Gain

Chapter Ten

The mouse felt rough underneath her skin. Lifting a hand, she flicked her fingers hoping to stretch them. Satisfied she returned her attention to the screen. Deya Entertainment's shareholders list was staring back at her. The list was long and she sighed as she scrolled down the second page. Lisa gritted her teeth forcing herself to focus. They had been at this for over two hours. She changed to another tab which had a catalog of current and former employee's. This list looked infinite.

Chae was looking intently at her laptop. When Lisa had passed by to make them some tea it looked like Chae had a dozen tabs open. They were searching for clues. In her initial investigation, she had deciphered that the connection most likely lied in the unknown substance found in the two woman's bodies. Now they needed to find further connections hopefully leading to a money trail. Lisa sighed. She turned to find her friend looking despondent.

"This is going nowhere and I'm bored as fuck," she said.

"Rome wasn't built in a day Lis,"

It had been an hour and twenty minutes since Jisoo had messaged to inform them that they had been unsuccessful at the company and were heading to the restaurant she had last been seen. Chae reminded the blonde that it was literally the first day. Lisa returned to her screen and continued working. She wondered what Jisoo and Jennie were doing and imagined it was far more exciting than this. She scrolled down and decided to open another tab. She searched for any new auctions with rare cameras on sale. Lisa figured there was no harm in taking a short break.

The restaurant buzzed with chatter as waiters hurried to serve the customers. The place was packed and the clientele appeared upper class. Jennie sipped on her lemonade as Jisoo chomped on the sushi. They had waited for quite some time at Deya to speak with Siyeon's boss only to be told that the man was unavailable. They would have to see him tomorrow. Now they were eating at the restaurant she was last seen at. They had shown the woman's picture to almost all the staff but no one recognised her. The manager was also only going to come in just after lunch. Jennie asked for the time as she picked up a salmon piece. Before Jisoo could answer her, an impeccably dressed woman came up to their table. As she stopped in front of Jennie she saw that Jisoo was checking out the woman's butt. She didn't blame her; this woman was heavenly.

Neat braids framed a chocolate brown face as the woman spoke to them. Glancing above her right breast she saw a name tag that stated this was the manager.

"Hi, my name is Isha. My employees told me that you wanted to speak to me," she held out a hand to both of them.

Jennie shook it and when it came to Jisoo her teammate held on a tad too long on to the woman's hand. She tried not to roll her eyes. Jisoo gave the manager a gorgeous smile.

"Yes, we are. We're private investigators for the family of this woman. She is missing and this was one of the last places she was seen. We were hoping if you had any information. Anything you saw or heard?" Jisoo showed her the photo and gave her the fake business card.

Isha took a moment to look over the picture while flipping the card in the other hand. Her faced pulled in concentration. She shook her head negatively.

"I'm sorry I don't recognise her. What day did she go missing?"

Jennie informed her that it was a Thursday evening between 20:00-23:45.

"What was the date?"

They told her and Isha's eyes flicked in realisation. She handed the picture back to Jisoo.

"On the first of each month, the actual restaurant closes for the day and prepares for the evening. We open the top floor of this building and it transforms in to a club. My husband facilitates that part of the business. He's currently out of town but should return by the first of next month to organise the next one."

Jennie nodded along, that's probably why none of the kitchen staff or waiters saw her. Isha told them they should return on the first and talk to her husband personally. She bid them farewell as she had other tables to check on. They let her go and Jisoo's eyes followed the woman all the way.

"I believe that was the most stunning view I've had all day," Jisoo picked up another piece.

Jennie agreed with her best friend and they decided to finish up eating and call it a day.

As they entered the conference room, Lisa looked half asleep and Chae had been busy shifting through different media articles related to all the individuals involved. They sat down to convey what they have learnt. Unfortunately Chae and Lisa did not get much further on their end. Jisoo told the team that they should rest until tomorrow. Lisa sighed in relief and opened the food the others had brought for them.

Chae pursed her lips as she starred the articles she sensed had something. Jisoo was chatting away about the stunning manager they encountered while Lisa fished for more details. They laughed gingerly as Lisa bragged that she would have gotten the woman's number the minute the manager laid eyes on her. Jisoo scolded her since the woman was married. Lisa chided that it had never stopped Jisoo before. They teased each other relentlessly and Chae smiled at the brutal banter.

Taking her chop sticks she decided to dig in to her food. Jennie watched her teammates. Lisa and Jisoo were being annoying. Chae was staring out the window floating in her own world. Though Isha had been helpful something about the woman's demeanour had bothered her. She wondered what it could be. It also seemed like she didn't really want to divulge much information about her husband despite giving them their details. She looked up as she felt a hand on top of hers. Chae waved a piece of sushi in front of her. She opened her mouth for her as the red head fed her another piece. Some sauce was on the side of Jennie's mouth and Chae wiped it with a finger placing it in her own mouth.

"It's good ey," Jennie agreed and was shocked that she didn't hear Chae move.

Jisoo stated that she had to leave to meet with team Winner. Apparently Mino owed her money. Lisa's phone had kept buzzing for most of the day but she had ignored it. Now she said she needed to go sort something out. Jennie's phone vibrated. Her mother was calling. Deciding to take the call in her room she followed the rest of the girls to the door. Letting her know that they would see her later, Chae sat quietly and wondered if she should order in more food.