Misun
*Around 1 year later*
The boys and I make our way to the precinct from the car park. I see Taehyung yawning as he walked almost half asleep.
‘Someone seems to be still half asleep,’ Namjoon jokes as he pats Taehyung on the back. Taehyung smiles and nods at the same time, making him look rather cute.
‘I am. I mean, aren’t you guys sleepy? We spent at least till midnight up on the roof yesterday and we had to wake up at six this morning for the early meeting,’ he said, mumbling to himself.
‘I wonder what it is. Captain Sejin said the chief is going to be there too,’ Jungkook said as they all looked at me, but I simply shrugged.
‘I’m just as clueless as you are,’ I said as I pushed open the door. The eight of us walked towards the meeting room where the captain and the chief were there along with…was that Taemin?
‘Taemin?’ I asked as he stood up and turned around. He smiled his usual goofy smile as I ran to hug him.
‘Hi baby girl, it’s been a while,’ he said as he hugged me tightly. I heard someone clear their throat and I quickly pulled away as I stood next to him while everyone had their eyes on us.
‘I guess you two know each other,’ the chief said, an amused smirk on his face. I nodded as I sat down next to Taemin, right across the chief.
‘Yeah, um, we’ve known each other for a long time,’ I said, rubbing the back of my neck.
‘I apologize if I seemed unprofessional, but as Misun said, we’ve known each other for years and it’s been a while since I last saw her,’ Taemin said.
‘It’s fine. I wish you got to reunite under better circumstances,’ the chief said, making me look at him.
‘Do we have an arson case?’ I asked and he nodded.
‘Hold up, excuse me for interrupting, but maybe before we start this, your friend can introduce himself,’ Jungkook said, sounding a bit…different.
‘Oh sorry, you’re right,’ Taemin said as he rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled nervously. He still seemed to have that nervous habit. Some things never did change. ‘My name is Lee Taemin. I’m the captain of the 118 fire station,’ he explained as he gave a small bow.
‘Wah that’s awesome,’ Jimin exclaimed, his eyes shining brightly. Everyone seemed intrigued, or almost everyone. Jungkook looked a bit *ed off for some reason or another.
‘I’m happy to see you have continued to scale up. Anyways, Taemin, wait can I call you that or should I be calling you Captain?’ I asked but Taemin was quick to laugh and wave his hands.
‘Never. It will always be Taemin for you,’ he said, still adorning that charming smile of his.
‘Okay, so Taemin, this is my team. You’ve met the Chief and Captain Sejin already. These are Kim Namjoon our chief medical examiner, Jung Hoseok who is our forensic specialist and Min Yoongi who takes care of the cyber aspect,’ I began. All three gave a slight bow of the head.
‘Pleasure to meet you. It’s an honour to meet someone from the fires station,’ Namjoon said.
‘The honour is mine. I’ve heard plenty of good things about this team, not that I am surprised with Misun being team leader,’ Taemin said, causing me to roll my eyes.
‘These are the rest of the team who like me are more on the field. There’s Kim Seokjin who specializes in kidnappings and missing people. Park Jimin and Kim Taehyung who specialize in homicide and Jeon Jungkook who specializes in gangs and narcotics,’ I said.
‘I’m also her partner,’ Jungkook said quickly. Taemin smiled and nodded while I looked at Jungkook. What had crawled up his ass this morning?
‘Now that we got the introductions out of the way, Captain Taemin, care to walk us through what you have,’ the chief said as Taemin nodded.
‘Definitely. So, last week, my team and I intervened on a fire. Unfortunately, the person was trapped and passed away. We ran our investigation and realized that it was an intentional fire but it was clearly someone who knew what they were doing. We related the information the police station already,’ Taemin explained.
‘That’s unfortunate. It’s very scary to die in a fire like that, whether it’s suffocation or being burnt alive,’ Taehyung commented and I nodded in agreement.
‘I agree. Taemin, you said you reported already. I have a feeling there’s more,’ I said as he nodded.
‘Unfortunately, yes. Yesterday we came across another fire and another victim, but the MO was completely the same,’ Taemin explained.
‘*, do you think we’re dealing with a potential serial arsonist?’ Yoongi asked and Taemin shrugged and frowned at the same time.
‘I don’t know for sure but I don’t want to risk anything, so I came here,’ Taemin said.
‘We’re going to be needing to compile everything. Namjoon I want you to coordinate to see the medical examinations and results,’ I began as Namjoon nodded.
‘Got it. Shall I take Yeonjun with me?’ he asked and I nodded.
‘It will be better. Two minds are better than one and besides, he can learn something too. I don’t think he ever dealt with arson cases,’ I said.
‘Hoseok, I want you to take a team and go back to both sides. Coordinate with Taemin’s team and sweep both, see what you get,’ I said.
‘Yes ma’am. I’ll take Beomgyu and Soobin with me too,’ he said as once again I nodded.
‘Yoongi take Huening Kai and Taehyun and go through the records of the two victims. Check for any connections between the two,’ I said.
‘You think they could be related?’ Taemin asked, now seemingly quite serious. I sighed and shrugged.
‘Could be. We might be dealing with two very separate cases or we could be dealing with the same arsonist as you suggested,’ I said.
‘The trick is – if he is the same person, is he targeting his victims or are they random?’ Jungkook piped in.
‘Only one way to find out,’ Taehyung commented. ‘I was thinking, arsonists sometimes like to stick around and see the damage they did. Maybe someone caught in on camera or there were CCTV cameras nearby,’ he added.
‘Good point Taehyung. Yoongi, start compiling any videos or photos on social media. I’ll go through them later myself,’ I said as he nodded.
‘We probably ought to talk to the victims’ families,’ Jungkook said.
‘Taehyung and Jimin, you can interview one family and Jungkook and I will do the other. Jin, I want you to go through the arson cases, see if anything similar pops up,’ I said.
‘Got it,’ Jin said as he gave me a thumbs up, making me smile.
Jungkook
Misun and I were in the same car as I drove towards the first victim’s house, or rather, where his family lived. We were both quiet and I could not help but wonder about a lot of things.
Were these two cases really connected? If so, how? All we knew was that the victims included two very different people so far – a lawyer and some rich young adult boy who lived in the same neighbourhood.
I could not help but also think about earlier. Misun looked so comfortable with that guy. Sure, he was confident and handsome and pretty tall, but he seemed…a little too confident with her.
‘Hey, earth to Kooks. Is everything okay with you? You’ve been acting weird,’ she said. I wanted to internally scream because she had gotten so damned good at reading me like an open book in the past year and a half.
‘Oh everything is fine. I was just thinking about the case. Arson is definitely not one of my favourites,’ I said.
‘Yeah, you could say that again. I was seeing the photos Taemin brought before I left, I honestly felt my stomach churn,’ she said.
‘By the way, how do you and Taemin know each other? You seem pretty close,’ I asked.
‘Oh we are. We used to date in the past,’ she said, making me blink for a moment as I gulped. My throat felt somewhat dry and it was starting to feel pretty stuff inside the car, so I opened the window.
‘Oh I see,’ I said as I took a turn and continued to follow the directions from the GPS.
‘Yeah. We were quite the power couple too, but we both were focusing on our careers, so we called it quits but truly, we ended on really good terms. No one was to blame for our break up because it was mutual,’ she said and I nodded.
‘Oh okay. I thought you seemed a tad too comfy,’ I said.
‘Is that your way of telling me you were jealous?’ she asked, a playful tilt to her note.
‘Me jealous? Not in a million years,’ I said…and definitely not of him – I mentally added.
‘Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night Kooks,’ she said with a giggle. ‘On another note, what do you think about this case?’ she asked and I shrugged.
‘It’s too early to start commenting on it properly, but I guess Taemin brought a valid point with the whole same MO aspect,’ I said.
‘That’s what I thought too. In a way, I hope they’re not connected because it means he or she might not be done,’ she said while I nodded.
‘Yeah I know what you mean. A serial arsonist doesn’t stop,’ I said. ‘We’re here,’ I said as I parked the car. We got out of the car and walked up to the house. I knocked and soon the door opened by a middle aged woman.
She was tall and kept a straight posture. Her hair was in a tight ponytail and expensive jewellery adorned her neck and ears. She was wearing a beautiful suit, almost as if she was ready to go out. She looked us up and down as she folded her arms across her chest.
‘Good morning. I’m Detective Yang and this is Detective Jeon. Are you Mrs. Han?’ Misun asked.
‘I am. Is this about my husband?’ she asked and I nodded.
‘We would like to talk to you about what happened last week,’ I said. She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.
‘I already talked to cops last week. I talked to cops, firefighters, reporters. Do I really have to go through it all over again?’ she asked.
‘I’m sorry ma’am. I know it’s tiring and exhausting, but we do need your help,’ I said.
‘Okay I guess. Come on in,’ she said as she opened the door further. We walked in quietly into what seemed like a very expensive home. Everything was so sparkly clean. She led us to the living room which was beautifully decorated. ‘Please sit,’ she said as she indicated the sofa. Misun and I both sat down next to each other while she sat in front of us.
A young woman came in wearing a maid’s uniform as she gave a slight bow. ‘Ma’am, would you like to bring anything?’ she asked in a quiet voice.
‘Can you bring us some coffee and tea Lily please?’ Mrs. Lee asked. The maid nodded and hurried out of the room. ‘How can I help?’ she asked.
‘Truth is, yesterday there was another fire case which left another victim,’ Misun began. I observed Mrs. Lee who gasped as her eyes went wide before they became teary. ‘It’s too early to tell if they’re connected but we’re redoing the interviews to check for any connections,’ Misun explained.
‘I see. I…I will tell you everything I told the other cops. My husband and I, we share another house, a smaller one, by the beach. It’s sort of our vacation home but besides that, it’s also where my husband goes when he’s really into a case, especially the complicated ones that require a lot of work’ she explained.
‘Understood. He probably goes there to work better,’ I said and she nodded.
‘Helps him concentrate. My husband, he’s always been one for the peace and quiet. We live in the city because of our work. It makes travel more convenient but we go to that house often, sometimes we go every weekend,’ she explained.
‘Who knew about him staying in the other house?’ Misun asked.
‘A number of people. Myself, the staff here, the other lawyers at the firm he works at. My husband,’ she paused as she took a deep breath. Her bottom lip quivered and she was playing with her fingers, chipping away at her nails. ‘He, he likes photography. It’s one of his hobbies along with fishing, so whenever he goes there, he likes to post photos,’ she explained.
‘Hmm so that would be providing information about his whereabouts,’ I commented and she nodded just as the maid walked in with a tray. We stayed quiet as she served and then I reached for the cup of coffee.
‘Anything else ma’am?’ Lily asked but Mrs. Lee shook her head.
‘No dear. You can go until I call you,’ Mrs. Lee said. Lily smiled and nodded, gave another bow and left. I could not help but notice that although Mrs. Lee looked every bit of a rich, sophisticated woman, she was also good mannered and respectful.
‘Ma’am,’ Misun began as she took a deep breath of her own. ‘Do you know of anyone who might want to kill your husband?’ she asked. Mrs. Lee sighed and shrugged.
‘He was a lawyer, a very good one and that meant enemies. He…he protected criminals so a lot of people hated him and other lawyers envied him because he got some of the wealthiest and most influential clients. He was smart, really smart and knew how to use the law to protect even some of the vile ones who didn’t deserve protection,’ she explained.
‘Did you ever receive any threats?’ I asked and she nodded.
‘A lot of times in his career by many different people,’ she admitted and I nodded.
‘This is the other victim,’ Misun said, taking out a photo. The other victim was very different from Mr. Lee. He was young and still studying. At first glance, one would never think there would be a connection.
‘This is Kwan Jaemin. He’s nineteen years old. He was in his studio apartment, not far from the university he studied at,’ I informed her.
Her eyes showed sadness, probably because of his young age. She took the photo and looked at him but shook her head.
‘He doesn’t look familiar, but then again, my husband, he did talk to me about the cases he worked don but he kept the people out of it as much as possible. Never showed photos and rarely mentioned names. Client protection or something like that,’ she explained.
‘Makes sense,’ Misun said. ‘Mrs. Lee, please, if you remember anything else, do call us,’ Misun said.
‘Of course,’ she said as we all stood up. ‘Please do find the person who is doing this. My husband, he might have protected vile people because that was his job, but he was a good man,’ she said.
‘We understand and we will do everything we can to catch this person,’ I said. Misun and I both gave a slight bow and then turned to leave.
We got back into the car and I started to drive back to the precinct. ‘What do you think?’ I asked.
‘She seemed honest enough. We’ll have to wait and see what the others got for us,’ she said and I nodded.
‘Looks like we’ve got a big one on our hands,’ I commented.
‘Looks like it. I just hope and pray no one gets injured,’ she said.
‘Don’t worry, I’ll protect you princess,’ I said with a wink which only made her hit my arm and giggle.
‘Yah! I’m serious Kooks. Don’t be reckless like last time,’ she said. I chuckled, knowing she was referring to that time we were running after a perp. I had jumped after him and twisted my ankle. I kept on running and ended up with a swollen ankle and had to rest at home for a week.
‘I promise I’ll be careful,’ I said, showing her my pinkie finger. She rolled her eyes but presented her own finger and then we touched our thumbs, sealing the promise.