Guns N' Roses

2

Dahyun stood outside the cordon tape that secured the crime scene. Everything seemed to be moving quickly and efficiently. The forensic team, police officers and photographers were hovering around the scene, busy at work. Analyzing the scene, documenting every piece of evidence, looking for anything that might prove useful.

Police officers scouted the whole apartment, searching for fingerprints, footprints, weapons, DNA. Anything they found were bagged in and put into evidence. Some officers were rummaging through the deceased's bedroom where they found different kinds of weapons were secretly stored in a closet, including firearms with full scale ammunition and suitcases containing hundreds of dollars. All of these were taken into custody as well.

A man still dressed in pajamas, half-lying on the floor, 12 hours dead. His back leaning on a wall while almost dried blood streamed from the side of his head, gradually accumulating on the white carpet below. He held a .45 caliber pistol on his right hand. At first glance, any one would immediately conclude that this was suicide.

His name is Na Gasu, or whom they knew as Red Rose. A 37-year-old male. He died around 5 - 6 pm yesterday. And it's already been 12 hours now.

Dahyun was accustomed to things seeing these sort of things. Arriving at crimes scenes and seeing dead bodies was what she did for a living. But it was probaby the first time in her career that she heard of a killer killing himself.

It's hard to believe that this was the same man who got away with the murder of 7 victims 2 years ago. And now showed up dead inside his own apartment. He killed himself the same way he killed his victims -- through a gunshot in the head.

Dahyun was still enthralled. All this time this runaway criminal had been residing in an apartment on the same floor as hers; he was her neighbor. He had been near her reach all along, but how could she be so ignorant? Why didn't she find him suspicious? Dahyun had always been confident with her abilities but this time she was utterly dissappointed with herself. She was a busy woman that didn't even spare time to know any of her neighbors.

Once everything was photographed and recorded, the deceased was swiftly being zipped into a body bag and immediately taken to the coroner's office for autopsy.

"Detective Kim."

Dahyun turned her head, hearing someone calling her. She quickly bowed to her approaching superior.

"It's about time you showed up," Chief Oh Sehun said, giving her a serious gaze. "Have you heard about the shocking news?"

Dahyun licked her lips before she spoke, "Yes, sir. It's so... unexpected."

"Indeed," Chief Oh nodded. "Remember the fingerprints we got from Red Rose's gun 2 years ago? It matched Na Gasu's. As for the DNA, the test will be done once they have brought the body to the coroner's office. And once it's confirmed that their DNA's matched, only then will we officially announce to the press that Na Gasu was the infamous Red Rose behind the killings 2 years ago."

"Detective Park requested that he'd handle this case. So I'm handing it over to him." The Chief patted the shoulder of the good-looking man beside him, Detective Park Jinyoung. He was 4 years older than Dahyun; a highly-respected senior at their division.

The girl creased her forehead in protest. "But Chief... this is my case. I've been working on this for 2 years."

"Exactly. 2 years and you couldn't even guess that the man you've been after was your neighbor all along," the Chief retorted. "Let Detective Park handle this case for now. He was the first one to come here after all."

Dahyun sighed as she turned to Officer Kim Mingyu who stood behind her, listening intently to their conversation.

"You don't think any foul play was involved?" She asked, ignoring the fact that she shouldn't be involved in this case anymore since Detective Park is now the one in-charge. "Anyone could've shot him in the head and then set up the gun on Na Gasu's hand, making it look like suicide."

"You think this was murder?"

"It just feels off." Dahyun huffed out. "I don't get why a runaway criminal would choose to kill himself after 2 years of a successful killing spree."

"He didn't even leave a suicide note or anything," Mingyu added.

Dahyun nodded. "He's also wearing pajamas. It was as if the decision of killing himself wasn't planned and it's merely out of impulse."

"There were no other fingerprints discovered apart from Na Gasu's. The place, as you can see, is perfectly fine. No signs of self-defense. No indications of break-ins. All the evidence layed out obviously points out to suicide," Detective Park said matter-of-factly.

"Still, the evidence is all too vague," Dahyun insisted, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Whether this was suicide or murder, no one cares at this point," Chief Oh butted in. "He doesn't have any relatives nor does he have friends. Either way, he's still gonna rot in hell for the things he did. Well anyway, I'm entrusting this case to you, Detective Park. I'm leaving for now."

"Does this mean that Detective Park's going to earn that promised promotion?" Mingyu asked.

"Hmmm. We're going to see about that," Chief Oh replied, lightly patting Dahyun and Detective Park's shoulder before he left.

"Do your own investigation, I won't stop you Detective Kim," Detective Park said. A small, mocking smirk then drew on his lips as he added, "Just make sure you're not wasting your time. I mean, wasn't 2 years enough? Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a case to handle."

Dahyun and Mingyu stared at Detective Park's back as he walked away from them and talked to the forensics team.

"You can't let Detective Park have that promotion," Officer Mingyu said, placing his hands on his hips. "That dude's been arrogant enough to roam around the station with his 9mm caliber gun. Him wandering around with a promotion he doesn't even deserve while flaunting million dollars is the last thing I wanna see."

"Well, he is a good cop. Had always been the best ever since he was a cadet. He had good combat training and took special training in parkour from professionals. He is the best in the station --"

"Until Officer Jeon Jungkook arrived," Mingyu interrupted, making Dahyun look at him. The male smirked, wriggling his brows at her as he continued, "Come on, we can't deny that Jungkook's got the 'best cop' title now. I don't understand why you don't wanna give him a cha--"

Dahyun left Mingyu even before the he could finish his sentence. The latter merely chuckled at the familiar sight of Dahyun avoiding any conversation involving her relation to Officer Jeon.

Grasping on to the slight chance that there might be foul play, she roamed around the place cautiously, eyes peeled for anything that might arouse suspicion. She talked to the forensic team and checked out every evidence.

There were no other fingerprints and footprints aside from Na Gasu's. No evidence that might suggest it was murder. There were no signs of break-ins. The doors were intact. The windows were closed. The only possible entrance was the balcony. It was open since it was designed and built that way.

And given the fact that there were no signs of self-defense or whatsoever, she can conclude that anyone who might have murdered Na Gasu (if he really was murdered) was someone whom he knew -- someone who purposely visited him yesterday and shot him between 5 - 6 pm.

"Have you identified the neighbors?" Dahyun asked Officer Boo Seungkwan, her colleague and the only one in their team who had the same age as hers.

"Yes," the officer answered, taking out his notebook. "5 other residents live on this floor, excluding Na Gasu. Mrs. Im Yoona, a librarian whose husband is currently serving the military. Kang Younghyun, a business administration student. Mr. Kim Seokjin, a professor at SNU. Miss Moon Byul-yi, a cafè waitress. And," he glanced at her. "You."

"We're going to consider the neighbors as suspects for the time being," Dahyun said.

"Do you really believe this was homicide?" Seungkwan asked.

"Somehow I feel it is."

"What if it's not?"

Dahyun licked her lips. "We won't find out unless we investigate further."

Dahyun stepped out from the crime scene with Officer Boo following behind to conduct the preliminary statements and further interrogation with the neighbors while Mingyu went to the coroner's office to wait for the post-mortem reports on the corpse.