"Who the hell is this? Where is your shirt?" Changwoo asked when Yoongi and Namjoon entered the autopsy room. He saw the handcuffs and his eyes widened even further. "What the hell?"
"Long story. You wanted me here so bad, just tell me what's going on." Yoongi muttered. He tried to cross his arms, but the cuff stopped him and he huffed, whipping his head around to glare at Namjoon.
"I'm not giving out classified information in front of a civilian." Changwoo said. He looked to Namjoon. "Who are you and how did this happen?"
Yoongi stepped in front of the stripper before Namjoon could even open his mouth.
"He's not worthy of words, trust me. Jungkook is getting a key, but until then, you can't tell me anything without the kid overhearing, and you seemed really desperate to get me here so just tell me what's going on already."
Namjoon stayed quiet, eager to hear what the illustrious 'I'm never wrong' Min Yoongi had missed.
Changwoo looked displeased, but his urgency to inform Yoongi seemed to override his displeasure at a civilian being in their autopsy room.
Serena lay on the steel table, skin pale and lips colorless.
Namjoon was just glad they had closed her eyes.
James lay on the table next to her, and a medical examiner in a white robe stood in between them, a clipboard in his hands.
"Well, we initially thought cause of death for both victims was blood loss due to being stabbed," the M.E. said, pushing his glasses up his nose. "But after running a toxicology report, we found trace amounts of venesanic in their bloodstreams."
"A potent poison." Changwoo clarified.
The M.E. nodded. "It was only a small amount in each victim, but venesanic is extremely powerful- one drop could kill twenty strong men."
Yoongi frowned. "They were stabbed after they had already been poisoned."
"Yes, it appears whoever knifed then didn't know they were already dead men walking. Or- a dead woman walking." The M.E. clarified.
"So more than one person wanted Serena and James dead." Namjoon mused out loud, and all three heads turned to look at him.
"Seriously, who are you?" Changwoo asked.
Jungkook burst inside the room, panting slightly, with a small silver key in his hand. "Boss- found one!"
"What took you so damn long?" Yoongi snapped, swiping the key from the intern. He quickly unlocked his own cuff, and spun Namjoon around, locking the boys hands together behind his back.
"He's under arrest?" Changwoo blinked.
"Not yet." Yoongi muttered.
"Yoongi kidnapped me!" Namjoon blurted out. "Like, three times!"
"Yoongi!"
"I did not." Yoongi rolled his eyes, pushing Namjoon towards the door. "And he's a prime suspect anyways, of course I'm taking him into custody."
"You took me to your house and tied me up!" Namjoon argued. "You pushed me into the trunk of your car! You tied me to your bed! Not to mention all the time's you've threatened me and pointed a gun at me."
He looked to the supervisor. "Sir, he stole my money too!"
Jungkook and the M.E. stood there in shocked silence, mouths open wide.
"Snitch." Yoongi grumbled.
"Yoongi." Changwoo snapped. "My office. Now."
Yoongi sighed deeply, shoving Namjoon to Jungkook. "Keep an eye on him for me. He's a killer."
Jungkook's eyes were wide as he caught Namjoon.
"No, I'm not." Namjoon told him. "I've never killed anyone and I don't want to."
"But...Yoongi is never wrong." Jungkook looked worried as Yoongi and Changwoo left the room.
Namjoon looked to Serena and James. People he knew. People he saw almost every day. People who had helped him.
Now laying on a cold metal table, poison still in their veins.
"Well, he is this time."
-
"What. The hell. Is going on?" Changwoo growled, leaning against his desk, his arms crossed as Yoongi sat on a chair in front of him.
"Kid's exaggerating." Yoongi rolled his eyes.
"Did you take him to your house instead of bringing him here?"
"Yes."
"Did you tie him up against his will?"
"Only a little."
"Did you put him in the trunk of your car?"
"He wasn't going to suffocate."
"Did you tie him to your bed?"
"I could have made him sleep on the couch, he's lucky I put him on a bed. Besides, he got free anyways."
"Did you steal his money?"
"No."
"No?"
"I'm just holding it for him." Yoongi shrugged.
Changwoo sighed. "Yoongi, what the hell? You know this isn't how we do things, this will make our whole force look bad! What if he sues?"
"He won't."
"How can you be so sure? Who wouldn't want to sue after all that? He would definitely win, you're completely in the wrong here."
"I threatened him enough that he wouldn't dare sue."
Changwoo threw his arms in the air, frustrated as he walked behind his desk and sat down.
Yoongi leaned forward. "Look, he's a killer, I know it."
"How do you know it? Do you have any evidence? He's just a kid! Is he even legal?"
"He's a stripper."
Changwoo blinked. "What's that got to do with anything?"
"He's a stripper at the club where James frequented and Serena worked."
"Okay, and? There's like twenty other workers there too, have you kidnapped them as well?"
"He was James's favorite- the guy never even wanted to see anyone else, only Namjoon. And Serena was more than a coworker, she was his friend. And now they're both dead." Yoongi insisted.
"That connects him to the case as someone we should talk to, yes, but it absolutely doesn't prove he killed them. Why didn't you just question him like normal?" Changwoo sighed.
"There weren't any camera's in the back rooms of the club." Yoongi pressed. "So his alibi that he was at the club the night James was killed can't be proven."
"It also can't be proven that he wasn't there. And there's always a camera at the main stage." Changwoo raised an eyebrow. "He wasn't caught on there the night of the murder?"
"No, he was there. Performing."
Before Changwoo could say all the pissed off words he wanted to say in response to that, Yoongi quickly cut him off.
"But he was performing after James had already been killed! He went up there at one in the morning! A whole hour after the estimated time of death. He could have killed him and then rushed back to the club, and since there's no camera's in the back rooms he could just say he was in one of those up until he went on the stage, and we would never be able to disprove that!"
"That's entirely circumstantial. What about the workers? Did they see him at the club during the time of the murder?" Changwoo asked, impatient.
"They said they saw him throughout the night, but no one could confirm that they saw him between ten and midnight. No one could confirm a time at all."
"Can you confirm what you were doing at an exact time on an exact date sometime in the past?" Changwoo asked. "What were you doing at 6:28 P.M. on April 8th, 2012?"
"That's not-"
"What. Were. You. Doing?"
"Sir, the murder was three days ago, not eleven years. He could remember three days ago very easily."
"You can't answer the question, can you?"
Yoongi ground his teeth together. "I was probably at work."
"Probably or for sure?"
"I-"
"I'm not at all surprised no one could confirm a time," Changwoo stood up. "The average person doesn't check the time before doing daily tasks. The club was busy, people saw him in passing all throughout the night, and there is no evidence to prove he killed anybody or wasn't where he said he was. And yet you somehow decided he was guilty, threw him in the back of your car, brought him to your house instead of a holding cell, and tied him up. Twice." He shook his head in disbelief and faced the detective. "Did you even read him his rights?"
"He wasn't under arrest, it wasn't required." Yoongi said defensively. "And there was a note."
"Note?"
"He came into my office the day after James was killed, and the same day Serena was found dead. He said this note was on her front door. He said it was a warning that she was next to die and that I had to protect her before the killer got to her. It was like 'James had it coming, but you don't. Stay home.' And then less than two hours later, she's dead."
"How does that prove he killed her?"
"Serena was found dead in front of her apartment. On her way to work. She hadn't even gotten to the club before she was stabbed. So how the hell did Namjoon get that note if she didn't hand it to him at work? He said he found the note on her door."
Changwoo went silent, thinking.
"So Namjoon had been there. At her house. He stabbed her and then made that note himself to try to look innocent. He thought if he made it seem like she had been threatened and that he was just trying to help his friend out by bringing an alarming note from the killer to the police would make him look innocent." Yoongi insisted.
"Yoongi-"
"And that's further confirmed by the fact that when I went to the club and said he was under arrest, he immediately said he didn't kill James and Serena." Yoongi cut him off, jumping out of his seat as he leaned in close. "I hadn't said anything about Serena, he should have only known about James."
"So you did place him under arrest, and didn't read him his rights." Changwoo groaned.
"Aren't you listening to me?" Yoongi demanded. "I'm giving you reasons for why I did what I did and yet you're staying wrapped up in the technicalities!"
"Because, Yoongi!" Changwoo snapped, leaping out of his seat as well. "You arrested someone without reading them their Miranda rights! You know what that means as well as I do."
"It just means anything he's said to me can't be used against him in a court of law." Yoongi huffed. "Doesn't matter, he only said that he's innocent."
"And then you proceeded to break all the rules this force has, and then some." Changwoo glared. "What the hell is wrong with you? If you had done things by the book then we would have some progress made. But you went rogue and now all we got is a kid who can legally sue us out of existence, no suspects and two dead bodies. Did you even think at all? Where the hell would a kid get highly potent poison? Off Amazon? And why would he kill his best client and good friend?"
"Sir-"
"James had a lot of enemies in the jewelry field, have you even looked into that at all?"
"No." Yoongi grit out. "But-"
"That's right, because you've spent all your time bullying a kid. And Serena has multiple ex boyfriends who are dangerous, and an ex husband who wanted full custody of their son. You didn't look into them at all either."
"James and Serena were two completely separate people, whose only connection is Namjoon!"
"Namjoon, and everyone else who worked at Kkoim!" Changwoo seethed. "They could also go to the same library, the same grocery store, the same church, take the same train, or have been high school friends. You ignored every other possibility and zeroed in on someone for the sole reason that he brought a note to you. You can't confirm he did anything wrong, and he can confirm that he was at the club when James was killed."
"Sir," Yoongi was struggling not to start shouting. "My intuition is never wrong. Namjoon is a killer."
Changwoo shook his head. "He's not."
"Chang-"
"You're off the case."
Yoongi froze. "What...?"
"As of right now, you're suspended. Hand over your gun and badge."
He held his hand out, but Yoongi couldn't move.
Changwoo glanced up at him and wiggled his fingers.
Yoongi reached to his belt, unclipping his golden badge and removed his gun from its holster. After a pause, he put the items in the mans hand.
"Go home, Yoongi. I'll call you when you can come back."
"And when will that be? After more bodies show up?" Yoongi spat.
"After this all cools down and I manage to convince the kid not to sue us." Changwoo said, putting the items away in a locked drawer. "I don't want you within a hundred feet of Kim Namjoon. Don't attempt to contact him in any way. You hear me? Leave him alone, or you're fired."
He nodded at the door. "Dismissed."
Yoongi forced himself to move, out of the room, down the hall, out into the parking lot, and into his car, where he sat and stared at nothing.