Dare You To Death: Solve the Mystery, See the Death.

Investigation Part 21

 

When Jade and Khamin arrived at the hospital, they went straight up to Jay's room. Because the exact cause of Tonkla's death was still unknown, and Jay was the only one who was present and survived, tight security was required. When the lieutenant and the captain arrived, the subordinates standing guard at the front immediately stood.

 

"Is anyone coming in and out?"

"Just doctors and nurses."

 

"You should go and have lunch. I'll stay here and watch over you." Khamin walked into the room with Jade following behind him. The person on the bed wasn't in bad shape, but his older brother was in much worse condition. "I won't be here long because I have to go check on the scene. You stay here with Jay."

 

"I'm full." Jade looked at his younger brother before walking over to take a closer look. Even though they often fought, he had taken care of his younger brother himself since their parents passed away. This time was probably the worst he had ever seen Jay hurt.

 

"Sit down and let me examine your wound." Khamin pulled out a chair for Jade before looking at the tall man, who still acted as if he didn't feel any pain from his wound.

 

"I'm fine."

 

"I am the leader"

 

Jade sighed before sitting down as ordered. Khamin knelt and touched the torn black tank top before examining the wound. Although it wasn't deep enough to require stitches, it still needed treatment.

 

"How did Jay get to the scene?"

 

"I don't know yet. I'll have to ask again once he wakes up. I'll go talk to the doctor about Jay's condition and call a nurse to come and dress your wound." Jade looked at his younger brother before reaching out to gently pat his head. Not long after, a nurse came in with wound care equipment.

 

"Please sit down, Captain."

 

"Where are my brother's things?"

 

"It's all ready." "I'll go get it for you. Inspector Khamin ordered that the evidence collection unit must examine and collect fingerprints.

 

"Thank you." Jade let the nurse finish dressing the wound. It was at that moment that Khamin walked back into the room.

 

"I've already spoken to the doctor. Jay suffered a blow to the head, but there are no serious injuries or blood clots. We'll do a thorough examination once he wakes up... and we'll have to wait for the questioning." Khamin handed the jacket Leo had left behind back to its owner. "I'm going to the scene now. You stay here."

 

“This is a medicine I bought from the warehouse. Take it to Mirin to check if it matches. It's quite expensive. The people at the port must have some capital.”

 

"Um"

 

"Wait, please put on my shirt." Jade only put on one shirt. On the other side, he couldn't move much because he was pulling on the wound. Khamin, upon seeing this, walked to the front and pulled the other sleeve on for the other man. It turned out that Khamin was now practically in the captain's arms.

 

"If there's anything, call me."

 

"Um"

 

“When you leave the scene, call me.”

 

"To?"

 

“The murderer is still out there. It’s dangerous to go anywhere alone.”

 

"You should spend your time worrying about your younger sibling. If the results prove that Jay had nothing to do with Tonkla's death, then he'll probably find the murderer and be tracked down to silence him or have a letter sent to him at any moment."

 

“It’s getting late, so be careful.” Khamin nodded before walking out of the room. When he passed, the subordinates sent to look after and guard Jay didn’t forget to give them instructions.

 

"No one except the captain, the attending physician, and the nurses is allowed to enter or exit. They must receive my or the captain's permission first. Do you understand?

 

"Understand"

 

Khamin drove to the scene where officers were already present and cordoned off the area.

 

"Hello, Inspector," Thanakun greeted, then turned back to take pictures of Tonkla's disfigured corpse.

 

“Did you get anything?”

 

"Same as before. No fingerprints were found at the scene," Thanakun sighed before standing up to talk to Khamin. "The skull was shattered from the impact. Every part of the head, face, and down to the neck was almost impossible to find. The legs were also smashed to pieces by a hard object. And here's the paper on the deceased's head."

 

Instead, he handed the bag of evidence with the word "Truth" written inside to the person in front of you before looking out at another area separated from the others.

 

"What about Mirin?"

 

"We are investigating the surrounding area further."

 

“If you’re done taking the photos, you can take the body back to the station. I’ll follow you.”

 

"Yes, Inspector." Khamin walked to another barrier in front. It had wooden logs and white spray paint in the shape of a person, presumably to mark Jay's position before he was taken to the hospital.

 

"Mirin"

 

“Yes, Inspector.”

 

“This is the drug the captain got from the club. I would like you to verify whether it is the same drug found in the victim’s body.”

 

"Understood." Mirin handed it over to Manmai, who was holding the evidence collection box.

 

“What do you get from this?”

 

“Jay must have been ambushed from behind. He was approaching when someone used that stick to hit him in the head before he fell unconscious.”

 

"Usually, criminals don't leave any traces of evidence behind, but this time, why did they throw the weapon's stick around?" Khamin looked at the stick that Manmai had carefully put into the evidence bag. It had both Jay's bloodstains and possibly the criminal's fingerprints.

 

"That's right. Or was it because he was in a hurry?" Khamin didn't reply, just looked around the scene. But what he just noticed was that something was missing. The car with the engineer's coat inside was gone.

 

“Where is the garage owner?”

 

“He should be at the station. He's probably going to give a statement.”

 

“Earlier, there was a silver car with an engineer in an engineering uniform inside. Did anyone see it or move it?”

 

“When Manmai and I arrived, we ordered the area to be cordoned off, and no one was allowed to move anything without permission. If it were a car, no one would move it.”

 

"I'll be going back to the station. You and Thanakun, once you've collected all the evidence, will return to examine the victim's body and the drugs I gave you."

 

"understand"

 

Khamin immediately headed back to the police station to get information about the missing car. A premonition told him that there must have been something between the time the killer did it and when Jay was attacked.

 

At the hospital, Jade was sitting on the sofa, looking at his younger brother. Not long after, the nurse who had been treating his wounds came in with two ziplock bags.

 

"Here, Captain, are the patient's belongings."

 

"Thank you." After she finished giving Jay the IV, the nurse left the room.

 

The first bag contained Jay's clothes, and the second bag contained his belongings: his wallet, phone, and motorcycle keys. When Jade took out the bag and opened it, he was shocked to find things that shouldn't have been there and that Jay shouldn't have had.

 

The four Polaroids were all of the victims who had already been killed in a rather unsightly state. How did they come to be here?

 

"Smile." The voice from the person on the bed made Jade look away, only to see his younger brother slowly open his eyes and start to move. "Brother Jade ."

 

"Don't get up yet," Jade called to the nurse, informing him that his brother had woken up.

 

“How did I get here?”

 

“What do you remember?”

 

"I... I left the house and went for a drive... I went to Dan Kla's garage!!! Tonkla! Brother Jade, Kla, I saw! I saw someone hurting Kla." When Jay regained consciousness, he remembered what he had seen before he lost consciousness.

 

“Can you tell me about the events you saw?”

 

“I parked my car in front because there was a car blocking the entrance. When I looked in, I saw a man in black wearing a white mask…”

 

“What power?”

 

"Pulling the lever, dropping the car on top of Kla..." When Jay started to tell about what he saw, he looked shocked before he became depressed.

 

“So what happened next? Do you remember what happened to you?”

 

“I screamed until he turned around and then… I got hit in the head, and I don’t remember anything.”

 

"Are you sure you didn't fight the bad guys yourself?"

 

"I'll have the doctor come in and check on you."

 

Jay grabbed his brother's arm and looked at him, his expression worried. "What about Kla?"

 

"He's dead," Jade replied simply before walking outside. No matter how much he lied, he would know. He could guess what he saw. It was just that Jay didn't want to admit it.

 

As he was about to answer the phone, Jade passed by the attending physician, who was already caring for his younger brother. He then walked to the fire escape to call Khamin, who waited even longer.

 

[How is it going?]

 

"Jay is awake."

 

[How is he?]

 

“I’m having the doctor evaluate him, but I’ve already asked him about what happened.”

 

[You think there are two criminals?)

 

“How do you know?”

 

[Earlier, when I went to get the flash drive from the seedlings, I saw three cars waiting for repairs in front. One of them had Jay's faculty coat on the back seat, but when I got there, it was gone.]

 

"Jay said that when he arrived, he couldn't park inside because the car was blocking the way."

 

[Hmm, I went back to question the garage owner. He said that the car was brought in for repairs by Tonkla. He saw it parked there two days before the incident and hadn't been repaired yet, so no one had touched it.]

 

“Have you checked whose car it is?”

 

[Fortunately, the garage owner remembered the license plate number, so we got the information.]

 

“Whose is it, Khamin?”

 

[It is registered to the owner of the car...with the name Champ]

 

"Where are you?"

 

[The station probably has to wait to finish handling the latest case. It will probably take about the same amount of time as it would to wait for a search warrant for Champ's house. You're in the hospital.

 

[Let's go]

 

"I'll go find it."

 

[As you wish. Did Jay say anything else?]

 

“He said that when he saw the bad guys attacking Tonkla, someone knocked him unconscious. After that, he couldn’t remember anything.”

 

[What is the description of the criminal?]

 

“Wearing a black cloak and a white mask,” Jade walked back to give orders to his subordinates, who had to stay and then hurried out to call a car to go to the station immediately.

 

(I'm going to the autopsy room now. When you arrive, I'll meet you there.)

 

"Min"

 

[Now you call me by my name so casually.]

 

“Um,” when the other end of the line didn’t seem serious, Jade  chose to continue, “I found something in Jay’s bag.”

 

[What thing]

 

“Close-up Polaroid photographs of the four victims…at the time of their deaths.”

 

[Would you like to bring it back?]

 

"Um"

 

[I don't mean to pressure you, Jade, but being at the scene without any witnesses to confirm the incident and having photos of the victim in my possession, I'll have to keep Jay in custody this time.] Jade sighed before leaning back in the car seat. He knew the process well, and Jay's involvement this time was too much to let go. Khamin was still able to spare some of his feelings by not saying that his younger brother was now a suspect.

 

“I understand.”

 

[How are the scars?]

 

"Jay's or mine?"

 

[Who am I talking to?] Jade looked down at his wound. Although it didn't hurt that much anymore, it still felt a bit tight.

 

“It hurts so much. I think I need to find someone to take care of me.”

 

[Um, then go and have it checked by the nurse's office again. That's all for now. I'm going into the autopsy room now.]

 

The sound of the disconnected call alert made Jade frown. This was too cold!

 

Khamin, who had just ended the call, put his phone in his pocket before smiling at the space in front of the autopsy room. He had annoyed the other party a bit, which was a temporary relief from the stress of the whole thing.

 

Instead, he was trying to put the parts of the body on the autopsy bed together as perfectly as possible. The previous corpse did it, and he had a headache.

 

"How are you?"

 

"I want to resign"

 

"I'll leave it at that for now. I need your skills."

 

"I'm trying to put the skull and face back together as they should be. Judging from the appearance, the leg wound probably happened first, judging from the marks there," Thanakun pointed to the leg where the bone was protruding and the tip of the foot was bent together because it was boneless. "The perpetrator acted without thinking at all. Judging from the force of the attack, he didn't seem to hesitate at all."

 

“If you were going to hesitate, you would have thought so from the first corpse.”

 

“Speaking of the first body, I think we should gather all the victims’ bodies together, in case we can find some clues to identify the culprit.”

 

"I'll talk to the hospital's forensic department."

 

"And what about the captain?"

 

“I’m coming. Let me ask you something.”

 

"Ask me."

 

“Were you the one who took photos of all the victims?”

 

“Yes, in case there are any omissions or irregularities after the autopsy, we will know where the mistakes were.”

 

“Is it only you?”

 

"Yes"

 

"All the image files"

 

"I'll put the photos on that computer once they're done," Thanakun pointed at the computer connected to the monitor above the autopsy bed. "What's going on?"

 

“I just want to make sure that the photos you see are freshly taken, not stolen files from us.”

 

“No, I usually work alone. Anyone who enters or exits this room has to be with me.”

 

"Um"

 

So, the photo in Jay's bag was a new photo taken by the culprit? If Jay isn't the culprit, then why would the real culprit do that? Blame him? Or is he trying to divert attention from the suspect? Of the eight people, four are now dead, leaving only four who could be the murderers.

 

Jay

 

Time

 

Serene

 

Champ

 

Who will receive the letter, and what will that person choose: telling the truth or accepting the challenge?

 

And if you accept the challenge...what is that challenge?