Snowflake On The Move Again

The previous day, after the cops had cleared the crime scene and left, Sergeant Kim and Inspector Ray decided to dig deeper into their two main suspects. The second suspect, Kante, was based mostly on Sergeant Kim's suspicions, but they agreed to gather as much information as possible on both men.

As expected, they found next to nothing useful on Uche. His nationality wasn't registered, his place of birth was unknown, and there was no home address on record. They couldn't even locate a picture of him. Every detail about Uche was vague, inconsistent, or missing entirely. It was as if he didn't exist.

"Just what a serial killer would do,"

Inspector Ray muttered as he scanned through the sparse information.

The only clear fact they could find was that Uche had arrived in the city six months ago.

"Interesting," Sergeant Kim mused. "A serial killer would definitely operate like a ghost—moving from one place to another, staying anonymous, observing the city for a while before starting another spree. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. We have next to zero evidence linking him to Snowflake."

Inspector Ray frowned.

"You're saying he's not Snowflake? We'll see."

After exhausting all avenues of information on Uche, they shifted their focus to Kante, the man Sergeant Kim had suspected earlier.

The information on Kante was much more thorough—his birthplace, home address, personal records—everything was readily available. What shocked them the most, however, was discovering that Kante was not just an employee at the company where the victim was killed. He was, in fact, the owner. He also owned several other businesses scattered across the city, each with different people running them.

Sergeant Kim's mouth hung open in disbelief.

"How does someone as wealthy as this live like an ordinary citizen?"

He muttered, embarrassed that he had considered Kante a suspect.

Inspector Ray, sensing his colleague's surprise, couldn't contain his amusement. After a few moments of silence, he burst into laughter.

"Do you still think he's Snowflake now?"

He continued laughing, clearly enjoying the moment.

"You know, if Kante decided to press charges, you could be rotting in jail right now. Remember, you basically accused him at his own company."

"Shut the f*** up, brat,"

Sergeant Kim snapped back, wiping blood from his nose, the result of a chronic nosebleed he'd been struggling with.

"I didn't accuse him of anything. I was just asking questions."

Inspector Ray's face twisted in disgust as he stared at the blood trickling from Kim's nose.

"This damn blood again,"

He muttered in frustration.

As the tension in the room grew, a loud notification interrupted their argument. Both men turned toward the system, where a new message had just popped up.

"And what's this now?"

Sergeant Kim grumbled, still cleaning the blood from his nose.

Inspector Ray quickly moved over to the system and opened the message.

"It's...anonymous?"

He muttered, squinting at the screen. The sender was marked as unknown.

"Let's see what it says,"

Sergeant Kim demanded.

The subject line read:

*Snowflake On The Move Again.*

"What?" Both men exclaimed simultaneously.

There was a video attached to the message, without hesitation, Inspector Ray clicked play.

On the screen, they saw a young man walking slowly down a deserted street late at night. In front of him was an older man, possibly in his 40s, who kept looking back nervously, clearly aware he was being followed. The young man, dressed in all black—black shirt, jeans, an eye patch, and a face cap—also kept glancing behind him, as if making sure no one else was following him.

"Isn't that...Uche?"

Inspector Ray stammered, pointing a shaky hand at the screen.

Sergeant Kim, in contrast, remained silent, his expression dark. Something about the video didn't sit right with him. The young man kept glancing directly at the camera—too often, in fact, almost as if he knew it was there.

'Why is he looking at the camera like that?'

Sergeant Kim thought, a knot forming in his stomach.

Suddenly, in the video, the young man lunged forward, and in a flash, the older man collapsed to the ground, motionless.

"Snow...Snowflake!"

Inspector Ray shouted, his body shaking. It was unclear if it was fear or excitement fueling his reaction.

"See? See now! Tell me that's not Uche. Tell me that's not Snowflake!"

Inspector Ray turned to Sergeant Kim, his eyes wide with adrenaline.

But Sergeant Kim remained calm, though his mind raced. They knew Snowflake as an expert—always meticulous, never careless. Snowflake had spent years terrorizing cities, yet they knew next to nothing about him. His identity had remained hidden, and he never left behind evidence. Something about this video felt wrong.

'Why does this feel like a setup?'

Sergeant Kim thought, scrutinizing the footage.

Yes, the clothes were similar to what Uche had been wearing earlier in the day, but there was something off about the face. Uche's face, as he remembered it, was oval-shaped, but the man in the video had a jawline as sharp as a blade.

"No, this isn't right,"

Sergeant Kim finally said, shaking his head.

"What do you mean it's not right?"

Inspector Ray snapped, growing increasingly frustrated.

"Can't you see what's in front of you?"

"Look at it closely," Kim replied. "This feels staged. Whoever sent this video is trying to frame Uche. We don't even know if that person in the video is Snowflake."

"Wake up, man!"

Inspector Ray shouted, anger coloring his tone.

"We have next to no information on Uche! A normal person has their details on record—he doesn't! How else would a criminal behave? He's hiding, and now we have proof!"

Sergeant Kim, his face still calm but troubled, spoke firmly.

"I'm not saying it's not Uche. And I'm not saying Uche isn't Snowflake. But think about it. Have you ever seen Snowflake act this recklessly? Why would Snowflake leave a CCTV camera running while committing a murder—and why would he keep looking directly at it? This guy is way too smart to slip up like this. And why would the person who sent the video stay anonymous?"

Inspector Ray scoffed.

"Maybe they're scared for their life! But whatever the reason, we finally have something to go on. This has to be his last operation."

"And how do you suggest we catch him? We don't even know where he lives,"

Sergeant Kim pointed out.

"We don't know his exact address, but he's in this city, we're at least sure of that. We should organize a city-wide raid and search every corner for Snowflake. Unless...unless you're working with him too?" Ray's tone darkened. "Why are you defending him so much?"

In a flash, Kim's patience snapped, adrenaline surged through his veins, and before he could think, he threw a punch directly at Ray's face. Ray dodged just in time and swung back, but before either of them could land another blow, a younger officer rushed into the room, saluting crisply. His face was grim.

"Sir, we have a report that Snowflake might be involved in another incident,"

The officer announced, interrupting their confrontation. Both men turned toward him immediately, the tension in the room still thick, but their focus now shifted.