A note from the lover or the killer?

•

"WELL?" Wheein demanded from Hoseok, who had just received the autopsy result of Kim Joohyun's postmortem. 

"Apparently some nut-case added dry lime to her bath salts. It had a nasty reaction with the water, although not a quick one. She must've stepped in the bath without suspecting anything," Hoseok answered, after quickly skimming through the contents. 

Wheein made an irritable noise. Hoseok could empathize, if not sympathize with what she must be thinking. Joohyun was the prime suspect and not just his sister, but many officers involved in the case thought so. However, the sooner they found out who committed the murder, the better. Even though only two weeks had passed since they had taken up the case, Hoseok feared that at the rate they were going, encountering dead ends everywhere, this case might be one of those unsolved cases. He prayed he wouldn't be included as one of the inspectors who let a crime (or two, now) case sit and gather dust for years until the Statute of Limitations was invoked.

"You must admit that it was too slick for Joohyun to be the prime suspect. I know you didn't like her but preferences shouldn't be bias to actual judgement of the matter, Whee-Whee," Hoseok kindly explained. Wheein nodded, still glum. 

"Now what?"

Hoseok turned to the fuming bath-tub in Joohyun's bathroom. 

"We investigate and pick out the suspects," Hoseok sighed, pinching his nose after minutes of brave resistance to the putrid odour. 

*

Taehyung disconnected from the call with Seokjin and rubbed his eyes for some time, unsure how he should take the news. Jungkook, who was seated on the bed, noticed.

"What's up? What did he call you for?"

"Joohyun is dead, Jungkook," Taehyung groaned, settling down next to Jungkook.

"What nonsense! We saw her yesterday, she was well and breathing and just fine-"

"Murder, Jungkook, murder. She was murdered. In her bathtub, at midnight," Taehyung interrupted. He flopped on the bed, attempting to process the situation.

"Why would someone do this?" Jungkook asked incredulously, turning behind to face Taehyung. 

"I wish I knew, Jungkook. I wish I knew," Taehyung shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose.

A moment of silence passed between them. Little did they know that they both shared the same thought:

How lucky were we to not spend the night there?

"She seemed like a nice woman," Jungkook pondered aloud. Taehyung snorted. 

"On the contrary, love, she sounded not so pleasant. In fact, none of them did, not even my dear sister," Taehyung spoke, more to himself than to Jungkook. He then stroked Jungkook's cheek.

"I'm so glad we came back here. Goodness knows what would've happened to us if we stayed back," he said.

Jungkook sat there, looking very puzzled. 

*

Yerim and Hansol sat in the library, both looking very put-out. Yerim was very annoyed with how the unfortunate incident had upset her plans for the day while Hansol was very perturbed with the whole event itself. 

"More tea, darling?" Yerim quizzed, pouring herself another cup. 

"No, thank you," Hansol declined, still lost in his thoughts. 

"How about some scones then, love? With honey or marmalade?" 

Hansol simply jerked his head. Not knowing whether he approved of the idea or not, Yerim decided to spread a scone with honey for him. 

"It's all so irksome, isn't it? What with Joohyun's sudden death - poor dear - and the police swooping here like eagles; all very bad for business. What do you say?" Yerim asked, sipping some tea.

"Yes, it's all very unfortunate business," Hansol replied, not really paying attention to her.

"Although, I do suppose she did deserve to die, didn't she? She was quite the pain in the arse; if I may be permitted to speak ill of the dead. But dear me, even this gruesome a death-" Yerim broke off, realizing the weight and horror of her own statement. 

Touching her forehead, she realized she was sweating.

"I wonder where that Jimin's got to, he really should switch on the air conditioners at this hour, or at least reduce the level of the heat register," Yerim complained, fanning herself.

She rang the bell obnoxiously. A few minutes later, Seungwan appeared at the door. 

"What do you need, miss?"

"Turn off the damn heat register or switch on the cooling vents; I don't know! Where has that blithering fool got to?" Yerim irritably exclaimed. 

"I don't know, miss. We - Mrs. Song and I - were wondering the same yesterday. But yes, I shall switch on the central cooling system for the time being," saying so, Seungwan left. 

"Awfully hot day, right?" Yerim asked, fanning herself more vigorously than before. 

"Yes, very bad day today, Yeri. Poor Joohyun-"

"Oh, for goodness' sake, Hansol! I'm talking about the weather, not that dead viper!"

*

Wheein saw Seungwan head towards the basement and called for her. Seungwan came to her side. 

"What may I help you with, miss?" 

"If you aren't too busy, could you fill me in on last night's events? Just for a background check, for I heard from Mr. Kim Seokjin that there was a dinner party with Mr. Kim Taehyung and Mr. Jeon."

"Of course. However, I do need to switch on the central cooling system since Ms. Kim was pretty impatient about it. Would you mind if I took some time to get back to you?"

"How about I walk with you till there and back? It would save us both some time since there are other things we need to investigate, you see," Wheein suggested and Seungwan nodded. 

They began to proceed towards the basement as the housekeeper opened a door shrouded from plain sight below the staircase. It opened to reveal a couple of steep steps headed down into the rooms below the house. Seungwan switched on the passage lights before beginning to walk downstairs. 

"Watch your step please," she warned, as Wheein began to follow her from behind. 

"Of course. If you could start-"

"Yes, I shall. Fifteen minutes before the scheduled time, Ms. Kim was the first to arrive in the dining room, followed closely by Mr. Kim, who is always early. Then, Mr. Kim Taehyung and his husband arrived on time. Mr. Chwe was fifteen minutes late for dinner, when everyone else was beginning the first course. Mrs. Kim arrived last, with a few minutes' difference from Mr. Chwe. It was a pleasant affair, I gather," Seungwan rattled off, hitching up the hem of her dress as she walked. 

"Very well. Did you, by any chance, spot anything unusual, before or after the meal?" Wheein asked.

They reached the end of the stairs. Seungwan halted in her tracks. 

"As a matter of fact, I did. Two things, to be very precise," she recalled. 

"Really?" Wheein asked, removing her notepad and pen from her pocket. They resumed walking. 

"Yes, the first thing was that Park Jimin, our manservant, didn't turn up to serve the dishes for the meal. Mrs. Song and I had to do it in his absence. He was present when we were arranging the décor and presentation in the room."

"Alright, this was at what time ...?" Wheein asked, jotting down all that she had heard. 

"At seven o'clock, to be precise. Five past seven, latest."

"Noted. And the second unusual thing?"

"I may have hallucinated from all the stress," Seungwan began, which didn't seem very likely to Wheein; the woman was incredibly cool and level-headed even in the face of present circumstances. 

"I think I saw someone outside the house, in the lawns. Someone retreating into the shadows. This was twenty minutes before the meal."

"I see," Wheein spoke her brother's favorite phrase. She now knew why he used it so much.

*

"Park Jimin's missing," Wheein announced as she entered Joohyun's room again. 

Bewildered, Hoseok excused himself from the remaining officers and took Wheein aside.

"Are you sure? Completely sure?" 

"Absolutely. No one has seen him since yesterday evening and today afternoon. It isn't his day off.  Nobody in the servants' quarter saw him enter his room last night, either. I asked everyone in the house," Wheein confirmed, lowering her voice to the same volume as Hoseok's.

He was troubled, deeply so. She noticed this.

"What's with the frown?" 

"This is the last straw. First, the note-" 

"What note?" Wheein asked, thoroughly confused. Had she missed something that everyone else had? 

Hoseok didn't say anything. Rather, he led her back to the bathroom. Their gloved hands instantly rose to their faces to cover their noses and mouth. The foul smell still lingered in the air, but the police couldn't do much to get rid of it, save for opening a window, under the fear of losing evidence. 

Hoseok beckoned to Jaewook, the officer who had gathered the samples of food from the tea-party that had killed Kim Namjoon, to come. When he did, Hoseok asked:

"The note, please," he demanded. Jaewook silently thrust a clear, sealed bag into his hands.

Hoseok gingerly removed the yellow sticky-note from the bag and held it up so that Wheein could see what it revealed. 

A lipstick mark, imprinting what looked like a puckered mouth and of the darkest hue of red was stamped on its surface. Wheein looked up, quizzical. 

"We found this stuck on Joohyun's bathtub. It was on the side that wasn't facing the door, otherwise I'm sure Seokjin and the others would have spotted it," Hoseok explained, pointing at a spot on the tub that was towards the head. 

"What does it mean? What should it mean?" Wheein asked, frustrated. 

"I don't know! I wish I did, I wish I knew who ..."

"Was it her lover or her killer?" Jaewook suddenly spoke. 

Wheein and Hoseok looked at Jaewook as if it was the first time they had seen him. 

"That might be a good point, but-" Hoseok began, but Wheein stopped him.

"Or was her lover her killer?" Wheein put forth. Jaewook let out a small exclamation of agreement. 

Hoseok shook his head. No, the killer couldn't be so dramatic. Not at all, unless ...

•

1,695.

•