Black, Blue, and Gold (Book 2)

One Step at a Time (Part 24)

"Unnie." Sooyoung stopped behind the quiet Jennie and bent down to look at the computer screen. "What are you doing?"

"I'm... I don't know," said Jennie with a sigh as she leaned back in her chair.

Sooyoung moved to the side, taking a seat on the desk, facing Jennie. "What were you trying to do?"

"I still want to find a pattern or a relationship between these attacks but I can't," said Jennie, still frowning in dissatisfaction. "I was going to apply multivariate analysis but there aren't enough variables or samples."

"Well, we only have three attacks so..."

"Exactly. But I can't shake this nagging feeling that there is a link in all three."

"You mean besides having Shin Harang involved?"

"Yes. He's the only common link so far but-..." Jennie stopped. Her eyes suddenly widened. She snapped her fingers then reached out for the mouse and keyboard, displaying the files and data on the screen.

"What is it, Unnie?" Sooyoung stood up to stand behind Jennie's chair.

"He did something. I'm sure he did something. If he's as good as Himchan has said, so good that Seungjin had to drag him out of that temple to help, then why has this guy been sloppy? His shoe print, his blood, his return to his known address, his old car and his blatant DNA trace on Jongin's face?"

"Um... he got arrogant?"

"I don't think he's that type. I think he's doing this on purpose."

"But we found the link to Seonggwangsa temple only after Joonmyun snatched his medal."

"I'm pretty sure he didn't put up a better fight on purpose. By the looks of it, this man could take on both Joonmyun and Lisa but he threw a mild punch and ran instead. Why? He had gotten away with worse things before. Attacking two cops wouldn't have been that hard to do."

"What are you trying to say? You're losing me here, Unnie." Sooyoung frowned at the screen.

Jennie didn't reply but zoomed in on the shoe print photograph instead. "These cherry blossom petals and pine smudges... they seem to form quite a straight line. What are the chances of that?"

"It could just be a coincidence, Unnie. Who would align crushed petals and pine under one's shoe like that? In the middle of a brawl, no less. They form a straight line but it's because they were stuck in that straight groove in the sole pattern."

"Hold that thought," said Jennie as she brought up the picture of the medal. "Did you swab this? Put it under that UV light and everything?"

"Yes." Sooyoung reached over Jennie's shoulder, taking over the mouse to click open another image. "Here it is." She showed Jennie the picture of the round object with several glow in the dark spots. "Most of the traces were found on the 'Zen' writing."

"That line..." Jennie traced the horizontal and vertical line, making up a cross-like pattern. "Bring up the shoe imprint again."

Sooyoung clicked on the other photograph and straightened up, letting go of the mouse. "You're not thinking what I think you're thinking, are you, Unnie? It's too far fetched."

"Did you find anything in the old Volvo? Symbols? Scratches in uncommon places?"

"Not really." Sooyoung furrowed her brows to think. "Although... excuse me, Unnie."

Jennie moved her chair aside to let Sooyoung have better access to the mouse and keyboard.

"There was an old, worn charm hanging from the rearview mirror. I swabbed it but found nothing besides dirt and some mold. It also has the 'Zen' symbol written on it."