for now, but for how much longer? Where else could I run to? The longer I remained on the street, the more dangerous it would become, thick with the watchful presence of the police.
Lady Kang came to mind.
Hope sparked warmth in me. She must have returned home by now, and I would be safe with her. The law forbade the police from searching for me inside her home without permission, as noblewomen were immune to police attention. And more than anything, she needed me; I had witnessed Woorim’s kidnapping.
My decision made, I whirled around, only to freeze in my steps. From the alley’s entrance, a shadow prowled in, the dirt path crunching beneath his footsteps. It was Officer Ky?n, his unsmiling face drenched in sweat and glistening in the dim ray of light. He carried a club in one hand and a coil of rope in another, the rope used to arrest criminals. His lips curled up into a sneer, revealing his chipped front teeth.
“Don’t think to run again,” he said.
I took a retreating step, only to back up against the wall. I was trapped with nothing—no weapon, nowhere else to run. All my effort to rescue Woorim and to find the truth behind the killings seemed to slip from my fingers. No one would listen to me; no one would believe me. They would lock me up and not care that a third victim was about to be killed. Just then, a memory of Inspector Han surfaced, like a chilling specter that sharpened my panicking mind. He’d said that one must grab a person by either their weakness or their desire. A method I was relying on more often these days.
Before Ky?n could reach out to arrest me, I raised both hands in the air, palms out. “Wait!”
“Wait?” He grunted. “Wait for what?”
“I know what you need, and I can give it to you. E-evidence. I have it.”
His sneer flattened and his eyes narrowed on me. “What evidence?”
“I will tell you if you let me go.”
“Now you want to cooperate with me? Hah! First you tell me, then I’ll consider letting you live, inyeona.”
There was a surging opposition in me, an echo demanding that I remember the haunted house, the ghost under the pine tree. But I beat it down. My voice strained as I said, “There are personal chests inside the servants’ quarter. Mine is the one with a loose bracket, and inside, I hid an inspector’s robe. It is bloodstained.”
A frown shot over his brows. “Bloodstained?”
“On the night of Lady O’s murder, Inspector Han rode back to the House of Bright Flowers at dawn, and Maid Misu—”
“Who is Misu?”
“Madam Yeonok’s personal maid. She heard him say, ‘She is dead, she is dead.’ He then changed into a white robe, and Madam Yeonok had the maid hide his uniform.”
Silence filled the alley, so tangible that I could feel its weight press against my skin.
“So you are saying”—Ky?n’s voice dipped low—“that the blood might belong to Lady O? Inspector Han might have killed her and gotten her blood all over his uniform?”
Guilt closed in around my throat, making it impossible to talk.
Ky?n’s frown deepened as he rubbed his chin. “Inspector Han might claim that the blood belonged to his horse. An accident. He would say also that he had first left the House of Bright Flowers at around dawn, long after Lady O was murdered, which occurred around midnight. He had an alibi.”
“He—” I stopped, my insides trembling.
“He what?”
“Inspector Han could have left earlier. Much earlier.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think…” I hated how uncertain I sounded and wished to speak no more, but Ky?n’s eyes urged me to continue. “I think Senior Officer Shim was lying about being his alibi, so no one can account for the inspector’s whereabouts around midnight.”
“Why would you think that?”
“Shim told Commander Yi that the inspector was wearing a white robe when he first entered the House of Bright Flowers, when in fact, he had been wearing his uniform. Even Maid Soyi encountered him on the street when he was in uniform. But Officer Shim saw only the white robe, which the inspector had not changed into until around dawn. And…”
“And?”
“And Maid Misu also said she didn’t see Officer Shim until around dawn.”
“Which means Officer Shim was not present for the entire night…”
“But would this be enough to convince Commander Yi?” I whispered.
“Maid Misu’s confession would be enough, along with something else I uncovered.” He looked over his shoulder, then took a step closer