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 2

  ~~~

  “What do you mean he can’t take part in the case?”

  Yoona raised her eyebrows in confusion as she saw the severe expression on Changmin’s face. He shook his head with a sigh, not offering her a single reply, just standing there and staring at a few pieces of paper. She turned to look at Victoria, who looked just as solemn, just as upset as Changmin was, and Yoona became more bewildered by the minute.

  “Minho, Kyuhyun’s preparing the questioning room…” Victoria took a deep breath, stepping forward. “There’s nothing confirmed yet but… You’re currently a suspect for the murder of Park Jiyeon.”

  Yoona’s jaw nearly dropped. “No way! You guys are joking, right? There’s got to be some sort of mistake here, or are you all pulling some sort of prank?” She turned to look at Minho, who hadn’t said a word. “…Minho…no. You didn’t kill Park Jiyeon-shi, right? I know you would never, no, you’re too…Minho, you wouldn’t…” She stuttered hopelessly, overwhelmed by the shock.

  He heaved a sigh. “Yoona, just don’t forget what I told you…”

  “W-What? No! Minho, no! You’re not… you won’t…” She couldn’t think of anything else to say.

  “You’re going to do a wonderful job, okay, Yoona?” He gazed at her deeply. “…Keep in mind what I told you, and I know you’re going to do very well. And please…don’t get yourself in too much danger, okay?”

  “Stop telling me all this-“

  “Minho, the questioning room is ready.”

  Kyuhyun stepped out of one of the rooms and called over, his tone sounding very much aghast. He didn’t look bright or cheerful like he usually did, as he approached the other four. He gave Victoria a knowing nod, as he walked towards Minho.

  “I’m…coming.” Minho murmured as he patted Yoona’s back before following Kyuhyun to the room. “I’ll be fine Yoona, don’t worry.”

  “No!”

  Yoona yelled, still in shock, about to rush forward. But Victoria was too fast, grabbing Yoona’s arms and restraining her from going any further. Minho gave her a sad, hopeful look, making Yoona even more confused, and she didn’t understand a single thing about the situation, not at all. Struggling in Victoria’s strong grasp, she tried her best to break away.

  “Yoona, it’s for your own good.” Victoria stopped her. “It’s just a questioning, he’ll be fine…”

  “I don’t understand!” Yoona protested as she turned to glare at Victoria. “How can he be a suspect? He such a stupid, idiotic coward and he’ll never have the guts to commit such a murder. He didn’t even expect anyone to be murdered or-“

  “We didn’t want this either, Yoona.” Victoria tried to remain calm herself.

  Yoona clenched her fists as she stopped struggling. “I want to question him along with you. I’m going to force the answer out of him and I know he’s going to tell me the truth about everything he-“

  “Go take a look at the crime scene again.” Victoria advised gently. “Yesterday we didn’t look through everything, and we still need to gather the clues. Go check out forensics, the crime scene, and find some stuff for us to work on.” She kept her calm composure. “Don’t dwell on this Yoona, you’re an undercover agent, you’re a detective, and you need to find out the truth.”

  She did not retaliate, not at all. “Victoria, you know he wouldn’t-“

  “It’s not about what he will or will not do, and I really…have to go question him now.” Victoria’s heart felt heavy as she saw how upset Yoona was. “…I don’t want a repeat of what happened in the last case, so Changmin’s going to accompany you for the rest of the case…” She turned to look at Changmin. “…Right, Changmin?”

  “Victoria, please…” Yoona begged for the last time.

  He placed a hand on Yoona’s shoulder, a form of comfort. “Let’s go, Yoona.”

  As he slowly led Yoona away from the office, Victoria couldn’t help but feel a sort of empty, yet afraid feeling engulf her. She didn’t know what, and she didn’t know how the case would go in such a direction. It was her team-mates, and she didn’t want to hurt them but she knew, she had to get to the bottom of the case and she couldn’t use her personal feelings to decide the direction of which they would all go.

  Everything will be fine. She tried to convince herself. It will be fine.

~~~

  “Hey there, Yoong…You okay?”

  Changmin found it worrying that the usually chirpy and lively Yoona was now gloomy, and absorbed in self-thought, so much that she hadn’t said a word since they walked out of the office. He was driving, but it didn’t mean he had to look at her to know that she was completely down. He knew he had to perk her up, in one way or another.

  “Yeah.” A short reply. “I’m fine.”

  “Yoona…” He thought carefully. “…There’s chocolate in the compartment in front of you.” His words were warm and kind. “Just open it, and eat the chocolate. You’ll need it.”

  “I…” She reached forward, opening the compartment and her eyes fell upon a bar of dark chocolate, something which she really liked a lot. She took the chocolate in her hands, unwrapping it slowly, at the same time, she sighed heavily. “Are you sure you’re okay with this, Changmin?”

  “Of course.” He smiled. “You need it more than I do, at least for now you do.”

  “…Thanks.” She took a bite of the chocolate, feeling slightly better as she felt the sweet taste overwhelm her taste buds. “Changmin… You’ve got a heavy load of work back in the office, don’t you? You really don’t have to accompany me like this, anyway the crime scene still has some officers patrolling it, so you don’t have to worry that I’ll get into trouble or anything…”

  “I want to.” He chuckled softly.

  “Why?”

  “You’re a part of the team, and you’re my friend as well. I feel I haven’t done enough, Yoona.” He chortled with a smile. “…I don’t know if Minho’s really going to be able to continue to contribute to this case, and I’m going to help you. I don’t want you to be… alone on this.”

  She laughed at his words. “Have you been influenced by him to be cheesy or something?”

  “No, I’m just stating a fact.” He blushed as he laughed along.

  “You’re always standing at the back, Changmin.” Yoona said casually, breaking the chocolate with her fingers, and popping a piece into . “…But I think you’re the most capable and the most stable member of our team. You’re actually… a lot more than what you seem to be.”

  He smirked, stifling a laugh. “You don’t have to compliment me because you’ve got nothing else to say, Yoona. I know you’re grateful for the chocolate, but –“

  “No, Changmin.” She said earnestly. “I mean it. Victoria gets into people’s minds, and she can present it all out in an organized manner. Kyuhyun gets into everything that computerized or electronic, and he can present it out. Minho’s good at understanding peoples’ emotions, and deducting things…And you…” She broke into a wide smile. “…You can handle all of them, which makes you the best of all.”

  “Yoona…”

  “I’m yet to find out what I’m good at, though.” She chuckled as she broke the last piece of chocolate in two. “…And I’m counting on you to help me.” She reached out and fed him one of the pieces, making him smile as well.

  “…We’ll do that together, Yoona.”

~~~

  “Minho, why didn’t you tell us?”

  Victoria sighed deeply, very much stressed out by the information she had found on the piece of paper. Kyuhyun sat next to her, typing out everything he had to, for the record of the interrogation. Minho faced the both of them, under a lot of pressure as well. All three were very much distressed, pretty much for the same reason.

  “…How on earth did you guys find out?” He breathed.

  Victoria closed her eyes in frustration, before opening them and looking back at him. “Minho, I’m a profiler. You didn’t think your actions during the investigation of the crime scene, and your gestures during the meeting were actually going to pass me, right?” She placed her papers on the table. “…I knew there had to be some sort of correlation between you and Park Jiyeon, and I asked Kyuhyun to do some background research, and this turned up.”

  “You both went to Paran High.” Kyuhyun’s voice came in. “She was your junior by one year.”

  He bit his lip. “Just because we were schoolmates, doesn’t mean that we have to have some other sort of connection to each other-“

  “Minho, before I start bringing out all sorts of evidence, tell me truthfully…” Victoria inhaled slowly. “Did you, or did you not meet Park Jiyeon on the day of her death? I’m not saying you killed her, for sure, but still…did you meet her at all, on that day? And in what way are you connect to her?”

  “I…” Minho was speechless.

  “Minho, you’re scared and I know it.” She stretched her hand and held his. “…But the whole team is just as scared for you, because we all know you wouldn’t do such a thing. That’s why you’ve got to come clean now, Minho. Not just for us and for yourself, but also for Yoona, she’s always believed in you a lot.”

  He sighed deeply as he run his hand through his hair, sighing once more in exasperation. “She confessed to me during our high school days. We went on a few dates after that, but we both decided that things wouldn’t work out, so we just ended things at amicable terms.” He admitted slowly. “Besides that, she was friends with my sister, but there was nothing else after that.”

  “And did you meet her on the day of her death?” Kyuhyun piped up his question.

  “I did…It was an accident.” Minho said truthfully. “I was going to find Yoona, because I knew she was working in a café, then I remembered that Yoona didn’t take night shifts, and I was about to walk back when I came face to face with Jiyeon.”

  “Do you remember what time it is? Do you remember what she said or…?” Victoria purged on curiously.

  “She just said that she was glad to see me, and that we should meet each other again soon, to talk or to have some sort of conversation.” He recalled slowly. “She was looking rather stressed, but she was quite cheerful. And then we shook hands, and we walked away. If I’m not wrong…it was around 9.30pm.”

  Kyuhyun continued to type. “Did you meet Jiyeon like…any time after high school or something?”

  “I did, but only when she came over to the house. Like I said, she’s one of my sister’s good friends.” His words were honest, and Victoria couldn’t deduce much lies from it. “…But then…how would you know whether I met her or not?”

  “Actually, we found-“

  Kyuhyun stopped her immediately. “Victoria, he’s a suspect, we can’t.”

  “Right… But wait no, it’s okay.” Victoria thought slowly. “Yeah, it’s alright. I can judge things, don’t worry. It’s really okay to show him, really.”

  Minho was confused, as Victoria took out several pictures, placing them in front of him. Each picture showed him, that day, talking to Jiyeon. At the angle it was taken, it clearly seemed like… “It looks like stalker pictures.”

  “Whether it’s a stalker picture or not, it was sent to us this morning.” Victoria did not hide any facts, despite that she knew Minho was a possible suspect. However, she was in control of what she told him, so she knew it was fine. “The point is, you were sighted, and there’s dates on the pictures, see.” She used her finger, pointed at the dates at the edge of each photo. “…But there’s no timing. Minho, do you have an alibi for what you were doing at the possible time of death?”

  He shook his head with a sigh. “I remembered your text about where Yoona lived, so I went up to Yoona’s place on that day after I coincidentally met Jiyeon, but I thought she was asleep, and I didn’t knock on her door. I slept on her patio table that night, and I guess the only one that can prove it is me…”

  “Minho, I trust you, in fact, we all trust you.” Victoria said seriously. “Since there’s no conclusiv