Kkotboda Namja: A Detective Story
Chapter 2. The Wife.
Detective So Yi Jeong
5 Jan.
0930 hours. We inform the widow of her husband's death. She appears shocked. She slumps in a chair and begins to cry. I search her face. Is she genuine?
0940 hours. She hasn't stopped crying—wailing. Often women think they look pretty when they cry, but it's really not true. If this Geum Jan Di thinks she can fool me by playing on my male sympathies, she's mistaken. I hand her my handkerchief. If she's a grieving widow, I offer it in good faith. If she's a black widow, I hope she keeps to a faith—she'll need it.
Song comforts her more directly. She clings to him like any other woman would. I wait for her tears to stop. I wonder how this vulgar girl ended up married to one of the most eligible men in the country. I remember all the papers asked the same question. A dry cleaner's daughter and a chaebol heir?
Well, it was no accident; the couple had no children. It wasn't business; she had no connections. It wasn't money; she had none, and he had more than enough. I glance over her body, but even with effort, the most this girl could hope for was 'decent'.
My patience ends.
'Mrs Geum Jan Di,' I say gently. She looks at me. I smile. She doesn't smile back. It seems she's as equally immune to me. I am disconcerted, then I remember my black eye. Curse that damn girl.
Mrs Geum Jan Di pulls herself from Song, and wipes away her tears.
'You found him on the beach?' she asks.
Song returns to sit beside me and opposite her. 'Yes mam,' he says.
'When was the last time you saw your husband?' I ask.
'Yesterday evening.' She shakes her head. 'I didn't realise…I thought he'd…I'd forgotten…we didn't realise…how could…fall overboard.' She was working herself into a panic. I take her hands into mine and look her in the eyes.
'Calm down Mrs Geum Jan Di,' I say. I smile again. Women usually find it comforting, but suspects alway find it disarming, black eye or no, I am So Yi Jeong.
'You mentioned something about someone falling overboard,' Song says.
Mrs Geum Jan Di reacts to his tone; she takes her hands back from mine, and sits up straight.
'Isn't that what happened?' she asks. 'My husband, washed up on the beach. He must have fallen overboard.'
Song and I share a look.
'Mrs Geum Jan Di,' Song says, 'your husband was murdered.'
I watch her face closely. Her expression moves from surprise to confusion to anger. She howls. She launches out of her chair and grabs Song by his lapels. 'My husband was murdered?'
Song is not happy about the intrusion into his personal space. His hands immediately clasp around hers.
'Mrs Geum Jan Di,' I say sternly. I place a hand on her arm. 'Please sit down.' She pays me no heed.
'What do you mean murdered?' Her words spit into Song's eyes.
'Mrs Geum Jan Di!' I say again. Song pulls her hands from his jacket and forces her back into her seat. When he sits back down again, he straightens his jacket, but his face remains perturbed. Mrs Geum Jan Di is lucky she was born the fairer sex.
She appears genuinely distressed. She stands up and walks across the room. She turns and walks back. Song stands up defensively, but Mrs Geum Jan Di just says, 'What happened?'
'Mrs Geum Jan Di,' I say, 'if you would please sit down, Detective Song and I will happily answer any questions you may have, but we also ask that you answer ours as well.'
Mrs Geum Jan Di seems taken aback. 'Am I…I am a suspect?' She sits back down, and so does Song.
'Mrs Geum Jan Di,' Song says, cool professionalism replaces his previously genial manner, 'your husband was dead before he entered the water. He sustained a heavy blunt force injury to the back of the head. Other wounds suggest he fought with his attacker prior to the killing blow. His body had been wrapped in a tarp and weighed down with fishing sinkers; however, whoever did it, didn't take enough care. The body got free and floated for several hours, til a young couple discovered it washed up on the beach this morning.'
'I'll ask if you could refrain from referring to my husband as 'it', Detective Song.'
'I apologise, but Mrs Geum Jan Di, you said that you last saw your husband yesterday evening, correct? Can you give us an approximate time? Also, where did you last see him?'
'About 8pm. On the boat,' she says.
'The boat,' I say, 'You mean your family's yacht?'
She nods.
'Why were you out on the boat Mrs Geum Jan Di?'
'We—my husband and I—have both been pretty busy lately. I've been overseeing the restoration of our house, and he'd been busy recording his new album, and organising a new scholarship competition through his family's foundation, so we thought it might be nice to spend the night together on the yacht.'
'You wanted to spend the night together, but you last saw him at 8pm. What happened?'
'I was tired. I went to bed.'
'Without your husband?'
'Yes.'
'Was there anybody else on board besides you and your husband?'
'Just the staff, but they couldn't have done this. They're all really nice people. Friends.'
'We'd still like their names Mrs Geum Jan Di.'
'Our chef, Bom Chun Sik, and two waitresses/maids, Ha Jae Kyung and Chu Ga Eul. Also, Captain Jung, Jung Sang Rok, he's worked for my husband's family for years. He'd moored the yacht just off the coast. My husband and I took a smaller boat out to get there. Later, when I noticed my husband was missing I thought he must have taken the smaller boat back to shore. I'd forgotten that Captain Jung had already taken it back earlier that evening.'
I note down the names. They'll all need to be interviewed.
'Captain Jung didn't stay on the boat?' She shakes her head. 'But the chef and the maids, they remained until they returned with you this morning?' She nods. 'So, when we talk with your staff, they'll confirm that you retired to sleep at 8pm and remained in your room all night?'
'Yes,' she says tentatively. She hesitates then admits, 'They might also mention that my husband and I argued before I went to bed.'
'So, you didn't retire because you were tired, you retired because you were angry with your husband.'
'No! I was tired, tired of arguing, but I wasn't angry at my husband. The argument wasn't like that.'
'What did you argue about?'
'It's private.'
'We're conducting a murder investigation Mrs Geum Jan Di. Nothing is private.'
'It was inconsequential. Just about…stuff to do with the renovation. I wanted to alter the banister, make it more modern, while he wanted it to remain the way it is. He's old-fashioned.'
She's lying, and she knows we know she's lying.
She sits quietly then says, 'I love my husband. He was my soulmate.'
Soulmate? Honey, there's no such thing.
'What about Min Jae Ha,' Song asks.
'Excuse me?' Her face hardens at the mention of her lover's name. 'You can't believe everything you read in the newspapers, or every piece of gossip you hear. Isn't that right, Detective So?'
They both turn to look at me.
It's true I've had my share of scandals. I stay clear of married women, but every so often, they don't stay clear of me. I wonder which ones were acquaintances of Mrs Geum Jan Di and how much they told her about me.
'So, you're not involved with Min Jae Ha?'
'No. He's just a friend.'
I believe her, but, 'Did your husband believe that?'
'Of course,' she says, 'he trusts me. He's the sweetest, kindest person I've ever met. I don't understand how anyone could hate him enough to murder him.'
'What about Jae Ha?'
'Excuse me?'
'Is Jae Ha interested in you?'
'I've made my feelings perfectly clear to him. And, whatever you're suggesting, Jae Ha is currently in Macau doing a photoshoot and he's been there for the past week.'
I can't imagine an international model like Min Jae Ha wanting a women such as Geum Jan Di so desperately that he would hire someone to kill her husband.
A knock at the door interrupts my thoughts. Mrs Geum Jan Di silently asks our permission to answer it. We nod our assent.
'Jan Di-ah!'
She opens the door and a man enters the room. He sweeps Mrs Geum Jan Di into a tight hug. I don't recognise the man, but his face, his voice, his hair, his posture, his designer clothing, everything about him reeks of money and entitlement.
'I just heard it on the news,' the man says.
Damn crows. Now, they'll be clawing at our backs until we solve this case.
'Don't worry Jan Di-ah,' the man says, 'I'll find out who did this to Ji Hoo-ah, even if it's the final act of the great Gu Jun Pyo.'
Gu Jun Pyo, head of Shinhwa Group. I note the intimate way he holds Geum Jan Di to his body.
I share a look with Song. We understand each other without words. If we have to take on Shinhwa, our career-making case could easily become a career-ending case.
We suspend our interview with Geum Jan Di. I glance at the list of names on my notepad: Jung Sang Rok, Bom Chun Sik, Ha Jae Kyung, and Chu Ga Eul.
What do they know about the murder of Yun Ji Hoo?
Coming up next…
Chapter 3. The Usual Suspects
Part 1: Jung Sang Rok
