Chapter 54 - Buried Beneath
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Firstly, a little bit of caution. The description of this particular case might be too much to handle so please read with care.
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"What the fuck?" Hobin cursed under his breath.
They were staring in shock at the body which was partially rotting. The victim's hair was completely shaved off or rather, torn off to the point that they could see the dried blood on her scalp. Her nails were also ripped off from her fingers and she was completely naked with bite marks all over her body as if a wild animal had attacked her mercilessly.
But the worst treatment was saved for her face. Someone had poured acid all over it, causing the skin to burn and melt off to the point that she could not be identified. One of her eyes had melted so much that it was gone and there was only an empty socket in its place. The only thing left on her body was a locket which had her picture on it.
Jina was completely shocked upon seeing the state of Rachel's body. The once blonde and fair skinned girl who was vain about her beauty, was reduced to this state. She could not help but feel extremely angry at the murderer who had tortured this girl like this. Her blood was boiling but she kept her cool.
"The fucking murderer annhilated her," Dahoon whispered. Hobin stared at the corpse.
"Those are not teeth marks…" he said, barely managing to keep his voice steady. "Those are canines. From a dog probably."
Jina took a deep breath.
"Start questioning the parents," she ordered her team. "Spread out and ask the neighbors about the past three weeks and what happened on the day Rachel went missing."
Hobin wore his gloves and stooped down to examine the body. From the state of the body, he deduced several things but he needed more clues. He scanned the surroundings.
Soundproof walls, he noted. Wine bottles…
He frowned and walked towards the bottles to sniff them one by one. Hobin kept on smelling them until he reached one particular bottle.
"Oi Tinkerbell!" he called out to Jina. "I think I found one of the murder weapons."
Jina quickly walked over to him and he handed her the bottle. "Careful," he warned. "That's highly concentrated sulphuric acid."
"Son of a bitch!" she cursed and sniffed the bottle. "He hid the acid in this?"
"That's how the murderer snuck the acid in here," Hobin nodded. "He poured it in this bottle and snuck it in to replace the wine. He must have brought the victim here and assaulted her before killing her off for good."
"Let's look for more clues," Jina nodded. She handed the bottle to a CSI officer and together with Hobin, began to look for more clues. There was a torn rope lying underneath one of the wine shelves. It had blood marks on it.
"The killer must have used this to tie her up," Jina said, holding up the rope.
"Tell me about the dad," Hobin said. "I overheard some of the officers saying that he's a stone cold bastard."
"I'll tell you once we're outside," she murmured. He nodded and they continued to search for more clues but found no more.
"Officers, we're gonna do a UV test now!" one of the CSI agents declared. Please step behind me."
Everyone stood behind the officer and the lights were turned off. The officer took out a UV light and shone it on the walls to check for blood splatters.
"The way she's been killed, there must be a lot of hidden blood stains," Woohee whispered.
"There won't be any," Hobin stated with confidence.
"How can you be so sure?" Jaebum frowned. "The girl was killed brutally! Of course there'll be a lot of bloodstains!"
But Jina had a hunch that Hobin was correct. And he was.
The blood splatters, if any, were completely wiped clean and not a single drop was left behind. The officers were all shocked but Hobin was grim. It was just as he had expected.
"We won't find anything here," he said. "No fingerprints nor bloodstains."
"The CSI will wrap up the body and send it to the lab," Jina said. She did not dare look at Rachel's body again. The girl died a painful death and it had shaken Jina pretty badly.
At that moment, Jiwoon and Dahoon approached them.
"We talked to the mother," Jiwoon told them. "On the night when Rachel went missing, there was a party on the mansion's roof. Rachel had her exams so she was in her bedroom studying. Her mother was the last person to see her in her room. Rachel was mostly vain and narcissistic but a very good student. She took her studies very seriously which is why she didn't go to the party upstairs. Her mother sent her dinner to her room via a maid."
"The maid went to Rachel's room with the food but did not find her there," Dahoon stated. "But the bathroom's shower was apparently running so she assumed that Rachel was in there. She left the tray outside and went back to the party. That's all they know about her last whereabouts."
"Why didn't the parents file a missing report?" Jina asked.
"The father refused," Dahoon revealed. "He claimed that his reputation will be ruined in the business fraternity so he did not file a complaint and was using his own methods to track her down."
Jina exchanged a worried glance with Hobin. "Get a list of all the guests and staff members who were present at the party," she instructed. "Ask the neighbors and also Rachel's friends. Did she have any enemies or rivals? Dig up all the dirt you can. Check her social media activities. Everything. Stat!"
"Let's go outside," she told Hobin. He nodded and followed her out to the garden. They stood in a corner, away from the prying eyes of the reporters.
"Her dad's reaction is totally aloof," Jina told him. "He's acting as if nothing happened. I know he loves his business more but his daughter died and he had no emotions for her? No grief, no anger. Nothing!"
"Hard to tell," Hobin said. "Some people don't show their grief easily. But then again, if he's truly like that then he's a sociopath, detached from emotions. Nah, he might not be the killer. What we're looking for is a psychopath."
"How is that any different?" Jina asked.
"Call everyone to the bureau," Hobin instructed. "I'll explain everything there. Oh and another thing."
"What?"
"I promised my brother that I won't be using my powers for this case," he revealed. "And I agreed. I'll try to solve this case based on my wits and knowledge."
Jina sighed. "Fine," she said. "As long as you can help us solve it, I don't care whether you use your powers or not."
Hobin nodded. Jina glanced over his shoulder and grimaced. Hobin also turned around to see that Rachel's body was being carried off for autopsy.
"She wasn't a good person but she didn't deserve this," Jina said. "No one deserves such a terrible death."
"Unfortunately for her, the killer did not seem to think that," Hobin muttered.
They continued to watch as the body bag containing Rachel was hoisted on an ambulance which sped off into the distance until it vanished. Jina was about to leave when she caught the sight of a grey haired man staring at the ambulance with an impassive expression on his face. His eyes briefly met hers before he, too, turned away and vanished into the room.