Chapter Text
“Honey,” Victoria Shim calls her husband as she raises a tattered rag doll for inspection. “Come here for a second!”
They’ve been disposing of the possessions of whoever used to own their apartment. It’s been a week since they’ve been married and the landlord just gave them all access to their place last night. They haven’t moved their things in yet since, honestly, the place is a dump and the previous owner hadn’t bothered to get rid of their stuff. So now Victoria and her husband, Changmin, have been clearing out their apartment of boxes filled with clothes and oddities like the one Victoria is currently holding.
A tall man pops his head from the other room before making his way to his wife holding a rag doll in one hand and a box in another. He quickly takes the box and easily tucks it under his arm. “Whoever owned this place before must be really weird” He mumbles as he examines the contents of the box the rag doll came from.
“Or had a kid” Victoria looks at her husband with an amused grin before returning the doll to the box. She rummages more through the box. “Look at this!” She lifts a Hello Kitty doll – yellowing with age – out of the box. “I used to have one when I was little.”
“I remember.” Changmin nods with a chuckle, “The one yuemu gave you for your fifth birthday.”
Victoria laughs at how her husband butchered the Chinese for “mother-in-law”. Her mother insisted Changmin calls her “mother-in-law” a few months after they started dating. She was so sure that Changmin was the one for her daughter.
“Eleven months and you still can’t say yuemu properly.” Victoria pecks her husband’s lips. She lifts the Hello Kitty out of the box. She remarks that the doll is surprisingly heavy and Changmin reasons that it’s probably stuffed with sand as he puts down the box of dolls.
“Probably.” Victoria mumbles as she raises the vintage Hello Kitty for inspection. She lets it dangle against her hands then the head bends backwards and rips off of the doll’s body. The head drops to the floor with a loud thud and rolls away from Victoria’s feet. The couple stares at the Hello Kitty’s severed head before Changmin crouches down and inspects the head more.
“Victoria,” Changmin’s voice suddenly drops an octave lower – only happens when he has something serious or urgent to say. “Call the police now.”
“What?” Victoria puts down the decapitated Hello Kitty body. She tries to crouch down and takes a better look at the Hello Kitty head but is stopped by her husband’s arm stopping her.
“The police.” Changmin’s voice rings out with finality, “Now, babe, please.” He looks at his wife and Victoria doesn’t waste any more time before grabbing her phone and dialing the 112.
~*~
“Coffee run!” Homicide detective Kim Jongdae hollers as he makes his way around his co-unit’s desks while placing a cup of coffee on each.
“Thanks, Jongdae,” Detective Minseok smiles at Jongdae and raises the cup as a mini salute before bringing it to his lips. He moans in content as he lets the piping hot Americano slide down his throat. Someone beside him makes a disgusted sound at his action. He glares at the owner of said sound.
“How can you drink that without burning yourself?” Sergeant detective Kim Junmyeon groans as he watches his partner slash best friend take a sip from his Americano. He blows the steam as he waits for his cappuccino to cool down. Unlike his partner, he would rather not scald his tongue and esophagus.
“I like my coffee piping hot. So, what?” Minseok shrugs as he takes two more gulps before placing it on his cat-shaped cup holder. He returns to the files on his desk and the report he was typing out before Jongdae came in with the unit’s coffee.
It’s been months since the special homicide case unit has been created and they’ve cracked more cases than the department ever thought possible. He owes it to a solid team who, granted are sometimes wacky, gets the job done and are bent on doing good and helping people. Even if said people have been dead for more than twenty or thirty years.
“Hey! That’s my coffee!” Minseok and Junmyeon look over to see their tech analyst, Chanyeol, stumble and hit his knee against one of the department-issued metal desk while trying to chase detective Byun Baekhyun who was prancing around with the clumsy giant’s coffee. Detective Jongin, who was taking one of his 15-minute nap on his desk, doesn’t even budge when Chanyeol rattles his desk while he rubs his sore knee and continues to chase a cackling Baekhyun.
Minseok and Junmyeon look at each other before chuckling at how childish their unit members could be.
The phone suddenly rings and Junmyeon picks it up with his usual “Seoul Homicide, Special Cases Department” greeting. Minseok watches his partner asks some routinary questions and jots down something on his notepad.
“Alright, we’ll be there in a few minutes.” Junmyeon thanks whoever is on the other line before he places the receiver down. “A couple found a skull – get this –“Junmyeon swivels his chair to face Minseok. The playful scuffle between the others stopped and Minseok bets they’re listening to Junmyeon as well.
“a Hello Kitty doll” Junmyeon raises his eyebrows and nods once in response to the expression of bewilderment on Minseok’s face.
“Excuse me, what?” Minseok inches closer, making sure that he hears it right. For a second there he thought his best friend said
“A skull inside a Hello Kitty.” Junmyeon repeats.
“Okay then.” Minseok says as he gets up from his seat, downs the rest of his coffee, and shrugs into his holster and coat. Junmyeon does the same thing, albeit grimacing as he downs his still hot coffee. Minseok couldn’t help but chuckle at his partner. The others get ready to head out as well.
“Baekhyun,” Minseok turns to look at the detective, “Give Yixing a ring. He would want to see this.”
Baekhyun nods as he quickly dials Yixing’s number and regales where they’ll be heading and everything they’ve overheard while Junmyeon was still on the phone. The team makes their way to the door and head for the parking lot for their vehicles.
“Yixing sounds too excited about a human skull inside a Hello Kitty doll for someone who’s normal.” Baekhyun slowly shakes his head as he ends the call with the department’s chief medical examiner. He gets into the passenger’s seat with Chanyeol behind the wheel and Jongin at the back.
“That’s Yixing for you – he gets more excited about dead bodies than anything.” Jongdae laughs as he all but bounces into the backseat of Minseok’s navy blue sedan while Junmyeon reminds him to put on his seat belt.
~*~
“Oh wow. It really is a severed human skull” Chief medical examiner Zhang Yixing gushes as he crouches down to examine the human skull. He fits on some blue surgical gloves and waits for Sehun to finish taking photos of the skull that was still halfway tucked inside the severed Hello Kitty doll.
“You sound more like you found a delicious candy instead of a severed human skull.” Minseok remarks as he squats beside Yixing. Dr. Zhang lifts the skull out of the doll and at eye level for closer inspection.
“For me, this is something cool.” Yixing announces and Minseok has to stop himself from laughing at Sehun’s look of disgust at what the medical examiner just said.
“So, what’s the gender, Doc?” Minseok gently nudges the medical examiner.
“It’s too early to say.” Yixing raises the skull higher to see it better. “I need to perform the routinary examinations before making any verdict”
“Judging from the forehead it looks like a male to me.” Minseok says.
“No. The rounded forehead and lack of a suborbital ridge indicates it’s a female” Yixing mindlessly answers as he further examines the skull. He stops mid examination as he realizes what he just said and glares at Minseok. The detective was sporting a cheeky smile.
“I hate it when you do that.” Yixing glares but the smile on his lips shows that he’s not really annoyed at his friend’s usual antics.
Yixing brings the skull near his nose and takes a whiff. His eyebrows scrunch together, a telltale sign that something is bothering the doctor. “What?” Minseok stares with a questioning look on his face. Yixing brings the skull towards Minseok.
“Smell the skull.” Minseok looks affronted but does as what he is told.
“I don’t smell anything.” Minseok states.
“Exactly.” Yixing nods before lowering the skull from his and Minseok’s face. “There is no scent of decomposition whatsoever.” It finally dawns on Minseok what the medical examiner is trying to say. It is odd that he didn’t smell anything the moment he stepped into the apartment. A dead body – whatever part of it – should have a scent of decomposition to it.
Yixing bags the skull then the ripped Hello Kitty head in separate forensic bags and hands them his assistant medical examiner, Kyungsoo, before making his way to the box that housed the Hello Kitty doll. Sehun left the box on top of a table under the apartment window after taking photos of the contents. Minseok stands up as well and follows suite with looking into the box for more evidence. The possibility of fibers or any miniscule particle from the dead body, in this case head, could lead them to a clue.
“These dolls look like they’re dated all the way back to the 1980s” Yixing says as he examines the dolls in the box. “Judging by the stains and discoloration of some of their parts, I would say they’ve been in this box for almost twenty years.” He puts down what looks like an Annie doll with faded eyes beside the box.
Minseok hums in agreement as he examines another doll with orange braided hair and a ratty checkered dress. “Husband said his wife found the box along with the other belongings of the former owner of the apartment.” He glances at Yixing and catches the latter nod his head in understanding.
“So,” Minseok tentatively starts – bridging a topic that he knows is a bit sensitive especially if one talks about it while examining a box of vintage dolls that just housed a severed human head. “How did the date with Taekwoon go?”
Jung Taekwoon is a coach for Seoul University’s soccer team and Yixing’s new romantic interest. Due to their busy schedules, with Taekwoon flying around Asia for soccer tournaments and Yixing was bogged down with several murder cases, they resorted to instant messages and re-scheduling their first date more than once. They just had their first date last night.
Yixing pauses for a millisecond in his perusing through the box of dolls before resuming. “It went fine.” His answer was crisp but years of friendship tells Minseok that he’s uncomfortable. The good kind of uncomfortable which means it went well. So Minseok says so and he couldn’t help but sneer at the slight pink tinge that appears on his friend’s cheeks.
“So,” Minseok puts down another doll and leans against the table to look at Yixing. “Will there be a second date?” He rests a gloved hand on his hip, already knowing the answer to his question.
Yixing only looks at Minseok with a boyish smile.
“That’s a yes then.” Minseok chuckles in response.
“What are we giggling like schoolboys about?” Junmyeon appears behind the two, already fitting forensic gloves and dives them into the box of dolls.
“Yixing’s new boyfriend.” Minseok teases, as if they’re teenagers again. Some things never change.
“He is not my boyfriend.” Yixing’s voice is both resigned and incredulous as he puts down the last doll from the box on the table. “We’ve only been on one date.” He sighs as he sees the knowing look on both Minseok and Junmyeon’s faces.
“Right,” Minseok says, knowing when to drop a subject with Yixing, and diverts his focus on his partner. While Minseok and Yixing were examining the skull, Junmyeon was with the newlywed couple who had the misfortune of finding the skull. “What did the couple had to say, Myeon?” Junmyeon fishes for his notepad from his coat pocket and read through what he and the distraught couple talked about.
“Shim Changmin and his wife Victoria. Wife’s Chinese and owns a dance school for children in Hongdae. Husband’s an office worker. They just got married two weeks ago and just moved in today.”
Junmyeon continues to rattle off the facts that he got from the couple. Minseok and Yixing listen as they start working on the other boxes. Yixing starts rustling through a box full of dated clothes. Minseok, on the other hand, goes through one filled with books whose pages are already yellowing and brittle.
“Wife’s the one who found the box of dolls but it was the husband who spotted the skull. Didn’t even want his wife to see the skull. Sweet guy.” Minseok doesn’t miss the slight sad lift of the corner of Junmyeon’s lips. Nor does Yixing but they don’t say anything about it. Years of friendship taught them when to stay mum on what topics.
“How did the husband spot the skull?” Minseok asks.
“He thought it was odd that a doll’s head should be so heavy that it rips off of its body so he crouched down to see what it was filled with.” Junmyeon supplies. The three make their way through the other boxes, finding nothing connected to the skull. It gave them an idea on what kind of person the old tenant was like, though.
“Anything about the old owner of the apartment?” Junmyeon asks as he returns his notepad inside his jacket.
“Baekhyun and Jongdae are talking with the landlord while Jongin and Chanyeol are talking to the neighbors.” Minseok closes the last box of the group and takes off the forensic gloves. "They're bound to find something."
“Come on,” Minseok accosts Yixing and Junmyeon. “Let’s have forensics bag and catalog these.”
As they pack up their collected evidence, Minseok signals for the forensics team to bag everything vital while he and Yixing dispose of their forensic gloves. The three step out of the apartment and watch a uniformed cop mark the front door with an “X” with yellow police tape. As they do so, he starts wondering about a number of things; (1) who was the old owner of the apartment, (2) did they know about the skull inside the doll, (3) why didn’t it stink like a usual dead body, and (4) where’s the rest of body?