Seokga can’t help but remember when Hani—in a desperate attempt to protect Somi—stole cameras, monitors, and entire bodies from the gumiho’s crime scene. If he had access to the tools he’d had then, Seokga would order they scan for fingerprints or hairs, sending them for DNA testing. But he doesn’t have those luxuries—what he has instead is a crying infant in his arms, a declawed gumiho, and a former K-pop idol with ridiculously nice hair.

“They know we’re on to them,” Seokga seethes, glaring at Somi. “If you had been stealthier last night—”

“I was stealthy!” Under his glower, Somi shrinks back into Hani’s sweater, as if she’s seeking comfort from it.

“—perhaps she wouldn’t have noticed you hiding in the janitorial closet and wouldn’t have destroyed the monitors,” he finishes in a snarl.

Somi bares her teeth back but doesn’t seem to have any scathing retort. She knows that he’s right.

Broken screens and shattered glass litter the floor. File cabinets are completely upended, papers sprawling in a sea of crumpled white. It looks like a wild, rabid animal tore through. Seokga’s mood only worsens when he crouches next to a ruined chair. The faux-leather backing is spilling Styrofoam, leaking out from huge tears. He narrows his eyes at the rips, and—letting Somi’s bitter retort and his brother’s wailing fade into the background—uses two of his fingers to measure one’s width.

Interesting. The claw marks on Hwanin’s body had been too messy to thoroughly examine, obscured by the cavity in his brother’s chest. But here, on the chair, there’s an opportunity to get a closer look.

“What is it?” Hajun asks, peering over Seokga.

“These marks are too big to belong to a gumiho,” Seokga replies slowly. “They were made by claws, yes—four of them. But these aren’t the claws of foxes. They’re far larger.” Eyes narrowing, he passes Hwanin to Hajun. “The perpetrator isn’t a gumiho.” Standing abruptly, Seokga strides to one of the overturned file cabinets. “But the claws,” he says, bending down to rummage through the papers, “the number rules out a yong, who would have three. It also rules out an inmyunjo, who has three, and a haetae, who would have five. That leaves a samjokgu, a bulgae, or a jangsan beom.”

Somi sucks in a sharp breath. Seokga ignores her. Most gumiho have negative reactions to the mention of a samjokgu, whose powers exceed theirs by far and are known to goad the foxes into fights simply to torture and then kill them (despite such practices having been decreed Very Illegal some time ago). Perhaps it was an Unruly samjokgu that killed Somi.