The call came in when Yoongi was still in bed, rousing the detective from some much needed quiet time.
He ignored it, rolling over in his cheap, dirty motel room bed.
Sunlight was streaming through the rips in the curtain that covered the window, illuminating the carpet of mysterious stains, the haze of smoke hovering around the ceiling and the briefcase stuffed with his case files, photographs and paperwork.
The phone rang again, vibrating against the wooden desk it rested on.
Yoongi groaned, finally blinking his eyes open.
He had actually been awake for the past few hours, but was trying to get back to sleep, but now it was obvious that wasn't happening.
So he huffed, finally sitting up in bed. His hair was a fluffy mess and his eyes were only half opened as he scanned his room, trying to remember where he left his phone last night. He spotted it on the scuffed up desk to his right and reached out for it, catching it a few times with his fingertips before he managed to finally grab it.
"What?" He snapped, holding it to his ear with one hand while his other rubbed his eyes tiredly.
"We got a body."
It was the voice of his detective chief inspector, Sung Chang-woo.
"Where?" Yoongi placed his bare on feet on the shag carpet, running a hand through his hair to try and style it. He was only in his boxers and wrinkled white shirt, his black tie hanging loosely over the half done buttons.
Bending down, he picked up his black pants from the floor and held the phone between his shoulder and ear as he pulled them on.
"Alley between 125th and Main. Get here as soon as you can."
Yoongi hung up and slipped the phone into his pocket before he slid on his socks and shoes. He stood up, grabbing his thin black leather belt off the chair and fixing it around his hips, before he fixed his shirt buttons and tie in the dirty bathroom mirror.
He grabbed the handle of his briefcase as he passed it, exiting his motel room.
He walked down the hot, cracked sidewalk back to the main office. It was empty, even though the check out time was less than hour away.
He walked up to the front desk and slapped his room keys down, startling the worker boy who quickly dropped the phone he had been playing on.
"Room 24. I want my cash deposit back." Yoongi said.
The boy jumped to his feet, clicking on the computer in front of him. "Um, well, actually, sir, housekeeping said they walked past your room earlier and smelt smoke, and room 24 is a nonsmoking room, so I'm afraid I can't give you back your deposit." He glanced nervously up into Yoongi's cold, black eyes.
"Can they prove I smoked in my room?" Yoongi raised an eyebrow, resting an arm on the desk.
The boy blinked. "Uh...no, I don't think so."
Yoongi held out his hand. "Then I'll be taking my deposit back."
The boy opened his mouth, seemed to think better of it, and turned around to open the cash drawer and withdraw Yoongi's 100$ deposit.
He handed the detective the envelope. "H-have a good day sir."
Yoongi swiped it out of the boys hands and shoved it into his back pocket, his other hand pulling out a cigarette and raising it to his lips. Once he was outside he grabbed his lighter and lit the end of it.
He walked to his parked 1967 black Chevrolet Impala, unlocking it and sliding into the drivers seat. He relaxed against the black leather, rolling down the window and tapping his ashes out of it as he slid the keys into the ignition and the car shuddered to life.
His phone buzzed a few times, incoming crime scene photos from his superior.
Yoongi took another drag as he looked over the photos.
The victim was a white male in his forties, laying face down on the ground, one leg bent up and his hands on either side of his head. His empty eyes stared at nothing while dried blood left a rusty trail from the corner of his mouth down to the dirt beneath his cheek. He was dressed in a purple dress shirt and black pants with polished black shoes. He was a little overweight and had a receding hairline. He was laying in a pool of his own blood.
Personally, Yoongi didn't care that the man was dead. He had long since figured out in his ten years of being a detective that people were always killed for a reason, mainly being that they were piece of shit who deserved to die. Cheating husbands and wives who sought revenge. Scumbag rapists hiding in the shadows. People who want to collect their partners life insurance a few years early. Drug dealers ready to give freebies to kids to get them hooked. Scammers who took sweet old peoples life savings. Pedophiles who snatched up children. There was always a reason they turned up dead, and Yoongi wasn't eager to find out why this guy was just added to the list of terrible human beings.
But since it was his job to figure out why the victim was killed, he pulled out of the parking lot and headed to the directions Chang-woo gave him.
There was only one reason Yoongi was still in this profession, and at this point, his biggest fear was that he would die before he was able to restore justice to the one victim he had ever seen who was killed for absolutely no reason at all.
-
He arrived on the scene and parked across the street, stubbing out his last cigarette with his heel as he climbed out.
Chang-woo spotted him and beckoned him over.
Yoongi took his time crossing the street and ducking under the yellow crime scene tape that an officer held up for him, shoving his hands into his dark coat pockets.
"His name was James Kingswell, forty six. He was married, no kids. He was the owner of several successful watch and jewelry stores." Chang-woo said. "I already checked and no, none of them were robbed."
"That's a first." Yoongi squatted down beside the body, which had now been covered with a blue tarp. He lifted one corner and examined James face, lifting his black sunglasses up onto his head so he could see better. "Where's the wife?"
It was obvious the cause of death was bleeding out after being stabbed in the stomach. Yoongi let the tarp fall back down, covering the stench of internal organs being baked in the bright sunlight.
"She's been notified. She'll be in the station in a few minutes."
Yoongi looked the body over from a few different angles and snapped a few photos on his phone as well. "Time of death?"
"Estimated to be between ten and midnight, judging by the blood." Chang-woo said.
Finally Yoongi stood up. "I'll go interrogate her then. Let me know when the autopsy report comes in."
He looked around at the two buildings on either side of them. "No cameras?"
Chang-woo shook his head. "The convenience stores cams haven't been working in months, and the pizza place never had them."
Yoongi thought for a moment, before heading into the store.
A bell dinged overhead when he entered, and bright florescent bulbs made him put his sunglasses back on. He scanned the aisles of colorful snacks and went to grab a coffee, filling the Styrofoam cup to the brim with the dark liquid. He walked to the checkout and set his cup down.
The girl behind the register looked up at him. "That'll be a dollar fifty, sir."
"Pack of smokes too." Yoongi said as he dug out his wallet.
She turned around and picked up a pack of regular Marlboro's and laid them next to his cup.
Yoongi could tell she was intimidated by him, and also seemed shaken up about the fact there was a dead body not five feet away from her.
"Were you working last night?" He asked as he slid her some cash.
She nodded. "My shift was over at nine, and then Darryn took over."
"Is he here now?" Yoongi asked.
She nodded again.
"Can I speak with him?"
"He's in the break room. You can head back there."
Yoongi glanced up and saw the sign for it hanging from the ceiling. He headed over to it and stopped at the doorway. The room was small and white. Only a table, two chairs, a desk of broken coffee machine parts and an old computer with stacks of papers on it fit inside.
A boy sat on one of the chairs, listening to music with his headphones in, absorbed in whatever he was doing on his phone.
Yoongi sat down in the other chair, and the boy glanced up. He looked startled to see Yoongi and quickly yanked out his headphones.
"You Darryn?" Yoongi asked.
The boy nodded, looking on edge.
"Relax, I'm not a cop." Yoongi said. "I just want to know a few things. You were working here at ten last night, right?"
The boy nodded. "I didn't see nothin' though, just like I told all those other officers out there."
"I'm not an officer." Yoongi reminded him. "Did you hear anything suspicious around midnight? Something you may not have thought much of at the time, but could make sense now?"
The boy went to shake his head, seeming reflexively but then stopped and looked thoughtful. "Uh, usually I have my headphones in whenever I'm sweeping or mopping, so I didn't hear anything if something happened around ten thirty. But, maybe if someone screamed I would have heard that, cos these headphones don't work so well."
Yoongi nodded. "What about a little later? After you finished cleaning?"
"It wasn't busy, so I had time to take the trash out. I tossed it into the dumpster and kept the door propped open afterwards because it was a little stuffy inside and I wanted some fresh air to get in. I didn't go back outside, but..." His eyes widened a little.
"What did you remember?" Yoongi asked patiently, taking out his little notepad and a pen.
"Around eleven...eleven thirty...there was the sound of two dudes talking. I could hear them cos the door was open and I had my headphones out." Darryn said. "I couldn't make out individual words, but they weren't arguing, it sounded like. They were just talking."
"Did you catch what it was about? How did their voices sound?" Yoongi pressed gently.
"Casual, like they were work buddies who just got off their shift together." Darryn said. "I didn't listen much because I had to start counting down the registers, but I remember one of them grunted, and made a weird noise like he was choking, and then it was quiet. I thought he was just wheezing, like after you inhale a cigarette the wrong way."
Yoongi scribbled down some notes for a few moments, before straightening up. "Thanks for your time, Darryn."
He headed back out and left the store, walking back to his car.
If James hadn't screamed then he hadn't been expecting his murderer to attack him, so it was someone he knew well that ended his life. But yet the close friend didn't rob him.
Yoongi shook his head. "Idiot."
When would people learn having friends is dangerous?