Once outside, Detective Park looks up and down the hallway to make sure no one else is around, now that Mr. Kim has been taken away all the neighbors are back in their own worlds filled with thoughts and musings only they know. Both officers brace themselves for a questioning with Officer Rhee flipping to the first page of his notebook.
Park nods to both of them, “Lets start with you Officer Rhee, what have you learned about Mr. Kim and his family from the neighbors?”
“Yes sir. Mr. Kim, his wife and two children have lived in this apartment complex for the past six years. Mr. Kim works downtown and works with computers. The wife Hsi-feng is Chinese and an orphan, stay at home mother described as devoted.” Detective Parks makes a noise akin to a hum at this but Rhee presses on as if nothing was said. “The boy found in the kitchen is … was named Jin, from Kim’s previous marriage and was eight years old. Neighbors describe him to be very curious and bright. They also have a daughter, Mei, age six, and she is the child of Kwan and Hsi-feng, not much is known of her since she always seemed to cling to her mother. Hsi-feng and Mei are missing but some neighbors think they are shopping.” Park just makes what sounds like a click of his tongue before turning to Offier Lee.
Lee takes that as a cue to describe what he saw. “Yes sir, when Officer Rhee and I arrived there were many neighbors clustered outside the open door to the apartment. First thing I saw was Mr. Kim on the carpet with a large puddle of vomit around him and he was still whimpering. I checked him for wounds but found none. Then I looked in the kitchen.” Here Lee pauses as he fights down his nausea before continuing. “What I found in the kitchen was a small boy on a table laid out with his shirt lifted up along with large amounts of what appeared to be blood and an open wound in his abdomen. I did not step in to check for a pulse since I did not see any signs of breathing so refrained from disturbing the scene.”
Park takes a deep breath as he gathers his thoughts on how to proceed from here while the two officers look to him for guidance, procedures are only a guide meant to ensure all bases are covered and it falls upon Park to use those procedures as he sees fit in this case.“Officer Rhee, get ahold of the precint’s PAO and tell them we need an alert issued for Hsi-feng and her daughter Mei; that anyone who knows their whereabouts to contact the police because of a family tragedy. Tell the PAO that is all they are cleared to release, nothing about a butchered boy and a grief-stricken father. Once that is done I want you to investigate the background of Mr. Kim’s first wife and what happened to her. Then report back to me.” All of this time Officer Rhee has been scribbling in his notebook and when Park finishes he bolts down the hallway to the elevators.
“Officer Lee, your job is to investigate the whole life of one Mr. Kim Kwan and report back to me.” As Park is giving Lee his marching orders the elevators open to disgorge the forensics team and to witness Rhee vanishing into an elevator. Park pauses to meet with the leader of the foresenics team, a petite woman who looks out of place, and briefs her on what has happened and who has been inside that he knows of. “Lets go Officer Lee, we got some information to find. You Mr. Kim and Hsi-feng’s life for me.”
Part I
Part II
No comments:
Post a Comment