There lied their only clue to Hercules, dead on the dusty and cracked wooden floor of the shed's only bedroom. Shed was the right word to describe the place they were in, calling it a house would be too much of a compliment. There's no doubt that at some point it used to be a nice, cozy, small family house, but over the years the house had been through some serious damage. Yao could tell by the crumbled picture next to the open wallet near Sadik's body that the shed once provided for a small family of three: Sadik, Hercules and the woman hugging the children, who he assumed was their mother.
"I can't believe this, he got here before us!"
The Russian man crossed his arms in frustration, pacing around the room impatiently, his weight making the floorboards creak and squeak. His partner glanced over at him, letting out a disappointed sigh, looking down at the postman's new victim.
"He's taking the piss at this point. Will you look at this shit? Trying to pull a robbery stunt? Does he actually think we're idiots!?"
Yao yelled, pointing at the wallet on the ground and the broken window in the bedroom. It angered him how the killer thought of them as morons. It was obvious that the postman had done this completely on purpose just to mess with them, but Yao was not going to let it get to him, not this time.
"It's outrageous, how he continues to play with us and make a mockery of the police force! First he sends Hercules, this poor confused guy to admit committing those atrocities then shoots him right in front of our noses. And now, Sadik is shot to death just like his brother!"
Ivan was usually the one to maintain calm in stressful situations while his partner was just like a ticking time bomb of rage. It's true that Ivan is more the type to be consumed by anxiety, but it had been weeks with this case and frankly, he had enough of being toyed around by the postman.
"Enough is enough. We can't let him keep getting away with this, Ivan. There are 3 women dead and 2 potential witnesses dead all in the span of a month. We have a murderous psychopath roaming our streets targeting young women, we cannot allow him to add another girl to his kill count."
Detective Wang was more motivated than ever, the fact that the killer literally just spat them across the face by trying to play pretend a robbery was unacceptable. It was almost like the murderer himself was trying to challenge him, and by god did Yao love a good challenge.
"You're right- we need to get Sadik to Natalya as soon as possible and find out if it's the same bullet, then we can confirm that it was the postman behind this."
The Russian man quickly pulled out his little sunflower notebook and started to write down details about Sadik and the state he was in. It appeared to be multiple shots in the chest, at quite close range as well. He leaned down closer to have a better look at the rather grotesque sight of bullet wounds.
"They knew each other. And Sadik didn't seem to be scared of him either, or at least gave enough time for the postman to get closer to him and shoot him."
Yao looked down at Sadik's bloody bandaged hand, did he try to fight back? He probably didn't have the time, the poor guy didn't stand a chance against that absolute maniac, the postman probably already made up his mind to kill off Sadik before Sadik even had time to escape.
"And it seems like Sadik also knew he was coming for him, right?"
Detective Braginski looked over at the suitcase on top of the bed, already filled with some clothes and other personal items.
"Underwear, deodorant, toothbrush, cash, and a stash of fake identification cards. Seems like Sadik had it all figured out. Poor bastard thought he could take a bus across the country and escape the postman, easier said than done I'm afraid."
The Chinese man rolled his eyes as he put down the cash back into the suitcase. If the postman wanted to pull off a robbery stunt he could have at least tried a bit harder. Finding the cash wasn't that hard, just buried under some dirty underwear.
"Drug dealer, you reckon?"
Ivan looked up from his notebook, waiting for Yao's confirmation before writing anything down, swiftly tucking his pen behind his ear.
"Wouldn't surprise me, drug dealers are mostly around this part of town, and it seems like Sadik wasn't doing too bad himself."
Detective Wang flipped through the hundred dollar bills stashed together, and he had to admit that it was a rather impressive sum for a local drug dealer.
"Well, what was Sadik's deal with the postman anyway? Must have been something serious enough to get him and his brother killed."
The Russian scratched his chin, feeling that they had once again reached a dead end with the case. How were they going to figure out the connection between Sadik, Hercules, and the murderer? They couldn't just sit around and wait for the killer to strike again, something had to be done, despite the very hopeless circumstances they found themselves in.
"We know for a fact that Heracles was being forced to confess for the crimes of the postman, blackmailed into it most likely, but why? And Sadik, he can't just be killed for no reason right? Yet he knew the postman was coming for him so he tried to escape. Why did the postman do it? Was Sadik a threat? Could it be that the postman knew Sadik might collaborate with us and he couldn't risk that happening?"
The Chinese man began shooting out questions, walking around in circles as he spoke. Suddenly he stopped, an idea striking his head, a small grin showed up, followed by a bitter frown and a light shake of the head.
"What is it? You have an idea, don't you?"
Detective Braginski got rather excited by his partner's expressions, it seemed like Yao was gonna be able to get them out of this mess.
"No, no! It's a terrible idea, horrible in fact! I refuse to do it, and that's the end of the story."
"What!? Yao, are you listening to yourself? You have an idea to pull us out of this dead end and you're refusing to tell? What's the matter with you!? I thought our priority was to solve this case!"
Ivan couldn't believe the way Yao was acting, so incredibly out of character for him. What was this wild idea that Yao had anyways? Whatever it was, it couldn't be that bad, right?
"Fine! Fine, I might know someone from the area that could be helpful."
The Russian man was speechless for a second, what was getting into Yao? That was the most brilliant thing he had heard his partner say!
"What do you mean? Who? This is great stuff Yao, we have to go see them now!"
Detective Wang shook his head again, almost like he was acting against his detective instinct. It was the person he had in mind that could potentially help them sort out the connection but he wasn't exactly someone Yao wanted to see, in fact, he was someone Yao hadn't seen in probably two years or maybe more.
"We'll go see them but I'm warning you that it might be completely useless. They're not reliable whatsoever, in fact, they are everything against what I believe in… but they do know their way around this area."
Ivan was rather intrigued by this mystery person Yas was talking about, who Yaio clearly was not fond of, but if this was their only shot at solving the case then he thought they should take the risk.
"Come on, how bad can they actually be? After all the people we've dealt with while trying to solve the case? I think we're quite ready for anything!"
Yao did appreciate Ivan's positive attitude for once, but he wasn't quite convinced himself. The chances this person was even going to help them were low, but it seemed to be their only way to get out of the dead end.
"Look, I'm just asking you to keep your expectations low, the chances of us getting anything out of him are low, really low."
Detective Braginski simply nodded, who was this mystery man that Yao was on about? And how come Yao even knew someone from this part of town? Ivan wanted to keep his positive attitude and hope for the best possible outcome, despite not knowing who they were going to be dealing with.
"It's settled then, call for support so they can take a look at this new crime scene and I'm going to page Natalya and the chief about our newest discovery. Hopefully, this won't get leaked to the press, the postman is basically ridiculing us in front of the whole town and we don't need more humiliation from the press."
The Chinese man began getting busy and so did Ivan, and in no time there were a few police cars parked outside of the shed.
"You guys take it from here then, let us know if you find any kind of illegal substances or anything relevant to his brother Heracles."
Ivan listened to his partner instruct the crime scene investigators. Soon the body would get to Natalya as well and they'll have the official confirmation that Sadik was killed by the postman himself.
"Should we get going now?"
Yao asked, looking back at Ivan that stood behind him like a lost puppy, just following him around. He found it quite adorable, such a big and muscular man like Ivan being so…obedient.
"Good boy."
Detective Wang mumbled before realizing that he had said that out loud. He started coughing relentlessly, hoping it would distract Ivan enough to forget that shameful and ridiculous thing he just blurted out.
"Huh?"
The Russian looked at Yao somewhat confused by the sudden coughing fit, he didn't even manage to hear what his partner had mumbled. He went on and gave Yao a few pats on the back hoping to get the coughing to stop.
"There, there! Weird that you're coughing so much, have you been sneaking some cigs?"
The Chinese man rolled his eyes as he walked out of the shed.
"Don't be ridiculous-"
Yao paused, turning around when he heard the soft meow made by the cat standing behind him, trying to get his attention.
"Meow"
It did it again, this time rubbing itself against Yao's leg and starting to purr.
"Seems like the cat likes you!"
Ivan watched curiously. He had never been particularly great with animals, he liked them of course but he never had an actual pet. But despite his little knowledge, Sadik's cat seemed determined to be picked up by Yao.
"Out of my way! Shoo!"
Detective Wang shook his leg lightly, not wanting to hurt the cat but just to get it away. Whatever that cat was trying to hint at him, Yao was not buying it. There was absolutely no way he was taking that cat home with him. Nothing and no one could convince him to do so and that was Yao's final word.
"You should adopt it!"
The cat purred even louder, appearing to agree with Ivan while wrapping its tail around Yao's legs.
"Hell no! A cat is another responsibility I don't need. Do you have any idea how busy I am working day and night? I'm barely at home anyways…"
Detective Wang said as he began to kneel, patting the cat's head gently with a satisfied smile as it purred.
"No, no, I am far too busy for this! Who's gonna feed it and clean it when I'm gone? Although it would give me a reason to come home a bit earlier…"
He continued second guessing himself, picking up the cat at this point with his two hands.
"Look at its stupid little face! Aren't you a good kitty? Who's gonna look after you now? I wonder if you were even cared for, you look a bit skinny."
Detective Braginski watched his partner talk to the cat as he tried to contain his laughter. It turned out that Yao had a soft spot for animals! How adorable! The whole interaction simply warmed Ivan's heart.
"So you're gonna take it?"
The cat meowed again, before Yao put him back on the ground.
"Yes, and what about it? Just because I'm taking it doesn't mean I will be neglecting work, just so you know! So in case you thought that we would work less hours then you are dead wrong Braginski!"
The Russian chuckled, the little rant by Yao trying to justify himself while refusing to admit he liked the cat was the funniest thing ever. It was incredible how headstrong Yao could be sometimes.
"Come on, we have work to do, pick up the cat and get in the car."
Ivan heard the order but hesitated for a second, staring down at the fluffy animal licking its paw. How was he supposed to do this? He had never picked up a cat before, was it the same way one picks up a baby? Well, Ivan had never picked up a baby anyways so how would he know?
"Come here kitty kitty…"
He mumbled, grabbing it with just one hand, the cat didn't seem to struggle so that was a good sign, then he proceeded to waddle into the vehicle, terrified of dropping Yao's new pet.
It was a short drive until they stopped at another wretched little house in that slum they were in. The cat had already made itself comfortable in the back seat of the car and before the detectives went out, they made sure to leave some windows open.
"Right, focusing on the case again. Let me just say that I am not certain this will work out. But we're already here so let's just give it a shot and get it over with, shall we?"
Detective Wang explained to his partner who replied with a silent nod before he knocked on the door. Usually he would announce that the police were knocking but this was a special kind of scenario.
"Who is it?"
Ivan watched the door open a tiny bit, revealing a small gap and an eye staring at them from a bit of a distance. Shady situation for sure. Whoever this was, Ivan did not find them trustworthy.
"Not a cop."
Yao simply replied, watching the door swing open and a familiar face appearing in front of him. Well, maybe not that familiar after all, that face tattoo was definitely new.
"Brother?!"
Yong Soo stared back at his oldest brother in shock. How long has it been? 2 or 3 years perhaps since that dreadful thanksgiving that essentially tore the Wang family apart. Nevermind that now, he could forgive everything if Yao was there to make amends, which he assumed to be the case.
"Oh my god, brother!"
Detective Wang froze when Yong Soo launched himself towards him, suffocating Yao in a bear hug that he struggled to get out of. Since when did that boy get so strong!? Well, he sort of should have expected it since his little brother was now much taller than him.
"Let go- let go of me, damn it!"
Right behind them stood Ivan, confused as always. So this tall young man with a red dragon tattoo across his face was supposed to be Yao's brother? The guy wearing an oversized hoodie and baggy jeans that reeked of cigarettes and…was that weed he smelled? That was honorable detective Wang's brother, and also brother to Kiku? How was that possible? And Ivan thought he and sisters were different.
"This is your…brother?"