Lusso stared into Jin Isman’s glazed eyes in shock. Lusso let go of Jin’s shoulders and stood up. The body collapsed back onto the shelf. Jin’s head lolled to the side, and blood continued to flow, now faster, both out of his nose and mouth. The wet spot on Jin’s pants began to get larger and larger as his relaxed body released excrement.
Ding said, “Lusso, CPR! Call an ambulance!”
Lusso said, “It has to be overdose. Fucking overdose. Dumb junkie didn’t know—”
“Lusso— “
“SHUT UP! One more word! One more word, and I’ll kill you.”
Lusso began to breathe heavily, and fell onto his knees in front of Jin’s body. Lusso choked on his spit, and held onto his throat with both hands while he coughed. Ding squeezed at his silver cross necklace. Lusso coughed one last time, then ransacked Jin’s pockets with shaking hands. He threw what he found haphazardly on the ground. There was a packet of Luster Beads, a phone, a lighter, and a pack of cigarettes. Lusso closed his eyes and tried to empty his mind as best as he could. He took a deep breath and picked up Jin’s phone. Lusso turned on Jin’s phone and unlocked the facial recognition by hovering it over Jin’s face.
“Ding. It’s 10:53 P.M. right now. Tell me when it hits eleven. And while I look at this, you search the compartment.”
“What’re you doing? Aren’t you going to call an ambulance?”
“Ding. He’s dead. He’s already pissed himself. We've both seen a lot of bodies. Aren't you used to them by now?”
“Yes, but it’s the first time I’ve seen someone get killed!”
“I didn’t kill him. Look. He’s bleeding out of every hole in his fucking face. All I did was push him into a shelf. Trust me. I haven’t been wrong about this kind of shit before, right?”
Ding sighed, and shook his head.
“Good. It’s 10:53 P.M. right now. Tell me when it hits 11:00. I’m going to look through his phone, you look in the compartment. We’re going to figure out what Jin Isman was doing here.”
“Why don’t we let the cops handle this?”
“The cops? THE COPS? Those worthless bastards don't handle anything except bribe money. You never trust them with shit!”
Lusso finished glaring at Ding, then looked back at the phone. Ding swallowed, and descended into the cleaning compartment. Lusso looked through the phone, looking for any messages. Lusso checked his contacts for any phone numbers. There were none. Lusso flicked through different applications until he found a messaging application named “MsgEncrypt”. Lusso began to scroll through its contents. Lusso pulled out his phone and took a picture of a conversation between Jin and a person simply named “K.”
K: Go thru backdoor 10:40 P.M. Will only be unlocked for a minute. Be prompt.
K: Put findings into jar. Meet me the next day. I’ll be near when everyone’s unloading equipment. Slip me it then. All tracks will be covered.
Jin: Got you.
K: Take precautions.
Jin: Being chased. Hiding. Think I’ll be fine. Ria Jun has a secret boyfriend.
K: Noted. Are you safe?
Lusso slammed his fist down on the shelf. Ding yelped in surprise. Now another person knew.
Ding said, “Lusso, are you okay?”
Lusso ignored him. Lusso thought of answering the text message, but decided not to. He continued looking through the phone and took another picture. There was another conversation between Jin and another person named “J.”
J: No drugs on the job. Kal almost died because of you.
Jin: Sorry. Won’t happen again.
J: Last chance.
Lusso wondered why these were the only messages on the phone. Lusso blinked and found that all the messages had disappeared from the screen. Lusso’s eyes widened. He killed the application and opened it again. Nothing.
Ding said, “It’s eleven.”
Lusso said, “Do you see a jar in there?”
Ding said, “Uhmm… Yeah. It’s filled with some blue stuff.”
“Put it in your pocket, so it’s not too obvious to the cameras. Get back to Micky and tell her to hide it. I’m calling the ambulance right now.”
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“Alright.”
"Wait. Don't tell the police anything about us looking through Jin's pockets, and don't tell them about the electrocuted door either. Tell Micky and Ria the same. Now go."
Lusso pulled out his phone and dialed 002. While the call connected, Lusso looked into Jin’s glazed eyes.
“Hello. Someone’s died. I suspect drug overdose. No. I don’t know this man.”
Lusso watched as paramedics finished examining Jin’s body and loaded it into the ambulance. Two police officers approached Lusso. One was an older female officer with a wrinkly forehead and tired blue-grey eyes. The other was a younger female officer with nervous but excited pink eyes that darted this way and that until they found Lusso. She was carrying a digital tablet and stylus. The older officer lightly pushed the younger one forward, almost like a mother bird pushing chicks out of the nest. Lusso looked at their name badges. The older one was named Calisto Jane, the younger one was Kimi Lee.
“H-h-hello. Uhm. We’re sorry that you had to witness something so awful. We’re not going to arrest you or anything, so don't worry. But we’re going to ask you some questions.”
Lusso nodded.
“First, before anything, could we see your ID please?”
Lusso felt uneasy in his stomach as he handed her his ID. He still didn’t know who was behind Jin, and whether they were powerful enough to access police records. But he didn't have a choice.
“Thank you, Mr — “
“Just call me Lusso.”
“Mr. Lusso.”
“That works.”
“When did you first find the body?”
“Let me explain, we were talking to a certain celebrity named Ria Jun. By we, I mean me and the two other janitors with me. We heard something outside our door, we checked, and the next thing we knew, this guy was running away from us. Suspicious, right?”
“Yes.”
“So me and Ding chased him to this very room. I’m a janitor. I know all the nooks and crannies there are to cleaning closets. So I open the door for the compartment underneath, then find this guy smoking Luster Beads.”
She nodded, scribbling into her tablet.
“So he tries to run away. I thought he was going to tackle me, so I grabbed him, pushed him back, and he falls over. All in self defense. He didn’t even hit the floor hard. Next thing I know, he’s bleeding out of every hole in his face, and he’s dead."
Lusso let out a theatrical sigh and put a hand over his face, massaging his temples.
"That must have been awful for you, Mr. Lusso."
"Yes. Very. God, my boss is going to kill me."
"Don't worry, we've inspected the scene, and it looks like you've done nothing wrong."
"Officer, I didn't kill the guy. But it's not a good look for me either. I pushed the guy into a shelf and he suddenly died."
"We'll put in our best word for you."
"Thank you officer. Well. I'll take my leave now."
“Thank you Mr. Lusso for your cooperation.”
Lusso was about to walk away, but Calisto’s voice stopped him. Calisto stepped in front of Kimi and took her tablet and stylus.
Calisto said, “Mr. Lusso, we aren't done with you yet."
Lusso said, “Are there a lot of questions? I’m not feeling very well.”
Calisto said, "You'll answer the rest at the station. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to detain you and your friend until the autopsy results come in.”
“What? Officer, do you have a warrant for this?”
“We do. If you're as innocent as you say, you'll be out quick. So you shouldn't have much to worry about, right?”
“I have a job to do here with my janitorial team. There’s only three people in the team. If you take me and Ding out, there’s only one left.”
“I’m sure they'll understand.”
“Let me talk to her first, please. She's with Ding anyways.”
The two officers followed Lusso back to Ria Jun’s dressing room.
Lusso said, “Give us 10 minutes. Is that good with you?”
Calisto rolled her eyes.
Lusso said, “Fine, fine, I’ll make it 5.”
Lusso walked into the room and closed the door behind him, trying to leave the officers outside. Calisto opened the door and walked in, with Kimi in tow. Lusso swore internally. Micky was whispering into Ria's ear. Ding sat on the couch opposite from them, watching them.
Lusso said, “Hey Micky. Feeling better? I'm going to be detained with Ding, until the autopsy comes out. Don't miss me too much.”
Micky scowled at Lusso as he approached her, and when he swooped down to hug her, she nearly shoved him back on reflex.
Lusso whispered, “Keep the jar on you 24/7.”
Right as Lusso finished his sentence, Micky shoved him back onto his feet. Lusso held up both hands in surrender.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to either.”
“You should have stopped at sorry.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Do I have to do everything again?”
“We'll try to get out quick.”
“You better. Or else I'll be stuck here until sunrise.”
After the officers had questioned all the other people on site, Lusso and Ding walked with them back to a police car. The top half of the car was black, and the bottom half was white, like the underbelly of a shark. The exterior was scrubbed so clean it gleamed in the light of a nearby streetlight. As Lusso opened the door and fastened his seatbelt, he was assaulted by the stench of cigarettes, coffee, and cheap air freshener. Random bits of trash littered the floor. Lusso scrunched his face up. He decided he would breathe from his mouth for the time being. Behind the patented CORPSITECH BARRIER GLASS separating the backseats and the front seats, Lusso saw Calisto sitting in the driver seat, and Kimi getting into the passenger seat. They took off.
Calisto asked, “First time?”
Lusso said, “Of course, Officer Jane. Of course."