The National Archive of Costa Rica was not entirely what Baekhyun or Chanyeol was expecting. They were expecting a huge, imposing structure with columns and maybe a huge marcle statue of some famous political figure in front, such as that of the U.S or other European countries. This one however was a shaped like a UFO of some sort. The circular building that steeped smaller as it scaled upwards caught the duo by surprised as their car rolled into the parking lot.

                “We have set up an appointment with Mrs. Ricardo, the head archivist. She will be able to help us get what we want.” Taehyung ushered as the four of them stepped out of the car. There was a plump woman at the footsteps of the building. She wore a perfectly tailored pantsuit, and looked a little like any other regular librarian, except perhaps a little bit stricter. Her dark hair was up to her shoulders, glasses perched on her nose and she held a tablet in her hand.

                “Welcome to the National Archives.” She spoke in fluent English, shaking their hands.

                “We called earlier about accessing the records for the 1991 Limon earthquake.” Jungkook spoke in Spanish. The lady nodded and guided them through the facility. She spoke in rapid fire Spanish that sounded a little like the buzzing of bees to Chanyeol.

                “She said that all documents and newspapers on the earthquake are in Spanish, and if required translations then it would take the facility up to 3 weeks before sending over the documents needed to be translated.” Taehyung said, listening to Mrs. Ricardo.

                “Its fine, we just want to get the information first. Documentation proof can come a little later.” Chanyeol responded as they got into the lift. They passed through floors and floors of books, vaults and offices before arriving at one of the rooms. It was labelled 1991 and there were miles upon miles of books, catalogues and newspapers.

                “These are the newspaper and magazine archives of 1991.” Jungkook said. “At the end are also some tapes covering the earthquake and pictures of the event as well.”

                “This is going to take all day isn’t it?” Baekhyun groaned, looking at the lady for any sort of comfort. She simply smiled and spoke in Spanish saying “That’s how it’s like.”

                “I hate this. I used to sleep at the mention of the word ‘library’ when I was a kid.”

                “You said you wanted to come.” Chanyeol rubbed his hands. “Come on, let’s get on it. The faster we start, the faster we can get done.”

                They pulled out copies of different newspapers for the entire month of April to May 1991. Baekhyun found copies of National Geographic and even video tapes of the event, and plugged it into the computer. Of course all the reports were in Spanish so he tried the ones from BBC and CNN, as well as other news sites.

                “Remember to look for any mention of a Korean family that was involved. Or anyone Asian for that matter.” Chanyeol flipped through the newspapers, going through all the pictures and scanning for familiar faces.

                “Try the Korean news channel or something. If there is a Korean family involved, shouldn’t the Korean news be more up to date with that?” Jungkook lifted his head up from the magazine he was reading.

                “I got one!!” Taehyung ran from across the room in excitement, holding the newspaper in his hand like it was a fragile dress. “Check this out, ‘Korean Boy Amongst Those Lost in Wreckage.’”

                “Perfect! Translate the whole piece for me!” everyone scurried over to the paper. There was a picture of a small boy and his family. The younger version of The Dame, slim, beautiful and smiling as she posed with her family on the beach sent shivers up Baekhyun’s smile. What a terrible tragedy to have happened to a young lady.

                “The family was staying at a Caribbean resort in Limon when the earthquake struck. The son was attending a Children’s Day Camp organized by the hotel and was out when the earthquake struck. His parents were found under the wreckage but their son remains lost.” Taehyung read carefully, making sure not to miss out anything important. “Victims name is Kim Seokjin, aged 3 years old.”

                “We know from the death records that he was eventually found. Where’s the article for it?” Baekhyun asked.

                “Try looking for the article from the same newspaper, maybe two three days after.” The group dispersed again, searching through the shelves. This time, Chanyeol found it.

                “Korean Boy Found Dead.” Jungkook read. “His body was found under a stable building almost 10km away from the hotel grounds. His mother identified him in the hospital and his body laid to rest in Limon. Both husband and wife later returned to Korea for further rehabilitation.”

                “Is there anything else interesting in the article? Any mention of what they suffered? Their backgrounds?”

                “There’s nothing particularly interesting, but if you want we can get these pieces translated.” Taehyung suggested.

                “I think that’s best.” Chanyeol nodded, pushing some of the magazines away. “Let’s see what else we can find.”

                After a few more hours of dead end searches through newspapers, videos and pictures, Baekhyun stumbled across a newspaper under the bundle of videos he had stacked earlier. It was in Spanish so he couldn’t understand, but he saw a photo of a mother, an Asian mother, hugging her child. He grabbed Taehyung from the next aisle and asked him to translate.

                “It said ‘Mother Reunites With Her Child.’ This child was found still alive under the rubble of a row of shop houses. After days of being underneath the wreckage with no food and water, it is considered a miracle the child was still alive.” Taehyung read. Baekhyun flipped the pages and found a picture of the child. He stared at the picture in confusion, then shock and horror painted across his face as he ran to the opposite side of the room, screaming Chanyeol’s name and the page was literally flying in his hand. He slammed the papers in front of Chanyeol and pointed to the boy.

                The boy was Kim Seokjin.

*******************

                They always say that if you are stuck, it’s best to return to the scene of the crime. Kyungsoo and Jongin decided to do just that after their interview with Sehun and Luhan. There were still so many questions left unanswered.

                “I’m hoping we will find proof of Hani’s affair with the driver.” Kyungsoo said, sticking the key into the front door. The staff was nowhere to be found at this time, but then again it was a big house, and many of them had gone elsewhere. Now that their old employer was dead, there was no one to take over the house. Sehun was withholding all legal acts according to his mother’s will until the murderer was found.

                The two of them head straight to The Dame’s room. Kyungsoo showed Jongin the floor safe they had found and where they found her personal diary.

                “Hey, this is where Chanyeol and I found her pills.” Jongin gestured to her dressing table. He opened her drawers and checked her cabinets. “Look, she’s got more of this stuff lying around.”

                “She’s a very heavily prescribed woman.” Kyungsoo laughed, taking out the mini pill bottles. He opened the one for sleeping pills and pulled out the pink capsule. Then he took out another bottle and opened it, revealing the same pink capsules. “What is this doing here? Why did she separate her sleeping pills?”

                Jongin took the bottle and shook it around, glancing between the unlabelled bottle and the sleeping pill bottle. “Maybe these are for travelling?”

                “Or maybe they are not sleeping pills?”

                “That’s it!!” Jongin snapped his fingers loudly. “The Dame was supposed to take these unlabelled ones, but she mistook the unlabelled ones for sleeping pills! Sleeping pills that could have been poisoned!!!”

                “So the murderder must have found a way inside the house and into her bedroom and switched the pills around.” Kyungsoo grabbed the bottles and put them into his back pack. “We need to send these for analysis.”

                “We need to find evidence that the murderer came in here.” Jongin took out his camera and while he did, his phone in his back pocket started ringing. He whipped it out and found out that it was Amber.

                “Amber?”

                “Hey Jongin. Where’s Chanyeol? I tried calling him but it wouldn’t get through.”

                “He’s in Costa Rica.”

                “Tsk, he decided to go on a holiday now?” the coroner laughed in the background. “That is so like him.”

                “No he’s…god it’s a long story.” Jongin groaned. “You finished the autopsy?”

                “I did. I emailed a report of it to him. Tell him to check his email and get back to me. Now I gotta go, some more bodies just rolled in.”

                “Thanks.” Amber hung up and Jongin tucked the phone away. He told Kyungsoo about the call and Kyungsoo suggested they obtain another copy of the autopsy as well.

                “Who knows when Chanyeol will be available? We’re 15 hours ahead. For all we know they could still be asleep.”

                “You’ve got a point. Have you checked the grounds?”

                “No.”

                “Let’s go.” Jongin and Kyungsoo rushed down and entered the kitchen. The kitchen was the only back door leading to the grounds outside. The Dame relied heavily on security guards instead of cameras to keep her safe, and since most of the house stall was on leave that day, whoever who came in knew the grounds well, and probably snuck in more than once.

                Kyungsoo instantly regretted coming so late. The lawn was slowly overflowing with wild grass and weeds that it would become almost impossible to find any traces left behind. It rained a few times in between as well, whatever prints would have faded away.

                “I don’t think we can find anything here.” Kyungsoo sighed, looking up at the sky, which was turning a dark red due to the sunset. “Any clues would have washed away by now.”

                “Maybe you’re right. We came too late.” Jongin checked his shoe and grimaced. “Ew! I think I stepped on something nasty!” He kicked the wooden fence in front of him and the panel shook. It was only hanging by a nail. Jongin lifted the board and swung it to the side.

                “Well what do you know,” he smiled at Kyungsoo, “Just when we were about to give up, heaven makes me step on and a door opens.”

                “You are so poetic.” Kyungsoo rolled his eyes. “That must be how the killer got in and out.” The two of them snuck through the loose panels and came to the outside driveway. “Anybody could have parked their cars here and left in hurry.”

                “But this road is at the back of the house. It doesn’t seem like a lot of people pass through here.” Jongin rubbed the sole of his feet against the pavement. He spotted some faint marks on the road in front of them.

                “Tyre tracks.” Kyungsoo grinned. “We can trace the age and the car that stopped here. If everything matches, we will know what car our murderer used.”

                “And maybe who they are.” Jongin snapped a shot of the track and Kyungsoo pulled out his forensic kit from his bag. As he made a print of the track, Jongin found a scrap of white fabric on a nail hanging off the lose board.

                “A white shirt, possible belonging to the murderer.” He put it in the evidence bag carefully and took some more shots of the scene.

                “There is a lot more to uncover isn’t there?” Jongin asked, helping Kyungsoo finish off his print.

                “Let’s go into the driver’s room. We need to find out who he is and if he is sleeping around.”

                “Do you guys always do this? Interfere and barge into people’s personal life?”

                “Yeah.”

                “Cool,” Jongin smiled in glee. “This is fun.”

***************

                “I know what you’re thinking but how could this be?!” Chanyeol stared at the picture. “Kim Seokjin was dead. The child was identified by his mother and he was dead.”

                “It could have been wrong. She could have been wrong. She could have been so traumatised and shell-shocked over the whole event she couldn’t recognize him enough. The kid was found under a rubble Chanyeol, broken in almost every part of him imaginable.” Baekhyun urged. “I’m telling you okay, Kim Seokjin was alive and mistaken to be someone else’s child.”

                “According to the newspaper the boy was hit on the head so badly he suffered amnesia and he couldn’t recognize anyone.” Jungkook read on. “He couldn’t remember anything.”

                “Think about it Chanyeol, it makes sense. The boy was conked on the noggin so hard he forgot everything. There was no ID on him, nothing. His foster mother thought he was her child and ID him. Gave him her son’s original name and everything. Seokjin would probably not regain his memories until much older in life. And maybe he came to find his mother in South Korea!! And maybe they found each other!”

                “What is the name of this child then?”

                “Er…Daniel Lee aged 4 years old at the time.”

                “Daniel Lee?”

                “Why does this sound so familiar?”

                Then Chanyeol and Baekhyun stared at each other and clutched their hearts simultaneously. Baekhyun stomped his two feet and muffled his screams in his hands while Chanyeol just stared into space as if the StarTrek Enterprise had landed. Suddenly, everything was making sense. It was as if the puzzles had slowly started coming together as the biggest secret The Dame could afford to hide was finally revealed.

                “Kim Minseok is her son.”

A/N: And so the plot thickens XD

Remember how The Dame had a son who died in an earthquake? Remember Kim Minseok's real name was Daniel Lee? Remember how she cared for Minseok as much as she did her children? These are all clues that lead to what it is now. For now this is what is revealed, and there will be more on Sehun and Hani. Let's just say that this is the beginning of a multitude of twists and surprises, and the full revelation will be revealed in upcoming chapters.

And for those who are wondering, this is nearing the of the story, so perhaps in 10 more chapters or so this story will come to end.

Comment and subscribe as always! Thanks guys!!