Tao slowly sat down in the chair, which the man in the blue rain coat had offered him, nervously clenching his sweaty hands.
They were in the empty restaurant of their carriage, the wild storm outside the tightly shut windows being the only sound audible. Their translator sat beside him, looking at Tao with pity covering her face.
The man nodded and she started to speak in a low voice, which she forced calm.

“Tao, this is detective sergeant Yolkov from the Russian CID. He’s going to ask you some questions…”

He nodded once and looked at Yolkov, who said something in Russian.

“Your name is Huang Zitao and you’re currently nineteen years old, a Chinese citizen and was familiar with the deceased persons found in compartment 6, is that right?”

Even though the translation came fast and fluently Tao still felt a bit uneasy looking at Yolkov, but he muttered a low “yes”.
Another question spoken in Russian.

“What can you tell about the two of them?”

Tao’s head felt as if it had become ten pounds heavier and suddenly made from stone. He wiped his palms shivering on his thighs, taking a deep breath before slowly answering.

“They were always together… I think that… maybe they were lovers, but I don’t know for sure.” He stopped for a while, giving the translator time to repeat it to the sergeant. “Everyone liked them. We always looked out for Sehun because he was the youngest one of us… He was silent from time to time, but never unfriendly and he didn’t seem troubled by anything…” Tao cut himself off at the last word, biting his lip hard. “Well, there was one time actually, in Busan… But that’s one month ago…” He looked uncomfortably at the translator, who slowly repeated his words, not taking her eyes off him.

The sergeant nodded to make him continue, his eyes scanning Tao’s nervous face.

“It was just one time, really… But he was taken off schedule for a day and wouldn’t speak to any of us. He just shut himself in his room. Our manager said that he was ill, but…” He didn’t know how to put it and for a moment he just stared helplessly from their translator to Yolkov and back, before finally continuing. “I don’t know if it means anything, but Baekhyun told me that he had heard him cry through the wall. Luhan went to speak to him as soon as we arrived (we had different schedules at that time) and the next day he was fine again, but he wouldn’t tell us what had been wrong with him… I don’t know if it’s important though,” he added in an apologetic tone and the translator carefully told the sergeant what Tao had just said. He started chewing on his lower lip, seemingly lost in thought for some time, before he asked again.

“Was Luhan good at making Sehun do what he wanted in likewise situations?”
“Yes. He was rather manipulative actually…”
“In what way?”
“He just… had a way with words. He could make anyone calm down or feel ashamed or anything really. Usually he would win an argument”.

Yolkov felt silent for a while. Tears was slowly starting to fill Tao’s eyes as the memories of Luhans oratorical gifts came flooding back to him. He hardly even noticed that the Russian had asked again. It wasn’t until the translator reluctantly repeated it in Korean that he regained focus.

“As far as he can tell they were murdered between 1am and 3am. Where were you during that time?”

It felt as if Yolkov had tried to squeeze the life out of his heart using his bare hands.

“You think I did it?”

The silence was ringing in the tense atmosphere. Tao realised that he was no longer sitting. Leaning forwards in his chair, Yolkov gestured for him to sit down again.

“It’s just procedure, he has to ask everyone that,” the translator quickly added.

“He asked Chanyeol that, too?”

“Yes,” she assured him and Tao forced his gaze back to Yolkov.

“The train left at midnight exactly, so I guess I was at the bar with the others… We spent some time in our compartments first, then we went there to get a drink and just relax. Normally we’re not able to do such a thing, the company don’t want us to drink alcohol… I think it was about 1am, maybe a few minutes past when we decided to gather in the bar, yes, 1am… And then we hung out for a couple of hours. I was there the whole time, everyone can confirm that”.

The translator explained it to the sergeant, who replied in his calm, professional voice.

“He says that Chanyeol said so as well. He wants to know if everyone except Luhan and Sehun was there”.

“I… I think everyone except Kris and Lay…” He bit his lip for a moment trying to remember the situation. It was as if everything before the discovery of the two dead bodies had been pushed back in his mind and had somewhat ceased to exist. “Baekhyun went to find Luhan and Sehun, we thought it odd that they didn’t join us… But everyone else was present”.

Yolkov tilted his head a bit when he heard the translator’s repetition.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes… No, wait…” He looked lost at them. “Kai was outside. Kyungsoo said that he was stargazing, but… we didn’t see him until after we found them… It doesn’t have to mean anything, does it?” His desperate voice made the translator shake her head.

“No no, of course not. He just needs to know if any of you could have seen anything, that’s all”.

Tao didn’t listen as his words were being made into Russian. The more he thought of Kai’s absence, the more his stomach started to hurt and he soon found himself covered in cold sweat. But there was no way he could have done it, Kai would never ever hurt Sehun, rather die himself, right?

“How about the others that weren’t there?”

“Huh?”
“Lay and Kris. He wants to know where they were”.

“Well, Lay was in the shower. We share a room, he said he really needed to take a bath… No wonder, we’ve been too busy for a proper shower for days… He picked up his stuff and went to the bathroom”.

“I know, I saw him as well,” the translator quickly said before translating it all. Her face paled when Yolkov asked again. “Do you remember when he left your room?”

“I don’t know, shortly after we left St Petersburg… Maybe… an hour? Just before everyone else went to the bar, so 1am-ish.”
“And which bathroom did he use?”
“I don’t know… I didn’t see him go there, all I know is he left the room around that time”. He had to swallow what discomfort had piled up in his throat. “I don’t know about Kris…”

The sergeant looked way too satisfied after hearing that, Tao thought anxiously. He couldn’t hold it back any longer.

“Does he think one of us did it?”
“No, of course he…”
“Ask him!”

The translator bit her lip, then carefully asked Yolkov in Russian. His eyes were as unreadable as a closed book.
Then his pale lips formed one word and the translator didn’t look the least bit happy.

“He says it’s most likely… to be one of you.”

Tao took a deep breath, forcing his hands still. Then he moistened his lips and leaned forwards to look him in the eyes.

“Please tell him that none of them were capable of killing them. We love each other like a family, we’re like brothers! And no one, not a single person in this group would want to see their friends dead.”

As soon as the translator had spoken, the sergeant’s grey eyes flashed with satisfaction and the words from his mouth, even though spoken in an unfamiliar language, made Tao uneasy.

“He says that your loyalty is admirable… but…”
“But what?!”
“But that you’re hopelessly naïve. Even brothers kill each other if the reward is great enough”.

With a confused look at Kris he closed the door to his compartment. It was smaller than the others and he had it to himself. Lay couldn’t help but feel a bit envious of his leader’s privacy.

“What did you want to talk about?”

Kris looked tense to say the least. His face was pale and small pearls of sweat were running down his forehead. On shivering legs he went over to where Lay was standing, almost eliminating the space between them.

“Please help me…”
“What?”

“That policeman is interrogating everyone. And I have no one to confirm my whereabouts until half an hour ago… He’s going to think I did it… that I… that I killed them…” His quivering lower lip looked thick and luscious in the dim light of the compartment, Lay noticed, feeling his palms getting sweaty.

“Of course I’ll help you… He haven’t spoken to me yet, what do you want me to tell him?”

“Thank you…” Kris closed the space between them completely when he pulled Lay into a firm grip, hugging him so tightly he had trouble breathing. Through his T-shirt he could feel the quickening rhythm of Kris’ heartbeat.

“Thank you,” he repeated, slowly pulling back a little to let Lay see his grateful eyes. “For not asking whether I really did it…”

“It’s okay, I know why he would suspect you… But not if I don’t tell him. No one else knows about that night in Busan, do they?”

Kris bit his lip, his teeth showing off just how thick his lip really was and Lay had a hard time not getting lost staring at it.

“No,” he answered after a while. “No, you’re the only one who knows about it…”

“Let’s keep it like that, then. I’ll tell that guy from the police that you were bathing with me. We used the shower behind the restaurant. I got in one hour after leaving St Petersburg and I was in there for hours. Well, we were…” He smirked. “Remember how hot it got?”
“I think you need to remind me”.

Kris leaned down and seized Lay’s willing lips, that had longed to harshly tug down his leader’s bottom lip ever since he had stepped into the compartment. The blonde pushed Lay against the wall, hungrily snogging him; he didn’t even need to fight the other one’s tongue, but was keenly led inside. He grabbed Lay by the waist, his hands in no condition to stay outside the fabric of the younger one’s T-shirt. It would be unbearable not to touch that white skin hidden behind it.
Lay laced his fingers in Kris’ sleek golden curls and broke the kiss.

“Go on, I know you want to,” he whispered, feeling how the horror of seeing what was left of Luhan sitting dead on the floor slowly disappeared as the heat from Kris’ hands started to take over his body. “Take me”.

It had taken several minutes for Tao to calm down. He was shaking in anger as he watched Yolkov still sitting calmly behind the restaurant table, looking at Tao with a facial expression of infuriating indifference.

“Tell me again the names of those who were present in the bar until the point where you discovered the bodies,” the translator quoted timidly.

“Chanyeol, Suho, Jongdae, Minseok, Kyungsoo and myself. Baekhyun was there the whole time, too, until he left to look for Luhan and Sehun,” Tao answered, grinding his teeth in anger. “And he was only gone for ten minutes!”

“Ten minutes is more than enough time to pull a trigger twice,” was the provocative answer. “But more importantly, you never heard the shots…”

All three of them seemed to become absorbed in considerations of how that was possible. The next thing Yolkov said took so long the translator struggled to remember it all.

“The gun must have had some kind of silencer. Or at least, something was used like one. Fabric would do… And another thing. There were footprints under the window of their compartment. Almost gone, but still visible enough to be discovered. That means that whoever killed them did it while the train wasn’t moving. It shortens down the span of time in which the murders were committed considerably. The train stopped exactly thirteen minutes past 1. And the bodies were found two hours later. That should give the killer plenty of time to get rid of the silencer and the gun. And if all of you were in the bar he wouldn’t get seen as he left their compartment either. It’s quite perfectly planned to be honest”.

Tao’s head was one big mess and he stared lost at the sergeant.

“But didn’t you say he had left the train? That there were footprints? Of course no one would have seen him if he went outside, I hardly think there’s anyone there”.

The translator seemed genuinely happy that Tao had managed to point out something so obvious, but the sergeant just shook his head.

“No. There’s a great chance that the killer went back into the train again, after having made it look as if he had fled. But no one could survive out there without a great deal of knowledge about the terrain and the weather. And no one here possesses that knowledge as far as I am aware. He must have gotten back. None of the passengers are missing, we checked the list right away. With a storm outside he wouldn’t last an hour. From now on, please assume that the murderer is still on the train somewhere.”
“Are you done?”

Tao was getting too annoyed to hide it and he longed to leave the restaurant to go cry over his friends in his own compartment, but Yolkov shook his head. The translator looked worn out as well as she drearily repeated him again.

“You said that Kai was outside stargazing. Do you remember which shoes he wore?”

“Seriously?!” Tao started to chew on the inside of his cheeks while trying to remember. “Boots of some kind. Big, solid. We knew it would be cold in Russia, we didn’t take off with sandals”.

He was quite sure the last part wasn’t translated though.

“And were they wet? Did it look as if he had been walking around?”
“I guess… He was white all over from snow. But for the love of God, he had been standing outside, what do you expect he must have looked like? Of course he was drenched when he came inside again”.
“You say boots. What size does he use?”
“45 or something like that…”
“Thank you, that’ll be all for now.”

Tao got up at once and left the restaurant as fast as he could. Kai was standing outside together with Jongdae and Minseok. They all looked concerned at him when they saw his angry face.

“What’s wrong?”

Jongdae tenderly placed a hand on Tao’s arm.

“He thinks one of us did it,” he managed to sneer, unable to stop tears of anger from rolling down his cheeks. “As if any of us are capable of something like that…”

He clung to Jongdae, sobbing into his hair. Behind him the translator came out of the restaurant, asking Kai to come inside for questioning.

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Author's Note: Here's the second chapter of the story, just as promised ^^ I hope you liked it!
I had fun trying to place certain traces in this, but hopefully they're not ridiculously obvious?

That's it for now, next chapter, "The Strongest Motive" will be up Sunday 24th, 8PM GMT+1! Please look forward to it ^-^