Title: SM-5 The Perfect Mystery 

Genre: Romance, Comedy, Mystery, Angst, Action 

Ratings: All ages 

Case #02: M e m o r i e s

Part 7

  ~~~

  “Minho!”

  He heard the distant shout of his name, and he whipped his head around, only to find a girl with soft brown hair dashing towards him, her big, doe-like eyes glinting under the soft light of the street lamps. She wore a wide, relieved smile upon her face as she rushed up towards him, gratefully smiling at him.

  He was surprised, in awe. “…Yoona? Why’re you here? I thought you returned home-“

  “10.05pm.” She checked her watch, smiling as she jumped around him. “Thank goodness, thank goodness, thank goodness! Thank goodness you have long legs, thank goodness you haven’t gone too far, thank goodness it’s only been five minutes!”

  “…Huh?” He was confused.

  “Well, I had a feeling, I don’t know, I just had a feeling…” Yoona quickly explained herself. “I just had a bad feeling about tonight and well, since you walk fast and you have long legs, you’d probably reach here in five minutes from the office so that means…If anything happens tonight your alibi is clear!” She cheered happily.

  His eyes were still wide open. “But Yoona, I thought you were still upset and-“

  “Don’t worry about me, worry about yourself.” Yoona gave him a warm smile. “I know I cried and stuff, but just now, as I thought about it, I really shouldn’t have cried. I was crying for such a pathetic reason…But you, on the other hand… I hope you’re alright, Minho. I’m really, I mean, I was really, aish- I’m worried about you.”

  “…You were worried about me?”

  “Are you kidding?” She said incredulously. “You didn’t know? How could you not know? I mean, did you really think I’m such a stupid little twit that I won’t even worry about-“

  He cut her off before she could say another word, wrapping his arms around her, locking her in a tight embrace. She didn’t move a muscle, she didn’t squirm away from him, but rather, she was just surprised by his sudden reaction to her words. But he didn’t care, he really didn’t. Her words were enough to rid him of all the unhappiness he had been feeling.

  “Minho, what’re you-“

  “Thank you, Yoona.” He murmured, hugging her. “…Thank you…so much.”

  “I…” Yoona was about to say more, except she knew, right at that moment, there wasn’t much need for her to explain any more. “…You’re welcome.”

  Throughout his life he had always been the one worrying about others, the one shutting in all the pain to himself, with hardly anyone to pour, to vent his frustrations out to. But this girl, despite the fact that he was always the one protecting and listening to her… In his darkest and most down moments, she was the one who had come to him, she was the one who was…

  She was the one who was here for me.

~~~

  “This is all my fault…” Victoria said in anguish as she sat down on her chair. “What if something happens tonight? What if Minho is framed again…? We won’t be able to protect him any longer and- This is all my fault… I should’ve watched over him and not lost control.”

  Changmin patted her back. “Don’t stress yourself, Vic. It isn’t all your-“

  “I’m sorry.” Kyuhyun murmured.

  “What?” Victoria raised her head to look at him.

  “It’s my fault…” Kyuhyun admitted slowly, hesitantly as he went over to Victoria. “I should’ve been more sensitive towards Minho and Yoona’s feelings. I shouldn’t have hurt them so much just for the evidence…”

  “No, it’s alright, Kyu.” Victoria shook her head. “…You didn’t know about it either. It’s not all your fault that this-“

  Changmin took the lead. “It’s everyone’s fault, and everyone plays a part in it. Don’t blame yourself and yourself alone. I think we should’ve worked better as a team, we didn’t work together well enough.” He tried to smile. “And no matter what happens, we’ll all know… we’ll all know that Minho’s innocent in this, right?”

  “But he’s been out of the office for about an hour already…” Victoria sighed deeply as she looked at the clock. “It’s 11pm, Changmin. We don’t have an alibi for him from 10pm to 11pm-“

  “Oh yes, we do.”

  A female voice interrupted the three of them as they gazed towards the door. Minho and Yoona stood at the doorway, wearing bright smiles on their faces as they rushed towards their teammates. Victoria sighed in relief as she rushed forward and hugged Minho tightly, Changmin and Kyuhyun very much relieved as well.

  “Ouch, Victoria!” Minho choked. “You’re…going…to…squeeze…me…to…death!”

  Victoria released him, smiling. “Oh gosh! We were so worried about you! We thought you ran off and then we were so worried something would happen.”

  “You were worried?” Minho stared at them in shock.

  Changmin chuckled. “Of course we were worried, we all were. After all, you are our teammate.”

  “I…” Minho was at a loss of words to say.

  “Hey, uh…” Kyuhyun stepped forward with his head bowed down. “Look Minho, I’m really sorry. I didn’t really know about this, and you know that I was thinking about the team so I needed to get all the evidence so…”

  Yoona perked up. “Evidence? What evidence? What did Kyu do wrong?”

  Right, Yoona still didn’t know. Minho sighed. “Long story, Yoong.”

  “Anyway…” Changmin changed the subject. “Now that we’re all saved and everyone’s pretty much forgiven, it’s time for us to get back to work.” He continued his role as the leader. “Yoona, what time did you find Minho?”

  “I reached him at about 10.05pm, so I think we’ve got an airtight alibi for him.” Yoona was cheerful. “I mean, if anything reall-“

  Like clockwork, the main office phone began to ring, startling all five of them. Victoria, who was closest to the phone, took a deep breath as she reached towards it, picking it up. Changmin stared out of the window, into the dark night, and he couldn’t help but feel an ominous feeling as he gazed.

  “Hello?” Victoria spoke, and there she sat there, listening for a while, her jaw dropping. The rest of the team leaned towards her, trying to listen to the other person on the line. “…What the hell?” Victoria exclaimed.

  “What?” Kyuhyun was alarmed.

  Still holding the phone, she turned towards the team. “…Someone broke into Bae Suzy’s apartment when she wasn’t around, and when she returned, she found a noose hanging from the ceiling, and a cup of tea on the living room table.” Victoria said seriously. “Suzy was unharmed, but in serious shock.”

  “We need to get there immediately.” Changmin picked up the case folder.

  Just as Victoria was about to put down the phone- “Victoria wait!” Yoona yelled.

  “Yes?”

  “Ask the person on the other line…” Yoona took a deep breath. “Ask the person on the other line to feel the cup of tea.”

  Victoria raised her eyebrows in confusion. “…What?”

  “Just ask.”

  “Excuse me, officer? What’s the temperature, estimated temperature- no, how does the cup of tea feel?” Victoria was quick to catch up, though she was still half-confused. “…And what material is the teacup made of…?” She nodded her head slowly as she heard the words of the officer on the other line. “Alright, thank you very much.”

  Yoona placed her hands on Victoria’s desk. “Well…?”

  “…Tea’s still warm, teacup made of plastic.” Victoria looked at Yoona curiously. “But why Yoona, why the sudden question?”

  Yoona smiled in contempt. “…Minho’s no longer a suspect.”

~~~

  “Suzy-shi, are you alright?”

  All five had rushed to the crime scene and they had found Suzy with one of the police men, clutching her jacket and trembling in fear, not even able to cry. Victoria, the usual profiler, had taken a seat next to Suzy, worriedly asking her. Police cars had surrounded the entire apartment, with yellow barriers all over.

  Suzy could barely speak, still petrified. “…I went home and I saw…I saw…rope…”

  “Did you manage to catch the sight of the person who might have broken in?”

  “I don’t know, I don’t know!” Suzy wailed as she shook her head, yelling in a deranged manner. “…I didn’t see anything! I just saw…I just saw…!”

  “This is bad…” Changmin sighed.

  Suzy lounged forward, gripping Victoria’s arm before she could leave. “You’ll all give me protection, right? What if I’m next? What if the killer hunts me down? Am I…am I going to be the next to die…?”

  Victoria patted her slowly, leading her towards one of the police cars. “Don’t worry, we’ll definitely put you under protection. You won’t be the next to die… You won’t.”

  “Crime scene.” Kyuhyun reminded the others.

  Changmin took a deep breath. “Let’s head up.”

~~~

  “No forced entry, windows closed and locked, door was locked before Suzy entered with her usual key…” Kyuhyun noted as they stood at the doorway of the apartment, about to enter the threshold. “I’m starting to wonder if the culprit is some sort of supernatural being who can actually enter without going through the door or windows.”

  Victoria shook her head with a sigh as they slowly walked in. “Too many questions, so little answers.”

  The five of them entered the home, and they set their eyes on the living room. Doubtlessly, there was a noose hanging from the ceiling, just a noose, and on the living room table, a teacup was placed, forlornly sitting there on its own, filled to the brim with brown liquid. Changmin approached the table slowly, whilst the others walked around, examining and scrutinizing every corner of the apartment.

  “It’s all the same, a similar crime scene once more.” Kyuhyun said as he looked around. “What we need to do is to re-investigate on all our current suspects, and we need to send that tea there-“ He pointed at the teacup. “-For analysis. If it contains potassium cyanide, then we know it’s the same culprit striking once more.”

  “If it is potassium cyanide, we know how it got in but still- tea?” Yoona questioned. “I mean, I looked through the case file and the autopsy results show there were traces of coffee in the small intestine of Park Jiyeon, however there were traces of tea in the stomach of Krystal, of course, including potassium cyanide. It’s just a thought though…”

  Victoria heaved a heavy sigh. “I don’t think that really matters, the point is that the potassium cyanide entered both their bodies, and if Suzy didn’t scream or yell out, or call the police immediately, she would be the next one in the autopsy room.” She took a turn around the room. “I wonder… really. This crime scene…”

  “Vitamin bottle?” Kyuhyun remembered. “I’m supposing the forensics found one.

  Changmin nodded. “Yes, they did. An empty vitamin bottle, and if we send it for analysis, we’ll probably find about 1mg or 2mg of potassium cyanide remains, as supposedly the rest was poured into that tea.” He contemplated before he spoke. “But still…it’s the same as the other crime scenes, in a way…and I’m not sure if that vitamin bottle will get us anywhere-“

  “But everything’s rather neat though, don’t you think?” Yoona noted. “I mean, like Krystal’s home, it was rather neat because we know that the gangsters had gone off to mess up Krystal’s place yet… Did you know if Suzy ever had any debts?” She turned towards Minho.

  Minho tried to recall. “…Truthfully I don’t know Suzy that well, we were just schoolmates, really, and plus the fact that she’s Sulli’s friend. But I don’t think she would have any debts. She was known to be from quite a loaded family too.”

  “I suppose that does narrow down a bit…” Yoona nodded slowly, then she stopped, as she saw a white ribbon lying on the ground. With her gloves over her hands, she slowly picked it up. “Hey team… what’s this?”

  As Changmin turned to look at it, he froze.

  “I think it may belong to Suzy.” Victoria said casually as she dropped the evidence into a plastic bag, unwary of Changmin’s shock. “We’ll check with her first, and if it’s hers then I suppose that’s all. If it’s not, then we’ll send it for analysis-“

  “No.” Changmin ordered. “…Here’s what we’re going to do – Kyuhyun, Minho, Victoria, the three of you are going to launch straight onto the investigation of Kris Wu. Yoona, you’re going to go back to the café and keep a watch on Park Chanyeol and Lee Taemin.”

  Victoria touched his arm, feeling worried. “…Changmin, is anything wrong? What are you going to do?”

  “Me…? I’ll keep an eye on Kang Jiyoung, it seems like she might either turn out to be the next victim or a possible suspect.” He said quickly, reassuring her. “Let’s just stick by this plan, and everything will be fine.”

  As he gazed at the white ribbon, there was only one name, and one thought running through his mind, something he was sure that he could not mention, something and someone he was going to have to investigate secretly, on his own.

  Sulli.

~~~

  “Personally I don’t get what’s wrong with Changmin.”

  It was the next morning, and Victoria, Kyuhyun and Minho were sitting in the office, going through the evidence they had already gotten from their break-in into Kris Wu’s office. Kyuhyun was still looking through the hacking program, and Minho was carefully studying the case file. Victoria, on the other hand, was deep in thought.

 “What do you mean?” Minho raised his head.

  “I just know he’s onto something.” Victoria thought about it seriously. “…And he might not be telling us because he thinks it will affect us in one way or another.”

  “Kris Wu is on his way to the office, and I think we’d better just focus on how we’re going to question him, and what we can or cannot reveal.” Kyuhyun pointed out as he stood up. “Right now, our main suspect is Kris Wu, and with the evidence we have, almost everything points to him. We’d best gear up…It won’t be an easy day.”

 Though she nodded, Victoria was still troubled about Changmin.

~~~

  “Ms Kang, I think that guy’s looking at you~”

  The little child chirruped as she ran towards the lady sitting on one of the benches in the elementary school playground. Kang Jiyoung patted the little girl’s head, and she turned to look in the direction the girl pointed at, only to find herself staring at a tall man wearing a light brown business suit and tapered pants, leaning against the fence.

  She rose slowly, stepping towards the man. “…Shim Changmin-shi, right? You were the one at Jiyeon’s wake that day, who asked us to come over for the questioning.”

  He nodded, a polite smile on his face. “I see you’re a teacher, Jiyoung-shi.”

  “I am.” A small smile curved upon her lips. “I mean, it’s not a glamorous job or anything, but it’s what I’ve always wanted to be.” She looked up at him once more. “…Then again, Changmin-shi, what brings you here today? Wait…It’s about Suzy, isn’t it?”

  The way Jiyoung could deduce his thoughts in a moment startled Changmin, her eloquent and smooth manner of speaking, the way she did not seem anxious or nervous at all. She stood straight, not worried by anything, staring at him, absolutely calm and collected. But he controlled himself, knowing that she was still a possible suspect.

  “That’s one of the matters, Jiyoung-shi, but my question is going to have a bit of a… a wider context.” He said, in the same, smooth manner. “…I hope I won’t take up too much of your time.”

  “I’m free for the moment, so go ahead.”

  He thought for a moment, before he posed the question. “I’m curious about your clique relations, Jiyoung-shi. I feel I’ve only been hearing the rosy side of it, and I’m sure there was a darker side to it.”

  She let out a bitter chuckle. “Well, I don’t know what you’ve heard from the others, but there were many things I was aware, and wasn’t aware of. All I know is that Suzy and Jiyeon were close, and Sulli and Krystal were close. There wasn’t much dispute, but I could safely say that I was neither here nor there, always in the middle of it all.”

  “That’s still a vague answer.”

  She smiled cleverly. “You gave me a vague question.”

~~~

  “Kris Wu-shi, we keep seeing a repeat of you in here, I suppose you would like to end this cycle, right?” Victoria’s words were sharp. “I think we’d like to prevent déjà vu as well, it gets tiring for us.”

  Victoria and Kyuhyun were the main duo doing the questioning, whilst Minho was watching from the back room, taking notes and looking through the case file. Kyuh