Eyes that are the same as those of evil

Chapter 219 Unexplained Motives 9
After the statement was taken, Xiao Chen and his group arrived with the landlord, opened the door, and went inside to check everything.

Indeed no one.

There were no signs of a fight, and no bloodstains.

They searched each room and found that the clothes and daily necessities were complete and clean, the skincare products were all there, and the windows were open, indicating that they were not planning to go on a long trip.

But the phone charging cable is missing. And of course, the phone itself is missing too.

The slippers, however, were left behind.

"It's a normal situation at home after I go back to work," Xiao Chen said.

Tan Jia also agreed.

Yang Jia seems to be that kind of person too. Despite living in poor conditions, he tries his best to make his life better.

After taking a few photos for documentation, they returned to the police station.

Tan Ming has already ascertained the identity information of the victim, Liao Wenxiang.

"She was only 26 years old. Her hometown was Wenqu Township. She was admitted to the best university in the city at the age of 18. After graduation, she stayed in the East District to work for a large company. Her future was bright."

"But she quit her job in less than a year, then joined an even smaller company, and quit that job in less than a year as well. Then she moved here to rent a place and found a more ordinary job."

"However, when I contacted her family, her parents and sisters did not know that she had changed jobs and residences, and thought she was still working at her first company."

"Furthermore, Liao Wenxiang's parents are unaware of her recent whereabouts. The family usually video calls each other at 8 PM on Sundays, but rarely contacts each other at other times. And it's not Sunday yet."

Tan Jia asked, "Are there problems with your family relationships?"

"She is a left-behind child." Tan Ming only said these six words, and everyone understood.

Zheng Yan, who had become an elderly father, sighed deeply.

Did her parents provide any clues?

"They mentioned the names of two friends. Also, they said that Liao Wenxiang is a very frugal person who is determined to buy a house and settle down in the city on her own. Because of this, they have had several conflicts because her parents want her to go on blind dates and get married."

Xiao Chen's expression was strange: "Could the murderer be your blind date?"

"The probability is not high. The murderer is a regular in the alley, and Liao Wenxiang's parents have no idea that she moved there. She probably did it to keep it from them and save face. So she wouldn't have told the blind date her parents introduced her to her address."

Zheng Yan pondered for a moment, then made a decision: "Investigate her two friends. See if they have any clues. Green Wolf?"

“We’ve got a lead,” Tan Jia said smoothly, already used to the title. “Two days before the incident, someone came to her door. Apparently, they just knocked without saying a word, but she didn’t open the door.”

Zheng Yan: "She knew who was knocking on the door."

"Yes, and this person's identity may be very special, which makes her prefer to sit at home without making a sound and pretend that the person is not there."

After a moment's thought, Zheng Yan gave the order: "Check her phone number and see if you can locate her. Ideally, find her phone and check her chat and call logs. Then check her recent whereabouts to see if anyone is loitering around her or if there are any clues that indicate she's still alive."

"Maybe the bag containing the phone was also thrown into the river," Xiao Chen shrugged.

He said, "Suppose Liao Wenxiang has already been murdered. After killing two people, the murderer left Yang Jia's body in the alley, took the bag, and deliberately threw it into the river a kilometer away. His behavior is very strange, but what if he had not only Yang Jia's bag at the time, but also Liao Wenxiang's bag, or even Liao Wenxiang's body?"

“Perhaps he simply took both of their bags while moving Liao Wenxiang’s body, and then, realizing this along the way, casually threw the bags into the river.” Tan Jia asked, “Why did he take Liao Wenxiang’s body alone? And how did he do it? What kind of transportation did he use?”

“We need a car,” Tan Ming recalled the two cars that appeared by the river on the night of the incident in the surveillance footage, “but they didn’t come out of the alley.”

“Actually—” Tan Jia held up the specially sculpted clay snow frog, indicating that she had an opinion to express, “Suppose the murderer is a cautious and intelligent person, could it be that he didn’t throw away Yang Jia’s bag on the night of the incident? He might have thrown it away the next day when he was just passing by normally.”

Xiao Chen: "Using dried frog carcasses as sign holders is prohibited."

Zheng Yan slapped him on the head, then seamlessly transitioned to Tan Jia, saying, "If, as you guessed, he took the body and the bag away, and then returned to the vicinity of the crime scene the next day to discard Yang Jia's bag, then it means he made a meticulous plan to mislead us. Why? What's the point of his actions? Could it be...?"

He suddenly became serious: "He wants us to focus our investigation on Yang Jia's death."

Tan Jia immediately followed his train of thought: "But on the contrary, Liao Wenxiang's death is the key point."

If it weren't for the bloodstains hidden in the weeds and leaves, the lack of a body, physical evidence, and a missing person report, they would never have been able to find Liao Wenxiang.

The fact that the murderer was so confident in letting them investigate Yang Jia's death meant that they were certain they wouldn't find anything about him.
Why? Because he most likely has absolutely no connection to Yang Jia, and Liao Wenxiang has no connection to Yang Jia either.

Yang Jia's death was just a smokescreen that the murderer randomly chose.

"We need to investigate Liao Wenxiang's whereabouts immediately and find everyone she's been in contact with. We need a clear suspect," Zheng Yan said seriously.

After the simple secondary analysis, it was already dark.

Tan Jia received a reminder message from her psychologist, telling her to go to bed early.

Zheng Yan knew that she was undergoing psychological treatment, so he waved to her and told her to go back without worry.

“Next, we’ll mainly be looking at the surveillance footage to find the person. There’s not much you can do to help. Go back now,” he said, glancing out the window. A black car was already parked on the side of the road outside the police station. “Perfect timing, your ‘shuttle’ is here.”

Who uses a luxury car worth millions as a shuttle bus?

Tan Jia, ignoring their envious gazes, waved and left work immediately.

However, after resting for only two minutes after getting into the car, my brain started making inferences and judgments again without my noticing.

Who is the murderer, and what is his relationship with Liao Wenxiang? Why did he go to such extremes and kill Liao Wenxiang?

During a previous discussion with the policewoman, she mentioned that "the killer's daily behavior already covered up his repeated appearances at crime scenes in order to stake out the location."

What kind of person's daily behavior requires them to appear in the same place multiple times? They can scout out the location to see if there are surveillance cameras, if anyone is around at night, and know when the deceased would pass by.
Community management, food delivery drivers, couriers, garbage collectors...

Wait a minute, there's a courier station right outside the alley entrance. I think they mentioned it during my visit; they offer door-to-door courier delivery service.

Perhaps that's how the murderer was able to find Liao Wenxiang's address and go to her door.

However, there are surveillance cameras there that can capture images of employees and residents entering and leaving, and so far they have not found anyone who fits the profile of the murderer.

Unless, of course, the fact that "the surveillance cameras didn't capture it" is another way the killer is hiding something.

Lin Zhiyue picked up a piece of watermelon, just about to feed it to her, when Tan Jia suddenly told him to turn back.

Then I called Zheng Yan.

"Captain Zheng, the murderer might be an employee of the courier station outside the alley!"