Iniquity VIII
Title: Iniquity (part 8)
Pairing: None
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Rape, murder, mentions of torture and death. Mental health issues
Genre: Crime thriller/mystery
Summary: Autumn in Seoul is beautiful, the leaves on the trees take on stunning hues of russet and gold, but not everything is beautiful in this season. With 4jib promotions coming to an end Super Junior's Lee Sungmin is suffering from exhaustion and crippling nightmares, seeing death wherever he goes. On the other side of Seoul Detective Ahn Taehyun is suffering a nightmare of his own. A sadistic serial killer is preying on young men and Taehyun will do anything within his power to stop him. Even when the price might be his own reputation, career or life.
Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here, Part 5 here, Part 6 here, Part 7 here
It was Wednesday, a bright, sunny afternoon with none of the forecast smog or rain and Taehyun felt invigorated. Not only was the weather looking up but the case was too, they finally had some leads.
A couple of hits off the tip-line had the junior officers busy searching down some suspicious vehicles seen around the sight of the third drop off on the night the body was found. A dark coloured van trawling the streets at 3am was of particular interest and he hoped that they would be able to identify that one soon.
Minjun was looking into the origins of the coins. They were all defunct currencies, the first ones were Drachma, found pressed deep into the decaying eye sockets of the old man in the basement. Ancient Chinese with the classical square hole in the middle had been found on the rent boy and after that French Franks, English shillings, Spanish pesetas, Italian Lira, even a pair of Spanish doubloons that had since turned out to be reproductions. The latest ones had been different, they were old coins, but this time not just old, classical ones, collectors’ items. Pre-Japanese Korean currency was rare and highly prized. Wherever these had come from they had cost a fair amount, or were stolen. Either way it was a lead that Minjun was keen to hunt down and he was out scouring the collectors shops and pawnbrokers across town.
Solmi sat at her desk staring at the notice boards full of pictures.
“Sir… I can’t think who it is, but all these men… they all remind me of someone… I just wish I could think who it was.” She said, her eyebrows drawn and brow furrowed.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, it’s just that they’re similar, not so much to each other… but I guess…” She slipped the photographs out of their plastic wallets and set them down on a clear desk, spreading them out in a circle. Taehyun drew closer and stood beside her as she worked, looking over her shoulder and trying not to notice the summery fragrance of her perfume.
“Look.” She said. “There’s something similar about them.”
He looked but struggled to see what she was getting at.
“I just feel like there’s something, or someone missing. See. They all have similar hairstyles… they all have young faces… it’s just… something. This one’s a little thinner than the others, this one went to the gym more so he’s a bit more built, this one…” She pointed at the lawyer, “He’s paler than the others, and his eyes are smaller… but there’s something…”
She reached for a piece of paper and began jotting down some notes.
“I think he’s getting closer to his ideal. I mean, I think he’s searching for someone, and as he gets closer he’s getting more violent. Laying them out like that though, it’s caring, giving them the coins… he’s paying their way to the underworld, that’s a gesture of love…”
Taehyun watched as she drew a hasty table writing down names, ages, heights, weights, facial features, build.
He could see what she was doing now, she was building a type, a victim profile.
“What’s the light bulb for?” she asked, he wondered if it was a rhetorical question but answered anyway.
“For light?”
“Maybe, maybe he’s lighting their way, the underworld is dark after all…” She trailed off, her writing becoming more hurried, more scrappy.
“Look.” She declared, stepping back from her handiwork. She was right. Now it was written out there for him to see it became clearer that physically there were more similarities than there were differences between the men; and the similarities were increasing with each new victim.
“He’s developing a preference.” He said softly, “He’s selecting them, they’re not random…”
As the realisation sank in he remembered the pile of paperwork from Missing Persons he had been given days ago. He dashed over to his desk, grabbing the pile of reports and thrusting half of them at Solmi. “Let’s find him before that bastard knows we’re on to him!” He said. “Pull out anyone you think fits his type.”
“Yes Sir.” Solmi said, a smile crossing her features, “We’ll get him Sir.”
They sat in silence for over an hour, searching through the papers, pulling out photos, checking through data, dropping the files into two piles, ones to rule out and one to check up on. It was possible that since some of these reports were made that the men in question had returned home.
“Excellent work Solmi. We should have spotted that earlier.”
“We couldn’t have Sir, we’ve been picking up the earlier victims, he’s refining it as he goes… But now we know he’s got to know them before he takes them.” She said, “He must be meeting them, or seeing them somewhere.”
“Right. You get on the phones, find out if any of these men have turned up, alive or dead, and narrow down the search. I’ll get back on the old case files and see if I can find out where he’s finding them, there must be someone, something in their lives that crosses over.”
“Yes Sir!” Solmi grinned and saluted as she headed back to her desk with the “possibles” pile under one arm, a slight spring in her stride. Things really were looking up.
He spent the rest of the afternoon re-reading notes he had read a million times already hoping for something new to spring out at him. Nothing did, so at 8pm, with his stomach rumbling, he decided it was time to call it a night and head home.
He waved goodbye to Solmi on his way out, the young woman still ringing around hospitals and morgues to check out any Hong Gil Dongs that had been brought in.
The drive home was almost a relief. He was tired but refreshed at the same time, he finally felt that he was getting somewhere. Minjun had text him with a possible handler of the coins, and tomorrow he was going to go back to search through receipts with a coin-dealer to see if he could get an address.
Things were definitely looking up. They had been stalled for so long and now several leads at once, he almost couldn’t wait for the autopsy and trace reports for the latest body to come back, he just hoped that it was Lucifer’s and not a red-herring.
Pulling up into his driveway he stepped inside to find his daughter stretched out across the floor of the living room, i-pod firmly fixed in her ears as she worked on something with a silver pen.
“Hi darling.” He said, walking over and kissing her hair, drawing her attention from whatever she was doing. “How’s your day been?”
“Ok.” She said, placing the pen on the floor, “I got an A in maths, and my art teacher wants me to help her with sets for the production.”
“That’s great!” He exclaimed slumping into a nearby chair. “What’re you making now?” He asked, gesturing towards the folded card on the floor.
“It’s another get well card for Sungmin.” She said, “I’m just doing the front, some of the girls at school are collecting signatures for the inside.”
“Oh, is Sungmin a boy in your class?” He asked. She laughed and slapped his leg playfully.
“No Dad! It’s the singer I told you about. He’s still in hospital and S.M won’t say what’s wrong with him. When’s the News on?”
“Oh. Sorry.” He said, suitably chastised for not listening properly to his daughter’s rambles about her favourite singer of the month. “Ah, the News is on now actually.” He said, glancing at his watch.
“WHAT! No!” Sungyun shouted, pouncing on the TV and turning it on, flicking desperately through the channels until she found what she wanted.
“Oh thank goodness…” She said sitting back on her heels and watching the opening sequence. Taehyun rolled his eyes at her and moved over on the couch as his wife sat down beside him resting against his side sighing in contentment as he encircled her in his arms.
He had almost drifted off to sleep when Sungyun’s hand banging against his leg woke him.
“See, see Dad, that’s Sungmin!” She pointed at the screen, “Isn’t he gorgeous!”
On the screen a young man was dancing, it was obviously not recent footage, Taehyun thought he recognised the song from a while back, but that wasn’t what caught his eye. He looked on with growing confusion as the boy stared back from the screen with sparkling bright eyes, pouting lips, pale skin and firm, compact muscles.
His blood ran cold.
“I need to make a phone-call.” He said, standing and hurrying into the hallway, just hoping that Solmi was still at the office.
Next part here.