Accused

Chapter Three

Of all the people in the supermarket, my eyes immediately find the platinum blond hair of the prime suspect, his swaggering figure entering and scanning the space before walking in the opposite direction as Seokjin. I note the time stamp: 5:39 PM.

What's he doing? I wonder, following him through the views of each camera he appears in. He's wearing a grey hoodie He walks to the far back of the store to the freezer aisles, towards the...alcohol section? I almost put my pen down to observe him. He saunters over to one of the doors purposefully, as if he already knows which drink he wants. He tears a six pack of beer cans out of the fridge, rips one out of the pack, and slumps down in the corner near the back door of the store.

I stare on, my mouth agape in disbelief as he just sits there, wallowing in his apparent self-pity as he slowly gulps down each can of beer, crushes it, and throws it onto the floor around him. Some shoppers throw him a disgusted glance, but he frankly can't care less. He almost looks like a homeless person or a druggie, hood thrown over his head messily, his joggers half rolled up one leg. It almost makes me laugh, then I remember alcoholism is nothing to laugh about. I wonder what kind of trauma could have pushed him this far.

I fast forward through his miserable drinking scene until he finishes his sixth and final can of beer. After a brief respite leaning against the door, he stumbles to his knees and starts picking up all the cans strewn across the floor, crawling on all fours like a drunken elephant. At least he bothered to clean up after himself, I think, almost laughing at his unbalanced behavior as he throws all the empty cans into the box. He stumbles to his feet with the box in his hands, almost falling over more than once, and continues to the front of the store. He seems to drunkenly explain to the lady that he drank all the beer at the store and passes her his card to pay for it. The cashier doesn't even bat an eye or shake his head in disappointment, he just rings Taemin up for the beer without any questions. Taemin thanks the man and swaggers toward the back of the store and exits through the back doors of the supermarket, disposing of his trash in the dumpster.

Well at least he's not a messy drunk. And he had the decency to pay for all the beer he drank. Somehow that made me almost smile.

I realize that I've been so intently staring at him that I forgot to keep track of Seokjin. I shake my head quickly and do a quick scan of the other cameras for Seokjin. The time stamp says 6:24 PM, so I make a note of the time and rewind a bit until I see my subject again at the checkout counter. By the time Seokjin finishes checking out his groceries and sharing a lovely conversation with the elderly cashier lady, the time stamp on the camera says 6:12 PM. Seokjin bows to the elderly cashier woman and leaves, his hands full of grocery bags.

I pause the footage and lay back in my seat incredulously as I come to a startling conclusion.

Taemin couldn't have commit this murder.

I make a list of things disqualifying him: He wasn't wearing Seokjin's jacket. Actually, he wasn't wearing any jacket at all other than his hoodie. He was drunk to the point of losing his coordination, so he couldn't have pulled off the murder as cleanly as he did. Unless he was faking, which is unlikely since he drank six whole cans of beer in less than an hour. He wasn't even aware of Seokjin's presence in the supermarket. And even if he left and found Seokjin in the street, he couldn't have pulled off the murder since it was too meticulously planned. And finally, Taemin left the supermarket a whole 12 minutes after Seokjin. He would've had to run to catch up to Seokjin.

I told him that the evidence will judge him, and it's judged him in favor of his innocence.

And he's the prime suspect. Which means I need to go back to the drawing board.