“JaeJoong-ah!”

JaeJoong stopped mid-yawn and glanced over his shoulder as a figure lumbered towards him. Realizing who it was, he continued his yawn.

“Ohhh, YoungWoon. What’s up?”

“Yah, didn’t you hear what’s going on?” Kim YoungWoon demanded. “Five girls were found dead in their rooms in Gwangjin!”

“Eh?! What happened?! Suicide?”

YoungWoon shook his head. “I haven’t heard any actual details, but it’s definitely murder. All of the girls were strangled to death.”

“Oh my…” JaeJoong’s brow furrowed. “What kind of psycho would do that?”

“A psycho, obviously.” Sitting on the edge of JaeJoong’s desk, YoungWoon sighed. “We won’t be hearing anything of it, though. ChoongJae is already on the case with his elitist cronies.”

“Figures…”

The two sat in silence for a while.

“You know…” YoungWoon said, “I’m sure this’ll get out to everyone sooner or later, but… one of the girls that was murdered was JiHo’s daughter.”

JaeJoong stared incredulously at his friend. “JiHo…? Lee JiHo?! Lee JiHo over there?!” He gestured wildly to an empty desk across the room where a nameplate “Lee Ji Ho” sat at the front.

YoungWoon nodded slowly, a grim expression on his face. “I just got off my patrol when I passed by the chief’s office. He was on the phone with JiHo.”

“Why didn’t I hear about this sooner?!”

“You’ve only been here for twelve minutes; how could you have already heard about it?”

“Either way…” JaeJoong cast a long look at the empty desk.

“Yah… Do you think we should try and solve it?”

He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, right. The only time I’ve ever stepped out of this office is to go to the bathroom and go home. Besides, you said ChoongJae was already on it. The only chance we’d get is if he tripped out of his car and broke his legs and jaw.”

“What’s with his jaw?”

“I dunno…”

“Yah, dunce!” a voice called.

JunJin was suddenly at JaeJoong’s desk, a folder of papers in hand and jacket slung over his arm. He looked at the two, scrutinizing.

“Are you girls done gossiping?” he asked, sneering. “JaeJoong, you’re taking me to Gwangjin. Hurry up!”

“Why does he have to take you?” YoungWoon demanded. “Don’t you have your own personal butler?”

Irritation flamed in JunJin’s eyes. “What was that…?”

Stuttering, JaeJoong stood and tried to get between the icy glares. “Ah, no, that’s fine! I’ll go get the car. Come on, YoungWoon.”

He yanked YoungWoon’s arm with force and they scurried out of the office.

“What were you thinking?! ChoongJae would’ve used his elitist powers and gotten you in trouble!”

YoungWoon barked a loud laugh. “Hah! What do I care about that guy? He needs to quit being so arrogant! Yah, if he doesn’t break his jaw, then I’ll break it for him.”

They stepped through the front doors into the sunlight. Squinting at the light, they slowed a few steps from the door.

“Maybe I’ll check on JiHo when I get off,” YoungWoon said. “He probably needs some help right now, huh?”

JaeJoong nodded in agreement. “Yeah. I’ll end up going there since I’m carting around the elitist, but I should go by when I’m not on the job.” He trotted towards the car.

“Yeah, you should. See you around. Oh, hey!”

He turned and looked back. JunJin was passing YoungWoon and heading towards the car as well, busily on the phone. YoungWoon grabbed the sides of his own jaw in one hand and pretended to wrench it out of place. He pointed at JunJin meaningfully before scampering back into the station. Grinning, JaeJoong climbed into the patrol car.

“Eh?” He looked in the rearview mirror. “You’re sitting in the back?”

JunJin covered the mouthpiece of the phone in his hand. “I don’t want to die if you get in a head-on collision, dunce.”

“I’ll be sure to get side-swiped, then,” JaeJoong muttered under his breath, low enough that JunJin didn’t hear him. He pulled out of the parking lot and started on the road.

“There are five different locations we need to see. We’ll go see Lee JiHo first,” JunJin said. “Pay attention to every minute detail. If your memory , write it down.”

Confused, JaeJoong glanced in the rearview mirror. “Uh… okay, but why?”

JunJin looked at him incredulously through the mirror. “You want to be a dunce forever or what? I’m about to give you on-site experience. Take advantage of my kindness.”

He considered rolling his eyes, but JaeJoong remained silent and continued driving. They reached JiHo’s house. There were a few cars outside along the curb. JaeJoong parked on the other side of the street, and the two got out of the car.

Muted silence sat heavily throughout the house. JiHo greeted them at the door, but the wife was nowhere to be found.

“I sent her to her sister’s house,” he said quietly. “She looked like she was going to pass out.”

“Well, what about you?” JunJin asked seriously. “You sure you’re holding up alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” JiHo looked up blearily. “JaeJoong-sshi, it’s a surprise to see you here.”

“Ah, yeah… My condolences…”

A grimace showed on his face. “Did you want to sit down? Anything to drink?”

JunJin shook his head. “No, we’re fine. We shouldn’t stick around, though, so we don’t bother you. So we’ll just go ahead and… do our business.”

“Sure. Go ahead.”

JunJin motioned for JaeJoong to follow. He did so, glancing back at JiHo who was suddenly lost in thought. They trotted up a narrow stairwell lined with picture frames of the Lee family. JaeJoong glanced at one picture that was canted on its wire. The daughter, SooYoung, was shaking hands with an elder man – probably a professor – as they both held up some kind of award; the picture was a bit blurry to read what was on the paper.

Upstairs, various people were tip-toeing around SooYoung’s room, all from the same station JaeJoong and JunJin were from; JaeJoong recognized them as the “elitist cronies.” One of the men handed a notepad to JunJin. JaeJoong looked around the room briefly.

“Lee JiHo and wife YehSul left the house at approximately eight in the evening to have dinner,” JunJin recited from the notepad. “They asked SooYoung to accompany them, but she said she had a test to study for. They called SooYoung’s cell phone at approximately ten thirty and told her they were on their way home. She said she would wait up for them. They arrived at the house about an hour later, but SooYoung didn’t come to greet them, so they assumed she had gone to sleep. YehSul went upstairs to get SooYoung’s laundry but didn’t find her in her room. She went to check the bathroom and SooYoung was drowned in the tub.”

JunJin paced to the bathroom and JaeJoong and a few others followed. The scene remained except the daughter’s body had been taken away already. Slightly pink water stained the floor and the walls around the tub, and the tub was still half-filled with the same water.

“SooYoung had experienced blunt trauma to the left side of her head. Weapon used was a polyresin vase, but no fingerprints were found. SooYoung was rendered unconscious and thus moved to the bathroom where the assailant began to drown her. She must have woken during the process and attempted to fight back but due to lack of oxygen, she died.”

JunJin turned around to leave the bathroom. Everyone scooted out of the way as he slowly made his way out to the hallway. He looked over the notes, pondering quietly. JaeJoong looked back at the stains along the walls.

“That leaves an hour for the criminal,” another voice spoke.

Everyone looked up, and JiHo was standing there, one step away from the landing of the second floor. His expression was blank, but his hand on the railing was shaking.

“JiHo-sshi, go back downstairs,” JunJin said. “You don’t have to be up here.”

JiHo ignored him, continuing with a strained voice. “An hour for the criminal to have gotten in, knocked her out, filled the tub, drowned her, and escaped…”

“JiHo-sshi…” JunJin turned him around, leading him back down the stairs. “Come on, just sit downstairs.”

A few of the men followed after him. JunJin glanced over his shoulder at JaeJoong and jerked his head in the direction of the daughter’s room. Taking the hint, JaeJoong quietly walked back in the room.

He took in the room more slowly. It was a fairly average room for a teenage girl; posters of models, actresses, and music groups were scattered along the walls. The bedspread was a simple pattern of bright colors, and along the side of the bed were some stuffed animals. On the nightstand were some CD’s, papers, and one bottle of medication; looking closer, he saw it was for allergies. On the desk were more papers – these centered around schoolwork – a notebook that wasn’t , and a lamp. There were fake flowers scattered on the side of the desk and on the floor; those must have been in the vase that was used as a weapon. Under the desk was a wire wastebasket crammed with various bits of trash and pieces of the shattered vase. On the wall was a monthly calendar, days past marked off.

A draft caught JaeJoong’s attention. He looked up and saw the window in the room wide open. The curtains fluttered slightly with the breeze. He walked over and looked outside. Small tendrils of ivy crept along the wall of the house, and a newly-planted tree far below ruffled its leaves. There was nothing else to look at on the side of the wall.

“Yah, JaeJoong.”

He turned and saw JunJin standing impatiently in the doorframe.

“Are you done? We need to get moving,” he said.

“Yeah, I’m done.”

He exited the room, following after JunJin down the narrow stairwell. JiHo followed them to the door.

“We’ll come see you again,” JunJin said. “Take it easy, alright?”

“Sure, sure. Don’t work too hard. You too, JaeJoong-sshi.”

“Mm. Take care.”

The two left for the car. They got in, JaeJoong started up the car, but before he shifted the gear, he paused. JunJin noticed the hesitation.

“What? Is the car messed up?”

JaeJoong swung his door open. “I’ll be right back. I want to ask JiHo something.”

The two continued their investigation through the other four sites and returned to the station. They situated themselves in a small conference room, scattering notes and photos across the table.

“Now then.” JunJin cleared his throat. “Tell me how it happened.”

Caught off guard, JaeJoong froze. “Eh? What are you talking about?”

“The murders. Tell me how they happened.”

“…are you accusing me…?”

“Stupid!” JunJin threw an eraser at JaeJoong. “Use the notes we took, the notes you were supposed to have taken, and all these other reports and make a hypothesis.”

He took a deep breath and looked over the papers. “Now then…” JaeJoong started, “given that the murderer is all the same person, we’d start with JiHo’s case, since it occurred the earliest.

“SooYoung was still alive by at least ten thirty, since that’s when the parents called to tell her they were on their way home. Approximately eleven ten, the suspect arrives.”

“Hold on a second,” JunJin interrupted. “Where did you get eleven ten?”

“Well, if you think about it, the parents arrived about eleven thirty. It takes, at most, five minutes to drown someone alive; another five to seven minutes to fill the tub enough to properly drown someone; and probably five minutes to divert someone without being suspicious.”

“And why do you think the suspect left just as the parents came home?”

“What I asked JiHo before we left was if the water in the tub was still moving when he found SooYoung. He said it was. That means the suspect escaped not too long before that.”

JunJin nodded. “Okay. Go on.”

“So the suspect arrives. SooYoung lets him or her in.”

“Why would SooYoung let them in?”

“There’s no other way in the house except for the front door, unless you wanted to break through any of the windows on the ground floor. Their back door doesn’t work. I already know that, since I’ve been to their house before.”

“How do you know they didn’t just break through the front door?”

JaeJoong shuffled through some of the photos. “The expression of SooYoung’s face at death. Usually with homicide victims, if it’s a complete stranger, the expression becomes more relaxed; they realize their soul is moving on to a better place. But if the assailant is someone they know, someone they’re close with, they’re shocked at what they see. They don’t understand why the person they know is doing such a thing to them.”

“…have you been watching detective dramas or something?”

“…kind of…”

“Go on.”

JaeJoong took another deep breath. “So SooYoung let the suspect in. They go upstairs to her room where they converse for a bit. The suspect grabs the vase and knocks out SooYoung, breaking the vase and scratching the side of SooYoung’s head.”

“The suspect goes straight for the vase?”

“There’s no other sign of struggle in the room.”

“Good. Go on.”

“The suspect goes to fill the tub and cleans up the mess from the vase. When the tub is filled enough, the suspect takes SooYoung’s body to the bathroom and starts to drown her. At some point, she wakes up and tries to fight back, but the suspect has a strong hold on her. She drowns. The suspect plans to leave back through the front door, but by then, the parents arrived home. He hears them just as he’s about to go down the stairs.”

“How do you figure that?”

“The picture at the top was slanted, and the wall besides it had a very slight water streak. Every other picture was carefully placed on the wall, and there’s no wear on the wall to show any of the family members touch it as they go up and down the stairs since the railing is there. The suspect didn’t touch the railing.”

JunJin considered that. “What if the suspect was there earlier than you think? He could have walked out the front door and left easily.”

“The window in SooYoung’s room was wide open. I noticed on her nightstand she had been prescribed some medication for her allergies. In this season, I doubt she would leave her window wide open for allergens to fly in while she’s trying to study. She probably kept her window closed, but the suspect jumped out the window to escape.”

JaeJoong cleared his throat. “And… that’s all for JiHo.”

JunJin stared for a long time before he spoke. “I guess you’re not as dumb as you seem.”

“Yah…”