Chapter 4 — Don't Open The Door At 2 A.M

“So your backstage account was used by someone else.” There were drops of sweat on his forehead. “We will investigate this internally.” I said: “There is no need for an internal investigation, report it to the police and then investigate together.” Manager Luong quickly stood up. "Resident, please wait a moment." He turned to the receptionist. "Put out notes." The receptionist girl looked at me. "Miss Duong last night entered the unit door at 10:06, took the elevator to the eighth floor at 10:27, left at 1:27 a.m." I asked: "What about 1:27 in the morning?" The receptionist continued to scroll down. "There are no notes from Ms. Duong." I opened the screen recording for them to see. In the picture, the cleaning staff pushes the trash can out of the elevator. Manager Luong frowned. "This is Mr. Ho, the night shift cleaner." I asked: "Why did he go to the eighth floor in the middle of the night?" Manager Luong picked up the walkie-talkie. "Where is Old Ho now?" There was noise on the walkie-talkie. "On the first negative floor." Five minutes later, Old Ho was called up. He was in his fifties, wearing a gray uniform, the back of his hands sticky with white foam from washing water. As soon as he entered the door, he looked at me, his eyes flashing. Manager Luong played the video for him to watch. "What were you doing on the eighth floor yesterday morning?" Old Ho rubbed his hands. "Someone said the trash room on the eighth floor had a smell, I'll go see." I said: "There's no trash room on the eighth floor." His lips moved. "I remember wrong." Manager Luong patted the table. "Who told you to leave?" Old Ho bowed his head. "A woman." "Which woman?" "It was the person who used to be in room 802." Having said that, he immediately added. "She said her things fell in the hallway, asked me to help her get them, give me two hundred yuan." I asked: "What is the paper bag she gave you?" Old Ho's face became even more unsightly. "She said it was her personal belongings, so she asked me to take them downstairs and throw them away." Manager Luong asked: "Where is the paper bag?" Old Ho said: "The garbage truck took it away this morning." I stared at him. "She didn't ask you to throw things away, she asked you to destroy evidence." Old Ho was frantic. "I really don't know anything, I just took a little money." Manager Luong quickly said: "We will definitely handle this matter seriously." I said: “I want to call the police.” This time no one stopped me. The ward police arrived faster than I thought. One person's family name is Tran, one person's family name is Cao. Police Officer Tran finished looking at the video and the paper, then looked at the entry and exit records. He asked me: "Did you and Duong Ly have conflicts before?" I said: "During the joint tenancy, there were a few living conflicts, but no major conflicts." Police Officer Cao asked: "How did the spare key go?" I recounted the story of the day I checked out. I'm not adding any speculation, just saying what I saw, heard and what happened afterward. After hearing this, Police Officer Tran said: "We will contact her here to find out the situation first." When Duong Ly's phone was connected, I stood right next to it. Officer Tran turned on the speakerphone. "Duong Ly, right? This is the police station, there's something that needs your coordination." Duong Ly's voice was light. "I'm at work right now, it's inconvenient." Officer Tran said: "Last night you went to the old rental address, did you leave some papers there?" The other end of the line paused for three seconds. "What papers? I don't know." Officer Tran looked at me. "The camera captured you entering the building." Duong Ly laughed. "Can't I go back and look for something? I still have something I left there." I spoke up. "What did you forget?" She seemed to not expect me to be there. From the other side came a very light sniffling sound. Then her voice turned cold. "Ninh Ninh, do you need to make such a fuss?" I said: "You came to my door in the middle of the night, you should have thought it would turn out like this." She was silent for a moment. When she opened her mouth again, her voice was low and tight. “Don't be too proud.” The phone was hung up. Police Tran Thu

called back. "Her attitude is like that, we will continue to convene." I nodded. At that moment, my phone vibrated. The front door camera pushes a photo. In the picture, a black plastic bag hangs on my door handle. At the bottom of the bag, a drop of dark red liquid was slowly leaking down.06When I ran back to the eighth floor, there were two neighbors standing there in the hallway. The aunt opposite covered her nose, her face pale. "Girl, the bag in front of your house smells so bad." I didn't touch it. Officer Tran told everyone to step back, put on gloves, and then take down their bags. The black plastic bag is very thin, bulges inside, and when lifted, a red string drips out. Officer Cao opened the slit slightly, his eyebrows immediately furrowed. Inside was a chopped-out chicken. The chicken's head was pressed on top, its eyes were half-closed, and a wet piece of paper was stuffed in its neck. The aunt opposite was so scared that she backed away. "This is too much karma, what is the purpose of this?" Officer Tran used tongs to pick up the piece of paper, opened it, looked at it, then put it in the evidence bag. I saw two words on the paper. Shut up. Those two words were so soaked in blood that they blurred, as if emerging from paper. Police Officer Cao asked the neighbor. "Did you see anyone coming?" The aunt opposite shook her head. "I heard a clicking sound before opening the door. When I came out, I saw the bag hanging there."