Chapter Thirty-Five: The Mysterious Woman

The killer simply didn't know about Mouse's driving skills. A driver of his caliber would rarely slam on the brakes in a crisis, which is why he managed to escape with his life. I felt a surge of relief—thank goodness Mouse was the one behind the wheel; if it had been anyone else, this trip might have ended in tragedy.

The mechanic found another issue as well: the alarm’s power wire had been cut. Sensing that we were involved in something big, the mechanic offered us a discount if we had the repairs done at their shop. I told him it wasn’t my call and sent him on his way. Then I called Mouse, asking if anyone besides him had touched the car.

Mouse insisted no one else had, saying it had been parked beneath Lin’s building the whole time. I pressed further, “Has this car been taken for repairs or maintenance recently?” Mouse grew evasive, which told me he was hiding something. I warned him that Chief Wang was right beside me—if he kept this up, I’d let Wang question him directly.

Mouse panicked at once and confessed that he’d taken the car for maintenance just yesterday, but assured me the mechanic was a close friend who would never tamper with the car. “Alright,” I said, “just rest up. Leave the rest to me—I’ll investigate personally.” With that, I ended the call and told Tang Jingjing to return to the hospital to look after Lin and Mouse, and to contact me if anything happened.

Tang Jingjing was adamant about coming with me, which put me in a bind—it would be going against Chief Wang’s orders. Tang Jingjing, annoyed, threatened that if I didn’t let her come, she’d tell the chief all about my involvement with Xia Feng and how I’d had her help with the autopsy last night. If she weren’t so guileless, I’d have given her a piece of my mind by now...

Guided by Mouse’s information, we arrived at Little Seven Auto City and found the dealership he’d mentioned. The salesperson greeted us enthusiastically, asking if we were here to buy a car. I replied that we were looking for someone named Wang Guang, in their after-sales department.

The salesperson’s attitude changed instantly, turning cold as he ignored us and resumed chatting with his colleagues. I had no choice but to ask again if Wang Guang could be called over. Irritated, the salesperson snapped, “Are you the police? You can’t just call for whoever you want—go look in after-sales yourself.”

So before even finding our man, we were already fuming. With no alternative, we headed to after-sales. Thanks to the manager’s help, we quickly found Wang Guang. He had a shifty look, was rather thin, and bore a striking resemblance to Mouse.

Truly, birds of a feather flock together.

There were things I couldn’t discuss openly, so I had Mouse talk to Wang Guang directly. The moment Wang Guang learned we were police and suspected him of tampering with the Toyota patrol car, he panicked, hastily explaining that aside from changing the oil and filters, he’d done nothing else. “Mouse is a close friend—I’d never set him up.”

I could tell Wang Guang wasn’t lying, so I took him aside to a quiet corner to question him further.

“How long was the car here?” I asked.

He thought for a moment before replying, “About five hours.”

“Did anyone else touch the car during that time?”

“Probably… no, I don’t think so,” he hesitated.

“Be honest or I’ll charge you with obstruction,” Tang Jingjing said, glaring at him.

Wang Guang quickly added, “To tell the truth, routine maintenance only takes two hours or so. After it was done, I went out for lunch. No one should’ve come by then. At least, when I got back, I didn’t see anyone suspicious—just our own after-sales staff.”

“Was there anyone who wasn’t supposed to be at work today, but you saw anyway?”

He sighed, “Don’t get me started! Our after-sales staff have been on edge lately—no one dares take a day off with the boss in a bad mood.”

“Enough with the nonsense,” Li Hong interjected, irritated. “Just tell us if anyone suspicious came by.”

Suddenly, Wang Guang slapped his forehead. “I remember now! Yesterday, a woman came in for repairs while we were out to lunch. We told her to park in the repair bay. But after she drove in, she left again—she was there no more than five minutes.”

“Five minutes? Is that enough time to sabotage the airbags and seatbelts?” I asked.

“That depends on the mechanic’s skill,” Wang Guang said, a hint of pride in his voice. “If it were me, I could do it in three minutes. Someone less skilled might take three hours and not manage it.”

“Give me her information,” I said sternly.

Wang Guang responded, “Sure, but does that mean I’m off the hook?”

I snapped, “Don’t get cute. Not a word about any of this, or you’ll be spending the night in a cell.”

He nodded hastily. “Don’t worry—as long as my stomach isn’t cut open, this secret will rot inside me forever, maggots and all.”

Soon, Wang Guang returned, crestfallen. The woman’s car only had some scratches, which their shop had fixed quickly with their repair technology, so the woman hadn’t even left a phone number.

“Did you at least remember her license plate?” I asked.

He nodded and provided the number, which I immediately sent to Li Xingchen for a check.

Li Xingchen quickly replied: it belonged to an SUV registered to a man. Yet Wang Guang had described a black sedan, so it must have been a false plate.

Rather than discouraging me, this made me even more excited. The suspect’s caution strongly suggested she was the one who’d tampered with the car.

I asked Wang Guang if there was surveillance footage. “Of course,” he replied. “We’re a legitimate dealership.”

He led us to the security office to retrieve yesterday’s footage.

The surveillance video loaded quickly, but the suspect had deliberately concealed her face with long dark hair, making identification impossible.

I was disappointed, but not deterred. There was plenty of footage; I wouldn’t pin all hope on this one angle.

I immediately contacted Director Zhang and requested that Chief Wang coordinate with the traffic police—I needed to review their surveillance of this vehicle.

Chief Wang told me to head over; he’d call ahead. The three of us rushed to the traffic police department. As soon as we mentioned Chief Wang’s name, their attitude flipped from indifference to warmth.

On the way to the surveillance room, an officer joked, “Chief Wang’s got a temper. He trained here for a while—every rookie’s been chewed out by him at least once.”

I laughed and joked I’d tell Chief Wang about it.

The officer immediately broke out in a cold sweat. “Please don’t—he’d chew me out alive!”

While retrieving the footage, the officer shared a story about Chief Wang. Once, the traffic squad caught a drunk driver with connections whom no one dared cross. An officer was even assaulted. The man used his influence and swaggered off, but Chief Wang couldn’t stand that kind of abuse of power. He led a team straight to the man’s home, gave him a lesson, dragged him into the station for over half a month, and revoked his license. Afterward, the guy didn’t dare utter a word—rumor had it that Chief Wang had some dirt on him.

The surveillance footage was soon ready. We had them save clips from several time periods for further investigation.

They quickly made us a copy, and we got in the car to head back to the station.

Just then, Lin called, asking where we were.

I told him we’d just left the traffic department.

Lin said he was feeling better and ready for discharge. Somewhat surprised, I urged, “You should focus on recovering. We’re making good progress—when we need your help, we’ll call.”

Lin, annoyed, replied, “Nonsense. I was never that bad off, just shaken up. I’m fine now—come pick me up!”

We dared not disobey, so we went to the hospital, picked up Lin, and headed back to the station to discuss our findings.

I reported everything we’d discovered to Lin. He was astonished. “Mouse was too careless—how could he leave a police car in an unfamiliar place? That’s against regulations!”

I quickly defended Mouse, assuring Lin that this was common practice and he meant no harm. Lin sighed in disappointment—clearly, Mouse’s standing in his eyes had taken a hit.

Back at the office, we reviewed the surveillance footage. The woman wore a mask throughout and kept her hair down, making her unrecognizable. From the intersection at Luyun Village on the provincial road—the area under surveillance—she drove to the dealership, stayed less than an hour, and then retraced her route without pause, handling everything methodically. Once she reached Luyun Village, she left the main road and disappeared from the cameras.

There was little to glean from the footage.

“Does the Luyun Village area have any of the deceased Liu Juncheng’s friends or relatives?” Lin asked.

Tang Jingjing and I both shook our heads—we had no idea.

Lin said, “This is the only clue we have from the surveillance. We can be eighty percent certain that this woman sabotaged the car. If we find her, we might crack the case.”

“We should head over to investigate now!” Li Hong suddenly said. “Do you know where the old Route Eight bus used to terminate?”

“Wasn’t it at the Small Ci Shop?” I replied.

“Exactly! The Small Ci Shop is less than five hundred meters from Luyun Village. I even checked it out while jogging the other day.”

So what was the connection here?