chapter 40

The next morning, Jude was a little surprised by the people who showed up outside the hospital door. The mother and son stood where they visited him just yesterday. He was a little nervous wondering if they came to ask for the same favor again, but their faces were embarrassed and appeared a little bit sorry rather than anger and sorrow.

“I’m so sorry, Detective. Yesterday, I was like…”

“I’ve already said… ..what? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“I’ve got a call this morning. You haven’t been feeling well anyway, and you’ve gotten worse since we made such a fuss. If you don’t mind, may I apologize? It’s true that the thoughts about Linda have intensified lately, but I didn’t mean to bother you.”

I’m not feeling too well? Who would say that? – Holding back the words that was about to run out of his mouth, Jude carefully took out the latter words.

“You’ve got ……a call? From who?”

“The doctor here. When I heard that, I thought I should come and apologize. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to. I’m just here because of Linda…”

The woman, covered her mouth as if she’s about to burst into tears, and Jude feels distressed and confused at the same time — no, please don’t cry because it’s making me uncomfortable. By the way, which doctor called? The doctor in charge was literally surprised that he was recovering quickly.- Looking at the woman, the door to the hospital room opened.

And Jude looked at the open door with a blank face, not even surprised by the suddenness of the situation. The face, which had only been seen at night in the hospital room, was revealed under the bright light.

“Oh, you must have had a visitor first?”

“Ah…….”

The mother and son turned their heads at the same time. Appearing in a hoodie and jeans, unlike his usual shirt, he smiled shyly. Beyond the thick rimmed glasses, the eyes, covered with dark blue lenses, were slightly smaller.

“Aha, I’m sorry, I’ll be back in a bit. I came here because the Chief was very worried, but it seems that he looks a little better now. The Chief needs him to get back to work as soon as possible.”

Scratching his dark blond hair, he even blushed slightly, as if he was really embarrassed. He seemed to be a really immature new police officer. It’s the difference between a lively retriever with hair spread around and a serious shepherd with smooth black hair. Jude looked at the mother and son pair, with a blank face, wondering what to call this situation, as they were also momentarily stiffened on the spot.

-Are you stupid? Since you’re finally tired of being on the run, are you trying to turn yourself in, in a ridiculous way like this? Why don’t you do it in front of the FBI agents who are struggling to catch you instead?- When Jude give him the look with his eyes, he responded with a meaningful smile that Jude immediately understood. It was a smile that asked him to take a good look at it, and Jude looked at the two with a flutter of his head.

But the woman smiled instead of initiating some hysterical screams. It was an apologetic smile at that, and Jude doubted his eyes for a moment.

“Oh, no. We’re just about to leave. I’m sorry to disturb you. You must be a detective too?”

“Hee, I’m still a greenhorn, though. I’m learning a lot from the detective over there. Oh, don’t mind me, in case you were trying to talk to him. I have to go to work soon anyway. By the way, are you his family?”

The woman’s face, clouded over. With the eyes of a person watching a ridiculous dark comedy, Jude looked at the face.

“No……we are the family of the victims of the incident. I just wanted to talk to him about something.”

Expressing regret on his face, Alvin nodded a little.

“Oh, I see…… you must be very sad.”

“Yes……we’re just hoping the culprit gets caught soon.”

“I hope so too……Oh, I have to go. If I’m late, I’ll get beat up by the Chief instead. Well, it was nice to meet you.”

What about Kane? Well, let’s say the mother did so, but what about Kane? Looking at his face in a bit of a hurry, he, too, was smiling and greets him like his mother.

“Yes, it was nice to meet you, too.”

It felt like he was falling into the abyss of absurdity. Being careful not to let his thought appear on his face, he saw the woman greeted Alvin with a slight nod.

“Take care of yourself. If you’re a detective, being careful is the most appreciative thing for your family.”

“Haha, yes, I will.”

Speaking with his harmless smile, Alvin glanced at Jude. As he gave up a fake laugh with that glance, Jude shook his head with a flutter. When the door was about to close and the woman looked back as she spoke, Jude couldn’t help but laugh (in satire prolly).

“You’re so bright, child… Oh, you look like Linda’s cousin.”

“Oh, yeah…”

“Well, we’ll be on our way, Detective. Stay healthy.”

“Goodbye.”

Looking at the closed door, Jude couldn’t move from where he had sat for a while. The one who looks like the cousin is actually the one who broke your daughter, and your sister? You even said you wanted the culprit to get caught quickly. But all you have to say is, he’s a bright person? Really? Didn’t you take a closer look at the wanted photo? No, then, why are you so persistent? You want me to catch him? Or was his acting just excellent?

Something boiling deep in his stomach, escaped with a sigh resembling a laugh. The small TV in front of him was just announcing the football team’s score with excitement, but instead of raising their exclamations together, Jude lowered his gaze a little and tilted his head. The reason why they have persistently pursued the existence of Alvin Jones for more than half a year is that simple. Is there not only two blotch of colors, anger and sadness, but also numerous other patches of colors that mixed and swirled together? And are they just showing the colors that are deemed acceptable to others?

On a rare morning where he really idled out, two days before he was discharged, somehow Jude couldn’t get rid of his nervousness and sat on his bed, constantly tilting his head.

Woooong. Woooong. The vibrating cell phone rang clearly in the quiet night air. Jude, tossing and muttering an unknown complaint in his bed several times, finally reached out with an irritating sound as the ringtone seemed unlikely to stop easily. The voice, of course, did not come out nicely.

“This is Jude. Question, what time is it now?”

[Jude? Something’s up, come on!]

It was his partner’s voice that rushed out of the cell phone. Feeling the little drowsiness fading away from that urgency, Jude scratched his head a few times.

“Oh, why? I’ll do it in the morning if I can. It’s 3:30. We weren’t even on call…….”

[This is not the time, Alvin Jones started killing people again, plus in New York! Get out of there right now, okay? Oh, I guess there won’t be a car right now. I’ll pick you up, so get ready!]

Ttut. The phone was cut off before he could even answer. Jude, who was briefly recollecting on what Tim said with sleepy eyes, moved his body and sat up with a sigh. It was still a dark night before dawn outside the window. Feeling satisfied with the warmth left in his bed and blanket, Jude sat still for a moment and stared blankly at the wall of the room. The broken clock on the wall indicated that the time was pointing at 5:30.

“……what kind of guy is playing around……..”

Feeling disgruntled, the blond detective jumped out of the bed with a reluctant move.

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