6:57PM.

She thought it might take a while to calm Mr Jang down enough to get him to speak but it didn’t. It took him no time at all. He took one look at the body in the study and said Oh What a Shame and then he went back downstairs and grabbed a glass off the table and poured it about half full with whiskey and begin drinking silently. They all watched him. For a while he just stood there, drinking.

Irene cleared .

‘Did you want something?’ he said.

‘You were talking about the power and the phone lines being dead.’

‘Oh, right. Yeah, they’re out. I don’t know what’s going on.’

‘Can you take a look?’

‘Sure,’ he said. But he just stood there, drinking.

‘Now, please.’

‘Oh, right. I suppose so, yeah.’

‘Where’s the generator room?’

‘There are two.’

‘Why?’

‘I don’t know. I didn’t build the house. I just work here. I was getting ready to head home.’

‘Well, where are they?’

He pointed in the direction of the far-left corridor. ‘Down there,’ he said. ‘Right on the end, attached to one of the spare bedrooms. It’s like a little closet. And then there’s one upstairs too, a bigger one. Next to another closet, actually.’

‘The one just past Yeri’s room?’

He shrugged. As if to say: How should I know?

‘Can you check, please?’

He finished his whiskey and set the glass down on the table and by the time he was at the bottom of the stairs the glass was already neatly at an angle on the table with no spillage. Irene studied Wheein for a moment. Outside the rain seemed like it didn’t want to stop anytime soon.

‘He’s a bit weird,’ Sooyoung said.

‘Yeah,’ Jisoo said. ‘He’s always been a bit strange. A bit…blonde.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Wheein said.

‘Nothing. I just…sorry. I didn’t mean—’

‘Ditzy,’ Yeri said, arms folded. ‘You meant ditzy. A bit like you are.’

‘What? Why am I ditzy?’

‘Dunno. Maybe ask God that, not me.’

‘What?’

‘Nothing.’

Wendy turned to Irene, stood at the foot of the sofas with her hands on her hips. ‘Boss,’ she said, ‘do you think someone cut the power? And the phone lines?’

‘I don’t know. I think we’re going to find out very soon. But it would make a lot of sense, wouldn’t it?’

‘I guess it would. Never really thought about it.’

Irene nodded. Yeri was sat on the sofa with her hand raised like wanted to speak and for a minute Irene just ignored her. As if she might just go away if left alone for long enough. But she did not. She just sat there, coughing obnoxiously, hand raised like a kid at school. Irene sighed. ‘Yes, Yeri,’ she said.

‘Yeah, ing finally, thank you. One question.’

‘Great.’

‘Are you sure you’re cut out for this job? For investigating this, I mean?’

‘What?’

‘Well, far be it from me to question your abilities or anything, but are you sure there’s no conflict of interesting going on here?’

‘Conflict of interest?’

‘With your friend over there.’

They turned to Seulgi and back to Yeri.

‘Oh,’ Yeri said, ‘you didn’t know?’

‘Didn’t know what?’ Wheein asked.

‘These two are dating.’

‘No we’re not,’ Seulgi said.

‘These two are ing.’

‘We’re not doing that either.’

‘Well, they were about to. Right in front of me. Can you believe it? The nerve of some people.’

Irene sighed. ‘We’re not dating,’ she said. She looked at the others and they seemed to want a better answer than that and so with a hint of reluctance she continued. ‘We used to date, a few years ago. But then we broke up. We haven’t seen each other since then. I promise. There’s no conflict of interest here. She’ll be treated the same as the rest of you.’

But one look at Seulgi and Irene herself couldn’t quite believe that was true.

‘You broke up years ago,’ Yeri said.

‘Yes we did.’

‘You seemed quite friendly earlier, with your lips all over each other and what not.’

‘What?’ Wheein said.

‘They were making out in my bedroom.’

‘What the ?’

‘Yeah, right?’

‘Why would you make out at an old man’s dinner party?’ Sooyoung asked.

‘That was exactly what I said as well!’

‘Why does it matter if he’s old?’ Seulgi said, visibly annoyed.

‘Like I said, it just feels creepier. And it’s my granduncle’s house.’

‘Look,’ Irene said, ‘there’s no conflict of interest. We used to date, we don’t anymore, that’s final, okay? There’s nothing more to it. And if you don’t want to believe me, that’s fine. But that’s the truth. Now, back on topic.’

‘What topic?’

‘I was just about to—’

‘Because it seems to me there’s not really any topic you’re talking about and you’re just going around in circles.’

‘She’s got a point,’ Sooyoung said. ‘As much as I’m loathe to say that.’

‘Like I said,’ Irene continued, ‘I was just about to get to that bit. I’m thinking maybe the best thing to do would be to interview each of you individually again. Figure out—’

‘You just said that wouldn’t be the best thing to do,’ Yeri said. ‘And so did I, actually. Or were you just not listening?’

‘I can’t win with you. Any of you. Can I remind you there’s a body going cold upstairs? This is—’

‘An active crime scene, yeah yeah.’

Irene turned to Seulgi but all Seulgi could do in response was to shrug and fold her arms and turn away. Sometime in their arguing Mr Jang had apparently gone upstairs because now he came down with a grave expression on his face and when they all turned to him he shrugged and finished off his whiskey and said, ‘Yeah, you were right.’

‘Right about what?’

‘Someone’s cut the power. Must’ve taken a pair of cutters or pliers or something and just – bam – chopped right through em. All the wires gone, just like that. Electricity and phone.’

‘. Really?’

‘Yeah, really. It’s that generator room upstairs, by the way. If that helps at all.’

‘Great,’ Irene said. ‘Just great.’

‘What are you getting angry over now?’ Yeri asked.

‘What am I getting angry over? Is that a serious question? We’re stuck in the middle of ing nowhere, in a dead man’s house, with no phone signal, electricity on a backup generator that could go off at any moment, a dead man upstairs with a knife in his back, a murderer still sitting somewhere in this room, someone capable enough to have planned out and pre-meditated their killing to the extent that they also cut the power and phone lines off so they could have a perfect alibi and not have to sit around for the cops, a ing thunderstorm outside, and a group of people that refuse to talk to me about anything. Oh, and did I mention the dead man upstairs? And the murderer still here? Maybe I forgot that part.’

‘Well what do you expect?’ Yeri said. ‘It’s like I said earlier – and I hate to say I told you so, but I did kinda tell you so – why would you ever think anyone was gonna help you? Nobody wants to say . Am I right, or am I right?’

Nobody responded, and that in itself was a reply that told Irene everything. She glanced at Seulgi again and Seulgi was looking away. ‘,’ she said, rubbing her head. ‘You know what? I don’t care. I’m done. If you want to sit around here and let someone else die, so be it. If you want to see a murderer walk out of here in the morning and go free, sure, whatever. I’m not even supposed to be working. I was supposed to be here for dinner, the same as all of you. Jesus, I can’t be doing with this right now. Hell, maybe we’ll all be dead by morning. Who knows.’

When she was by the stairs Wendy called out to here and asked her where she was going.

‘To check on the body,’ she said. ‘Maybe there’s something we’ve missed. I doubt it, but who cares anymore?’

‘What should I do, boss?’

‘I don’t know. It’s up to you.’

She took one look at the others, at Mr Jang in particular, and followed Irene up the stairs and into Mr Kim’s study. They could hear the rain beating down on the windows like cannonfire. His body had gone bluely pale and the blood had dried and stiffened in his shirt and dried into the carpet around his expensive shoes and it was beginning to smell a little.

‘Have you ever seen a dead body before?’ Irene said.

‘Yeah. Well, in movies.’

‘So…no.’

‘No,’ Wendy said. ‘Well, until now, I suppose.’

‘Yeah. Until now.’

She stepped around the table, careful not to touch anything, and held out a hand to Wendy. ‘Take it slow,’ she said. ‘Watch your step. Don’t get any blood anywhere and don’t lay a hand on anything.’

‘You did earlier.’

‘To check his pulse, yeah.’

‘Isn’t that tampering with evidence?’

‘It’s complicated.’

‘Oh,’ Wendy said. ‘Got it. Should I be writing this part down for later?’

‘It’s up to you.’ Irene examined the wound again. It seemed to have gone straight in, no fight and no struggle to it at all. ‘A single wound,’ she said. ‘Straight in. Presumably killed him instantly.’

‘Which means he was stabbed from the back.’

‘Yeah.’

‘Unless the murderer moved his body after stabbing him. Made it look this way.’

‘They’d have to be pretty strong. And no, I don’t think that happened. The blood patterns don’t match up.’

‘So, what, then? The murderer sneaked in when it was dark and stabbed him in the back and then just left?’

‘Something like that, yeah. Unless…’

‘Unless? Unless what?’

Irene glanced at him again. Then at the two small vials next to his head with the syringe. Slowly she held them up in the narrow light.

‘Are you allowed to do that, boss?’

Irene ignored her. The label on one bottle read MORPHINE and the other read HEPARIN. The syringe was about empty. She examined them very carefully and then she put the bottles back down and ran a hand through her hair and sighed.

‘What you thinking, boss?’

‘Not a lot. I don’t know what to think.’

‘Do you think it has something to do with those drugs he was taking?’

‘I don’t know. I’m not a doctor. But it would make a lot of sense. I don’t know a lot about morphine, but I know it makes you numb. I expect it would make it a lot easier to sink a knife into someone’s back if they couldn’t feel you doing it until they were already dead.’

She went back downstairs with Wendy in tow. They were all still sat about, nobody really talking, most of them drinking. Jisoo was stood with Rosie and Jennie by the far wall beside the kitchen doors and Irene called to her and said, ‘Can I ask you a question?’

‘Sure,’ Jisoo said.

‘Rosie mentioned he injects morphine and Heparin every evening at five thirty. Is that right?’

‘Yeah.’

‘And you’re sure of this?’

‘Yeah. I mean, I’m technically just the cook, but not really. We’re all maids, basically. Or caretakers. Whatever.’

‘Did he ever talk about the morphine? About how it made him feel?’

‘Only that it made him feel woozy. Takes away the pain, but takes away all feeling, too. He was always telling us he wished he didn’t have to take it.’

‘Okay. And what is Heparin, exactly? I know what morphine is, but not that.’

‘It’s an anti-coagulant. Stops blood clots, stops you getting oedemas, things like that. You’re not supposed to take it long term. He’d only been taking it about a month or so, after he had a bunch of complications with a swelling in his leg and had to go down to Seoul to get it checked out. The three of us went with him.’

‘Is this true?’

Jennie and Rosie both nodded.

‘What was his dosage?’

‘Two hundred milligrams, like Rosie said. Why?’

‘No reason.’

‘What are you talking about now?’ Wheein said. They were watching her expectantly from the sofas like hawks. Most of the whiskey had been drunk and the two bottles were perfectly set up on the table and it was quiet save for the rain outside.

‘I’m thinking about the possibility that he wasn’t killed by the knife.’

‘Great deduction skills,’ Yeri said.

Irene ignored her again. ‘I’m thinking about the possibility he was poisoned to death,’ she said.

‘Poisoned?’ Wheein said. ‘What?’

‘Yeah,’ said Mr Jae. ‘What do you mean poisoned?’

Irene stepped forward. They were all watching her now, almost too closely.

‘I think there’s the possibility his medicines were switched around. There would have been time to do so – two separate occasions, in fact. The power went out twice. In that time someone could’ve easily swapped the medications around. Or not even under the cover of darkness either. Someone could’ve gone in when Mr Kim was down here, or upstairs with his, uh…Qing artefacts.’

‘Wow,’ Yeri said, ‘you’re a genius.’

‘Here’s what I think also.’

‘Go on, tell me.’

‘I think you’re deflecting because you’re scared and you’re hiding something.’

‘What?’

‘Maybe you’re the one who did it.’

‘What did you just say?’

Now it was Yeri’s turn to be on the back foot. There was a slight redness to her cheeks and a stutter to her voice and Irene thought perhaps it might be with the whiskey or with the sheer audacity of this line of reasoning but then again perhaps not.

‘I think there’s a chance you had something to do with it,’ Irene continued, piling on the pressure.

‘What the are you talking about? You think I killed my own granduncle?’

‘I never said that. Your words, not mine. All I’m saying is, you had time to do so, what with you being in your room upstairs all evening long, where nobody could see you and nobody paid any attention to you. And you had motive, too.’

‘Motive? What motive?’

‘You’re estranged.’

Yeri laughed loudly. ‘Okay,’ she said, when she’d finally stopped. ‘Okay, you know what? That little thing I said earlier? About maybe – maybe, maybe – you were kinda dumb, like the rest of these idiots? Yeah, I was just being polite. You are definitely a ing idiot. You’re like Idiot Number One. Idiot Patient Zero. Idiot Supreme Queen. Overseer of the Idiots.’

‘See? You’re doing it again? Deflecting.’

‘Alright, so are you telling me you’ve never had a falling out with your family before? Had a period where you didn’t talk to them or anything?’ She turned and levelled a finger at Seulgi. ‘When was the last time you talked to your third cousin, twice removed, on your mother’s side?’

‘What?’ Seulgi said.

‘Go on.’

‘I, uh…what?’

‘Oh, you can’t remember? Don’t know much about them? Well, I guess that gives you motive to murder them, then. At least according to your girlfriend over here.’

‘She’s not my—’

Yeri pointed to Irene again. ‘You’re a clown,’ she said. ‘Wendy – it is Wendy, right?’

‘Yeah.’

‘You’re a clown too. And Seulgi.’

‘What?’

‘You’re a -obsessed maniac voyeur of a clown and I think your shirt is stupid. It looks too big on you. Sooyoung, you’re a snake and a clown, and I think you drive that Ferrari outside because you’re entering a mid-life crisis at twenty-four and it’s embarrassing. You should stop. It makes you look insecure. Wheein, you’re probably an alcoholic, and there's something about you that’s just off. You’ve got this weird serial killer vibe thing going on and I don’t like it at all. Every time you look at me I get the feeling you want to wear my face as a mask and make lampshades out of my skin. And you’re also a clown. Lisa, you need to talk more, you’re boring. Really boring. I mean, at least these idiots have something notable about them, creepy and serial killer-esque at that may be. You’re just a blank slate, which makes you a clown by default. And Mr Jae, with all due respect, you, you’re a clown as well, a big bumbling clown who wouldn’t know up from down if it came in the form of short-term stocks to buy, but at least your suit is nice. And you—’ she pointed at Jennie off to the side, ‘you big blubbering baby, you’re like the clown of the circus. And so are your emotional support maid buddies there next to you. All of you are. Clowns, from A to Z.’

‘Are you done?’ Irene said.

‘I think you should arrest her,’ Wendy said, and Yeri had to laugh again.

‘I agree,’ Wheein said, sitting upright and pouring herself another glass of whiskey. Sooyoung and Seulgi nodded in agreement.

‘Alright,’ Irene said, ‘alright, settle down. All of you, settle down. We’ve got things to go over.’

They looked at her and were quiet.

‘Okay. Alright. Now that we’re done arguing, here’s my statement on the situation. Somebody sneaked into Mr Kim’s study while he was out and swapped his medicines around. Then, to make sure he was dead, they stabbed him in the back under the cover of darkness.’

‘Is that your final verdict?’ Sooyoung said between mouthfuls of her own whiskey.

‘No. It’s just a hunch. We’ve got a long way to go yet. But assuming my hunch is along the right lines for the time being, that leads me to one thing – if somebody did switch the medicines, it had to be someone who was aware of the fact that he was taking two medicines in the first place. And since Rosie just said that he’s only been taking Heparin for his leg for a month, it had to have been someone that’s been in or around this house, and Mr Kim, in the past month. Assuming, of course, that this hypothesis has some truth to it. And if I’m correct, that leaves, well…Rosie, you.’

‘Yeah,’ Rosie said.

‘And Jennie and Jisoo, because you all work here. And you, Sooyoung, since Rosie told me you visited and stayed. And you too, Wheein, since you’ve been staying here on and off. And you as well, Mr Jae. And Mr Jang, of course, being the groundskeeper and all. And you, Yeri. So I suppose it would be quicker to name the people who haven’t been here in the past month. Seulgi.’

Yeri clicked her teeth.

‘Wendy. Me. Lisa.’

‘Lisa’s been here,’ Jennie said. ‘She came for a meeting about three weeks ago. Left in a hurry afterwards. I saw her leaving. She didn’t look happy.’

Lisa turned and glared at her.

‘Well?’ Irene said.

She was silent for a while. Then she said, ‘Yeah, I was here a few weeks ago. We had to go over some business.’

‘What business?’

‘None of your business.’

‘I know. That’s why I’m asking.’

‘No, I meant— forget it. I’m not telling you. It’s private and confidential information and it stays between the two of us. Well, the one of me now, considering the circumstances.’

‘Great,’ Irene said.

‘Yeah,’ said Yeri, ‘just great. So you’ve narrowed the list down to…everyone except you – naturally – your girlfriend, and your sidekick. How convenient.’

‘We’re not at a conclusion yet. I was just putting it out there.’

‘Now she says it,’ Sooyoung said, ‘that does seem quite convenient.’

‘Oh, come on.’

‘No,’ Wheein said, ‘she’s right. I mean, I know you said it’s a hypothesis and you’re not certain of anything, but it does seem like a pretty conveniently neat way to get you and your…uh, girlfriend, is it?’

‘We’re not dating,’ Seulgi said.

‘Whatever. And your…friend? Employee?’

‘Oh, I’m just a fan,’ said Wendy.

‘Uh, yeah. That. A convenient way to get all three of you out of the picture.’

‘Thank you,’ Yeri said. ‘Maybe you’re not so creepy after all.’

Irene sighed. She glanced at her watch and it read about twenty past seven and already there were stars out and circling the nightsky and it was as dark as it could be. ‘You know what?’ she said. ‘Stay here or do whatever.’

‘Where are you going now?’ Mr Jae said. He seemed almost offended by her decision to walk away.

‘I’m going to look at the body again,’ she said. ‘Wendy come with me.’

‘What if we want to go for a walk?’ Jennie asked. ‘Or need to use the bathroom.’

‘Feel free. But I don’t want anybody doing anything or going anywhere alone. Move around in twos, keep an eye on one another.’

‘Even the bathroom?’

‘Uh…no.’

‘God,’ Yeri said.

‘What?

‘You are a terrible, terrible detective.’

‘What? Why?’

‘Letting us go off like this, telling us you don’t care if we wander about. Isn’t this an active crime scene?’

‘Yeah.’

‘So, if one of us did it – which, I mean, someone must’ve done, unless it was a divine act or something – then they’re still here, in this house.’

‘Yeah.’

‘And if they’re still here, then potential evidence is still here too.’

Irene nodded.

‘And if that’s the case, what’s stopping them from trying to cover up the evidence the moment no eyes are on them?’

‘That’s why I said nobody goes around alone, genius.’

At that Yeri scoffed. ‘You’re awful,’ she said. ‘Truly. It’s a wonder you’ve even got a job.’

‘What’s the point in telling you to stay here? It’s not like any of you are going to listen anyway.’

Yeri thought about it for a moment. Then, seemingly bested for the time being, she said, ‘You know, you actually have a point there. Fair play.’

‘Wendy, come on.’

Before they were even at the top of the stairs people had begun to fan out around the ground floor. They could still hear the rain outside and it made Irene’s headache even worse. When the two of them were alone in Mr Kim’s study again Irene said, ‘Shut the door.’

Wendy did so without asking why. They listened for a moment. A hum of conversation had broken out downstairs in their absence and Irene stood by the door pursing her lips and nodding to nothing in particular.

‘Are you trying to listen?’

‘No,’ Irene said. ‘But we’ve got a problem. Or, rather, we’ve got a problem with one person in particular.’

‘What? And boss, do you really think someone switched the medicines around?’

‘I don’t know. I’m not a doctor. Maybe. But I wasn’t trying to get someone to admit to that, of course. Nobody downstairs is stupid enough to accidentally give themselves up like that. I was trying to test something. And it worked.’

‘Test what?’

‘I said that whoever could have switched the medicines would have been someone who knew in advance that he took two medicines. Which means they would have needed to have been here sometime in the past month.’

‘Yeah,’ Wendy said. ‘I get that.’

‘I mentioned all the people who have been here in the past month. Sooyoung, Wheein, Lisa, Mr Jae. Basically all of them.’

‘Yeah.’

‘None of them denied it. Which means they’ve been here in that timeframe.’

‘Sure.’

‘Except when we questioned Rosie earlier, she said the last time Mr Jae had been here was a year ago, not a month. That he hadn’t been since, even on business.’

Wendy was quiet a second, putting two and two together. Then her whole face seemed to light up. ‘Oh. Which means—’

‘Rosie was lying to us.’

‘Damn. She seemed all naive and stuff. I didn’t think she had it in her.’

‘Well,’ Irene said, ‘Yeri was right about another thing. Nobody here is as they seem. Come on. I’ve got a couple questions I think I want to ask Rosie.’