Proofreader/Editor: Itane, Hwarang
Alvin disappeared with a light and ominous “See you soon.” goodbye. He disappeared in the crowds, waving his hand. Jude sighed quietly and transfered Roy to the police. The case in Miami got closed even before they worked together, and Roy was waiting for his trial in prison.
About Mrs. Travis, Jude just heard the news later that she’s in a mental hospital. Roy who is in jail still insisted that he was the only person involved, and the guards stopped him from committing suicide several times.
“-Tim! You bastard, I won’t forgive you! Did you like how you went on a vacation by yourself? Did you?”
While on the car going back to New York –Chief threatened Jude through the phone that he’ll put him on night shifts for a month, but Jude was stubborn. Jude screamed reproachfully through the phone.
[Ju- Jude! Sorry, sorry. I heard, I heard you rode an airplane that you hate the most and there was a case? Did it end well?]
“Yes, it ended well. Cooperative investigate was okay, and the case in the airplane ended okay. Just come back fast, Tim oppa. It’s too hard by myself.”
[Ahahaha, okay. I’ll be back soon, work hard. Really, there wasn’t anything else that happened, right?]
Other thing. Jude swallowed his word for a second. A young man with light gray-blue eyes. Jude thought of him, who completely hides of himself with a pair of thick framed glasses and a gift of gab, and chuckled and shook his head.
“Yeah. It was just a normal case.”
[Okay, that’s good to hear. Then, see you later.]
“Yeah.”
Jude closed the flip and looked outside the widow with sleepy eyes.
-Did you really not know?
-I……I……
-See you again, Detective.
Just like a palette with paint all over the place, the words were gushing in his head. He shook his head, trying to shake those thoughts away and ended up sleeping on the chair, leaning his head on the chair.
-Because he dreamed of the plane crashing, he ended up waking up in panic 10 minutes later.
An incident that even made people, who don’t even flinch their eyebrows anymore, gasp happened in the middle of July.
It was a messy murder in a pretty wealthy household. All the relatives who met in the house ended each other’s lives. People who were in the house, An uncle couple (father’s elder brother), an uncle couple (father’s younger brother), and amongst their children, each with two kids, only three people survived at the end.
A young girl who doesn’t know anything, a girl who just went to high school, and another one is the aunt (younger brother’s wife). The young girl went to an orphanage, the teenage girl and the aunt were hospitalized in a mental hospital.
What surprised the police were two reasons. The murder happened in a fancy mansion, it occurred in one week, one by one and until a girl trembling ran out to the street and screamed, no one knew about the tragedy that happened during that not-too-short time period. Nobody was suspicious about why no one came in and also nobody in the mansion notified that. Like dying with a puss, it looked like it rotted like that.
Mystery in Maples family, this incident was a big issue in the media for a while. And of course, the truth was still unknown. Because there were no one that was normal left, there weren’t any people to ask what happened, and they didn’t know in what order and who that was murdered first. There is no motive. The inheritance of the father who died recently, had already been divided. The police didn’t even have ways to find out why those relatives met in one place.
***
“-Jude?”
“Uh, yeah.”
It was hot today, especially in the station today, and the A.C died. Sucks. He answered in a little weird voice, but Jude didn’t move his eyes from the newspaper. It wasn’t big as when it first came out, but the story about the Maples family was still on the newspapers. Tim followed where Jude was looking at in confusion one moment, then opened his eyes wide, and looked unusually at his partner.
“What’s going on? Were you interested in that case? You didn’t care about any other cases except for yours, what would suddenly cause you to become interested in this?”
“Well, I need something scary to cool down my back. This is perfect for that. Are you crazy? I get interested to solve the case that’s not even mine? It’s so hot that I don’t even want to move.”
“Why? You might meet a ghost while investigating that house. Won’t that be more cooling?”
“You should go, Mr. Maxwell. It’s too annoying so no. I’m not even done with the case I’m…….”
“Detective Jude?”
At a dry voice, the two detectives giggling, looked up. Jude thought that they might get in trouble for neglecting their work, so he just looked up only raising his green eyes to see the person approaching them. A cold looking man who looked in his 30s, looked down at Jude with an indifferent face. Jude looked for a word to say for a second and asked a little bit insincerely.
“Uh- Who are you?”
“I’m from the FBI. My name is Jeffry Dauman.”
“Ah, yes. What can I help you with?”
Jude’s tone dropped down. There is only one reason why FBI would approach Jude. Many months ago, since Alvin Johns has escaped from prison.
He took a glimpse at Tim once, and the man who has a feel like an eagle looked down at Jude and said.
“Can we talk alone?”
“Yeah, yeah. Just finish it fast at least.”
Jude answered insincerely and stood up. He knew Tim was looking at him not too happy, but he wasn't at a place where he could complain. They went to a corner of the station, and Jeffry looked at Jude as if his blue eyes were going to poke him and opened his mouth. It was a strict tone.
“It’s not going to be long for us to go all the way to the interrogation room, so I’ll just ask simply.”
“Good for me, ask me simply.”
“After that, Alvin Johns hasn’t contacted you in any form?’’
“He didn’t.”
At the quick reply that didn’t even have a hint hesitation, Jeffry’s eyes shined coldly.
“Is it true?”
“Hey, I want him to get caught fast too. I don’t enjoy getting bullied by FBI and criminal psychologists. Do I look like a masochist? No, right? I would’ve given any evidence if I had any. So please stop.”
“Alvin Johns has been strangely interested in you ever since he got arrested. He sent you a letter once, so it’s hard to think that there hasn’t been any contact.”
“Even if he sends a letter, he knows that you guys are going to rip it apart to investigate, so there’s no way he would have sent again. Ahhh, if it’s only that, then never mind. I don’t plan to drag it to long for a topic that I don’t have anything else to talk about.”
“…….Fine. But if there’s a little bit of a chance that he’s going to contact you, please tell us.”
“Yeah, yeah. Of course.”
Jude nodded with a smile and went back to his desk with his unique swaggering walk. While Tim glimpsed at Jeffry once and walked to Jude, Jude’s phone on the desk vibrated. The number didn’t show, and Jude thought about it little bit and sighed at Jeffry’s strange stare and opened the flip.
“Yes- hello.”
[Detective?]
Jude used about two second and tilted his head and answered with a composed voice.
“……Ah, ah-ah, what’s wrong with this? This has a bad reception. Chee-, ah-ah, hello? Hello?”
[Do you want to me send a big document envelope with my name written big?]
“…….Ah, now I can hear it. Are you crazy? Why are you calling while I’m working?”
[Wondering if you have some time later.]
“No. I have to work, hang up.”
[I’m not asking you to meet me. I’m too far away for that too. I just have something to tell you.]
“What are you saying, what kind of nonsense are you talking about calling in a while? I can’t talk right now so hang up. I’m gonna get in trouble for slacking off.”
[Ahaha, right. I’ll call you later. There is an incident happened that I really want to tell you about.]
“You are a strange guy. Don’t you have a friend? Why are you calling me to tell me that? Give me a break.”
[It’s something I want to talk to you. Then, I’ll call you back.]
“You don’t have to. I’m gonna hang…… Wha, what are you doing?”
Jude got surprised at a shadow covering him and looked up, and Jeffry with a serious face quietly looked down on Jude. Jeffry who was looking at dumbfounded green eyes like he’s going to pierce it, asked.
“Who was that?”
“It’s my old friend. What’s wrong?”
“Can I have his number?”
“The number didn’t show up.”
“…..The number didn’t show up?”
“This guy, he’s getting chased by a loan shark, so it’s been a while ever since we lost contact. It seems like he’s still getting chased by them. He’s trying all his best to hide.”
“Can I have personal information about your friend?”
“Excuse me, that's enough!”
An angry voice burst out right next to him. The blue eyes that were only looking at Jude moved to a brown haired young detective. Tim’s face, that’s usually very gentle, is getting unusually seriously mad. Tim touched the desk with burning eyes.
“If you’re going to be like this, just bring a warrant! This is clearly invading someone else’s privacy. Who are you treating as a criminal? Jude is a detective that caught that guy. No matter how much you want to catch him, don’t you think you are digging in the wrong place?”
“I wasn’t planning to invade his……”
“If this is not invading privacy, then what is it? Are you gonna check every single phone call he gets? He’s been dragged everywhere the past few months, do you still have something else to ask?”
“No, that…..”
“What are you planning to do, investigating his friend running away because of his debt? If you have strength to use it like that, it’ll be better to make the inspection stronger! Above all, there’s no way I wouldn’t know if Jude got contacted by him! If you are going to act like this from now on, it’ll be better for you to get a warrant from court first!”
Bang. The police station became quiet, and there was another sound of forceful hitting at the desk. Tim glared at a frozen Jeffry for a second and grabbed Jude’s arm and came out of the quiet station. Jude who got dragged in a moment of confusion blankly stared at his angry partner.
“…….Will it be okay?”
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Too long! Didn't know where to stop..... Enjoy!
Continue to Part 19
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