19
The Snitch, the Maiden, the Lover and the Forgotten
•
WHEEIN and Hoseok received permission from the camp manager to tour the place, after taking a closer look into the records. Introducing himself as Lee Seokmin, he offered to be their guide.
"We are like the McDonalds of treks and camps; we have our centers everywhere. Although we mainly specialize teenagers, we do offer many tours and travels for young adults, even in Jeju Island. The one you spoke to me about on the phone has its camping grounds a fair distance from here. The young folk set up camp there with the instructors and volunteers and take part in various activities throughout the day. There are two to a tent and we take in batches of thirty at a time, with at least four instructors per batch. We have adventure camps, wildlife camps-"
"Thank you, Mr. Lee," Hoseok cut in, putting a lid on the manager's endless speech. "I'm sure we'll be fine on our own. Do you have luxury tours, too?"
Seokmin was a little miffed but he supplied them with an answer pat.
"Yes, we do. We call them Coffee Tours, tours where you can skip out on activities and sip a cup of coffee instead-"
"Thank you, I would like to see the list of the people who enrolled in it for the same month as well," Hoseok said, stopping the flow of Seokmin again.
Seokmin's practised smile fell a little but being the excellent sport that he was, he regained it just as quickly.
"This way, please."
*
Before Seokmin left the musty office (which was his own) to the Jung siblings, he removed a stack of folders and record-keeping books.
"These are the files which contain the information you need," he said, smiling.
The siblings bowed in gratitude and after responding to them accordingly, he exited.
Wheein immediately started drenching her brother with questions.
"Why did you ask about luxury tours? Do you know something I don't? If so, why didn't you tell me before?"
Hoseok sighed. "Take a breath and let me fill you in. I got a text from Jaewook when we entered the premises. Here it is," he said, while showing his phone screen to Wheein.
Wheein glanced at it and in an instant, her expression shifted from dubiety to certainty.
"I asked for luxury tours since that seemed more befitting. I suppose Juri wouldn't like mixing in with commoners, would she?" Hoseok sneered.
"Guess we just need confirmation, huh?" Wheein said, raising her eyes from his phone.
"Yes," Hoseok nodded, smiling a lipless smile.
They each opened a register; the sister the luxury tour's one from four months ago while the brother flipped open the adventure camp that Park Jimin had attended four months ago.
They ran down a finger along the list of the names and when their fingers landed on the names they were looking for.
"Park Jimin," Hoseok breathed.
"Kim Juri," Wheein whispered.
They looked at each other, their eyes glittering with triumph.
*
"I hope you found what you wanted to find," Seokmin said, as they emerged from his office. He was seated on one of the plastic chairs that one usually found in corridors.
"I read about what happened to Jimin; very tragic news indeed. He was a very sweet boy; got along with us volunteers very well - even the one female instructor we had."
"I'm glad you think so," Hoseok sighed. "It's very grim work, getting to the bottom of these murders."
"It's a wicked world," Seokmin shrugged. "Someone really, really crazy must've done him in."
"The world is a chaos," Wheein said. "It's like a salad, mixed with people as ingredients, which can be anything from a crispy crouton to a rotten apple slice. Sometimes, you find fresh lettuce that alleviates your taste buds or you find a poisonous mushroom mixed in by chance."
"That's quite profound," Seokmin smiled. "What do you think you have got on your plate, judging from the scenario?"
"A rotten apple, most presumably," Wheein exhaled.
"The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree," Hoseok pointed out. Wheein shook her head, chuckling in response.
Seokmin frowned. "I'm afraid I don't really get what you meant, Inspector Jung."
Wheein laughed. "It's an inside joke, Mr. Lee. We don't expect you to."
Unfortunately, she wasn't quite paying attention to her step and tripped over a slightly raised fold of the carpeted floor, causing her open purse to tumble on it, scattering its belongings in every direction. A few papers, photographs, a tube of lipstick, a tampon, a pocket deodorant, pepper spray among a few other things out of her purse, fell on the floor.
"Oh!" Wheein exclaimed, scampering about to collect the items.
Hoseok and Seokmin began to help her. Seokmin halted when he chanced a glance at one of the photographs, which were of the members of the House of Kim.
"May I ask where you got this?" He asked.
Wheein turned behind and stopped in her tracks when she saw the photograph.
"Do you know the person photographed in it?" She carefully asked.
Seokmin took a longer look at the photograph and finally, shook his head. "I'm afraid not. It just looked very similar to a face I might have seen checking in here. I was mostly in charge of adventure camps, so it might be someone from another camp altogether. I almost mistook it for someone else," he chuckled.
"Funny you say that," Wheein said, unsmiling. She looked at Hoseok, who was frozen as he held a picture of Kim Taehyung and Bae Joohyun in his hands.
He handed the photograph back to her, oblivious to the siblings' shocked expressions.
"Quite the looker," he smiled. "Wouldn't you say so, miss? You would know better, being a woman."
"I-I think so," Wheein said, not really paying attention to him.
She exchanged one more glance with her brother and her heart sank when she saw his expression. She knew they were going split ends with this case.
After the trip to the camp office, Wheein and Hoseok didn't speak too much. In fact, they didn't speak to each other until the next day, when they were on the plane back to Seoul.
"So," Hoseok said. It felt like he had unstuck his throat after a really long time. "We really might be right, this time."
"Yes," Wheein said, tearing open a bag of peanuts.
She offered some to him. He willingly obliged.
"We might be wrong too," he reminded but he seemed unsure about that.
"We might be wrong," she repeated but she didn't seem like she wanted to contradict it.
A long moment of silence, not unlike their breakfast at the hotel, passed between them.
"Can I say something? I really think we ought to check the facts once more. Maybe we're jumping the gun here," she finally said.
"What do you mean?" Hoseok asked, knowing fully well what she meant.
Wheein made an impatient noise. "I know you Hoseok. I know exactly what you want to do the minute we land. You're thinking of making a big move in the hopes of speeding things up. I have a bad feeling that it might slow things down."
Hoseok snapped. "Wheein, this is the closest we have got so far in this case. We have a possible suspect, with some pretty hard evidence. This isn't like the time with Joohyun. If this is about playing biases I have to assure you-"
"Oh bullshit!" Wheein cried. "I don't think you're a chauvinist, not even one bit! However, I do think we still need some more hardcore evidence. I think we should have shown Seokmin all the photos-"
"And what would that prove?"
"That maybe you are wrong!" Wheein hissed. "Also, I do think we should check out some other places, like the bar where Joohyun worked or-"
"You dug up about that?" Hoseok said in disbelief. "Of all the things, Joohyun's ex-workplace? She worked there a long time back! What information could you get from there, other than confirmation that she worked there and Namjoon met her there?"
"We checked where Jimin went camping-"
"Because that took place four months before the murders! Joohyun was a bar hostess years ago! That would make the camping trip more significant, right?"
"I'm not saying it's not significant. I agree that Kim Juri was worth digging into but so is Bae Joohyun before she became Kim Joohyun," Wheein hissed.
An uneasy flight attendant sashayed her way to them. "Excuse me, sir and madam, but could you kindly lower your voices? The other passengers are complaining."
They muttered a hasty apology. After she left, they glared daggers at each other.
"I assume you won't be going directly to the station," Hoseok said through gritted teeth.
"I assume you will be crashing a funeral," Wheein shot back.
Hoseok broke eye-contact and began to read the safety manual. Wheein rolled her eyes and stuck her headphones and returned to her book. The peanut satchel remained awkwardly on the armrest between them.
*
The funeral of Kim Namjoon and Kim Joohyun was a solemn, modest affair. Only the closest family attended, given the widespread news coverage of the murders which left many relatives turning in various excuses to skip on the event. Those among the family who attended it were Namjoon's children, his nephew, his son-in-law and his brothers-in-law. Even the staff - Ms. Son, Ms. Kang and Mrs. Son - came to pay their respects to the deceased.
A tight ring of security surrounded the premises, outside which was a tightly-knit crowd of reporters, all-willing to grab a snap of the grieving relatives.
After the ceremony, Ms. Kang and Mrs. Son exchanged some words of comfort with Yerim, who looked better than she did after the revelation of Hansol's infidelity. Yoongi, who was seated next to Jungkook, commented:
"I'm worried about them."
Jungkook turned, startled. He didn't expect that the standoffish uncle of his spouse would even come to the funeral, let alone strike a conversation with him. He had, after all, made it clear that he had no sympathy for either of the people being buried.
"Who-"
"Was it the snitch, the maiden, the lover or the forgotten?"
Jungkook wondered if the man had gone off his rocker and chose not to reply.
Meanwhile, Taehyung and Seokjin stood awkwardly next to each other.
"I apologize for the other day," Taehyung mumbled. "My behavior was uncalled for."
"It's alright," Seokjin replied. "We could divide up the shares whenever you wish to schedule a meeting. I could, er, take the gilt-edged side while you have the "speculative" edge of things."
Taehyung laughed. "You have a timing for a sense of humor."
"What better than a funeral?" Seokjin said with a straight face.
Smiling, Taehyung was about to make a suitable remark when Seokjin's father came into their midst.
"It's lovely seeing you, Taehyung. I suppose you came here to pay your respects. That's very kind of you, seeing how you got the short end of the stick."
"I wouldn't phrase it that way, Uncle," Taehyung said pleasantly. "I came since he called for me."
Namjoon's brother-in-law frowned at the odd terminology. Pressing the bridge of his nose, Seokjin cleared things up by saying:
"He means that Uncle sent a letter, sending for him."
"Namjoon?" Mr. Kim asked, very surprised.
"Why wouldn't he send for his own son, sire?" Taehyung put forth, playfully. Seokjin glowered at him.
Thankfully, Yerim loudly exclaimed: "I think we should head back home, now. What do you say, boys?"
"That's a splendid idea, Yeri," Jungkook said, smiling to see her more chirpy than before (even if the timing was rather ironic).
"Bes' idea o' this accursed day. Besides, I'm starvin'," Yoongi droned.
Mrs. Song exchanged a look with Seungwan who took matters into her hand.
"It will be teatime soon. We don't have any sandwiches cut but if we could expect some patience, we could quickly knock something up," she said.
"A prime idea," Seokjin agreed. "Let's get going, then."
*
As they stepped out of their cars, Seokjin took Yerim aside. The others made their way towards the mansion, with Jungkook and Taehyung in the lead.
"I haven't kept up with your state as I should. How are you doing, now?"
"Much better. I spent more time with Jungkook, who's an absolute sweetheart. Taehyung popped in from time to time, too. They helped me cheer up. I'm still a mess but I will get better," Yerim replied. "Thank you for asking. All of this must be taking a toll on you, too."
"Don't mention it. It is indeed very overbearing but I can handle it well," Seokjin confirmed, displaying a rare smile.
As they climbed up the stairs to the door they found the door blocked by a still Jungkook.
"What's wrong?" Seokjin asked.
"Why ... are the police here?" Taehyung said in a strained voice.
Shocked, Seokjin pushed past him. In the middle of the vast drawing room stood Jung Hoseok. He looked oddly lonely without his sister on his side, despite the fairly large squad of policemen.
"Excuse me Inspector, what do you mean by this?" Seokjin asked curtly.
"Oh, we have a lead. A very solid lead, in fact. So solid that we thought we might as well take matters into our hands and make the next move before they make theirs," Hoseok said, removing something from the clear plastic file in his hands. From what the others could see, it contained an air ticket, a form and a postcard.
"What's the commotion?" Yoongi asked, who had come in last.
"Police," whispered a white Yerim.
"Are you insinuating that you have clear evidence of a murderer in our midst?" Taehyung asked aloud.
"Insinuating? No sir, we are here to make an arrest," Hoseok answered.
Yoongi's lip curled.
"Three murders have happened in this place. What you need to know that not just one person was involved in this. It was a puppet show, with a mastermind as its puppeteer," he began.
"Like a classic," Yoongi said.
"Like a classic, indeed. There were two patterns with the murders - one of motives and one of clichés. Let's discuss the known pattern, the one with motive. With Kim Namjoon's death, a sizable chunk of money was to be inherited. Joohyun's would ensure that the firm wouldn't go bankrupt, because this person has a particular fondness for the firm. And Jimin's murder was a murder of safety.
"Now, the pattern that we were all blind to. The crazy, psychotic one. Our murderer couldn't resist, you see. They had to do it the right way, the book way. If you have observed carefully, each murder was a cliché. The first one was the body in the library. The second one was the body in the bath. And the third one was a little-known style; the body in the bushes.
"Well, I'll get to the point. We found this postcard among Park Jimin's belongings," Hoseok said, holding it up for everyone to see.
"It was sent to him by Kim Juri from Jeju Island. Now the details of it aren't very important but based on what we found, it's possible that Kim Juri and Park Jimin met in Jeju Island. Juri convinced him to take up a post here is what we have theorized."
"Why here of all places?" Seokjin sneered.
"To help murder Kim Namjoon and Kim Joohyun, of course."
His answer stunned everyone into silence.
"Park Jimin was the puppet. He put the potassium cyanide in Kim Namjoon's cup of tea and mixed the quick lime in the top half of the bottle of bath salts that killed Kim Joohyun."
"Jimin did that?" Seungwan whispered, horrified.
"He did but he didn't know if they were what they were. He probably caught on to the quick lime and would have ratted out Kim Juri, who had been instructing him to do so. He was badly in love with her and would have done anything for her, even cover up her tracks. But he had to be killed, poor boy, for his guilty behavior had been noticed by some members of the staff and even a family member," Hoseok explained.
"We did some digging by visiting Jeju Island and checking out the camp where Jimin and Juri presumably met. And look what we found," Hoseok said, extracting the registration form he acquired from Seokmin's office from the file.
"This was the registration form filled out by Juri. However, it signed up under the luxury camps instead of the adventure camps, which is where Jimin was. Now, why would she go through this extra measure while looking for a scapegoat to silence when the timing was correct? Perhaps to avoid the authorities. I cannot say for sure.
"But the evidence that stands out the most is that airplane ticket purchased for a trip from Seoul to Jeju Island by Kim Juri. Or should I say, Kim Yerim."
Everyone turned to Yerim, who had turned to stone.
"Now, Ms. Kim, why would you buy a ticket pretending to be Kim Juri? Why would you go to camp to pick out a normal civilian to seduce and to use for your selfish motives under the name Juri?" Hoseok asked, stepping closer to her.
"I-I," fumbled Yerim, sweating more profusely with each step that the Inspector took towards her.
"Was it to avoid suspicion? So that you could inherit a pretty sum and do what you always wanted to: work at the firm that your Father had denied from you? Is that how low you could steep just to get what you want?"
"You are stepping too far, Inspector. I cannot allow you to speak to my sister like that," Seokjin interjected.
"I cannot allow you to get in the way of my work, Mr. Kim. This is my job. I arrest and apprehend the favorite sons of mothers and the beloved wives of men. She may be like a sister to you, but she is under suspicion for orchestrating the murders of two people and murdering one person," Hoseok countered. With a hand motion, he signalled his subordinates to back him up in case anyone decided to interfere.
"Kim Yerim, you are hereby under arrest. You will be detained until proven innocent. You have the right to remain silent," Hoseok said as he took the frozen hands of the youngest Kim and clasped handcuffs on them.
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