Her apartment had become a crime scene.
They stepped out of the elevator but came to an immediate stop at the sight.
In front of her door was a small pool of blood that had now dried up. It didn't need to be asked to know whose blood it belonged to. There were yellow police tape cordoning off access to prevent contamination. The mere sight of the red liquid made Kyunghee sick as she instinctively tightened her grasp on Mihwa's hand. The sight of blood was disconcerting and chilling to the bones.
From her peripheral vision, Kyunghee detected Jintae's movement as he walked around her and the granny, taking the lead in their stead. Pushing away the nauseating feeling, Kyunghee followed Jintae into her apartment.
There was another male uniform officer in her apartment alongside a female crime scene examiner. While the uniform officer was inspecting the apartment for any potential damages or clues left behind by the perpetrator, the forensic examiner was taking pictures for evidence. The officer looked up when they arrived. It took but a minute for their attention to be completely absorbed by Jintae's presence instead.
"Detective Choi!" The uniform officer breathed in amazement. His reaction was exactly the same as the other uniform officer downstairs. They were definitely partners. Kyunghee and Mihwa were relegated to the sideline like flies on the wall.
"It's really you. I can't believe I actually get to meet one of the legends of the police force," said the uniform officer, looking star-struck.
Kyunghee and Mihwa watched in bewilderment and amusement, wondering the same thing. What kind of legend were these patrol officers talking about?
"I've heard so much about you, Detective Choi. It's such an honor to meet you tonight." The female forensic examiner was a lot more composed than the uniform officer, but the admiration in her eyes was clear as a midsummer's night. Kyunghee quietly assessed Jintae. Never in a million years would she have guessed that he was some sort of an idol equivalent in the police force. The thought itself was unimaginable to begin with.
Either Jintae was oblivious to the sparkles in their eyes or he didn't care. "Fill me in what happened," he curtly instructed.
The uniform officer saluted as he recited enthusiastically, "At 7:35 PM tonight, dispatch received a 119 call from Mrs. Jung Chaerim hysterically reporting that her husband, Mr. Jung Minjoon, was stabbed and needed emergency help. My partner and I were closest to the scene so we arrived here stat, at 7:48 PM. Ambulance arrived shortly after and took the couple to the hospital. Forensics came at 8:05 PM to collect evidence. There doesn't seem to be much damages in the apartment. It doesn't really look like a break-and-enter, but we're not sure of the owner's belongings, whether anything of value is missing. The forensics team are collecting prints and running tests for protocol. We surmised that the culprit was leaving and ran into Mr. Jung, and that's when the stabbing occurred. We tried calling the owner of this apartment unit but we haven't been able to reach anyone."
Kyunghee pulled out her phone only to realize that it had died because she hadn't charged the battery yesterday. "Hi, I'm Ahn Kyunghee. I'm the one who lives here. Sorry, it looks like my phone died so I couldn't receive any calls."
The officer's eyes fell on Kyunghee, noticing her for the first time belatedly. "Ms. Ahn, I'm Officer Ha. Like I said earlier, we're just taking some photos and collecting some prints. You might want to take a look at your belongings and see if anything of value was stolen."
"Thank you. I'll go check." Kyunghee nodded, heading straight for her bedroom.
It was a tiny one bedroom apartment, so everything could be inventoried by just one look. She didn't have a lot of personal items either, especially ones that were valuable enough to be robbed but it was worth it to check. Inside her bedroom, she opened her closet where a small security vault was hidden.
The vault was not broken into, but it looked like it had been attempted. Hurriedly, she entered the password and opened the vault. She ruffled through the important documents like birth certificate, government identification, bank savings and some personal memorabilia. There was a red velvet box, which she grabbed and opened. The heart-shaped locket necklace was still there. She opened the locket and inside the locket was a picture of her late father holding six months old Kyunghee in his arms, smiling with joy and affection.
She sighed in relief. She pressed a kiss to the locket before placing it back in its safe box. After checking everywhere else, she concluded that nothing had been stolen.
"So was anything stolen?" Jintae asked, stepping into her bedroom boldly.
"Nothing's stolen but…" She glanced at the safety vault. "My security box looked like it was tampered with, though they weren't successful."
"What's in there?" Jintae brisked past and without permission, opened the vault that was still unlocked, taking a quick look inside.
Kyunghee was a little annoyed with his rude action, but gave him the benefit of the doubt of doing his job. There was nothing she had to hide anyway. "Just a few photographs and my government documents. Bank book…but I'm not rich. It wouldn't be worth stealing from."
He closed the vault and turned to her. "You sure nothing's been stolen?"
She nodded. "Nothing of value to me anyway."
"Do you have any idea who might be responsible for this?"
She looked at him, incredulous. His tone was accusatory and it rubbed her the wrong way. "How would I know? I was with you earlier chasing a snatch thief."
"That's not what I meant," Jintae corrected, realizing he might have sounded a bit unsympathetic just now. "Someone broke into your apartment, but didn't steal anything of value. Then they stabbed your neighbor when they were caught escaping. This doesn't sound like a simple case of robbery. Your vault looked like it's been tampered with. Someone broke into your apartment with the intention to find something, which they did not. What are they trying to find?"
"I…I don't know." Kyunghee ran a hand through her hair, frustrated and a little bit scared as she listened to his summary. She surveyed her bedroom again, but there was nothing. She swallowed, crossing her arms over her chest to keep herself warm against the sudden chill down her spine. What could she possibly have that someone would stab someone else to get? She really had no idea.
"The officer outside told me that when they were questioning your neighbor from across the hall, that woman said she saw a strange man in front of your door last week. You weren't home so he left. It was quite late in the night."
Kyunghee blinked in surprise. "My neighbor never mentioned this to me…"
"I doubt she would."
She looked at him, arching a brow, "What do you mean by that?"
"You're not exactly well-liked here, are you?" His uncomfortable truth was not welcomed, causing Kyunghee to frown deeply.
She regarded him aversely. "You're not one for sensitivity, are you, Detective Choi?" Her eyes had turned colder, somehow making him regret his callousness but it was too late to take back. "Yes, my neighbors hate me. Who likes their neighbors anyway?" she said in a raised voice, lifting her chin obstinately, challenging him to say otherwise.
That childish response almost had him laughing, but he didn't, changing the subject instead. "Anyway, you can't stay here tonight. They still have some work to do in the apartment. It probably wouldn't be safe for you either. Do you have somewhere else you can stay?"
The ferocity in her eyes dissipated, replaced by a sense of worry. "No but I'll rent a room at a motel or something." Even if he didn't suggest it, she wouldn't have wanted to sleep in her home tonight either. Not with the pool of blood and the incident being so fresh. It was scary.
"She can stay with me!" Mihwa's voice suddenly popped into the room.
Kyunghee's eyes widened in disbelief, shaking her head adamantly. "No, halmoni, how can I inconvenience you? We just met too. I'll rent a motel."
"So what if we just met? I can't help a person in need? Both of you helped me earlier. This is the least I can do for you." Mihwa walked up to Kyunghee and reached for her hands, clutching it warmly in hers. "It's not an inconvenience, but if you really find it uncomfortable to stay near me, my residence has an empty rooftop apartment. The tenant moved out a month ago. I haven't found anyone to rent it out to, so I've been using it as a storage. You can stay there for the night, or however many nights you want. I'm not in a rush. You'll feel safer with someone close by too." Mihwa smiled kindly, patting the back of Kyunghee's hands affectionately.
"But—" Kyunghee began only to be interrupted.
"It's settled then. Pack up your things. I'll take you to halmoni's place," Jintae decided.
She glowered at him. "Who are you to make decisions for me?"
"He doesn't make decisions for you, but you should at least respect an elder's suggestion right?" Mihwa smartly countered, effectively giving Kyunghee no other choice when she put it that way.
Slowly she nodded her head in agreement. "Okay. Thank you, halmoni." Surprising herself, Kyunghee went in for a grateful hug. Mihwa laughed and patted her back.
A feeling of warmth unfurled in Kyunghee's chest. She knew the elder came up with the suggestion because the old lady was concerned about her wellbeing. How could it be, that in such a short amount of time that they've met, it was like they were each other's kindred spirits? And yet, the woman who carried her in the womb for nine months could so heartlessly abandoned her?
Some things in life were too illogical and unpredictable, beyond the scope of comprehension. Some things in life were merely shaped by destiny.