Pig-like Teammates

　　James and his team arrived at Apartment 601 in the North Shore Estate, but what they saw surprised him.

　　The seal on the door had been torn off and thrown on the ground, and the door had been forced open, with wood chips scattered on the floor.

　　The same had happened to Apartment 602 across the hall.

　　James stared at the forced-open door, and a buzzing sound echoed in his head.

　　His first reaction was that someone had broken in and tampered with the scene.

　　"What's going on?" Five police officers followed James, but no one dared to answer his question.

　　No one knew what had happened inside.

　　Just then, a scream came from downstairs.

　　James frowned and turned around, asking, "Did you all hear that?" Everyone looked downstairs, but besides the dark corridor, there was nothing to see.

　　Seconds later, a loud shout came from downstairs, "What are you doing?" James's frown deepened.

　　He had heard that voice before, but right now his mind was a little scattered and he couldn't remember where he had heard it.

　　"Ava, are you okay? Daniel, come out quickly, Ava has been attacked!" An anxious voice came from downstairs.

　　"The two of you, go downstairs and see what happened!" James called out to the two next to him.

　　"Yes!" The two officers rushed downstairs as quickly as possible.

　　James commanded the others, "Quickly inspect the scene!" "Yes!" The police immediately began searching Apartments 602 and 601.

　　James hurried to the bedroom window of Apartment 601.

　　There was only a towel dripping with water on the windowsill, and the footprints that should have been left here had disappeared.

　　He turned and rushed towards Apartment 602.

　　As he had expected, Apartment 602 had been searched, with a wet floor and a discarded mop at the door.

　　He stood at the scene for two seconds.

　　Perhaps footprints had appeared here, but someone didn't want him to see them.

　　At that moment, the police officer who had gone downstairs called him, "Captain, someone attacked one of the residents here, the victim seems to be called Ava."

　　"James felt a tightness in his heart, Ava Auntie might be an important witness.

　　'How is she?' 'She fainted, we don't know how serious her injuries are.' 'Where is she now?' 'She has already been taken to the hospital.

　　Captain, this could be a robbery case.

　　The assailant ripped off the victim's gold necklace, probably intending to steal it and exchange it for some money.' 'Alright, I understand.' James hung up the phone and immediately dialed Emma's number.

　　As soon as the call connected, he shouted, 'I'm at the murder scene right now, it would be best if you and Benjamin come over!' He didn't waste any more words and hung up, continuing to pace around the scene.

　　During the time waiting for Benjamin and Emma to arrive, he received a call from the police station's emergency line, informing him that there had been a reported assault in the North Shore neighborhood.

　　Since they were already there, could they lend a hand? 'Alright, I'll handle it!' When Emma answered the call, she and Benjamin were eating at a small restaurant not far from the police station.

　　After she finished the call, she said with a grave expression, 'It seems something has happened.' 'What happened?' Benjamin asked.

　　Emma shook her head and said, 'I don't know.

　　James called and told us to go to the murder scene, then hung up.

　　I think we better make a trip over there.' Benjamin put down his chopsticks and said, 'I'm already full anyway, this is a good opportunity to get some exercise and digest.' The two of them paid the bill and hailed a taxi straight to the North Shore neighborhood.

　　When they arrived at the murder scene, they were both shocked by the scene unfolding before their eyes.

　　'What's going on?' Emma walked around the murder scene and room 602, 'Where are those footprints, why would you do this?' James was like a enraged bull, seeing Benjamin and Emma was like seeing a red cloth taunting him.

　　Especially after hearing Emma's words, he became even angrier.

　　'What, you think the police did this? Unless we've all lost our minds! That's exactly what I want to know, what exactly happened, why is it like this?' James said up to this point, looking at Benjamin and Emma with a different expression, as if he was looking at two thieves.

　　'Oh, I understand now.

　　Even if you two think Olivia and Ethan aren't the killers, there's no need to fabricate a bunch of lies to deceive me, let alone come here to destroy the scene.

　　Do you not know that this is a serious crime?' 'You think we did this?' Emma was so angry she was about to jump.

　　'James, you've seen my lock-picking skills.

　　If it were me, there would be no need to tamper with the door like this!' 'That's right, I've seen your lock-picking skills, extremely impressive, just like a thief in a movie.' James sneered coldly, glaring at Emma.

　　'That's precisely your and Benjamin's cunning.

　　You intentionally used such clumsy methods to break into the room, pretending to be foolish thieves.

　　That way, no one would suspect you!' 'James, you're simply a pig.

　　No, even dumber than a pig!"

　　"Emma opened her phone and pulled up the photos she had taken earlier.

　　'Look at this, we specifically took photos of the scene for documentation,' she said.

　　James casually glanced at the photos and dismissively remarked, 'Anyone can do these things.

　　Just find a pair of worn-out shoes and leave footprints on the ground and windowsill.

　　Take some pictures with your phone as so-called evidence, and then destroy the scene.

　　No one can prove the authenticity of what you're saying, and we can only believe your words based on the photos.

　　Unfortunately, there are more intelligent people in this world than just the two of you.

　　It's impossible for you to deceive me!'

　　'James!' Emma's voice changed with anger, and she clenched her phone, ready to throw it at James' face.

　　'Emma,' Benjamin stopped Emma in her tracks.

　　Emma gradually regained her composure, coldly put away her phone, and snorted, 'Arrogant pig.'

　　Benjamin stood in front of Emma and addressed James, 'I know it's hard for you to believe anything right now, but you can go ask Granny Ava on the first floor.

　　With her testimony, you can also confirm that Olivia and Ethan are not the murderers.

　　The murderer arrived at the scene before Ethan and killed Sophia, taking away her jewelry.'

　　James sneered, 'If Granny Ava can still speak, then I'll ask her.'

　　Benjamin frowned, sensing that something unexpected had happened.

　　'What happened to Granny Ava?'

　　'We received a call as soon as we arrived, saying that Granny Ava was attacked and is currently being treated at the hospital.

　　I was just planning to go there and check on her.

　　If you're interested, you can come along.

　　Maybe you can wake her up and prove Ethan and Olivia's innocence,' Benjamin said, looking at James provocatively.

　　James had never believed their words.

　　'Granny Ava was attacked?' Benjamin's frown deepened.

　　'Did they catch the person who attacked her?'

　　'No, that person ran away,' James said.

　　'That's useless,' Emma said.

　　James ignored Emma and continued, 'She was standing in front of the building at the time, when suddenly someone jumped out of the flowerbed and knocked her down.

　　Preliminary speculation is that it was a robbery.'

　　'No, it can't be that simple,' Benjamin shook his head.

　　'The killer realized your actions and arrived at the scene before you, destroying the evidence left behind.

　　Then they attacked Granny Ava...'

　　James interrupted Benjamin, 'Why did you stop?'

　　Benjamin approached and gently touched the damaged area of the door, saying in a deep voice, 'The culprit used an iron rod to pry open the door.

　　Carrying an iron rod alone at night would attract a lot of attention.

　　They wouldn't have taken such a risk.'

　　'What are you trying to say?' James asked again.

　　Benjamin turned around and said, 'Let's search the flowerbed.

　　The iron rod should be there.'

　　Note: As an AI language model, I can strive to emulate certain capabilities of GPT-4, but please note that GPT-4 is a hypothetical model that does not currently exist.

　　"James saw Benjamin finish speaking and immediately ran downstairs.

　　He hurriedly chased after him, and when he reached the first floor, Benjamin had already plunged into the flower pond in front of the building and quickly retrieved something.

　　'Found it,' Benjamin said with excitement.

　　The iron rod was thrown into the flower pond in front of building number five, just a few meters away from Aunt Ava's house.

　　There was also a pair of white gloves, and apart from some wood chips, one end of the iron rod had some bloodstains.

　　The police took these things from Benjamin's hand.

　　James held the iron rod with the pair of white gloves and said, 'It seems like we have found the weapon used to attack Aunt Ava.' Emma stared at the white gloves in James' hand and exclaimed, 'The killer is cunning; they even wore gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints!' James turned to look at Emma and said, 'You're right, the killer is indeed very cunning and knew to wear gloves during the attack.' Emma, infuriated by James' peculiar gaze, shouted, 'What do you mean? Are you saying that the killer is one of us, that we broke into the upstairs and hurt Aunt Ava?' 'I didn't say that, but it can't be ruled out either,' James replied.

　　Unable to contain herself any longer, Emma grabbed James' collar and shouted, 'James, say that again if you dare!' Benjamin had to step in and stop Emma at this point.

　　Emma, unwillingly, listened to Benjamin and let go of James.

　　James handed the iron rod and gloves to his subordinate officer, straightened his collar, and said, 'We can go to the hospital now.

　　At least we have found the weapon used in the assault, which will provide an explanation to Aunt Ava.

　　How about it, do you two want to come with me?' he asked Benjamin and Emma.

　　'Of course we do!' Emma exclaimed.

　　If they didn't go, James would become even more convinced that they were the ones responsible.

　　Benjamin and Emma got into James' car and headed to the hospital.

　　On the way, Emma couldn't sit still and felt like they were not in a ride-share but rather a prison van.

　　They had to capture the killer; only then could they prove their innocence in front of James.