Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 2020complete | Page 654

“Because I know this property is about to be demolished soon to make way for a new building, with a lot of potential buyers.” he said slowly, “If your grandfather was the one who bought it, any chance that there could be some stuff left over from the previous owner?” “There may be, I know that they never changed some of the buildings foundations I could go check for you. What are you looking for?” “Something hidden in a secret compartment or something, try looking at the walls or floor.” “Ok, I’ll see what I can find, but don’t get your hopes up.” Yun said skeptically as he placed the phone down onto the table. He walked into the back room of the store and went down the stairs into the lower storage portion of the store. The room contained a random assortment of trinkets, items and furniture, stacked high on shelves and piled on the floor. He didn’t know if how was going to find anything in this mess but he slowly started feeling along the walls and floor, knocking on them and searching for cracks. Although the bottom level of the shop was never changed, the wallpaper of the room had been replaced a few times due to the humidity. Some of the corners were starting to peel, revealing the concrete walls. He was just about to give up when he saw a tiny red marking that peaked out from behind the wallpaper, peeling it back, it revealed a red streak on top of what looked like a hidden drawer. After many attempts, he finally managed to get it open, covering his hands in concrete dust in the process. In the compartment was … nothing, not a single thing. He reached back into the compartment, feeling around until his hand caught on a cool piece of metal, pulling it out, it looked like a metal clasp of some sort, made of a rose gold material. Attached to it was a ring-shaped piece made of a similar metal, around half a centimeter long. Running back up the stairs and into the shop, he hastily picked up the phone again. “I know this sounds crazy, but I think I found it. Check if there’s a basement of some sort, there’s small compartment in one of the walls.” Yun said. There was a loud clatter, followed by the echo of footsteps. Detective Lu’s voice came over the line again a few minutes later: “I can’t believe it, the chain looks exactly like the patterns on the victim’s neck, I have to get this back to the department for testing fast. Thank you. You don't know how much this means to me.” “Glad I could help,” he said with a small smile. “Call me again if there’s any other cases you need solving.” he joked “I will. I guess this means goodbye then,” Detective Lu said, voice thick with emotion. “Best of luck.” “You too.” Across time, Detective Lu hung up the phone and stared at the necklace in his hand, the missing piece of evidence. He dug around in his bag, producing a red paint marker, heading down into the basement, he added a red streak to the door of the compartment. Satisfied, he walked up the stairs and out of the house, closing the door behind him.