Close To Midnight

Chapter 5

Ten days. Ten days of questioning family, friends, neighbours, painstakingly going through ever single detail with them, cross checking every single detail, looking for things they missed the first time around, and despite all that they were back where they started. No suspects.

"There has been a death every two months." Chaeyoung's eyes were glued to the report in her hand. "If the killers stick to the pattern, and we don't get a single clue, the body count would rise to 8 soon."

Tzuyu leaned against the table next to Chaeyoung's seat. "We need to take a step back and look at the case objectively. Momo why don't you give us a rough case summary?"

"Victim 1. Age 26. Divorced. She was killed in her apartment where she lived alone. No sign of anyone breaking into the house. No signs of sexual assault. Blow to the head. Stabbed to death." Momo read from the case file. Jeongyeon listened carefully, clicking her pen often with a force that produced an audible sound.

Chaeyoung watched her with barely restrained concern. The hot headed detective had forgotten all about sleep in the past ten days. She pulled all-nighters at the precinct, hardly ate, stayed behind everyone verifying report after reports like a madman, and Chaeyoung knew this obsession had led to the downfall of a lot of detectives in the past. It drove few to depression, few to the point of taking their own lives because they couldn't deal with failure.

"Victim 2. Age 25. Killed in her apartment. Single woman. No signs of breaking in. Again no sexual assault. Blow to the head. Stabbed to death." Momo continued reading the report.

"Victim 3. Age 23. Killed in her apartment. Single. Roommate gone on holiday, victim was alone. Murdered in the same pattern." She turned to the next page and paused. "This is where our killers deviate slightly from their pattern. Victim 4. Male. 29. Single. Lived with his mother who was at her daughter's house during the time of the murder. Blow to the head. No signs of breaking in. Stabbed to death."

Jeongyeon waited for her to finish, absorbing every single detail with unwavering attention. "What happened between victim 3 and 4? Why did the killers suddenly change their target gender?"

"I would think at first they targeted what they assumed was the physically weaker sex. Like a test run. With successful murders, their confidence grew." Chaeyoung suggested.

"Their confidence grew so much that instead of a murder every four months, a pattern they stuck to until victim 3, they began to commit one every two months." Momo leaned forward to fold her hands together on the desk before her.

Jeongyeon hummed in response.

"From the patterns of the murder we can arrive at one logical conclusion, the victims knew the killers because there was no sign of breaking in." One corner of Chaeyoung's mouth tugged downwards as she circled something on the casefile in her hand. "Neighbours didn't spot anyone new, CCTV didn't spot any new vehicle in the immediate area. We seem to come to a dead end no matter which direction we head."

"We've brought in every single plumber, electrician, delivery people, anyone who could gain access into the victim's house without raising suspicion, for questioning. No leads whatsoever." Jeongyeon kept her gaze on the report in her hand as Momo continued, eyes flicking over the paper absent mindedly. "It's basically a waiting game now. We sit and wait for the killers to choose their next target and hope that they leave a clue this time around." Momo remarked in a dire tone.

Jeongyeon mulled over the words in her mind. No signs of breaking in. It wasn't possible that every one of the victims knew the killers, but didn't know each other.

Unless, the victims didn't know the killer at all.

No signs of new vehicles. No signs of a new person on the day of the murder.

The day of the murder.

It's basically a waiting game. We sit and wait.

Jeongyeon's eyes widened with realisation.

"Tzuyu make a list of every single criminal in Busan with lock picking skills. And gather CCTV footages from the day before the murder, not the day of the murder." Everyone in the room fell utterly silent, watching her with rapt attention. "The victims didn't know the killers. Nobody saw anyone or anything strange on the day of the murder because-" When three pair of eyes seem to widen with comprehension, she dared to smile for the first time in three weeks.

"The killers picked the locks, broke into the victims' houses before the day of the murder and waited for the right moment for the perfect kill." Chaeyoung breathed out in disbelief.

Jeongyeon's smile widened. They finally had a fucking lead.