Case 13: The Mystery Depths

Dominic told the detective to get in the car, she can't believe how funny and hilarious Dominic is. There are four years of differences between them. Ironically, he doesn't seem like a grown adult. They talked about various things in the car, mostly Ragnar though. 

He seems to be ecstatic to find a Ragnar fan. Well, truth to be told that game is dead for a while now. Rae finds the way Dominic talks and his unnecessary gestures, to be reminiscent of a hilarious old man. But he's not exactly that childish.

"Mr. Dom, can you drop me at this address?" she shows him the address where Yoo Jae Sung's father was killed.

"I can drop you, but why there?" He asked.

"I have an appointment with someone there, so I have to get going".

"But it's almost late, are you sure?" Dominic asked, concerned.

"Yes, I am sure".

Mr. Dominic stopped his babbling about Ragnar for a moment, he's focusing his eyes on the road as he grows tense. 

"You're so young, and yet you are a police officer," Dominic sighed. 

"It is my choice".

"Is your body alright? Have you ever gotten hurt?".

The questions shocked her a little, There was a hint of concern and sadness in his voice. They just met and yet he expressed his concern openly like that, which made the detective uncomfortable.

"That's a dumb question Mr. Dom, I will always get hurt you know" she crossed both of her hands arrogantly.

"It is my job to get hurt and capture criminals, I am the seeker of truth after all". 

"I don't know, you look like you have trouble keeping your life together".

"Who are you to comment about my life?" Rae replied irked.

"I'm sorry, you just remind me of my older brother who always pushes himself too hard" Mr. Dominic smiled kindly at her.

"Take care".

Just when he said that Rae’s cell phone vibrated. She looks at the caller ID and notices Jae Min’s name pops out on the screen.

She flipped open her glass pane cell phone to answer him.

"Give me good results".

"Ah Ms. Rae, I sprayed some Luminol in the room but I found no traces of blood".

"No traces of blood?" I thought to myself.

"The cause of death is asphyxiation, that explains the mark around his neck".

"Mark? Have you analyzed the rope mark on his neck?".

"Yes, it was caused by a bath towel. We found it in a drainage near the crime scene".

"Alright, find any traces for DNA on that thing, Anything else I need to know?".

"For a bath towel as a weapon, the marks were rather harsh I think? Seems like someone strangled him in extreme force".

"So you're saying there's something to the severity of his neck wound".

"Yep".

The way he phrased it was interesting, Rae has to stop by the crime scene again, and here she promptly picked a good spot for their meetup. Out of the blue, the car stopped abruptly. Her forehead hit the dashboard pretty hard, causing her to glare at Dominic annoyed. 

"Sorry about that, I didn't realize that we'd arrive".

Rae looked outside only to notice that she already arrived at Yoo Jae Sung's father's flat. 

"You're quite late" a familiar voice spoke next to her ear.

There’s a gentle knock on Dominic's car door. She knows the owner of this husky voice, turning around she finds none other than Vicky Wang. 

"Thanks for coming, can you come with me to the crime scene?" Rae opened the windshield. 

Vicky nodded in obedience as Rae got of the car, not to forget to thank Mr. Dominic for his hospitality.

“Ah, if it isn’t Mr. Dominic” Vicky greeted.

“Hello, Mr. Vicky! Is detective Rae happened to be your acquaintance?”.

“Wait, since when have I introduced myself to him?” Rae thought sullenly.

She has always been vague with her introduction to Dominic, However, he’s able to catch on to her identity.

“How did you know?” Rae sharpened her gaze on Dominic.

“What do you mean? We have met before, haven't we?” Dominic spoke confidently. “Unless you have forgotten”.

After that brief explanation, Dominic disappeared along with his car to the crowded streets. 

Vicky eyed the car suspiciously, warily inspecting Dominic's intention. Even Rae noticed Vicky's constant worries when he saw Dominic. He tries to fake it, nevertheless, Rae could sense Vicky's troubles.

"I have the proof that Yoo Jae Sung's father asked for my help to help his son in any way" Vicky shows her an envelope with unfamiliar handwriting scrawled on the paper, addressed to the one and only Vicky Wang.

"Let's go, Vicky".

Both of them enter the flat, they greet the receptionist and head into the elevator, guarded by two standby police officers. Once they reached the designated floor, they soon stepped out of the elevator, nodding at the two police officers posted on either side of the elevator doors. 

The only way to escape is either through the elevator or the emergency staircase. Rae walks to the emergency staircase to test out whether her theory is true. 

Because this is a highly secured flat, it makes it almost impossible to penetrate the building from the outside through the emergency staircase. She exited the hallway to the emergency staircase and asked Vicky for the closest emergency door. 

On the other side of the emergency door, she tries to push the door and finds herself at a dead end. 

She can't push or pull the heavy door. She knocks on the door to signal for Vicky to open up from the inside and then she walks back in. 

"Hey what time is it?" she asks the player next to her, worried about the looming darkness in the sky.

"Seven".

"Alright then, let's make this quick".

As expected, the police are against Vicky entering the crime scene when they’re about to enter. Vicky with an air of confidence shows the police proof of Yoo Jae Sung's father's request to him.

They seem somewhat confused so Rae cuts to the chase.

"He's under my responsibility, he may observe the crime scene but I won't let him tamper with anything".

After she made that comment the police saluted them and stepped aside for them to enter.

"As your command, detective!".

They enter the room peacefully and she immediately turned on the lamp. There are police lines around the crime scene along with white lines and some numbered yellow strips of cardboard placed on the floor. 

Thankfully enough, Jae Min sent the pictures of the crime scene to her in time, allowing her to compare the photos and the actual layout of the crime scene. The silence between them is almost dreadful, but not long after Vicky breaks the silence.

"That's cold of you," Vicky said sadly. “You’re not talking to me at all”.

"I could say the same thing about you. By the way, you're on the list of suspects for this case," Rae replied to him annoyed. "Your relation to both Yoo Jae Sung and his father is questionable. I will assign Jae Min to interrogate you tomorrow".

"Why not you?".

"My interrogation might be biased due to our close relationship, I will give the authority to interrogate you to someone else who doesn't know you," Rae answered indifferently.

"Wise choice" he replied, flattering her.

"Your flattery does not affect me, we need to focus on analyzing the crime scene."

Rae tells Vicky to keep his eyes open for evidence that might be important to the case. If he finds anything, he has to call me to inspect it. 

"Why don't you inspect the evidence earlier when it's STILL THERE?" Vicky emphasized.

"I was too lazy to see the Inspector so I escaped".

"You're something else" Vicky shakes his head brooding at her whimsical attitude.

She searches every nook and cranny in the room while keeping a watch on Vicky's movement. 

She quickly noticed a small yellow fabric on the clean floor, did the crew miss this evidence?

"I found a yellow fabric".

"Cool I found something too" Vicky replied from the far end of the living room.

Rae walks over to where he is and finds Vicky waving at her with a smug look.

"So what is it?" she asks him.

"Follow me" He dragged her inside a room next to the bathroom. From the layout and the interior of the room, it appears to be a storage room. The room is a little bit dusty but breathable. 

Vicky dragged her to the end of the room and found a rather spacey corner near the wardrobe and bookcases that are lined up perfectly against the wall. 

The meticulous man pointed to the scratch marks on the floor. They looked like a door scratch mark from being used multiple times.

"There's a secret door?".

"Probably" Vicky answers uncertainly.

"If it is the case then there should be a hidden button." she rubbed her chin.

"Let's look for it then"

They search the storage room meticulously. Vicky lifts the dusty cover next to the wardrobe. Inside the cover are a bunch of book files. As for Rae, she searches the bookcase to see if there's anything suspicious. 

She pulls out the books one by one, searching the content of each book. 

However, there is one thing that attracts the detective's attention. 

Next to the bookcase is a small table, covered with brown fabric. The fabric has less dust and has more wrinkles on it as if it had only been used a few times. Rae pulls off the cover to reveal an intimidating hairless mannequin head.