Black, Blue, and Gold (Book 2)

One Step at a Time (Part 21)

Jisoo looked up from the computer when she heard the knock on her door. "Come in."

The door opened and Sooyoung appeared. "Unnie, there's something that I need to show you," she said right away and closed the door behind her. "It's from the car that hit Joonmyun."

Jisoo observed Sooyoung expectantly. "The license plate is fake, expired, right?"

"Yes, but I took a chance and dug deeper into the database, searching for vehicles based on the officers' description. Luckily, that car is quite old and unique. There's not many in South Korea left." Sooyoung showed Jisoo her tablet. "It's a Volvo V850 sedan. Produced in the 90s for about six years only."

Jisoo raised her eyebrows. "That should give us a pretty small scope to work with."

"Yes. I've narrowed down the search to those currently registered in the Seoul area and came up with less than fifty. I went further, searching for those that hadn't had their registration renewed within the past 5 years. One very familiar name popped up." Sooyoung tapped the screen on the tablet.

The captain inhaled when she saw the name. "Shin Harang."

Sooyoung nodded. "He used to own a Volvo V850 sedan but sold it, I think, since the car owner's name changed not long before he supposedly disappeared."

"Who bought it?"

"Someone named Kim Insook? But that doesn't really matter because that owner reported it stolen."

"When?"

"Just a few months ago. Here's the report." Sooyoung tapped the screen once more, showing Jisoo the report she was talking about.

Jisoo took her time, reading about how the classic car went missing from the alley behind the owner's home. It was old and rarely used anyway so there was a note in the report saying that the matter wasn't top priority and even the owner didn't really press about it much.

"So this Kim Insook has practically given up on the search?" Jisoo tried to look for more information regarding the stolen car.

"I think so. There were no more records about that car or the complaint he filed. We could try calling him? Ask him directly about it?" suggested Sooyoung.

"Good idea. Can you send Chanyeol in here?"

"Sure."

--

"Lili!"

Lisa laughed when she heard the loud voice above the buzz of the small playground.

"She likes you too much," mumbled Jennie as she shook her head at the enthusiastically running girl.

"Jealous?" teased Lisa before bending down with arms open to greet Jiyoon. She kissed her cheek then lifted her. "Oomph. Someone's growing up too fast."

"I'm not jealous," said Jennie, taking the hand Lisa offered her.

Lisa only smiled. "So how was school today?" she asked the girl in her arms who immediately began telling her about what she had done all day.

Lisa nodded and commented, chuckling every now and then when Jiyoon became too excited to even form proper sentences. But her smile quickly faded once she noticed two casually dressed men across the street, recognizing them to be their shadowing officers. Instead of feeling safe, their presence made her anxious and wary. It was a harsh reminder of what was really going on behind the peaceful and happy afternoon.

Even when they had gotten inside the car and driven away calmly, with Jiyoon still chattering away in the backseat, Lisa would still regularly glance at the side and rearview mirrors, checking whether they were being followed by anyone other than those officers.