Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 157 The Deceased's Residence

Taking advantage of Chen Shu and Zhang Liyun's unfamiliarity with the actual situation in Dongming's jurisdiction, Xu Chaofan assigned police officer Xiao Yang to their team. He then took Zhu Li and contacted the police officer who was in charge of collecting evidence at the scene on the day of the incident.

Chen Shu instructed Xiao Yang to bring breaching equipment from the station, and with Ma Hengyuan leading the way, they headed straight for the deceased's home.

According to Ma Hengyuan, the deceased Zhang Yan and her husband Zhang Fei were both employees of a private shoe factory in Yangyi Street. Zhang Yan was a general worker and Zhang Fei was a technician. The couple had a son and a daughter in their hometown.

Ma Hengyuan met Zhang Yan through the "Shake Nearby" feature on WeChat. The two chatted on WeChat for a while and hit it off. Besides sharing their feelings, they occasionally exchanged ambiguous messages and pictures.

Zhang Fei was a heavy drinker, and after get off work he would drink a few ounces of baijiu (Chinese liquor). Sometimes, when he was drunk, he would beat Zhang Yan. If the beating was too severe, Zhang Yan would run away from home and wander aimlessly on the road, waiting for time to pass and for her husband to fall asleep before returning home.

Since meeting Ma Hengyuan, Zhang Yan would frequently sneak out of her home under various pretexts to meet him in secret. As the number of times increased, it aroused Zhang Fei's suspicion.

Five days prior, two days before the time of Zhang Yan's death, Zhang Fei followed Zhang Yan as she ran out of her home after a deliberate argument, and subsequently discovered that Zhang Yan was having an affair with Ma Hengyun.

Enraged, Zhang Fei immediately gave the two men a severe beating.

This is also the basis for Ma Hengyuan's identification of Zhang Yan as being killed by Zhang Fei in the interrogation room of Dongming.

The group arrived at the place rented by Zhang Fei and Zhang Yan.

This is an extremely old six-story building. At the top of the stairs is an east-west corridor, with two rooms on each side. The corridor is filled with miscellaneous items and household garbage.

Ma Hengyuan shrugged, indicating that he only knew Zhang Yan lived on the fourth floor, but he didn't know which room exactly.

At this moment, Xiao Yang from Dongming Police Station came out, walked around the corridor with his police mobile phone, and pointed to a room with a tightly closed iron door, saying, "This is it, there's no mistake."

The Zhengming District Branch has very strict management of rental housing in its jurisdiction. Community police officers, together with neighborhood committees, go door-to-door to investigate the number of rental properties or search for houses in the area that are ready to be rented out through rental apps such as 58.com and Ganji.com on their mobile phones.

Landlords who rent out properties must register the identity information of both the landlord and the tenant at the local police station. This system, which uses property management personnel, allows for accurate tracking of actual rental properties and the transient population within the community.

Chen Shu nodded to Xiao Yang, and two plainclothes team members quickly broke into the house with a breaching tool.

While the men were breaking down the door, Chen Shu put on gloves and shoe covers and went inside.

This is a small one-bedroom apartment with a floor area of ​​about 40 square meters. Upon entering, you'll find a small, square room furnished with a single-door refrigerator, a small round table, and some kitchen utensils such as an induction cooker.

Beyond the kitchen was a bedroom with a balcony. A 1.8-meter-wide bed leaned against the wall, with two blankets scattered haphazardly on it. Near the balcony was a simple wardrobe, and through the half-open zipper door, the clothes scattered inside were clearly visible.

Chen Shu took a closer look and saw that the closet was mostly filled with men's clothing. He paced around and checked the balcony and the bathroom, but found nothing unusual.

There were no signs of tidying up or packing the toiletries and clothes, and Zhang Fei didn't take any of his belongings, which indirectly shows that he didn't intend to leave.

Now Zhang Fei was even less of a suspect.
However, who exactly lured Zhang Yan out on the day of the incident?
Chen Shu walked around the room briefly, then sat on a corner of the bed, watching Zhang Liyun, who had followed him in, wander around the room like a headless fly, and pondered this carefully.

He stood up and began to search the room, starting with small things.

About ten minutes later, Chen Shu found an IOU in a woman's handbag inside the simple wardrobe. The amount was 30,000 yuan, the borrower was "&& Hui", and there was a bright red fingerprint on the signature.

The signature was illegible; only the last character, "慧," was legible.

Fingerprint?
Ding-dong! Want to try your luck?

Considering the possibility of the perpetrator's fingerprints at the crime scene, Chen Shu took out an evidence bag and casually put the IOU into it along with the bag.

He placed the items on the bed, pulled out several phone bill details from the case file, and compared them with the borrower's name on the IOU, reading through them line by line.

The phone records of the deceased Zhang Yan over the past three months show that none of the phone number owners' real names ended with the character "慧".

Nowadays, a typical factory worker in Dongzhou's shoe factories earns only about 5,000 yuan a month. For someone with this income to lend out 30,000 yuan, the borrower, "&&Hui," must be a good friend or relative of Zhang Yan.

If I get back to the office later, I'll have to check the internal network for household registration information or information about my hometown...

Chen Shu packed up the documents and newly discovered evidence, planning to have Li Meng ask Zhang Fei, the deceased's husband, about Zhang Hui after they met, hoping to find some clues.

Since there was nothing in the room, Chen Shu decided to visit the neighbors. He stepped out of the house and was surprised to see three or four women surrounding Xiao Yang in the corridor. The doors of the neighboring rooms were all open.

Chen Shumo silently approached and listened.

When Xiao Yang saw Chen Shu approaching, he instinctively wanted to give up his spot or squeeze out of the encirclement.

Chen Shu shook his head slightly at Xiao Yang, signaling him to continue.

Xiao Yang was puzzled, but he continued to take notes of the words of the deceased's neighbors one by one with his notebook and pen.

One of the women, wearing a thick pink cotton nightgown and with a robust, barrel-shaped waist, shouted the loudest: "Officer, let me tell you! That man in their family is incredibly vicious. He beats his wife every few days! The way his wife screams, tsk tsk, we all heard it clearly!"

He spoke with such enthusiasm, it would be a real shame if he didn't go to the square and be a gossipmonger.

This behavior, typical of an ordinary-looking woman, has a strong air of vulgarity that is unpleasant to behold.

"Yes! Several times when I came home late at night, I saw his wife running downstairs with bruises all over her face!"

"His wife is really pitiful, to be stuck with such a man."

The woman in the pajamas spat and continued, "That guy is a real jerk, so violent! I think he might have some psychological issues! I've run into him on the stairs a few times, and he keeps glaring at me for no reason!"

As he spoke, he patted his chest a few times and breathed a few sighs, as if the man had just been fierce to him.

"By the way, what brings you here today? Did that man get into trouble?"

"Yeah, yeah, he doesn't seem like a good person at all!"

Chen Shu found the woman in the pajamas rather interesting. It seemed she had some kind of grudge against the neighbor next door, as she squeezed past the others and launched into a tirade in front of the police.

After looking around and finding nothing suspicious, he prepared to leave.

(End of this chapter)