Seulgi’s office was as quiet as a crypt. There was a stray beam of light on the ring, making it glitter. However, it also emphasized the small blot of blood on the otherwise immacute surface.

  Everyone was looking inside the box, but no one was touching it. Seulgi was worried that she was going to have to smack a hand to stop anyone from touching the ring, but no. People seemed to be scared about breathing on it, let alone touching it.

  “Min-jeong, are you still talking to that guy in legal?”

  Affirmative nod, “Yes, Seulgi.” Seulgi was oddly pleased to notice that when serious, she had dropped the ever annoying ‘Ma’am’.

  “Call him and have him warn his boss that we are going to have a detective on site soon. We shouldn’t need Legal’s presence, but it might not hurt, either. Tell him that we’ll need them in about thirty minutes.”

  Another affirmative nod, “Yes, Seulgi.” Reaching into her crimson pantsuit’s pocket, she pulled out her cell phone as she walked out of the office. Seulgi took a moment to gauge her quasi-protégé’s growth. Both of the Twins have grown. Min-jeong went from dressing like a recent college graduate to someone taking their job seriously. She went from looking like the poster child of what college looks like to an actual professional. She was cute in her jeans and T-shirts but now she is wearing pantsuits.

  She and her work sister were both taking their social and fashion cues from their idols. Oddly enough, that included Jackson. Except Nayeon, because no one took her seriously anyway.

  Yeojin came up to Seulgi’s side but didn’t say anything. Her boss was obviously still deep in thought. She was also aware that if she made any moves to disturb Seulgi, Bhuwakuln would take exception. She was not sure what form that exception might be, but she was smart enough to know that she was gloriously uninterested in finding out.

  After a moment, Yeojin cleared her throat drawing Seulgi from wherever she had just been. When her attention was secured, Yeojin asked if there was anything that she could be doing. Seulgi responded with "Not yet. But, be avaible when the detective shows up," as she may be needed to run some errands.

  Min-jeong came back in at this point. Seulgi asked her to go to the lobby and wait for her uncle. With her presence, her uncle would be granted access much smoother and would be able to find the office quicker.

  With this said, Min-jeong excused herself and went to the lobby to wait. Presumably, she went to chat with some of the security that she has made acquaintances with. She was good, so she would smooth her uncle’s presence and get things done smoothly.

  Yeojin, on the other hand, tried, and failed, to imamate Bhuwakuln by fading into the background. He motioned her to come over to where he was standing. He started whispering to her, she was nodding occasionally. She never quite disappeared, but she did minimize her presence while waiting for things to start again.

  The Big Boss came by. He entered the office and waved everyone back to what they were doing. He did not want them to abase themselves, he just wanted to know what was going on. The head of Legal told him there was Something Going On with Seulgi and he might want to go check it out. The tension ratchets up another three notches upon his arrival.

  He came over to the desk, his arms folded behind him. Seulgi informed him of what’s been going on recently. She started by saying that a detective was on his way over. At that look of surprise, she told him about the note and the gift box. She read to him the contents of the letter. She showed him the box. His frown went from confusion to being livid. He pulled his phone out and took some pictures. Then he excused himself and said that he had some calls to make. Someone, as yet unnamed, just kicked a hornet's nest.

  About that time, Min-jeong came back with a tall, distinguished looking man with short salt and pepper hair. He had a name tag for the guest and a badge that decred him to be Detective Kim. Over his right shoulder was a kit bag with the unknown archaic tools of his trade.

  Min-jeong, being the dutiful niece, first introduced him to the Big Boss, followed by Seulgi and the rest. Seulgi was slightly annoyed that she noted that Min-jeong was considerably more polite to Detective Kim but then remembered that he was her uncle and on official business. She might not have ever seen his business face before, so she took her job more seriously than usual.

  The Old Man left with business of his own to do. Someone was about to have a very bad day if he had his way.

  Or, it could be that she wanted to show a good face to everyone involved, including the Big Boss. Either way, she was being extremely professional. Seulgi was torn between wanting to pat the girl's head or being proud of her by smiling. She caught Det. Kim’s eye and saw that he was having the same problem. They shared a small secret smile between themselves before getting back to business.

  Shaking themselves back to pure professionalism, Seulgi and Det. Kim shook hands and started getting to what brought them together. Kim took out a pad of paper to start taking notes. She had faced a razor-sharp, intensely focused attention before, that she normally got only from Bhuwakuln, but she was not uncomfortable from it.

  Seulgi knew that details mattered. So, she started with Wendy. She told him about what had happened to her, where she was, and her current status. She was unsure if this was reted to what happened, but something happening to two of her people in this close of a time span might not be coincidental.

  Once she was done with giving all of the information that she had about Wendy, she went on to tell about what happened today with the note and box. After giving as detailed a narrative as she could, she showed him the note and the box with the ring.

  As she wound down, Kim kept writing. He went on writing in a tiny, cribbed script that filled the pages of the notebook with more text and detail than she could believe.

  He looked over at Yeji. “Ms. Hwang? May I have your number? I will need to get a statement from you as well. Bhuwakuln? The same with you. I realize that you may not be as directly involved, but you may have another perspective that can be helpful. Min-Jeong? Tell your mother to quit pestering me, I’ll be there for Sunday lunch. And this had damn well better not be another blind date.”

  At that, Seulgi gave Detective Kim a long-suffering look of commiseration.