“Well - if that happens, will I be compensated for the missing rent?” The middle aged woman followed the detectives into the townhouse.
“I actually don’t know. It will be up to the city at that point.” Keryn shrugged: “But since you’re the landlady, your insurance should cover most of it, if not all of it. ”
The landlady just shook her head with a wry smile, and did not answer.
“You don’t have insurance?” Marcus frowned.
“I - I - well - ”
“Nevermind, we’re here to look into the man, not push anything or anyone.” Shrevas sighed: “Times are tough for everyone, huh?”
“Yes - yes. ” The landlady started nodding profusely: “Thank you! Thank you very much officer. Yes indeed, time’s tough right now, and everything’s getting expensive - ”
“Can you tell us a bit about this Luo Zhuge guy? What’s he like as a tenant? What’s his daily routine? ” Marcus waved his hand and asked.
“And - can you show us anything with his handwriting?” Keryn followed up: “Like your lease contracts, or an envelope. Do you have a picture of him as well?”
“I - I just have a very simple lease contract. Let me see…” The landlady pulled out her phone and started scrolling through the pictures on it: “... sorry, sorry, I may need some time to find it. It was a couple of months ago…”
“It’s okay, take your time.” Shrevas looked around the first floor - there was a small storage room under the stairs, and a door leading to the garage. There was a simple bicycle in the storage room, a vacuum cleaner and a small empty cardboard box. “Check the car.” Shrevas nodded at Keryn.
Keryn opened the door to the garage. There was no car inside. A breath of slightly moist and pungent smell poured out. Marcus could see some dirty shoes, some more cardboard boxes and a small thick plastic bag with some brown grains inside - fertilizers, it appeared.
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“We can check later.” Marcus started walking upstairs towards the living room of this place, and where the bedroom could be. The living room upstairs was also empty. The carpet was clean, but worn. So was everything else - the sofa, the dining tables and chairs, the kitchen ware and the TV.
“How many people are living here?” Shrevas asked the landlady as he walked up the stairs.
“Only one. I was thinking of renting out both the bedrooms on the third floor and the one on the second floor separately. But this man rented the entire townhome. So I gave him a discount.” The landlady sighed: “To be honest, if it weren’t for you contacting me, I wouldn’t know anything.”
“Oh, why?” Keryn asked: “Did he prepay the rent in advance? How many months?”
The landlady stammered for a bit, then answered: “Actually - six months…”
“But - if I remember correctly, he started renting four months ago?” Keryn chuckled: “Okay.”
“Yes, yes. Normally I rent only on yearly basis, I just had to make an exception at this time.” The landlady put on another “I’m having a hard time” face: “Because, you know, times are tough.”
“Do all of these come with the place? Any of these things belong to him?” Marcus asked as he knelt down on some exposed hardwood floor and started knocking on the floorboards. The carpet was not glued to the floor, so he could lift them up and check the floorboards underneath as well.
“Yes - yes, looks like it.” The landlady looked around and nodded, sounding relieved that she was not pressured about the terms of the rent: “I advertised on the fact that they could just bring their luggage in and start living right away.”
“What about the chrysanthemums? Did you grow them?”
“No - no, I used to grow vegetables there.” The landlady shook her head: “He’s actually the first renter that’s ever paid attention to that. Normally I’d have to hire weeding people to get rid of the weeds after the rent is up.”
“Which bedroom did he live in?” Shrevas was about to go onto the stairs upward to the top floor.
“I - I actually don’t know. I’d assume the main bedroom with the biggest window. It’s facing Northeast and has pretty good sunlight.”
“Alright, Marcus, Keryn, I’ll go up and take a look. You keep on checking here.” Shrevas nodded then went up to the top floor.
Just when Shrevas was about to enter the top floor, a piece of floorboard made a hollow sound and moved a little when Marcus’ knuckles tapped on it. Keryn, who was checking under the coffee table, turned her head back, waiting to see what he had unearthed.
Marcus pulled out his keychain and jammed the thinnest key into the gap on the floorboard’s side, then pried the board up bit by bit.
It was indeed a hollow space under the floorboard. It was something long, roughly with the width of Marcus’ palm, wrapped in a piece of slightly dirty yellow cloth.
Marcus took a deep breath, then concentrated his Qi on his eyes. At the same time, he started utilizing some of the meditation and visualization tricks along with this.
What appeared before his eyes almost made him jump. There were dark particles surrounding the object - not too dense that he’d feel uneasy to touch. But on the yellow cloth, a dark red handprint appeared out of nowhere, as if someone grabbed it while their hand was drenched in blood.
“What is it?” Keryn walked over with lightened steps.
“Something bad. ” Marcus looked around: “I’ll need something long - not wood or metal. preferably plastic or rubber.”