Chapter 577: Familiarity with the Murderer in the Apartment

Book Chapter 577: Familiarity with the Murderer in the Apartment (Update 5)

2: 2:32 PM. Lin

Xiao Yu returned to the surveillance room in the apartment building at the crime scene.

Four security guards and the apartment’s property manager stood before him.

Guo Qiang and Wang Cheng lingered on the side.

“According to their accounts, four days ago there was an incident in the parking lot outside the building,” someone summarized.

Guo Qiang’s expression was grim. “A resident’s car was scratched. The security received a call for help and went to check, but no one was in the surveillance room. The guards insist that when they left, the door was locked and there was no sign of forced entry.”

Indeed, it was a clue… Xiao Yu pondered.

Could the case really have happened four days ago?

Just then, the forensic department called.

“The estimated time of death is between four and five days ago. It should be about right,” He Li said over the phone.

Xiao Yu’s eyes lit up as he set the phone down.

That was it.

The murder of the married couple occurred exactly four days ago.

Then… could the parking lot car scratch incident have been a coincidence?

“Please describe in detail what happened at the parking lot that day regarding the car scratch.”

Xiao Yu looked at the guards.

“That day, Xiao Liu and I were on duty,”

a middle-aged guard began, “I received a complaint from a resident about someone scratching his car. When we arrived in the parking lot, we found that it was an eight-year-old child, and the car that was scratched was a high-end sedan…”

Xiao Yu furrowed his brow as he absorbed every word, analyzing the narrative closely.

First, an incident where a child scratched a car was discovered by a resident coming downstairs.

Then, the child’s parents arrived to discuss repairs…

Everything seemed normal until something didn’t add up.

What was wrong?

An eight-year-old might be mischievous, but he surely understood some basic rules.

Typically, kids would never deliberately damage someone else’s property.

At that age, they have at least a rudimentary grasp of consequences.

Unless there was some kind of temptation or inducement for the child to scratch the car?

According to the guards, both parties assumed the child was simply being mischievous, and since they all lived in the same building, nothing escalated. No one even questioned why the child scratched the car.

The fact that a resident discovered the scratch made it all rather coincidental.

Even more coincidental was that the surveillance system was down on that very day.

And then the murder took place…

Twenty minutes later.

Xiao Yu, Guo Qiang, and Wang Cheng reached the ninth floor of the apartment building and stopped in front of one of the residences.

The door opened, and a man in his thirties peered at them, frowning. “Who are you?”

“We’re the police,” Wang Cheng replied as he presented his credentials.

All three were in plain clothes, ensuring they showed their badges to avoid any misunderstanding.

“Ah?” The man momentarily looked stunned.

“We need to ask you about a case,”

Xiao Yu wasted no time. “Four days ago, was your car scratched in the parking lot?”

“Yes,” the man nodded.

“That same day, were you driving downstairs when you saw a child scratching your car?” Xiao Yu pressed.

The man paused to recall. “No, a neighbor called me saying someone had scratched my car.”

“A neighbor?”

Xiao Yu narrowed his eyes. “What kind of neighbor?”

The man hesitated. “Well…”

He looked confused. “She said she was my neighbor and that someone was scratching my car, so I went downstairs to take a look… But now that you mention it, it’s odd—I have no idea how this neighbor even got my phone number. I even tried to call her to thank her, but the call wouldn’t go through.”

Something didn’t add up… Xiao Yu exchanged a glance with Guo Qiang and Wang Cheng.

If this ‘neighbor’ was suspicious, then the child who scratched the car must be as well.

And one more thing…

A cold glint flashed in Xiao Yu’s eyes as he continued, “Were you the one who summoned the security guards?”

“Security?”

The man paused again. “No, I originally intended to ask for the parents’ contact so we could negotiate directly. The guards came on their own; I didn’t call them.”

“Thank you for your cooperation.”

Xiao Yu smiled. “We won’t keep you any longer.”

As the three stepped into the elevator, their faces were grim.

“Master, she must be the murderer,”

Wang Cheng said coldly, “It was her who called the resident and the security in the surveillance room… a diversion tactic.”

Guo Qiang, somberly nodding, agreed with Wang Cheng’s analysis.

“Let’s go question the child who scratched the car,” Xiao Yu stated flatly.

The child was at school, so they tracked down his parents.

Since the parents would be questioned about why their child scratched the car—and surely reprimand him—there was no need to speak with the child directly.

The child’s parents revealed that on that day, a woman had given the child 500 yuan, which prompted him to scratch the car.

Furthermore, once the parents explained the incident, they had already reported it to the police.

Guo Qiang made a call to the local police station handling the report.

There was indeed such a case recorded!

They then confirmed everything with the security guards.

The resident who called for help was a woman.

The answer was now clear.

A woman.

She gave 500 yuan to a child to have him scratch the car.

Then she called both the resident and the surveillance room.

This pointed clearly to her being the murderer!

Her plan was to lure the security into the surveillance room and disable the recording system,

before proceeding to the victim’s home and committing the murder!

There were several suspicious points.

First, the murderer was very familiar with the apartment building.

Second, she knew the phone numbers of both the resident and the security room.

Third, her counter-surveillance skills were extremely advanced.

The murderer was likely… a resident of the building?!

“Search all residents in the building,”

Xiao Yu ordered as he waited for the child to finish school.

5:10 PM.

“Hey kid, do you remember what that woman who made you scratch a car four days ago looked like?”

Xiao Yu beamed warmly at the young boy before him.

“Not really…”

The boy hesitantly replied, “I only remember that the woman wore sunglasses and a hat, and she was tall and thin… taller than my mother and about as tall as my father.”

Tall?

He nodded. “Her shoes were size 39…” Xiao Yu glanced at the boy’s father, who was around 1.7 meters tall.

For a woman, that was indeed quite tall.

They could now roughly determine the murderer’s height and build… a young woman?

Yet, that still wasn’t enough.

One thing was clear:

The murderer knew the apartment building inside and out.

Well enough to know residents’ phone numbers.

And in the victim’s home, there wasn’t even any sign of forced entry on the door lock.

She even knew which car belonged to which owner.

Considering all of these points… Xiao Yu was about to continue his analysis.

【Ding – Case Triggered Successfully.】

【Police God Case Check-In Activated.】

【Host, would you like to check in?】

Wen

Xue