our records, sorry.”

“Can’t you find out for me? It’s important.”

“I’ll try to contact the dean of the psychology department but you might have to wait a while. With the new year approaching everyone’s really busy.”

Donghae waited while the woman typed something into the computer.

“What did you say her name was?”

“Victoria Song.”

The doors opened behind him and he could hear someone walk toward him, “You’re looking for Victoria?”

Donghae spun around to see a thin tall man standing behind him dressed in sweats.

“I’m Song Philip, you are?”

“Investigator Lee Donghae.”

“Investigator? What would Victoria have to do with an investigator?”

/////

Victoria opened the door and let Melodix run toward her small tray of water. After the walk Victoria felt refreshed herself. She’d be making loads of money this fall or more if she were offered an outside project in the school to do. She had classes everyday of the week and she knew those classes would all keep her busy grading assignments. Victoria washed her hands and found a sandwich to munch on while she waited for the rest of the day to pass by.

/////

“So that’s what happened,” Song Philip said thoughtfully from across Donghae.

They were now seated in a small café at a circular table with two cups of coffee in front of them. Donghae had learned that Song Phililp had just returned from his expedition in Chile and was not yet aware of anything that had happened to his friend during the time he was out of the country. But as Im Jee Su had said he and Victoria seemed on pretty close terms.

“She told me she was transferred to a different job. Did she ever talk to you about it?” asked Donghae.

Song Philip seemed to ponder about his thoughts before going on, “We talked through e-mail but I haven’t heard from her in the past week, so I’m really not sure. But her job couldn’t be far from here.”

“I see, thanks anyway.” Donghae said prepared to get up.

“Is she doing ok? Do you know if she’s taking care of herself well?” Song Philip asked abruptly.

“Was there something wrong with her?” Donghae searched the man's face for anything he might give away, but his face expression was stiff and solid just like Victoria's expressionless face.

Song Philip stared at him then averted his eyes as if he should have kept his mouth shut, “Never mind. I’m sure she’s doing fine. I’ll see you again.”

With that he watched as the investigator left the café and after he left Song Philip made his way to his car then back to his apartment. Immediately after setting his luggage down in his room he grabbed his phone and called her up. She didn’t answer until the third ring and he felt delighted at hearing her voice.

“It’s me, Philip.”

“You’re back!” he could feel a smile from her voice.

“Where are you right now? You transferred jobs already?”

“Yes, I’m in Seoul right now.”

“Seoul?!”

“I’m in Seoul.”

“Are you by yourself? Are you ok?”

“I’m fine.” her dry voice replied.

“Are you sure? What about the ba…”

“I’m good. Thanks for worrying. Did you just get back? Are you home right now?” she bombarded him with questions and he knew for sure she did that just to change the subject. She was hiding something from him.

“Tell me where you live. I’ll come see you right now.”

“No. You just rest for today and maybe we can meet up over the weekend.”

“Why? Victoria, there’s a reason why he left you in my care, I hope you don’t forget that.”

She remained silent then reluctantly gave him her address and within minutes he was out the door.

/////

So, Song Philip claimed he didn’t know anything about Victoria’s new job. Donghae watched as the professor entered his car and started for the highway before Donghae followed him.

“Sasha,” Donghae said after making a call back to the office, “tell the chief I probably won’t be back today. If he has anything leave a note for me on my desk and I’ll be there early in the morning to take care of it.”

“I gotcha sonny.”

Donghae hung up and sometimes wondered why that middle aged woman’s voice was so dull sometimes.

He stared into the window before him to make sure he hadn’t lost sight of Song Philip’s black Porsche. If they were close friends as Im Jee Su had described then from the way he had acted earlier was enough to be labeled suspicious. Song Philip definitely knew something and he was keeping it from him to keep Victoria out from the spotlight. Well, Donghae wouldn’t stop until he found out where she’d been the night before the murder took place.

/////

Victoria clenched her hands tightly around her stomach as she waited nervously for Philip’s arrival. She knew the first thing he’d ask her about would be the fetus she’d painfully lost Sunday. And she didn’t want to talk about it, but he’d pressure her into telling him. What could she do? Victoria bit her bottom lip then glanced out the oval window to see that the sun was setting and it was getting dark. Would he really come? Of course he would. He’d promised Han in Seol before his death that he’d take care of her…

Five minutes later the doorbell rung and Victoria turned from where she was standing to stare at the door nervously. How would she explain to him about the loss of her child? But he would understand…because he was Philip and he was her friend. Gulping she stepped toward the door to find her friend standing on the doorstep waiting for her to invite him in. Making sure the door was closed Victoria slowly turned around to meet his gaze.

“What happened?” she knew he was asking about the baby. Her growing stomach was now flat and noticeable.

Victoria tried to smile but only made it look like an incomplete smile, “I had a miscarriage.”

“When? How? What happened?”

“I don’t know. I felt weird Sunday so I went to the hospital.”

“Did you stay there overnight?”

“I lost a pound of blood while they were removing the fetus so the doctor made me stay the whole night.”

“Did you tell the investigator that?”

“Investigator?” Victoria immediately frowned.

“The investigator looking into Il Chung and Sandy’s deaths. Did you tell him about your stay in the hospital?”

“No.” she solidly replied.

“Are you stupid! You should have told him! They’re looking at you like a murderer right now! You don’t know what could happen because you lied! Victoria, can’t you be any smarter?”

“I still don’t regret not telling him. They can check in on me all they want, I’m not scared because I have a clean record.”

“You’re just getting yourself into a big mess, do you understand that?”

“I know that!” Victoria snapped then turned away as silence engulfed the room. “Are you hungry? You just got back didn’t you?”

“Yea.”

After making him some food and catching up on their past three months Philip finally left after Victoria promised to call him often, which she wasn’t sure she would do. An hour later Melodix came running toward her and Victoria knew the dog needed to go outside. Victoria grabbed her leash and stepped outside allowing Melodix run about feeling the wind comb her long loose hair. It wasn’t as windy as she’d expected it to be that night but she enjoyed the small breeze that passed her by. She was feeling a lot better now after meeting that kind professor at the university and after Philip’s visit. Maybe it was because their presence assured her that she wouldn’t be alone in Seoul…at least.

“Aren’t you scared coming out in the dark alone?” someone’s voice broke through her thoughts.