“Hey, look at this one!” Kim Jonghyun, one of the junior officers, grinned, as he helped Haruki flip through folder after folder of gun-related paperwork. “Kangin turned in a gun a few years back, claiming it was broken because he accidentally shot himself in the foot! That’s hilarious!”

Fortunately for Haruki, the young man wasn’t expecting a reply, as her mind was pre-occupied with other things.

After talking to Jiyong the night before about the stolen credit card, she’d suddenly realized that Yesung’s partner, the one who had the most opportunities to steal from him, was Siwon. Although that seemed to have exonerated Yesung, Haruki wasn’t happy with the revelation. Siwon wasn’t the type to commit murder either. Soft-spoken and gentle, he was looked up to by the younger detectives as an older brother and mentor. To even imagine that he could have an ugly side was beyond her capabilities.

But duty came first, and she reported her findings to the Chief, who promptly put Siwon into lockdown. Haruki had been sent to search through all the records kept of guns used by their department to look for Siwon’s weapon malfunction report. Although he insisted that he’d turned it in, Leeteuk had sadly informed Siwon that nothing he said could be trusted anymore.

“Hey, Minnie!” Jonghyun hollered, causing Haruki to look up in time to see the rookie walk by. Grinning, Jonghyun turned to Haruki and nudged her. “Did you know that he’s the only one in our department not licensed to use a gun? Wanna know why?”

“Jonghyun-” Haruki began, but the younger man barreled right on.

“It’s because he’s scared of loud noises!” Jonghyun toppled off his chair laughing, while Taemin blushed and scurried off. “What a loser! What kind of police officer is scared of loud noises?”

"Jonghyun, you shouldn’t ,” the detective sighed. “You were the rookie once, too.”

“Yeah, but I’m not anymore,” he protested. She just shook her head and continued searching.

Her phone buzzed and she pulled it out of her pocket, checking the caller ID. She frowned when she saw the name- it was Kim Kibum, one of the officers in their department with whom she had little to no interaction. “Morita.”

“Haruki! You’ve got to get over to the hospital now!” the voice on the other end of the line urged. “Hurry!” Before she could ask further, he’d hung up.

It only took Haruki a moment to process his words and meaning, her legs feeling numb as she jumped to her her feet. The only reason for someone she rarely saw to call her was if it had something to do with her case.

“I’ve got to go, Jonghyun,” Haruki informed the younger officer as she yanked her jacket over her shoulders. “Call me if you find anything!”

“Hey!” Jonghyun protested as she struggled with the zipper. “That’s not fair! Wait, you can’t just-”

Haruki offered an apologetic smile before dashing out the door.

Both officers leaning in the doorway jolted as she burst through the door and rushed towards her. Haruki glanced from one to the other and groaned. “Which one of you called me?”

Leave it to Leeteuk to have put two officers with the same name together as partners. It also didn’t help that both were effeminate, with the same length dark hair and even similar facial features.

“I did.” One raised his hand.

“Are you the one who likes being called Key?” she asked.

“No, that’s me,” the other replied.

It was? She could have sworn it was the first Kibum…but none of that mattered when she remembered why she was there. “Is it another…victim?”

Kibum-squared exchanged grim glances. “Not exactly,” the first one said.

“She’s in there,” the other added, gesturing to a room a little further down the hall.

Honestly, they were like identical twins, even though they weren’t related. She had to wonder how much of it was an act and how much of it was a result of them being paired together so much that each had begun picking up the other’s mannerisms.

The wondering stopped, though, when she entered the room and saw the patient sitting up in bed, motionless watching the doorway. The girl’s eyes widened in terror as Haruki entered the room and the detective instinctively slowed down. “It’s okay,” she said in her most soothing voice, which sounded harsh to her own ears. “I’m not going to hurt you.” Her eyes landed on the young woman’s face, taking in the purple rings around her eyes.

Another victim of The Lobotomist.

But this one wasn’t dead yet, which she supposed she should be grateful for. She sat down in the seat by the patient’s bedside, the girl’s head tilting up to look at her as she did so.

“Hi,” Haruki said awkwardly.

“…Hi.” Relief flooded through Haruki and a smile crossed her face. This one could talk. She had a witness! She could finally get some answers!

“May I ask you some questions?” Haruki asked. The girl looked puzzled and frowned, one finger going into and tugging on her bottom lip. Of course the poor thing was traumatized. The detective reminded herself to calm down and talk more slowly. She would get her questions answered, but only if the witness trusted her.

“What is your name?” she asked slowly and distinctly.

“…Hyo…rin,” the girl replied. Speaking seemed to take a lot of effort for her; Haruki could see it in the way her brows crease as she slowly sounded out the syllables.

“Hyorin,” Haruki repeated. “Could you please tell me what happened to you?”

“I…”

“Yes?” Haruki leaned forward slightly.

"I…” The girl moved one shoulder up and down. “I don’t know.”

The detective almost fell out of her chair. “You don’t know? How can you not know? You don’t know how someone attacked you and lobotomized your brain? You don’t know who did it or what he looked like? You don’t know anything?”

Hyorin had been whimpering and fidgeting more and more nervously as the detective’s tirade went on. Suddenly, she began biting her fingers and pulling at her hair, thrashing back and forth. She slammed her head backwards against the wall repeatedly as Haruki cried out, “Stop it!” and grabbed her by the shoulder. Hyorin met her glance, eyes full of frustration and fear and she screamed. Doctors and nurses swarmed into the room, forcing the detective to duck into a corner to get out of the way.

Fifteen minutes later, Hyorin was sedated and peacefully asleep. Haruki shuddered, remembering the primal sound the younger woman had made. How did it feel, she wondered, to have regressed so much? Did she remember how she used to be?

“We meet again, Detective Morita.”

It was Hangeng, the same doctor who had attempted to save Krystal. Haruki forced herself to smile politely and held out her hand. “Dr. Han. How nice to see you again.”

“It’s just Hangeng,” he replied. “And I wish it were under better circumstances.”

“How did…what…” What was she supposed to ask? Did she really want to hear more about the circumstances under which another victim, whom she’d failed to protect, had been attacked? Did she want to know how this girl’s life had been ruined forever? Did she want more reminders of her own failure?

“She was lucky,” Hangeng said, apparently having read her mind. “She’s awake…and she can talk…she doesn’t need life support.”

But she would never be the same again. The words hung unspoken between them. She was alive, but what was the point of being alive when her most basic personality had been ripped out?

"What can you tell me about her?” Brushing off the lapse of unprofessionalism, Haruki straightened her shoulders and pulled out her notebook.

“I believe she was working as a bartender or something in a local club,” Hangeng replied. “She was found in the alley nearby just earlier today. We did a scan of her brain. The damage is extensive, but she will be able to make some recovery, we hope.”

The damage is extensive. Haruki snapped her notebook shut and forced herself to smile. “Please keep me updated on her condition, Hangeng. I’ve invested personal interest in this case and I intend to see it through to the end.”

He nodded. “I assure you, we’ll keep a careful eye posted on her.” She smiled, relieved that he’d understood her unspoken request to keep the girl safe.

“Thank you.” Casting one last look at the girl, she sent Hyorin a silent apology and left the room.

When she got outside, she found Kibum-squared talking to a young woman, a journalist, if the annoyance on their faces was any indication.

“Is there a problem here?” she asked coming up behind them. Both Kibums looked relieved to see her.

“She just wanted us to answer a few questions about this attack…” one of them (was he the one who liked being called Key?) explained.

“Victoria Song, New World Times,” the woman replied. “And you are?”

“Morita Haruki, detective.”

“Good, very good.” The woman scribbled down a note and the three officers exchanged alarmed looks. “Now, Miss Morita-”

“Detective Morita,” Haruki retorted.

“Whatever. What are your thoughts on the attack of this girl, a Kim Hyorin, am I right? Are they related to the series of murders in our city?”

“I’m sorry, but we have no comment,” Haruki replied. “All questions must be directed to Choi Sooyoung, our media liaison. “Come on, you two.” She led the way out of the hospital, grimacing when she realized the reporter was following them, calling out questions as she went.

“Do you think it’s the work of the same serial killer? The Lobotomist, right? Do you think it’s he or she?”

"Ignore her,” Haruki instructed the Kibums, though the words were more for her own benefit than theirs.

“Wait a moment. Morita Haruki…aren’t you the girl in charge of investigating the case?” Haruki bristled and had to clench her fist to bite back a retort. “Girl”? When this Victoria was barely older than she was?

“Come on, Miss Morita, share your thoughts. The public needs reassurance that our officers are doing their best to protect them.” There was a cruel smirk in Victoria’s voice as she raised her notepad, pen poised at the ready.

Ignoring her, Haruki instead turned to the other two officers. “Are you two heading back to the department now?”

One Kibum shook his head. “No, we’ve got some field work to do.”

“You’ll take care of the report, right?” asked the other.

She nodded. “Of course I will. See you both at Chief Park’s birthday party, if I don’t see you earlier.”

“Party?” Victoria repeated, visibly sneering now. Haruki scowled. Why was she still there? “You have time to party when you haven’t even caught this murderer yet? How many innocent young girls have to lose their lives before you begin to take this seriously, Detective Morita?”

Haruki took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and counted to ten. When she turned around to tell the journalist off, Victoria Song was gone.

“Haruki, I searched every damn file and got about fifty paper cuts in places I didn’t know paper could cut, but I still couldn’t find it.”

“Haruki, I traced the usernames of the person chatting with the girls. You need to come look at this, now!”

“Haruki, Chief wants you to question Siwon.”

The detective nearly bolted as she was swarmed the moment she came back to the office. She turned from Jonghyun, to Jiyong, to Sooyoung, to one of the many other people all staring at her, waiting for a response. “I…I…” she stuttered unintelligently.

An arm dropped around her shoulders. “Sorry everyone, I get first dibs. Better luck next time.”

She’d never been so relieved to hear Donghae’s voice before. “Thank you,” she gasped as she dropped into the chair in front of his desk.

 “You looked like you were on the brink of a panic attack,” Donghae replied.

Haruki groaned and leaned back in her chair, relaying the events that had taken place at the hospital to him. “How did this all go so wrong, Donghae?” she asked. He just shrugged. What could he say? They’d started with a murder case. Now there was a dead FBI agent, a top detective in their own department was being questioned for the murders, and they were up to their fourth victim.

“What do we do now?” he asked. There was no time for thinking- they needed to decide their next move and make it quickly. They were three steps behind the killer at all times- somehow, they had to get ahead.

Haruki folded her hands together, resting her chin on them as she thought. “I’ll go see Siwon. You speak with Jonghyun first, and then go ask Jiyong what he found. Everyone else will have to wait. We need answers, now.”

No one would ever accuse her of not taking this case seriously again.

Siwon looked up as she walked in, her face stony. His forehead was creased with wrinkles; he seemed to have aged twenty years in the couple hours he’d been in the interrogation room.

“Hello Siwon,” she said stiffly.

“Haruki,” he replied with a sigh. He looked so worn out, so different from the polite and charming Siwon that she knew. She wanted to pity him, but she couldn’t. The task at hand left no room for pity.

Pulling out the chair across from him, she seated herself at the table and opened his folder in front of her. Before her was all information that she knew well, knew from years of working with him, but she had to ask anyways.

“Name?”

“Choi Siwon.”

“Age?”

"Thirty-two, thirty-three in the spring.”

“Profession?”

“Senior detective in the Forensics Department of the Valenti Police Department?”

“How many-”

“Can we skip the meaningless banter and cut straight to the accusations?” Siwon asked. There was only the slightest hint of annoyance in his tone, but his face showed none of his anger, only exhaustion. He had amazing control over his emotions. Haruki made a mental note.

“Alright,” she agreed, flipping to a different page. “Where were you the night Special Agent Ok Taecyeon was murdered?”

“I was at home, reading a book,” Siwon replied.

“Can you prove it?” Haruki asked.

He shook his head. “No, of course I can’t. You’d have to trust my word.”

She wanted to, desperately. She didn’t want to believe that he could be a killer, not after he’d guided her through the first few rough years in the department and told off the others when they for being the only female detective.

She shook her head slightly and the hope in his eyes vanished. “Where were you last night?”

“The library. I was doing some research on explosives for my latest case.”

“Do you have a checkout slip or-”

“I didn’t check out any books.”

Haruki felt her shoulders drooping. So he didn’t have an airtight alibi for the time when Hyorin would have been attacked. All of this was circumstantial evidence, but it was all so convincing. Men had been convicted on less; they needed to prove he was not guilty.

“Siwon,” she began hesitantly. “A couple days ago, I asked you about the gun you turned in two years ago that was missing. You never gave me an answer and now, the report you filed for that gun is missing as well.”

“I know it is,” Siwon replied. “I made a copy on my laptop before I turned it in and the copy is missing as well. That’s what I went to look for after you told me about your visit with Heechul. It was deleted from my computer.”

“You have to tell me everything about it,” Haruki told him. She tried to sound stern, but it was hard, with Siwon looking like he’d already given up. He was never meant to look defeated.

“Two years ago,” he murmured. “Two years ago I was issued a new Glock when my old one was destroyed during a car chase. It was one of the newer line of weapons, with that ‘Safe Action’ trigger. You remember that.”

Haruki nodded. “Go on.”

“Well, for some reason, mine began to malfunction from day one.” He raised his hands, moving them through the air in a fluid set of illustrations as he continued his explanation. “You know how the new line had the Trigger Safety mechanism, containing the guard that prevented the trigger from moving unless the lever was depressed.” She nodded again. “Well, mine didn’t do that. It was practically on the verge of exploding at all times.”

“Bad manufacturing?” she asked.

“That’s what Heechul said,” Siwon replied. “He told me he couldn’t fix it and my best bet was to just get a new one. So I wrote up a report describing the malfunction and my partner turned both it and my gun in for me.”

Haruki jolted. “Your partner.”

Siwon nodded. “I had jury duty the next day, so Sungmin volunteered to turn it in for me.”

“Sungmin? Lee Sungmin?”

"There is only one Sungmin in our department.” Siwon raised a thick eyebrow at her.

“Right, of course. But you didn’t ask to make sure that the paperwork had been processed?” Haruki asked.

The other detective shook his head. “I received a replacement soon after and forgot about it.”

“Then why is it showing up now? And how is it working again?” Haruki asked. “And why would someone go through so much trouble to make it look like you never turned the report in?” Siwon just stared at her, eyebrows narrowed as her eyes widened. “Someone’s trying to frame you, too. A murder weapon that you once owned, that was apparently never turned in…” It made him look awfully guilty.

“You can search my desk and my house,” he replied. “Do whatever you want. I swear on the Bible, on my honor, on my life, I have no idea where it is now.”

“I believe you, Siwon,” Haruki said quietly. “I just wish we had solid proof.”

Siwon finally smiled; hearing those words from her made the ordeal more tolerable. “You and me both, kid,” he replied. “You and me both.”

Victoria Song triumphantly printed out the article she’d just finished writing, the article that could bring down the police department. After years of slaving away writing obituaries and wedding announcements, this would be her big break. This was the story that would make her career!

A rustle of papers behind her made her turn around. She frowned. It was late, and everyone else had gone home hours ago.

Probably just her imagination. She must be giddy with excitement. She was hearing things. That was it.

Footsteps, light on the carpet. Her head whipped around. “Who’s there?” she called.

No response, not that she had been expecting one. “Calm down, Vic,” she murmured to herself, pressing a hand to her chest as if that would ease her pounding heart. “You’re scaring yourself.”

She needed to think about something else. Like that little girl playing detective. Yes, that was it. Think about the look on her face when this article comes out, exposing her for what she truly was- a kid playing a grown-up’s game. Think about how foolish the entire police department would look, for having hired such an incompetent-

A blade pressed against and her arms were wrenched behind her back. Too frightened to cry for help, she could only whimper as a harsh whisper snarled in her ear: “I can’t have you publishing that. People might get hurt…”

Victoria’s scream was cut off as she choked on her own blood, the red liquid splattering across the freshly printed pages. The killer unceremoniously gathered the papers together and stuffed them in the shredder before deleting the computer file. His work done, he turned to go, leaving Victoria Song to bleed to death on the cold, tile floor. 

A/N: Note to self, never write a murder scene at midnight. Sorry, Vic. ><