The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance

iv.

"All of us, all of us, all of us trying to save our immortal souls, some ways seemingly more round about and mysterious than others. We are having a good time here. But hope all will be revealed soon."

― Raymond Carver, All of Us: The Collected Poems

--

"And you're positive he said 'Hendy'?" Jooheon asked, although the name was clearly unique enough to not be confused with another.

"Yes. Why? Does that mean something to you?" Hyunwoo asked, having once again immediately called Jooheon to update him from the squad car.

"It means we're in deep shit," Jooheon said with a sigh.

"Why's that?"

"Because Hendy and some of the guys he hangs around with are involved with a lot of bad people," Jooheon said, and there was a staccato tapping in the background that Hyunwoo could make out, maybe a pen or a fingernail. "They're middlemen, basically. If somebody needs something acquired, they're the people who can make it happen. We've busted them countless times but can't make anything stick because there's no real transaction history. The only way we'd be able to get them dead to rights is if we had a video of the money being handed over, but we've never been able to get close enough." There was a pause. "I just emailed you a photo of him."

Hyunwoo pulled the phone away from his ear only long enough to see the notification ribbon appear. "When you say 'acquire,' what exactly are you talking about? Drugs? Guns?" Hyunwoo hesitated. "Kids?"

Jooheon's sigh was long and not particularly inspiring. "It's hard to know concretely, but none of those would surprise me."

"So we have to find Hendy," Hyunwoo said. "And somehow convince him to tell us where he took the kids."

"If he took the kids," Jooheon corrected. "I know you want to run into this headlong, but just remember that we have literally no evidence to run on here, just hearsay from a minor, and that we have no leverage over Hendy. Even if he had a part in this, he's got no reason to turn over the information."

That was a devastating thought to Hyunwoo, that they might be so close to someone who could tell them and not be able to get their answers. "What can we do, then?"

Jooheon was quiet while he thought. Finally, "I'll ask around. Maybe another officer in a different department has something on Hendy that we can use. It's a long shot, but they may have been saving some leverage to get a bigger fish. I'm hoping they'll forget about the bigger fish in lieu of a few missing kids."

"I hope so too," Hyunwoo said, because if they refused, he thought he might just lose all faith he had in law enforcement. "Call me back when you hear something," he said. "I'm going to keep driving around. Maybe I'll spot Hendy."

"Don't pick him up until you hear back from me," Jooheon warned.

Hyunwoo hung up.

--

Referencing the photo Jooheon had sent him, Hyunwoo drove around quadrant four, keeping an eye out for Hendy. Either Jooheon would get back to him with leverage, or Hyunwoo would stumble upon Hendy and figure out something on the spot.

He was hoping Jooheon would call back first.

As luck would have it, though, Hyunwoo spotted someone matching Hendy's description loitering outside a local gas station with four other guys. There were plenty of cigarettes and a bottle of vodka to go around. Once the bottle was empty, one of the guys threw it to the ground, and they laughed when the glass shattered. Hyunwoo stayed in the car, parking further down the road so he could keep an eye on Hendy. He didn't want to move in without Jooheon's call. Not yet.