The spinster speaks

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HOSEOK shuffled through Jimin's wardrobe while Wheein searched among his other possessions. Even though their subordinates had done a thorough search, the siblings wanted to ensure that it wasn't futile and see for themselves if any details as such had been missed.

Though they had the chance to sleep over the matter, they still felt horrible and guilty. Professionals they may be, they couldn't let go of the fact that two murders had happened on their watch. Although little to nothing could be unearthed from Joohyun's murder scene, they secretly hoped that they could find something to sink their teeth in Jimin's room at least.

Hoseok gathered that Jimin had a rather refined taste in clothes, although it was obvious that the clothes were purchased in a second-hand shop, save for his uniform. He liked having his nails perfectly trimmed, judging from the many nail-pairings in the waste-paper basket. He remembered their disappointment when they realized Jimin had cut his nails so close to his skin, they might have been part of it; which was a shame, since there was bound to be some DNA from his murderer in his nails, due to the common knowledge that he might've scratched him in his attempt to escape from strangulation.

Wheein observed from her search in the manservant's drawer that he enjoyed collecting articles about modern-day discoveries like truth drugs, hybrid serums, etc. and had a postcard from Jeju Island (with a picture of a beach) by someone named Juri who had written just three sentences:

'Missing you, darling. Remember our date. Lots of love, Juri.'

"I think we ought to send someone down to Jeju Island and find out who this Juri is," she said and showed the postcard to her brother.

He nodded. "Yes, we tried looking for his phone but it wasn't on his person. And we can't track it either, so I suppose our psycho must've destroyed the SIM card and discarded the phone. Looks like we have a lead, eh?"

"Kind of, that's what the other officers were also saying," Wheein sighed. "It's just something that proves their point. Nothing new."

"Don't lose heart, at least we know that Park Jimin liked to maintain himself. There's a whole skin routine pasted in his bathroom. It's worth mentioning how well-kept his clothes are too. He keeps up with the trend well, too. Quite the fashionable and chic man," Hoseok consoled.

"How's that in any way, helpful?"

"Well, for instance, I do know people who like maintaining themselves - and they're all in the entertainment industry or high school."

"Aren't you stereotyping that? I've seen you take your own sweet time while getting ready for work. And let's not begin with that skin routine you absolutely refuse to share with me-"

"I just like having a healthy-looking visage and I find nothing wrong with that. But the amount of maintenance that Jimin puts in having a well-kept, uh, everything, is obsessive to the point it's scary. Who labels which cologne to wear for each day of the week? And the categorically sorted clothes, to boot ," he pointed out.

"Do not deny you also do that, Hoseok," his sister warned, reminding him all too well of a small tantrum he had thrown when she had misplaced his socks and put them amongst the winter wear. 

"I mean, there's nothing wrong with that," he said, quickly changing his stance. He deflected the topic to the postcard.

"Given from what little we've gathered, I think Jimin's pretty whipped for this Juri girl. When we interviewed Mrs. Song, she said that he kept fidgeting with his clothes and shoes, trying to keep them as clean as possible on the day he went missing. Clearly it was a special day and he was going to meet up with this Juri, whoever she may be."

"In a love hotel, by any chance?" Wheein remarked slyly.

"Yes, most probably," he said, ignoring her tone. "Could you take this postcard downstairs and ask the other officers to dig up Juri's address and other details? Like her surname, her identity, her picture, anything that can help trace her down. I feel like she might be able to lead us to the murderer."

"Or, she might be the murderer?" Wheein put forth. Hoseok shot her a quizzical look.

"Yes, I'm trying to think that it might be someone outside the Kims. It wouldn't hurt to theorize that, would it?"

"You're right," he nodded. "Keep theorizing then. Let me know if you come up with something tangible enough to grasp."

"Are you mocking me?" Wheein asked, offended. Hoseok smirked.

"Of course I am. Now go along, do the work assigned to you."

*

"May I come in?" Hoseok asked as he peeked in the room. Yoongi looked up from his book and motioned him to join him.

Hoseok entered the room and sat himself down on the chair opposite Yoongi's rocking one.

"Yesterday, you told my sister that the manservant may have something to do with the murders that have been happening in the house," Hoseok began.

"'inted, not told. I would like not to be murdered before my time has come, so kindly be careful o' what ye say, lest the next body ye want to see should be me own," Yoongi grunted.

"I apologize," Hoseok quickly said. "Well, we found his body yesterday night. And we've not left the house since so I assume you don't know-"

"Tha' Song woman is loud as fuck so I know. She kep' wailin' when she came to serve me breakfas' abou' 'ow young the fella was. So I guessed that it might've been 'im before asking 'er and lo! She confirmed tha' it was 'is body you people found," Yoongi mumbled and loudly opened a newspaper to read the headlines.

""Triple Murder at the 'Ouse of Kim', doesn't look too good, eh?" He commented as he read the top headline.

Hoseok didn't reply. However, as if Yoongi could read his mind, a consolation flew out of the old man's mouth.

"It's alrigh', 'ow were you supposed to know, eh? It ain't your fault, laddie."

How tired he was of hearing those words, Hoseok thought. Sweet words to help mask his failure, to lessen the guilt he felt. Little did they know, all those words did was make him feel worse. Perhaps, that was why he was forced to hear them, to swallow them up as bitter pills for his mistake; as if he had eaten spoiled food and was now suffering the consequences.

"Don' beat yerself for a simple mistake, my boy," Yoongi interrupted his thoughts.

Hoseok met his eyes. They were filled, not with sympathy but empathy.

"What's 'appened 'as 'appened and there's nothin' you can do except send the guilty one to prison. Your job isn' jus' to prevent crime, it's also to punish those who 'ave committed those and deliver justice. To make sure tha' there's some comfor' for the family of the dead boy."

"He was an orphan," Hoseok murmured. "That's what we found in his records."

Yoongi pursed his lips and Hoseok tore his eyes away from him, fearing pity. The last thing he wanted to see was pity for the dead man, or for himself, for that matter.

"All the more necessary to find out who the killer is, since there won' be anyone to grieve for 'im. Well, what could I do to help?"

"For starters, anything you could tell me about the murders in general. Anything that could help. Or even the background of the murders."

Yoongi hummed. "Namjoon could be killed by anyone; 'e lived an evil life and serve 'im righ' 'e died the way 'e did. Joohyun; perhaps for somethin' as sinister. She worked in a talkin' bar, did you know? Filthy, tainted places; those and the love ho's and the hostess bars. The disgusting rat met 'er there and they flirted and drank (as part of 'er service) and she seduced 'im like the gold digger she was. Of course, everyone ignored tha' because-"

Yoongi stopped himself in the middle, hesitating. Hoseok leaned forward.

"Go on. This is strictly off the record. I won't name you as my source if I must use this information," he offered. Taking the bait, Yoongi continued.

"It was around the same time tha' Tae's sexuality was thrown into the open. And what a stir it caused! The ol' fart was furious, of course. Lookie 'ere, I don' support Tae's behaviour, either - visitin' gay bars and all. Nonetheless, 'is being able to swing the other way shouldn't have been a reason behind 'is 'arsh treatment. How vividly I remember tha' day," Yoongi broke off, sighing as he reminisced.

Hoseok didn't interrupt him and the man continued after a brief pause.

"'E was dragged in the 'ouse by 'is ears and 'is shrieks were so loud I swear it would've made Yoonji turn in 'er grave. Even though Jin and Yeri pleaded for Namjoon to relent, tha' devil wouldn't stop thrashin' my nephew. 'e even went as far as to -" Yoongi stopped yet again, his eyes misting over.

"It is a terrible, terrible memory. We all try desperately to put it behind our backs; try to move on from it. I heard from Yeri tha' Jin was the one who ratted 'im out. Now tha' I think abou' it, it does seem likely that 'e would pull a low move like tha', being so ambitious to the point 'e would get rid of 'is own. Well, I'm glad tha' 'e didn't have any Min blood in 'im. Pity, 'e always seemed like such a good boy."

"Thank you for the information, Mr. Min," Hoseok began but Yoongi stopped him.

"Nah, my dear boy, I ain't done. I still have more," he said, followed by a dry cough from talking so much.

"Go on," Hoseok urged and sat down again.

"Now, I 'ope you and tha' shrewd sister of yours are looking at the money angle of it all?"

"We are," Hoseok confirmed.

"Dig up all you can abou' Joohyun's will, if she had one. And 'er past. Or even Jimin's past. I'm sure those will help you a lot in tryin' to connect the dots. Motive isn' the difficulty here and the sooner you find it, the better. Look for a pattern in the murders. You do know tha' these are all connected, yes?"

"Well, yes but also not really-"

"Doesn' matter, you will find out soon enough. Act quick because time is of the essence. I fear tha' once the funeral is over, it will be too late."

"Too late for what?"

"I don' know either; since it's jus' a hunch. Bu' I believe tha' once the funeral is over, it will be too late to make amends. That's it, my mouth's sealed now. Bu' I don' think it will make too much of a difference. After all, oo's goin' to believe an ol', senile man?" Yoongi grinned widely, revealing two missing teeth.

Hoseok suppressed a smile. 

"Is that all, Mr. Min?"

"I believe so. Rather dramatic murders, eh? Righ' outta a book, I believe," he chuckled.

Hoseok slowly lifted his eyes from his notepad.

"Pardon?"

"I said, righ' outta a book. I mean, look at 'em - the body in the library, the body in the bathtub and the body in the bushes. Although the latter isn' very popular-"

"Mr. Min, I think you've just pointed out the pattern," Hoseok exclaimed incredulously. Yoongi's eyes widened.

"Did I? But 'ow-"

"Doesn't matter. Thank you for all the help, truly," Hoseok hurriedly said and took his leave. Adrenalin pumping in his veins, the clockworks of his mind had begun to turn and now, he could finally be called Jung Wheein's brother. Now, he was - as Wheein liked to phrase it - onto something.

Yoongi kept staring at the door even after the Inspector left.

"Oh well, a poke in the right direction - a poke in the right path," he mumbled and went back to his newspaper.

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