Love Me If You Dare

Chapter 24

    Even though she knows she won’t get a nice answer out of him, she can’t help but ask : “Did you buy them?”

    And as expected…

    "No." He put down his newspaper : “It just appeared out of thin air.”

    -

    Lisa quickly goes home to freshen up.  When she returns with her luggage, she sees Jimin sitting opposite of Jungkook, eating her share of the dumplings.   

Jimin gives her a cheeky smile.  She pretends not to notice and eats her congee.  

When he finishes eating, he takes out a stack of documents and passes them to Lisa.

    Lisa takes a look : "This is ......"

    Jimin smiles : “Background check by a private detective on all the staff in Customer 3 Division.  Of course, given the short timeframe, these are only preliminary results.  Once I have more details, I’ll update you."

    Lisa looks to Jungkook : “Wow, that’s efficient."

    Jungkook smiles at her.  - Of course that goes without saying.

    ——

Lisa starts reading the documents in the car.  Jimin is driving them to the airport.

    Song Jihyo - Manager.  Career woman.  Divorced. no kids.  Work is life. Picky, Not very good tempered, often complain about residential security guards / cleaning / restaurant services etc etc,  Replaces part time maid every 3-4 months.  She doesn’t like Mina.  Last year, she has twice wanted to transfer her out of the division or fire her, but was unable to do so because of department of labour regulations.

   Lisa now realises Manager Song don’t know of their real identity and purpose in the division. She only think Jungkook and Lisa are related to Chairman and thus given good positions in an elite team. 

    Park Jinyoung - Typical nice guy.  Everyone thinks highly of him, whether they are his coworkers, neighbours, or friends. His wife died two years ago, leaving behind a two year old son. He battled depression for a long time after his wife died.  He devotes all his time to his son.  He spent all his time outside work with him.  Last year, a friend tried to match him with a beautiful young girl.  He refused. 

    Mark Tuan - He is not originally from S city.  Single.  Homosexual.  Likes to frequent gay bars.   No fixed partner.

   Im Nayeon - also from out of town.  She frequent bars too.  Gets on well with foreigners. changes a boyfriend every few months. 

    Suga - fits the impression Lisa has of him - from a rich family, playboy, a well-known client in most of the city’s nightclubs. 

 Bambam - The complete opposite to Suga.  He spends a lot of time looking after his parents, who were both paralysed after their stroke.  A caring and filial son.  

    According to police records and meteorological data, it was raining heavily the whole night.   So there is a possibility a lot of the evidence would have been washed away by the rain.

    Lisa takes out a  pen and paper, and list the room arrangement for the retreat : 

    Room A : Manager Song, Nayeon.

    Room B: Jinyoung.

    Room C: Mark, Suga.

    Room D: Bambam.

    Room e: Mina.

    In the original schedule, Nayeon and Mina should be in the same room.  But because Manager Song and Nayeon were working on a project together, they changed the sleeping arrangements. 

    Suga should have stayed with Bambam, but he and Mark wanted to watch soccer together.

  Based on what they told the police. No one left their room that night. 

    ——

    Lisa thinks for a moment, turns to look at Jungkook.  He’s put on a sleep mask to take a nap. 

    She pokes his arm : "Tell me.  What do you think so far?"

    Jungkook just answers  "I want to sleep. Don’t forget, when you were still sleeping in that unhealthy posture, I had to go downstairs to buy breakfast.” 

 Lisa blushes.  She takes a glance at Jimin. Jimin is still driving, as if he didn’t hear a word they were saying.

    Lisa pretends she didn’t hear those words too, and continues to poke Jungkook : “Just sleep on the plane.   The plane is surrounded by people.  I won’t be able to talk to you freely.  If you don’t teach me, how am I suppose to solve the case myself next time?”

    - Ops.  Next time?…  It’s a slip of the tongue.

   

    Jungkook takes off his sleep mask and smiles to her : “It’s a deal!”

    Lisa : “No no… I’m just using an analogy ......"

He puts on his sleep masks again.

    Then Jimin suddenly speaks : “Lisa,  Do you find it crowded in this car?”

    Jungkook chips in: "What do you mean?"

    Lisa is also a bit puzzled.  Then she sees Jimin putting up three fingers. She suddenly understands why -

   Three is a crowd. He’s like the third person spoiling the privacy of a pair of lovers.

   —--

    Lisa pretends she doesn't understand.  Luckily Jimin has decided not to ridicule her anymore.  He whistles as he continues to drive.  

    Then Jungkook speaks :  “Tell me what are your views first, then I’ll tell you mine.”

    Lisa says: "First of all, the phone that didn’t reach Mina’s mom was during 0:04am.  I suspect that it’s because someone went to see her, so she was interrupted.  But of course, we will need to find out who this person was.  

    Secondly, the blue dress and pearl earrings. There’s no reason why the murderer had to take away these two things, leaving loopholes in the case.  so, something must have happened.  Maybe the dress ripped, or the earrings torn, that the murderer had to take them away in order to avoid exposing signs of struggle.

   Of all the suspects, I think Mark is more likely to be the killer.  Although he is gay, there’s something about him that make me very uncomfortable, even more so than that playboy Suga”

    After she finished, she looks expectantly at Jungkook.

    “Oh great." He nods, “Only one suspect, and it is based on speculation.  Good job"

    Lisa : “...... “  A little disappointed, she asks : “So, what is your conclusion?"

    "Preliminary Conclusions: Suga and Mark, Manager Song and Nayeon, One of these pairs contains a murderer and an accomplice..”