Case 2: The Wheels on the Bus...

Unknown Subject

 

“What’s this all about?” Key asks, hissing as they walk towards their car.

“Unless that man can be in two different places at once, he’s not our killer.” Jonghyun says.

“What? What do you mean?” Key asks and Jonghyun turns to look at him seriously.

“I mean, another bus went missing.” Jonghyun says, starting the engine and driving away.

“Where are we going?” Key asks.

“Back to base, we have to meet up with the others.” Jonghyun replies.

“Got it.” Key replies and they travel back to the base in silence.

“I don’t understand, our primary suspect Lee Woojung was at his house the entire time, he couldn’t have abducted the bus.” Jonghyun says.

“As was Shim Taehyuk, he was also at his house.” Onew says.

“The other patrol officers said the same.” Yoona says.

“All signs were pointing to Lee Woojung.” Key says.

“Taemin, can’t you track the bus through its GPS?” Minho asks.

“I tried already, but the unsub must’ve destroyed it or something, its offline.” Taemin replies.

“I think we need to rethink our profile. Onew, Key, let’s go to the last place the bus checked in and we’ll see if we can work it out from there.” Jonghyun says.

“And me?” Minho asks.

“You stay here and see if you can toggle the geographical profile with Taemin and Yoona.” Jonghyun says.

“On it.” Minho says.

“I’ll brief you on our way there.” Onew says and they get into the black SUV.

“The bus company called in the missing bus when several passengers waiting for it say that it never appeared.” Onew says as Jonghyun drives.

“How long ago was that?” Key asks.

“Around 20 minutes ago.” Onew replies.

“And with around elapsed times, it’s most likely been around 40 minutes since they’ve been kidnapped.” Key says.

“Our unsub doesn’t kill his victims right away though, he drives to a remote location first. Did you have Yoona station her officers at all the exits of the major highways?” Jonghyun asks and Onew nods.

“It might be too late though, if it’s been already 40 minutes, it’s fairly easy for them to drive quite a long ways away.” Key says.

“Onew, have Taemin release something to the media and have all citizens report abandoned cars. That might give us an idea of where the unsub is headed. Time is of the essence if we want to get these passengers back alive.” Jonghyun says, Onew nods once and dials a number into the phone. He relays the information to Taemin.

“Here we are.” Jonghyun says once they reach the bus stop. The entire area had been barricaded by the police and people were gathering around the spectacle, some were being interviewed by officers.

“Let’s try to go over this.” Onew says, Key goes over to stand at the stop as if he were the unsub and Jonghyun approaches the stop with his SUV as if it were a bus. Onew stands at the side as if he were a bystander.

“From this angle, the unsub can’t be seen by others getting on different busses.” Onew says.

“No, the only people who can see the unsub are the people getting on the bus.” Key says.

“Not necessarily. Did the driver who was last on the bus not see the unsub?” Jonghyun says.

“Yes, he would’ve had to have been the only one.” Onew exclaims.

“We should’ve thought of this earlier, does anyone know where he is right now?” Key asks.

“He’s on another route right now; we can stop his route and see if we can go talk to him, we’ll send another bus to cover his route, I think he’s about 10 minutes away.” An official from the bus company says.

“Lead the way.” Onew says nodding once and the official flags down one of the supervising drivers.

“It’s okay, they’re the best we have.” Minho says comforting Yoona who was looking outside at the darkening horizon.

“It’ll be much harder for them to find the missing persons if it continues getting dark like this.” Yoona says, shoulder slumping and Minho wraps an arm around her to comfort her. Minho was seeing Yoona in a new light, unlike her tough chief exterior, she was still defenseless inside.

“I know you’re worried about the victims, but the best thing we can do right now is relook over the profile and see where we can make some changes.” Minho says and Yoona opens to protest but Minho interrupts her.

“You, Im Yoona, take every single victim to heart. You blame yourself for all the deaths that happen and you’re depressed because of it.” Minho says and he takes Yoona’s hand in his.

“See these nails? You bite your nails out of a nervous habit because you’re constantly worried, beneath your tough exterior, you care. You care about your team, you care about your victims and right now, you also care about us.” Minho says, remembering what Jonghyun had told him earlier.

“Now I know I’m not some kind of genius profile like Jonghyun, but I do know a thing or two about killers. You do too Yoona, I know you came from a profiling background with interrogation on the side.” Minho says and Yoona nods.

“How did you know that?” Yoona asks in amazement.

“I told him.” Taemin’s voice travels from a phone and both Minho and Yoona jump back in surprise.

“Sorry to interrupt on your lovey dovey moment, but we need to crack this case down.” Taemin says causing Yoona and Minho to pull away from each other, faces flushing in embarrassment.

“Taemin, what can you give us as an alternative motive for this case?” Yoona asks.

“I don’t actually know. The motive that Jonghyun came up with seems to be the only one that makes sense.” Taemin says.

“Wait, Taemin, you’re a computer genius right?” Minho asks.

“Uh, I don’t know if genius is the right word to describe me.” Taemin says awkwardly but Minho ignores his comment.

“Can you look up websites that contain some sort of information about soul harvesting and cross reference IP addresses from this area that have frequented those websites?” Minho asks.

“Sure can do.” Taemin says.

“Meanwhile, we should go over that list of suspects Taemin sent us earlier, I think we should check into families and relatives.” Yoona says and Minho nods.

“I’ll get back to you soon.” Taemin says and hangs up with a press of a button. He wheels himself over to one of his monitors and starts a program. 151 hits. He filters the list down slowly to people who fit the profile and he ends up with the same four names. He narrows his eyes and starts the program again, this time going for a wider range.

This time, he ends up with two names, names that again had appeared on his lists. He starts looking into their website usage and from what device each usage was made from. His eyes widen at what he finds.

“Agents Kim, Kim and Lee.” Onew says flashing his badge at the driver.

“Sir, can you explain to us what happened earlier today when you transferred the bus over to the unsub.” Key asks.

“Well, she asked how the traffic was and I replied that it was fairly clear today. There hadn’t been much traffic on the road.” He says, “I replied that the bus was heading northbound to an area that wasn’t frequented as often and asked if she was a new driver.”

“Wait, back up a moment, did you say ‘she’?” Jonghyun asks.

“That’s right, even under all the bulky clothes; it was obvious she was a woman, with her slender frame and her short gait.” The driver replied.

“Did you catch her name by any chance?” Onew asks.

“No, the transfer happened quickly.” He replies.

“Would any of the passengers getting off been able to see her then?” Jonghyun asks and the driver shakes his head.

“All passengers are required to exit from the back, she was already on the bus by the time they’d gotten off and if they’d seen her, they would’ve only have seen the back of her head.” The driver replies.

“Call Taemin and Minho, tell them to look specifically into women related to the list of suspects.” Onew says.

“No need, they just called us.” Key says, hand pressed against a telephone. They all get into the SUV and Key puts Taemin and Minho on speaker.

“We think the suspect is a woman.” Minho and Jonghyun say at once.

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Case 3 complete, who's ready for Case 4?

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