Chapter 13. Moon is trouble

She was getting angry. And angry as in seriously angry, enough to make her want to pull out the keyboard and smash it against the computer screens and she was never, ever the type to do something like that given the fact that she was a gray-hat. For her, technology was life and yet she was ready to just plug it all out and smash everything around her. She had been given a day to find anything on that store clerk guy and everything she tried came out with no result. In the meantime, Donghae and Hyukjae had gone to meet the delivery man and that was actually the best and only lead they had so far. She had just a few more hours left to find something out, anything out and it was not working. She actually wanted to smash the computer in front of her when the two guys actually entered the house.

“How did it go?” Kyuhyun asked when they returned.

“Nothing. He can’t recall hearing anything weird or seeing anything weird. He’s clean.” Hyukjae sighed, sliding down on the chair.

“He was actually trying his best to remember anything he could.” Donghae spoke, just as done with life as his friend.

Was there something like a group sighing? If there was, that was what happened right at that moment. Siwon and Heechul had decided to go through some of the interviews just in case they missed a hint or something and Kyuhyun was going through all the routes and places the victims had been found maybe he had missed something. All three of them sighed and then seat themselves down on the chair again, feeling even more down that before. Could there have been anything more demoralizing than that? They were back to square one and if the criminal kept on schedule, they had four more days to catch him.

“So what now?” Siwon questioned, asking the question that no one wanted to actually ask.

“Now... we have to go through the interviews again and find something.” Kyuhyun groaned, hating the entire situation.

“What other options do we have?” Heechul asked this time, hoping there were other things they could do.

“If we’d know who was the target... we could rely on surveillance and bust him in the process but we have no way of knowing the target.” Kyuhyun shook his head, not liking to give them that news.

“We don’t even know in what area we are supposed to search.” Hyukjae added, joining in the crew on the land of the disappointed.

“Great... files...” Siwon groaned, hitting his head against the table.

“We can do this. Come on.” Heechul tried to be positive since everyone else looked like they had even given up on breathing.

If they were going to be that disappointed and groaning, constantly sighing and looking so fragile as if they were going to drop dead or fall asleep at every given moment, they were not going to actually make any progress with this investigation. The entire thing was already an ordeal since there was a lunatic out there that was killing and woman without leaving any proof behind for the cops to use and catch him but if they also gave up and sank into a bottomless hole, then they were really never going to make a breakthrough and help so that no one else would end up or and dead.

“How’s your research going?” Kyuhyun turned towards Moon, knowing she had been busy on her own with her hunt of the store clerk.

“I thought I could find something... but the CCTV show him arriving home after work and the lights to his house turning off and then no sign of him leaving and taking the car.” Moon began talking, dropping her keyboard on the desk as if it was going to eat her.

“What about the car?” Donghae showed interest, remembering how creepy that guy had been.

“No GPS so I can’t track it. I’ve been looking for the license plate but....” she gritted her teeth, even angrier than before.

“But?” Kyuhyun questioned, surprised to see her that upset.

He had seen her pissed, slightly annoyed or simply not giving a about anything and he had even had the chance to see her seriously convinced that the guy was the killer which ended up with her getting upset about the limitations she was facing both by the law and the police but now she literally looked as if she was going to hit someone if they said something she didn’t like or want to hear. Even in the previous days and through her changes of mood, she had not once mistreated her items but she had literally shoved that keyboard to the side so it was serious.

“He does not take the same route to work each day. Not even back. I can’t even calculate his back and forth time. He does not have a proper schedule he follows daily. Without a schedule and a common route ... I have nothing.” she let out a sigh, knowing that it was bad.

It was not just bad but really bad. She had been given a day to figure out something, anything, actual proof even if one, to be able to stir their attention towards the guy and yet she had less than what she started with. With nothing, Kyuhyun was not even going to give her and Donghae’s doubt a second glance and her gut was telling her she was right. She turned to the side and even avoided looking towards him, holding with her teeth against every single minute she had left before they officially left the guy alone.

“Well...” Kyuhyun let out a sigh, preparing to tell her to give up.

“I still have 2 more hours.”  She quickly shut him up, pointing at him with her finger, looking even angrier than before.

“Wait... is there something we do not know?” Hyukjae wondered since he did not understand exactly whom they were talking about.

“Moon believes that the store clerk might be responsible.” Kyuhyun answered.

“See?!” Donghae stood up, a bright smile on his face. “I’m not the only one thinking that.”

“Why are you humoring his doll phobia?” Siwon chuckled, shaking his head in disbelief.

“I do not have a doll phobia.” Donghae raised his voice, clenching his fists since he was getting annoyed with all the teasing.

“I think he caught on to something. Remember the photos? All clean haircut, all between the same height the store clerk wanted, even the way they were looking when they were found...” she began tapping on her keyboard again, searching for those photos.

They all looked at the photos they had already seen before, wanting to know what was that thing that she spotted and they missed. All they could see were women that were arranged in a specific position wearing their clothes with cuts and ripped in the same place. Kyuhyun was starting to understand what she was talking about and it looked like he was not the only one.

“See?” Donghae got even more enthusiastic. “They are arranged like they are dolls. Broken dolls.” He excitedly looked at the rest of them.

“So our theory is that he likes making dolls and when he finds women that fit that profile, he approaches them. When they say no, he decided to break them and turn them into undesirable dolls?” Siwon questioned, surprising himself.

“That does make sense.” Heechul frowned.

“It does.” Siwon agreed as well.

“It would make sense. If he is that ed out, he could have taken the refusal as an insult and hurt them.”  Hyukjae agreed as well.

“So?” Donghae searched for their eyes again, nodding his head since they were finally starting to understand his point of view.

They had all been making fun about his fear and all the moments he jolted in surprise during their scary stories sessions but even though he had based everything on a hunch, now that it was all put together like a puzzle, it made even more sense to him.

“We don’t have proof.” Hyukjae his lips, moving towards the computer to check on some things by himself.

“So we are still back to square one but with a theory on the side as well.” Heechul groaned, rolling his eyes and letting out a sigh.

He had tried to be positive and everything and his heart had been beating so fast when they talked about this new hypothesis that it drained him even more than the rest. Now he was becoming the grumpiest of them all and was soon going to join the same club as Moon as part of the ready to kill someone clique. Donghae could only sigh, brushing his forehead and then massaging his temple since he was starting to get a headache.

“Alright.... let’s just go through the interviews and see what we have. I’ll have a talk with Leeteuk. Hyukjae, if you can join me.” Kyuhyun looked at his coworker, waiting for his approval.

“Alright....” Siwon picked up some of the files.

“We’ll be upstairs and study the files.” Heechul agreed.

Everyone cleared the room, picking up everything they needed in order to study more through the files and even Moon stood up, pointing to the watch as if to make it clear that she wanted more time since he was going to take it away from her and Kyuhyun had no choice but to agree and give her a gentle smile. All four of them walked upstairs and found their place on their respective beds, not knowing what other things to do but to read.

Moon thought about it for a few seconds and then stood up from her bed and walked to the other side, stopping right in the middle so that she could see them all. It was obvious she was not going to find anything that could connect the guy with what was happening. She still had a very big hunch that she was right and with them putting together a perfectly valid theory, she was not going to wait for it to be thrown out the window.

“I need your help.” She told them, trying to look as polite and welcoming as possible.

“With what can we help you?” Siwon showed interest, putting aside the files to focus on her.

“I know it’s a long shot but if the guy did it...” she began. “Look... I know how it sounds.” She stopped them before they could laugh or tease about it or give her the need proof motive. “But what if he is just that good on covering his tracks? We are dealing with a man that scrapped off all DNA so he could be that smart. It might be him or it might be not, but if we can be sure, shouldn’t we?”

“So how can we be sure?” Donghae agreed with her.

“All I need is for you to steal his keys and go through his house. If nothing shows up.... “ she bit into her lower lip.

“Moon....” Heechul was the first to speak. “I can steal the keys but I do not have sneaking abilities. I usually steal the houses I walk inside.” He looked at her apologetic.

“I don’t have any skill like that.” Donghae pouted, looking down and crunching his shoulders, feeling he was so useless.

In reality, there was only one person that could enter the house and sneak around and that person was Siwon. All three of them turning to look at him, waiting for him to answer and offer his help. For Siwon it was a hard decision t