Chapter 146: Chapter 121: Do you think we need a lawyer?
"Xiao Wang, Xiao Zhang, we need to work a little overtime. Let’s go out and investigate."
Soon, he summoned two police officers and hurriedly left the police station.
「That evening at eight o’clock.」
「Lijing Garden.」
「Apartment 1501, Building 18.」
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK—
Shen Dao knocked several times, but the person inside refused to open the door.
"Hello, we are from the police station. We’d like to understand the specific situation with this house. Could you please open the door?"
Shen Dao frowned.
He knocked on the door again, patiently.
His primary purpose for coming here was to investigate the specifics of the case: to visit the community, check with property management, and determine who was actually occupying the house. However, standing at the door of Apartment 1501, he couldn’t even get them to open it, despite identifying himself.
"Stop knocking! You’ve been at it for so long, aren’t you annoyed? I’m not opening the door!"
Finally, a middle-aged woman’s voice came from inside the house.
Shen Dao took a deep breath and said gravely, "We are from the police station. Our main purpose is to understand the situation, so please cooperate."
"Just because you say so? How do I know you’re not impostors? It’s late at night; I’m not opening the door!"
The middle-aged woman’s voice continued from inside the house.
Shen Dao spoke again, "If you open the door, we can show you our credentials."
"I told you I’m not opening the door! If you keep this up, I’ll call the police!"
Inside the house, the middle-aged woman showed no intention of opening the door and even started threatening to call the police.
Shen Dao’s mouth twitched. In just this short time, he’d realized how difficult this middle-aged woman was. He’d been handling cases for over a decade and had never encountered someone so uncooperative. No matter how he tried to persuade her, she simply refused to open the door.
Left with no other choice, he sternly warned, "You are a suspect in a criminal case, and we are legally investigating you. Please cooperate with the police investigation!"
"A criminal case? And you still claim you’re not scammers? My husband and I haven’t even killed a chicken, let alone been involved in a criminal case! If you know what’s good for you, leave now, or I really will call the police!"
From inside the house, the middle-aged woman’s voice, full of disdain, retorted with a counter-threat.
"Go ahead and call!"
Having been repeatedly refused entry, Shen Dao was also getting angry. He actually hoped that if she called the police, his arriving subordinates might be able to persuade her to open the door.
But after hearing his remark, the middle-aged woman fell silent. No matter how much they knocked, she completely ignored them.
"Captain Shen, they’re not opening the door. What should we do now?"
Behind him, the other two young police officers looked at each other, momentarily unsure of how to proceed.
In this situation, using force was clearly inappropriate. If the occupant recorded a video and posted it online... The consequences would be unthinkable. Yet, if she insisted on not opening the door, they couldn’t just stand there waiting indefinitely.
"The person in this apartment is rather difficult..." Shen Dao frowned and sighed.
The problem was, he didn’t dare do much to her. Their purpose here was to investigate, conduct interviews, and understand the situation. Since the woman’s criminal culpability wasn’t yet confirmed, he couldn’t risk any rash actions.
"Let’s go ask the neighbors about the situation first."
After a moment’s thought, he decided on an indirect approach: starting with the neighbors and property management.
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK—
A few seconds later, all the other neighbors, except for those in Apartment 1501, opened their doors. They were extremely cooperative.
"A middle-aged couple lives in Apartment 1501. They’re incredibly overbearing. Honestly, we usually don’t dare interact with them at all."
"Officer, you wouldn’t believe it, but the apartment they’re living in isn’t even theirs! The original owner has come to cause a scene several times, just like you, and could never get them to open the door."
"Normally, if we bump into them, we hurry past, terrified they’ll try to cause trouble for us."
"I think you should talk to property management; they have more dealings with them..."
...
The neighbors all wore expressions of unspoken grievances. They clearly had no goodwill towards the middle-aged couple and avoided them like the plague.
After these visits, Shen Dao became thoughtful, gaining some insight into the middle-aged couple’s character. It seemed the accusations in the indictment had merit; they weren’t just baseless rumors.
Immediately afterward, he went to the property management center to gather more information.
The outcome was that as soon as the property management staff saw them, they practically burst into tears, looking incredibly aggrieved.
"Officer, you’re finally here! Please, deal with them! They’re horrible!"
"It’s been three years! Three whole years, and they haven’t paid their property management fees even once!"
"Forget property fees, they don’t even pay for water or electricity! When we tried to cut off their utilities, they threatened to jump off the building. We had no choice but to keep supplying them..."
"They come to the property management office to cause a scene every few days. Now, everyone here gets nervous just seeing them, terrified they’ll try to pin something on us..."
...
Shen Dao’s mouth twitched as he listened to the property staff’s tearful and emotional accusations.
Afterward, at the property management office, he thoroughly investigated the records concerning the genuine owner of Apartment 1501. It was confirmed that the property rights belonged to Zhang Tao. Furthermore, the apartment was currently occupied by a middle-aged couple, about whom the neighbors were full of complaints.
"The facts of the crime are now clear," Shen Dao said, taking a deep breath. He immediately led his team back to the police station.
They commenced an investigation that very night.
This private prosecution case involved four charges. According to his investigation results so far, the apartment was indeed being unlawfully occupied, which could constitute the crime of illegal invasion of residence. As for the other three charges, those were more difficult to determine.