The police station was a small building with poor amenities placed in the center of Wonsung-du, a simple neighborhood bordering the nightlife district of the outer city. They received plenty of complaints from rowdy crowds and drunken conflicts, as well as the occasional traffic mishap caused by the too-narrow streets, but other than that it was usually quiet.

The neighborhood was in the middle of a plan to redevelop the area, but there were so many people latching on to the nostalgia and hominess of their community that it was a difficult process. The place was too old, too packed, where everyone knew everyone, and often times conflicts would be resolved by the police looking in the other direction, because that was how it was always done. Just as the next neighbor was a part of the family, so was the substation, and like lax parents they watched over their twenty or so blocks of children with lazy, rested eyes.

Detective Daniel hated it here.

It had only been two weeks since his transfer, and he already knew that he’d rather be anywhere else. The officers here were too relaxed in their work. They didn’t understand that offenders should be punished, that a crime was a crime no matter what details were thrown in to distract from the process. This chase was the first time he had truly moved since his reassignment, and the adrenaline coursing in him made him more frustrated that it took so long to get some decent work done.

The complete incompetence of his coworkers wasn’t helping his nerves either. His “partner”, Detective Jin, was an older gentleman he was supposed to follow the footsteps of, but it seemed as if he never left the sloppy comforts of his desk. The uniformed officers were just as bad, leaving promptly for their patrols but taking too much time to circle back on account of bumbling around. Daniel wasn’t sure how much he could take of it. By years end he knew he’d have to take some time off to recuperate from the pain of carrying this entire precinct on his back.

Currently, the detective had uncuffed his prisoner and sat her down in one of the rusting metal chairs surround his desk but had pushed her far enough from the other visitors so that she wouldn’t make a racquet. Next to her, close but not too close, were the victims of the incident: the cheesy congressman running in the next senate election, William Kim, smartly dressed in a chic turtleneck and dress pants different from his usual suit, who kept as much of an air of charm as he could in the murk of their station, and an dark-haired younger man who offered up the name Mitchell An, whose professionalism attracted the attention of passersby but wasn’t enough to cause alarm. The celebrity beside him easily overshadowed his presence.

They both seemed to hold differing opinions of their criminal. Kim squinted at her as if he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing. Mitchell was trying to separate himself from the whole situation, but he kept a posture of interest, leaned back but not completely away. His eyes occasionally wandered, as if he wasn’t all there. Nora was as slouched in her seat as her chair would allow, and she forced all her might on the grumpy detective in front of her with a look similar to disgust. She paid no attention to the men at her side. She had given it all to them much earlier.

Pushing the tense atmosphere out of the way, Daniel began to bring up files onto his computer monitor and type out information. Before he could ask any questions a passing uniformed officer, Officer Gu, noticed the group. An old friend. Nora smiled at him, and the young man grinned back, dimples creasing his face. Before anyone could stop him he had pulled up a chair next to Nora.

“Have you considered a job change?” the officer asked her, “I feel like you’re here more than I am.”

“I think I am here more than you,” she replied.

“What is it this time? Did one of your protests get too crazy? You harass another corporate heir?”

“She broke into a congressman’s penthouse with a fire extinguisher,” Daniel looked up from his computer and squinted at Officer Gu, “Don’t you have a street corner to loiter around?”

The detective’s words were harsh, but the station had long gotten used to them, so Gu paid no mind and settled himself deeper into his seat out of spite. He said his greeting to the politician, who he hadn’t noticed before, and kept up his commentary.

“That’s a little wild, even for you. Why’d you do it?”

Nora shrugged, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Are you stupid?” Kim barked, “You were in my house, I saw you-!”

At the insult, Officer Gu urged the congressman to settle down. The gesture straightened the politician’s posture significantly, as if he had momentarily lost control of himself. His friend gave a small smile, catching the fix. Nora kept silent.

A moment passed, and after a few taps Daniel tilted his computer monitor so he could get a better view of his guests. He cleared his throat.

“Let’s start with you, sir,” he gestured to Mr. Kim, “What exactly happened?”

Kim sat even straighter in his seat.

“I was having a meeting with my—”

“No, let’s start before that. When you entered the house, everything was normal?”

“Of course it was.”

[Mr. Kim enters his dark penthouse. He turns on a few lights and makes his way to his bedroom. Nothing out of the ordinary.]

“And what time did you get home?” Daniel asked.

“I’m not sure. It must have been around eleven? We finished the rally preparation around that time.”

[Kim takes off his tie and blazer, throwing them towards the bed. He exits the room and heads towards the living room, passing a clock that reads approximately 10:45.]

“And you were by yourself at that time, correct? What did you do before your friend came over to visit?”

[Kim stands at the stove, preparing dinner. He dices up veggies on the counter, grills some meat. The sizzling is appetizing.]

“I was cooking dinner,” Kim answered.

“For one?”

The politician jerked in his seat at the sudden interruption from the girl who had refused to acknowledge him before.

“It’s not your turn to talk, so keep your mouth shut,” Daniel said, his eyes narrowing.

Nora shrugged indifferently.

“My bad. It’s a habit.”

Kim adjusted his blazer awkwardly. Mitchell raised an eyebrow. His smile didn’t disappear.

“What was your next question?” Kim smiled.

Daniel didn’t look away from his screen, “How many people were you cooking for?”

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An awkward pause.

“It was a good question. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

One second. Two. Finally, Kim answered, “One. Just one.”

“And your family? Where were they?”

Nora smiled softly, satisfied. This was another question begging to escape her mouth. Everyone heard it without her having to speak, but the detective left the discussion where it was. If the great politician William Kim was having personal problems, now wasn’t the time to share them.

Daniel typed this out promptly. While he was busy, Officer Gu started showing pictures of his family to Nora, a conversation too casual for the situation. They cooed over a daughter’s recital photo, which incited a violent cough from the detective, and before they could reach the New Year’s album Daniel chucked a file in the officer’s direction, urging him to keep quiet if he was going to stick around. The officer and the girl both clicked their tongues at him. What a buzzkill.

Finally, the detective turned to Kim’s friend.

“And you. What’s your name? What relationship do you have with the congressman?”

“He’s my secretary,” Kim answered.

Another pause. Daniel raised an eyebrow.

“I’m sorry, sir. I wasn’t asking you.”

It was an awkward interjection on the politician’s part. Officer Gu tilted his head away from his phone out of interest, and as the attention shifted towards him again Kim repositioned himself to that posture of dignity. It seemed as if they were brushing over a sensitive topic by his tone of voice, one that shouldn’t have required any special interest but called for it anyways. It definitely reeled Nora in. Her self-contained satisfaction turned into outright smugness, and she leaned back to look around the congressman and assess his friend’s reaction.

He was calm when he answered.

“He’s right, though,” the man swiftly pulled a business card out of nowhere and passed it to the detective like a pro, “I’m his secretary, Mitchell An. I was stopping by to deliver the minutes from the campaign meeting we had earlier today.”

[A small moment. Kim greets Secretary An at the door. Their exchange is cordial and polite. He’s welcomed inside.]

Mitchell was calm. Collected. But a small second of eye contact between him and the girl told Nora all she needed to know. A wave of uneasiness washed over, and he quickly looked away from her. His smile didn’t falter. Nora’s on grin suddenly disappeared, as if she was unamused.

The detective saw this exchange. He didn’t say a word.

Something was definitely going on here.

“…That was quite a late visit. It was past midnight when we received the call,” Daniel waved a finger between them, “Are you guys close?”

Mitchell didn’t miss a beat, “My parents went to high school with him, so he’s a family friend.”

The secretary didn’t give Kim the opportunity to intervene this time. Nota turned away to hide her disbelief. Officer Gu noticed the expression and quietly nudged her, but she shook her head. She didn’t know anything. She wasn’t going to say anything.

“…Ok,” Daniel didn’t stop typing, “Describe what happened next.”

The two victims exchanged glances, unsure.

“Either of you. Quickly, please,” the detective pressed.

The congressman stepped to the plate, “We were going over the minutes in the kitchen when the fire alarm went off. I had some important documents I couldn’t lose, so we took a minute to collect those. On our way out of the study we saw this lunatic in my living room with a fire extinguisher.”

[The two men are conversing in the kitchen. Congressman Kim is casual, looking at the documents in between his kitchen work, and Mitchell remains at attention, stiff and professional. The fire alarm suddenly goes off. The politician wonders if it’s his cooking that causes the alarm and immediately turns the flame off. When that doesn’t seem to be the case, he directs his secretary to the study, and they disappear into the other room for a speedy evacuation. They exit a moment later but stop in their tracks. Nora, her tall frame hunched over, her shoulders heaving from catching her breath, is hauling a fire extinguisher in between her hands. She looks frantic.]

“Lunatic?” Nora mumbled under her breath.

A warning glare. Nora shut her mouth.

Daniel typed.

“Do you know how she got in?”

“You know better than I do,” Kim replied, “Wasn’t the door busted? She must have used the fire extinguisher to bash her way through.”

“Ok. And what happened after that?”

Kim looked at Mitchell, as if he was hesitant. Apparently he wasn’t too sure. The secretary took over.

[The fire extinguisher hits the floor. A glimpse, only a glimpse, of a girl running back out the door she had entered from. The two men freeze in place, shocked, unable to process what had just happened.]

“She ran away.”

Daniel stopped typing and looked up.

“…That was it?”

“Yes. It’s why we didn’t call. She… didn’t do much besides break in.”

Huh.

Daniel looked over at the criminal. She remained completely calm, her face almost expressionless. She didn’t give any hint of her participation away, as if she had no business in this conversation at all. She tucked her hands into her hoodie pocket and let her legs kick out, stretching. Extremely casual.

The detective turned to Kim, “Do you think she had any reason to break in?”

“Ask her!” the congressman leaned away from the girl, throwing her looks of disgust, “She would know better than we do.”

She truly would. But she shrugged.

The detective knocked on his desk to capture her attention.

“…Are you going to enlighten us anytime soon? I thought you said that you were good at talking.”

She didn’t respond.

An annoyed sigh escaped the detective, but he moved on.

“So, the reason you decided no to contact the police was because she wasn’t a threat. But she did damage your property. What made you think she wasn’t going to come back and try something else?”

The politician tried to respond but couldn’t find the right words. He started fumbling.

“Well, I didn’t think-!”

“You really didn’t.”

He babbled before losing his train of thought, and Mitchell once again came to the rescue.

“Let’s not talk about what-ifs. The police were still involved, so—”

Officer Gu interrupted, “We responded to the fire alarm, not you.”

He had been the one to answer the call and was the most irked at the false alarm when they had arrived earlier that night. His jab wasn’t unwelcomed, but it was deserved. Mitchell wasn’t impressed and tried to bite back.

“We also asked not to pursue this matter further, but you made an arrest anyways. Are you willing to deal with the press when they come swarming tomorrow? The headline won’t be anything to sneeze at!”

“Would you rather have us respond to a call later because the matter wasn’t properly taken care of??” Gu stretched out of his seat towards the secretary, and Nora had to lean back to give him some room.

Before the impromptu conversation escalated any further, Daniel smacked his hand against his desk and returned order. The politician waved and Mitchell leaned back into his chair. Officer Gu huffed. Nora tapped her boots on the floor, staring at the ceiling as if she didn’t have a care in the world.

“Which brings us to you.”

Nora looked at the detective and pointed to her chest.

“Me?”

“Yes, you. What were you doing in Mr. Kim’s penthouse this evening?”

Nora didn’t answer right away. She used her legs to slide herself into an upright position, a feat that was difficult without her hands. She managed anyways. It was a long fifteen seconds of silence that didn’t help Daniel’s growing frustration.

Finally, she spoke, “…I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I’ve got two witnesses saying that they saw you there, I think you do,” Daniel pointed to the congressman and his secretary.

“You call that evidence? What if they’re lying?” Nora crossed her legs, “Without their ‘testimony’, you can’t prove I was anywhere near them.”

That was true. Officer Gu nodded his head, a gesture that meant he was convinced, but Daniel wasn’t having it.

“But you were near the building when the fire alarm went off. That’s where we found you before you started running.”

Nora shrugged, “I won’t deny that.”

“So? Why were you there?”

“If you saw a crowd gathering, you’d stop and look too. It’s not weird that I was there.”

They had to admit, Nora was good. She managed to juggle enough information to keep things vague, but her testimony was completely valid. There wasn’t any reason to suspect her except for what the victims had shared in their version of the story.

“What you’re saying is that if I go back to that complex and ask for security footage of the hallways, I won’t find you there? I won’t see you destroying Mr. Kim’s door?” Daniel pressed.

Nora didn’t say anything. She looked off to the side, as if he wasn’t addressing her at all.

“Hello?” he asked.

She shrugged.

Daniel wasn’t going to get much out of her, it seemed. He turned to his computer for answers and clicked his mouse a few times before continuing to speak.

“Nora Lee. Born April 3rd, 1994,” the detective glanced at the clock, “…Happy birthday.”

Nora grumbled.

He continued, “Employed with Quinton Press—”

“It’s Newsers Tabloid now,” Nora interrupted.

A pause.

“Just keeping your information updated.”

The congressman beside her shuddered in disgust, “It couldn’t be anywhere classier? That paper’s trash.”

Nora beamed, “I won’t argue with you there, sir!”

Daniel scrolled down and narrowed his eyes, struggling to process the information. His mouth opened, then closed, and his glared at her.

“It says here you’ve been charged… eighty-nine times??”

Nora was smug in her response, “That’s mostly for whistleblowing.”

Officer Gu gave her shoulder a small, friendly shove. What a joker.

“There was so much pride when you said that,” he laughed, “There’s a lot more in there. Public disturbances, harassment, restraining orders, destruction of property…”

The officer’s voice trailed off. Nora stared at him blankly. He wasn’t helping.

The detective, finally, smiled.

“Trespassing,” he said, “That’s the one you left out.”