The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 289 Nanny
“Brother Fei, your suspicion is correct. This matter is indeed a bit strange,” Wu Shanqiu said immediately after leaving Huantai Residential Area.

"Oh? Tell me about it?" Qi Fei asked with a smile in his eyes.

"Did you notice something wrong with their doors? The whole house's decor is outdated, but the doors are all new, which is strange," Wu Shanqiu said thoughtfully. "Also, the floor tiles are wrong; they have signs of repeated repairs..."

"Hmm, and Song Yun seemed to know I would ask about her alibi, so she immediately thought of using a fitness app to prove it. Isn't this method familiar?"

"Fan Xin, who was drinking with Ma Ziqiang, used a ride-hailing app to prove he didn't have time to commit the crime!" Wu Shanqiu couldn't help but raise her voice.

"It's as if they knew in advance that Ma Ziqiang would get into trouble, and deliberately preserved this evidence," Qi Fei said with a furrowed brow.
-
Inside the police station, the footage from the surveillance cameras played out like a montage, showing a black shadow appearing on different sections of the road before finally disappearing into a dark, abandoned construction site.

"These are all the footage we could find of the suspect. He entered the abandoned construction site and has not been seen since," said the police officer in charge of the surveillance investigation.

“It’s not that they didn’t appear.” Qi Fei said, opening the location of the construction site. “This place is only a few dozen meters away from where Ma Ziqiang and Fan Xin had late-night snacks and drinks. At this time of day, there are hardly any people in other places, but this late-night snack street is still very lively. If the suspect changed clothes at the construction site and blended into the late-night snack street, it would be difficult for us to find him.”

"Ah, yes, we considered many possibilities. We checked several surveillance cameras around the construction site, and there were relatively few people around at this time. We didn't find any suspicious targets."

"In other words, the suspect was very familiar with the surrounding area or did thorough reconnaissance, checking whether any suspicious people had appeared near this abandoned construction site in the period leading up to the incident," Qi Fei immediately said.

The surveillance footage was scrolled back day by day, showing all sorts of pedestrians passing by the construction site. As the number of days scrolled back increased, one person gradually caught everyone's attention.

This man entered the construction site almost every day, and as the image zoomed in, Qi Fei recognized his facial features at a glance. He was none other than Ma Ziqiang's father, the good father-in-law who spoke up for Song Yun.

When Qi Fei and Wu Shanqiu reappeared at Ma Ziqiang's home, the fruit on the coffee table had changed; it was all seasonal.

Song Yun seemed very cooperative, proactively asking, "Is there anything else you need to know?"

"I'm here to see your father-in-law, Ma Qingfeng," Qi Fei said.

As soon as he finished speaking, an old cough came from the bedroom. Then Ma Qingfeng shuffled in front of them. Compared to Song Yun's gentle attitude, Ma Qingfeng was immediately emotional: "What's wrong with you police officers? My son was murdered, and instead of arresting the bad guys, you come to our house every day asking us all sorts of questions. If I knew who did it, what would I need you police officers for?"

"Dad!" Song Yun stopped him, her voice trembling with tears. "They're just following procedure, don't say anything more."

Hearing this, Ma Qingfeng sat down opposite Qi Fei and the others, puffing out his cheeks: "What do you want to ask this old man? Go ahead and ask!"

Qi Fei wasn't angry. He took out several screenshots from the construction site's surveillance footage and placed them on the coffee table: "In the days before your son's accident, we noticed that you were at this abandoned construction site every day. What were you doing there?"

Ma Qingfeng seemed to find the question ridiculous and didn't answer immediately. Instead, he went to the kitchen, took a dirty non-woven bag, and threw it in front of Qi Fei: "Go do this!" Qi Fei opened the bag and saw some potatoes covered in mud. Before he could figure out what it meant, Song Yun explained, "Dad likes farming. He saw that no one was taking care of that construction site, so he planted some potatoes. He goes to check on it every day. This really has nothing to do with Old Ma's business."

As before, this explanation came so naturally and so convincingly.

"Excuse me, I'd like to ask why you care about this matter?" Song Yun looked at Qi Fei and Wu Shanqiu with a puzzled expression.

Qi Fei didn't intend to beat around the bush: "We tracked down the murderer's whereabouts and found that he entered this construction site. We suspect that he had scouted the route beforehand and happened to see your father-in-law frequently appearing in the vicinity, so we came to ask him." As he spoke, he kept observing the expressions of Song Yun and Ma Qingfeng.

“This must be a coincidence, my father-in-law is so old…” Song Yun said.

"Yes, according to the surveillance footage, the height and age of the person who killed your husband do not match Ma Qingfeng. We are just conducting a normal investigation based on the clues," Qi Fei said.

Song Yun nodded slightly: "My parents-in-law are old and have high blood pressure and diabetes. Their medical expenses alone amount to a large sum each month. If it weren't for Lao Ma's ability to make money, they wouldn't be in such good condition now. You can doubt anyone but my father-in-law."

Everything seemed to have ended there. Qi Fei and Wu Shanqiu got up and prepared to leave after this perfect turn of events.

Qi Fei reached the door, but stopped abruptly, turning to Song Yun and asking, "By the way, you and Fan Xin should know each other, right? Are you familiar with each other?"

Song Yun shook her head: "He is Lao Ma's friend. I know him, but we don't have much contact in private."

"He's Old Ma's childhood friend, you two should have known each other for many years, right?" A hint of doubt flashed in Qi Fei's eyes.

“Old Ma has many friends, but he usually meets with them alone. I have to take care of my family, so I don’t participate. In the past few years, Fan Xin and other friends would come to our house for dinner and play mahjong. But in the last two years, the elderly folks have gotten older and need to rest earlier at night, so Old Ma doesn’t invite his friends over as often. I haven’t seen Fan Xin in a long time either,” Song Yun explained.

The door slowly closed behind Qi Fei and Wu Shanqiu.

The elevator descended from the 18th floor and stopped at the 15th floor. A nanny pushed a stroller into the elevator and immediately recognized Qi Fei and Wu Shanqiu: "You're the police investigating the death of the man on the 18th floor, right?"

Qi Fei was somewhat puzzled, as if all the residents of this building were very concerned about Ma Ziqiang's death.

"Do you know the family on the 18th floor?" he asked.

The nanny waved her hand: "I don't know her, but I've talked to their previous nanny a few times. It's a good thing she quit, otherwise it would be bad luck if the employer died, and it would be inconvenient to find another job."

"Hmm? They used to have a nanny?" Qi Fei frowned slightly, as Song Yun hadn't mentioned this at all.