The air in the school, which was supposed to be filled with the children’s frenzied vigor, was heavy and damp. With detectives in and out, scene of the deceased victims marked with white chalk on the backyard and rooftop–except for the drowned child in the pool–even an elementary school had no choice but to lose its vitality. Even during the break, the children did not run around with vigorous activity and they stumbled around to avoid the detectives.
He looked at the playground, where the children were spacing out, then Jude opened his mouth with a slight murmur.
“……you go. I’m below zero in my ability to communicate with kids.”
“Why, they’re cute, aren’t they? It’s a twinkle in the eye.”
“Is that cute? I’m scared…..forget it, I’ll just take notes on the side. Now, what class did you say?”
The first child to be found and asked was an 11-year-old girl who was close to the first deceased. The girl’s eyes, with blonde curly hair tied in pigtails, were still a little red. With two policemen in front of her, Tim leaned slightly from his seat to meet the stiff child’s eye level.
“Clara? I’m going to ask you a few questions, so can you answer honestly?”
“Ye, yes, yes.”
“Before Reeve died, was there anything strange? I mean, he suddenly got close to a stranger, or someone watching Reeve from afar.”
Rolling her brown eyes for a moment, the child turned to Tim with a vague face.
“I don’t know…….I don’t know. I didn’t see him with strange adults. But he’s been saying a lot that he’s having a hard time lately. And wants to go some…where.”
“Ah, did Reeve say that his mother died recently?”
“Yes, his dad’s having a hard time, and he’s having a hard time with his dad……and said dad’s not nice, and he’s only very angry. So……….maybe that’s why Reeve…….”
The child began to cry, and Tim stroked the child’s head for a moment with a face that swallowed something bitter. As he soothed the red-eyed child, wondering what else to ask, the insincere Jude’s voice snapped at the child.
“What about strange friends?”
“hikkeuk…….yeah?”
“Have you ever played with kids you don’t usually play with? Recently.”
“I… I don’t know. We’ve talked to other grade students a few times, but I don’t know what he did when he’s not playing with me.”
“Oh, yeah. Tim, let’s go meet the next kid.”
“Wait, Jude …”
A look at Clara with a slightly bewildered face, Tim drove the partner who got up from his seat to the corner. To the distant-faced Jude asking, “Why?” Tim whispered in a slightly shrill voice.
“Other kids, what are you talking about? Do you think the dead kid’s friends have something to do with his death?”
“Huh? No, rather than that’s what I thought, I’m asking because it’s possible.”
“I can’t believe it, they’re ten-year-old kids. They’re not old enough to be cracked down on drugs or motorcycles. Besides, it looks like a near-perfect suicide, how could the kids….”
“Wow, Tim. You’ve grown up so fine. Did you graduate from a prestigious private school?”
The exclamation was sincere, and Tim stopped talking. As he thought Tim was displeased, Jude smiled for a moment with an apologetic face and shrugged with that sleepy look.
“Just because they’re ten years old, they don’t always stay buried in crazy happiness and pure ignorance. Tim you should know that much. Besides, what kind of world is it these days?”
“But murder…”
“I didn’t say murder. Well, if they hang out with bad friends, they might be influenced by them. It’s not murder, it’s suicide. That’s why I asked. I don’t think the kids in the middle of the night pushed their friend into the pool.”
“Oh, ahhh…..if they’re bad friends, trouble-prone, that kind of kids?”
“Maybe, maybe not. We can only visit children with family problems, but since we are not sure yet, we will get beaten up again if we are caught working on the premise that the kids are responsible. So let’s just do the legwork. All right? Let’s go meet the next kid.”
Nodding bewilderedly, Tim hurried to say goodbye to Clara and then left the interview room – an impromptu empty classroom arranged by the school – and ran along Jude.