“Sister,” Wang Shen smiled at the middle-aged woman. “Besides their argument that night, did you hear any other strange noises? Like knocking on the wall or the sound of tools being used?”
"This..." The middle-aged woman frowned again, thought for a while, and then shook her head. "There really isn't any. If there were, with the poor soundproofing of this dilapidated house, disturbing the neighbors so late at night, I would definitely have gone to complain."
Wang Shen thought so too. His purpose in asking the question was to explore the possibility of breaking the locked room. However, based on the investigation of the crime scene, Han Mo's room was a completely enclosed space that hadn't been damaged by external force. Now, coupled with the middle-aged woman's statement, Wang Shen completely abandoned the absurd possibility of escaping using machinery.
"Sister, did you hear any noise when you went downstairs? Right downstairs in your building?"
"No." The middle-aged woman shook her head.
"You just said you encountered a man disposing of garbage downstairs. Do you remember what he was doing at the time?"
"Him!" The middle-aged woman raised her voice immediately upon hearing Wang Shen mention the garbage collector, her eyes widening as if they harbored some deep-seated grudge. "Let me tell you, just mentioning that garbage collector makes me angry. That damned garbage collector actually framed me! Can you believe it?" The middle-aged woman said, putting her hands on her hips. Her words became somewhat incoherent.
"Sister, calm down. I think there must be some misunderstanding between you two. Let's talk it out slowly." Wang Shen said, giving the middle-aged woman a warm smile.
The middle-aged woman took a breath, calming herself down. "Who says otherwise? I'm not that kind of rude person." Her emotions seemed to have settled, and she began to describe what had happened. "That day, I was happily going to do my square dancing. Just as I stepped out of the building, that damned junk collector stopped me. He pointed to a huge pile of trash on the ground, then pointed at my nose and asked if I had thrown it down from upstairs. Of course, I denied it. And it really wasn't me. That damned junk collector wouldn't believe me, insisting that I had. I got so angry that I started yelling at him right there. He really thought I was someone to mess with..." As she spoke, her emotions involuntarily surged again, as if she wanted to pour out all the bitterness of the past few years to Wang Shen.
Wang Shen didn't want to interrupt the middle-aged woman's venting, but he didn't hear a word she said. According to her description, the trash was already scattered on the ground when she went downstairs. Simply put, the sound of trash being thrown that the garbage collector heard must have happened before the woman came downstairs. Based on this timeline, the man they encountered when the trash was thrown away should still be in Han Mo's apartment. The garbage collector said that much of the trash contained men's clothing. Following this reasoning, the man must have packed up all his personal belongings left in Han Mo's apartment. Then, to avoid unnecessary trouble, this mysterious man threw his belongings out of Han Mo's window. From this, Wang Shen could deduce two things: First, the mysterious man knew there was a trash can below Han Mo's balcony. Second, the mysterious man knew the fixed time for daily trash disposal. That's why he felt safe throwing the trash down. Even if Han Mo's death was discovered and the police arrived, the bag of trash containing the man's clothing would have already been disposed of.
Meticulous and well-planned. Wang Shen couldn't help but admire this mysterious man. Analyzing further, how could the man know so much about Han Mo's home, including the time he disposed of the trash? It could only be because he had been following Han Mo for a long time, or frequently visited her house.
The middle-aged woman was still rambling on about her grievances. Wang Shen comforted her, saying, "Sister, I definitely believe what you're saying. Just from our conversation, I know you're not that kind of person."
"That's right! Officer, you're the most reasonable one." The middle-aged woman's brows finally relaxed, and her incessant complaining finally stopped.
"So, big sister, are you still going to dance? Then I won't bother you any longer."
"Oh! Right, I have to go now. They're probably urging me to hurry up." After saying that, the middle-aged woman said goodbye to Wang Shen, locked the door, and ran away, disappearing from the stairwell.
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