Black, Blue, and Gold (Book 2)

Turning Over A New Leaf (Part 10)

"He confessed?!" Chanyeol raised his voice. "Just like that?!"

"We're all just as shocked as you are," said Chaeyoung.

"His behavior is beyond strange." Jongin was furrowing his brows. "He barely reacted to anything we asked or showed him. Then out of the blue, bam! He pleaded guilty for kidnapping these kids!" He shook his head. "I've never seen anyone so eager about going to prison."

"No one likes going to prison," argued Chanyeol.

"Then why is he sending his own butt there?" Jongin asked his friend.

"There are a few possible reasons for such behavior," Jisoo spoke. "One, he felt remorse so decided to come clean. Two, he might just be an attention seeker who's desperate for public attention. Three-..."

"He's taking the fall for someone," interjected Lisa. She snapped her fingers. "That's it, isn't it? We know he called someone right after we showed him Miri's picture. He didn't know about the girl's death and he looked upset while talking on the phone." She paused. "He doesn't have the kids with him so he probably took them and gave them to someone else. There's someone else."

"If that's the case then why not just go all the way? Confess for everything?" Chaeyoung frowned. "He's going to jail anyway so why not take all the blame including the murder?"

"Because he simply didn't do it," said Jisoo. "He wanted to give these kids 'a better place' – whatever that means by his definition. He certainly didn't want them dead or we'd be handling three murder cases instead of one."

"Still makes him a psychopath," muttered Chanyeol under his breath.

No one reacted to that. They were all thinking more or less the same thing.

"What about his old supervisors?" Lisa asked Chanyeol. "Have you managed to contact any of them?"

"Just the one back in Iksan so far," answered the tall assistant inspector. "He basically said the same thing as the retired supervisor. Jo Sangook was a model employee and civil servant. Everyone in the area still remembers him because of his excellent work ethics. Plus, he's a local boy. They're even proud of him, I think. He had served them ever since he left the army before he made the move to Seoul."

"What about his leave of absences? Did you ask?"

"Not specifically but the supervisor said that Sangook rarely took leaves. He was always there."

"Okay. That might help strengthen our case," said Jisoo. "This man never took a break for himself unless he had to visit his mother. So to have him suddenly take half a day off on a day when Jaewan disappeared plus him knowing details about Jiyoon should be able to somehow convince the judge that he had something to do with these abductions."

"Does it even matter?" Jongin asked. "He has confessed to taking these kids! He's even writing down the confession as we speak!"

"Which will be quite interesting to read, I think," Chaeyoung said. "I shall go check on Seulgi." She stood up and left to go see her friend who had decided to come in on her day off because she wanted to see this Jo Sangook and talk to him herself.

"Chaeyoung still has nothing on that prepaid cell?" Jisoo asked Lisa.

Lisa shook her head. "Nothing yet."

"Okay. Keep me informed." Jisoo left the room.

"What now, Inspector?" Jongin asked.

"I hate to do this to you two but can you go show Sangook's picture to Jaewan and Jiyoon's teachers and the parents that you had talked to? I want to make sure that he really is involved in spite of his confession," Lisa said. "You can head straight home afterwards and rest. Oh and I want you to come with me to the post office tomorrow morning, Jongin."