"This isn't enough," the landlord, Shang Pengyi, could say at any time, "There are plenty of people with this shoe size in the world. It's impossible he was anywhere near here. We can't just assume he's the murderer. We need to find the murder weapon, and even then, only if his fingerprints are on it. Though he probably wiped them off, that bastard. I have to go to the hotel myself. No matter what, I have to find some clue!"
In reality, it probably wouldn't help, as the previous investigators would have found something if it were there. But I was still unwilling to give up. Seeing me leave, no one followed. They all knew my personality; once I've decided something, I don't change my mind. I went to the hotel where Shang Pengyi had stayed alone. When the owner, a middle-aged woman, saw I was a police officer, she said, "You're back again? Don't keep investigating my guests. You've been coming here so often lately, it's seriously affecting my business. If this continues, I'll have to close down!"
I ignored her and directly asked, "How many days did Shang Pengyi stay here?"
"How many days specifically? I don't remember. But this villager hasn't just come recently. He's stayed here before, stayed for a while, and then left. It seemed like he was just here to purchase some farm produce. I think you might be suspecting the wrong person! Why do you keep investigating him!"
"Was he really here to buy farm produce?" I asked.
The landlady nodded solemnly, "Definitely. He doesn't look like someone who would do bad things. If you don't believe me, you can go upstairs and look again!"
I was almost convinced, but as I looked at the landlady a few more times, I noticed something was off. Why was she acting strangely? It seemed like she was deliberately helping Shang Pengyi. If I wasn't mistaken, they must have a secret they were hiding.
But I didn't expose her then. After she led me to room 401, where Shang Pengyi had stayed, I used a multi-band light source to shine everywhere. As expected, I found nothing. However, near the bed, I discovered some long women's hair. I then deliberately placed my knee on the bed and said, "Landlady, why does this long hair look so much like the hair on your head!"
"Officer He, don't spout nonsense. When did I ever come here..."
"When did you come here? Hahaha, I wasn't even suspecting you, and you're already confessing?"
"It wasn't me! I wasn't here!" The woman's psychological fortitude wasn't very strong; she started to panic when I questioned her repeatedly.
"You'd better be honest. This quantity of hair isn't from one or two visits. Don't think I know nothing. Are you and Shang Pengyi involved?" I asked directly this time. Upon hearing this, the landlady was still unwilling to admit it. However, the next second, I had her completely pinned: "Don't try to hide anything from the police. There are cameras everywhere here. We can check the surveillance footage to see when you entered room 401. Don't think you can make what you've done disappear, it's useless!"
"How could you figure out so much from just a few strands of hair!"
"So, your actions were all guessed correctly, weren't they? Still not confessing? How long have you and Shang Pengyi been together? Have you noticed any unusual behavior from him recently?"
"I wasn't lying when I said he stayed here periodically. We got together because of these repeated encounters. My husband doesn't know about this, please don't tell him!"
"You can tell me if you want me to keep quiet, but you need to be honest. Has Shang Pengyi been acting strangely recently?"
"Well, one night I saw him sneakily go to the back of the hotel and throw something away as if he was bandaging it, near the trash cans. But I thought you guys had already searched there? If there was anything wrong, you would have found it by now."
I asked the landlady to take me to the vicinity of the trash can. The previous investigators said they found bullet casings near the trash can, so this must be the place. I noticed signs of someone searching here, but I still started searching myself. The landlady looked at me, and seeing that I was searching personally, she seemed somewhat... if she knew my true identity, she would probably be terrified.
The items here hadn't been cleaned up since yesterday. Besides a lot of trash, I also found a pair of gloves. Their size looked like they would fit Shang Pengyi. I turned to the landlady and asked, and she said she saw Shang Pengyi wearing these gloves when he went out last night. She had asked him about it then, but Shang Pengyi seemed in a hurry and didn't pay her any mind.
These actions were highly suspicious. Unless he was planning to do something, a normal person wouldn't act so abnormally. I asked the landlady about the time he left, and after comparing it with the surveillance footage, it all matched up, coinciding with the time Xiao Huang had his accident. But Ma Biao had already investigated this. I couldn't go back now, or the situation would remain the same. I stared intently at the landlady beside me: "Are you still hiding something!"
My tone was very serious, and it scared the woman so much she could barely breathe. She shook her head and said, "No, I've told you everything truthfully just now!"
"Are you sure?" I moved closer, because since a moment ago, I had noticed her gaze repeatedly drifting towards the back of the counter, and not just once. I counted, it was about five times. I ignored her and walked directly behind the counter. Seeing my actions, she actually grabbed me and said, "Don't do this!"
I wouldn't listen to her. I discovered a wall with signs of recent movement. With a strong push, I managed to turn something that revealed a hidden compartment. I exclaimed at that moment, "You have secret passages here!"
Knowing that I was being sarcastic, the landlady lowered her head, no longer daring to argue. From the hidden compartment, I found a gun. So this was the murder weapon, hidden here. And the landlady was an accomplice. No wonder we couldn't find any clues.
With the murder weapon in hand, although the fingerprints would probably be wiped off, and DNA unlikely to be found, the landlady broke down in front of me.
She told me that Shang Pengyi had given her the gun to hide. She thought about it for a long time and didn't know where to put it. Suddenly, she remembered a hidden compartment behind her counter where she had hidden jewelry before, and it had always been fine, so she put the gun there. Later, Shang Pengyi wanted to retrieve it. He told the landlady that his mission was actually completed, and he had received a lot of money. He was supposed to leave with the gun the next day. He didn't expect to be apprehended so quickly by us.