He reached into his other pocket and handed her his card, “My name is Lee Donghae. If there is anything would you please give me a call?”

Victoria nodded as she took the card from him and Donghae thanked her before walking out.

/////

First that strange man who claimed himself to be a photographer then a newbie investigator. Suddenly she decided she should be prepared in case anyone else would make their way up the stairs to pay her a visit. After hours of waiting Victoria finally decided on a cup of coffee. While she waited for the coffee to ready Victoria stared at the wall ahead of her replaying the whole day in her head then all of a sudden she felt exhausted and decided to let her cup of coffee sit on the counter. Laying down on the sofa Victoria wondered why the newbie investigator had asked her where she’d been the day before. Of course she’d lied that she’d been at a friend’s house, why would she want to tell anyone she’d had a miscarriage? Hopefully, the cops weren’t suspecting her of anything. If they were she knew they were just wasting their time. She wanted the week to quickly fly by so she could go away to Seoul and leave everything in her life behind.

/////

When Kim Heechul returned to his apartment instead of developing his pictures right away like he’d always do he went to sit down at the kitchen table. For some reason he found the kitchen more comfortable than the small living room he had. Tapping his fingers on the green top of the table he thought to himself over and over about the murder. And of course nothing came to him. His mind was occupied with the girl who’d stolen his heart and rejected him 3 years ago. Maybe it seemed foolish to hold onto such thoughts from university, but he’d never been able to forget it. Sighing he removed his hands from the table and tapped his forehead. If he knew her he was sure that she’d been honest with her report to the cops this morning. Maybe this Il Chung did kill his girlfriend then killed himself.

Heechul cleared his throat then stared at the camera he’d set down in front of him. Maybe he should steal a picture of her next time that way he wouldn’t be able to forget how she looked like. He knew for sure she’d make it to the funeral mass this weekend and he wouldn’t miss it for the world.

/////

As Donghae climbed down the steps he couldn’t help but stop halfway to turn back and glance at the photographer who remained glued in front of Victoria’s door. There was something interesting about the photographer that finally made him curious. Why had he stayed in front of the door hesitating for so long? Could it possibly be that he had a love interest? Donghae smirked. He never imagined that Heechul could be so slow at such things.

He recalled the first time he’d ever met that photographer was at the first murder scene he’d arrived at with his chief. The death of the victim had happened near midnight next to a cemetery. When he’d arrived at the scene he remembered a particular man with a large camera snapping pictures intensely. The chief had noted the case as a homicide, but after Heechul brought his pictures into the court building he proved that it was a suicide. Donghae could very well remember the astonished expressions that belonged to his chief and the other D.A.’s faces. However, the second time he met Heechul he followed him around and found out that he didn’t hesitate about trespassing on properties to snap more pictures. Donghae had told him right out about the consequences, but Heechul had just smiled at him and continued with snapping the shutter on his camera. The pictures proved to be worth his risk of trespassing, however. And that’s how they got to know each other after Donghae had promised he’d solve his crimes without help from Heechul. Donghae nodded to himself in approval of his memory digging. 

“Hey! Where are you?! Did you do what I asked you to?!” the chief’s voice boasted through the air crashing into his thoughts.

“Of course, I’m on my way!” Donghae shouted back and quickly hurried down the rest of the way back to the apartment.

After giving his 5 minute carefully thought out speech Donghae waited patiently for the chief’s response, which didn’t come until a minute later.

“That’s all? Why were you up there for so long? Stop messing around, you didn’t even get any piece of useful information,” the chief scolded. “After the autopsy comes out  we’ll file a report that this guy did murder his girlfriend then committed suicide.” Donghae watched as his chief sighed shaking his head in utter disappointment. “I don’t know why people do this. It’s about time we get out of here and let the investigation team clean up.”

“Yes sir!”

When they got back to the office Donghae made his way into his little personal space at the corner of the room. The square room consisted of two desks. One to the right of the door and one to the back, which belonged to him. The secretary sat at the desk near the door and answered incoming phone calls and Donghae did his own investigations at the back where he felt most comfortable. A large framed painted picture of a bridge overflowing with flowers built above a calm river sat in the middle of the room on the right wall. The walls were a white color and the bottom half of it was made out of wood which matched the white carpeted floor. The door to Donghae’s left led to the chief’s large office where he sat and worked alone.

“Has there been any calls while we were out?” questioned Chief Kang as they entered the office through the door.

“None. Would you like some coffee or water to drink?” asked the middle aged secretary.

Her hair was cut short around her oval face and she always donned her face with pale white make up, which Donghae didn’t understand why she’d do so. When Donghae first got hired he found out that the middle aged woman who was famously known as, Sasha-but actually Choi Song Nee- used to be a bar lady, but after remarrying 5 times finally quit her job and became a quiet secretary. Donghae found her story very strange, but interesting as well.

“Had a cup of coffee this morning and burnt my tongue so I think I’m good for today,” Donghae replied while passing her to his desk.

“What about you chief?” questioned Sasha.

“Just me a cup of cold water,” the chief said. “Donghae, why don’t you find something useful to do?”

“I was going to without you even telling me,” Donghae replied taking his jacket off and sitting down behind his desk. “And I’m not going to let you know what I’m doing until the autopsy report comes out. This is the new technique of being secretive.”

“Yea, I bet,” the chief said plainly before entering his office.

Donghae watched as the door closed then his computer. If he was right there was something that Victoria was keeping from him and he was intent on finding out what that was. But first he’d have to grab the professor’s phone numbers and make some calls before making his next move.

/////

Victoria sat around, laid back down on the couch, then sat back up and tried reading a book, then played with her dog, and went back to sitting around. There was nothing she wanted to do. With her plans ruined she had no heart of roaming around the streets of Incheon right now. The call from earlier was from the leaser of the property she was going to purchase and she’d begged the leaser to keep the property for her until the weekend when she would finally be able to go to Seoul. And she would go no matter what.

Sighing she sat stared at her toy poodle who was busy tearing apart her new toy on the ground when she finally got up to her feet. Victoria went into her small bedroom that contained only her twin bed and a closet throwing on a jeans and a sweater then made her way out. She might as well visit his grave today before she’d leave this weekend.