It was long ago that our predecessors realized that humanity's greatest threat aside from hungry beasts and natural disasters was humans themselves—in other words, other humans. Indeed, humans have reason and common sense that can make us consider many things so as not to take actions that are contrary to morality. However, there are times when the advantages we have are covered by a momentary emotion that can blind all forms of rationality.

There are so many cases of violence, or violence that results in the death of people, originating from an emotion we know as anger. Humans can perform actions that she did not think she could do when she was very angry. Maybe you could hurt yourself, or even hurt someone else even though you really didn't intend to do that. So it's no exaggeration if this type of emotion can be said to be one of the enemies of humans.

Therefore, sentences from Latin that are familiar to legal people, such as homo homini lupus, which means humans are wolves to other humans, are suitable sentences to describe the current situation.

Asavarid Pinitkanjanapun—Heng.

Known as personnel who have good self-esteem. Almost everyone in every department knows him as a tall, friendly man because he loves to greet and talk to other people in other divisions even though each of them doesn't know each other before. He had the advantage that everyone who met him would resonate and think of Heng as someone they might call in the future to have a BBQ or a beer with.

In short, Heng is a warm man who gets along well with many people. Exactly the same as Becca, back then.

However, Heng's identity in her head faded instantly when the man entered the interrogation room and suddenly rushed towards her and kicked her body causing her to fall backwards. Heng grabbed Becca's collar, lifted her body and immediately punched her in the jaw many times until her lips were torn and bleeding.

Becca let out a heartbreaking groan as Heng lifted her body with both hands and slammed her into the wall behind her. Her head came into direct contact with the cement wall, emitting a very loud sound. She could feel the impact shaking her entire head, leaving her unable to think or speak apart from screaming in pain. Even her grip on Heng's arm loosened in an instant.

Heng knocked her body to the floor with one slam. Becca's body slumped limply on the cold floor. Blood was pouring out from the back of the head, nose and mouth. The blood on her nose was from a huge blow that Heng threw just as the man came into the room to begin the interrogation, while the blood coming from her mouth was from the second punch the man threw when Becca defended herself when the first questions were asked of her.

The young sergeant tried to move her arms, forcing herself to sit up and stand up. However, moving her body just a little, the sting and throbbing pain immediately made Becca fall back down. Trying to open her eyes, Becca was immediately confronted by Heng's legs before he kicked her in the stomach and again made her scream in pain.

The tall man in front of her smiled evilly. His slanted smile matched his very sharp gaze—obviously he was harboring such great anger and grudges. If only there weren't other officers standing on the other side of the frosted glass beside him and the surveillance cameras always recording his every move, Heng probably would have pulled out his gun and immediately pierced Becca's head with five shots.

All of this madness, and all of the suffering that he was going through was due to just one cunning fox. And now the fox was lying in front of him, waiting to be shot to death by the killer who caught her. It felt like he had wasted his energy to pity this woman, only to lead him to the fact that she was the true killer he had been looking for. Just because of this person, he was almost made a suspect and received disciplinary punishment. It was only because of this person that Seng—his best friend when he was still a cadet—died miserably.

He couldn't believe that he had been made into a puppet by this psycho. And because of that, Heng swore, he would never forgive Becca for what she had done. He would do anything to make her feel the same torment as him and her victims felt. And this, is the start of it all.

Heng waved his right hand. Only then did he notice that his knuckles were red and there were a few bloodstains stuck to them. The man growled angrily and pulled Becca's body forcibly, dragging her so she could sat down on a chair. "Hey, let's make this job easier. I'm sick of seeing your face, so I want you to immediately confess all the things you've done so I can come out and give your files to the prosecutor's office!" Heng shouted and pounded the table surface with both open hands. The table shifted from its original position and the items on the table almost fell to the floor.

Becca let out a shaky breath, then took another breath to fill her lungs with air. She winced slightly in pain because her chest hurt so much every time she took a breath. She lifted her face, shook her head slightly to get rid of the locks of hair covering her view.

"Phi... damn it. How many times do I have to tell you, I'm not the killer," Becca choked on her own blood. For a moment, she wanted to vomit because of the stench of blood that entered her throat. But she immediately forcefully swallowed it all and took a deep breath. "There's no way I'm going around my own house wearing a wig and putting all those bugging devices. Our witness, the manager where Song worked also said that the last person she was with was a woman with long hair. I went there myself and met the manager in person. But he didn't suspect me as the killer because I wasn't the culprit!"

"Are you crazy or what?" Heng suddenly laughed disparagingly when he heard Becca's defense. He rubbed her face, bringing the bloodstains from his knuckles to his cheeks and the bridge of his nose. He leaned back in the chair, pulled away from the table and grabbed Becca's neck, "How can you explain the bodies in your fridge, the ID cards on the spot where Seng died, and the bloody hammer you kept in your toolbox?"

"I don't know how all of that got into my house. All this time I'd stopped at Freen's apartment and never returned to my own. Just—Just ask her. She is the one who always been with me all this time." Becca held her breath, her eyes looking at Heng with hopeful eyes. But because she didn't find any change from the man's face, Becca ended up exhaling roughly. She then raised her head and showed the stitch marks on her neck. "Am I stupid enough to have someone else cut my throat just like that?"

"Fuck you. You think you can trick me again?" Heng replied.

"Heng!"

Becca's screams trigger an eerie silence between the two. The dimly lit 7 x 7 meters interrogation room turned into a stuffy prison that emitted a terrifying aura. With every part of her body throbbing with pain, Becca forced herself to think of what kind of sentence would not incriminate herself and be able to absolve herself of all forms of accusations leveled at her.

A recent sudden arrest turned her from model officer to public enemy in no time. She could imagine what would have happened had she failed to prove her innocence here—perhaps she would have stood in front of the police station handcuffed, surrounded by police officers protecting her from the onslaught of journalists from dozens of TV stations vying for the good portraits. of her face to be showcased on national broadcasts and news portals.

It was something she least wanted in life. Apart from ruining her own name, it would also be bad for the big name of the Armstrong family which already has a good standing in the industry audience. Oh, how Becca wished news of her arrest didn't reach her parents. She didn't want to disappoint them just because of something she didn't do. All of this is beyond reasonable limits. She had not expected the killer to overstep her bounds and go this far.

Heng shouted, "Oh, you're fucking done, Sergeant. You will really be finished!" she rose from his seat and walked around the table to tug on Becca's collar. "I told you to stop talking nonsense!"

"I don't—!"

Just before Heng's punch landed on Becca's face for the umpteenth time, the door to the interrogation room opened and a plainclothes officer rushed inside. Seeing that, Heng immediately pressed Becca's shoulder and forced the woman to sit still in her place.

"Lieutenant Chankimha will come to the crime scene to conduct a re-examination. You are asked to postpone the interrogation until she comes here in person." said the officer.

Hearing that, Heng couldn't help but growl angrily. "Again, the Lieutenant is getting in my way," he hissed. He then asked the officer to leave the room and looked at Becca with a sinister look, "You will be detained until we have all the evidence we need. During that time, don't expect you to receive good treatment from us."

***

Freen lifted the yellow police tape across the middle of the entrance to Becca's house, she needed to bend her body so she could enter and leave the crowd of residents who were clustered in front of the gate like flies swarming trash. Information spreads quickly, faster than she had expected. The police's attempt to come to the scene of the crime quietly so as not to cause unwanted commotion failed.

Luckily, Freen was able to read the situation so she immediately contacted headquarter and asked for additional personnel to secure the situation so that these people could not enter and destroy evidence. Before, she couldn't go inside at all because if she just walked in, people would definitely rush in with their phones to record. Because now there were dozens of policemen standing guard outside, Freen could leave her place and go inside to do an inspection.

The forensic team has been at the crime scene since last night. It was predictable, whose forensic team was assigned to jump right in here—that's right, Looknam Orntara. After she was released from prison status because it was proven that she was actually an outsider who was framed and almost made a scapegoat—as well as proof that the killer was a dangerous sly fox—Nam was again entrusted with leading a forensic team that would work closely with the special investigation team.

Freen was the one who actively helped her while she was in the cell. She gave a lot of information about the investigation and succeeded in proving that Nam was actually innocent. It made her feel that she needed to return the favor for her kindness and Nam felt that now was the right time for that.

Her best friend, Rebecca Armstrong, had been in the same position as her for some time. Nam believes Becca is not someone who has the heart to do all those heinous things. After all, why would she kill people in the name of her own family? The sergeant was certainly not that stupid.

The police demanded that the investigation be carried out quickly and responsively, slightly different from usual. Nam suspects this happened because the suspect is a member of the police so they need something that can be used as strong evidence. This certainly has the potential to damage the reputation of the Thai police and they don't want to take such a risk so they decide to do everything quickly so that they can be dishonorably discharged before further legal proceedings can be carried out.

Nam seems to have been waiting for her since earlier. The woman gave Freen a difficult look as the woman entered and closed the door behind her. Without wasting any time, Freen immediately approached and stopped beside her to ask, "Where is the bodies? We already checked this place a few weeks ago, why did those bodies suddenly appear here?"

Lowering the mask that covered almost half of the face, Nam waved her hand and pointed at the large refrigerator near the kitchen set. It didn't take an extra sentence for Freen to understand the gesture so she hastily walked over to the refrigerator and locked eyes with several forensic officers.

"Lieutenant Chankimha, we still haven't moved the body from the refrigerator because we heard the news that you will come to investigate directly." One of them said. Freen stood in front of the suspiciously large black refrigerator.

"Thank you for your cooperation," Freen answered curtly. Her gaze swept all over the refrigerator, from top to bottom. Her breath hitched as she realized there were traces of dried blood at the bottom. It looked like the blood had come from inside the fridge and was dripping out of the crack in the door. "It should be fine if you take out whatever's in here." she muttered, and the officer could only nod and lower her head.

Freen took a deep breath and held it. Then, with one gentle swing, she opened the fridge door wide and held it against the door with a chair. The cold temperature spread out, accompanied by the smell of blood that pierced the nose. She thought, the stench was coming from beef that was kept too long. But it turned out that the terrible smell was coming from the black plastic bag that was stuffed up to the fullest in the fridge.

The black plastic surface looked like it was stuck to something inside. Not a few also something like a dark sticky liquid was seen spilling out of the small holes and the top of the plastic bag, and flowing down to the bottom of the refrigerator and finally dripping out. The young lieutenant was sensitive and clever enough to understand that the contents of the plastic bag and the gooey liquid were not the flesh of an edible animal.

The longer, the smell that is released becomes worse. Even that smell was now beyond her limits—Freen really wanted to vomit. But of course she couldn't just spill the contents of her stomach right away because she had prestige that needed to be maintained so whether she wanted it or not and whether she liked it or not, she had to swallow everything back into her stomach.

If described, Freen could conclude that the smell from the contents of all the plastic bags in front of her almost resembled blood and rotting flesh that maggots had almost eaten.

For a while, her lips pressed together tightly. She was lost for words and lost control of herself. Even though her brain was screaming at her, asking her to step back immediately and ordering the forensic officers to remove all those plastic bags, her organs still refused and chose to remain silent.

One on her mind; what kind of human who just mutilated three people and stuffed their body parts into a refrigerator. Becca couldn't have done this kind of thing, even if she was on drugs or narcotics. Even though they didn't really know each other, Freen still dared to swear that Becca wasn't the figure behind these body pieces.

The touch of a hand on her shoulder was the only reason for her to return to reality. When she looked to the side, Nam had already stood up and started to act before her to take out all the plastic bags and arrange them on the tarpaulin that was spread out in the living room. Actually Freen has the right to ban it because she also still hasn't given the order. But since she was working with Becca's friend—and that meant Nam is her friend too—then she let her be.

There are 10 black plastic bags in total. Freen takes a small flashlight from inside Nam's toolbox and turns it on. Together with the woman, she crouched beside the first plastic bag and opened it. When the plastic bag was opened, the beam of light immediately shone on the human face and managed to make Freen and Nam scream together loudly so that they almost fell backwards. The plastic bag contained a human head with one missing eyeball and a severed hand up to the upper arm.

"Jesus, for God's sake. What are we looking at, anyway?" Nam walked away from Freen while grumbling. The woman sat down on a dining room chair and rubbed her face roughly, trying to erase the image of the severed head from her memory.

Even though Freen is as horrified as Nam, she still had more self-control. Well, thank you for all the experiences in the past that are too dark to be recalled. She became quite used to seeing corpses under any circumstances even though her sense of smell told her otherwise.

"Doctor Nam, you're just insulting those who are dead if you keep saying things like that. Why don't you come back here and help me open up all these bodies? That's much better." Freen replied. She now begins to untie the second plastic bag with skill and immediately moves on to the next plastic bag without peeking at its contents. "What kind of Forensic Pathologist who can't stand the sight of a dead body. I'm afraid you'll have a hard time putting all the pieces together later."

From afar, the Chankimha could hear someone's breath followed by the tapping of shoes approaching her. It seemed that her words just now were enough to ignite the fire of enthusiasm from within one's self.

"Okay. Stop talking so I can help you. Urgh, your way of speaking is quite sharp huh." the forensic team leader sighed resignedly.

It took them about 30 minutes to open all the black plastic bags containing human body parts and document them. Although she couldn't confirm it, so far she felt that it was true that there were 3 mutilated bodies hidden in Becca's house because there were a total of 3 heads, 3 torso, and 2 pairs of hands and feet each. She didn't check by dumping all the body parts on the tarp, but put her hands covered in thick black gloves into the plastic bag and lifted the mutilated body parts one by one without removing them.

After checking alone, Nam who was standing in the living room called her name. Freen turned off the flashlight and immediately complied with the call. "Why? You found anything else?" she asked.

Nam shook her head. "My team just came back from upstairs and they said that everything was very clean. No luminol reaction and traces of blood up there." The forensic doctor then took out a transparent plastic bag containing a yellow handled hammer stained with dried blood and showed it to Freen. "We found this hammer last night and will soon be bringing it to the office for inspection along with the bodies."

Freen examined the hammer without removing it from the plastic bag. This hammer is indeed very similar to the hammer found in the car where Song was killed, starting from the size, the shape of the tip, to the color of the handle. As she previously suspected, the hammer was swapped and the killer purposely left the original hammer she used to kill at Becca's long-lost home to set her up like the others.

During her time as a police officer, this was the first time she had seen a killer who was so clever and organized like this. She can find out a lot about her main target and use that knowledge to take advantage of the situation. If indeed all of this was done out of spite, then the source of the problem must be big enough for the killer to play a trick on the police like this.

Speaking of grudges, Freen suddenly remembered the contact list of Mr. Armstrong's former co-workers that the man had given her the other day. She hadn't checked the list until now because she felt it had nothing to do with it. At least until the day Becca was arrested yesterday. Maybe I should check the list, just to be sure. Freen returns the hammer she checked back to Nam. She then walked around the room and stopped in front of the refrigerator. Or maybe not. In fact, nothing caught my attention more than all the names on it. After all, I also already know who they all are.

"CCTV..." a sudden enlightenment appeared in the midst of her congested train of thought. Her gaze darted around the room and stopped at one corner of the ceiling, where a surveillance camera was located. The flashing red light on the device made Freen doubt whether it was still on or not. "We... we should be able to get something from there." she said to Nam.

Nam nodded in understanding and immediately ordered her members to check the surveillance cameras. A few minutes passed and they made it back to the living room and came back with a flash drive and a laptop. Unexpectedly, the camera was still active and saved all the footage for the past 2 weeks. Unfortunately, most of the recordings were corrupted and could not be played at all except for the last 4 days of recordings. In the meantime, they will check the remaining recordings and will check the rest after the recorded files are successfully recovered.

Among the four records that could be played, only one recorded their attention. Because there, you can see a woman dressed in dark clothes, with a black hat and white mask who entered the house using the key to the front door. Freen and Nam find it strange, very strange. After all, where did this person—most likely the killer—have the key to Becca's door?

If she could just get the door key, it wouldn't be a big problem for her to steal her ID Card, Freen concluded.

The recorder continues. The woman's figure is now visible on the surveillance camera located in the living room where they are gathered now. She was seen taking something out of the small backpack that was on her back which turned out to be a hammer with a yellow handle which became a murder weapon. The hammer was placed in the drawer of the TV table and the woman got back up and walked out.

The woman is again seen crossing in front of the surveillance camera, and stops in front of it while carrying a black plastic bag which they know contains human remains. She stopped right in front of the camera for a few minutes, staring intently at the surveillance camera that caught her figure. This time, they could clearly see that the woman had long hair, just like the woman they had seen on the CCTV footage a few weeks ago. Through the laptop screen, Freen could see the killer's eyes narrowed—it was obvious that she was laughing.

Everyone there stared at the laptop screen that was playing the surveillance camera footage with difficult looks—some were annoyed, angry, disgusted, or even all of these emotions were mixed together. Seeing a vile human walking back and forth with a pouch full of human remains as if it was nothing.

"This woman is really something else," after finishing the last video and closing the laptop, Nam says angrily, "she's purposely standing in front of the camera as if to indicate that she wants us to see what she's carrying in all those black plastic bags. She's also a jerk for making me and a few other people the scapegoats, what a crazy bastard."

Freen could only remain silent as she watched the recorded video to the end without showing much response. When Nam asked her what she thought about the contents of the videotape and how it would help Becca in the future, she only gave a short response and made Nam reluctant to ask further questions.

The surveillance camera footage is the only remaining evidence that the police and the forensic team can take for further examination. They repackaged all the black bags containing the human remains and put them in 3 bodybags to be put into the forensic team's van. When Freen goes out to contact her other co-workers, Nam comes back in with the crime scene cleaners because she will give directions so they can work to clean up crime scenes without missing anything.

The police who guarded the front gate of Becca's house also received additional personnel because the place needed to be guarded for approximately one week to prevent unauthorized persons from entering and taking something that was not supposed to be.

At least, they have got one piece of evidence that can refute the accusations against their friend. They only need to look for one more piece of evidence that comes from her own family and the police officers who stand guard around the Armstrong Family's residence.

However, through the video, Freen had the courage to come to a conclusion that it was clear that Rebecca Armstrong was not the culprit.

And of course, that's obvious.

***

Freen returned from CIFS office and immediately made the Bangkok Regional Police Headquarter as her main destination. She would report what she encountered in a brief report, then pass it on to Saint and her team head—Heng. Deep inside, she hoped that what she found would make them release Becca from the cell.

The woman walked into her room in a gray T-shirt—she had changed her top because of the stench of blood and human flesh clinging to it—and walked straight to her desk. Seeing Freen's arrival, Irin, who was the only member in the room and was standing in front of the crime board, immediately approached her. She doesn't know what Irin wanted to talk to her about, but the woman without hesitation immediately took a very close distance to her ear.

Yeah, although a second later Irin immediately took a distance and stared intently at her while covering her nose. "Freen, did you just hug a skunk, wet trash, go into a ditch, or what? Maybe what I said will hurt your feelings, but... you smell awful. You brought perfume, right?"

As I thought. Freen looked at Irin with a lazy look for a few seconds. She then lifted her right shoulder close to her nose and tried to smell herself how bad her body odor was now. Gosh, no wonder so many people are looking at me like seeing a ghost.

"I just got back from Becca's house and checked the bodies that were there. So don't be surprised if the smell still lingers," she took a deep breath. She took the vanilla perfume from her bag and started spraying it all over her body. "I already changed my clothes. But indeed the smell of rotting corpses will not be able to disappear in the near future. Sorry, Irin. But maybe you will live beside this smell for the next few hours."

"Never mind, it's no big deal anyway," Irin snorted, "Noey told me that she and Heng were going to CIFS. It turns out they replaced you, huh? What is the condition of the bodies?"

Freen took out her phone and opened a photo gallery. She wanted to show Irin the photos she had taken of the crime scene instead of having to explain it in detail to her herself. Silence was formed when she let Irin use her phone to scroll through the photos in her phone gallery. A few minutes passed and finally Irin turned off the phone and returned it to Freen with a difficult look.

It looked like she was holding back her vomit and Freen wanted to laugh when she saw her agony.

"Did Becca really do this?" Irin muttered.

Freen shook her head quickly, seeming to completely deny Irin's assumption. She then replied in a calm voice, "Of course not. We have evidence that someone else placed all the plastic bags containing the body parts in her refrigerator. And that person is the long-haired woman who appeared in the first CCTV footage and was the person Song met before she was killed."

"So it's true that Becca was also framed?"

"Right," Freen nodded briefly, "same as Heng, Seng, and also Nam."

Erin was silent for a moment. Then she spoke again, "We need more evidence. Would asking her parents and the police who were on duty around the Armstrongs' house would help?"

"Oh, I was just about to ask your help with that one. My body is very tired and I want to sleep for 15 minutes. Are you okay with that?" The Lieutenant looked at Irin with tired eyes like a sleepy kitten. She wasn't lying, her body was very limp and her eyes looked like they were threatening to close at any moment. It could be dangerous if she forced herself to drive in this condition.

"Of course. I'll go there immediately after this," Irin got up from her place to return to her own desk. She grabbed her car keys, handy talky, and jacket before walking towards the door. Before leaving, she turned to Freen and said, "get some rest. Heng and Noey will probably coming back in a few hours. So you can spend that time sleeping on the floor or something."

"I will definitely do that."

"And... Freen?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks for fighting for Becca. I... you may not feel it but since you got close to her, she has the will to survive. Before she was arrested, we communicated a lot via LINE and the only thing she talked about was you and everything you did for her."

Irin's words made Freen pensive for a moment. Just thinking about how Becca secretly talked about herself with her own friends made her feel... good. She was just confused, why didn't that woman tell her everything directly that she was grateful or something? Is she shy? But how could such a person not have enough courage to talk about these trivial matters directly.

Freen took a deep breath. She glanced at her and waved at Irin to see her off before doing her job outside, "We'll take care of her, Irin. Don't worry."

Irin took the time to say goodbye before leaving the investigation team room and leaving her alone. There, Freen waited quietly without doing anything. Her eyes fell on the contact list provided by Mr. Armstrong with no desire to do anything about all the numbers listed on the paper.

A few minutes passed and Freen confirmed that Irin, or anyone else, was not outside her team's room. She immediately opened a drawer and took some print out sheets and took them out. Irin ate her lies easily. Even though she wasn't sleepy at all and she also wouldn't sleep in this place because her goal now was to meet Saint in her office.

She has personal affairs related to Becca's arrest and with what she has now, Freen will try to convince Saint that everything that happened was a drama and a setup made by the killer to destroy the young sergeant. Carrying a print out of the report that was included in the yellow stofmap, Freen walked down the empty corridor towards the elevator.

Luckily, there weren't too many people using the elevator that afternoon so she was able to reach her destination quickly. As she stood in front of Saint's door, her watch still showed that she still had time. But she still adheres to the principle that it is better to arrive earlier than late. So without waiting for the time to roll any longer, Freen immediately knocked on the door three times and went inside.

"Good afternoon, Lieutenant Chankimha. You are indeed a punctual person." Saint stood up from his chair to give a small greeting, complete with a faint smile that conveyed professionalism and friendliness—Freen only replied with a curt nod.

"How about we just get to the main point?" Freen replied calmly. Her hand shot up, showing a yellow map that caught Saint's attention. She put the map on the table and let Saint read it himself. "This is very important Saint. I want you to consider it."

Saint skimmed through the brief notes Freen made about the discovery of the body and the contents of the CCTV cameras she found at Becca's house. She also linked the long-haired woman who appeared in the video with the witness statements they had obtained so far. She tried to make Saint believe that Becca was being framed, but the man didn't seem to be taking Freen's note seriously.

The commander snorted, he placed Freen's note on the table and thrust it out with his finger. "Do what you want to do, Freen. Soon I will be holding a presscon to announce the discovery of the bodies and give a new appeal to the public."

"So what?" Freen continued to press further, "You're going to let Becca be in the cell as a suspect without doing anything to get her out of there even though she's not the real culprit? You must be crazy then."

"Wouldn't that be great? The police have been working on this case for too long without a figure who can be used as the perpetrator and brought to the attention of the mass media. We almost lost the public's trust, you know that right? Becca, could be the right person for that," her commander said casually and ignored Freen who was having a hard time holding herself back from throwing a glass vase at the man's head. She couldn't stand it, her words were really outrageous. "Moreover, the Becca family is quite respected among business people. If the perpetrator is from such circles, maybe this news will be something good to fry for a while."

Freen squeezed her fingers together until the edges of her skin turned white from the too much pressure. While her breath was ragged due to the anger that was exploding in her chest, Freen still managed to keep her tone normal as she replied, "Saint. You know what? I really want you to go down in hell."

"And we're both going to get down there together. Don't think I don't know what was the reason why you got transferred to Bangkok, Captain Sarocha Chankimha." Saint turned to face Freen and snapped quickly, "I just want to clear the name of the Bangkok regional police, Freen. If you were me, you would definitely think that this was the right choice."

The corner of her lips twitched as Saint said that he knew the secret. Originally, she wanted to reply to the point of his words but Freen refrained from doing so. It was also useless for her to hide the truth any longer, after all the fact that she had indeed killed would also be exposed later. Instead of that, what irritated and disappointed her even more was Saint's indifferent attitude to the fate of his personnels, whom he had always regarded as his little sister.

Freen had solid evidence that could save Becca and Saint should have given her team a support to complete the investigation. But what he did was just the opposite. The man even tried to make Becca a suspect in public to show that the police still have the perfect capability to complete their duties as a public servant.

Why is Becca and Saint's relationship intertwined all this time if in the end Saint will simply throw her away and become a scapegoat just to save his own reputation? For Freen, that was the lowest act of a human. Betrayal—Freen hated that so much.

Taking one step closer to Saint's workbench, Freen tilted her head and stared at Saint without blinking. And that ghastly look in her eyes was back, again. "If I were you, I would look for other options that are more appropriate than this." She finalized.

"Do what you wanted to do." Saint smiled, "Besides, why do you want to save that woman so badly? Do you want to take or get something from her?" he asked. Without waiting for an answer, the man turned his attention back to the pile of files on the table and no longer looked directly at the other person. He then exhaled slowly, glanced at Freen briefly and finished his sentence with a final statement that made both Freen's hands clenched tightly. "Your mouth could probably lie. But not with your eyes, Freen."

Freen chuckled. She straightened up and brought her hands back to her sides. Still not letting go of that intimidating look, she replied, "You sure are smart, Saint. But this time, I feel like you should be more careful." With that, Freen immediately turned around and left the Saint's room, leaving the man at a loss to interpret her words.

When Freen entered the holding cell with the key she borrowed from the guard, Becca immediately stood up and hugged her tightly. She remembered, whenever Becca didn't feel well, she would hug her. So Freen immediately returned the hug and let Becca put all her weight on her.

"I thought you wouldn't come..." Becca muttered and made her shiver a little as her warm breath hit her neck.

Holding her breath, Freen replied, "It's fine, I'm here now."

She could feel Becca's legs couldn't support her any longer. So Freen quickly sat her down on the floor. "Here, I brought your medicine." Freen squatted down and handed Becca some pills and an open bottle of mineral water.

Becca looked down at the pills in the woman's hand, then at the mineral water that was handed to her. She licked her own lips and the pain from the torn wound that was there came back whack. Can't imagine how painful it would be if the water touched her lips later. However, she also did not want to spend the day with a dry throat. She could die faster from dehydration if so.

So with limp hands, she tried to accept the water bottle from Freen but the woman immediately pulled the bottle and shook her head. "Open your mouth."

"What for? I can do it myself, come on." Becca protested.

But Freen still insisted, "Enough, just follow my lead. Now, look up and open your mouth wide."

Becca didn't have the strength to argue anymore. So she chose to follow Freen's orders and cautiously raised her head. The stitch marks on her neck still hurt when she moved her neck so she needed to do the movement slowly.

Freen placed the mineral water bottle on the floor, then supported Becca's jaw with her right hand to keep Becca's head from moving. She put a few pills into her mouth and made sure they all landed on her tongue. After that, she immediately took a bottle of mineral water and spilled its contents into Becca's mouth until it was half full. She did it one more time until Becca signaled her to stop.

Before closing the bottle, Freen took the time to wipe the water that had spilled on the corner of Becca's lips with her finger—inwardly, she was trying hard to force herself not to focus on the youngest Armstrong's pair of brown irises that were staring straight at her. She couldn't stand to stare at her from this close, at least for now.

Freen again put some distance between the two of them—not too far because Becca immediately grabbed her wrist, keeping her from moving too far. Resigned, she finally sighed and let Becca hold her wrist a little longer.

"We found video footage showing a woman with long hair who broke into your house to smuggle in a black plastic bag filled with dismembered bodies. Irin also went to get a statement from the police who were on guard around your parents' residence. You don't have to worry anymore since we have enough evidence to get you out of here," Freen moistened her lower lip with her own saliva. Talking at length like this made her lips dry. "The killer's countdown is about to end and you are in even greater danger if you choose to stay in the holding cell."

Confused, Becca whispered back, "Thanks... but, what do you mean by that?"

"I want to help you escape from here and hide in a safer place."

Freen's answer took Becca by surprise. She was going to make Becca commit another, riskier crime and she definitely didn't like that kind of plan. "What are you talking about? That's not a good idea, dammit."

"When you come out, immediately go to the white BMW car that is at the very end. Get into it, sit in the passenger seat, and put on the hat that I have provided on the dashboard." Freen exhaled, trying to match her breathing with Becca's. Her eyes glanced alternately at the woman and the empty passage in front of the cell door to make sure no one was walking near them. "After this, you must hit my face hard. Grab my wallet, and run. I'll try to give you enough time to escape."

Becca was wide-eyed, "What the...? You're really telling me to run away from here? I don't want to. Stop talking nonsense!"

"You don't need to be afraid of what happens outside because Mind will help you go and take you to a safe place. She is the one who will take care of you in my absence. Don't worry, I'm here to try to clear your name."

"I don't want to take such a big risk with your plan, Freen. It will ruin both of our lives. So stop forcing me to do crazy things like that."

"No, you don't understand the situation at all, do you? We're out of time so hit me now," Freen whispered. She deliberately lowered her body so that Becca could easily hit her in the face. She waited, and waited. But Becca didn't do what she told her to do, so Freen turned and looked at her with sharp eyebrows. "what are you waiting for? Hit me, Rebecca." Freen returned to whispering.

Becca sighed. Denial was clear in her eyes. She didn't want to hurt Freen even though her desire to run away and escape from the police station was much bigger. Even though Freen dared to guarantee her safety as she stepped out in the disguise she gave her, if everything needed to be done with one punch to injure the Lieutenant, then Becca would be better off in the holding cell.

She can't hurt anyone else. No, she couldn't hurt Freen for her own gain. She had been very good to her and Becca did not want to go so far as to take her kindness for granted. Currently, Freen was looking at her with bloodshot and wet eyes—she was slightly teary and looked like she was about to cry.

No... don't cry. With trepidation, Becca raised her hand which was still in handcuffs to rub Freen's face. She wiped the tears that were coming out of the corner of her eyes with her thumb and let her hand touch the Lieutenant's face. Becca's touch managed to make Freen calmer than before. She no longer spoke and chose to bring her face closer so she could feel Becca's touch again.

Freen took a deep breath. Her hand moved to grab Becca's hand that was in her face. When her fingertips accidentally touched the cold surface of the iron cuffs, Freen couldn't help but hiss. "If you stay here, you will be tortured by the police until you confess. They will do anything to make you a scapegoat and I don't want you to feel that again." She spoke tremblingly as she continued, "I want to protect you, I don't want you to die. Because if you die then... I don't know what to do anymore to survive here. Maybe—Maybe I'll go crazy and—"

"Freen, stop," Becca interrupted quickly, managing to get Freen to stop what she was saying and cover her mouth. "I believe you can do everything you set out to do, except for this one. It's too dangerous and one hundred percent could backfire on both of us, and Mind too, of course. If this is uncovered, it could make your reputation even worse considering you also have a hidden criminal record at your old place of service. So in order to protect each one of us, you don't need to plan such crazy things and return to the path you chose before. Freen, you should know that there's never really been a safest way to do this."

"Rebecca... I'm sorry. I just didn't want them to hurt you, I didn't want anyone to hurt you again. You don't understand, they could be the meanest people you've ever known. You... you should only trust me, you understand? Only me who can protect you at a time like this, I'm the only one who could help you right now. So please, believe in me."

"I know, Freen. I will."

"Then what do you want me to do for you?"

"Do whatever you can, Freen. I trust you."

Why are you so kind? Freen spoke to herself without taking her eyes off the short-haired woman who was bowing her head before her eyes. She marked every wound on the face, neck, hands, up to the head. You shouldn't act like this to someone like me. Is it because you've completely given up?